A Young Woman's Heart

As the others gradually woke up, the house became noisy again.

Seeing the heavy snow outside, Duanmu Bi excitedly insisted on dragging everyone out to climb the mountain, saying that playing in the snow at the top of the mountain would be even more exciting...

But everyone else just wanted to stay indoors and wait for the snow to stop so they could go home; otherwise, it would be even more inconvenient to wait until night.

"School tomorrow? Ugh—can't I have one more day off?"

“…Go talk to the principal.” Duanmu Ji retorted.

"What a rare heavy snowfall! We might not even see this much snow during the Lunar New Year!"

"Actually, you can enjoy the snow scenery on the way back."

As the snow subsided slightly, most people decided to go home.

Of course, some stayed here and went to school with the two sisters tomorrow.

It's Wang Jiale and Mr. Xue.

If we didn't know his character, everyone would probably think the worst of him, but now, no one is even making a friendly joke.

The snow was so deep that it reached above halfway up to the calves.

"This must be a once-in-decades snowfall..."

"You might never see each other in Hangzhou again in this lifetime!" Hua Yinyin said, following her words.

"That's way too exaggerated..."

"So we should cherish every snowfall, let's go hiking instead!"

Duanmu Bi, who was shouting, was dragged aside by her younger brother.

They walked out of the country lane, their steps uneven.

The Duanmu siblings can finally ride their own bicycles and electric scooters.

They're not planning to open today; they're going back to their nearby rented room to catch up on sleep and rest.

"Goodbye." Duanmu Ji looked specifically at Mo Xueyao, sending his voice on the wind.

"Bye-bye!" If he was only saying goodbye to Mo Xueyao, then Mo Xueyao was saying goodbye to both him and his sister.

Hua Yinyin was too lazy to take the bus around, so she simply hailed a taxi.

Yu Shu went back with Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan, since they lived next door and it couldn't be more convenient.

She remembered the jokes the adults often made about the two of them when she was a child.

They said that if they got married, they would only be walking a few steps to each other's homes, and they wouldn't feel the strangeness of being in a new place at all.

To be honest, when she was a child, Mo Xueyao did naively think about what would happen if such a thing really happened.

But at that time, all I could think about was being able to take all of Yu Shu's toys over to play with...

As for now?

—She is a complete girl.

But that's fine too, at least our feelings won't fade because she got married.

After all, if a female friend gets married, her male friend will usually take the initiative to avoid suspicion and reduce contact.

In short, Mo Xueyao must be like that.

"Yu Shu, did you not sleep well last night?"

"No...it's alright."

"You're in such poor health, you should go back and rest." In the snowstorm, even the buses were slow to arrive. She stamped her foot angrily, "Why hasn't a bus come yet? It's been so long..."

"hold on."

"I should have hailed a taxi, but now I can't even find one..." Mo Xueyao exhaled a few breaths of white air. "To be honest, snowy days are indeed quite beautiful, but if... it snows like this every day, I really can't stand it. Last time I read in the encyclopedia that in Northern Europe, it snows all winter long, and it's always night. Ugh, it feels like it could drive a person crazy."

"It depends on the person," Li Wanyan replied casually.

"Oh, Wanyan, do you think this is okay?"

"Ah."

"If we have the chance, let's go there for a winter vacation! Let's experience what it's like when the sun doesn't rise. Yu Shu, why don't you come along?"

"Hmm? Me? Hmm...okay?"

"Hmm, why did you give such a reluctant answer?"

"Hmm...how do you plan to get there?"

"...Go when I graduate? Is that even possible?" Mo Xueyao muttered to herself.

"Oh, that'll be soon... Is it winter in Scandinavia when it's summer here?"

"No," came Li Wanyan's reply.

"Well, no... that was a time when the sun almost never sets—the climate there is really extreme."

Mo Xueyao only mentioned it casually; she didn't actually intend to go on vacation to Northern Europe.

However, this did remind her of something: "After graduation, this will be the longest summer vacation ever, the kind without any homework. I should definitely go traveling, right? I might not have that much free time in the future!"

"Mmm... mmm." Yu Shu nodded vigorously. "When the time comes, let's leave behind one last memory, shall we?"

"That's right! That's the one!" Just as she was about to say something more, the bus the three of them had been waiting for finally arrived. So, forgetting what was about to come out of her mouth, she jumped on the bus the moment the door opened, as if afraid that it would drive away in the next second.

……

Chapter 135 Leftovers?

"Wanyan, I think I wrote the dates on the back of the note wrong."

"Ok?"

"...It was all written as 2001."

Mo Xueyao flattened the note with her wish written on it, rested her chin on her hand, muttered to herself, and crossed out the '1' with a pen, turning it into a '2'.

What is your wish for January?

“What I wrote was… It snows every day. Forget it, I don’t want to see snow anymore…” Mo Xueyao pouted. Although it hadn’t snowed for several days, the sky was still overcast, and the snow hadn’t melted completely. In places where few people walked, there was even a thick layer of snow.

"...Mine is too."

"Pfft, hahaha, we thought of the same thing, didn't we?"

"Mmm." Li Wanyan gently pressed her tongue against her teeth and nodded slightly.

The two exchanged notes and put them back in their boxes.

The landline at home started ringing loudly.

Mo Xueyao's hair brushed against the edge of the bed and flew off, unlike Li Wanyan who had to keep her head down.

"Hello? Mom, what's up? Oh, I know, I'll be right there." She answered quickly, then 'click' hung up the phone.

"what happened?"

"Mom told us to go to the restaurant for dinner, but it's only noon now, it's still early."

"It's good to leave early."

"Hmm—then I'll head out early and wander around a bit."

As Mo Xueyao spoke, she didn't take off the fleece-lined leggings she was wearing, but directly picked up a pair of large cotton pants and put them on.

"It's so nice not having to go to class." The soft cotton pants kept Mo Xueyao very warm. "Finally, I don't have to wear skirts anymore..."

In the cold winter, no matter how thick the leggings are, even if they are cashmere, they are still hard to keep out the cold wind.

Although there was heating in the classroom, it was still so cold on the way that I had to stomp my feet.

At noon, a corner of the overcast sky was missing, allowing a few rays of sunlight to peek through. On days like this, when the snow is melting, it is often colder than when it is snowing.

Both of them wore thick cotton-padded trousers and loose but windproof, fluffy cotton-padded coats.

Wearing them makes you look like two chubby little bears.

Today is Saturday, January 5th, 2002.

It is the Lesser Cold season.

The radio in the small shop on the street was unusually loud.

"Good afternoon, everyone~ This is your weather anchor, Seven Nights Tea! Although the snow has stopped for several days, the sunny weather still hasn't arrived. And there's even worse news: the cloudy weather will continue for about another week, and there's a possibility of another heavy snowfall. It seems that this winter, Hangzhou is destined to be inseparable from snow..."

"Please stop snowing, please let the sun come out..." Mo Xueyao looked at the sky helplessly, clasped her hands together and waved them gently. "The clothes I've been wearing lately have all been air-dried, and they smell damp..."

“Yes.” Li Wanyan agreed with this.

Especially those thick winter clothes, once washed, take five or six days to dry, and the balcony is full of them, which is really annoying.

"Speaking of which, we've been walking everywhere lately. Our bicycles are probably getting rusty sitting at home."

"Um……"

"I'll have to get it serviced and repaired sometime." Mo Xueyao recalled when she first started high school, her father had given her old bicycle a fresh coat of paint.

Three years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The new paint looks old now.

It was covered in mud and dust.

These are all traces left by time.

"Ah—why don't I just ride over today and have Dad paint it!" She turned back as soon as she stepped out of the apartment complex. "What color does Wanyan want it painted?"

"...metallic color."

"I want to try rainbow colors, but that's too difficult, isn't it? Hmm... and it feels like a child's color scheme. Oh no, I've worn too many children's clothes that my mom bought for me, and it's ruined my sense of aesthetics." She tilted her head and patted her forehead, as if she wanted to let 'water' flow out of her head through her ear canals.

After all, we've only walked a few steps, and going back to get the bicycle won't take too much time.

Both of their bicycle tires were flat, but luckily there was a bicycle repair shop right outside the door.