A Young Woman's Heart

"So much..." Mo Xueyao rubbed her neck and patted her shoulder, "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom..."

"Remember to flush the toilet." Ye Wen said, pinching Cha Li's cheek, and Cha Li pinched her cheek in return.

The two seemed to be playing a childish game of pinching each other's cheeks.

After relieving herself, Mo Xueyao staggered to the front and saw that Qiu Yi had already started yawning.

"Teacher Qiu, are you sleepy?"

"A little."

Why don't you listen to music?

"I don't like listening to music while driving," Qiu Yi shook her head, then yawned widely.

"How about we take a break?"

"Okay, let's rest a bit further ahead, there's a gas station there..." Qiu Yi held the steering wheel with one hand and rubbed his eyes hard with the other.

It looks like the journey will take even longer.

Mo Xueyao turned her head to look at the two people sitting in the passenger seat.

When Lu Bolun saw her looking over, he smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

"Oh, enjoying yourself so much with a beauty in your arms?" Mo Xueyao said teasingly.

Wang Jiale was already asleep, nestled in Lu Bolun's arms, looking quite intimate, which was rather enviable.

Mo Xueyao just didn't know whether she envied Lü Bolun or Wang Jiale, or perhaps both?

"Ha... thank goodness."

"You mean Lele isn't pretty enough?" Mo Xueyao had spent a lot of time with girls and had picked up some of their ways of speaking. "I'll tell her when she wakes up."

"Oh no, no, no!" Luberon panicked immediately. "I didn't mean that!"

"Mmm..." Wang Jiale, who was lying in Lu Bolun's arms, trembled her eyelashes, as if she was about to be woken up.

"Shh—" Luberon put his index finger to his lips.

"Hmm." Mo Xueyao stopped bothering him and quietly took a few steps back to her seat.

The journey continues at its own unhurried pace.

……

Chapter Sixteen: The Nameless Noodle Shop and Wenlan Academy

Time always seems to drag on a journey.

The scenery that always seems to repeat itself makes it easier to fall asleep.

Mo Xueyao didn't know when she fell asleep, only that when she woke up, she saw a somewhat old city, or perhaps a small town would be more accurate.

It was so dilapidated that there wasn't a single tall building in sight; all you could see were old walls and mud-brick houses...

Not all roads are made of asphalt; most are just a layer of cement.

The car slowly came to a stop, and the scenery outside the window finally stopped changing.

Mo Xueyao groggily opened her eyes, nudged Li Wanyan's arm beside her, and asked softly, "Have we arrived?"

"I don't know." Li Wanyan shook her head, closed her summer homework, and stuffed it back into her schoolbag.

This is a dilapidated city.

Let alone a third-tier city, it would be a stretch to call it a fifth-tier city.

"We're in the city. Qiu Yi and I will go downstairs to say hello to the people we know. You guys can stay here," Ye Wen said in a low voice.

It was only then that Mo Xueyao noticed that everyone except Li Wanyan was asleep. Even she had just woken up, not because the car had stopped, but simply because she happened to wake up. It was just a coincidence.

"Phew... I've been sitting for too long, I'll get out of the car and get some fresh air." Mo Xueyao wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and stood up unsteadily.

The others were still asleep, or in a semi-conscious state. Even though they heard their conversation, they didn't seem to intend to open their eyes unless they were actually called to get up.

This situation can occur when the journey takes too long.

"Phew—" Mo Xueyao took a deep breath as she got out of the car. Although the weather outside was still hot, she felt more comfortable than inside the car.

Because there is no air conditioning at home, she is not used to staying in an air-conditioned room all the time.

Moreover, the temperature in the small city seemed to be lower than in Hangzhou, the wind wasn't too hot, and she even felt a bit cool when the sun was occasionally blocked by clouds.

The RV was parked in front of a shop, blocking half of the road.

However, it seems that no one cares about this place at all, and no car has driven by for several minutes, so parking here doesn't seem to be a problem.

"Is this a small city?" Although it is in the same province as Hangzhou, this is Mo Xueyao's first time here. The buildings here give her the illusion of traveling back to the 1980s. She only has memories of it when she was about three years old. At that time, Hangzhou had many such buildings.

But twenty years have passed, and I didn't expect this place to still be so backward.

The homeroom teacher, Ye Wen, seemed to miss the place dearly, taking a deep breath of the air: "Wow—it's still the same as before."

"Yes, nothing has changed, that's great," Qiu Yi said with a light laugh.

"So that means it's always been this dilapidated?" Mo Xueyao stood under the shade of a tree. "Shouldn't things be changing for the better?"

“Haha—that’s true most of the time.” Qiu Yi laughed. “But if you leave your hometown for many years and come back, and it’s still the same as you remember it, those old memories will flood your mind. You can’t help but sigh and feel gratified that nothing has changed.”

"Teacher Qiu, it's a pity you're not a Chinese teacher."

"Tsk, if Wenwen hadn't taken the Chinese teacher's spot, I would probably be the new Chinese teacher, okay?" Qiu Yi clicked her tongue. "It's a pity that there were only a few spots available."

As they were talking, Ye Wen took out two boxes of gifts that she had prepared beforehand from the car. Judging from the packaging, they seemed to be specialties of West Lake. One box contained Longjing tea, and the other contained West Lake lotus root powder.

Qiu Yi and Ye Wen walked into a shop called 'Nameless Noodle Shop' together.

Mo Xueyao didn't go in to look; it was just some mundane family stuff anyway.

She didn't come out to chat or gossip; she just wanted some fresh air.

Before long, the two came out, waving their hands as they walked away, saying they didn't want any return gifts.

Mo Xueyao had seen these things seven or eight times every year during the Spring Festival, and she was already tired of them. With her eyelids drooping, she waited for the two of them to return to the car before twisting her body and getting back into the car with Li Wanyan.

The car started again and drove on the not-so-wide road.

In small cities, roads are mostly narrow, with only two lanes, one for going out and one for coming in.

There are four lanes only when you get to the city center, and it's only for a short stretch.

The RV's intermittent starting and stopping finally woke the others from their hazy dreams.

Hua Yinyin was able to wake up because she felt that her discomfort had lessened considerably.

"Phew, are we almost there?" she muttered. "I feel like I've been on the bus for three days and three nights... I really want to get off..."

"Almost there, almost there," Ye Wen chuckled. "Qiu Yi and I will stop at our old high school for a bit, and then we'll head straight to the finish line."

"Where did A-Wen go to school before?" Cha Li suddenly changed tactics, scratching Ye Wen's chin. "What kind of place was it?"

"Haha, you'll be shocked when you see it!" Qiu Yi laughed loudly. "It's a very large school, encompassing primary, middle, and high school levels. Its area is almost the same as a university, making it the best school in this small city."

Before Mo Xueyao could ask her name, she saw a plaque in the distance come into view—

The four powerful yet simple characters of "Wenlan Academy" immediately evoke a sense of the vicissitudes of time.

The car stopped at the entrance of the college. It seemed that the students here had not yet started their summer vacation, as the sounds of students laughing and playing could still be heard inside.

"Teacher, can we go down and take a look too?" Cha Li asked curiously.

"Of course you can."

There were quite a few people; about ten students got out of the car and followed Ye Wen and Qiu Yi into the academy.

"This is the high school section, that's the junior high section, and that's the elementary school section. There are walls separating them. The high school section is the largest, twice the size of the total area of ​​Yukong High School."

"Wow, it's huge!" Mo Xueyao exclaimed. "It's amazing that such a large academy exists in a small city."

In her mind, Yukong High School was already very big, but she didn't expect that this was just a high school section and it would be much bigger.

After registering at the security booth at the entrance, everyone followed Ye Wen and Qiu Yi into the teaching building.

"I'm going to see my homeroom teacher."

"The homeroom teacher's homeroom teacher?" Mo Xueyao had already started playing with Russian nesting dolls.

"You must be very old."

"Hmm...it's alright, she's only around thirty years old, she should still be quite young?" Ye Wen wasn't quite sure, it seemed like she hadn't been here for many years either.

"The security guard said it's class in Class 3 of Grade 11." Qiu Yi, carrying a box of gifts, walked a little behind Ye Wen.

"Still in Class 3?" Qiu Yi couldn't help but laugh, as if she was thinking of the past.

Perhaps he was in Class 3 when he was studying here?

When everyone arrived at the door of Class 3, Grade 1, they found that class was still in session.

A woman with wheat-colored skin is standing on the podium explaining the exam paper.

She looks to be barely 1.5 meters tall, and at first glance, she even seems younger than Ye Wen.

But you should know that she was already Ye Wen's homeroom teacher when Ye Wen was in school!

She was lecturing inside and didn't notice anything until she realized her students were all looking out the window.

The bell rang at that very moment, signaling the end of get out of class.

"Ye Wen, Qiu Yi?"

"Yes! Dan, you haven't changed at all!" Ye Wen ran up to him with a smile, took the gift that Qiu Yi was carrying from his hands and handed it to her.

"Why did you suddenly come back?"

"Our high school is already on summer vacation."

"Wow—" the students exclaimed in envy.

"Do big cities start summer vacation this early?"