A Young Woman's Heart

……

Chapter 299 Nora's Homemade Perfume

(One)

A few drops of drizzle fell in the early morning, but they didn't wet the ground at all; however, they did make the air much cooler.

Although it was Sunday and she could sleep in, Mo Xueyao was unusually energetic and got up very early.

It was only five o'clock, but the sky was already exceptionally bright, meaning the sun hadn't risen high enough yet.

The sky looked as if it had been painted with a light blue colored pencil, with a slightly fuzzy texture, seemingly softer than the clouds.

"You're up? Perfect timing. Go downstairs and get the milk yourself." Her mother, who was washing clothes in the bathroom, glanced back at her and moved the small stool forward.

"Hey, I haven't washed up yet."

"Come up and wash again. It's so early, and no one's watching you."

"Tch... fine, fine." Mo Xueyao casually pushed open the door, yawned, put on her sandals, and wobbled downstairs.

If I remember correctly, the milk subscription ended this summer, and I don't know if I'll need to renew it then.

—I guess she won't order again, unless she's still studying in Hangzhou, and it has to be the kind where she's a day student.

I had barely stepped down a few steps when I saw the old man on the fifth floor push open the door and come out, carrying a large styrofoam box and looking very hurried.

"Uncle," she greeted him habitually.

"Xiaoyao? So early."

"I'm always early, what are you doing? Setting up your stall so early?"

"Today, people can set up stalls at the entrance of Peace Square for some kind of street vendor culture festival. I'll go early to get a good spot."

"Oh! You must have prepared a lot today, right?"

"Haha, that's right, we've moved it three times already."

"Can your little electric scooter fit it?" Mo Xueyao was very curious. Her uncle's electric scooter was about the same size as a bicycle, except it had a battery. It wasn't much faster, and at most it could save some effort.

"Are you stupid? You can put it on a tricycle."

"Oh, right, but the tricycle has to be pushed over there."

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it, haha. Someday I'll buy a minivan like your dad and drive it around!"

"Ah, we should get one, it would be more convenient." Mo Xueyao nodded gently, and her uncle smiled and quickly went downstairs again.

It was still early, and there were hardly any people on the streets of the neighborhood. Even if there were, they were just old men and women who were bored and couldn't sleep and were out walking their dogs.

In those days, the most common dog on the road was the pug. It was ugly in a distinctive way, and it was quite a good match for the elderly people who walked with difficulty—because they themselves seemed to be struggling to walk as well.

Mo Xueyao yawned and rubbed her sleepy eyes. Just then, she saw a man riding a bicycle wobbling towards her from not far away. Two green shoulder bags were strapped to the bicycle, and the basket was full of letters.

He picked out a few letters and put them in the mailbox downstairs, but one of them was bulging and he couldn't put it in.

Mo Xueyao, who had taken the milk, glanced at it curiously and realized it was her own mailbox: "Eh? Hello, is this mail from 602?"

"Yes, your surname is Mo...?"

"Mo Wenli or Mo Xueyao?"

"Mo Xueyao".

“That’s mine.” Mo Xueyao nodded, put the glass bottle of milk into her pocket, and smiled as she reached out her hand to him.

"Okay, if it's your friend, tell him to send a package next time he sends a letter, and if there's anything else with it."

"Okay, okay..."

Mo Xueyao rarely receives letters, but if she does, it's usually from Nora.

Sure enough, her name was written in Russian in the sender's field. After seeing it so many times, Mo Xueyao felt that the words looked very familiar.

Actually, according to the Russian pronunciation, it should be 'Nova', but Nora prefers the pronunciation she translated herself.

Aside from the given name, the rest is a long string of surnames. To be honest, sometimes Mo Xueyao really feels that Russian is the language with the lowest information density of all languages...

……

(two)

While her mother was still busy, Mo Xueyao wouldn't meddle or help—mainly because if she tried to lend a hand, she would be criticized for not doing it well, or accused of causing trouble.

So she was sitting at the desk under the bed, reading through Nora's letters in the dim light of the morning sun.

Li Wanyan must have woken up. She tossed and turned in bed several times but still didn't want to get up.

On a rare day off, even if you don't sleep in, lying down for a while is a pleasant and comfortable thing.

In the letter, Nora said she planned to bring her husband and newborn child to China in the summer and asked when she would be available. She said she would leave after confirming the date of their meeting in her reply.

Of course, we also need to exchange Chinese mobile phone numbers.

Finding Mo Xueyao isn't difficult; after all, the fruit shop has always been there. If you find the fruit shop, you'll find her.

The letter was rather mundane, just a sharing of her life, and of course, mostly about how adorable her newborn child was.

The letter also included photos of the child.

It was a little girl, but to be honest, Mo Xueyao didn't find her cute at all. To her, such a tiny baby looked more like a monkey...

People who aren't mothers probably can't understand that kind of cuteness.

The letter said the baby was only three months old, but she still decided to take the child on a trip abroad, saying it was to experience different cultures. But can such a young child really remember anything?

Besides that, there was a bottle of perfume that was sent with the letter.

Nora said that it was perfume she made herself, and she only made two bottles in total. This one was a gift for her, and it was made with extracts from the sunflower, Russia's national flower.

In the letter, she said that she loved this flower so much that she specially made it into perfume so that Yi could smell the sun-kissed fragrance every time she sprayed it.

She even wrote out a detailed ingredient list, but for some reason, honey was also added.

It appears to be a perfume with very few chemical components; theoretically, it could even be drunk.

Of course, it's best not to drink it.

"Sunflower perfume? Uh..." Mo Xueyao looked up and tapped the bed board. "Wanyan, Nora sent over some sunflower-scented perfume. Do you want to try it?"

"...I don't need perfume."

"Give it a try, maybe you'll like it?"

"Then just spray it from a distance."

"Huh?" Mo Xueyao scratched her head, seemingly not understanding why Li Wanyan had suddenly given an irrelevant answer. However, she still slipped the sunflower bookmark tucked in with the letter onto the bookmark. "Wanyan, you'll like this, right? It's a sunflower bookmark, made from a real sunflower pressed firmly. I feel like we don't see sunflowers very often around here."

"Yes, it's only beautiful when it's everywhere on the mountainside."

"That feeling of everyone facing the sun?" Mo Xueyao imagined that scene, but what popped into her mind was the Teletubbies...

……

(three)

Since Nora had sent a letter, Mo Xueyao naturally had to reply. She lay on the table and answered all the questions first, then didn't write for a long time because life didn't seem particularly exciting, and there weren't many stories to talk about.

After hesitating for a long time, she decided to tell her about her daily life here.

Perhaps these things are commonplace or even boring to her, but they might be quite novel to people from another country.

Just like the life Nora shared with her.

I remember getting in touch with Nora because of Wang Qianyu's letter-friendship activity.

At that time, everyone chose their own confidants, but it seems that only Mo Xueyao and Nora, as well as Wang Jiale and Sanhua Tongjue, have maintained contact and become friends.

Some things, even if fate throws them right in front of you, not everyone can grasp them.

"Phew—" Li Wanyan finally decided to get up. She stretched her body and yawned, then slowly sat up, folded the thin blanket, and spread the sheets out before getting up and crawling back down.

It was still quite early. Her mother had almost finished the housework and, without any hesitation, instructed Li Wanyan to wipe down the kitchen and wash the mop before hurriedly leaving the house.

—She had to go open the fruit shop.

Sunday morning passed slowly, the leaves outside the window rustled in the wind, and Mo Xueyao wrote line after line on the letter paper...

……

(four)

"Yaoyao, breakfast is ready."

"Okay, coming right away."

"It's getting cold."

"Coming, coming—" Mo Xueyao reluctantly put down her pen and ran barefoot to the living room.

Li Wanyan had already ladled out the porridge, and there were clean chopsticks on the bowl.

Mo Xueyao didn't rush to sit down. Instead, she darted to the TV cabinet, turned on the TV, opened the cabinet, and took out a disc.

In this day and age, it would be a waste to only watch a purchased DVD once.

So even though Mo Xueyao had only seen the Ultraman DVDs once, she still took one out of the box with great interest and put it into the DVD player.

The television screen, which had been displaying a blue screen, immediately displayed an image, familiar music played, and then a large title appeared—"Seven Assassination Plan".

The first time I watched it was at night. Although it was only a little past seven o'clock, none of the lights in the house were on, and Li Wanyan was still at the fruit shop and hadn't come back yet.

So she was all alone.

The terrifying atmosphere frightened her somewhat.

What I fear most is, of course, the scene where a car starts to move slowly without anyone inside.

Of course, once you've seen it, you won't be scared anymore, so she decided to take it out and enjoy it for breakfast today.

“Seven, huh?” Li Wanyan, who had no interest in these things, had learned quite a bit from being around Mo Xueyao.

"Hmm, which Ultraman does Wanyan like?"