A Young Woman's Heart

"Well, she's different! Don't compare me to her." Lu Chengyuan chuckled, then suddenly reached out and tickled her neck, making her shrink back and giggle uncontrollably.

Li Wanyan, who was walking beside them, glanced at them sideways and suddenly stopped: "Grandma Jin's dog."

"Huh?" Mo Xueyao didn't react at first, but when she saw the 'haha' standing in the distance looking around, she understood what it meant.

“It’s a husky…” Calling it ‘Haha’ would be too strange, so Mo Xueyao usually just calls it ‘Erha’. “How did it get here?”

"You're out for a walk, aren't you?" Lu Chengyuan didn't find it strange. "Dogs like to run around, right?"

"Cats are the ones that like to run around...Aren't dogs supposed to be guarding their territory?" Mo Xueyao muttered. "Mainly because it's so much bigger than other dogs, look how scared those girls were of it."

Li Wanyan nodded slightly and walked over.

The husky was completely unaware that someone was approaching from behind until Li Wanyan was almost right next to it, at which point it suddenly turned around.

Those two blank eyes looked her up and down, and after a full five seconds of dazed silence, they suddenly barked loudly.

However, it wasn't meant to be an attack, but rather the kind of joy one feels when finding a family member.

Its large, fluffy tail swung violently, sending yellow leaves flying into the air.

"A husky? It really is a husky." Mo Xueyao bent down and patted its head, and the dog immediately crawled under her skirt and rubbed against her vigorously. "What? You want to carry me home?"

"Woof woof!" The husky darted out again, its expressive face seemingly trying to convey something.

"Could it be... that it can't find its way back?" Lu Chengyuan asked uncertainly.

"That's impossible. How could a dog not find its way at such a close distance?"

"Not necessarily, what if?"

"Two-ha? Hmm, shall we go?" Mo Xueyao tried taking a few steps forward, and the latter happily followed.

The collar was hanging around its neck, but there was no chain attached, leading to the reasonable belief that the creature had slipped out of the store…

Such a big dog walking down the city streets is quite a sight.

Moreover, it's not a local dog; it's an imported breed, which makes it particularly intriguing to passersby. Many people are more curious about it than about Mo Xueyao.

The husky followed closely beside them, but sometimes it would be attracted by other things.

It could just be a torn plastic bag, or it could be a rotten cardboard box...

Mo Xueyao suddenly understood how this guy had gotten lost.

Could it be that it ran out and looked around without marking anything, and ended up getting lost?

Luckily it was nearby, otherwise it probably wouldn't have been so easy to find it.

"Hey Erha, stop running around! Come back with us!" Mo Xueyao called out helplessly when she saw it trying to squeeze into the alley again. The dog looked back, but then continued to squeeze into the alley.

I really don't know if it understood that someone was calling it, or if it didn't.

Mo Xueyao didn't know what it was thinking, but she always felt that it was pretending to be stupid.

Left with no other option, I grabbed its collar and pulled it out, then tied it to the collar with a rope that was lying on the roadside. This finally restricted its movement and prevented it from running around anymore.

"Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao, there's a stall selling wedding eggs up ahead!" Lu Chengyuan suddenly became excited and ran quickly to the tricycle stall.

An elderly woman with gray hair stood behind an old tricycle. A sign hung on the tricycle with the words "Happy Eggs" written crookedly on it.

Inside the tricycle was a coal stove with a large pot on top, the soup inside bubbling away.

If you look closely, you'll see individual tea eggs with obvious cracks floating up and down inside.

"Boss, how much is this?" Lu Chengyuan put one hand on the tricycle and sniffed the rich aroma from the pot.

"A happy egg costs 80 cents, a tea egg costs 30 cents."

The price of tea eggs is slightly cheaper than in regular breakfast shops.

After all, it's a mobile stall, so there's no need for shop rent.

"Lucky eggs?" Mo Xueyao was taken aback. "What are they again... I think I've heard of them before."

"It's one of those eggs where a chick has already hatched inside."

"Oh, so that's balut. I ate it when I was a kid, but I haven't had it for many years." In Hangzhou, balut and balut mean the same thing.

It can also be called a "lucky egg" because it is an egg that a chick is about to lay, just like a person being pregnant and about to give birth, which is a happy event, hence the name "lucky egg".

But to Mo Xueyao, this name was even more cruel than "hairy egg"...

Especially when using people as metaphors.

"Does the class monitor want some?" Lu Chengyuan asked, turning her head.

"no need."

"Have one, it tastes pretty good... um, it should be pretty good. Anyway, although it sounds cruel, I don't seem to feel any disgust. I ate it when I was a child, but I've long forgotten the taste."

"Boss, give me three lucky eggs!" Lu Chengyuan said impatiently, holding up three fingers.

Mo Xueyao insisted on paying the bill so that she wouldn't always be the one being treated.

Although the amount of money isn't much, it's still quite embarrassing to be treated to meals by others all the time.

What kind do you want?

"What other options are there?" Mo Xueyao asked in surprise.

"There are some that have just come out, some that are half-ripe, and some that are almost out. The ones that are almost out are fishier and have more hair, so they're generally okay. The ones that are half-ripe are the best to eat," the old woman explained simply. She spoke half in Mandarin and half in the local dialect, which made it difficult for Mo Xueyao to understand her.

"I want it to come out quickly."

"Oh, Cheng Yuan has such heavy tastes," Mo Xueyao teased.

"If you get used to it, that one tastes the best."

"Then why not just eat the chicken directly?"

"They're different, and although they have more fur, they're easy to separate and spit out."

"What about Wanyan? Is she eating the kind that's just hatched and barely open?"

"Ah."

The old woman rummaged through the pot for a while, and no one knows how she distinguished them, but she easily found three different kinds of tea eggs.

Then she wiped her hands on a rag, skillfully peeled the eggshells in half, put them in plastic bags, pointed to the sauces in front of her and said, "Put whatever sauce you want on your plate."

"Xiaoyao, try the sweet chili sauce, it goes really well with this," Lu Chengyuan recommended, and started brushing it herself.

"Yeah, I quite like sweet chili sauce too."

Li Wanyan quietly brushed on some ketchup and took a small bite.

This looks like a regular egg, but you can taste a bit of meat inside.

Mo Xueyao's fertilized egg already had the shape of a chicken. She didn't think much of it when she was a child, but as she grew up, she found it a bit hard to eat. She closed her eyes and took a bite, trying not to think about what the fertilized egg looked like—it still tasted pretty good this way.

The husky was drooling and circling around, but unfortunately, the 'stingy' Mo Xueyao would never buy it a balut (fertilized duck egg)...

……

Chapter Sixty-One: National Day and the Opening of the Noodle Shop

2000 10 Month 1 Day.

This is a day of national celebration.

However, since it is not a full decade, there will be no military parade this year.

The only things that can prove it's National Day are probably the long holiday and the news reports on TV about traffic jams at tourist attractions.

On the street in front of the fruit shop, under Grandma Jin's leadership, the shops worked together to set up a "National Day Corner," where they posted some positive articles about the country.

These were mostly written by the shop owner's children, except for Mo Xueyao's father, whose work was handwritten.

These articles are actually rarely read, but having them there always adds to the National Day atmosphere.

A small red flag hangs in front of Mo Xueyao's fruit shop, fluttering in the wind.

It was a beautiful, clear day, and the noodle shop behind the general store finally opened for business.

This time has far exceeded expectations.

I thought it would only take a week to get it done, but it was delayed for a long time due to various reasons.

The main issue was buying secondhand furniture; in order to find the most affordable options, I had to visit many places in Hangzhou.

The business license was delayed for a while due to unsatisfactory hygiene conditions. In the end, the matter was only resolved after someone came to deliver gifts.

In fact, the store is much cleaner than before.

The flower baskets used to celebrate the opening also took a whole day to complete. There were four baskets in total, which may seem a little shabby, but it's better than nothing.

Taking this opportunity, Mo Wenli also changed the name of the fruit shop, making it immediately clear that the noodle shop and the fruit shop were owned by the same person.

One is called "Lao Mo Flowers and Fruits," and the other is called "Lao Mo Noodle Shop."

Mo Xueyao suggested many nice names, but he didn't adopt any of them. Instead, he chose the most rustic one.

However, there are advantages to being rustic; at the very least, it makes people feel warm and familiar.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan ran here from home today. She had just finished showering at Grandma Jin's house, and her hair was still a little damp.

"Dad, is there breakfast?" Mo Xueyao asked as she walked into the store, holding Su Tang, who had just taken the bath with her.

"Breakfast? From now on, if you want breakfast, go to your Uncle Chen's noodle shop and have him cook it for you," the father said without looking up as he trimmed the flower branches.

"Is Uncle Chen's cooking alright?"

"Don't worry, I've been learning all this time, and Lianlian is in charge of cooking today. Her noodle-making skills are even better than Lao Chen's now!"

Zhuang Lianlian hasn't resigned from the grocery store yet, but with Grandma Jin's permission, she can help out at the noodle shop when it's busy.

This way, Old Chen won't be caught off guard.

"Oh—Wanyan, shall we go get some noodles? What kind of noodles would you like, Wanyan?"

"Vegetable noodles will do."

"Is it that vegetarian? As for me... uh, I wonder if they have pork kidney noodles? I want pork kidney noodles, preferably with fried pork cracklings."