A Young Woman's Heart

“I don’t need the house key.” Mr. Xue shook his head. “I brought some ingredients. There’s a small river nearby, and the earthen stove is outside. I’ll take care of lunch myself.”

"Well, here you go, just in case you need it." Mo Xiaoxiao tossed the key to Mr. Xue and looked at Mo Zhuyou, who was opening all the curtains to let the sunlight into the room. "Youyou, get ready to go."

"Okay, okay." Mo Zhuyou ran to her sister's side and made a face at Mr. Xue. "Why did we give him the key? What if he steals our clothes?"

"Xiaoxue isn't that kind of person, Youyou, don't be prejudiced against her."

"Tch..." Mo Zhuyou snorted lightly, and a sour smell filled the air.

Mr. Xue smiled without any embarrassment.

Mo Xiaoxiao had already pushed out the pink bicycle and called to her younger sister to get on and set off.

"Oh, right, Xiaoxue, remember to take care of my plants, water them, and feed Black Chocolate some dried carrots."

"it is good."

"Are you seated securely?"

"Hold on tight—" Mo Zhuyou mumbled weakly, and then the pink bicycle sped forward into the golden sunlight, gradually disappearing on the horizon.

Mr. Xue closed the door and went into the courtyard.

Because the two sisters often don't have time to tend to the yard, apart from the area around the house, the rest of the yard is overgrown with weeds that are ankle-deep.

This is good news for the rabbits, because they can find grass to eat just a few steps away.

Compared to rabbits that are kept in cages every day after being brought home, Dark Chocolate is really quite free.

It can go wherever it wants; this place is perhaps just one of its many homes.

Come to think of it, if it weren't for the fact that we could often find carrots, potatoes, and other foods that are hard to find in the wild here, it probably would have really run away.

Mr. Xue knew very well that rabbits would need a lot of grass to be full if they only ate grass. What they really liked was not grass, but carbohydrates and sugary snacks.

Yes, rabbits love sweets.

Mr. Xue took out a small bag of dried mangoes from his pocket, tore off a small piece and shook it in his hand. The latter seemed to smell the aroma and hopped over.

After visiting a few times, Dark Chocolate had become quite familiar with him and buried its head in his palm to eat. Its hairy lips and a few whiskers tickled Mr. Snow's palm.

The small packet of dried mango actually contained only a small piece of dried mango. Mr. Xue carefully tore it into small pieces and fed it to the dog before picking it up and gently touching it.

"Alright, go play." He smiled and put the dark chocolate down, but the chocolate still followed him around, as if it hadn't had enough.

The container house is surrounded by a fence, forming a yard. In the far corner of the yard, there is a workbench made from ready-made wooden stakes, and next to it is a relatively long and narrow table.

These were all made by Mr. Xue himself using nearby materials. In the backpack he was carrying, there was a toolbox containing not only hammers and nails, but also small axes and saws.

There are also various parts such as wires and screws.

This backpack is made of denim, which is sturdy and durable, but the texture is rather stiff.

He usually carries all his tools in this backpack.

I came here because sometimes the work I do is noisy and produces a lot of dust, which makes my home very dirty.

There's not much of a problem outdoors, and since this location is about ten meters away from the container house, there's no need to worry about making the two sisters' home very dirty.

Outdoor trash can be easily cleaned up with a little sweeping.

Mr. Xue came here to build a remote-controlled submarine.

He wanted to test whether a proper submarine model could be made out of wood—one that could surface and sink.

The timber is available in the nearby mountains; we left it here after finding it last time and didn't take it with us.

However, submarines are difficult to build from a single piece of wood; they must be pieced together, and tools must be used to shape the wood into the desired form.

This is a delicate task.

An hour later, a lot of sawdust had piled up on the ground, but the piece of wood in his hand had only taken shape.

The scorching sun beat down on him; under such direct sunlight, the temperature must have reached around thirty degrees Celsius.

In recent years, Hangzhou has experienced increasingly hot weather, which many people attribute to global warming.

Some people are even urging everyone to stop using air conditioning.

Of course, this would generate quite a reaction abroad, but in China, most people would ignore it.

What do you mean by "stop using air conditioning"...? Most people can't even afford an air conditioner, okay?

Mr. Xue divided the submarine into several sections according to the pre-drawn blueprints. This was to facilitate debugging and maintenance, but it might increase the difficulty of its ascent and descent.

He wasn't sure if he would succeed; he was just trying.

Time quickly reached ten o'clock.

It was already close to noon.

He put down his work, walked to the earthen stove, lit a fire, poured some water into the pot, and then put down the two lunch boxes he had prepared earlier.

One lunchbox contains rice, and the other contains vegetables that can be steamed or boiled and then eaten.

After that, he continued to work on the project, only occasionally checking to see if the fire had shrunk.

He spends most of his time thinking, simply because he feels empty if he doesn't.

Moreover, doing these things made him feel very happy.

Communication with others is not necessary; he can endure loneliness and slowly complete many tedious tasks by himself.

Moreover, he is very good at balancing work and rest, and he doesn't force himself to be busy all the time. When his interest is replaced by fatigue, he will choose to rest.

Only by maintaining sufficient interest and abundant physical strength can we create better things.

This has always been his principle.

So when evening came, he stopped and chose to fish and rest by the river with a simple fishing rod.

"Xiaoxue, are you still there?" At that moment, the sound of wheels came from outside the courtyard, and Mo Xiaoxiao's voice rang out.

"Hmm, I caught two fish. Let's have them for dinner." Mr. Xue turned his head and smiled brightly. "Leaving get off work so early today?"

“Sister Bi’s brother is here. With his help, we took leave to go home early. Since it’s rare for you to come over, let’s have dinner together.”

"Actually, there's no need. You can call me and ask me to come to the restaurant to eat."

“Eating at home feels more ceremonial,” Mo Xiao smiled, brushing her bangs aside.

"Hmph, I have red wine at home, I'm going to drink you under the table today!" Mo Zhuyou wrinkled her nose. "Xiaoxue, do you dare to drink with me?"

“Of course you can,” Mr. Xue said without refusing. “However, drinking too much is bad for your health.”

"Tch, so you're just too scared?"

"Haha, of course I dare, but I'm afraid I can't outdrink you," Mr. Xue teased.

"Tch, you're giving up already?" Mo Zhuyou found it incredibly disheartening. "Are you even a man?"

“Men can’t just say whatever they want. It’s a matter of physiological structure and psychology.” Mr. Xue spoke eloquently, completely treating Mo Zhuyou, who was the same age as him, as a child, which made the latter pout in anger.

The two sisters are twins, so there's no question of one being older than the other; they were simply named according to the order in which they were born.

If the parents at the time had ranked the children by birth order, then Mo Zhuyou would be the older sister now.

“Youyou has always been like this; she doesn’t like boys getting close to me,” Mo Xiaoxiao said with a light laugh, patting her younger sister’s head.

“I understand.” Mr. Xue nodded and reeled in his fishing rod. “I’ll make a grilled bass dish. Both of the bass I caught today were sea bass.”

"Perch!" Mo Zhuyou swallowed hard. "There are perch in the river near our house?"

"This is the closest place to nature, where nature's gifts are everywhere."

"Xiaoxue, leave your fishing rod behind, I want to fish too!" Mo Zhuyou shouted, hands on her hips, like a robber.

Well, of course, it didn't offend anyone, since she was actually joking.

"I'll come back in a few days and make you a fishing rod."

"Come on the fourth, we'll rest," Mo Xiao said with a smile. "It's more lively when there are more people."

“I don’t mind if it’s lively or not.” Mr. Xue shook his head, but of course he didn’t refuse. “Then let’s go with number four.”

"Tch, just bring the fishing rod, no need for anyone to come!" Mo Zhuyou scoffed.

"Youyou, okay, stop fooling around."

"No, I don't care, my sister is mine!" Mo Zhuyou glared at Mr. Xue, asserting her ownership.

Mr. Xue smiled and nodded: "When you two get married, remember to invite me."

"Huh?" The younger sister paused, "Eh—?"

She suddenly developed a liking for Mr. Xue.

……

Chapter 247 Critique

Nighttime at the fruit shop.

It was already closed at that time.

The stars in the sky were quite bright. Although we couldn't see a sky full of stars like in the countryside, we could still see many bright stars.

"Ah—I need to use the restroom! Where is the restroom?" Shen Kelin's shout came from inside the fruit shop.

Then, the roller shutter door was opened.

Wearing only a thin nightgown, Mo Xueyao yawned and pointed helplessly to the left side of the road: "There's a public toilet over there, about a kilometer away, but it's very dirty, so be careful not to fall into the latrine."

"Ugh, isn't there a cleaner place?"

"You could have gone to the factory next door or to Grandma Jin's house during the day, but it's too late now, so you'll have to make do with this."

"Okay, okay, don't close the door, wait for me to come back!" Shen Kelin grabbed a pack of tissues and went out. The moonlight shone on her, making her skin look strangely bluish.

"Okay... hurry up." Mo Xueyao rubbed her eyes, found a stool, and sat down inside the small roller shutter door on the side.

Shen Kelin insisted on staying here tonight, but the wire bed in the small room of the fruit shop could only fit two people at most. While it wasn't impossible for three people to sleep there, the difficulty would be about the same as performing acrobatics...