A Young Woman's Heart

Li Wanyan, who had just opened her eyes slightly, snuggled her head closer to Mo Xueyao's pillow, glanced at her playing games, listened to the 'whoosh whoosh whoosh' shooting sounds from the phone and the monotonous background music, and lazily yawned.

"Ouch, Wanyan, your hair is in my mouth—"

"..."

If it weren't for the fact that today is Lunar New Year's Eve, the whole family probably wouldn't want to get out of bed.

In this kind of weather, nothing is more comfortable than staying in bed.

Finally, it was Mother who got up first and started cleaning the house with a clattering sound, gradually bringing life to the quiet home.

From the large room came the father's strange cry; without even looking, it was clear he was stretching and struggling to get out of bed.

Mo Xueyao originally didn't plan to get up, but she couldn't hold her pee any longer. She felt that if she were still a boy, she could hold it in for a while longer, but now, she had no choice but to get up.

Since we were already up, we simply put on our clothes and got ready to wash up.

I felt cold when I was curled up in bed, but once I got out of bed and moved around a little, I warmed up quickly. It was much more comfortable than when we were huddled together in bed trying to keep warm.

Sometimes it's like this: the more you fear the cold, the colder you feel. If you can't warm every corner of the bed with your body, your living space will become smaller and smaller.

"Wanyan, I'm going to wash up. Why don't you get up? You won't be cold when you get up." Mo Xueyao said, and even twisted her waist as if to demonstrate, making a crisp sound from her joints, which made the soles of her feet feel a little numb.

The phone on the table started buzzing. When the pre-set ringtone first went off, Mo Xueyao was almost too surprised to realize that it was her phone ringing.

After all, I've only used it for a few days, and I haven't gotten used to it yet.

She only opened the cover to answer the phone when the ringing was almost over, and also tried out the hands-free function.

"Hey?"

"Little Yaoyao! Happy New Year's Eve!" Hua Yinyin's voice was quite energetic, indicating that she had obviously been up for a while.

"I think it would be more convenient to just say Happy New Year at midnight..." Mo Xueyao teased, taking her phone with her into the bathroom.

The advantage of using speakerphone is that you can chat while doing other things.

"Wouldn't it be better to offer blessings twice?" Hua Yinyin's voice was a bit noisy, as if many people were walking back and forth.

"Yinyin, it's so noisy over there."

"Yeah, wait until I get back to my room—thump." Then, the sound of a door closing came from the phone, and the noise immediately subsided considerably. "A lot of relatives came to celebrate the New Year together, ugh, it's such a hassle, so noisy and disruptive—"

As soon as she finished speaking, Mo Xueyao heard the sound of the door being pushed open again on the other end of the phone.

And a slightly more distant, less clear female voice: "Hey, Xiao Bao, don't just open my room, okay?"

"Sister, I want something fun!" The speaker was probably a three or four-year-old toddler, his voice was obviously childish and his speech was unclear.

"...I don't have anything fun here."

"Okay, okay, Xiao Bao, don't bother your sister."

"Boom."

The sound of the door closing came from the other end of the phone once again.

Hua Yinyin sighed, sounding quite helpless: "Ugh, so annoying, several relatives' kids are running around my house, shouting and yelling like crazy..."

"How many people actually went to your house? Why are they all spending the New Year at your house?"

"It wasn't my dad; he invited them. He said it's rare for everyone to get together, so he invited all his relatives in Hangzhou, as well as some of his friends and old classmates..."

"It's quite lively."

"It's so noisy, it's almost unbearable." Hua Yinyin's voice seemed a little distant. "Little Yaoyao, how's your home? How is it?"

“My home? Hmm—” Mo Xueyao tilted her head back, gargled her mouth, and then leisurely took half a step outside. She glanced at her mother, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room shelling edamame, and her father, who was wearing only woolen pants and swinging his slippers with his right big toe.

The TV was playing a classic drama that had been replayed many times. The volume wasn't very loud, and the light from the screen made the colors of the walls change.

"You must be pretty free." After hesitating for a few seconds back in the bathroom, she said to Hua Yinyin on the other end of the phone.

"Hey—no relatives coming over?"

"No."

"That's wonderful!"

Mo Xueyao couldn't help but chuckle: "So you can be this troublesome with other people too?"

"Tch—anyway, I plan to go out and have fun after dinner tonight. Staying at home is too boring. It's just kids and adults chatting, which has nothing to do with me. I don't feel involved at all."

"Where do you think you're going to play in this heavy rain?" Mo Xueyao carefully adjusted the faucet, tested it, and only after confirming that hot water was flowing out did she put the basin under the faucet to catch it. The 'splashing' sound of the water made Hua Yinyin's voice a little muffled.

"...How...Little Yaoyao?"

"What?"

"Oh, that's it..."

"Huh? Okay, okay, tell me now." Mo Xueyao turned off the tap, threw the cold towel into the basin, and only put her hand in after the hot water warmed it up.

“I said—” Hua Yinyin paused deliberately to make sure there was no noise from Mo Xueyao’s side before continuing, “Tonight, on New Year’s Eve, let’s go out and have fun—! To the rooftop of the building, on the rooftop—to see the city—what do you think!”

"There's no need to shout so loudly... Uh, it's raining so hard, wouldn't it be a hassle to go out? Besides, do you know which building has a rooftop you can go up to?"

"Hmph, I know how to get in through the back door of the department store!"

"I know that too, but the key point is—the department store isn't very tall, is it?"

"Well—we'll see then. Anyway, whether to go or not! It's a New Year's activity, after all. It only happens once a year, so it should leave a lasting impression!"

"If the rain lightens up tonight, I'll go. But if it's still pouring like it is now, I don't want to go out." Mo Xueyao answered somewhat reluctantly. She was currently applying face wash evenly to her face, and her reflection in the mirror looked rather comical.

"Okay~ I'll go call Lele too!"

"How many people are you planning to call..." Mo Xueyao turned on the tap again, and Hua Yinyin's voice became less and less audible.

"No...one...just...and...nothing!"

"Okay, okay, whatever you want. Anyway, not everyone is willing to come out." Mo Xueyao replied somewhat perfunctorily, not having heard clearly at all.

"Then it's settled! If the rain lightens, we'll go out and play! The streets will definitely be empty today!"

"Nonsense, with such heavy rain, and it being New Year's Day, you probably won't see a soul on the streets." Mo Xueyao pouted. "Alright, alright, go call someone else, I'm hanging up?"

"Okay, I'll text you when the time comes!"

"OK~"

Mo Xueyao hung up the phone, casually stuffed it into her pajama pocket, and then rinsed her face with hot water to remove the facial cleanser.

"Hmm... I feel much better. I wish it were sunny today..." She hung up the towel, muttering to herself, and strode out of the bathroom, calling out to Li Wanyan, who was still lying in bed, "Wanyan! I'm done washing up, you can go wash up now!"

"Okay, I'll get up right away..." Li Wanyan said, then shrank further into the blankets.

……

Chapter 156 New Year's Eve

If we were to pinpoint the difference between the New Year and any other day, it would be the atmosphere.

The four family members gathered together, making the small house of just over 50 square meters seem particularly lively.

The mother was busy washing and preparing vegetables, while the father, for once, took charge of cooking and prepared a series of impressive dishes.

I made dozens of fried meatballs at once, each one as big as a soup spoon, saying I wanted to fry more to eat from the first to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

There are quite a lot of dishes to cook today. I started cooking at 1 p.m. Just the dishes that can be kept for several days and can still be eaten cold have already filled most of the table.

In my father's words, during the Spring Festival, only New Year's Eve was busy, so we had to prepare the food for the next few days. We wouldn't cook for the rest of the days; at most, we'd just reheat the leftovers...

This is similar to not sweeping the floor during the Lunar New Year. It may be considered superstition, but it also reflects the ancient Chinese mindset of balancing work and rest.

After all, we've worked hard all year. In the days following the Lunar New Year, we should give ourselves a good break, do nothing, clear our minds, and enjoy the life that truly belongs to us.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan were not idle either. Together, they gave the house a thorough cleaning. Fortunately, the house had only been renovated six months ago, so there wasn't much dust accumulated over the years. They were able to clean every corner of the house in just half an afternoon.

The candy brought back from the fruit shop seemed to sense the New Year's atmosphere as well, running around everywhere with an excitement that was almost like it had taken the wrong medicine.

Unfortunately, the sky remains overcast today.

The sky simply changed from slightly brighter dark to even darker black.

After cleaning, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan took a nice bath and even enjoyed soaking together – although the bathtub was a bit cramped for two people, they could still manage to sit down.

The New Year is a time to shed all pretense and greet it with a fresh start.

After taking a bath, you always feel warm all over, as if there's a stove burning inside.

So Mo Xueyao was only wearing one shirt and a coat, without even a sweater underneath.

She was only wearing a pair of loose cotton pants. All I can say is, it's so great that I don't have to wear a skirt around in winter.

"Wearing a skirt in winter is truly an anti-human design..." Mo Xueyao muttered, plopping down on the sofa.

She's not planning to do any winter break homework today anyway; in fact, she already finished most of it a few days ago.

It's the New Year, so of course we should enjoy life to the fullest, like watching TV or something.

Today's television programs are also exceptionally abundant, and of course, there are many public service advertisements featuring various celebrities.

The most anticipated part, of course, is the Spring Festival Gala at eight o'clock – Mo Xueyao most wants to watch crosstalk and skits, just like she always reads the comics and short jokes in a magazine as soon as she buys it.

The pursuit of simple happiness is a human instinct.

Li Wanyan sat behind Mo Xueyao, who naturally leaned against her as if she were a recliner.

The two of them sat side by side and watched cartoons all afternoon.

It's probably only during holidays that you can enjoy such a continuous broadcast with so few commercials.

In Mo Xueyao's memory, every New Year's Day was very short, while the nights were long.

Before 8 p.m., the parents, who had been busy all day, finally stopped.

The father placed a plate of braised sea bass on the table, and the last dish was finally finished.

"Alright, girls, dinner's ready!"

In fact, no one had eaten all day, except for sneaking a bite or two of the fried meatballs.

And now, it's finally time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.