A Young Woman's Heart

Su Tang tried to imitate her and grab her paws, but Mo Xueyao immediately pulled her off and stuffed her into the arms of the husky lying nearby.

The latter stared at her with disdainful eyes for a long time, then tilted his head and hugged Su Tang tightly.

"Meow—"

The cat and dog immediately started arguing. The husky, which never seemed to learn no matter how much it was beaten, kept trying despite its repeated defeats. But when it came to endurance, the cat was clearly no match for the dog...

The sun had not yet completely set, and the sky was a warm blue, with wisps of clouds drifting across it like golden scales.

The increasingly deep colors of the sunset shone on the steps of the fruit shop, slowly moving outwards. Some of the snow on the pine trees nearby melted and fell softly.

Mo Xueyao hummed a song, leisurely watching Yu Jinyu play with several children of similar age nearby. The boys didn't give way to her at all; instead, they deliberately bullied her because she was pretty.

But Yu Jinyu was not as 'well-behaved' as she appeared in front of the adults. Instead, she was rather feisty. After a few rounds of playing, she became the leader among the children, eventually getting the boys to stop their dangerous wrestling game and start playing house with her instead.

Since there were no toys around, I used various stones, leaves, and random pieces of plastic as toys to play with.

Children always have rich imaginations. They can call a slightly oddly shaped stone a puppy, or a slightly curved leaf a small bowl...

Playing is children's nature.

Even Yu Jinyu, who had been well-educated by her parents since childhood, was no exception. Moreover, once she started playing, she didn't care about being dirty or clean. So, by the time it was almost time for dinner, her beautiful clothes had become quite dirty.

While scolding her, the godmother grabbed her and pulled her back, using a towel to wipe the areas that could be wiped clean, and then dragged her to wash her little face and hands.

Having had her fill of playing, she finally turned around, dashed over, and hugged Mo Xueyao's leg: "Sister Xiaoyao!!"

"You only thought of me after you'd had your fun? You didn't even say hello when you first arrived," Mo Xueyao said, feigning anger.

Yu Jinyu suddenly panicked and hurriedly explained, "No, no, I... I didn't see them at first, and... and my dad parked the car over there, and we walked over. I encountered those children first..."

Mo Xueyao couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that he, a mere child himself, was calling others "kids."

Even Li Wanyan, who was standing next to them, couldn't help but ask, "Are you much older than them?"

"I'm older than them all, okay? The oldest one is a year younger than me!! So they're all just kids."

"Then what are you?" Li Wanyan asked, her eyebrows curving slightly.

"I'm a grown-up kid now, a big kid!"

"Alright, alright, big kid, big kid, come and eat! I'm starving!" Mo Xueyao patted her head, watched the sun completely set, then turned and walked towards the table set up at the shop entrance...

After tonight, the new semester will begin.

I was looking forward to the start of school this afternoon, but when the time actually came, I felt a little reluctant to leave.

……

Volume 6: The Season of Youthful Bloom, Chapter 1: New! School! Uniforms!

Monday, August 2001, 2.

The anticipated inability to get out of bed did not occur.

Although it was the first day of school after winter break, Mo Xueyao got up very early. The snow that had fallen a few days ago had almost melted, and the whole city seemed to have been purified by the snow, looking incredibly clean.

At five o'clock, the alarm clock hadn't even gone off yet.

She scrambled to her feet, stepped over Li Wanyan lying beside her, and began groping around the dimly lit fruit shop with her toes.

I couldn't find my slippers, but I stepped on something fluffy and soft.

"Sutang—" Mo Xueyao looked down and found it lying on her slippers, fast asleep. Cats even drool in their sleep, making her slippers all wet.

"Meow..." Su Tang lazily rolled over, her two front paws holding the slippers, and her two hind paws kicking gently, as if she were having a dream.

Mo Xueyao nudged it aside with her foot, put on her slippers, and turned on the light.

As soon as the light came on, Li Wanyan woke up instantly. She squinted, looking a little dazed: "What time is it?"

"Five o'clock... um... just arrived." Mo Xueyao tilted her head and glanced at the clock. "It's not even dawn yet! Shall we sleep a little longer?"

"You're already awake, get up." Li Wanyan said this, but closed her eyes sleepily. She was only startled awake when Mo Xueyao pushed the door open and left.

The early spring morning was still a bit chilly. Mo Xueyao went out without a coat and immediately sneezed from the cold. Li Wanyan, who came out with her, also shivered and became much more awake.

"Ah—uh—I haven't felt this energetic since the entire winter break." Mo Xueyao turned her head left and right, her bones making a 'crackling' sound.

She didn't know if it was good for her health, but she felt comfortable doing it every morning. If her bones didn't make any noise that day, she would feel something was wrong and she would have to make them crack.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes, although I only slept for about six or seven hours, it felt more comfortable than if I had slept for ten hours. Maybe it was because I was in deep sleep for those few hours." Mo Xueyao took the faucet knob out of the counter drawer and pressed it onto the faucet.

The reason for making the knob into a detachable key shape is to prevent water from being stolen when the door is closed.

It's actually fine to use it for washing hands, but I'm worried that someone might deliberately vandalize it...

However, there's nothing that can be done if someone really wants to sabotage it, so this thing is probably similar to a car lock—it can only keep out honest people, not malicious ones.

The "gentleman" here actually refers to an ordinary person, meaning someone who can prevent ordinary people from acting impulsively...

The cool water brought a refreshing feeling. After finally washing for three minutes, Mo Xueyao tilted her head back and gurgled the water for a while before spitting it out in one gulp.

After washing up, only ten minutes had passed. It was still very early. My father was probably at the wholesale market, and my mother should have just gotten up. She still had to clean the house and make breakfast, so she wouldn't be here until at least six o'clock.

Fortunately, this is a fruit shop and not a breakfast shop, so even if it opens at six o'clock, it's not too late.

Of course, this can't compare to the breakfast shops on the street that are already emitting the aroma of food.

Back in the inner room, Mo Xueyao put on the school uniform that her mother had specially ironed the day before. It looked brand new, smooth and clean.

While the uniforms of Yukong High School are certainly nice, they become wrinkled if not properly maintained, making them less attractive than regular school uniforms.

So my mother's iron and ironing board finally found a use. She said that the iron was bought when my father first started working to iron his suits. Later, he became a seasoned employee and stopped wearing suits to work every day. So the old iron sat in some corner of the house for a long time.

If old items can be put to good use again, then the money spent on buying them back then has not been wasted.

"Bell...whoosh..." Mo Xueyao bent down and re-tied the bell to her ankle. She wiggled her ankle slightly, and the bell immediately rang with a clear and melodious sound. "OK, all set. Wanyan, let's go! Oh right, don't forget your schoolbag. I almost took my old schoolbag with me just now..."

Li Wanyan glanced at her sideways and shook her head helplessly: "Like a child."

"They're just kids!"

It had been a long time since Mo Xueyao had eaten breakfast on her way to school. Today, she specially bought a sesame seed cake and fried dough sticks and ate them as she walked. It seemed to taste much better than before, but that was probably just a psychological effect.

The security guard with a scar on his face was squatting at the school gate, shaving, with a small mirror in his other hand, seemingly enjoying his own self-admiration.

"Good morning, Uncle!" Yi greeted him proactively. "Why are you only shaving now that you're going to work?"

"Haha, we've been at work for ages already."

"Huh, going back to work on the eighth day of the new year?"

"Back to work on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year." The security guard touched the scar on his face, then scooped up a basin of water and wiped all the foam off his chin in one go.

Shaving seemed like a pleasant experience, and Yi couldn't help but glance at it a few more times, feeling a little regretful.

If I were a real man, I should be starting to grow a beard by this age, right?

There were a few male classmates who didn't shave, and they even thought it made them look particularly manly—Mo Xueyao agreed with this, but most of the other girls were somewhat disgusted by boys with beards.

The main reason is that although he grew a beard, he didn't groom it properly, so it looks a bit dirty.

As dawn broke, Li Wanyan turned the key and pushed open the classroom door, causing a month's worth of accumulated dust to rise and swirl around.

"Cough cough!" Mo Xueyao fanned herself with her hand while coughing a few times. "Looks like no one has opened the door for a while..."

"Hmm." Li Wanyan nodded, but found that she couldn't pull the key out. Could it be that the keyhole had rusted from not being used for a month?

That's certainly not the case; it's just a bit sluggish.

She turned the key a few more times before finally pulling it out, while Mo Xueyao had already opened all the classroom windows.

The wind blew in from the playground and passed through the entire classroom.

"Hoo-ha-" Mo Xueyao took a deep breath by the window, tilted her head slightly, and saw Li Wanyan had already put down her schoolbag and was walking over with an English book in her hand. "Time for morning reading?"

"Ah."

This was Li Wanyan's own morning reading session. She never wasted her precious time. At first, Mo Xueyao felt ashamed and inferior to her, but over time, she got used to it.

People have different work styles. Li Wanyan is the kind of person who believes that diligence can make up for lack of talent, while Mo Xueyao prefers a balance between work and rest—cough, this is not an excuse for her occasional laziness.

"Hey, so early?" Qiu Yi's voice came from the doorway. He walked in carrying a large box and placed it on the podium with a 'thump'.

"Teacher Qiu, why are you up so early too?"

"Sigh, what can I do? I was called here by your homeroom teacher to do hard labor." Qiu Yi rubbed his shoulders, turned around and walked out of the classroom. "There are still a few boxes left, I have to carry them all over."

"What are all these? Do you need any help?" Mo Xueyao looked ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work immediately.

"Haha, what can I do to help? You can't even move them." Qiu Yi laughed loudly. "These are all long skirts for you girls. Only girls get them. Boys don't get new school uniforms."

"Tsk tsk, no wonder Wen asked you to move it, otherwise the boy would definitely not be happy later - after all, it's not your own business."

"Yeah, haha."

"Only the girls got new school uniforms..." Mo Xueyao muttered, leaning against the box. "Yukong High School truly lives up to its reputation as a school with a long history as an all-girls school. Although it's now a mixed-gender school, it seems to still retain some kind of tradition..."

"Isn't it a good thing to have a tradition of taking care of girls?"

"But I think if men and women are truly equal, girls shouldn't need special treatment."

"That's wrong. True equality means taking care of other people's weaknesses."

"Then I think it's not like boys are ever taken care of."

"But boys get more opportunities... right?" Qiu Yi wasn't entirely sure about his own words, so he didn't continue. He just waved his hand and ran downstairs again.

The next time, Qiu Yi came up with Ye Wen. Perhaps to avoid having to make another trip, Ye Wen carried a box herself.

"Xiaoyao, Wanyan, come on, what size clothes do you two wear? You can choose now. If any other girls come later, let each one take a set—a set is a package like this with two pieces inside, understand?" Ye Wen took a bunch of keys from Qiu Yi's waistband and used it as a knife to cut open the tape on the box.

"Why do we need so many school uniforms?" Mo Xueyao asked, but still leaned closer with curiosity. "Are they black, or are they winter uniforms again?"

"This is a dress for spring and autumn. Some students have complained that the dress is too short and it's a bit cold to wear."

"Oh, so you made a skirt with a really long hem? Looks like it can be worn in winter too."

“In winter… it should be fine when it’s not too cold.” Ye Wen opened a package of dresses and spread them out in front of Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan to show them off. “How is it? Isn’t it pretty? I also helped with the design.”

"Wow, Wen can design clothes?"