A Young Woman's Heart

"Damn, it's so late. High school is tough, isn't it?" Li Gutao clicked his tongue. "Oh, by the way, what's your name?"

"I...I...? My name is..."

"Sigh, whatever. Anyway, you're his sister, so it's okay for me to call you 'sister,' right?"

"Ah, either way is fine."

Are you going home now?

"Yes."

"Oh, be careful on the road. I'll get together with your brother again when I have some free time next time."

"it is good……"

Mo Xueyao breathed a sigh of relief and rode her bike toward the fruit shop.

Fearing that Li Gutao might secretly follow her, she quickened her pace.

He wasn't riding a bike, so he probably couldn't keep up with her.

Li Gutao, of course, didn't intend to follow her. He just stroked his chin with some confusion: "When did Xiaoyao get a younger sister who looks so much like her?"

Li Gutao carefully recalled his junior high school days and was quite certain that Mo Xueyao had never mentioned this matter.

He always felt there was something strange about this, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Moreover, even if something strange happens, it doesn't seem to harm him at all.

The main reason is that most people simply wouldn't think in that direction.

Although Mo Xueyao was quite handsome in junior high school, he always kept a very manly buzz cut, so apart from the very beginning, everyone treated him as a boy.

Occasionally, it happens, but it's just in jest.

Who would want to be a boy and suddenly turn into a girl?

And she's become so beautiful?

Because Mo Xueyao gradually began to recover and develop after the surgery, both her figure and face shape underwent some changes.

At first glance they may look very similar, but upon closer inspection there are many differences, which makes Li Gutao even less likely to think in that direction.

Finally, he simply put aside his doubts and kicked a pebble from the roadside into the river: "Hey, this kid, he actually let his sister answer the phone to play a trick on me, really... haha, this is getting more and more interesting. I should invite him out to play sometime. Hmm, I should also invite a few of my old buddies. We should all get together properly, otherwise we'll drift apart after a while..."

……

Chapter Twelve: The Neighbor's Doubts

Something unexpected happened today.

That is, Mo Xueyao absentmindedly rode past the fruit shop and only realized it when she was almost home.

Should I ride my bike back to the fruit shop?

I feel really tired again.

Although it might not take much time or effort, Mo Xueyao just didn't really want to ride back.

After all, it was the road she had just ridden, and now she felt somewhat reluctant to ride back.

"Forget it, I'll just call Dad when I get home and tell him I'm not going to the fruit shop today," Mo Xueyao muttered under her breath, finally deciding to ride her bike home directly.

Downstairs in the apartment building, a neighbor living on the fifth floor was busy on a cart, putting ingredients on it one by one.

Mo Xueyao didn't sense anything unusual and parked the car downstairs quite naturally.

"Hey, Haruka, long time no see." The uncle who sells fried skewers on the fifth floor greeted him habitually, but then he froze, "Huh...?"

"Yes, it's been a long time. How come...?" Mo Xueyao said, then suddenly covered her mouth.

She then realized that things were about to go wrong.

If she hadn't said that, she could have lied and said they had mistaken her for someone else, that she was Mo Xueyao's sister.

But now that you've said that, it's obvious you know each other.

In other words, she is acknowledging that she is Mo Xueyao herself.

So how do we interpret the past?

Why would a boy suddenly turn into a girl?

"Oh—Xiaoyao has finally grown her hair long!" The uncle selling fried tofu said with a smile as he neatly arranged the stinky tofu.

"I've always said that Xiaoyao looks better with long hair," the woman selling fried skewers nodded in agreement.

Does this transition seem a little too natural?

Mo Xueyao's hand, which was gripping the lock, froze in mid-air, unsure of what was going on.

"Finally, you're not a tomboy anymore?" the middle-aged man joked.

"Ah? Hmm...Eh?" Mo Xueyao's face turned slightly red, not because she was shy, but because she was nervous.

"Haha, now you're starting to look like a proper daughter."

"Uh..." she chuckled awkwardly, "Long time no see, uncle and auntie."

"Yeah, what have you been up to lately? Leaving early and coming home late."

"Uh... My family runs a fruit shop, so I usually come home quite late."

"I see." The uncle nodded. "I remember when your family first moved here, your dad said you were a tomboy. Back then, I couldn't tell if you were a tomboy or a real boy. Now I understand, you really were a tomboy back then."

"Hahaha……"

"Look, he still looks like a tomboy when he smiles, haha." The uncle laughed.

Mo Xueyao scratched her head awkwardly: "Well, I'll head back now."

"Okay, go ahead, come over for some fried skewers sometime, it's been so long since you've been here."

"No, no..."

"Girls really do change when they grow up; they even worry about getting fat now, huh?"

Mo Xueyao didn't know how to answer, so she simply pushed the car downstairs to the newly built small parking awning, locked it, and ran upstairs.

Today, she encountered two things that almost exposed her secret, making her heart pound.

Even after returning home, I still felt nervous and uneasy.

When she was little, her father jokingly called her a tomboy.

It seems that back then, her father always liked to joke in front of others that she was a tomboy.

After all, he's so good-looking. Even though he shaved his head, it's still acceptable to call him a tomboy.

As time went on, people either tacitly accepted it or simply forgot about it.

Mo Xueyao herself did not bring it up again.

In any case, everyone treated her as a child and didn't make a special distinction between a boy and a girl.

I never imagined that a little joke my father made when I was a child would actually have such an effect now.

Although they are next-door neighbors, this is in the city after all, and people don't really know each other well. At most, they greet each other when they meet every day, and occasionally knock on each other's doors to send blessings during holidays.

Compared to rural areas, the relationships between neighbors in the city are more loose and seem more distant, but Mo Xueyao actually feels that it gives each other more space.

That's why the secret was covered up by a little joke.

No wonder they don't find it strange when they encounter unfamiliar neighbors on their way up and down the stairs.

Everyone thought that this tomboy had finally reformed and was willing to be a proper girl!

This left Mo Xueyao somewhat amused and exasperated.

"Oh well, tomboy it is then," she consoled herself. "It's better than not being able to explain myself, right?"

Mo Xueyao stretched her body, feeling that this life was truly absurd.

She had been a boy for sixteen years, and one day she underwent surgery to become a girl. However, it didn't seem strange to those around her. It was as if living as a girl was a perfectly normal thing.

This reminded her of going to the barbershop when she was a child. Every time she went to a new barbershop, the barber would ask her, "Girl, are you sure you want a buzz cut?" Sometimes they would also ask her if she had been heartbroken or upset about a breakup.

Mo Xueyao only stopped asking questions after repeatedly emphasizing that he was a boy.

But now that I think about it, it wasn't that others believed she was a boy, but rather that they didn't insist on 'revealing' her, so she thought everyone believed she was a boy.

It might sound a bit convoluted, and you'll need to think about it carefully.

Mo Xueyao sighed—though she didn’t know why she was sighing.

But I just wanted to sigh to vent my frustration.

She sat on the stool in a daze for a while before suddenly remembering something, picking up the landline and dialing her father: "Hello, Dad?"

"Huh? Why are you home?" The father asked, glancing at the caller ID.

"I got distracted while riding my bike and ended up home before I knew it. I guess I won't eat at the fruit shop today."

"Where do you want to eat?"

"I can just cook something for myself."

"But there's not much food at home, is there? You silly girl, how could you get so distracted and go home like that?"

"Oh, isn't this normal?" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "Everyone has moments when their mind wanders."

"So what are you planning to eat at home? Or how about we go out and buy something to eat?"

"No need. I already bought toast and ketchup, so I'll just eat that. I don't need to eat too much tonight anyway."

"Don't complain of being hungry in the middle of the night," the father said on the other end of the phone. "Alright, take care of yourself. By the way, Wanyan hasn't come back yet. Is something wrong at school?"

“Yes, she should be at the fruit shop in about an hour…” Mo Xueyao glanced at the time.

"Okay, business is business now, I'm hanging up."

"Xiaoyao, bring the clothes hanging outside on the balcony in—"