A Young Woman's Heart

"Oh."

Mo Xueyao squatted down and started rummaging through her toothbrush, feeling as if she had done this before.

But that's normal, since many things in daily life are repetitive.

"New toothbrush, new toothbrush..." Mo Xueyao rummaged around for a while and found seven or eight brand-new toothbrushes. Perhaps it was a unique habit of people from that era; her mother always liked to hoard things.

Whether it's daily necessities or food, people tend to stock up on things in every possible place at home, as if they wouldn't feel safe if they didn't.

Among a pile of toothbrushes, she picked out a blue one before returning to the bathroom to wash up again.

Washing her face takes the most time, and now she has to apply facial cleanser before washing her face, so even if she wanted to, she couldn't speed it up.

After all, it's very uncomfortable if you don't wash your face properly and there's still cleanser residue left on your face.

After washing up, breakfast was ready.

Almost every morning, Mo Xueyao eats breakfast alone.

The father had to get up early to buy goods, while the mother, after cooking breakfast, would not eat it immediately but would continue cleaning.

She seems to have a habit of feeling uncomfortable if she doesn't finish what she's set out to do.

Even breakfast lost its flavor.

This is probably a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The taste of stir-fried rice cakes with blue crabs is naturally different from that of ordinary stir-fried rice cakes. The key lies in the fresh and fragrant crab roe, which is irresistible.

My mother used long, thin rice cakes instead of sliced ​​ones.

This kind of rice cake is chewier and is fried until slightly browned, giving it a crispy and crunchy texture. It tastes great.

The tomato soup my mother made had hardly any tomatoes in it.

Because she peels the tomatoes before adding them, and then cooks them until they are completely dissolved, so that all the pulp is incorporated into the soup.

Its sweet and sour taste is perfect for having a couple of sips when you first wake up in the morning and have no appetite.

It also helps to cut through the richness of the stir-fried rice cakes.

I'm heading out!

"Be careful on the road."

Mo Xueyao slipped on her canvas shoes and clattered down the stairs.

A light snow is falling gently outside.

Mo Xueyao likes snow.

Perhaps it's because her name contains the character for snow, or perhaps it's because she was born in the south and doesn't see snow very often.

She reached out and caught a falling snowflake.

The snowflakes quickly melted in her palm, leaving a cool and comfortable feeling.

"It's just light snow, no need for an umbrella or raincoat, right...?" she muttered to herself as she stepped into the falling snowflakes.

Because it was only light snow, there was no snow accumulation at all.

The snowflakes disappeared instantly upon hitting the ground, leaving only a thin layer of snow on some car roofs or awnings.

Mo Xueyao wrapped the scarf around her neck to prevent the cold wind from blowing into her clothes through her collar while she was riding her bike.

Even though my leggings were already quite thick, it was still very cold while riding my bike.

Therefore, Mo Xueyao could only ride slowly, so that the wind would be less.

She let the snowflakes fall on her, enjoying the rare coolness.

You should know that she is usually very afraid of the cold.

It was still early, and the school gate was quite deserted. Mo Xueyao parked the car and ran into the classroom with small, quick steps.

The heating has been turned on, and the classroom is very warm, just like springtime.

It also caused a layer of fog to cover the window glass, making it impossible to see the outside world from the inside.

Mo Xueyao reached out and wiped the glass, which made the outside world clear again.

"Good morning, Xiaoyao."

"Good morning, Wanyan." Mo Xueyao stretched and sat down in her seat. "What did you have for breakfast today?"

"Fried dough sticks and sesame flatbread," Li Wanyan replied as usual.

"Meow~" Just then, she heard a soft meow.

It seems to have come from Li Wanyan.

Li Wanyan was clearly taken aback and stunned.

"Huh, where did that cat meow come from?" Mo Xueyao asked in confusion.

“I think I heard that too.” Mr. Xue nodded.

"Hmm..." Li Wanyan hesitated for a moment, then tentatively unzipped her backpack and saw a fluffy cat's head peeking out.

"Meow~" That's right, it's Su Tang. It actually mischievously crawled into Li Wanyan's schoolbag and quietly followed her to school.

Most importantly, it didn't bark the whole way, until it got to the school. It was probably bored and started calling softly.

"Hey! How come the sugar candy is in Wanyan's bag!" Mo Xueyao exclaimed in surprise.

“I don’t know either.” Li Wanyan stroked its whiskers helplessly. “When did it come in…”

"You actually brought a cat to school?" Mr. Xue looked at Su Tang, who had poked her head out. "Won't the teacher find out?"

"Looks like I'll have to confess to the homeroom teacher later and let it stay in the office..." Mo Xueyao sighed. "How naughty it is, it actually crawled into the schoolbag by itself."

"Meow~" Su Tang meowed softly, jumped out of her schoolbag, and ran happily towards Mr. Xue, darting to his desk in a flash.

"Oh, what an enthusiastic cat." Mr. Xue reached out his hand, and Su Tang gently licked his palm with her tongue.

"Sutang is a very well-behaved cat, though of course, she can be naughty sometimes," Mo Xueyao said proudly. "This is my cat."

"Hmm, but if she's well-behaved, she won't crawl into her schoolbag, will she?" Mr. Xue asked with a smile.

"Perhaps just curiosity?" Mo Xueyao beckoned to Su Tang, "Su Tang, come here~"

"Meow~" Su Tang meowed at Mo Xueyao, but instead climbed onto Mr. Xue's body, quickly darting onto his shoulder and licking his hair with her tongue.

"This cat is quite interesting. Why is it licking my hair? Does it taste salty?" Mr. Xue picked up Su Tang. "Mind if I hold it for a while, Xiao Yao?"

"No problem, you can hold it." Mo Xueyao looked indifferent. Anyway, she had plenty of time to hold it every day when she got home, so she didn't feel jealous.

"Has it had breakfast?"

"Probably not." Thinking this, Mo Xueyao scolded Su Tang, "Look at you, why did you sneak over here? You probably won't get anything to eat all day."

"Are your uncle and aunt worried?" Li Wanyan asked anxiously.

"Probably not, it sometimes runs out during the day anyway, it's just that it'll be hungry today."

"Will it eat noodles?" Mr. Xue asked.

"I don't know, I've never fed it, but it usually eats."

“I’ve fed it noodles before,” Li Wanyan said, taking the books out of her backpack and checking if it was dirty. “But you have to break them into small pieces.”

"Would you like it a little smaller?" Mr. Xue stroked his chin. "I happen to have some fried noodles, let's give it a try."

As he spoke, he took out his breakfast, tore off the lid of the styrofoam box, and then placed some of the fried noodles on the lid and crumbled them.

"Want some?" he asked the sugar candy.

"Meow?" Su Tang sniffed at the fried noodles with an expectant look on her face, but didn't take a bite.

“You need to put it on the ground,” Mo Xueyao reminded her. “Su Tang doesn’t eat food on the table.”

"Is it that smart?" Mr. Xue was somewhat surprised. "It can even distinguish between human food and its own food."

"Of course, Su Tang is very smart!" Mo Xueyao proudly puffed out her chest.

So Mr. Xue put the lid on the ground, and the candy jumped down and happily ate it.

After finishing its meal, it licked its lips, seemingly a little thirsty.

After all, the fried noodles that people eat are quite salty.

So Mr. Xue poured water onto the foam lid for Crispy Candy to drink.

Su Tang drank all the water poured on top, then stretched out a big yawn and jumped into Mr. Xue's arms.

"Meow~"

It nuzzled the latter's body with its head, seemingly expressing its gratitude.

"If this keeps up, it won't come with me after school, will it?" Mr. Xue joked.

"Definitely not! I'll call out 'Su Tang' right now, and it'll come right away. Look, Su Tang!"

But no matter how many times he called, the sugar syrup remained unmoved.

"It seems I really have to go home with Mr. Xue," Li Wanyan said, suppressing a laugh.

……

Chapter 8 A Cat Grew Up in the Desk

It wasn't until the fourth student entered the classroom that Su Tang darted from Mr. Xue's arms into Mo Xueyao's desk.

It seemed to really like the place, because it was small yet full of layers, with books of different heights forming interesting little hills.

"Hey, Sutang, you can't run around when class starts later." Mo Xueyao whispered to Sutang, who was lying on the desk.

"Meow?"

"Don't make a sound, do you hear me?"

Su Tang reached out a paw and scratched Mo Xueyao's chin, it was unclear whether she understood or not.