A Young Woman's Heart

Looking up again, I realized this wasn't a shop at all; it was clearly a studio.

"Come, come." She turned her head and waved to him, then pushed open the door and went in first.

As soon as he entered, he smelled a strong aroma of wine, and the first thing he saw was a mountain of yellow wine jars piled up in the corner.

The store had several sofas and coffee tables, all with inconsistent styles, as if they had been picked out at a flea market and were just the cheapest ones available, without any regard for whether they matched each other...

Three men with very short hair, almost bald, were chatting at the door. When they saw Mo Xueyao walk in, they greeted her with a loud laugh: "Hey! Xiaoyao! Are you here to practice today?"

"No, I just came to sit for a while... Hmm, you've turned this place into a pub? It's not bad."

"Haha, it's just a place for some bosses I know from before to talk business. Two bosses came today, and they're talking business in that corner over there."

How's the art project going?

Wu Xiaoping immediately became serious: "We are now planning to learn how to make games because we have decided that this is the most enduring art form of the future. Not only can we appreciate it, but we can also play with it. Isn't that wonderful!"

"...Can you do it?"

"Well, I've been teaching myself programming and art lately, but thankfully I can earn some extra money selling alcohol..."

Mo Xueyao comfortably sank into a small, worn-out but soft sofa: "Well then, I'll patronize your business too, how about two bowls of warm yellow wine?"

"It's okay, no money required."

"That won't do. You have to make money to do business. There are costs involved in making rice wine."

“…Alright then.” Wu Xiaoping didn’t refuse. “Then the fennel beans and boiled chicken breast are a gift from me. Don’t be shy, otherwise you’d be looking down on your brothers.”

"Huh, boiled chicken breast? What's that? Is it edible?"

"No problem! We'll make it fresh! Drain the water, and then you can sprinkle in ketchup, cumin, or salt and pepper if you want. Haha, we've come up with a lot of simple side dishes that can be made without a kitchen, so convenient!"

"Ah, then I'll try some..." Mo Xueyao tilted her head and looked at Li Gutao, "Atao, sit down, eat more later, actually I'm already full..."

"Oh, oh..." Li Gutao quickly sat down, seemingly a little nervous because of these former thugs who had such a strong presence.

"Don't worry, they're all very easy to talk to!"

"..." Li Gutao clearly saw that someone had this hideous scar on their face, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

To be honest, he was just passing by, but he didn't expect to be invited in for drinks by Mo Xueyao.

However, sitting in this bright room, admiring the snow scene outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, he unexpectedly felt quite good, and his mood calmed down.

Warm rice wine and snacks were served quickly.

Mo Xueyao pouted and had been looking out the window for a long time.

It wasn't until Li Gutao picked up a piece of boiled chicken breast and dipped it in cumin that they got to know him.

"Hey, have you been in contact with that guy Xiaoming lately?"

"What's wrong with him?" Li Gutao had just taken a sip of wine when his face started to turn red.

"He seems to have changed a lot. He's gained a lot of weight and doesn't look like himself at all."

"Ah—it's probably because I entered society too early and felt the pressure of society."

"After all, he only just came of age this year, right?"

"Yes."

Are you in a bad mood today?

"It's much better now."

"in argument?"

"Cough...!!" Li Gutao coughed forcefully, a hint of embarrassment on his face. "How did you know?"

"Tch, even an idiot could see that. What, did Lin Huihui give you a hard time or something?"

"Uh—maybe I said something a bit too harsh without thinking...but she was the one who started the argument."

"Are there no couples who don't argue?" Mo Xueyao still rested her chin on her hand.

"Probably...no? That's just the adjustment period."

"If you know it's a period of adjustment, why are you sulking here all by yourself?"

"cough!"

"Be careful, she might say you smell like another woman when you get back!" Mo Xueyao teased playfully.

"Damn, you're one of those... uh, ah—"

"It's okay, it's okay, why did you stop so abruptly? Aren't you upset?"

Li Gutao shook his head: "Only Xiaoyao, you haven't changed."

"Bullshit, I've changed so much, okay? Before, I was still... you guys probably thought I was a guy!"

"Hahaha—you're really good at pretending, we didn't even notice."

Mo Xueyao pursed her lips and smiled slightly.

In fact, even she herself didn't realize it.

Mo Xueyao reached out and patted Li Gutao on the shoulder: "You'll be graduating soon too, right?"

"Yes, I'm currently doing an internship..."

Li Gutao was a little embarrassed because he couldn't even pass the college entrance exam for vocational high school.

In other words, they had no hope of getting into a vocational college through the college entrance examination, so they were assigned to a class for early internship, which lasted for a year.

Where do you work?

"Heh, haha, I work in a supermarket, and my monthly salary is two or three hundred."

"So low."

"It's just an internship after all." Li Gutao rubbed his hands together. "I'm actually a little confused. Am I going to work in supermarkets all the time? It feels like there's no job that suits me, and it's like I didn't study my major at all."

"What's the big deal? You're still young, what are you afraid of?"

"I feel like I wasted my high school years. Look at Xiaoming, he didn't go to high school, but he's doing pretty much the same kind of work as me."

Mo Xueyao felt like she couldn't find the words to comfort her.

For her, that was truly unimaginable.

"But anyway, if you're in a bad mood, come find me here for a meal!"

Just as she was about to pull her hand away from Li Gutao's shoulder, she felt a chill run down her spine.

She and Li Gutao suddenly turned to look out the window and saw two girls holding umbrellas in the snow.

Their faces were expressionless.

It's Lin Huihui and Li Wanyan...

Li Gutao stood up abruptly.

"Why are you standing up? I'd like to have a drink too." Lin Huihui squinted her eyes.

"Ah! Uh—what are you doing here?"

"You..." Lin Huihui stomped her foot forcefully, her face full of grievance, "You want to break up..."

"No, I didn't..."

"Go quickly—" Mo Xueyao whispered, pushing him, "Go and hug her! What are you standing there for?"

"Ah-ah!"

Li Gutao was suddenly pushed by Mo Xueyao and collided with Lin Huihui.

……

Chapter 116 A Grand Gathering of Couples?

"Yay!" The glass door that had just been closed was pushed open again.

Lin Huihui grabbed Li Gutao's ear and pulled him to sit on the sofa next to her.

The two people who came in were also acquaintances: Lu Chengyuan and Lü Bolun.

"Oh, Cheng Yuan, what brings you here?"

"I heard you say before that it was downstairs, so I came to check it out. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Uh, why are there so many people?" It wasn't Lu Bolun who spoke, but the tall boy who walked in next.

Although Lü Bolun wasn't short, he looked 'petite' standing next to Chen Cheng, who was over 1.8 meters tall.

Zhuang Lianlian held Chen Cheng's arm with one hand, blinking curiously as she looked at everyone.

The once quiet shop suddenly became lively.

Just then, the back door was pushed open, and the princess carrying Huang Yuxi, the Three-Flower Tongjue, rushed in while trying to make him laugh: "I'm not putting you down~! Huh?"

The sudden appearance of so many people made her instinctively blurt out a Japanese phrase: "What's going on?"

Huang Yuxi jumped down with a slightly flushed face and stood quietly beside Sanhua Tongjue.

Anyone who didn't know better would think today was Valentine's Day or some other special day.

"Pfft, why are there so many couples? Does this count as a couples' gathering?" Lu Chengyuan teased with a sly laugh, pulling Lü Bolun to squeeze onto the sofa where Mo Xueyao had just been sitting. "Oh dear, there's no room left, Xiaoyao, squeeze in~"

"Alright, alright, you couples can sit here. I don't have a partner."

"What? Isn't the class monitor here?"

Mo Xueyao glanced at her sideways, but because everyone often made similar jokes, she had long been used to it and was too lazy to refute it.

Sometimes people say she and Hua Yinyin are a couple, sometimes they say she and Li Wanyan are a couple, and sometimes they even try to match her with Mr. Xue. They don't even spare Duanmu Ji. Girls' gossip is always so strange and imaginative.

Why did you all come all at once?

The coincidence was so perfect it was almost as if it had been planned in advance.

"I came here with someone to have drinks and chat. We went to a coffee shop before, but this time we wanted something more traditional, like a yellow wine shop or something."