A Young Woman's Heart

"Why does it feel drafty? It's a bit cold—" Mo Xueyao shivered and muttered a complaint, "Didn't Mom say she was going to buy an electric heater? Why hasn't she bought it yet?"

I'll buy it when it gets really cold.

"Isn't it 'real' cold yet?" Mo Xueyao pouted. "It doesn't get below minus ten degrees in the south. It's already very cold around zero degrees."

Unable to answer her question, Li Wanyan took out her wish list and placed it in front of her.

"Oh, right, and this too—here, this is my December wish." Mo Xueyao also took out hers.

In reality, unlike Li Wanyan who gave them according to a set time, she simply grabbed them randomly.

Mo Xueyao's note read, "I hope winter will pass quickly."

Li Wanyan's note reads, "I hope it snows heavily in December."

"Hmm, heavy snow? It's unlikely to snow much. A light snowfall would be good enough. A silvery-white world is a rare sight in the south."

"A Christmas without snow is not a Christmas."

"Then I hope it will snow heavily at least by Christmas." Mo Xueyao put the wish slip away again, opened the wish she had written earlier, and found it as interesting as opening a time capsule.

If what I were to open now were my own wishes from ten years ago...

"Hey, Wanyan, it just occurred to me, why don't we write a letter to ourselves ten years from now?"

"Ten years from now?"

"Hmm, but it feels so far away, ten years—it's like a day that will never come. By then, will our writings still be there?"

"Of course you can, just keep it safe."

"Where should we put it then?"

"Just put it in the box that holds the doll."

“There? Hmm—such an exquisite and expensive box is usually not thrown away…”

Mo Xueyao is somewhat of a doer; when this idea came to her mind, she immediately took out paper and pen to start writing.

Will I feel like a stranger to myself ten years from now?

Do you ever wonder if you ever had those thoughts that you no longer have?

Most people would probably find it childish.

She hadn't even written a few words in the letter yet, but she was already eager to travel ten years into the future and experience that feeling.

"Alas, it's a pity I didn't write myself a letter ten years ago, otherwise I could read it now."

"...You probably couldn't write that many words back then."

"Hmm, that's true."

"Knock knock—" Just as Mo Xueyao started to think about her words and was about to begin, the iron gate outside was knocked on.

The sound it makes in winter seems a little crisper than usual.

Mo Xueyao subconsciously turned her head to look at Li Wanyan and found that the latter was completely oblivious to her surroundings today and showed no intention of standing up.

She could only stand up abruptly, her hair brushing against the bed frame as she dashed out of the small room.

When the door opened, Yu Shu, wearing a floral pajamas, was standing outside.

The wind in the corridor made her shiver, and she hugged the plush bear toy in her arms even tighter.

"Ah chirp!"

"Oh, Yu Shu, what's wrong?"

"My power went out, and I don't know what to do..."

"Huh? The circuit breaker tripped? Just push the switch back in, won't that solve the problem?"

"Okay, it seems like it's broken..."

"Is the fuse blown? Uh, we need to replace it. My dad knows how to do it, but we'd better not fix it. It would be terrible if someone got an electric shock."

"Well……"

"Where are your parents?"

"They should still be in class..."

"Aren't you going home yet, it's so late?"

"Yes, on weekends I have to teach adult night school, and I won't be back until very late."

"Oh... Why don't you just go to sleep? Your parents will definitely fix it when they get back and find there's no power," Mo Xueyao said thoughtfully.

But she hadn't grasped the real point at all, which made Yu Shu, who was standing outside the door, look somewhat embarrassed.

She couldn't help but glance at the yellowish wall beside her, gently bit her lip, and hesitated before speaking: "Okay... um... okay, alright."

"Aren't you coming in?" This question wasn't asked by Mo Xueyao, but by Li Wanyan. "Come in and have some hot water."

"Um..."

"Ah, right, it's still early anyway, you probably can't sleep either!" Mo Xueyao nodded in agreement.

She didn't have any of her own ideas; she was simply going along with what Li Wanyan said.

"I'm a little cold..."

"Are you cold?" Mo Xueyao put the slippers at the door. Yu Shu, wearing thick fleece socks, tiptoed a few steps forward before bending down slightly.

"Let me hold it for you," she said, pointing to the plush bear toy that was about half her height.

"Um……"

"Yu Shu, your fingers are so cold."

"Hmm, it's a bit cold..."

"It's not just a little cold, it feels like... we've been out in the wind for a long time."

"Is it here?" Li Wanyan asked abruptly after pouring the hot water.

"Mmm." Yu Shu looked a little embarrassed.

"What... Ah? Oh! You've started your period?" Mo Xueyao covered her forehead in pain. "Speaking of which, mine seems to be coming soon too. It's so annoying... It's like this every month, and it's even worse in winter, it's damp and cold..."

"Hmm... I feel a little uncomfortable."

"It's not just a little, it's extremely uncomfortable!"

"I wish there were no winter."

Agreed!

"Who said they liked winter in the summer?"

"Cough, anyway, it wasn't me..." Mo Xueyao coughed twice guiltily. "Oh, right, my house has a new type of air conditioner with a heating function. How about I turn it on and see if it can blow some warm air to make the room warmer?"

"Is it...is it okay?" Yu Shu knew that turning on the air conditioner would definitely consume a lot of electricity.

"It's okay, it's fine to turn it on occasionally. Besides, this is also a way to test how well this feature works!"

As she spoke, Mo Xueyao dashed back to her room, plugged the air conditioner back in, and then started looking for the remote control in the drawer.

In winter, the remote control seems to hide itself and is not easy to find.

So she stood by the door, blinking her eyes, while Mo Xueyao, who had never turned on the air conditioner before, fiddled with the remote control for quite a while.

……

Chapter 101 I'm Your Grandfather

2001 12 Month 3 Day.

Before dawn, the alarm clock on the wardrobe suddenly started vibrating, emitting a sharp, urgent sound.

"Beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep—"

Mo Xueyao, half-asleep, raised her head and, without even opening her eyes, slapped it onto the alarm clock.

The noise stopped, and the room fell into a brief silence once more.

Then she suddenly opened her eyes.

The warm room made getting out of bed effortless; she jumped out of bed in no time, feeling as if she had arrived in the warmth of spring.

It felt like I had slept for months.

A layer of frost covered the window, and the world outside the glass was still cold.

The only place that was warm was this little house.

The bed feels unusually cramped today.

Mo Xueyao struggled to sit up and realized that Yu Shu was lying between her and Li Wanyan.

She wasn't feeling well last night, so we told her to lie down in bed for a while. Unexpectedly, she fell asleep right away in the warm air-conditioned room.

When her parents came back that evening, they came over to ask. When they heard that Yu Shu was indeed there, they were no longer worried and let her stay there for the night.

Anyway, they live right across from me, and they've been my childhood sweetheart since we were little, so there's nothing to worry about.

Mo Xueyao glanced at the air conditioner; the green light was still on, indicating it hadn't been turned off all night. No wonder it was so warm this morning.

Li Wanyan opened her eyes drowsily. Yesterday, she had been squeezed to the very edge of the bed. Although there was a railing, she never felt safe and didn't sleep well all night.

"Wanyan?"

"Um……"

"Didn't sleep well last night?"

"Fortunately."

"How about we go to our band room to rest at noon? We can turn on the air conditioning. I didn't expect the air conditioning to be so warm, but my mouth is a little dry..." Mo Xueyao touched her dry lips, stepped over Yu Shu who was lying in the middle, and climbed off the bed.

"Beep." She picked up the remote control from her desk and turned off the air conditioner.

Electricity is cheaper at night because there are off-peak hours.