A Young Woman's Heart

The adults used tools to cut the ice blocks as if they were cutting through stone. In winter, the ice blocks could be used as bricks and piled up one by one.

Mo Xueyao stood to the side, watching with curiosity, and asked, "How thick is the ice here?"

"About two meters," the father, who was also helping to dig the ice, replied. "We've chosen places where the ice is frozen solid. Later, we'll find some thinner ice, preferably less than half a meter thick, to dig holes in."

Yes, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone came out together for ice fishing.

This is also a traditional custom of this small town.

Although it was already February, it was still cold. People had to break through the ice and build small huts out of the ice blocks, and then carve holes in the huts to fish.

Some people even dug holes in the shallower parts of the river to swim, even though the temperature at that time was only a few degrees below zero and as low as twenty degrees below zero.

The reason for this tradition is that locals believe that winter swimming near the beginning of spring can strengthen the body, and fish caught under the ice seem to taste better than usual—of course, it may just be an illusion.

Mo Xueyao thought she was already very afraid of the cold, but she didn't expect Li Wanyan to be even more afraid of the cold than her.

Wearing a thick fur coat, he stood on the ice, constantly breathing on his hands, shivering all over, barely managing to keep his body warm.

"Are you cold?" Mo Xueyao leaned closer and handed her the hot water bottle she had tucked into her clothes. "Use this."

"Um, thank you..."

"I already said, we don't need to say thank you. It's too formal, Wan Yan." Mo Xueyao waved her hand, turned around, and squatted down next to Mr. Xue. She noticed he was carving something on the ice with a small knife. "What are you doing?"

"Drawing blueprints for the igloo."

"Oh? Do we need blueprints too?"

"To be more precise, it's better to use blueprints. This will avoid waste and make the design as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Xiaoyao, are you free? Let's build an igloo together, following the shape of a dome igloo."

"Uh... let's give it a try." Mo Xueyao stretched her body. "It's good to move around, it's really cold just standing there—Hua Yinyin, come and help!"

"Coming, coming~" Whenever Mo Xueyao calls her, she always arrives quickly.

Hua Yinyin was the last one to get up today, mainly because she drank a lot of alcohol and couldn't wake up properly in the morning.

But her alcohol tolerance was not bad; she drank about eight ounces, which was much better than Li Wanyan and Mr. Xue, who would pass out after only two ounces.

The adults used tools to dig out a large square from the ice, and then cut it into long strips of roughly the same size, like translucent bricks.

It's much easier to build with these bricks; you don't need concrete or glue, just water.

"The bricks should be placed alternately, this one here, and then this one here," Mr. Xue instructed as he led the way in laying the bricks. "Then pour water on them so they freeze together."

"Hey, Yaoyao, look! There's a fish frozen in ice!" Hua Yinyin exclaimed excitedly, holding up the ice block in her hand. "It's embedded in the wall, just like a decoration."

"But I still feel this fish is ugly," Mo Xueyao muttered as she examined the ice block.

"Of course, it's not an ornamental fish, it's not that pretty," Hua Yinyin replied matter-of-factly.

Due to limitations in height and the amount of materials, this domed igloo was only 1.5 meters tall in the end, and because it was the first time making one, it looked crooked and irregular.

To enter the house, one must bend down—even the shortest, Hua Yinyin, must.

But sitting inside is fine.

Several layers of dry grass were laid on the ground, making it soft and comfortable to sit on.

Mo Xueyao originally thought the ice house would be as cold as a refrigerator, but she found it was actually quite warm.

The main benefits of airtightness and windproofing are that they provide warmth.

"Heave-ho—!" Mr. Xue stood at the door opposite the igloo, manually turning a tool used for drilling ice holes, making a sharp and piercing sound.

"It feels like shaved ice, I'm hungry." Hua Yinyin rubbed her stomach.

"Then why don't you just take a bite and sprinkle some chocolate sauce on it?" Mo Xueyao grabbed a handful of crushed ice and stuffed it into Hua Yinyin's clothes, grinning mischievously.

"Whoa—Little Yaoyao dared to play a prank on me!" Hua Yinyin jumped up, shaking the ice shards from her clothes, and angrily pounced on Mo Xueyao, knocking her to the ground. "Today I'll devour you completely! Waaaaah!"

"Don't pull on the collar, it'll tear! The clothes are expensive!" Amidst the laughter, Mo Xueyao shouted with great concern, "Hey, where are you putting your hand!"

"Tch, flat-chested Yaoyao, it doesn't feel good to touch." Hua Yinyin withdrew her hand and rubbed her fingers together. "Hmm, but it has a milky scent."

"Click—!" Mr. Xue, who was struggling to dig a hole at the door, breathed a sigh of relief and put his tools aside.

At the entrance of the igloo, there is a small hole about the size of a bowl. After the ice is broken, water rushes up immediately.

"Finally done." Mr. Xue wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We can go ice fishing now."

"You guys go ahead and fish." Li Wanyan, clutching the hot water bottle Mo Xueyao had given her, had no intention of taking her hands out of her bosom.

Ice fishing rods are smaller than regular fishing rods and don't have as long fishing lines, which even Mo Xueyao, who had never fished before, found novel.

"Xiaoyao, do you want to go fishing? You can go fishing." Mr. Xue picked up the thermos next to him and took a sip. Even though it was a thermos, in such a cold environment, the boiling water had turned into lukewarm water and was no longer hot. "I'm a little tired."

The sweat on his face was cooling rapidly; if he didn't wipe it off, it would probably freeze into ice beads in no time.

"Okay, how do I use it?" Mo Xueyao picked up the fishing rod with great interest and asked with a puzzled look.

"First, assemble the fishing rod, then put bait on the hook, sprinkle some on the water, and wait for the fish to bite."

It sounds easy, but it's not so easy to actually do.

Mo Xueyao, who was completely unfamiliar with fishing rods, spent almost half an hour figuring out how to assemble them. Meanwhile, Hua Yinyin was causing trouble, trying to get revenge for the ice chips that had been stuffed into her clothes earlier.

"Stop messing around, stop messing around, or I'll shove you in an ice cave, you believe me?" Mo Xueyao said angrily. "I want to go fishing!"

"Hmph, I'm not going to catch anything anyway, and besides, hugging you from behind doesn't affect my fishing~"

"Then where are you touching, hey!" She shoved the fishing rod into Mr. Xue's hands, then slammed Hua Yinyin to the ground, pinching her little face hard and stretching it out like kneading dough.

In the end, it was Mr. Xue who was fishing, which is something that requires a great deal of patience.

At the same time, ice fishing is very cold, so it also tests a person's ability to withstand the cold and their endurance.

Mr. Xue's eyebrows looked as if they were covered in frost before he finally caught a fish.

Before this, several baits had already been eaten.

"Splash, splash—" The fish that had been caught were thrashing about with their mouths wide open, as if they wanted to jump back into their hole.

"I caught it!" Mo Xueyao was even more excited than Mr. Xue, and immediately grabbed the fish.

But the latter's scales were slippery, and before I could catch it, it slipped out and plunged back into the water with a 'plop'.

"Oh no—!" Mo Xueyao tried to salvage the situation, but still couldn't catch it.

"Tch, Xiaoyao let the fish get away~" Hua Yinyin whistled and teased, "Xiaoxue worked so hard to catch this one."

"I didn't want it to be like this... but it's so slippery!"

"It's alright." Mr. Xue smiled faintly. "Just keep fishing, you'll catch a few eventually."

"Speaking of which, if we're ice fishing today, are we having fish for dinner tonight?"

"Yes," the father's voice came from outside, "Hey, your little house is quite nice, just a bit low. How's it going, did you catch any fish?"

"I caught one, but Little Yaoyao let it escape~"

"I did not do it on purpose!"

"Haha, here's a straw basket for you. The fish won't run away if you put them in it." The father tossed the basket over. "We'll probably be having a whole fish feast tonight."

A whole fish feast?

"It's steaming, boiling, grilling, braising, stewing..."

"That's too much, it's all fish, and I can't eat fish bones." Mo Xueyao hates eating fish with bones the most because her tongue isn't flexible enough to pick them out.

In fact, to this day, she still can't eat sunflower seeds with one hand like others—let alone pick out fish bones and eat fish meat.

"Then let's have some fried small fish, the kind where you don't have to eat the bones," the father said, popping one into his mouth. "They're frying now, do you want some?"

"want!"

"Take it yourself~" the father said casually, then walked away while munching on a fried fish.

"Tch, Dad's such a pain. Can't you just get it for me?" Mo Xueyao popped out of the house. "Where is it? Fried little fish."

"It should be in that igloo where smoke is coming out," Mr. Xue pointed to the right.

"Little Yaoyao, bring me a few!"

"Dream on, take it yourself." Mo Xueyao retorted to Hua Yinyin with the words her father had just said to her.

"Xiao Yao, get me some," Li Wanyan said, shrinking her neck.

“No problem~” Mo Xueyao nodded naturally.

Hua Yinyin immediately shouted in dissatisfaction and tried to pounce on Mo Xueyao, but the latter dodged in advance.

"The same trick won't work on me a second time!" Mo Xueyao said smugly.

"Damn it, Yaoyao is being treated differently!"

"Haha~ So what if I treat you differently? What are you going to do about it?" Mo Xueyao made a face, laughed, and ran away. Unwilling to give up, Hua Yinyin chased after her, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws.

"You two have such a good relationship," Mr. Xue said with a light laugh.

"It's just a bit too noisy." Li Wanyan nodded.

……

Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Hunter

Nora's ancestors were all hunters.

According to the family genealogy, it has a history of more than two hundred years.

It was only in modern times that their family changed from hunters to soldiers when their great-grandfather joined the army.

However, after the war ended, Nora, the only daughter of this generation, took up her old profession again.

Nora's family had always been a single-lineage family, but something unexpected happened with her.

Lost in thought, she opened the wardrobe.

The wardrobe contained only a few decent-looking women's dresses and two or three casual women's outfits for everyday wear; the rest were all unisex or even masculine styles.

The main style is simple, practical, and easy to move in the mountains.