A Young Woman's Heart

"Don't stick your claws out." She patted its head again, moving its claws from her black pantyhose to her black pleated skirt.

"Meow—" Su Tang gently nibbled at her skirt as if she was being sulky, but seeing that the latter did not react, she squinted her eyes again out of boredom.

Mo Xueyao buried herself in her work for a while before finally finishing half of it.

She stretched out a big yawn, picked up the last string of cold meatballs, and took a big bite.

Although the meatballs were cold, perhaps it was the sense of accomplishment that made them taste delicious to her, and she could even taste a hint of sweetness.

"Xiaoyao, do you want some oden?"

"Grandma Jin? No need, no need, just give me some hot soup." Mo Xueyao said somewhat embarrassedly. Every time Grandma Jin was here, she couldn't pay because the latter simply wouldn't accept the money. Even if the soup was placed on the counter, she would stuff it back into Mo Xueyao's pocket.

"Okay." Grandma Jin smiled happily, took the large paper cup she had just used to the counter, and filled it with some clear broth from the oden.

Then they added a string of kelp knots, a string of dried bamboo shoots, a string of tempura, and a string of crab sticks.

—The crab sticks were specially peeled off the outer plastic wrapping to avoid tasting a plastic flavor with every bite.

"what……"

"We can't just drink soup, can we?"

"Oh, I'm not hungry..."

"Eat up, eat slowly." Grandma Jin didn't rush to leave, but finally asked with some curiosity, "What are you doing?"

"This? Uh, make a room and a courtyard inside the walnut. Don't tell Dad, we'll give him a surprise later."

"A surprise?" Grandma Jin was stunned for a moment before she came to her senses. "Oh—it's Father's Day today, right?"

"Correct!"

Compared to a courtyard, a room with more furniture and decorations is more difficult to build.

Mo Xueyao drew a simple sketch on the cardstock, roughly dividing it into three layers, with a miniature cartoon figure on each layer—actually, it wasn't a person at all, but rather a humanoid accessory similar to Bugs Bunny.

As for copyright, it's practically non-existent in China at least in this era.

Time flowed slowly, and Li Wanyan even came to call her to have lunch.

However, Mo Xueyao wanted to finish it in one go, so she told her parents that she had already eaten at Grandma Jin's.

The parents didn't come to ask, which is normal. Although this is a city, for shop owners, it's just like the countryside in the past. It's all too common for their children to go around to eat at familiar restaurants nearby.

Just like when they were kids in the countryside, they ate meals from many different families.

Grandma Jin added oden to her bowl several times. Mo Xueyao wasn't hungry at all. The warm soup was perfect for such a damp, rainy day. Moreover, the oden broth only had a slightly salty taste, so she wouldn't feel greasy even if she drank a lot.

"Whew—Done!" This time, Mo Xueyao felt completely exhausted. With her last bit of patience, she used the cut cloth bag to glue the walnuts back together so that it could be opened and closed like a schoolbag.

She originally wanted to paint the outside blue with watercolor paint, but she simply didn't have the energy for it now.

And you have to wait for the powder to dry—which isn't easy on a rainy day like this.

"Su-tang—" She struggled to lift the already overweight Su-tang off her body, feeling her legs go numb from sitting on it. "You really need to lose weight..."

"Meow—" Su Tang protested.

She stood up unsteadily, gritted her teeth, and stomped her legs hard. It took her a while to finally recover, unlike before when she couldn't even walk.

Su Tang probably didn't plan to go back with her, so it found a corner and lay down, half-closing its eyes as it looked out the French windows. Every now and then, it would reach out and scratch at passersby through the glass—of course, it couldn't scratch them, but it still liked to do it.

"You're going back?"

"Okay, I've finished! Grandma Jin, what do you think?"

"It's pretty good, but this part seems a little rough."

"Oh dear, I'm getting a little impatient, cough." Mo Xueyao coughed and pushed open the convenience store door before running out. The distance was so short that only a few drops of rain fell on the surface of her hair.

"Dad!"

"Hey, what's up?" The house renovation is basically finished, but because of the rainy season, the paint hasn't dried completely and needs to air out for a while longer. So my father has been unusually 'idle' lately compared to his previous busy schedule.

Of course, that's only relatively speaking, since there are many things to do in a fruit shop.

"Happy Father's Day!" Mo Xueyao eagerly handed over the freshly made walnuts.

The father put the cigarette in his mouth, took it with a strange look, and asked, "What's this thing?"

"A Father's Day gift!"

"what?"

"Open it and take a look!"

Her father raised an eyebrow at her, exhaled a puff of smoke from his nostrils, and then opened the walnut as if turning the pages of a book.

Unlike its simple exterior, the inside is quite complex and exquisite. Although some things are pasted crookedly, it does not affect its fullness.

"How about it!"

"Uh, it's alright?"

"What do you mean 'not bad'? I've been working on this for almost the whole day!"

"Hmm, not bad."

"Tch, what a flimsy excuse." Mo Xueyao puffed out her left cheek, clearly annoyed. "Give it back if you don't like it! I'll give it to Mom!"

The father, who had just been indifferent, immediately picked up the walnut like a mother hen protecting her eggs, saying repeatedly, "Oh, oh, oh, I like it, I like it, I like it! I'll get it a box to keep it safe."

"Tch, all pretense."

"Really? I'll go buy it from the street vendor later!"

"It's not okay to set up a street stall on a rainy day." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes at him and covered her stomach. "I'm going to Grandma Jin's house to use the restroom!"

"Why do you always go to Grandma Jin's house?"

"Public toilets are too dirty."

"Tsk tsk."

"Make sure you keep it safe, don't lose it!"

"No problem, no problem—"

……

Chapter 108 The End of the Second Year of High School

Monday, August 2001, 6.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival falls at the end of June, which means the holiday won't be too relaxing. Regardless of whether you study or not, you won't feel too relaxed mentally.

Because the final exams will begin right after the Dragon Boat Festival.

The senior high school students will probably return around that time to 'enjoy' the campus where only they exist after all the other students have left.

Make that final sprint.

Regardless of grade level, the atmosphere during this period is somewhat tense. Students who are usually lazy start to take things seriously.

Of course, this excludes some individuals who have already let themselves go.

However, there were no such students in Class 2 of the second year of high school.

After all, this is considered an elite class. Even someone like Liu Xiaowei has been spending his free time these past few days memorizing the review material that the teacher has marked out. Even if it's just last-minute cramming, he still has to get a passing grade.

Otherwise, I'll have to attend tutoring classes during the summer vacation.

Nobody wants to spend a month and a half of their long summer vacation in school.

As soon as the first English class ended, Li Hongran rushed to the podium and slammed her hand on the desk: "Everyone, after you've finished using the restroom, gather on the playground immediately. Today is the final exam for physical education! The sooner we start, the sooner we finish!"

"Ugh—PE class—" PE class at times like this is the one everyone hates the most.

The students below the podium wailed and lamented.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to sit at their desks all day, even if it meant writing test papers all day, rather than taking the physical education final exam.

Normally, everyone is all smiles during PE class.

—After all, regular physical education classes are basically equivalent to free time.

Physical education is not tested in the college entrance examination, so high school physical education classes do not put too much pressure on students.

In some top-tier high schools, there might not even be many physical education classes in the second half of the semester.

What should I do when I get my period?!

"We'll take the exam separately after your period ends," Li Hongran answered Hua Yinyin without hesitation.

"Forget it, let's take the exam together today..."

After all, even the most painful things can feel a little better when there are other people with you.

"Xiaoyao, are you going to the toilet?" Leng Feng stood up and asked. She usually didn't go to the toilet during the first class, perhaps because she had a physical education exam coming up and wanted to prepare in advance.

"Let's go." Mo Xueyao was already used to being dragged to the bathroom by girls after class. Almost every get out of class ended with someone looking for her, to the point that she was no longer embarrassed to refuse others.

Going now is also based on the same considerations as the cold wind.

"Little Yaoyao, I'm going too!" Hua Yinyin never misses a chance like this, even if she's just waiting at the door, she seems to find it very interesting.

The women's restrooms are overcrowded again.

Actually, there aren't that many people using the restroom; it's just that the efficiency is so low that there's always a queue.

Whenever this happens, Mo Xueyao misses the exhilarating days when she was a boy and could quickly relieve her physical needs.

There's nothing more enjoyable than being able to simply stand there and make things convenient.

"Xiaoyao, did you bring any toilet paper?"

"I brought it." Mo Xueyao touched her skirt pocket, naturally took out a half-used pack of tissues, pulled one out and handed it to Leng Feng, "Here."

"Thank you! It saved me the trouble of running back to get it."

Such incidents occur frequently at the entrance of the women's restroom.