A Young Woman's Heart

He woke up, laughed, and scolded himself for being spineless.

He turned over and went back to sleep.

The sky outside the curtains was the same blue as Mo Xueyao's.

But when he woke up again, he saw hair that was as black as his own.

The boss is back and is playing mahjong with someone in the yard.

His child was clamoring for snacks but was ordered to go back to bed.

He woke up at the time when children should be sleeping.

There is no need to open the curtains.

He strolled into the bathroom, calculating the days ahead, wondering if he should quit his job and go home when the New Year was approaching.

But with nothing to do at home, he obviously couldn't bring himself to take out books he'd never read before and read them again.

He thought he would rest today, so he lay down on the bed again.

This time, he hoped that when he woke up, he would see bright sunshine and a blue sky.

……

Chapter 110 To this day, those past events have faded away.

(One)

A winter day with howling north winds.

A bonfire was burning in a brazier in front of the convenience store.

The hulled corn was simply tossed inside, releasing an enticing, fresh aroma.

On the small round stool next to him was a thermos containing brown sugar and ginger water.

Pour a cup into a small cup, bring it to your lips, and slowly sip it.

Even the north wind seemed less cold; the flickering fire gave it a new gentleness.

Pan Jiexiang looked to be in good health today; her rosy cheeks and lips seemed to glow in the firelight.

She's been taking some traditional Chinese medicine lately, telling Li Wanyan it's to regulate her body, since her father angered her too much back then.

Getting angry can really damage your health.

Anger can be so intense that it can even be fatal.

"Ouch—it's so hot—" Mo Xueyao used pliers to dig out the corn and tried to peel off the leaves and husks with her hands, but she immediately pulled her little hands back because they were burned.

I actually have class tomorrow, but since I finished all my homework today, I'm not in a hurry to go home.

I plan to go back with my father in his van.

"Don't be impatient." Pan Jiexiang smiled as she turned the roasted corn over, peeled off the charred leaves, as if she wasn't afraid of getting burned at all, and finally wrapped the bottom of the corn with the leaves before handing it to Mo Xueyao.

The leaves are no longer hot, and the tender yellow corn inside is steaming.

"Thank you, Auntie!" Mo Xueyao said quickly, taking a bite of the corn as soon as she received it.

Li Wanyan wasn't in a hurry to eat the corn; instead, she leisurely sipped some brown sugar and ginger water.

A warm feeling spread throughout my body, and I just hoped that these days could continue forever.

"That day was the same. I drank brown sugar water and Yan Yan and I slept outside all night. But it was summer then, so it wasn't actually that cold at night."

"Hmm, why are you sleeping outside?"

Pan Jiexiang smiled, pursing her lips, and said casually, "That was probably the only time Yan Yan ever coughed up blood in her life."

"Huh? What? Spitting blood? Ah, what happened back then?"

“…Mom, you should tell me.” Li Wanyan seemed a little embarrassed to speak.

"Hmm, does Yaoyao want to hear it?"

"Yes, of course I'll listen."

"it is good……"

……

(two)

Let's go back to those days.

At that time, Li Wanyan had just started junior high school.

Her good-for-nothing father is still alive.

Pan Jiexiang said that day the sun and moon were obscured, and it was so dark that it seemed as if the sun would never rise again.

Li Wanyan said that the sky that night was a deep blue, an eerie blue with a hint of crystalline light, with stars spinning around, as if they were about to devour everything on earth.

The cicadas were unusually noisy that night.

But there don't seem to be many cicadas chirping at night.

The sound of cicadas drowned out the chirping of other insects and frogs.

The noise was making people uneasy.

It's so hot it makes my chest feel tight.

"Why do you stay at home all day long? Can't you go and do some work? What's the use of drinking?!" That day, Pan Jiexiang finally couldn't help but throw a shriveled orange at the man's forehead.

Her voice was choked with frustration.

Everyone's patience has its limits.

The man glared angrily, then suddenly stood up and grabbed Pan Jiexiang by the collar, ready to attack.

"Go ahead and hit me, hit me to death!!" She closed her eyes.

The man suddenly laughed, a cold laugh, and said, "Very well, I won't hit you today."

So he grabbed everything in the house and started smashing it down.

Everything.

Those cheap ones, and those 'expensive' ones.

The only appliance that could be used to cook rice was smashed to pieces.

The carefully prepared minced meat was all dumped onto the ground.

I stomped on the cabbage leaves several times.

He peed on the blanket and then kicked it away.

Hysterical laughter.

He laughed like a madman.

Then he took all the money in the house.

I left that home briefly.

That day was actually a weekend, but Li Wanyan didn't sleep a wink all night when she got back.

—After school in the afternoon, she went to work part-time at a grocery store to help out.

I watched it all night.

With a large ten-yuan bill in her pocket, she was so happy that she wanted to share her joy with her mother immediately.

But when he opened the door, he only saw his mother slumped on the floor and the mess all around.

"Mom..." Li Wanyan's voice trembled, "Mom...what's wrong?"

Pan Jiexiang then tearfully recounted everything that had just happened.

Li Wanyan, despite her own heartache, tried her best to comfort her.

"Yanyan, Mommy doesn't want to live anymore. Mommy is sending you far away to live with a distant relative. Mommy is going to jump off a building so he won't affect your future life..."

"Mom! Don't do this... You're in so much pain, and I feel... so much pain too."

"Mom... there's nothing I can do... living is so tiring... maybe I shouldn't have given birth to you, then you wouldn't have to suffer like this. Why aren't you a boy? If you were a boy, your dad wouldn't be able to beat you, and you could help Mom. Why, Yan Yan..."

The mother's words were somewhat incoherent.

She even said that Li Wanyan and that man were both heartless.

She collapsed to the ground and cried, her cries were heart-wrenching.

Li Wanyan, who hadn't slept for more than 24 hours, still patiently comforted her mother.

The mother finally fell asleep in anger.

She couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground to sleep.

Fortunately, it was summer.

But less than three hours later, she suddenly woke up.

They were afraid that their mother might actually jump off the building.

After all, he was the only family she still had in this world.

……

(three)

“I wasn’t good back then either. I shouldn’t have yelled at Yan Yan. She didn’t do anything wrong…” Pan Jiexiang said with a smile. She spoke of that heartbreaking past in a lighthearted manner, and even asked leisurely, “How is it? This corn is delicious, isn’t it?”

"It's delicious...uh...are you alright?"

“It’s been so many years, it’s all over now, and he’s gone, so I’ll just consider it forgiveness.”

“How can this be forgiven…” Mo Xueyao pouted.

"Then I woke up that day and heard the sound of vomiting outside the door."