A Young Woman's Heart

If two people might occasionally fall into silence, then three people will have countless topics to discuss and many interesting things to do.

For three years of junior high school, Mo Xueyao, Li Gutao, and Shi Haiming basically spent all their time together at school except for classes, which led the girls to often tease them as a group of two boys and one girl.

Well... the one who's jokingly called a girl is, of course, Mo Xueyao.

However, those girls who jokingly called her that probably never expected that she would actually become a girl one day.

"Ah...right, um..." Mo Xueyao suddenly grabbed the hem of her clothes somewhat awkwardly, "Atao, you've already told me, haven't you?"

“Of course, otherwise how could this kid not be surprised at all?” Li Gutao leaned lazily against the rusty railing behind him and bumped into Shi Haiming’s arm beside him.

"Actually, I'm still a bit surprised. She's become much prettier, and her eyes are blue. But, it's just that I haven't been interested in women lately..." Shi Haiming made a casual joke, pulling a pack of Liqun cigarettes from his jacket pocket. "Want a smoke?"

"No, I won't smoke." Mo Xueyao naturally shook her head and refused.

"I'm not interested." Li Gutao took a few steps away from Shi Haiming. "How come you've learned to smoke, kid?"

"Tsk, in a place like that, you're lucky if you can even learn to smoke... Let me tell you, those upper-class places are actually more chaotic than our lower-class areas." Shi Haiming sighed.

"We were all classmates before, but I never expected our life trajectories to be so different now, it's really..." Mo Xueyao couldn't find a word to describe it for a moment.

"Tell me, what exactly happened to you, kid? What happened to you? What kind of place did you go to?"

“The rich women who introduced me... they like young people like me, you know…” Shi Haiming scratched his head. “Look at my tongue, it’s all white from licking it. If it weren’t for the inflammation, I wouldn’t have had a day off.”

"Tsk tsk tsk, you're disgusting. Stay away from me, I don't know you." Li Gutao pushed him aside with a look of disgust.

Mo Xueyao didn't understand what he meant: "What did you lick out? Lick what?"

"Heh, hahaha, Xiaoyao is still as innocent as ever!" Shi Haiming laughed, scratching his head. "Sigh, although money comes in very quickly now, I really regret not studying hard back then."

“There’s no going back in life.” Mo Xueyao pouted. “I told you this when I started studying hard again, and you even laughed at me for ‘washing my hands of the world.’”

Shi Haiming lit a cigarette and took a deep drag: "Sigh—youth! If I hadn't been so young, how could I have failed to see that you were a woman disguised as a man back then!"

"So you need to be more careful, kid. Don't lead our only girl astray," Li Gutao teased.

"Hey, I'm saying, among the three of us, we don't need to worry about gender or anything, right? Just treat me like one of the guys, isn't that enough?" Mo Xueyao wanted to sit down on the wooden bench next to her, but then decided against it because of the dust on it.

"So, the reason I invited you two out this time is to get together. Let's go eat later at a fancy restaurant, it's on me."

"High-end restaurant? How much do you actually charge a month these days?" Li Gutao looked at him with suspicion.

Shi Haiming smiled smugly, crossed his arms and said, "You'll be shocked if I told you. After all, I've been working hard for nothing. And recently I've become the top performer, so I'll be taking on fewer clients and the prices will be a bit higher. Hehe, what can I do? My skills are just too good."

"Stop talking nonsense, how much do you make a month?" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "If you earn a lot, then you'll have to treat me properly!"

“Heh… one month.” Shi Haiming held up one index finger.

“A thousand yuan? That’s not a lot… but it’s more than my dad’s monthly salary.” Li Gutao wasn’t intimidated at all. “A thousand yuan and you’re already so cocky, how pathetic.”

"Damn, a thousand yuan? You're underestimating me! You know, that club I was in was on a completely enclosed little island, at sea, you know? At sea!" Shi Haiming took a drag of his cigarette, annoyed. "I have to take the train to get back!"

"It can't be ten thousand yuan, can it?" Mo Xueyao muttered.

"You guessed right, ten thousand yuan!"

"Holy crap!" Mo Xueyao's eyes widened in surprise. "You're making this up, right?! Do you even know what ten thousand yuan means?"

"Of course I know. A cheap second-hand van only costs 10,000 yuan." Shi Haiming proudly flicked his cigarette ash. "The average office worker's monthly salary is only 600 to 800 yuan, and those with a decent salary earn around 1,000 yuan. Hehe, so my salary is ten times that of an average person."

"Ten thousand yuan..." Mo Xueyao thought blankly, her surgery only cost fifty thousand yuan.

My godfather's salary is around 1,500 yuan, with occasional bonuses, which is considered a middle-to-high-income salary.

When my father was working, his monthly salary was 800 yuan, and my mother was a nanny who worked very hard every day and only earned 500 or 600 yuan a month.

Their combined salaries are only around 1,400 yuan. Even if they don't eat or drink, it would take them seven or eight months to save up 10,000 yuan.

This is only Shi Haiming's monthly salary.

He can earn 50,000 yuan in five months!

"I... damn..." Li Gutao's mouth was agape. "This is making way too much money!"

"Sigh, this money was earned by overworking myself," Shi Haiming said, clutching his kidney. "It's all hard-earned money."

“But many people can’t earn that much money even if they overwork themselves.” Mo Xueyao shook her head. “You really are quite something, in a sense.”

"It's so cool to be handsome..." Li Gutao exclaimed.

"Come on, come on, I remember there's a litter of stray dogs here. I bought some imported dog food at the supermarket." Shi Haiming waved the bag in his hand. "Let's go feed the dogs."

"Imported dog food? For feeding stray dogs?" Mo Xueyao felt that she and Shi Haiming were no longer in the same social class.

Although it was no longer 1990, a household with 10,000 yuan in 2000 was definitely above the level of a well-off family.

What's more, this is ten thousand a month, making them a ten-thousand-yuan household...

If you save up for a year and use it sparingly, wouldn't you have 100,000 yuan?

"Damn it," Li Gutao cursed, "you little brat, you're really showing off."

"Heh, haha, right, right, we were having so much fun chatting that I forgot—let's talk as we walk." Shi Haiming said as he walked forward, then took two red wooden boxes out of his bag.

"What is this?" Li Gutao asked curiously.

“I remember D… Xiaoyao is an Aquarius, and Atao is a Leo, right?” Shi Haiming toned it down a bit and didn’t call out that nickname to Mo Xueyao, who was obviously a girl.

"Oh... I think so." Mo Xueyao wasn't quite sure what her zodiac sign was.

"Yeah, I'm a Leo, so is what you gave me related to that?"

"That's right, both boxes contain gemstone pendants, one for Leo and one for Aquarius, which are gifts I brought back for you this time."

"Wow, this must be expensive!" Despite saying that, Mo Xueyao accepted the box without any hesitation.

"It's alright, only a hundred yuan each."

“Well, tsk tsk tsk.” Li Gutao repeated these two words.

Mo Xueyao eagerly opened the box, inside which was a light blue gemstone pendant. The quality was quite good. One hundred yuan wasn't a high-value gift, but it wasn't cheap either. Among ordinary people, it was considered a mid-to-high-end gift.

After all, this is an era where you can give red envelopes containing as little as twenty yuan during Chinese New Year.

Li Gutao's pendant, on the other hand, was a red gemstone pendant that looked like a lion's head.

Mo Xueyao, on the other hand, resembles an Aquarius.

These two pendants represent their respective zodiac signs.

"Oh my, not bad, this one is quite handsome."

“…I don’t like wearing things around my neck.” Mo Xueyao put the pendant away, placed it in a box, and put it in her pocket. “But thank you anyway.”

"It's nothing, just a small gift," Shi Haiming said, turning and walking into a room that was originally intended to be used as a shop.

The glass has already been installed, but inside are rather rough and crude cement walls and floors, with puddles and moss everywhere, and dried white dog poop scattered all over the place...

Shi Haiming didn't go inside. He just opened the bag of dog food, poured some into his palm, and said, "Hey, come here, is there a dog here?"

"Woof!" As soon as he spoke, several puppies darted out, some spotted and some solid-colored, followed by two large dogs that were clearly a 'couple'.

This is quite rare.

After all, only a few people usually take care of puppies.

Male dogs generally won't stay by your side.

"Ah, they're still here." Mo Xueyao squatted down happily and waved to the yellow dog. "I remember when this little yellow dog came in the second year of junior high, they were only three or four months old, right?"

“Yeah…it seems like they recognize us.” Li Gutao said curiously, looking at the two big dogs wagging their tails as they approached.

"Little Yellow!" Mo Xueyao rubbed her fingers together, and the big yellow dog finally recognized her scent, happily darted over, and licked her palm.

"Haha...so good, so good."

"Xiaoming, how do you know they're still there?"

"Because I didn't just arrive in Hangzhou today... I've been here for a few days, and I only called you out to play after I'd rested enough." Shi Haiming said casually, scattering dog food on the ground like chicken feed, and then dumping the whole bag of dog food into a discarded large basin. This would be enough for them to eat slowly for quite some time.

"Time flies! Little Huang is already a 'dad'," Mo Xueyao exclaimed sincerely.

“Yes, time flies by, whether it’s for humans or animals…” Shi Haiming sighed and lit another cigarette.

……

Chapter 222 Brothers for Life

"By the way, why isn't Xiaoyao wearing a skirt today?" Shi Haiming put his hands in his pockets. "I'd like to see what you look like in a skirt!"

"I'm a boy, why would I wear a skirt?" Mo Xueyao muttered, her eyelids drooping.

"Hahahaha—you say the same thing as you did back in junior high, but you don't seem very confident now?" Shi Haiming laughed loudly, tilting his head back.

"Get lost!" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes and put her arm around Li Gutao's shoulder. "I'm going to play with Atao. I'm not playing with you anymore. If we're together, people will think we're both in that line of work."

"This is a legitimate job, okay?"

"I don't see anything serious about it at all," Li Gutao said, glancing at him sideways.

"Exactly, I don't know if it's legitimate or not, but it's definitely illegal."

"Ahem, never mind, let's not talk about this in public." Shi Haiming coughed awkwardly twice. "Let's go to a fancy restaurant! Oh, or how about a karaoke bar? We can order food there too."

"Oh? A KTV, hehe, can I call a girl there?"

"How could you be so filthy?" Shi Haiming punched Li Gutao on the head. "I definitely took you to a proper karaoke bar!"

"What's the point of being serious?" Li Gutao retorted with a 'punch', "I'm going to be unserious."

"Have you forgotten that Haruka is still here?"

“Xiao Yao? Xiao Yao isn’t a girl… Oh…” Li Gutao suddenly came to his senses, “Cough, it’s really not used to having a girl mixed in with my best friends.”

"Do you think I want to be a girl?" Mo Xueyao said, half-jokingly and half-seriously. "Well, I'm not hungry anyway, let's go to karaoke first? We can go out to eat when we get hungry."

"Let's go to the KTV. Let's get a taxi first." Shi Haiming stylishly shook his jacket and walked out first.

In the taxi, perhaps because there were other people around, the three best friends were relatively quiet, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.

This situation only improved when we sat down in a private karaoke room.