A Young Woman's Heart

"So drawing is a very hard job!"

"I think you seem to be enjoying yourself," Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes.

The empty and deserted playground was not silent.

The sounds of cicadas and crickets filled the air, and occasionally, a few croaks of frogs would drift from somewhere.

In this sweltering heat, and with no pond on the playground, I wonder where all those frogs are hiding.

When I was in school, as long as the weather wasn't bad, there were always people on the playground, especially at noon.

Even with so many basketball and badminton courts enclosed by wire mesh, they were all completely occupied, and those who arrived late couldn't even find a place to play.

At this point, the only thing I could manage was to go to the table tennis room to play some table tennis.

So most of the boys at Yukong High School who like playing ball can also play table tennis—they just play around when there's no court available, and over time they learn a little bit about it.

After all, table tennis is one of the most space-consuming ball sports.

Walking through the alley behind the basketball court, Mo Xueyao looked at the entire school through the barbed wire fence.

Even the clouds in the sky were divided into sections by the iron netting.

Behind the wire mesh were small plots of land. It seems that Chinese people always have an ability not to waste empty land, or rather, a talent for growing vegetables anywhere.

This small field was planted by Taiyin.

As a teacher in the psychological counseling center, she is usually quite free, which is probably why she has the time to tend to these flowers, plants, and crops.

The security guard was carrying a large watering can and carefully watering them.

It seems that when Master Taiyin isn't around, it's the security guard who's helping out.

Moreover, some of these crops are already ripe, and it would be a waste not to pick them. They can be used to give the uncle an extra meal and save him some money on food.

"Uncle, are you watering the plants?" Mo Xueyao greeted him.

"Oh, what's up? All done with work?"

"Yes, the key is in the drawer you mentioned."

"it is good."

"By the way, can we pick these and eat them?"

"Haha, of course you can! Just pick some whenever you want to eat them, and I'll help water them. Consider this my payment!" The security guard laughed kindly. "Do you want some? The loofahs and cucumbers here are ripe, especially the cucumbers, which are especially delicious when eaten raw."

"Eat it raw? Ah, you mean eat it directly." Mo Xueyao nodded. Even if she had never eaten a whole cucumber, she had at least eaten cucumber salad, which was one of the most common vegetables.

Adding a little sugar to cucumber salad in the summer makes it a particularly popular and refreshing dish.

"Want to try some? It's really delicious." The security guard said, picking one. Because it was homegrown, it probably hadn't been fertilized much, so the cucumber looked short and thin, and wasn't very big.

"Ah, one is enough for the two of us," Mo Xueyao said quickly, worried that eating too many would be wasteful.

"Okay, I'll help you wash up."

Outside the counseling center, there is a handwashing sink, which was obviously installed for the convenience of watering plants.

The uncle broke the washed cucumber in half and handed it to the two men.

These cucumbers were just picked, even fresher than those sold in the market. They make a very crisp sound when you bite into them.

"Crunch, crunch." Even the sound of chewing sounds like a pleasure.

"I'm going back to the gatehouse now." The uncle waved his hand. "You can find me at the gatehouse if you need anything."

"Okay...it's nothing." Mo Xueyao waved her hand and took another bite of the sweet and delicious cucumber.

Even with a parasol, the scorching sun was still almost unbearable for Mo Xueyao.

She was curious about how she was able to play outside all day during summer vacation without getting heatstroke when she was a child.

"Okay~ I'm getting the hang of it, let's go to my club to draw it."

"Oh... I'm going to play games."

"Little Yaoyao~ stay with me~"

“I refuse.” Mo Xueyao’s eyelids drooped. “I came here to play video games. At least wait until I’m done playing.”

"See you later."

"I might not see her. I might go to the library to find Wanyan after I've had my fun."

"Waaah, Yaoyao doesn't care about me at all—"

"I don't think you need anyone's concern at all. You're quite happy living on your own." Mo Xueyao looked at her with droopy eyelids. "If you want to find me, come to the game room."

"Hmph, Yao Yao, all bark and no bite."

"Shouldn't that be used to describe Wanyan?" Mo Xueyao pouted and walked into the game room on the second floor.

The arcade was empty, not a single person was there. Just as she had thought, most of the boys had used up their game tokens.

However, all the machines inside are still running, and you can play any one of them.

She exchanged ten game tokens at the points redemption machine in the back and then leisurely sat down to play.

Speaking of which, when they were at the seaside villa, Mo Xueyao often went down to the basement to play. There, she didn't need to spend any game coins, and she had a lot of fun, but she felt like she wasn't very interested anymore.

Is it really more exciting to play games with limited coins, where you run out of coins after a short while?

Game consoles also have computer opponents, but even the most difficult computer opponents are still somewhat inferior to mid-to-high-level players in terms of skill.

However, the computer has more health bars, so defeating it is still quite challenging.

The computer's moves are often quite rigid and predictable; once you get used to them, you can easily outmaneuver them.

Although she could defeat the computer every time, Mo Xueyao wasn't very excited. Instead, she had to remind herself that real players weren't so easy to "trick".

In real-person battles, it's more about adapting to the situation and responding to different moves.

The ten game coins were used up in about an hour. Mo Xueyao stood up from the stool, stretched, and brushed her sideburns back. Just as she looked out the window, she heard the rapid 'patter patter' of rain.

"Looks like it's starting to rain." Mo Xueyao opened the window and took a deep breath, feeling much cooler.

The rain that had just fallen on this scorching earth created a hazy mist that enveloped the entire school, making it feel like stepping into a dream world.

"Let's go see how Yinyin's drawing is going?" Mo Xueyao twisted her neck, pushed open the door and walked out, heading all the way to the entrance of Hua Yinyin's club.

"Dong dong."

"Little Yaoyao? Come in." Hua Yinyin's leisurely voice rang out.

"What are you doing? Aren't you drawing?"

"Hehe... I drew an outline, and then I saw it was raining, so I couldn't help but look at the scenery outside the window again." Hua Yinyin leisurely put her legs up on the table, with a small electric fan on the table, blowing directly in her face.

"By the way, I've finished writing the second chapter too. Would you be interested in drawing it?"

"You've finished writing it? Yes, of course."

"But I didn't bring the notebook with me..."

"No problem, let's go to Xiaoyaoyao's house to play tomorrow! We can also do some drawing!"

"Alas--"

"What's wrong? What's with that disgusted look? How about we go to the secret base in the mountains?"

"Forget it, let's just come to my house instead." Mo Xueyao had absolutely no desire to climb the mountain anymore.

"That won't do, Xiao Yaoyao. Didn't you say you were going to exercise recently?" Hua Yinyin stared at Mo Xueyao's thighs and said, "Look, Xiao Yaoyao's thighs have gotten thicker!"

"Huh? Really?" Mo Xueyao pinched her thigh flesh in a bit of a panic. "I think I've gained some weight on my stomach too."

"You're going to become Fat Yaoyao," Hua Yinyin teased.

"Ah..." Mo Xueyao scratched her head vigorously, "Should I really go and exercise more...?"

"Pfft, hahaha—just kidding, Yaoyao, you're not fat at all."

Mo Xueyao stared at Hua Yinyin's little face, then fiercely reached out and rubbed it hard: "How many of the things you said are true?!"

"That was real!"

"Which sentence was that just now!"

"I haven't gained weight!"

"Hmph... Phew, but I said I was going to exercise before summer vacation, so I guess I have to stick to it and not break my promise?" Mo Xueyao slumped onto the table. "Then I'll run every morning when I get up, hmm, all the way to the fruit shop...!"

"It must be far, right? Isn't Yaoyao's home on Desheng Road?"

"It's a bit far, but jogging is only effective when it's a bit far! Once we get to the fruit shop, we'll go to my godfather's or Grandma Jin's house for a bath..." Mo Xueyao stroked her chin, already starting to plan.

"Tsk tsk, if you're too tired, you won't be able to keep going."

"What? You look down on me so much! I have a lot of willpower!" Mo Xueyao shouted angrily. "I'm going to keep running like this for a month! If I can't even stick to this, how will I be able to do anything else in the future!"

"Keep going, Yaoyao, I'm here to support you."

"Yinyin, do you want to come with me?"

"Me? I guess I don't need to..." Hua Yinyin pointed to her chest, "I'm carrying a weight, you know, it's even more tiring than Xiao Yaoyao's."

"Alas--"

……

Chapter Ninety: Giving Sugar a Bath

Around 2 PM, Mo Xueyao said goodbye to Hua Yinyin and went to the library. She ate the lunchbox that Li Wanyan had left with her while reading a book. It was more like afternoon tea than lunch.

When I came out around 4 p.m., the rain had stopped.

The sky was still bright, and there was no sense that it was almost evening.

When I returned to the fruit shop, I saw Su Tang running around everywhere, having a great time playing with a round ball.

"Didn't you go straight home today?" The father blocked the candy that was about to rush over with his foot. The candy leaped high just before it hit him and jumped over the obstacle.

It seems that Mo Xueyao's father often played with it like this when he was bored.