A Young Woman's Heart

"Now we have the sweet taste in Yao Yao's mouth!"

"Oh dear—"

……

Chapter Twenty-Eight: New Characters

Friday, July 6, 2001.

As Mo Xueyao prepared to leave, she tore off a page from yesterday's almanac, and today's almanac was displayed before her eyes: "Suitable for burial and encoffining, and today is auspicious for all matters."

The Qingming Festival has just passed, so it's the right time for burial...

She couldn't help but grin, amused by this slightly absurd little thing in life.

Because of home renovations, everyone is temporarily crammed into this small fruit shop.

Father got up early to buy goods, and Mother opened the shop early as well. The roller shutter door was ajar, and she was making breakfast at the back of the fruit shop.

The rice cooker next to the counter was steaming, and it looked like it was about to burst into bubbles.

Li Wanyan glanced at it, then immediately squatted down and opened the lid. The water and foam inside had already reached the edge of the inner liner, and only slowly receded after it was opened.

The aroma of thick porridge filled the shop, even making the sprawling, flaky candy twitch its cute cat nose.

It was away from home for five whole days before it came back, and the cat had lost a lot of weight from hunger. It hasn't gone out since.

They seem to have settled down again.

"Hey, Crispy Candy." Mo Xueyao scratched its chin. "Don't you need a bath? Tsk, why haven't you been going out lately? Did your girlfriend dump you?"

"Meow—" Su Tang straightened up and stretched, then lay back down with a 'thud' and closed her eyes again.

This made Mo Xueyao chuckle: "What do you mean? Are you a cell phone? It just ran out of power when it was about to start up?"

It didn't answer, but instead started snoring even louder than before.

The water at the shop entrance was as cold as ever, as if it had been drawn from a deep well.

Every time Mo Xueyao washes her face, the cold air instantly wakes her up.

As a result, the oxygen content in the air seemed to have increased.

Wash up and then put on your school uniform.

"Mom, why are all the stockings I'm given black or gray, or some other dark color?" Mo Xueyao shouted at her mother through the window of the small room towards the back of the shop.

"Huh?" Mother flipped the egg pancake over. "I'll give you the white one. It was this color when you left in the morning, but who knows what it will look like when you come back tonight!"

"Pshaw, am I really that unhygienic?"

“If you were as clean as Yan Yan, I would definitely make you wear white too. White looks so nice.” The mother scooped up the fried egg pancake with a spatula and neatly placed it on the plate next to her.

"There's no harm in trying!"

"It's a waste of socks. You can wear the ones Yan Yan has worn before, so you don't ruin the new ones."

"Tch—" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, but didn't seem to mind. She turned around and shouted, "Wanyan—! Give me a pair of white socks!"

"Long tubes?"

"Yes! I'll trade with you for mine!"

"Ah."

And so, today Mo Xueyao wasn't wearing black stockings, but rather stockings the color of milk.

To be precise, they should be called over-the-knee socks.

Perhaps because I've worn them so many times, the socks on the soles of my feet are a bit thin, and when I lift my feet, I can see some pinkish skin.

"Hey—oh!" Mo Xueyao bent down and tied the bell to her ankle, while Li Wanyan put the silver bracelet on her right wrist, moved it gently left and right, and only put her arm down after confirming that it was comfortable.

In damp and cold weather—such as spring mornings—her right hand would become somewhat weak. Although the surgery was successful and her recovery was good, she still suffered some aftereffects.

"Yan Yao—breakfast is ready!" Her mother shouted, followed by the sound of bowls and plates being placed on the table.

"What kind of name is Yan Yao?" Mo Xueyao asked helplessly as she walked to the shop entrance, the bells on her ankles jingling.

While using the jack to fully open the roller shutter door, the mother quickly replied, "Yan Yan, Yao Yao, that's how you call them when you're in a hurry, isn't it quite nice?"

"Don't combine other people's names into strange words..." Mo Xueyao shook her head helplessly and sat down on the small stool.

Since they started renovating their house, the two of them have been eating breakfast at the fruit shop, which has saved them a lot of money every day.

But she still occasionally wants to eat out, probably because the breakfasts at home are always too repetitive...

The main dishes are either egg pancakes or poached eggs, and occasionally there will be zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), but they are not the deep-fried kind, because my mother said that deep-fried food is unhealthy.

The feeling of eating zongzi with porridge is like eating a bite of sticky rice and then drinking a sip of rice soup—the staple food is carbohydrates, and the main dish is also carbohydrates, isn't that a bit strange?

As for side dishes, it's basically pickled vegetables every day.

However, there are quite a few options available.

Pickled cucumbers, dried radish, sweet and sour garlic, pickled cowpeas...

But you can get tired of eating it after a while.

The mother was left to wash the dishes. After finishing their meal, the two of them put on their pretty schoolbags and went out.

Mo Xueyao raised her hand, touched the metallic watch strap, and checked the time: "Six o'clock sharp... That's early today."

"Hmm." Li Wanyan nodded lightly, looking around leisurely and casually.

Grandma Jin's 24-hour convenience store never closes. The person who works at night is that chubby young man. He sits in the store with his eyelids drooping, looking extremely sleepy.

What is a morning for others is an evening before nightfall for him.

"Hey—good morning!" Mo Xueyao waved her handbag as she saw him come out and splash cold water on his face to wake himself up.

"Oh, good morning." He nodded somewhat blankly and went back into the shop.

The morning air was filled with a pleasant feeling.

Mo Xueyao hummed the tune of "Colorful Clouds Ice Cream" as she walked lightly.

"Yaoyao is starting to walk more and more like Yinyin."

"Damn, is there?"

"Ah."

Mo Xueyao immediately slowed down and tried to move with light, graceful steps like Li Wanyan, but she got bored after only a few steps.

"Ah, it's so much more comfortable to walk briskly..."

"Hmm, this doesn't look like Yin Yin anymore."

"What does that look like?" Mo Xueyao took bigger steps, making it look like a crab walking sideways.

"Like a godfather."

"Godfather?" Mo Xueyao was taken aback for a moment before realizing that she wasn't referring to Yu Liang, but to her own father. "My dad?"

"Ah."

"Tsk, that seems to be it. He walks with a really arrogant gait, usually like this, then he puts one hand in his pocket, and with the other hand reaches into his collar for cigarettes, takes one out of the pack, puts the cap back on, and then lights it with a lighter in the other hand..."

As Mo Xueyao spoke, she imitated the movements with remarkable accuracy.

Li Wanyan smiled, her eyes crinkling, and simply nodded without saying a word.

Today, I unexpectedly ran into this guy at the school gate who would never normally be here at this time.

—Gao Yuan and Zhou Yong.

"Hey, you two sneaked in so early, you didn't do any homework, did you?" Mo Xueyao, carrying an extra-long electronic keyboard, ran over, the bells on her ankles making a crisp sound. She slapped them on the shoulders with both hands and exclaimed in feigned surprise, "No way, no way? We had to copy an entire modern text for Chinese class yesterday! Do you think you had enough time?"

"Damn it!" Gao Yuan spat on the ground. "Couldn't we have come earlier?!"

"That's strange, why are you all here so early? You're not here to clean or do morning reading, so you must be here to copy homework, right?"

Zhou Yong scratched his head sheepishly: "Uh, we're here to test the new character."

"A new character?" Mo Xueyao's eyes widened. "What new character? Ah—is it the reward for first place last time?"

"Yes, yes, yes, it was Zhou Yong who designed the character."

"Oh, I see. Take me with you!" Mo Xueyao turned around and hung the electronic keyboard she was carrying on her back on Li Wanyan's shoulders. "Wanyan, just put it in the classroom for me, I'll get it later! Oh, and please take my schoolbag too!"

Then, she couldn't wait to put her arms around their shoulders and urged them to hurry up and see what the newly designed characters looked like.

Li Wanyan gently shook her head, but still silently took her electronic keyboard and schoolbag upstairs.

"Go to the game room. It's still in testing, so we only installed one machine there."

"Let me play first!"

"Damn it, I was here first! It's time to go in order!" Gao Yuan shouted.

"What? You're so stingy! Let me play for a bit before I go to the band practice room. It's so early, you can play for a long time!"

The three of them walked into the game room amidst all the noise.

The game console being tested was the one placed at the very front—a spot in a classroom where the lectern is usually placed.

The three of them couldn't contain their excitement as they waited for the machine to start, and then went straight to the character selection screen.

"Which one? Where is she?" Mo Xueyao hadn't found her yet.

“This is it.” Zhou Yong had already chosen his new role, a blue-eyed girl. When she first saw it, she thought it was based on her and was about to tease Zhou Yong when she realized that it wasn’t.

Apart from her eye color, this character is nothing like her.

With her upturned eyebrows, phoenix eyes, and relatively mature oval face, she exudes less girlishness than other teacher characters, appearing more reserved and composed.

This person didn't seem to match anyone Mo Xueyao knew—although she still felt they looked somewhat familiar.

But good-looking people generally have similarities, so there's nothing strange about that.

"Hmm, Mysterious Girl A... Is that her name?"

"Uh, yes." Zhou Yong nodded somewhat embarrassedly, "The illustrations seem much prettier than the models..."