A Young Woman's Heart

"In the countryside, the place where children go most often is probably the small river at the entrance of the village."

"Yeah, but if you don't go swimming in the river, it's still pretty hot, isn't it?"

"It's alright. Although I sweat a bit, I don't feel uncomfortable unless I'm directly exposed to the sun." Li Wanyan thought for a moment. "Mainly because the air isn't stuffy."

“Now that you mention it, it does seem to be true.” Mo Xueyao patted the water with both hands, stirring up some water droplets. “The buildings in the city are too dense, and there’s not much greenery. There are cars everywhere, so what you feel is basically stuffy heat—the kind that makes it hard to breathe.”

"Almost." As Li Wanyan was speaking, she saw a water volleyball flying in a high arc from not far away. Just as it was about to hit Mo Xueyao's face, she suddenly reached out and swatted the volleyball away.

"Sorry—" the girls playing water volleyball shouted.

"Could you throw it over here for us?"

"Let me do it." Mo Xueyao was closer to the volleyball. She stood up, walked over, picked up the volleyball, and then threw it like a shot put.

However, the volleyball didn't fly very far at all; it only traveled a short distance before it floated down lightly.

"Hahaha—you're so weak!" The boy who wasn't wearing glasses burst out laughing.

His companion rolled his eyes at him: "What do you know? It's this kind of delicate beauty that makes people want to protect you!"

"That's right, that's right! Beautiful women have always been sickly!"

Mo Xueyao glanced at them with droopy eyelids, picked up the volleyball and threw it again, this time finally getting it into the hands of those girls.

"What? Do I look that sickly?" Mo Xueyao pouted in dissatisfaction, her voice only audible to Li Wanyan beside her.

"Because only sick and weak women allow men to show off their masculine physique and strength."

"I mean... do I look weak?"

“…It’s alright.” Li Wanyan remained silent for a moment with a strange expression.

"Ah, so it really is time to start exercising? When I come back next semester, I'm going to participate in all the sports activities!" Mo Xueyao muttered, scratching her chin. "No, maybe I should just start from summer vacation. I feel like I've gained a little weight recently."

"Yaoyao has a perfect figure."

"That's because he's still developing. If he doesn't exercise, he'll become fat after he finishes developing!" Mo Xueyao thought of Li Gutao, who had gained a lot of weight recently. She remembered that he was a skinny guy in junior high school, but now she could call him Little Fatty.

"Then I will accompany you."

"Great! Summer vacation is two months long, let's run to the library every day! We'll start from home!"

"It's so far, can you make it there?"

"Of course, no problem! It should... be fine, right?" Mo Xueyao's tone gradually became uncertain. She smiled sheepishly. "By the way, Wanyan, you must keep my secret."

"of course."

"And also... help me cover up this lie. If we run into someone we know from before, you'll have to help me out!"

"Ok."

"Phew, that's good. If I run into the girl next door again tonight, well... well, I'll just say it like I did before... uh, the kind of thing I used to tell you... cough cough!"

"Don't worry," Li Wanyan smiled. "I'll cover for you. After all, this is a secret that belongs only to us."

"It only...only belongs to us...well...that's true, but besides our parents, only Wanyan knows..."

Li Wanyan didn't speak, she just smiled.

……

Chapter 342 Our Secret (Part 2)

By the time I got back from the swimming pool, even the indoor lunch break had already passed.

The homeroom teacher, Ye Wen, was packing up the corrected homework and preparing to leave when she saw the two of them.

"Where did you two go at noon?"

"I went to the swimming pool...hehe..." Mo Xueyao chuckled awkwardly, making up an excuse for herself, "I thought it was the bell for the indoor lunch break."

"It's definitely the bell for indoor lunch break, but it's already the end of get out of class." Ye Wen shook her head in annoyance. "Never mind, I was going to talk to the class monitor anyway. Class monitor, come to my office after school this afternoon, and the publicity committee member should come too."

"Huh? Is there something else for me? Seriously? Final exams are almost here, and there's still work to do as the publicity committee member?" Mo Xueyao said with a bitter face, "Didn't they say we wouldn't be drawing the blackboard bulletin this month...?"

"Of course it's not about the blackboard bulletin board, it's about other plans for the summer vacation."

"You're not going to need tutoring, are you?"

"Guess~" Ye Wen blinked, picked up the half-empty bottle of cola, and took a big gulp. "If you can guess, I'll tell you~"

"Ah—it can't be anything good..." Mo Xueyao wailed.

"Haha, we'll reveal the answer after school this afternoon!" Ye Wen walked out of the classroom triumphantly.

Li Wanyan whispered in Mo Xueyao's ear, "Yaoyao's reaction just now was indeed the same as a boy's."

"Huh? Huh...uh...um...I've tried my best...but, habits aren't so easy to change, are they?"

"Yes, this is fine." Li Wanyan smiled, but when she noticed someone looking over, she put on a serious face again.

The afternoon was spent doing test papers. It's hard to imagine how tough it is for senior high school students.

Speaking of which, the senior high school students have recently left the school. Yukong High School has sent all its senior students to some unknown place for intensive, closed-off learning.

It's roughly the same as military training, the only difference being that one is physical fatigue, while the other is mental fatigue.

Senior high school students will not return until the last four days, after which they will have a four-day break to relax before preparing for the college entrance examination.

Thinking about it carefully, it really goes by quickly. Mo Xueyao will be a junior in the second half of this year, and a senior in the second half of next year...

Reading is a marathon, and short-term efforts are not very effective; what's needed is long-term persistence.

"Ye Banxia, ​​you need to supervise the cleaning yourself. Yaoyao and I are going to the teacher's office." After school, Li Wanyan said to the hygiene monitor while packing her schoolbag.

"Okay, go ahead~" After about two semesters, Ye Banxia had become quite familiar with Li Wanyan, and her tone was no longer as reserved as it had been at the beginning.

So, the two packed their schoolbags, put them in the drawer, and went to the homeroom teacher's office.

The teacher's office was equipped with a window-mounted air conditioner, which was blowing out cool air. Although it was summer, it felt like autumn.

"Ugh—the teacher's office is so much better," Mo Xueyao muttered as she walked up to her homeroom teacher.

"I called you two here today to make some arrangements for the summer vacation. First, I'd like to ask you both when you're available during the summer vacation?"

"We... um... are we both free?" Mo Xueyao glanced hesitantly at Li Wanyan.

"I'm available whenever I want," Li Wanyan replied confidently.

That would be great!

"You're not asking me to help with chores, are you...? It would be better to ask Gao Yuan and the others..." Mo Xueyao tried to use her girl identity at this moment, "The chores should be done by the boys!"

Li Wanyan gave her a strange look.

Although she doesn't really want to be a girl, she doesn't hesitate at all when it comes to enjoying the privileges of being a girl.

"Of course we're not going to do any work, we're taking you to the beach!"

"Wow, really?!" Mo Xueyao's eyes widened in surprise. "When?"

"You two will have to decide on the time. Here is the list. The students I've selected are the ones I've checked. You two need to ask these students if they have time during the summer vacation, and then we'll set aside some time when everyone is available to go to the beach together."

"Wow, it seems like there are quite a lot of people to invite..." Mo Xueyao exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the checkmarks on the list, "Is the school paying for it?"

"I'll be paying for it myself, and your teacher Qianyu will also contribute some money." Ye Wen smiled. "We'll be going to the beach in a small city, and if conditions permit, we'll stay for half a month to a month."

"Great! Summer is definitely the time to go to the beach!" Mo Xueyao clenched her fist excitedly. "It would be best to go as soon as vacation starts!"

"Don't be in such a hurry, we need to make arrangements first." Ye Wen smiled helplessly.

"The small city, is it that small city?" Li Wanyan asked.

"Yes, it's that small city called 'small city'!"

"Ah, is that place? I heard it's by the sea, so it must be very crowded in the summer, right?"

"It's okay, the place we're going to is a beach where nobody goes."

"There are places like that?" Mo Xueyao scratched her cheek. "As long as it's a tourist attraction, it'll be fenced off and treated as a scenic area, and even if the tickets are expensive, it'll still be packed with people during holidays."

"Don't worry, I'll take you to an undeveloped beach."

"Why not develop it?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously.

"Because that beach belongs to my family."

"Huh—?" Mo Xueyao never expected that her homeroom teacher was even richer than her English teacher, Wang Qianyu.

If you have so much money, why would you need to work a job?

Is being a teacher really just a hobby?

Perhaps teachers who are not teachers for a living have more patience and interest in teaching their students well?

When they returned to the classroom, only Ye Banxia was left to finish up.

Check which areas weren't cleaned properly and then clean them again yourself.

"Why is Xiaxia all alone again?"

"The class monitor wasn't here, so they just did a quick job and ran off," Ye Banxia said with a wry smile.

"You should learn from Wanyan once in a while and show some authority as a class leader!"

"Oh, I'm probably not very good at that kind of thing... managing other people and stuff..." Ye Banxia said shyly, brushing a strand of hair that was stuck to her cheek with sweat.

"By the way, Xiaxia seems to be on the list, right?" Mo Xueyao took the list from Li Wanyan's hands and looked at it. "Yes, that's right, Xiaxia is on the list, Xiaxia!"

"What's wrong?"

"Congratulations! You can go to the beach during summer vacation!"

"Huh?"

"Um, are you free during summer vacation? When are you free?"

"I should have time, um... I might have to go back to my hometown in August."

"So you'll have time even in July?"