A Young Woman's Heart

Mo Xueyao subconsciously listened for a moment, and when she realized that Li Wanyan was looking at her, she quickly and awkwardly picked up the meat floss bread and pretended to take a bite.

"Would you like some porridge?"

"Anything else?"

"Hmm, it should still be warm now."

"Hmm... this will quench my thirst." Mo Xueyao said, standing up to go to the kitchen to get a bowl of porridge. Just then, Yu Shu had already put on her underwear and was about to pick up her coat from the stool to put it on. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Mo Xueyao walk by, and then she looked flustered and slammed the door shut.

Although that rotten wooden door couldn't hide much, it could at least cover the upper body.

Mo Xueyao glanced subconsciously at her feet in slippers, then pretended nothing had happened and walked into the kitchen.

However, to everyone's surprise, when she came over again, Yu Shu was just about to reach out for a piece of clothing...

And so, what had just happened happened again.

"boom!"

"Well, I've already served the porridge, you can get dressed now." Mo Xueyao defused the awkwardness with a joke. "Actually, with just that small opening, I can't see anything."

"Well……"

"Little Haruka, do you want to see more?"

"Uh! No!" Now it was Mo Xueyao's turn to feel embarrassed.

Plain congee paired with pork floss bread was just right. Mo Xueyao ate a bite of bread and a bite of congee with great relish.

Yu Shu, dressed in a strange outfit, finally came out of the restroom.

"Yu Shu, would you like some bread?"

"Hmm...?" Yu Shu didn't answer, but the 'gurgling' sound from her stomach answered for her first.

"Are you all hungry? Here, help yourselves with the bread, and then get your own porridge in the kitchen." Because they had known each other since childhood, and had been seeing each other frequently in the band room recently, Mo Xueyao didn't treat her like an outsider at all.

Yu Shu turned around to get some porridge when there was a knock at the door. She opened it in surprise and saw a red-haired woman standing outside the iron gate, greeting her cheerfully: "Ni Hao!"

"Hmm, there's someone outside."

"Who?"

"Hmm... I don't remember her name, but she was the Russian woman who came last time..."

"Hey, Nora's here to play?" Mo Xueyao immediately jumped off the chair, eating bread as she ran to the door. "Ah, it really is Nora!"

"I finally have some free time. It's been a long time, Xiaoyao."

"Wow, your Chinese is already quite fluent." Mo Xueyao chuckled as she opened the iron gate. "I'm eating a pork floss bread right now, do you want some?"

“Okay, I just happened to bring some alcohol.” Nora shook the bag in her right hand. “It’s Japanese sake. I heard it’s not very strong, so we can drink a lot, and the others can too.”

"Hey, do you have to drink every time?"

"On such a cold day, of course we need to drink some wine to warm ourselves up!"

Mo Xueyao was speechless for a moment, then looked at the bag in her left hand: "What are these?"

"I bought too many foam pads, so I brought half of them with you." Nora handed the sake in her right hand to Mo Xueyao, and then took out a bag of foam pads from behind her back. It turned out that she had brought two large bags of foam pads.

"Wow, so many..."

"Hmm, I still have so many at home!" Nora laughed and pinched Mo Xueyao's cheek. "Xiaoyao's face is still so comfortable!"

"Tsk, stop touching me, come in quickly." Mo Xueyao turned around helplessly and led her into the house.

"Winter is here, it's so comfortable to put foam mats on the floor, it keeps me warm... You don't have central heating here, I always have the air conditioning on at home." Nora looked around the room. "Xiaoyao, where's your air conditioner?"

“My house doesn’t even have air conditioning,” Mo Xueyao sighed. “You’ll probably just have to stay cold.”

"That's alright." Nora tilted her head and looked at Yu Shu's bun, finally unable to resist reaching out and rubbing it hard. "Hmm, it feels really nice."

"Pfft, hahaha, I also often like to rub that, the feel is amazing."

"Hmm..." Yu Shu shyly backed away.

"But it's still a bit damp? Was it not dried properly?"

"Hmm, I couldn't find a hair dryer..."

"A hair dryer? I have one at home. Yu Shu, you could have just told me if you wanted one, really." Mo Xueyao ran into her mother's room and took out the black hair dryer, which was supposedly a birthday gift from her father to her mother.

Yu Shu smiled sheepishly and took the hairdryer to the balcony.

Nora, however, was quite outgoing. She took out small pieces of foam mat from the bag and said, "Here, Haruka, let's put them in the living room."

"Shall we lay it now?"

"Well, since you don't have a sofa, you can use this as a sofa."

"I'm so sorry there's no sofa..." Mo Xueyao said with droopy eyelids, "By the way, why did you only buy small pieces?"

"Because small pieces are convenient for free combination." Nora's Chinese was awkward, but at least it was understandable, and it seemed to have a southern accent, with a slight inability to distinguish between flat and retroflex consonants.

Mo Xueyao and Nora laid a foam mat in front of the TV and pressed it against the wall.

Then they found some pillows to use as cushions for the 'sofas', and the two of them, in a playful mood, sat down on the floor, comfortably leaning against the pillows, and took a deep breath in perfect unison.

"Wanyan, it's very comfortable. Would you like to sit down?" Mo Xueyao invited. "This foam cushion is very thick and has a great bouncy feel."

Actually, there weren't many foam pads; they were just packed into two large bags because they were thick.

Li Wanyan sat down next to Mo Xueyao, holding a water glass. She was cold to the touch, as if she had no temperature.

"Wanyan, you're so cold. Do you have a fever?"

"No," Li Wanyan shook her head, "It's just a stomachache."

"Even a stomachache wouldn't be this severe, would it?"

"...I got my period."

"Huh? Oh...right..." she coughed awkwardly, "Then you can't drink alcohol to warm up today."

"Ah."

"Can't we drink anymore? Sigh, I even bought sake specifically." Nora sighed regretfully. "Then let's drink, Haruka, and her too!"

"Yu Shu? She... probably doesn't drink much." Mo Xueyao handed Nora a meat floss bread. "Here, have some with me? I still have some porridge at home, would you like some?"

"Porridge, is it the kind of rice porridge you have?"

"Hmm, otherwise, what kind of porridge do you usually eat?"

“Where I live, we eat meat porridge,” Nora explained. “It has cereal and chunks of meat in it, like chicken or pork.”

"Uh... I've always eaten plain porridge since I was a child, maybe with some millet or something. I've never eaten the kind of meat porridge you're talking about."

"It's delicious! It's in the military rations; it's meat porridge."

"Ah...is that it?"

"Correct."

"Do you consider it a main dish or a side dish?"

“Of course, it’s the main course,” Nora replied matter-of-factly.

Mo Xueyao coughed lightly because she thought it was meat soup and never expected that it was a staple food like rice.

Yu Shu had finished drying her hair and came over. Nora patted the empty seat next to her and said, "Come on, sit down! Want a drink?"

"Huh? No, I don't want to drink..."

"Aren't you drinking either? Are you on your period?"

"without……"

"Then drink it! This wine has a very low alcohol content!" Nora generously opened a bottle and handed it to her. "Here, drink it! It's a bit weak, but it's still okay."

"...I'll go get the cup." Unable to refuse such a kind offer, Yu Shu could only agree.

But Nora was puzzled: "Why are you taking the cup?"

"Huh? Aren't you going to drink?"

“I have some,” Nora said, opening another bottle and taking several gulps straight from the spout. “Hiss—hmm, not bad!”

Yu Shu seemed a little stunned.

"Hey, Yu Shu, go get the glass. Don't follow Nora's example; her alcohol tolerance is different from ours."

"Hmm, hmm... Do you want some, Haruka?"

"Uh, me...? I don't need it either."

……

Chapter 171 Seeking Warmth in Groups

The animal documentary on TV finished, and a very long commercial break began.

Li Wanyan sneezed several times in a row and leaned weakly against Mo Xueyao.

The soft foam cushions were indeed more comfortable to sit on than the cold wooden chairs, so much so that once one person yawned, the others seemed to be infected and started yawning one after another.

"Isn't Nora cold?"

"Hmm? It's not cold." Nora took a sip of sake that looked like it had been taken out of the refrigerator, but then ate small bites of the pork floss bread, as if she was worried that there wouldn't be any snacks to go with the sake later.

"Are you warm?" Mo Xueyao leaned closer to her and found that she was like a furnace. Even without being close, she could feel the intense heat emanating from her.

"Hmm? It should be fairly warm?" Nora wasn't sure. "Are you all feeling cold?"

"A little, I think we can stand a bit closer," Mo Xueyao said, nudging Li Wanyan closer to the wall. "Wanyan, are you warmer now?"

"...It's alright." Although Li Wanyan's expression was calm, her tone revealed a hint of helplessness.

After drinking a cup of sake, Yu Shu refused to drink any more, so in the end, Mo Xueyao and Nora ended up drinking together.

They drank until night.

Although it rained during the day, the sky was exceptionally clear at night.