A Young Woman's Heart

The older sister operated her phone with one hand and turned off the radio with the other. Her expression suddenly froze, and she glanced cautiously at Mo Xueyao.

She was engrossed in reading comics and naturally had no idea.

This is a text message sent last night from an unknown number. Judging from the content, it should be from the homeroom teacher or class monitor.

At the beginning of the school year, each student had to fill in their parents' phone numbers. Naturally, the older sister filled in her own number, which was actually left by her father.

Surprisingly, the tone of the letter was not that of a conversation with the sisters' parents, but rather a direct communication with the older sister, Mo Xiaoxiao.

It was as if she knew the two sisters had no parents and depended on each other for survival.

The text message was very simple, just a short sentence: "Xiaoxiao, is Xiaoyao with you?"

Was the text message sent by the class monitor or the homeroom teacher?

Mo Xiaoxiao thought that the class monitor didn't seem to have a cell phone. Although he might have borrowed someone else's phone to send the message, these kinds of things are usually handled by the homeroom teacher, right?

So... it must have been a text message from the homeroom teacher.

As she pondered this, she replied to the message, thinking that whether Mo Xueyao wanted to go back or not, she couldn't let everyone worry.

"Xiaoyao is with me, don't worry."

A short while later, a notification sound indicating that the text message had been successfully sent appeared, and soon a reply text message arrived.

"Okay, let her go home early."

"Okay, but she probably still doesn't want to go home today."

After my sister sent her reply, the other party did not respond again. After all, text message fees are quite expensive. Without a dedicated text message package, a text message costs 30 cents, and if it is a cross-province message, it costs 50 cents.

"Xiaoyao, are you cold?"

"A little bit."

"Then let's make a fire."

"A fire?" Mo Xueyao looked around in confusion, unable to find anywhere in the house where she could make a fire.

"Okay, wait a minute, I'll get up first~"

"it is good."

When the older sister got up, she tucked her younger sister back into bed, and then ran out to wash up.

When she returned, she was carrying a bag containing fist-sized pieces of charcoal.

"I bought it from the barbecue restaurant~" she said with a smile as she walked into the house. "It'll get warm soon."

"Huh, then why don't you burn it normally?"

"Because although charcoal isn't very expensive, you still can't afford to burn it every day."

"Oh, is it because of me? Thank you..."

"No, no, we enjoy it sometimes, you know. Life needs a little sweetness to keep going, right?" The older sister smiled and took out a metal bucket from behind the door where the shoes were kept.

This metal bucket looks like it was originally meant to hold paint, but there's not a drop of paint left inside. It's been washed clean and looks brand new.

I don't even know when I last used it.

"Xiaoyao~ help me move the table~" the older sister said, pointing to the cardboard box placed by the window.

"This one?"

Yes~

So, Mo Xueyao and Mo Xiaoxiao got busy together, clearing out the surrounding area. The iron bucket was then placed near the window, where there were no foam mats, so there was no need to worry about burning them.

The metal drum appears to have been modified, with a detachable wire mesh rack installed on top. The flat wire mesh rack can be used to heat or grill something.

Furthermore, the iron bucket has an iron lid with several ventilation holes, so it can be closed when no one is around to prevent anything from flying in and setting the whole house on fire.

My sister first poured the charcoal into the iron bucket, then rolled up some waste newspapers and placed them on top of the charcoal.

"Xiaoyao, could you get me some matches?"

"where is it?"

"In the drawer."

The so-called drawers were actually made of cardboard boxes. One has to admire the sisters' skill and ingenuity; they were able to make such beautiful drawers out of cardboard boxes, and they were even double-layered. Inside, they stored some odds and ends that were easy to lose, including several boxes of matches.

"Here you go." Mo Xueyao took a box and handed it to her sister.

"Click—!" My sister skillfully struck a match and threw it in. The waste newspaper was quickly ignited, and the charcoal pieces slowly burned along with it.

The tightly closed window was pushed open most of the way, and the curtains were pulled aside.

Before the charcoal blocks had fully burned, the cold wind blowing in from outside made Mo Xueyao feel even colder.

About fifteen minutes later, the charcoal finally caught fire completely, and the area in front of the iron bucket became warm.

"Achoo! Sister—don't open the window..." the younger sister sneezed, rubbed her nose, and muttered.

"Youyou, wake up! Come warm yourself by the fire."

"Huh? There's a fire to roast today?" My sister perked up immediately, sat up abruptly, and excitedly started putting on her clothes.

"Of course," the older sister said with a smile. "Oh, and little sister, when you go down to wash up, remember to buy six steamed buns."

"Okay~!" The younger sister eagerly took some change from the bedside table, grabbed her toiletries, and dashed out the door.

"It feels so good—I think I need a fire pit like this at home..." Mo Xueyao sat in front of the large iron pit, stretching out her hands, looking happy and satisfied.

"They should be available in the market. I bought mine from a tricycle vendor. It was cheaper because it was made from recycled materials."

"Um...uh...we'll talk about it later." Mo Xueyao's expression stiffened for a moment.

My sister smiled and didn't say anything. She just pulled out a cutting board from under a cardboard box, then cut the tofu and ribs into pieces, and diced other ingredients such as carrots and scallions. She poured them all into the rice cooker, then added boiling water and seasonings, closed the lid, and started the cooking mode.

This rice cooker isn't very big; it might not even be big enough for two or three adult men to cook rice for, but it's sufficient for just the two sisters.

After all, buying a very large one is a waste of money; rice cookers are still considered expensive 'high-tech' products these days.

"Are you making tofu soup?"

"Mmm." The older sister nodded with a smile, her dimples deepening. "Drinking some hot soup in winter is very comforting, and you can also grill some things on this fire grill."

"What are you grilling? I don't think we're out of meat."

"You can roast sweet potatoes, roast potatoes, roast corn, and you don't need to brush on oil, so it's cleaner to eat!"

"Ah! I want to eat roasted corn!" Mo Xueyao rubbed her hands together excitedly.

"No problem~"

……

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Note 1: Seven Nights Tea: This is a tribute to Seven Nights Tea, the author of "Going Against the Current." I also highly recommend Sister Tea's "The Night of the Gods" (not a transformation novel). It's very good; it's a book that borrows the concept of Heroic Spirit summoning, and it's even better than the original Fate novel. It's quite old, and you can only find it on Baidu. "It's because I fell in love with the character design of Taiyin in this book that Taiyin appears in almost all of my subsequent books."

Chapter 146 The Fire Pit and Tofu Soup (Part 2)

"I'm back!" A short while later, her younger sister, Mo Zhuyou, excitedly pushed open the door and came in. She put the washbasin aside and handed over two plastic bags. "I saw a tricycle selling oranges on the way, so I bought a few!"

"Oranges? That sounds nice. Has Xiaoyao ever had roasted oranges?" The older sister turned to Mo Xueyao and asked.

"Huh? Oranges can be roasted?" Mo Xueyao asked in surprise.

"Of course! Roasted oranges are so sweet and fragrant!" My sister sat down cross-legged against the big metal bucket. "Aww—it's so warm...so comfortable..."

"On a rainy winter day, this is the kind of place you should stay at home," Mo Xueyao suddenly thought that the home of the Mo Xiaoxiao sisters was actually quite nice.

Although small, it was very tidy, and the small room made people feel very safe, although it was a little inconvenient to do other things.

"By the way, want to play games?" my younger sister asked excitedly.

"Games? You have a game console at home?"

"No, no." My sister stretched out her hand and took out a beautifully crafted, thick notebook from the drawer. "It's a game I made myself! It's really fun, you know! Want to try it?"

"Huh? How do you play?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously.

"Xiaoyao, I don't know if you've played this before. It's the kind of game where you follow a storyline. You're basically the host, and the winner and some plot developments are determined by your choices and the outcome of rock-paper-scissors," the younger sister explained simply. "My sister and I play it a lot at home! The game's storyline is already quite rich and complete. This notebook records a lot of storylines, about a hundred side quests, eight main quests, and thirteen endings! And as I play it more and more, I keep updating the stories, quests, and endings."

"Wow, that's amazing! I've played and even made games like this before, but I've never made one this detailed," Mo Xueyao exclaimed. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Okay, okay~ Sister, do you want to come play?"

"No, you can play with Xiaoyao today. I'll make you something to eat," the older sister said with a doting smile.

The younger sister opened the notebook, and the first page contained the choices for a character's gender, birthplace, birth weapon, and birth identity.

Mo Xueyao naturally chose the male without hesitation.

"Five rounds of rock-paper-scissors, with five different locations and roles to choose from based on how many times you win." In her sister's notebook, besides listing the names of various roles, locations, and weapons, there was even a rough map and some rough drawings of weapons.

"Alright, watch me win five games in a row!" Mo Xueyao said confidently.

However, she didn't win a single game.

"It's a pity~ You can only choose the beggar option, and you can only choose the most chaotic country as your birthplace," the younger sister chuckled.

"Um... okay, so what kind of weapons are available?"

"Here, here, all of them." The younger sister turned a page, and on the back were also pictures of various weapons.

"Wait, what's going on with this piano?" Mo Xueyao asked in surprise.

"The piano is a weapon too."

Can I choose?

"Sure."

"Then I'll choose the piano!"

"Alright, you beggar pianist born in a chaotic land, get ready to enter the game world~" The younger sister recited the opening line in a serious manner, and the two of them continued to play more deeply.

My sister brought the clothes that were drying outside under the awning into the house and hung them on a rope connecting the two walls. The house was warmer by the fire, so the clothes dried more easily.