A Young Woman's Heart

"Meow—" Su Tang disgustedly pressed its face down with its paw, then hugged Mo Xueyao's leg and jumped up a few steps.

"Hey! Su Tang, you're using your claws again! You've already torn my pants!" Mo Xueyao grabbed Su Tang by the scruff of its neck and hugged it tightly. "You've already torn one of my socks, are you trying to tear my pants too?"

"Meow~meow~"

"Silly cat." Mo Xueyao affectionately rubbed its little face.

Li Wanyan was squatting down, stroking 'Haha's' head. The latter kept flicking its tongue and licking everywhere, as if it had inexhaustible energy.

"Do my hands taste good? You licked all the hand cream I put on this morning clean." Li Wanyan poked its nose, amused. "Stop, stop licking."

"Ow~"

"This dog is really interesting." The father rubbed 'Haha's' rear end with the surface of his shoe. "But isn't it a bit too noisy?"

"It's good that it's lively; that way it won't feel deserted." Grandma Jin smiled, picked up 'Haha' again, and walked towards her shop. "Business is here; I'll go do my business now."

"Okay." The father nodded, turned to Mo Xueyao and said, "Xiaoyao, shall we go to the market to buy some vegetables today? There are no vegetables left in the refrigerator."

"Okay, what do you want to buy?" I've already finished my homework, and I have plenty of free time. Going out for a walk would be nice.

"Let's see if we have any corn. Let's buy some corn, then some potatoes, carrots, and chicken. We'll make some stewed chicken tonight. It's getting cold, so we need something with soup."

"Okay, is that all?" Mo Xueyao took a ballpoint pen, tore off a small piece of cardboard from the box, and wrote down what she needed to buy on it, so she wouldn't forget when she got there.

"Let's see if there are any cheap seasonal vegetables, and buy some of them too."

"Okay, shall I set off then?"

"You're not taking the money? Are you planning to pawn yourself there?"

"Is that all I'm worth?"

“Yeah, it should be worth at least 50,000 yuan, right?” the father joked.

Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, took a dark brown fifty-yuan bill from her drawer, and waved to Li Wanyan: "Class monitor, wanna come along?"

“Okay.” As Li Wanyan went out, she picked up a long-handled black umbrella. “It might rain today, so bring an umbrella.”

"Hmm... bring it, one should be enough." Mo Xueyao looked up at the increasingly gloomy sky, then looked down and patted Sutang's head. "Let's take Sutang out for a stroll today, let it see the world."

"Meow?"

It takes about ten minutes to walk from the fruit shop to the vegetable market, which is actually right across from my godfather's residential area.

It is also the only vegetable market in this area.

Su Tang, being carried by Mo Xueyao on the street, seemed a little scared. It lay on Mo Xueyao's shoulder, not daring to move, and its paws clung tightly to her clothes, as if afraid that she would drop it.

"Sutang, why are you so scared?" Mo Xueyao asked, puzzled.

"Perhaps it's because I'm in an unfamiliar environment."

"Oh, so Su Tang is such a coward." Mo Xueyao picked up Su Tang and placed her on the ground with a mischievous smile. "Come on, Su Tang, try walking a few steps. Don't be scared."

"Meow..." Su Tang took two shaky steps, then lay down on the ground, too scared to move.

"It's also possible that it smelled the scent of other cats; this might be the territory of other cats," Li Wanyan analyzed.

"Well, it seems our Sutang is definitely not going to be able to beat other cats in the future. She's not even afraid of dogs, so why is she afraid of her own kind?"

"The reason we're not afraid of that husky is probably because it's too small to pose a threat to Sutang."

"Perhaps..."

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan chatted casually as they walked into the market.

Perhaps because it wasn't very early, there weren't many people in the market, but it was still quite lively.

As soon as you step inside, you are greeted by a damp atmosphere.

In addition, there was a fishy smell and a meaty smell.

Mo Xueyao looked around and immediately spotted a corn stall, so she walked over there.

"Wanyan, do you know how to choose vegetables?" Mo Xueyao, who had little experience in grocery shopping, asked nervously.

"I know a little bit." Li Wanyan didn't know if she was being modest or if she really only knew a little bit, but in any case, she was much better than Mo Xueyao.

"Then you can pick out the vegetables later. Let's go buy some corn."

"Row."

"Boss, how much is the corn?"

"One jin (one yuan) in a basket."

"How much...?" Mo Xueyao was a little unsure.

"Two pounds should be enough, right?"

"Oh, then I'll buy two pounds!"

"Okay."

The market was littered with rotten vegetable leaves discarded on the side, and the fish market was littered with fish scales and bloody entrails.

Su Tang licked her lips, looking somewhat tempted.

"By the way, Wanyan, shall we buy some fish innards for Sutang?"

"sure."

"Su Tang~ I'll give you a treat today~" Mo Xueyao hummed a little tune as she walked up to the fishmonger. "Boss, do you sell the fish innards from these fish on the ground?"

"Those? Those are all garbage. Are you going to feed them to the cat?" The fishmonger saw the candy in Mo Xueyao's arms.

“Yes…feed it.” She held up the taffy.

"I'll give it to you for free." The shopkeeper casually pulled out a thick black plastic bag, emptied out the internal organs and threw them into the bag, filling it about halfway, and handed it to her.

"This...isn't that a bit much...? Giving it to me for free?"

"It's alright, it's not worth much anyway." The shopkeeper shook his head. "How about it, want to buy a fish?"

As the saying goes, "He who takes a man's money is bound to be grateful," and since the shop owner was so kind, Mo Xueyao felt embarrassed to refuse, so she nodded and bought the cheapest crucian carp.

"If you're worried about the crucian carp having too many bones, you can deep-fry it so you can eat it with the bones." The owner handed the cleaned fish to Mo Xueyao. "Here you go."

"Okay, fine..." Mo Xueyao had just taken the bag of fish when one of the fish inside suddenly jumped, startling her. "Huh!?"

"Haha, it's nothing, it's normal."

“I know…” Mo Xueyao was certainly not unfamiliar with this knowledge, but the fact that the fish could still move even though it was clearly dead was indeed a bit frightening.

“Next, we should buy chicken nuggets…” Mo Xueyao glanced at the potatoes and carrots Li Wanyan was carrying and asked, “Wanyan, do you know what vegetables are in season?”

"In winter, it should be bok choy, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, radish, winter melon, cauliflower, and spinach."

"Okay, let's go buy these, and buy a lot, since it's food for a week..."

……

Chapter 128 Difficult Cross-Stitch

When Mo Xueyao walked out of the market, she hadn't realized it was raining.

She didn't notice until a few fine raindrops were blown obliquely by the wind and fell on her face.

If it were summer, she probably wouldn't care about such a light rain at all.

But you still need to be careful in winter.

Otherwise, it's easy to catch a cold if your hair gets wet.

Getting sick means needing to buy medicine, and buying medicine costs money...

Compared to these hassles, using an umbrella is much simpler and cheaper.

"Squad leader, you hold the umbrella for me."

"Hmm, but... can you carry all these dishes by yourself?"

"It's okay, no problem at all." Mo Xueyao patted her chest, put the candy on her shoulder, and then picked up the bag on the ground. "Let's go home."

Su Tang lay quietly on Mo Xueyao's shoulder, as if she were glued there.

Even with a light drizzle falling on the streets, many people couldn't help but glance at it.

When we got back to the fruit shop, my father was fiddling with a small television on the table—constantly adjusting the antenna to try and get the best signal.

"Hey Dad, you bought a TV?"

"No, it was Aunt Jin... your Grandma Jin who gave it to me." The father adjusted his position slightly and then sat down with satisfaction. "Haha, now we can watch TV here. Although the picture isn't very good because it's received by an antenna, the sound is still quite clear."

Mo Xueyao placed a large pile of vegetables on a cardboard box, shook her reddened little hands, and leaned closer to the TV: "Is it black and white?"

"Well, even though it's black and white, it's better than nothing."

"It's good enough that there's anything to watch," Mo Xueyao agreed. "How many channels are there?"

"There seem to be seven or eight? I didn't count carefully."

"Where's the remote?" Mo Xueyao pulled up a chair and sat down. "I wonder if there are any channels I like."

"There's no remote, just press the buttons on the TV to control it." As the father was saying this, a guest arrived, and he quickly stood up to greet him.

“My family used to have a black and white TV, but it broke down a year ago,” Li Wanyan said as she wiped the raindrops off her glasses with a napkin and walked toward Mo Xueyao.

Su Tang shook off the raindrops that had fallen on her, splashing them all over Mo Xueyao.

"You stinky cat! You're asking for it!"

Mo Xueyao was so angry that she grabbed it, wrapped it completely in a clean, large towel, and tied a knot in it, making it look like a long strip of sushi.

"Xiaoyao, you always bully Sutang." Li Wanyan smiled and stood up for Sutang.

"Tch, who told it to make me angry?" Mo Xueyao muttered, leaning forward slightly as she changed the channel.

There are only eight channels in total, almost all of which are CCTV programs.

Fortunately, there was a regional children's channel and a central children's channel—of course, back then they weren't called children's channels, they just broadcast cartoons.