A Young Woman's Heart

Duanmu Ji picked up the camera that Mo Xueyao had asked him to keep safe earlier and snapped several photos, capturing this wonderful moment.

"Hey, what are you filming for?!"

"photo."

"Don't take pictures!" Mo Xueyao tried to roll over and get up, but slipped and fell to the ground. She was amused and annoyed. "Laughing, laughing, what are you laughing at? Hurry up and help me!"

"Cough... um... okay, coming."

When you actually stand on the frozen West Lake, it doesn't seem as interesting as it looked from afar.

If you look closely, the ice surface is actually quite dirty, with not only footprints and mud, but also plastic bags and wrappers left behind by people...

Indeed, many things are like this: they can only be admired from afar and not touched.

Even the most beautiful things cannot withstand close scrutiny.

Duanmu Ji eventually stepped onto the ice and took a few more photos with Mo Xueyao.

"It's a pity this isn't the Arctic; it would be even more beautiful if there were auroras."

"Go later."

"Let's talk about it later!"

Mo Xueyao knew, of course, that most of the time, round-the-world travel was just an unrealistic dream.

……

(six)

It was already eight o'clock when I got home, but my parents and Li Wanyan were still not back.

On a cold winter day, the temptation of taking a bath is simply irresistible.

Mo Xueyao lifted the cover of the bathtub and found that it was still covered with a thin layer of dust.

"This thing has been packed up but never used..." she muttered, pouting.

It uses a lot of water, so my father wouldn't use it, and my mother, being frugal, wouldn't use it either.

As for her and Li Wanyan, they were busy with their studies and didn't have the habit of doing that, so even if they occasionally thought of it, they would already have showered and gotten dressed.

Besides, you definitely have to take a shower first before you can soak in the bath, but there's quite a distance between the bathroom and the balcony. In this cold winter, it's cold even to get dressed, let alone go straight into the bathtub without any clothes on.

But that's exactly what Mo Xueyao did today.

As she lay in the bathtub filled with hot water, she felt that it was all worthwhile.

"Whoosh..." The most comfortable part was my feet, as if they were being massaged by invisible hands in hot water, itchy and tingly, with occasional electric currents running through them.

"Indeed, installing a bathtub back then was a wise choice..."

She decided to come and take a bath whenever she had free time in the next few days, otherwise wouldn't it be a waste of this cold, snowy winter?

……

Chapter 126 Happy New Year!

(One)

"Hey—whoosh—!" Mo Xueyao stood on tiptoe, took off last year's old calendar, and then turned to look at Li Wanyan, who handed her the brand new calendar.

The new year's calendar was painstakingly hung on a nail. She lifted the cover picture of a beautiful woman in winter clothes, revealing the new month to herself.

"2001... oh no, January 1st, 2002!" Mo Xueyao stood in front of the calendar with her hands on her hips, as if she could already feel the new year's atmosphere. "Happy New Year!"

Today is Tuesday. Yukong High School is having a normal day, but there are no classes today. Instead, students can just sit in the multimedia hall and watch the New Year's Day cultural performance all day.

This is the designated program for Yukong High School.

It was a program that Mo Xueyao never missed, from elementary school to high school.

However, not all schools hold a school-wide arts festival. For example, some key high schools, due to busy academic schedules, cannot provide enough time for students to prepare programs, so they change the format to holding their own performances in the classroom, with each class performing its own.

While that might allow everyone to participate in the program, it ultimately lacks a sense of ceremony.

—Not formal enough.

In fact, Class Two didn't prepare any performances these past few days; it's just that the Snow Music Team practiced a little more frequently than usual.

"So excited so early in the morning, it's just New Year's Day, isn't it?" Her mother glanced at her helplessly and placed the breakfast box next to the TV cabinet. "Take your breakfast over there. It shouldn't snow today. Do you still need to wear your thick coat?"

"Put them on! It's cold when it's not snowing!" Mo Xueyao jumped off the small stool, the gust of cold wind making her shiver. "Hurry up and put on your socks, socks, socks..."

"I washed all your cashmere socks, so you don't have any thick tights to wear today."

"Huh? You've already washed them all!"

"Who told you to make both of them so dirty? They weren't even dry from the last wash!"

"...Then what should I wear?"

"Wool socks, I guess."

"What is that?" Mo Xueyao felt like she was going to be used as a guinea pig by her mother to try on new clothes again.

"I've got it for you." Her mother was clearly prepared, and before Mo Xueyao could react, she tossed her a pair of woolen pantyhose.

My first impression was that it was solid, and then I thought it was fancy.

It's not the kind of flashy stuff children wear, but the kind of gaudiness older people have.

Everywhere you look there are floral patchwork designs, and there are even faux woolen flowers that you can feel.

"Isn't this... woolen pants...?"

"These look much better than wool pants."

"So thick—" Mo Xueyao felt that her thighs would get even thicker after she put them on.

"It's okay, it's tight-fitting, it won't be much thicker to wear, and it'll keep you warm."

"Can I not wear it?"

"Sure, why don't you try wearing something else and go for a walk?" The mother said in a nonchalant tone, then turned around and went back to mopping the floor.

Mo Xueyao was left awkwardly touching her nose, but in the end, she had no choice but to put it on.

This was her first time wearing wool socks, and the experience was quite novel.

These things are warm, but they can't compare to cashmere socks because—they're a bit breathable.

Even though it is already woven very densely.

"It's still cold even with the wind blowing!"

"It gets hot after walking around for a while."

Mo Xueyao knew her mother would say that. She felt that her question earlier was a complete waste of energy, so she could only look at Li Wanyan helplessly and say, "Alright... Wanyan, let's go."

It was still early, and the sun had not yet fully risen, but there was already a faint light on the horizon.

It wasn't snowing, and there weren't many clouds in the sky.

It looks like today will be a sunny day.

The sanitation workers had obviously been out shoveling snow for a long time. By the time Mo Xueyao and the others went out, there wasn't much snow left on the road, and some grass mats had been laid on the sidewalk to prevent slipping.

The rough texture of the woolen pantyhose always tempted Mo Xueyao to pinch it, but she dared not use too much force, for fear of pulling out the loose threads.

However, these uniquely shaped socks still attracted the curious glances of many people.

"Ah, the aesthetics of my grandmother's generation are really..." She couldn't help but purse her lips and sigh helplessly.

"Quite good looking."

"real or fake?"

"Yes, it looks quite good on Yaoyao." Li Wanyan nodded again.

"Okay, okay, but I reckon when we get to school, Yinyin will definitely laugh at me loudly, and might even come over and try to pull me apart."

Li Wanyan smiled and gently stroked her long hair without answering.

……

(two)

Even though there were no classes today, the students arrived earlier than usual.

This led Mo Xueyao to wonder if she was the only one who felt it was too cold to get out of bed.

She had just settled down in the classroom, intending to enjoy the warmth for a while before going to the band room, when Hua Yinyin and Wang Jiale walked into the classroom together.

"Pfft, Haruka, look at Gin-Yin!"

"what's wrong?"

Mo Xueyao looked up and saw Hua Yinyin walk in dejectedly, wearing a pair of old-fashioned woolen socks that were just as unfashionable as her.

"Pfft, cough... um... did our mom buy all these things from the same store?" She couldn't help but grin and laugh out loud.

"Hey, Yaoyao, you're wearing this too?"

"Yes."

"We really are comrades after all!!" Hua Yinyin pounced on Mo Xueyao, and the pipa handle in her bag slammed hard into Mo Xueyao's forehead.

"Ouch, it hurts, it hurts—stop, stop, stop—"

"Hehehe, little Yaoyao~ Hmm, it seems to suit little Yaoyao quite well?"

"What? You mean I look like a seventy or eighty-year-old woman?"

"No, this just proves that you can pull off any style of clothing, doesn't it?"

"Why don't you just say that Xiaoyao looks good even in a burlap sack?"

"Maybe we can try it next time!" Hua Yinyin suddenly became interested.

"Save your breath. Tell me, should we bring Yu Shu to the New Year's Day cultural performance or not?"

"Maybe we shouldn't bring it? After all, it's our class's performance."