A Young Woman's Heart

An ostrich egg cost a full fifty dollars, but it was really big, like a football, only oval-shaped.

There were also many vendors selling agricultural products. My sister bought a pound of roasted gluten, seemingly intending to take it home to cook.

Although Mo Xueyao didn't see any place to cook in that small rented room.

In addition, there are naturally all sorts of toys.

The kind of small dog that moves when plugged in with batteries is the most popular among children, but although many children gather around, few adults are willing to buy them.

After all, five yuan for an electric dog is enough to buy ten skewers of dried tofu.

Even if you buy a live mongrel, it's only ten yuan a dog.

Toy weapons, toy guns...

Everything is available.

Mo Xueyao was quite interested in these things and lingered in front of a toy gun shop for quite a while.

"What's wrong? Do you like this?"

"cough."

"If you like it, buy it. Consider it a gift from me." The woman smiled at the shopkeeper. "How much is this?"

"These pistols are three yuan each, those over there are better quality, five yuan each. These long guns are fifteen yuan each, and the sniper rifles with scopes are thirty yuan each, with infrared functionality. This iron pistol is a collector's item, fifty yuan each," the shopkeeper said in one breath, while also promoting it to the other children nearby, "Come on, come on, if you buy anything over five yuan, you'll get a small box of BBs for free!"

"Hmm... just buy the cheapest one," Mo Xueyao said softly.

"It's okay, everyone can get twenty yuan. If you buy five yuan worth, you still have fifteen yuan left to buy something." The older sister took out a blue-black hundred-yuan bill from her pocket, looking at the four portraits on it with a slight reluctance. "Boss, give me a box of five-yuan ones, and remember to send me the bullets too."

"Okay, what style? Choose one yourself."

"This one will do." Mo Xueyao pointed with her finger.

"Sister! I want this!" Before the payment was even finished, the younger sister exclaimed, apparently having found something she wanted.

Mo Xueyao, on the other hand, held the pistol with a happy expression, eagerly opened the packaging box, and then tried firing a few shots, making 'bang bang' sounds.

"Xiaoyao really likes these kinds of boys' toys," her older sister said softly.

"I'm alright...cough cough."

"Sister—come quick!" The younger sister was already getting impatient.

"Here you are."

My sister has her eye on a string of jewelry. Even if it's made of jade, it's probably the cheap kind made of pieces of jade pieced together, but she just can't resist liking it.

After all, it's very cheap.

A jade bracelet makes a soft, clear, and pleasant sound when you wear it and shake it gently.

Twenty yuan a skewer.

Are you really sure you want to buy this?

"Uh-huh!"

"Then your share is all spent."

"no problem!"

Finally, the three of them left the square, and everyone except the older sister bought what they wanted.

Although they had already walked around, the two sisters still had plenty of energy. Even Mo Xueyao didn't feel tired, since seeing these novel things was indeed quite interesting.

"It's almost three o'clock already! We've been shopping for so long!" Mo Xueyao said in surprise, glancing at the clock in a roadside shop.

"Yes, but it's still early. Let's continue shopping. Next, we'll go to the supermarket."

Compared to the plaza outside, the supermarket was not as crowded. Although there were still many people, it looked much more orderly.

At the main entrance of the supermarket, there is a two-meter-tall fir tree, covered with all kinds of gift boxes and draped with several colorful lights, which looks very European.

Mo Xueyao secretly picked up a gift box, opened it, and took a look inside. It was full of foam.

Of course, how could you possibly put presents inside a Christmas tree placed at the entrance?

As soon as you enter the supermarket, you see all sorts of Christmas-related items. After Christmas, these things become worthless, so many items are on sale.

Christmas hats, Christmas gift boxes, Christmas candies, Christmas cards, and so on.

All sorts of exquisite greeting cards are children's favorite things, and even Mo Xueyao found it hard to resist and stepped forward.

Most of the greeting cards were wrapped in packaging bags, but some had been opened and looked at. Mo Xueyao would pick out the ones that had been opened and look at them, just like toys.

Because there are various unique greeting cards.

Some of them will pop up something when you open them, and others have movable card patterns inside, which, combined with the background, make them look like an animation.

Some of them play Christmas carols as soon as they are turned on, and even play a different version of Christmas carol each time they are opened or closed.

Of course, this kind is more expensive.

The Christmas gift section at the entrance always had many novelties, which made my younger sister say enviously, "Foreign children are so lucky to have Christmas."

"Don't we also have the Spring Festival?" Mo Xueyao asked.

"But doesn't it feel a bit old-fashioned to say it's for the Spring Festival?"

"Uh... it's alright, isn't it? After all, it's a traditional holiday. But Christmas is really novel, with lots of new and exciting things, all very advanced." Mo Xueyao scratched her head and muttered.

"From now on, we'll have just as many amazing and interesting gifts for Chinese New Year," the older sister smiled. "Okay, shall we go inside?"

"Hmm, how about we buy some Christmas candy?" My sister looked at the candy shaped like a candy and her mouth watered. "Even if we don't eat it today, we can eat it later."

"Okay, let's buy them then." The older sister affectionately pinched her younger sister's cheek and put several different shaped candies into the shopping cart.

After leaving the Christmas section, the rest of the supermarket was pretty much the same as usual, except there were more discounted items.

Even with discounts, most people still can't afford those imported goods.

Finally, my sister bought some vegetables that can be eaten simply by boiling, planning to cook hot pot for dinner. Of course, they would be mostly vegetarian.

"Wait, isn't your sister going to buy herself a present?" While waiting in line to pay, the younger sister looked through the things she had bought that day and asked in confusion, "There's also something for Haruka, there should be some left, right?"

"I don't need it anymore." Mo Xueyao certainly wasn't shameless enough to always take advantage of others.

"I'll keep mine," the older sister said with a slight smile, tilting her head. "There's nothing I particularly want for now."

"Huh? But we all have gifts, so it won't do for you if you don't have one!"

"Then..." The older sister looked around and finally picked up a milk that was nearing its expiration date. "This one will do."

Sister: "Huh? Is that all?"

Sister: "Hmm, that's enough."

Sister: "Hmm... okay."

The two sisters who depended on each other for survival—Mo Xueyao thought to herself.

……

Chapter 145 The Fire Pit and Tofu Soup (Part 1)

"Hello everyone, this is your weather forecaster 'Seven Nights Tea' (Note ①) - Today is Sunday, December 26, 1999, at 6:30 AM. It will be drizzling in Hangzhou today, with a low of 6 degrees Celsius and a high of 9 degrees Celsius. There will be a level 3 northeasterly wind. The weather is getting cooler, so please remember to wear warm clothes. The drizzle will continue all day, so please remember to bring rain gear when you go out..."

The radio broadcast began to play softly, replacing the music that had been playing all night.

Mo Xueyao opened her eyes groggily and saw a cracked and yellowed ceiling. After a second of stunned silence, she realized where she was.

Yesterday at the supermarket, Mo Xiaoxiao's younger sister, Mo Zhuyou, insisted on buying a bottle of wine to drink at home, and she didn't want beer because she felt that beer couldn't warm her up. In the end, everyone couldn't persuade her otherwise, so they bought a bottle of Shaoxing wine.

A bottle of rice wine, when filled with disposable cups, makes exactly three cups.

The three of them each had a glass, and chatted and drank while eating some snacks.

Later on, the older sister was the first to get drunk. She hugged Mo Xueyao's shoulder and cried about the hardships she had endured over the years, repeatedly saying things like, "If it weren't for waiting for me, Mom and Dad wouldn't have had that car accident."

The younger sister was the second to get drunk; one moment she was hugging her older sister and calling her "Mom," and the next she was hugging Mo Xueyao and calling her "Dad."

Mo Xueyao wasn't drunk, but people who have been drinking seem to get sleepy more easily. However, she still forced herself to get some cold water mixed with some hot water, wiped the sisters' faces, washed their feet, and then put them on the bed.

After washing up, she lay down on the bed and woke up in the morning.

However, a light rain was still falling outside the window, and the sky was extremely dark, as if it were still the middle of the night.

Perhaps because she had a good deep sleep last night, Mo Xueyao woke up feeling very energetic and had no intention of going back to sleep. So she got out of bed, put on her sister's school uniform, tidied up the room a little, and moved a cardboard box full of books to sit down.

In the room of sisters Mo Xiaoxiao and Mo Zhuyou, there were no tables or chairs; everything was replaced with cheap cardboard boxes.

Even textbooks that were no longer used in the past are being used in this way.

The continuous drizzle makes you not want to go out at all; you just want to laze around and do nothing.

Speaking of which, Mo Xueyao still had homework to do, and suddenly felt a little uneasy.

Should I go home and do my homework?

But her parents haven't come looking for her, so wouldn't it be embarrassing to go back now?

Thinking this through, Mo Xueyao decided to postpone the matter, since there was still plenty of time.

"Hmm..." Perhaps the sound of Mo Xueyao moving the cardboard box woke her up. She turned over and slowly opened her eyes. "Xiaoyao? You're awake?"

"Yes, good morning."

"Good morning, uh... I got drunk yesterday, oh no... I didn't even wash up."

"It's alright, I wiped your faces and feet for you." Mo Xueyao casually picked up a small comic book from a cardboard box and started reading.

This is a pirated Doraemon comic. When unfolded, it's a long strip. Its advantages are that it's easy to carry and cheap.

After all, this book only costs 50 cents, but it contains three or four stories.

"That's good, thanks~" The older sister breathed a sigh of relief and reached for her phone from the cardboard box that was being used as a bedside table.

"Huh, this is the first time I've noticed that Xiaoxiao has a cell phone."

"It's just an old phone, um... a keepsake left to me by my father." She touched the Motorola phone, which looked very old and had some damage to its exterior, with a touch of nostalgia. The antenna cover was missing, leaving the entire antenna exposed.