A Young Woman's Heart

"Because I feel that there are no good days in the second half of my life. Life is always so depressing and repetitive, with no end in sight. I'm tired. I can't change everything, but I don't want to keep repeating this anymore."

"Life is just a series of repetitions!"

He scratched his scalp vigorously, making his already messy hair look like a bird's nest: "I... my family owes hundreds of thousands of yuan, and I probably won't be able to pay it back in this lifetime. Besides, I don't want to spend my whole life paying off debts..."

The man raised his tired eyes and glanced at her; the deep circles under his eyes looked as black as if he had smeared mud on them.

"As long as you're alive, there's always a chance for things to turn around."

"But those repetitive days made me feel like a machine..."

"Then treat every day of your repetitive, mundane life as a miracle, a miracle that belongs to you, like winning the lottery..."

"Thank you for comforting me." He was very polite.

Mo Xueyao nodded vigorously.

"How about we go to my family's noodle shop for a bowl of noodles? It's nearby, my treat."

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to die anymore…” He paused for a moment, then smiled helplessly.

"It's alright, I'm not stopping you from dying, but anyway, if you're going to go, why not die with a full stomach? The noodles at my family's noodle shop are delicious. My favorite is the oily pork intestine noodles. One bite, and it's both tender and chewy. The scallions hanging on the soup are so fresh and green. Just stir the soup a little, slurp up a mouthful of noodles, and you can even ask for some pork cracklings to add. Soak them for a bit, then take them out immediately. They'll be soft on the outside and crispy on the inside..."

Mo Xueyao spoke fluently, making the man in front of her swallow hard.

She even started gesturing excitedly: "Then we can come to my house to eat fruit. I love eating dragon fruit after meals to cleanse the palate; it's light and slightly sweet, just like life..."

She finally managed to say she was hungry, and suddenly stood up, gently patting his shoulder: "Come on! Let's go get some noodles! I'm hungry too!"

The moment she lifted her leg, she twisted her ankle and lost her balance.

The man swiftly grabbed her arm, while half of her body was already leaning back over the platform.

Her long hair was draped over her back.

His clear blue eyes were filled with panic.

The man held her tightly with one hand, not daring to stand up, so he slowly moved backward and then pulled her back little by little.

With no foothold to hold on to, if he let go, Mo Xueyao would definitely fall.

The first thing Mo Xueyao did after regaining her balance was to quickly walk a few steps towards the center of the platform.

She glanced back, still somewhat shaken.

It's that high; if someone falls, they'll either die or be crippled.

"Yaoyao!" Li Wanyan's anxious voice suddenly came from nearby. She had just climbed the stairs and witnessed the terrifying scene before, and hadn't even had time to run a few more steps forward.

"I...I'm fine..."

Li Wanyan didn't say anything, but just glared at her fiercely.

"Thank goodness, I've saved you..."

"Oh, thank you! Are you going to get noodles again?"

The man hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Go?"

"Look, can you see it? Old Mo's Noodle Shop, that's it! Shall we go down first?"

"Uh..." He looked at the crowd below who seemed to enjoy the spectacle, and it took him a long time to nod.

He clearly heard someone calling him a coward, saying he was a coward who didn't dare to jump.

For a moment, the demon in my heart was indeed stirred up.

But in the end, he was pulled back by Mo Xueyao's distinctive blue eyes and did not do anything impulsive.

"Don't do that again next time."

"Oh, it was just an accident..."

"Yaoyao, what's wrong with you!"

The mother had already chased after them from the fruit shop and had obviously witnessed the dangerous scene earlier.

Mo Xueyao looked at the man with a hint of helplessness, only to find that he had already taken several steps back: "If there's a chance, let's eat your noodles again next time!"

"Well, okay, goodbye. Live life well, and don't underestimate the repetitive nature of daily life!"

"Okay!" He nodded vigorously.

A man who wanted to jump off a building simply disappeared into the distance.

For Mo Xueyao, he was just a passerby in her life, and she might never meet him again.

But for him, it changed his future destiny.

To be honest, he really wanted to find a noodle shop and eat braised pork intestine noodles.

The mother finally ran to Mo Xueyao's side and started yelling at her: "Are you crazy?! Running up to such a dangerous place! Do you want him to die too? What if he pushes you down and then commits suicide? Don't say it's impossible! Maybe he's trying to take someone down with him!"

Her mother's words came out like a machine gun, "beep beep beep," giving Mo Xueyao no chance to refute.

"It's not that dangerous... Besides, saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda, isn't it?"

"What's it to you? You're just a kid. Just take care of yourself. Why are you worrying about others? Seriously, you're crazy. You think you're being kind? You might get killed one day and not even know it!"

"Mom! I still think there are more good people than bad in the world!"

"What good people and bad people? Who was talking to you about that? Just take care of yourself! Yan Yan, next time you keep a close eye on this brat. If she does anything reckless, you have to stop her!"

"Okay." Li Wanyan nodded gently.

The mother's anger finally subsided a bit: "How are you? Are you hurt?"

"No—" Mo Xueyao pouted unhappily. She had originally wanted to take credit, but instead she only received a scolding.

……

Chapter 100 December Wishes and Letters

Sunday night.

Although it was only seven o'clock, the deep winter darkness made it feel like the early hours of the morning.

Several streetlights in the neighborhood were broken and no one came to fix them, plunging the area around Mo Xueyao's apartment building into darkness.

If someone walks by, it's like being swallowed by a black hole and then spit out from the other side.

Mo Xueyao lay on the desk, the lamp casting her shadow on the bed above her head.

Are you sleepy?

"A little?"

"Go to sleep if you're tired."

"No, it's only seven o'clock. I feel like it would be a waste to go to sleep now. I have to start classes again tomorrow, and I won't have another weekend until five days later. Ugh, although it feels great to stay up all night, I feel like I've lost a day after I'm done." Mo Xueyao played with her pen listlessly, letting it slowly spin on her smooth and delicate fingertips.

Li Wanyan touched her right wrist helplessly. In winter, it always seemed to ache faintly, and the skin on the back of her hand was more prone to cracking due to dryness.

After writing for a long time, she would lose strength, so she switched to writing with her left hand. The speed was a little slower, but each character was still written stroke by stroke and was exceptionally neat.

"I really want to take the brittle candy home and play with it..."

"It hasn't had a bath in ages."

“Oh right, take it to take a bath next time! It keeps coming near me without taking a bath, really—” Mo Xueyao lazily leaned back in her chair, yawning one after another. Her restless little hands, with her eyes half-closed, casually opened a drawer.

This is a small drawer for letters; it's full of Nora's letters.

Suddenly, she sat up straight.

"Oh, I remember now, Nora's letter, it was delivered on Saturday... I haven't read it yet!"

As she spoke, she carefully tore off the stamps one by one and put them into a small bag as a keepsake.

These are stamps from a foreign land, and the designs and text on them are full of exotic charm.

It's not for any appreciation in value, it's just for collection purposes.

The intervals between letters gradually lengthened, perhaps because she had her own family and life, and she gradually became busier.

But each letter was always the same length, several pages filled with writing, which always made people feel at ease enough to read it properly.

“This letter should have arrived in December…” Mo Xueyao translated the English in the letter sentence by sentence, while Li Wanyan, who was gently rubbing her wrist, listened attentively. “It means that the New Year is coming soon, but your New Year seems a bit early. It’s been so long since we last met, has anything changed? What are your New Year’s wishes? What gifts do you want? But perhaps if I wait until your letter arrives before sending a reply, it might be a bit too late…”

"Oh, right, wishes, I haven't looked at this month's wishes yet!" Mo Xueyao suddenly became a little distracted again.

"Let's read the letter first." Li Wanyan took a leisurely sip of warm water.

As usual, a photograph was included with the letter.

Nora's figure remained the same, only her face had become slightly wider.

The letter basically described her recent situation and life; there were no major ups and downs, just a calm and ordinary existence.

—Of course, that's only from her perspective; in Mo Xueyao's eyes, it was still full of novelty.

"Oh, she said she might come to China next year, but won't stay in Hangzhou. She'll come visit us again if she has the chance." Mo Xueyao suddenly felt that there was another hope in her otherwise mundane life.

"How has she been lately?"

"Here's the photo, take a look. It seems her boyfriend isn't as tall as her, haha—"

In one photo, the two are standing together; Nora is holding a puppy in her arms, while the man is holding up a bottle of vodka.

"Rural life is so wonderful..."

"I'm just sharing the good stuff with you."

"Huh?"

"The unpleasant parts have been omitted; life in the countryside is very hard."

Mo Xueyao knew what Li Wanyan truly meant, but that didn't stop her from yearning for that vast and free world.

Of course, it's quite possible that after spending some time in the countryside, she'll want to return to the bustling big city.

"Wanyan, did you close your window?"

"It's off."