A Young Woman's Heart

Are you that sleepy?

"I was very sleepy then, but I'm not sleepy now."

"What a coincidence, me too. I'm wide awake right now." Mo Xueyao widened her eyes to prove how awake she was, but she didn't say what time she went to sleep.

Have you eaten your fries?

"Yes, I ate it. There's a little bit left, but it's already soggy."

"Of course."

"Are we just going to wander around the school? Or should we go down the mountain to that beach?" Mo Xue pointed to the beach below the cliff outside the barbed wire fence.

"No need, I just came out for a walk. I might get tired going down the mountain."

"Oh--"

"Xiaoyao, are you hungry?"

"Hungry? Uh... I'm not hungry..."

"Want to grab some late-night snacks?"

"What to eat?"

"If you're not hungry, have something light, or some dessert."

"Eating sweets at night, I'm afraid I'll get so fat I'll die." Mo Xueyao isn't the type of person who's absolutely immune to weight gain. "How many steps would I have to run to lose the weight..."

"Then let's eat something that won't make us fat."

"Then it can't be dessert."

"Mung bean cake is fine."

"Mung bean cake...?"

"It doesn't contain sugar or oil, so it won't make you fat."

"Really? Is that even edible?"

“It will have the most natural flavor of the food, but you have to savor it slowly.” Xuan Anyi smiled and shook the 'weeds' in her hand. “I just picked these on the hillside, not far from the school gate.”

"What is this?"

Gynostemma pentaphyllum.

Mo Xueyao didn't even understand how to pronounce the three characters for a moment, but she saw what looked like mung bean-like 'fruits' on it—she didn't know if they were actually fruits.

"Are you sure it's okay to make tea? I hope it won't kill someone..."

"Pfft." Xuan Anyi couldn't help but laugh out loud. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand. "Of course not, it even has some weight loss benefits."

"How do we eat it?"

"Make tea."

"So, the midnight snack is mung bean cake with... jelly?... blue tea?"

"OK."

"If you don't want to use sugar, what do you plan to use to make mung bean cakes?"

"Mung bean flour, fried glutinous rice flour, wheat flour, and a certain amount of corn flour and sweet potato flour."

"So many fans..."

"Because they are easy to store, Awen and the others bought some."

"Then just steam it until it's cooked?"

"Okay, just steam it until it's cooked." Xuan Anyi said, and walked towards the cafeteria's kitchen.

"Hey, did we take the wrong way?"

"No, after the number of students increased, preparing meals became more troublesome, so all the ingredients were moved from the small kitchen in the dormitory to the school cafeteria."

The school cafeteria is actually just a large kitchen; there is no dining area for seating.

Of course, earthen stoves, gas stoves, and even grinders and meat grinders are all available here—although most of them are manual rather than electric.

Yes, they even have a millstone for grinding soybeans...

"Oh, that's even better, it won't disturb other people." Mo Xueyao nodded and quickly followed.

……

Chapter Twenty-Nine: An Initial Taste of Simplicity, Yet a Sweet Aftertaste

The night was as dark as gauze.

Mo Xueyao moved a small stool and sat down next to her.

Xuan Anyi didn't look busy at all; she was as elegant as a master chef in a documentary.

The cafeteria door was ajar, and a few slivers of cool, almost bluish moonlight shone through the gap.

Starlight streamed through the window and reflected in the sink water, as if mirroring the brilliance of the sky.

There was only one not-too-bright incandescent light on in the kitchen. It was firmly fixed to the ceiling and not suspended by ropes, so it wouldn't sway even if the wind blew by.

The raw material for mung bean cakes is somewhat loose, unlike the dense dough made from wheat flour.

There were no molds in the kitchen, so she had to shape them by hand, and if they fell apart, she had to shape them again.

"Hmm...that's not going to work."

"what happened?"

"Without a mold, it's difficult to press it firmly."

"Then what can we do? Is it impossible to do it?"

"Square shapes are difficult to make, so we can only make irregular spherical shapes." Although Xuan Anyi said this, she didn't seem to want to give up.

Is there anything that can be used as a substitute?

The other person didn't answer, but just started rummaging through the kitchen.

Then I took out a rectangular plate from the cupboard. What's special about this plate is that the raised edge is almost a right angle. Although it has a slight curve, it's not as round as other plates.

Moreover, the walls are quite high, like a small, uncovered square box.

"Use this."

"Isn't it too big?"

"It's okay, you can cut it into small pieces after it's done." Xuan Anyi smiled and filled the plate little by little with the prepared mung bean cake dough, then pressed it down firmly and continued to fill it, filling it just right.

The pot was already placed on the stove, with some water and a steamer basket inside. The plate was placed on top, the lid was put on, and the fire was turned on.

The firepower isn't very strong, and it even sways slightly when a breeze blows.

Xuan Anyi then slowly turned on another stove, boiled a pot of water, and brewed two cups of Gynostemma pentaphyllum tea.

The steamer has already started making a 'thump thump thump' sound.

"Here you go." Xuan Anyi handed the slightly cooled tea to Mo Xueyao.

Without being polite, she took it and took a small sip.

Although it's summer, having a sip of hot tea on such a slightly cool night feels very comforting.

The tea had a slightly bitter taste, but you could vaguely detect a hint of mint.

The aroma of mung beans filled the room, which was more like a large kitchen than a cafeteria. If this were an anime, Mo Xueyao would probably be able to see a plume of green smoke right now...

In reality, however, only a little white smoke was coming out of the pot.

"Is it alright now?"

"No, it needs to steam on low for a while longer." Xuan Anyi shook her head, turned the stove to low, and then sat down on the stool next to Mo Xueyao.

The two of them sat near the door, tilting their heads to look at the scattered starlight.

Time seemed to move as slowly as a snail, with the azure sky in the background slowly rotating with the Milky Way.

“We should drink hot tea in the summer,” Xuan Anyi suddenly smiled, picked up her teacup, and took a sip.

"why?"

"Because it doesn't get cold easily."

"Ah—it's the same principle as eating ice cream only in winter?"

"Yes, that's right." Her smile seemed a little mischievous at this moment. "But I always get diarrhea when I eat ice cream in winter."

"Haha, I can't!" Mo Xueyao was quite confident in her physical abilities.

From childhood to adulthood, she has hardly ever been sick. She rarely gets a cold, fever, or diarrhea, even once a year.

However, diarrhea is sometimes hard to avoid, especially in the past when hygiene conditions were not very good.

Even after getting used to the unreliable snacks sold at the school gate and the street food from unknown vendors, developing an "iron stomach," it's still the same.

After all, if you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet.

"So we can only drink tea in the summer."

"Have some tea! Have some tea and then leave!"

"That joke was a bit lame."

"Hehe, speaking of which, Cha Li is the only person I know with the surname Cha." Mo Xueyao dipped her tongue in the tea, and after feeling that it was still too hot, she took a small sip.

"There are people with all sorts of surnames, hmm—it should be fine now."

As Xuan Anyi spoke, she stood up, put down her teacup, and lifted the pot lid.

The fragrance of mung beans seemed quite strong for a moment, then quickly dissipated.

As if she weren't afraid of getting burned, she grabbed the edge of the plate with her bare hands, quickly placed it on the stove, and then, with a small knife, smoothly divided the whole plate of mung bean cakes into eight pieces, just like cutting tofu.

Mo Xueyao wasn't in a hurry to eat, and neither was Xuan Anyi. The two sat for a while longer, waiting for it to cool down a bit before each picking up a piece.