A Young Woman's Heart

"Uh... it only happens once every four years?"

Mo Zhuyou lazily squinted her eyes: "What? This is such a small matter. Let's just celebrate it on the 28th. It's only one day different anyway, it doesn't matter, right?"

"No way! Even though it's only one day different, it doesn't feel like my birthday."

"Tch, so dramatic." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes and pried Hua Yinyin's arm off. "Then let's not go."

Mo Xiaoxiao covered her mouth and chuckled: "Pfft, what Yinyin means is that she hopes we can celebrate her birthday with her."

"No, I didn't! I was just venting!" Hua Yinyin snorted. "But it's so disappointing that none of you remembered my birthday!"

"What day of the week is the 28th?" Mo Zhuyou asked.

Mr. Xue answered without hesitation, "Wednesday."

"Then let's have a birthday party for Yin Yin on Wednesday night! Hmm, my sister and I didn't have time to go last time!"

"No! I don't want to celebrate my birthday unless it's the 29th!" Hua Yinyin raised her little face and said stubbornly.

The group looked around at each other and couldn't help but smile.

"What are you laughing at!" Hua Yinyin slapped the table, her face flushed, causing ripples to spread across everyone's teacups.

The topic quickly shifted again, and the sky gradually darkened, with the setting sun, like a giant fireball, already very close to the ground.

The days are getting longer now. In winter, it would be completely dark by now, but now the setting sun seems to linger in the sky for a while longer.

"Wow, it's six o'clock!" Mo Xueyao glanced at the watch she won in the raffle from her godfather last time, and carefully wiped off the dust. "It's time to go home. Dinner should be ready by now, right?"

"Huh, is it already six o'clock? It's not even dark yet," Mo Zhuyou asked in surprise.

"It's spring now, so it doesn't get dark so early."

"Alright, alright, let's go home then!"

"Hmm... it's time to go home." Yu Shu nodded gently and stood up first.

Everyone packed up their belongings, and with a 'thud' as the classroom door closed, today's campus life came to an end.

Mo Xueyao, carrying an extra-long electronic keyboard almost as tall as herself, wobbled down the stairs, looking as comical as a toddler just learning to walk.

"Hua Yinyin, don't laugh!"

"I wasn't laughing, pfft... hahahaha..."

"It's so heavy, Ms. Qiu's electronic keyboard is terrible..."

"Little Yaoyao, that's not what you said when you were playing it, is it?"

"Tsk..."

The group arrived at that familiar intersection again, said their goodbyes, and parted ways. Accompanying her home was Li Wanyan, who was still not very talkative.

Their stomachs rumbled in protest, urging the two girls to hurry home—under the gentle gaze of the setting sun.

……

Chapter Eighteen: Another Year, My Parents' Wedding Anniversary

Wednesday, November 2001, 2.

The sunset had set the clouds ablaze, and the wings of the birds soaring in the sky looked as if they were on fire.

A passenger plane flew overhead, leaving a long contrail that added a white streak to the orange-red sky.

Sutang has been running off to other places lately and not coming home. Her parents say she's grown up and become more wild, and who knows, she might not even come home anymore after a while.

Mo Xueyao was also somewhat worried about this, but to this family, it was not just a pet, but more like a member of the family, so if it wanted to leave, it should be given that freedom.

Besides, cats aren't dogs. If you chain a cat up, how can it catch mice?

A kitten isn't expensive, and even if it leaves, it's just a matter of emotional loss.

"Meow—" Just as she was thinking, a familiar meow came from her feet. She looked down and saw Su Tang, who had become much thinner, leisurely licking her paws. Her fur was a little dirty, as if she had rolled in the mud.

"Sutang, where have you run off to again? You always run out of the house. Now you know to come back? Now you know to eat dinner, right?" Mo Xueyao scratched its chin, and the latter simply lay flat on the ground, looking like it didn't want to move at all.

I doubt it would resist if I took it to bathe right now.

Behind the fruit shop, my mother was busily preparing dinner. In a red plastic bucket were two eels, which were wriggling and struggling weakly.

"Mom, why is there such a big feast today? What's the occasion?"

"Ask your dad! Can't you see I'm busy? You don't help but keep asking, it's so annoying." The mother shook the iron pot hard with annoyance, and the flames rising from the gas stove immediately engulfed it, which looked frightening enough from a distance, but she didn't change her expression.

For her, it was just a basic cooking skill.

"Tch, fine, I won't tell you then." So Mo Xueyao ran back to the front, "Dad, what day is it today?"

"What day?"

"My mom told me to ask you this!"

"Oh—it's our wedding anniversary."

"Huh? Another wedding anniversary? Time flies..." Mo Xueyao muttered, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear with her index finger. "That's perfect, then Wanyan and I won't disturb you two on your anniversary!"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to a classmate's birthday party today!"

Why wasn't this mentioned beforehand?

"You forgot? Then Wanyan and I are leaving!"

"Okay, okay, come back early tonight!"

"OK, remember to tell Mom!" Mo Xueyao excitedly patted Li Wanyan's shoulder, grabbed her wrist, and ran out of the store.

The reason I told my father instead of my mother was because my father was straightforward and easy to agree to. If I had told my mother, I would have had to coax and plead for a long time, and even if she agreed, there wouldn't have been enough time...

There was no band practice today. Everyone else had already gone to Hua Yinyin's house. Mo Xueyao came back to tell her because it was nearby, so as not to worry her parents too much.

"It's so crowded..." Mo Xueyao had just dragged Li Wanyan to the bus stop when the bus they needed to take arrived. She hurriedly jumped on, and immediately felt like a hamburger meat sandwiched between two slices of bread, unable to move.

This is the time when people get out of school and off work, and it's also the time when buses are most crowded.

The driver pressed the broadcast button several times, and finally stood up and shouted at the back in a mix of Mandarin and local dialect: "There are still plenty of empty seats in the back, why are you all crowding in the front!"

So, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan were pushed backward by the crowd, and they even had some difficulty breathing.

The importance of height became apparent at this moment. Li Wanyan, who was 1.67 meters tall, was much more at ease than Mo Xueyao, who was 1.62 meters tall. At least she could easily grab the pull ring on top, while Mo Xueyao could not find any iron bars to grab on around her, so she could only hold onto her arm and make do with it as a handrail.

In the swaying can—no, the bus—Mo Xueyao felt like a lone boat on a vast ocean, unable to stand steadily.

Because Li Wanyan sometimes couldn't control her swaying, the crowd was like rice stalks being blown by the wind, sometimes leaning forward and sometimes backward.

To find out where you are, you can only rely on the station name.

"Next stop, Fuxing Road North Exit, passengers please disembark..."

"Yaoyao, we've arrived at the next stop."

"Ah...are we almost there..." Mo Xueyao's face flushed unnaturally, and she said softly, panting, "I feel like I can't take it anymore...I feel like throwing up..."

Li Wanyan gently pulled the arms that were holding her closer to her, but in the noisy environment, Mo Xueyao couldn't hear the gentleness in her voice: "Hold on a little longer."

"I'll try my best..." Mo Xueyao swallowed, and time seemed to drag on endlessly.

Actually, it's only a few hundred meters from one stop to the next, but the bus keeps stopping and starting. It's not that there are too many cars causing the traffic jam, but rather that there are always construction vehicles carrying goods blocking the way, or the road conditions are too bad, so the bus can only move slowly.

This area is still under development, with construction sites and haphazardly built urban villages everywhere.

"Passengers, Fuxing..."

Before the broadcast had even finished, the car door swung open with a 'whoosh'.

Basically, most of the passengers who were still on the train got off at this stop.

Many people rent apartments here because the rent is cheaper compared to areas like the city center.

Farmers also have more options when it comes to housing. If you live alone, you can rent a small house that is only a few square meters in size—it's just a place to sleep anyway.

When Mo Xueyao got out of the car, her legs were so weak that she probably would have fallen on the steps if Li Wanyan hadn't been supporting her.

The sky had darkened, and a warm breeze carrying the scent of the setting sun blew in our faces.

A group of people got off the bus like a tide, and then, like water flowing into a sewer, they quickly dispersed and disappeared.

"Huff...ha...huff..." Mo Xueyao took several deep breaths of fresh air, her expression gradually relaxing. "Ah...I'm alive again..."

"Do you still feel like throwing up?"

"I feel much better now, I don't feel like throwing up anymore. Whew, I'm so tired. There shouldn't be as many people when I go back, right?"

Li Wanyan turned her head and glanced at the bus stop sign: "The last bus is at seven o'clock."

"Huh? Eh? There are no more buses at seven o'clock? How are we going to get back? It's already past six!" Mo Xueyao covered her face. "Looks like we'll have to take a taxi..."

"You can also stay at Hua Yinyin's house."

"It's never really good to bother others... Well, it wouldn't be a problem if everyone lived there?"

"Mmm." Li Wanyan nodded gently. This time, she took the initiative to grab Mo Xueyao's wrist. The two walked for almost two kilometers before finally arriving at the foot of Hua Yinyin's high-rise building.

There are no bus stops or shops near her neighborhood. The nearest one is a construction site, and then there is a large open space for a newly built but not yet officially open road.

Every day she has to ride her bike or walk a long way to catch a bus, which is quite an arduous task.

Mo Xueyao, who was used to living in the fruit shop and being able to walk to school in about ten minutes, now finds even taking a bus from home to school too far, let alone spending one or two hours a day commuting to and from school like Hua Yinyin.

Fortunately, she no longer had to take the stairs to go upstairs; she could take the elevator directly instead. Otherwise, Mo Xueyao would probably have collapsed after climbing to the top of this high-rise building.

The main problem is that the car ride was too tiring, and now I just want to rest and don't want to move around at all.

As the elevator approached, the sounds of boisterous laughter and chatter could be faintly heard.

When the elevator doors opened, you could see her apartment with the front door wide open, and a large group of girls were gathered around the sofa, seemingly making a ruckus.

"Phew, hey, I'm here!" Mo Xueyao stood at the door, took off her shoes, and eagerly rushed into the room.

Li Wanyan quietly arranged her shoes before leisurely walking into the house, closing the door behind her.

"Little Yaoyao, you're here!" Hua Yinyin, who was lying on the sofa, looked up excitedly at Mo Xueyao with her hair all messy, "Come help, we've pinned Xiaoxue down on the sofa!"