A Young Woman's Heart

In this sweltering summer, you'll be sweating non-stop just by sitting down; waiting for the sweat to dry is simply absurd.

Mo Xueyao rested for about ten minutes until her breathing became steady, then she stood up.

Li Wanyan carried a change of clothes while carrying a watermelon bigger than a basketball as she walked towards her godfather's house.

Today is Sunday, and Mo Xueyao thought that her godfather, who is a civil servant, should be at home. However, it was her godfather's daughter, Yu Jinyu, who opened the door.

She will be in third grade this fall, and she is noticeably taller than last year.

"Hey, Xiaoyu, is your godfather home?"

"Dad and Mom aren't home." Yu Jinyu excitedly hugged Mo Xueyao's leg. "Xiaoyao... Sister!"

He seemed to stutter a little in the middle, perhaps because he was used to calling me "brother" before.

"Oh...where did you go?"

"I have to go out! I'll be home alone!"

"Oh, it seems you're not afraid of being home alone?"

"It's okay, I can watch TV all day long at home by myself and no one will bother me, plus I can eat ice cream whenever I want!"

"Pfft, don't eat too much, you'll get a stomachache." Mo Xueyao rubbed her head with the bottom of the watermelon. "Xiaoyu, help me open the refrigerator."

“Okay—” Yu Jinyu glanced behind her and saw Li Wanyan taking off her shoes. She then said respectfully, “Hello, Sister Wanyan.”

She was not very familiar with Li Wanyan, so she was more polite to her, while she was more casual and closer to Mo Xueyao.

My godfather's house has a double-door refrigerator, the same size as the kind of refrigerator in the store that's used for storing drinks—or even a little bigger.

Putting down half a watermelon is naturally not a big problem.

"Does Xiaoyu want some watermelon?"

"I'm not eating now, I just had an ice cream. Do you want some, Xiaoyao-jie? A chocolate cone!"

“Okay.” Mo Xueyao didn’t stand on ceremony and squatted down in front of the refrigerator with Yu Jinyu to pick out ice cream.

My godfather's ice cream shop has a more complete selection than the stores, just not as many in quantity.

Mo Xueyao knew that if she asked Li Wanyan, Li Wanyan would definitely say no, so she simply handed her the same one as herself.

"Here, a small spoon for scooping ice cream~" Yu Jinyu held two wooden sticks in her hands and handed them to Mo Xueyao with a cheerful smile.

"So happy?"

"Yeah, because being alone is a bit... boring."

"Yaoyao, weren't you going to take a bath?" Li Wanyan glanced at her helplessly.

"Ah, right, right, take a shower, take a shower. Put the ice cream back first, Wanyan, you eat first, I'll go take a shower." Mo Xueyao put the ice cream back in the refrigerator, took her clothes from the bag Li Wanyan was carrying, and dashed into the bathroom.

My godfather's bathroom is very spacious and has a large bathtub.

However, taking a bath would take up a lot of time.

So Mo Xueyao only intended to rinse it off.

"Ah, it's been so long since I took a shower at my godfather's house. The shower room is bigger than my whole bathroom..." Mo Xueyao exclaimed, letting the cold water wash over her body. Taking a cold shower after exercising in the summer is simply the most enjoyable thing.

Although she should take a hot shower after exercising, she couldn't stand it in such hot weather, so she decided to do whatever made her comfortable.

When you're a boy, taking a bath only takes three minutes—one minute to rinse, one minute to apply foam, and one minute to rinse clean.

But now, it's not so fast.

The main problem is that if I wash too quickly, Li Wanyan will definitely call me to wash it again.

Moreover, even though she has short hair now, it still takes a lot of time to wash it clean, which is far less convenient than a boy's buzz cut that dries in a flash.

Even though she was already very quick, it still took Mo Xueyao almost twenty minutes to get out of the bathroom.

While rubbing her hair with a towel, she called out to Li Wanyan, "Wanyan, go wash up."

"Sister Haruka, my dad bought this! It's the complete Ultraman Gaia series!"

Wow, he actually managed to buy it!

“But it’s in Japanese, I can’t understand it…” Yu Jinyu pouted.

"You can watch the subtitles."

"But the subtitles are too fast..."

"Just practice more!" Mo Xueyao eagerly sat down on the sofa with her ice cream. "Where is it?"

"Does Xiaoyao want to see what's under the drawer?"

“Look!” Mo Xueyao nodded vigorously.

The most enjoyable thing to do at my godfather's house is to watch movies or TV.

Because he has a large projector at home, and it can play both videotapes and CDs, but to play CDs, you need to use an adapter cable to connect it to the DVD player.

While exercising may be painful, the feeling of lying comfortably on the sofa afterward, with the air conditioning on in the room, eating ice cream, and watching your favorite TV show is simply amazing.

It's been a long time since I last watched Gaia, so this time I decided to start from the first episode again.

The quality of the subtitles is somewhat low, with frequent typos and sometimes no subtitles at all.

No wonder it's a pirated product.

But it's better than nothing; if it were all in Japanese, she wouldn't understand a word.

"Xiaoyu, have you finished your homework?"

"Oh dear—sister, don't ask that question! Mom and Dad aren't home today, so I can have some fun!"

"Pfft, hahaha—" Mo Xueyao burst into laughter, "Okay, okay."

"Sister, hug me—" Xiaoyu climbed into Mo Xueyao's arms and nudged her chin with her little head.

"it is good--"

Mo Xueyao hugged the soft and fluffy Yu Jinyu, feeling as if she were hugging a big cat.

Yu Jinyu's hair tickled her nose, making her sneeze several times.

Li Wanyan only came out of the bathroom when Mo Xueyao and Yu Jinyu had already watched the third episode.

"Why did it take so long?" Mo Xueyao asked casually. Actually, it usually takes about the same amount of time, maybe ten minutes faster at most.

"I took a short bath." Li Wanyan, who had already dried her hair with a hairdryer, sat down next to her. Yu Jinyu straightened up, sniffed the scent of her hair, and then gently rubbed it against her.

"What's wrong, Xiaoyu?" Mo Xueyao asked, somewhat amused.

"Is Sister Wanyan using my mom's shampoo? It smells like Mom." Yu Jinyu closed her eyes and sniffed again, then jumped barefoot off the sofa. "Oh right, I'll go get Sister Wanyan's ice cream!"

"No need," Li Wanyan said politely.

"Wanyan, feel at home here. Don't be shy. Help yourself to whatever you want to eat." Mo Xueyao said, picking up a pineapple bun from the table. It looked like it had just been bought that morning; if it were from last night, it certainly wouldn't have been left out like that.

"Xiaoyu, are your parents coming back for lunch?" Mo Xueyao took a bite of the pineapple bun, and there was cream inside that almost spilled onto the sofa, but luckily she caught it in time.

"I'm not coming back."

"So what are you having for lunch?"

"Here, ice cream~" Yu Jinyu handed the ice cream to Li Wanyan, then lay down on their laps—her head resting on Mo Xueyao's side, and her legs on Li Wanyan's side.

"Thank you."

So what are you planning to eat for lunch? Are you going out to eat?

"No, we'll eat at home~"

"Huh? No way, Xiaoyu, you can cook?" Mo Xueyao looked incredulous, feeling as if she had been outdone by a third-grade elementary school student.

Yes, I can make hamburgers!

"Really? You can even make hamburgers?!" Mo Xueyao's eyes widened.

"Yes, you just put the hamburger in the microwave, on the highest temperature for three minutes, and then you can take it out and eat it!"

"Huh... that's just heated up, okay? Is it a hamburger made by your godmother?"

"No, I bought them. They came in whole bags, all sealed together. You can just heat them up when you want to eat them, and they won't spoil for a month!"

"It's really convenient food..." But it goes without saying that it must be very expensive, and only my godfather's family can afford it.

And their family might even eat this for breakfast.

Because her godmother is also a person who loves to sleep in, sometimes when she gets up late, she will probably just heat up a hamburger and have a glass of fresh milk delivered every day for Yu Jinyu's breakfast.

But eating this all the time might be bad for your health, right?

After all, the ingredients weren't fresh.

This is probably what they call a disease of affluence.

……

Chapter Ninety-Seven: Model Nora?

"Nora, welcome to our company. You will be learning in the Publicity and Planning Department now. You will be offered a full-time position after you pass the initial assessment. Don't worry, it's not difficult," a sophisticated-looking white woman said to Nora with a smile, speaking in Russian.

“Okay, I thought you’ve lived in China for so long that your Russian has become a bit rusty,” Nora chuckled, making a joke that was hard to tell whether it was flattery or sarcasm.

“Even when we are in China, we still frequently need to contact Russia, as we have some business there.”

"But probably not much." Nora knew very well that the Russian government didn't have much money to repair infrastructure at the moment.

"Yes, there are other aspects—"

This is a large multinational company. Although the owner is Russian, the company is registered in China.

The actual controller of the company is his Chinese son-in-law.

The entire building belongs to this company, which is involved in everything from designing houses to building bridges and railways; its business is very extensive.

Nora was still wondering which department she would be assigned to, but she never expected to end up in a place completely unrelated to her major.

She mainly studied bridge design, but she can also draw architectural blueprints, just not as specialized.