A Young Woman's Heart

"What are you going to use them for? To stick them in rental apartments?"

"more or less."

"Then you can buy book covers, they're on sale anyway."

“Okay… thank you.” Mo Xueyao nodded, then turned to look at Li Wanyan. “If we’re going to use a book cover, we might as well use the kraft paper from the store.”

“Kraft paper is much more expensive than this,” Li Wanyan shook her head. “Let’s see if we can find anything suitable.”

“But kraft paper is thicker than this, it must be more comfortable to lean against…” Mo Xueyao muttered as she and Li Wanyan strolled through the stationery section.

In the end, I decided to use the kraft paper from the fruit store as wallpaper, but I still bought some paper covers to wrap the new books that were distributed during the summer vacation.

After all, it will be used for half a year. If it has an outer cover, it will not be easily damaged and can be preserved more cleanly.

"When I go back to ask Dad for the parchment, tsk, he'll definitely say I'm wasting money again." Mo Xueyao pouted. "Then he'll nag about how parchment is expensive, and how a single sheet costs a dollar to buy."

In fact, the wrapping paper alone costs a lot of money when making flower arrangements, just like the broth in a hot pot.

"The air freshener is over there." Li Wanyan gently tugged at Mo Xueyao's arm and pointed to a shelf in front of her.

"Ah, let's go take a look. I don't know if it's expensive. If all else fails, we can use floral water instead... but if floral water is mixed with the stench, it seems like it will smell even worse..."

"That's true sometimes."

Air fresheners didn't take up much space on the shelves, and there weren't many varieties—only two categories, with about four or five types in each category.

One type is a placeable type, which is usually placed in the toilet. When the lid is open, the fragrance will slowly waft out. The scent is relatively light, but therefore it will not be too strong.

There is also a spray type. Right after spraying, you can't stand in it because the smell isn't very pleasant, but the effect shown on the label is that it can effectively remove odors.

"Spray type or shelf type?" She tilted her head and looked at Li Wanyan, pointing to the products on the shelf.

Li Wanyan squatted down and examined each one carefully, seemingly preferring the lemon-scented air freshener.

"Should I buy the placebo type? But it doesn't seem to be very effective."

"It's okay, we're not moving in right away."

"That's right! Let it smell nice on its own then." Mo Xueyao took it without hesitation. "Is there anything else you want to buy? Shall we just go pay?"

"Lets see."

"Oh."

Mo Xueyao nodded indifferently.

And so, the two wandered around aimlessly. Li Wanyan didn't seem to have decided what to buy. She would linger in front of items that interested her for a while, but almost every time she would give up after comparing prices repeatedly.

"Wanyan, what exactly do you want to buy?" she asked, puzzled. "It seems like you want to buy a lot, but then you give up on them all?"

"Well, I just wanted to take a look, but some of them aren't really worth buying."

"Should we just skip looking at things we don't need to buy?"

“…Yaoyao.” Li Wanyan chuckled softly, then returned to her usual demeanor. “You’re still just like a boy.”

"Hmm? I feel like I've changed a lot, but I still think you're a boy? Well, there's nothing I can do about that..."

“No, I’m talking about habits in our personality.” Li Wanyan ran her fingers through her long hair. “Girls tend to enjoy shopping more, even if they don’t buy anything, just looking around is nice.”

"Really? That seems like a waste of time."

"Because it's something that's meant to kill time, much like playing a game."

"Really... I don't feel anything is the same."

Did Yaoyao like toys when she was little?

"Yes, of course."

Will you go to the supermarket to take a look, even if you don't buy anything?

"Yes, oh... I see. So, it's actually because you don't have enough money or don't want to waste money, and you're just looking to satisfy your eyeballs?"

That's roughly it.

"Okay, okay."

In the end, there wasn't much in the shopping cart. Besides what she originally planned to buy, Li Wanyan only bought two cushions.

Because the weather was still very hot, these plush cushions were clearance items and were quite cheap, only five yuan each. She was only going to take one, since she wasn't paying for it this time.

But when Mo Xueyao saw that she had taken one, she thought it would be better for each of them to take one, so she took two herself.

"It's great for winter. This way, I can lean back in the chair to sleep. My hands always go numb from using the pillow when I take a nap..." Mo Xueyao said, shaking her arms as if she could already feel the numbness.

The pillow looks like a big bone from an animated film, just a different color.

"So, after all this time shopping, you only bought these two things?" Mo Xueyao still felt it was a waste of time. "Tsk... never mind, let's go pay!"

"Let's go."

After carrying her things home, Mo Xueyao asked her father for a large roll of kraft paper.

"Why do you need so many? You're just wasting money."

"Use it as wallpaper."

"Damn, you're using such good quality kraft paper as wallpaper?" The father's eyes widened. "Wife, look at the spendthrift woman you've raised!"

“If your daughter wants it, just let her take it. Why make so many fuss? Can’t you afford a little bit of paper? Anyway, it was bought at cost price.”

"Exactly, exactly. Why has Dad become so stingy?"

"I feel heartbroken to see them being used in meaningless ways."

"Who said wallpaper can last a long time while floral patterns are thrown away after use? My way of using it is clearly more valuable!"

"Fine, fine, you're more educated, I can't argue with you, okay?"

"Tch, so sarcastic." She rolled her eyes at him and went into the room with the parchment in her arms.

……

Chapter 121 Simple Villa in the Suburbs

At six o'clock on Sunday morning, Mo Xueyao, Li Wanyan, and Nora boarded the first bus heading to the suburbs.

When they got back yesterday, Nora asked Mo Xueyao if there were any fun places to go, which really stumped her. In the end, she decided to take her to the simple villa where the Mo sisters, Xiaoxiao and Mo Xueyao, lived.

That place is not only their home, but also the off-campus activity room for members of the art club!

Of course, she contacted them in advance and learned that the two had been working for almost a month and had Sunday off, so they excitedly rushed over today.

Compared to scenic spots, Mo Xueyao still prefers the remote countryside.

In crowded places, even the most beautiful scenery will be greatly diminished. In that case, it's better to enjoy those lesser-known but still unique landscapes.

I left early just to avoid the sun, but even so, it was already past seven o'clock when I arrived, and it would take another ten or twenty minutes to walk from the bus station to the container house.

It was actually quite inconvenient for the two sisters to get to school every day. Although they had bicycles, it still took them a lot of time to travel such a long distance.

"The houses there were designed by our club! They're made of the same material as prefabricated houses, similar to shipping containers, but thicker. There's a basement and a half-floor, which is basically a second floor above ground, where the beds are placed. Most importantly, the whole house has many floor-to-ceiling windows, making it very bright and airy."

“It must be very hot in the summer, right?” Nora said from a designer’s perspective. “And that material is still not as good as brick walls.”

"Hmm... it must be very hot, but there's air conditioning, and spring and autumn are very comfortable. There's also a whole wall of glass overhead, so you can see the stars when you open your eyes at night."

"Oh, that's great! I'm really looking forward to it!" Nora said excitedly. As a designer, she was very interested in all kinds of novel and interesting architecture.

If she really had no interest, she wouldn't have chosen this major.

After all, interest is the best teacher.

The country lanes always make a 'crackling' sound when you walk on them, and the road is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Good roads are made of cement and are very smooth, while bad roads are all gravel, making one wonder if some sections were simply left unfinished due to lack of funds for repair.

On both sides of the road are farmlands, an endless expanse of farmland. In the fields are some small huts and warehouses where people live during the busy farming season. Further away at the foot of the mountains are rows of low mud-brick houses, which are the villages.

In August, the rice is neither green nor golden, but an orange color somewhere in between, which shines brightly against the sun in the sky and sways and undulates with the hot wind.

“Wow, fields and fields of rice…” Nora seemed somewhat captivated. “I love rice.”

"Why?" Mo Xueyao took a big gulp of ice water, which she had specially frozen in the refrigerator yesterday to drink today.

Although it was still a little while until eight o'clock, the weather was already quite hot.

Walking on an open, unshaded country path in such high temperatures is truly unbearable.

Even the few scattered trees along the roadside looked quite withered.

These trees probably weren't planted by farmers, because the varieties are very inconsistent—mulberry, banyan, pine, fir, fig trees… all sorts of things are there, and they're all messy, clearly no one takes care of them.

If you're not in a rush and the weather is nice, strolling along like this can be quite charming and pleasant.

A hen was strolling around with her chicks when she saw people approaching. She cleverly scurried away to find a hiding place.

In the stream beside the farmland, ducks are playing happily. Summer is probably their favorite season. When it gets so cold in winter, even ducks don't like to go into the water.

The most arrogant one was actually the goose that passed by. It was a lone goose, and when it saw Mo Xueyao and her two companions, it spread its wings and flapped them vigorously, looking quite imposing.

However, its target was not humans, but the two stray dogs that had just fled in panic.

"Woof woof woof!" the mongrel barked fiercely. If you only heard the sound, you would think that the two of them were chasing a goose. However, the actual situation was that the two of them were being chased by a big goose and howling.

"Pfft, haha—" Nora even used a Japanese phrase at this moment, "Pajama-i~!"

Mo Xueyao had watched many Japanese anime and TV shows, but she only felt that they were familiar and couldn't remember what they meant for a while.

"Does Nora speak Japanese?" Li Wanyan asked, looking at her.

"No, I've just watched some Japanese animation, so I've learned a few words." In this day and age, Japanese animation is a unique cultural export to the world.

What does that mean?

"It's pretty much like, very interesting, very fun," Nora explained in English.

"Yes, that's the idea. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it right now." Mo Xueyao slammed her fist into her palm. "We're here! It's just ahead!"

About two or three hundred meters away, a bright and clean container house is located here.

You can call it a container house, or you can call it a simple villa.