A Young Woman's Heart

Happy birthday!

Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Mo Xueyao, celebrating her special birthday.

Although we can celebrate it every year, unlike the awkwardness of spending money, it always happens close to the Spring Festival, which is usually a busy time, or we celebrate it together with the New Year to save trouble.

There aren't many times when it's taken out of the picture like this.

Come to think of it, February doesn't seem to have a 29th this year.

Hua Yinyin's desire to have a real birthday is much more difficult than Mo Xueyao's.

"Little Yaoyao, make a wish!"

"Let me think, what should I wish for..."

"Just make the wish that you most want to come true."

What do you most want to achieve?

Of course, I'll always be a boy.

She muttered to herself, but in truth, as she thought about this, her heart wavered a little.

If she were really given the chance to make a wish, would she really make it?

Maybe not.

For her, whether or not she is a boy is really not that important anymore.

So she murmured to herself in front of the lit candle, saying in a very soft voice, "I hope we can all get into the same university... I hope we can continue playing in a band in the future..."

After repeating this three times, she calmly opened her eyes, puffed out her cheeks, and blew hard—

"Whoohoo-"

I have a feeling that the candle wasn't blown out by her, but rather extinguished by her saliva.

Because she clearly saw a few specks of saliva fly out.

Whether or not a person celebrates their birthday is irrelevant, but every country and region has its own tradition of celebrating birthdays.

Perhaps it is only through such a sense of ritual that one feels like a human being.

Even if it may not actually have any apparent meaning or function.

"Alright! Time to cut the cake!"

Because this cake was made by Mo Xiaoxiao herself, no one smeared cream on other people's faces to avoid wasting it.

After each person received a small piece, they carefully swallowed it.

Mo Xueyao tried the first piece, which even had a thin layer of chocolate on the outside. It wasn't as sweet as the ones you buy in stores, but it was refreshing enough.

The cream seems to have a faint minty flavor.

"Should I open my birthday present after I get home?"

"They usually go back and dismantle it, right?"

"Hmm—I'll open it now." Mo Xueyao shook her head. "Let me see what you've sent—"

This made Ye Banxia and the others a little nervous, afraid that Mo Xueyao might not like the gift they gave.

However, the contents of the first box that was opened instantly eased the tension in the air.

"Hey, what's this?"

"puff--"

"In the end, Aya still chose to give away the calcium tablets after all..."

"That's right, Xiaoyao, you want to grow taller, right? You still have a chance! Eating more calcium supplements can help you grow taller!"

"...Thank you." Although it was a bit funny, it did seem to be a pretty useful gift, so she opened another one, which was a bottle of Vitamin C. This time, everyone laughed so hard they couldn't stand up straight.

"Who is this?!"

"I gave it to her!" Cha Li raised her hand. "I thought, since Ling Ling gave her calcium tablets, I'll give her a bottle of Vitamin C, so we can make a perfect pair."

"My family eats fruit every day, so we don't need to supplement with vitamin C at all..."

"This isn't your ordinary Vitamin C; it's Vitamin C gummies, you can eat them like candy."

"Okay... thank you."

Mo Xueyao felt her expectations were being piqued, and she was curious to see what other strange gifts everyone could bring.

So they opened the third one.

She remembered it; if she remembered correctly, it was given to her by Hua Yinyin.

Inside was a beautifully packaged box.

It's also sealed in plastic wrap.

It doesn't look cheap.

The label reads "Multi-functional Pliers".

"Hey, what's this now?!"

Hua Yinyin excitedly shouted, "If Yaoyao's bicycle breaks down while she's riding it, we can use these tools to fix it!"

"Thank you so much! Even if I had it, I wouldn't know how to fix it!"

"As expected of Yin Yin!"

The girls finally burst into laughter and hugged each other tightly.

……

Chapter 147 Unraveling Everyone's Feelings

(One)

Every gift represents a small token of everyone's goodwill.

There are proper, ordinary gifts, as well as strange gifts with whimsical and imaginative intentions.

But without exception, they all brought a touch of warmth to Mo Xueyao's heart on this chilly winter day.

Each person's gift box is wrapped differently.

Some were simply packed in a box, while others were excessively packaged with layers upon layers of packaging—a prime example being Ye Banxia.

"Phew... Xiaxia's gift isn't the box itself, is it..." Mo Xueyao had already opened the small square box, which was barely bigger than her thumb, and she looked up and asked helplessly.

"No, no... this is the last one."

Mo Xueyao rallied her spirits again and opened the last box.

Finally, I saw the gift inside. It was a glass bottle about the size of a thumb, filled with a light pink liquid. When I shook it gently, a faint fragrance wafted out.

"What is this?"

"Perfume, I extracted it myself."

Wow, Xiaxia can even make perfume?

What is this made of?

Seeing everyone looking at her, Ye Banxia shyly put her hands behind her back: "I...I used jasmine extract...just...just a very ordinary extraction method..."

"Why are jasmine flowers pink?"

"I added a tiny bit of rose petals..."

"Oh—it's quite pretty." Mo Xueyao gently shook the small glass bottle. Although she had no interest in perfume, she couldn't let someone's good intentions go to waste, so she carefully put it back into the last box and placed it on the table.

Mo Xiaoxiao gave Mo Xueyao a birthday cake, and the other gift was from Mo Zhuyou. Inside the simple kraft paper box were more than a dozen well-pressed leaves of various kinds.

There are fiery red maple leaves, golden ginkgo leaves, deep green osmanthus leaves, and even four-leaf clovers.

These are leaf bookmarks.

It is most popular among girls.

Generally, the older the book, the more beautiful and clean the pressed leaves will be, because most old books have a good water absorption rate, which allows them to dry sufficiently without becoming brittle.

"These are leaves picked from the mountains, and they've been pressed for about half a year!" Mo Zhuyou boasted. "I picked a little of each kind from my treasured collection for you."

"Thank you." For Mo Xueyao, who loves reading, this simple and ordinary gift was quite to her liking.

……

(two)

Unwrapping the gift is as addictive as winning a lottery.

Even the students watching felt the same way.

"This is—um, it should be Xiaoxue's, right?" Mo Xueyao glanced around the classroom, feeling like someone was missing from the crowd, but she couldn't remember who it was.

"Yes, mine." Mr. Xue, who had been sitting in the corner chair, nodded with a smile. Only then did everyone realize that he hadn't seemed to have squeezed in at all...

Mr. Xue's gift was very special; it was a remote-controlled car that was only the size of two thumbs.

The remote control itself is even larger than the remote control car, and it has a recess inside that can hold the car.

Mini remote control cars, though rare, are not uncommon; you can usually see some on supermarket shelves.

The key point is that this doesn't seem to be a remote-controlled car that was bought directly, but rather one that Mr. Xue assembled himself.

Rather than being rough, it's more accurate to describe it as rugged; it's small but quite heavy, and its design looks rather sturdy.

The car has no body shell; the wiring and frame are exposed, reminiscent of Soviet design styles from the 1940s and 50s.

This little car is powered by eight button batteries arranged in two rows. The key point is that the battery compartment seems to be welded shut, making it look like a disposable toy.

"Can't the battery be replaced?"

"It's too small; this is the only design possible with current tools." Mr. Xue nodded slightly. "I estimate it should last for about three hours."

"Wow, it's so short."