A Young Woman's Heart

"Hey? Mom? Still have a fever? Stomach ache? Shouldn't we go to the hospital? Even if it's just a cold, it could cause problems if it gets serious." Mo Xueyao squatted down beside her and asked with concern, her tone unusually serious. "Don't try to tough it out, will you?"

"Thankfully, I took fever reducer myself." The mother forced a smile. "It's just that my hemorrhoids flared up again. I'll just have to tough it out."

"This looks serious...should we go get it checked out?"

"No need, it's always like this. It'll be fine tomorrow. Going to the hospital is too expensive."

"We can't not go!" Mo Xueyao grabbed her mother's arm without further ado. "Let's go, let's go to the hospital right now!"

"If we go now, the doctors will all be off work." The mother gently pushed Mo Xueyao's arm away. "I'm satisfied that you, you silly girl, have this thought in mind."

"Tsk, forget it." Mo Xueyao pouted. "Anyway, just don't force yourself. You might end up spending even more money later."

The mother, who felt like she was being scolded like a child, wasn't angry. Instead, she cheerfully said "okay," and even the pain seemed to subside a bit.

"Yaoyao, let's make dinner." Li Wanyan opened the refrigerator. "Godmother, is porridge okay for tonight?"

"Okay, but not too much..." The mother adjusted her posture, as if she had just put pressure on the area where her hemorrhoids were aggravated.

"Are two cups of rice enough?"

"If you eat the same amount as usual, then it's about right."

"I'll wash the rice." Mo Xueyao, who wasn't very good at cooking, chose an easy task and washed two shiitake mushrooms and threw them in.

This is just to add a little flavor to the plain congee; I'm not planning to make congee with preserved egg and lean pork.

Li Wanyan took out bamboo shoots and pickled mustard greens from the refrigerator, intending to make a simple stir-fried bamboo shoots with pickled mustard greens.

"Yaoyao, check if there's any meat in the refrigerator."

"Let me see... Ah, there's a small piece."

"Help me wash it, I'll cut it into shreds." Li Wanyan rolled up her sleeves, and the knife in her hand fell 'clack clack clack', quick and efficient. In her, Mo Xueyao even saw the shadow of her mother.

"Wanyan will definitely be a virtuous wife and loving mother in the future. Oh dear, it's such a pity that she will marry that man," Mo Xueyao teased with a smile.

"Why are you talking like a philanderer now?" Li Wanyan teased.

"Ahem! This is called 'one is influenced by one's surroundings'..."

"I've spent more time with you, haven't I? Why haven't you become like that person?" Li Wanyan joked along with her.

Many times, if the other person doesn't respond to a joke, the conversation can't continue.

Mutual teasing is actually a sign of a good relationship.

"It's easier to go astray, hehe."

……

Chapter 230: Awakened in the Middle of the Night

late at night.

In an era when there weren't many forms of entertainment.

By one o'clock in the morning, the whole city seemed to be asleep.

Only those bars hidden in dark alleys still emit bursts of passionate rock music through their thick walls.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan were already fast asleep in bed. It had rained twice yesterday, causing the temperature, which had just risen, to drop sharply again.

A gust of cold wind blew in through the half-open window, causing Mo Xueyao to instinctively wrap herself tighter in the blanket, leaving most of Li Wanyan's body exposed to the air.

She shivered, but instead of pulling the blanket back, she drowsily snuggled up to Mo Xueyao and crawled into the blanket she had rolled up.

Mo Xueyao was forced to sleep against the wall and finally stopped moving around.

Just as Li Wanyan was tucking the blanket back in and preparing to drift into a deep sleep, she heard a commotion coming from the living room.

It sounded like a stool being overturned.

Then came the sound of falling to the ground, and the thumping of footsteps.

This is the sound you make when you walk barefoot on a cement floor without flooring.

"Honey, if the pain is too bad, let's go to the hospital, to the emergency room. I'll take you there on my tricycle."

“You still have to go to buy goods tomorrow, so you should go to sleep first. I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning.” The mother tried to appear calm, but her voice trembled slightly.

"Ugh... Ugh..." Mo Xueyao's sleep was unusually light today. She was awakened by the noise in the living room and felt a surge of urge to urinate, so she couldn't help but open her eyes.

"It's okay if we don't open the shop for a day, the most important thing is that you're okay."

"That sounds nice, but you used to gamble?"

"Sigh, that was because I was ignorant back then. Besides, what does that have to do with anything? You've changed now, why are you bringing this up?" The father was embarrassed and a little annoyed. "Alright, hurry up and put on your clothes. I'm taking you to the hospital. Don't tell me it's nothing. Look at the blood. Do you think I'm blind?"

The sounds of their conversation grew clearer in Mo Xueyao's ears. She sat up abruptly and quietly pushed open the door.

"Mom...is she dying?"

"What do you mean you can't do it!" Her father rolled his eyes at her, annoyed. "It's just a hemorrhoid flare-up, nothing serious. I'll take your mother to the hospital. You and Wanyan can go out for breakfast tomorrow."

"Are you not opening tomorrow?"

"You don't need to worry about adult matters, you little brat." The father quickly put on his clothes and pants. "I'll take care of it, don't worry. Go to sleep, you have school tomorrow."

"I'm not a child anymore," Mo Xueyao pouted. "Don't you need any help?"

"Save your breath, what help can you possibly be?" her father teased her deliberately. "Go to sleep."

“…Oh.” But Mo Xueyao still pushed open the door and went out. When she saw her father’s staring gaze, she quickly explained, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

My mother's hemorrhoids were so severe that she could barely walk. She was just enduring it, which only made things worse.

"Are you sure everything's okay? Should we call my godfather for help?" Mo Xueyao couldn't help but ask as she came out of the restroom.

"You're asking your godfather to come and help in the middle of the night?" Her father glanced at her sideways. "Stop giving me bad advice. I'll take your mother to the hospital. Don't worry, it's just hemorrhoids, a minor problem."

"Is it really just a minor ailment?" Mo Xueyao muttered softly. "Which hospital should we go to? Should we go home after school or back to the fruit shop?"

“The fruit shop will definitely be open.” Mo Wenli carried Yang Xiaoyu on his back. “The nearest major hospital is the People’s Hospital. I’ll take your mother there so you can get some rest. It’s not a big deal.”

"I've heard that severe hemorrhoids require surgery, and I don't think that's a big deal," Mo Xueyao said, knowing her father was trying to comfort her mother, but she couldn't help but say it anyway.

The mother, who was being carried on her father's back, sighed with a slightly distorted expression: "Sigh, it's going to cost a lot of money again."

“Anything that can be solved with money is a minor matter.” The father looked at Mo Xueyao, “Xiaoyao, come and open the door.”

Wearing her pajamas, Mo Xueyao quickly ran to the door, opened it, and let her father, who was already wearing shoes, carry her mother out.

Do you need any further help?

"No need," the father replied, then turned to comfort his wife, "It's alright, it's just a little money, don't take it too seriously. Isn't money earned to be spent?"

"We've only saved up so much money; we haven't even finished paying off Ah Liang's debts yet."

"It's okay, it's okay. Don't worry about these things so much. Relax, okay? The more anxious you are, the harder it is for you to get better. Sometimes, if you could be as carefree as Xiaoyao, you might not have so many illnesses!"

Then, the father's voice gradually faded away, and only a few footsteps could be heard in the corridor.

The stillness of midnight felt particularly heavy.

Mo Xueyao silently closed the door and couldn't help but sigh softly.

That's life. Just when you think things are getting better, some small ripples and obstacles appear.

Fortunately, most of them are not major problems; they just cause a little sadness for a while.

For ordinary people, getting hemorrhoids is quite normal.

Mo Xueyao told herself that she should just take it easy.

It's not like someone suddenly gets hit by a car or has a heart attack—it's not some melodramatic plot.

In real life, there aren't as many sharp contradictions and conflicts as depicted in scripts.

Life doesn't always go to extremes, with one moment reaching the summit and the next plummeting to the bottom. That's not a life experience for most people.

"I wish I could earn money too, but if I want to go to university, it will take another five or six years..." She scratched her hair, making it messy. "Phew... I should just go to sleep."

That night...

Mo Xueyao thought she wouldn't be able to sleep well.

Surprisingly, she slept quite soundly until dawn and was still quite energetic.

That's probably one of the benefits of being carefree.

Although she was quite surprised that she had reached this level.

It was another morning without her mother's busy voice, making her feel very lonely.

wrong……?

Mo Xueyao suddenly listened carefully and could hear the sounds of chopping vegetables and washing clothes.

"No way? It's done so quickly?" She put on her clothes in surprise and went out. Looking into the kitchen, she didn't see her mother's short and stocky figure, but instead saw a pretty girl's back.

She tied her hair in a side ponytail, tilted her head slightly, tasted the fried rice noodles, and then turned up the heat to stir-fry vigorously.

The exhaust fan overhead was blowing 'whoosh', trying its best to remove some of the cooking fumes—although the effect wasn't significant, it was better than nothing.

"Hey—Wanyan, when did you get up?"

"It's not even five o'clock yet."

"So early?"

"I can't sleep." Li Wanyan smiled. "I cooked some porridge."

"Ah, let me see, is it cooked yet?" Mo Xueyao leaned over to the rice cooker, opened it, and a rich aroma of rice immediately wafted out. "It tastes like mom's!"

"Isn't all porridge supposed to taste the same?"

“It’s different, it’s different… Hmm, it feels different, the porridge made at home and the porridge bought outside.” Mo Xueyao fanned away the cooking fumes with her hand. “Is it ready yet? I’ll go wash up first.”

"Go."

It's definitely better to have a lively atmosphere in the morning.