A Young Woman's Heart

"No regrets," the beggar answered firmly. "Some things have to be done by someone, and if that's the case, why can't it be me?"

Nora pinched the corner of her eye, bowed slightly, and turned to leave.

Your names are unknown, but your deeds will live on forever.

……

Chapter Two: New Year's Day

In the early morning, with no clouds obscuring the sky, the rising sun greeted everyone openly, promising a bright and sunny day.

Mo Xueyao stretched and sat up in bed.

It was already 6:30, but she wasn't in a hurry today.

Because today is New Year's Day, although there is a New Year's Day cultural performance, the time to arrive at school is a little later than usual. As long as you arrive at school before 8:30, it is fine.

So she slept in, which was quite rare for her.

The main reason is that she only went to bed at 1 a.m. yesterday, and it would be too much to ask her to get up at 5 a.m. today.

Even though she slept until 6:30, she was still very sleepy. She yawned and got out of bed.

Getting dressed in winter is like going to war; if you don't get dressed quickly, you'll freeze to death.

Neither her father nor mother were home, so the two of them went to the fruit shop early in the morning.

Now, the mother is responsible for opening the store early in the morning, while the father goes to the wholesale market to buy goods.

While it's fine to just call and have it delivered, it becomes troublesome if you have to choose from several suppliers and the quantity is small each time.

So an even simpler way is for people to go directly to the market and choose the fruit. After selecting the fruit, they can find a tricycle driver to load all the fruit they bought from each vendor and transport it to the fruit shop.

Having a van would certainly be much more convenient.

So, besides the current plan to pay off the debt, the family is also saving money to buy a minivan.

When parents aren't home to supervise, people tend to relax. After wiping her face, Mo Xueyao subconsciously wanted to hang the towel back up, but her hand stopped in mid-air.

"...It's my face, it's my face." She kept repeating to herself, picked up the facial cleanser next to her, applied it to her face, and carefully washed her face in front of the mirror.

Perhaps it's because I'm going to perform on stage later that I'm paying more attention to my appearance today.

Breakfast was ready, but perhaps knowing that Mo Xueyao would sleep in today, it wasn't taken out of the pot.

There was white porridge and red bean rice dumplings in the rice cooker, and a still-warm egg pancake in the pot.

The red bean rice dumplings were handmade by Mo Xueyao's mother. One characteristic of the rice dumplings her mother made was that they contained nothing but red beans.

Since it contains neither meat, salt, nor sugar, the zongzi itself has no flavor.

Therefore, it can be eaten with sugar or soy sauce, or deep-fried.

Although it's not as flavorful without meat, it's perfect for breakfast because it's not greasy at all.

This morning I didn't feel like eating anything salty, so Mo Xueyao dipped the zongzi in white sugar and took a big bite.

The egg pancake in the pan had gotten a little cold, so while she was chewing on a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling), she turned on the stove to heat up the egg pancake and then put it in a bowl.

An egg pancake and a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling) make for a very hearty breakfast for her.

Today, Mo Xueyao didn't even carry her schoolbag; she left home with just a set of keys and a letter.

As she passed by the mailbox, she casually dropped in the letter covered in stamps.

There were also several packets of tea in the letter—this was her final decision after much deliberation.

Perhaps it's because tea leaves don't take up much space, and they allow the other person to taste the flavors of Hangzhou.

That was Longjing tea, a specialty of West Lake in Hangzhou. Mo Xueyao had secretly taken it from a jar of tea that her godfather had given to her father and wrapped it in oil paper.

Sending letters is actually a very interesting thing.

Although it always takes a long time, it plants a seed of anticipation within you, adding color and surprise to your mundane life.

Sometimes, after a long time, I would forget about it, and when I received the letter, I was as happy as if I had received a gift.

How will the other person respond?

Mo Xueyao looked forward to it.

In her letter, Chenxing asked her if she wanted military rations. Mo Xueyao said she did, but didn't know how Chenxing would send them to her.

Even the smallest military rations should be a large bag, right? Perhaps they should be shipped in a cardboard box?

With that thought in mind, she got back on her bicycle.

Although it was the New Year's Day holiday, there were already quite a few pedestrians on the streets at this time, making it much more lively than when she usually went out.

She pressed the bell and squeezed the brakes, riding through the crowd for a while before finally reaching the main road, where she began to pick up speed.

Yesterday and today were only a few hours apart, but Mo Xueyao felt that she was a brand new person today, a different person than before.

She didn't tie her hair up when she went out today, letting her long black hair flow freely in the wind.

The sunlight shone on her sky-blue eyes, creating ripples that seemed to make them appear as if three rings were constantly expanding and contracting within her pupils.

Of course, that was just an illusion created by the sunlight.

The school gate was unusually lively. There were no students or teachers on duty today, so everyone was free to enter and leave the school without wearing school uniforms or school badges.

Of course, this only applies before the official start of the New Year's Day cultural performance.

The New Year's Day performance at Yukong High School is not counted in the holiday period, which means that after today, there will be another three days of holiday.

School starts one day later than other schools.

So today is a completely extra day for the students, and they're here to watch a performance instead of attending class, so everyone is naturally very happy.

It gives me a feeling of 'making a profit'.

When she got to the classroom, she noticed that many students who always arrived at school right on time whenever they didn't have homework were here early. It was rather strange that she, who was always an early student, was not here early today.

"Oh, Xiaoyao is finally here! It's so late today!" Wang Jiale greeted her.

"Anyway, I have nothing else to do." Mo Xueyao smiled. "Excuse me, I need to go in."

"Hehe, you can't come in unless you give me candy!" Wang Jiale laughed mischievously, but still made room for her to go in.

"What kind of sugar do you want? How about some roasted chestnuts?" Mo Xueyao stared intently at Wang Jiale's forehead.

The latter quickly covered her forehead and said pitifully, "Waaah, Yaoyao is going to bully me!"

Is this considered a nickname upgrade?

Does it mean becoming closer?

Her mother gradually started calling her Yaoyao, and now even Wang Jiale calls her that.

"Good morning, Xiaoyao. Didn't you bring your schoolbag today either?"

"Why would I carry a schoolbag if I'm not going to class?" Mo Xueyao asked, puzzled.

“But a certain idiot took it by heart~” Mo Xiao said with a smile, deliberately looking at Wang Jiale.

"Hey, what's wrong with carrying a backpack! It's not good to habitually carry a backpack. Besides, you can bring some snacks with you. I have snacks in my backpack, and Xiaoxiao won't get any later!"

"Huh? Lele dares not give me snacks? Watch me tickle you!"

The two girls immediately started arguing.

Sitting next to Mo Xiaoxiao, Lu Bolun watched with great interest: "Sigh, it's really enjoyable to watch girls bickering and joking around."

"It's not enjoyment, it's erotic, isn't it?" Gao Yuan, who rarely didn't have to come in the morning to do homework or secretly copy homework when Li Wanyan wasn't looking, came over with a bag of potato chips. He grabbed a handful of chips and threw them into his mouth, which was wide open like a hippopotamus. "Tsk tsk, I never expected that you, Lu Bolun, who looks so handsome, would actually be such a lecherous old man."

"What are you talking about? I'm looking at it from a philosophical and dialectical perspective, and I absolutely don't have any strange ideas in mind."

"You're just making a fool of yourself by protesting too much."

"Damn, Gao Yuan, you can even recite proverbs now?" Lu Bolun teased, feigning surprise.

“I didn’t see three hundred taels, but I did see a pig,” Liu Xiaowei chimed in. “Right, Lu Bolun?”

"Correct."

"What the hell! Hey, Xueyao, beautiful lady, wanna have some potato chips?" Gao Yuan turned to talk to Mo Xueyao.

"I'm not eating." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "Did you even wash your hands before handling those potato chips?"

"Of course I've washed it!"

"Bullshit!" Liu Xiaowei immediately exposed him. "Gao Yuan never washes his hands after using the toilet, and he just used the toilet."

"Ugh—" The girls all showed expressions of disgust.

Gao Yuan took another big bite of potato chips, indignantly: "Liu Xiaowei, how come you always slander people without any basis! I could also say that you don't use toilet paper!"

“I think it’s very likely,” Mo Xueyao said, suppressing a laugh.

"Damn, I just have a bit more dandruff, it's not that disgusting, is it?" Liu Xiaowei looked very hurt.

It was just to make everyone happy.

Every class needs a few lively characters, otherwise the atmosphere would be too dull.

"Girls~ Do you need makeup for the performance? If so, you can come to my office now~" Ye Wen asked loudly as she walked into the classroom.

"No need!" Mo Xueyao was the first to refuse.

"I think we should still have a little bit, right?" Wang Jiale blinked, but she looked at An Ruosu. "After all, Susu is wearing a girl's school uniform today~ By the way, Hua Yinyin said she would bring a wig today, why hasn't she arrived yet?"

"Cough cough!" An Ruosu coughed a few times, her face flushed. "Do you really want to wear it?"

"Of course! You're about the same height as Chen Baicheng, so wear her clothes today!" Hua Yinyin suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Hmph, did you hear someone call me just now?"

"Are you Cao Cao?" Mo Xueyao asked, her eyelids drooping.

"Hehe, I even brought a wig with me! Ta-da! Susu, do you want to try it on?"

"Could you please not call me Susu?" An Ruosu swallowed hard and asked with difficulty.

"While you're dressed as a girl, it's better to call you Susu. Doesn't that make you feel more like a girl? Hurry up, put on the wig. Oh, right, you have to put on the wig first."