A Young Woman's Heart

Mo Xueyao draped her arm over his shoulder, her blue eyes blinking playfully: "What's up? You want to think about philosophy again?"

"Haha, I just suddenly thought of these things. Although I don't earn much, I'm still very happy."

That's life.

The more money a person has, the more detached they become from life itself.

Shi Haiming was the same before.

After all, he can easily make a lot of money, so naturally he wouldn't come to a place full of everyday life.

After all, it's still more comfortable to sit in a big, air-conditioned restaurant right now.

Every available space was filled with tables and chairs. Although many large electric fans used on construction sites were blowing loudly, it was still difficult to dispel the summer heat.

What would you like to eat?

"Let me see," Shi Haiming said, somewhat undecided.

The snacks here are very cheap, but there's a good variety.

You could say that you can find almost any snack you can think of here, and there are also quite a few unexpected ones.

The egg pancakes are even cheaper than those outside the school gate. For just one yuan, you can add pork tenderloin, pork floss, and ham sausage, and they're stuffed full.

Roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) is made from a whole piece of meat, and adding one piece only costs 50 cents. Vegetables are the cheapest thing here, and many stalls give them away for free.

Even if you cook for yourself, it probably won't be much cheaper than this.

"Hey young man, wanna have some ramen?"

"Little girl, would you like some thin-skinned shumai?"

"Hey, you little blue-eyed girl! Come try the seafood fried rice! A big bowl for one dollar and fifty cents!"

As they walked through the crowded aisle, the conspicuous Shi Haiming and Mo Xueyao always received a greeting from the boss.

Shi Haiming finally decided to eat ramen.

"Young man, you don't come here to eat often, do you?"

"Ah, uh...yes."

"Just tell me what side dishes you want, or I'll just put a little of each kind in for you."

"Uh, what's that?"

"Bean sausage tastes a bit like gluten."

"I want this, and then... beef."

"Okay." The boss grabbed a long piece of bean curd and put it into the noodle bowl, then generously scooped a large spoonful of sliced ​​beef onto the noodles.

The price here isn't based on what you add, but on the price per bowl of noodles.

Even without any extras, it's still 2.5 yuan – any side dishes are considered complimentary.

Beef, bean curd sausage, sausage, tripe, pork intestines, pork liver, bacon, beef head meat...

It was like reciting a menu, all of which were added to this big bowl of noodles at once.

This can be considered a real large bowl.

It's no exaggeration to say that Mo Xueyao could use this as a washbasin.

If it weren't for the fact that it's so far from home, she would really like to eat here every day.

With so many shops, it feels like it would take three months to try every single snack.

Mo Xueyao bought a seafood fried rice for 1.5 yuan.

This thing is also served in a 'basin', with all sorts of ingredients being thrown in like they're free.

"Is that enough? Would you like some more?" the owner asked cheerfully, casually tossing a few more peeled shrimp and clam meat into the pot.

"That's enough... any more would be a waste..." Mo Xueyao nodded repeatedly. "Don't add any more, we can't eat anymore."

"Haha, you're at the age where you're growing, how can you only eat so little? Are you about to take the high school entrance exam? Look how skinny you are."

Mo Xueyao thought her legs were a bit chubby, but this uncle said she was thin, making her doubt whether she was really that thin.

"I'm taking the college entrance exam next year..."

"College entrance exam next year? Oh... hahaha, I thought you were only in junior high. You look so young and fresh." The uncle's compliments were quite rough, but they weren't annoying.

"cough……"

"If you're not satisfied, you can come and get some more fried rice." The owner opened the lid of an aluminum container in front of him, which was full of fried rice. At that moment, a migrant worker uncle who had just bought seafood fried rice came over with his bowl to get more rice.

There was also a large bucket of tomato and egg drop soup next to it. It was a real bowl of egg drop soup; one spoonful would yield a huge amount of egg drop, even more than the soup itself, making the soup quite thick.

"The soup bowl is over there, help yourself to the soup!"

"Okay, okay..."

Mo Xueyao first placed the seafood fried rice on the nearest empty table, and then came over to ladle out a bowl of soup.

I feel like this soup alone is worth at least 50 cents.

Shi Haiming was already seated next to him, taking apart disposable chopsticks, ready to feast.

Wow, you have even more!

"Yes, they gave us a lot of noodles and toppings. The owner here is still as enthusiastic as ever."

Back in junior high, it seemed like I wasn't afraid of getting tired, and even though it was far away, I would often come over to eat during holidays.

Mo Xueyao was usually the one who got treated to meals.

"Oh my." A middle-aged man carrying a hard hat walked past their table. He was holding a large bowl of spicy soup, and there were about a dozen large steamed buns inside his hard hat. "You've only eaten this much?"

"So little...?" Mo Xueyao covered her forehead. "I feel like I won't need to eat breakfast tomorrow..."

"Haha, uncle, can you eat all these steamed buns?"

"I can eat it!" the uncle laughed heartily. "Sometimes I'm so tired from work in the morning that these buns aren't enough, so I can eat two pancakes too!"

The burly man swayed as he walked to the table behind and sat down, and his companions gradually gathered around.

With a bottle of beer, everyone takes turns drinking from it, holding the bottle up to the mouth. Just one sip is enough to start a long, boastful story.

When they finished eating, Mo Xueyao had only eaten a third of the seafood. This was probably the most satisfying seafood she had ever eaten.

And they all look quite fresh, not at all like they're frozen.

Hangzhou is not far from N Port, so was it shipped over on the same day?

"Let's go, time to get to work!" Those who hadn't finished eating were urged on by their companions.

"What are you doing!"

"Then go take a nap!"

"Oh!"

By the time Shi Haiming and Mo Xueyao finally finished eating, the place had emptied considerably. Although there were still quite a few people coming for lunch, it wasn't as crowded as before.

"Ah... this soup is so delicious, so refreshing." Shi Haiming patted his belly gently and let out a long sigh of relief. "I feel so full I can hardly move."

“Me too—I’ll gain at least two pounds after this meal…” Mo Xueyao pinched the flesh on her thigh.

Shi Haiming, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but laugh: "You're fat? Fat? I didn't see you gain even a little bit of weight during the three years of junior high school."

Do you think I have a body type that can't gain weight no matter how much I eat?

"Isn't that right?"

"Tch, definitely not." Mo Xueyao propped her cheek up with one hand. She had intended to lean back, but after tilting her head back slightly, she realized it was a bench with no backrest.

"Let's take a break."

"Yeah, otherwise I really wouldn't be able to walk."

"Hey, young lady, are you from X province?" The passersby here seem to really enjoy greeting others, even strangers, and will chat for a bit.

The person who asked this question was an older woman, much like Gian's mother in Doraemon.

"Ah, no..."

"So, where were your ancestors from?"

"No... my great-grandfather was Russian..."

"No wonder, your eyes are so beautiful. I wish my daughter had blue eyes too."

"Ah... Actually, black looks good too. In other countries, black is less common. It's just that there are more black things in our country."

"The little girl is so good at talking, haha—" The aunt carried her noodles away and walked into the still bustling crowd—the clamor of voices here even drowned out the noise of the summer messengers.

……　

Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Church

Sunday, July 6, 2001.

She spent the night at Yu Shu's house on Friday. Early Saturday morning, her father came over to help with the renovations and told her that some of her old buddies had invited her out. After being specifically reminded to be careful, she finally set off.

After taking two buses, I finally arrived at the place I used to frequent.

—Actually, I originally planned to ride a bicycle, but it was too hot, so I chose to take the air-conditioned bus instead.

When I arrived, I planned to go to the arcade, but it turned out to be closed. So I wandered around and didn't feel tired while exploring. But when I wanted to turn back, I found that I had already walked a long way.

Even though Shi Haiming helped her call a taxi, it was already past seven o'clock when they got back to the fruit shop.

There was a power outage at night, so the electric fan couldn't be turned on, and I felt sweaty all night.

She finally got the power back in the early hours of the morning, and wanted to sleep a little longer, but was woken up by Hua Yinyin who came to the store.

The time is 8:00 AM.

In a daze, she and Hua Yinyin took the bus and got off at some unknown stop.

Li Wanyan helped me comb my hair, and I changed my clothes without looking at them carefully.