A Young Woman's Heart

"It smells really good!" The diner was a very outgoing person. He leaned over for a look and looked on with a drooling expression.

"Brother, want to eat something?" the father said generously.

Unexpectedly, the man didn't stand on ceremony, picked up his chopsticks, took a bite, and said, "Hmm, not bad, these snails are very flavorful!"

"Haha, how about some drinks?"

"Then no thanks." He didn't seem to be that shameless. He sat down in the empty seat next to him and said with a smile, "Which of these two is your daughter?"

"All."

"All of them? They don't seem like it to me."

"Hahaha—" The father just laughed loudly, but didn't explain. He changed the subject and said, "After you've eaten, you can go to the fruit shop upstairs to buy some fruit to cleanse your palate. My fruit shop is right across from the general store, just across the small road."

"Okay, I'll definitely go and support them later!"

The atmosphere in the noodle shop was very pleasant. Many people had forgotten the taste of the noodles from the previous noodle shop. Although the style was different, it was just as delicious. There were not only old customers from before, but also many new customers who came after the noodle shop opened.

Mo Xueyao focused on eating on her own, while her father and godfather chatted happily.

My godfather said that another leader's child has joined the bureau. He doesn't know anything and is often late or doesn't show up.

He felt somewhat regretful that the position was being held by someone else, which prevented high-achieving students who could have gotten in from entering.

—If he were younger, he would probably be indignant, but now that he's seen so much, he doesn't find it strange anymore.

"Ugh—" Mo Xueyao stretched out her hand, but couldn't reach the food on the other side because it was diagonally opposite, so she had to stand up to reach it.

"What does Yaoyao want to eat?"

"That stir-fried beef with green peppers... I want beef," Mo Xueyao said, pointing to the dish with her chopsticks.

"Hmm." Li Wanyan was much closer to the dish. She picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks and put it in her bowl, asking, "Want some more?"

"Let's eat first." Mo Xueyao was panting from the spiciness. "Ouch—Dad, what kind of chili peppers are these? They're so spicy!"

"Wild chili peppers, haha, spicy is just right!"

When Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan finished their meal, the two grown men were still drinking, only eating a little bit of the snails and peanuts in front of them.

"Have you two finished eating? Go and let your mother come over," the father said to Mo Xueyao. "She hasn't eaten yet!"

"Okay." Mo Xueyao had just stood up when she almost bumped into Chen Cheng, who was carrying a bowl of noodles. She didn't expect him to come and help too.

"You better watch yourself," Chen Cheng said in an unfriendly tone.

"Next time, next time," Mo Xueyao replied perfunctorily. She knew that was just his temper, and there was no need to argue with him.

She and Li Wanyan returned to the fruit shop. Su Tang had almost poked a hole in the cardboard box. Her mother had just sold a fruit basket and was making change.

Having just finished dinner, Mo Xueyao didn't feel the night wind was particularly cold. She stretched comfortably and shouted to her mother, "Mom! Let's go eat! We can take care of the restaurant!"

"Hmm, how much food is left?"

"There's plenty more, eat as you please. Ah... we might be out of beef." Mo Xueyao scratched her head sheepishly and plopped down at the cashier. Anyway, it's Friday, so she could leave her homework for tomorrow.

The adults always drank until very late, and as the night grew darker, the streets became much quieter, with only a few stray dogs barking in the distance.

Su Tang emerged from the hole she had dug herself, looking at Mo Xueyao with a smug expression, and was almost stepped on by her father, who reeked of alcohol.

"Hiccup... Hah... What time is it?"

Mo Xueyao glanced at the sky outside, her eyelids drooping, and asked, "Dad, what time do you think it is now?"

Nine o'clock?

"It's already midnight!" Mo Xueyao said irritably. "Mom is so sleepy she can't stand it anymore and went home first. Can you go home by yourself today?"

"Hiccup... Going back? That doesn't seem like a good idea..."

The cool breeze blew by, but it didn't make him any more awake. Instead, he slumped over and fell asleep against a pile of cardboard boxes that were more than half his height.

"Why do adults always like to drink?" Mo Xueyao muttered, puzzled.

"Drowning one's sorrows in alcohol."

"That's exactly what the books say, but how many sorrows can a person possibly have left to dispel?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wanyan glanced at Mo Xueyao with slight surprise.

"Tsk tsk, does Wanyan really dislike people who drink?"

"What I hate most are irresponsible people. Most of those who just like to drink are irresponsible."

"So that means you don't hate my dad?"

"Ah."

"Hehe." Mo Xueyao patted her father's back reassuringly. "See, even when you're drunk, Wanyan doesn't dislike you, right? Dad, aren't you happy?"

"Go away... what are you kids talking about..." The father rolled his eyes. "I'm too tired today. You two, help me pack up the stall..."

"I know—" Mo Xueyao shrugged and looked at Li Wanyan, "Today is probably the last day the fruit shop will stay open."

"Get to work."

"How about we ride our tricycles and take Dad home later?" Mo Xueyao suddenly became interested. "Hehe, it's a rare opportunity after all!"

"it is good."

……

Chapter 180 Carrying Father Home

Nighttime always seems long, perhaps because there aren't many distracting things to keep your mind occupied.

After packing up their stall, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan carried their father, who was completely drunk, onto a tricycle.

My father was already asleep, and even the cold wind couldn't wake him. He kept making smacking noises, as if he was chewing something.

"Heave-whoosh—" Mo Xueyao straddled the tricycle. It had been a long time since she had ridden one, and she even felt that she could hardly pedal.

"Yaoyao, the handbrake isn't released."

"Oh, I knew it was so difficult..." Mo Xueyao smiled awkwardly and turned around to ask, "Wanyan, are you seated?"

"All right."

"Hey! Let's go!" Luckily, it was downhill, so starting wasn't too difficult. Mo Xueyao pushed off with a little effort, and the tricycle slowly moved forward.

Once you reach higher speeds, pedaling becomes much less strenuous.

The weight of two people is nothing for a tricycle. In the past, when I used it to haul goods, I would load it full, weighing at least four or five hundred pounds.

Mo Xueyao even felt that her estimate was too conservative.

The sight of a young girl pedaling a tricycle with her slender legs always felt somewhat incongruous.

However, there weren't many people on the street at the moment, so it wouldn't attract too many strange looks.

When I was a child, my father would drive me around; now that I'm grown up, I drive my father around.

Life is like a cycle, and she was experiencing this feeling ahead of time.

"Cough...uh..." Her father slumped over the tricycle, looking like he was about to vomit again. When was the last time she was drunk? She couldn't quite remember.

However, it shouldn't be too far off.

Do men sometimes crave a drink, get completely drunk, and temporarily forget the pressures they face?

Mo Xueyao could actually understand, after all, she was once a man too... well, just a boy who hadn't grown up yet.

The wind is cold on winter nights.

But Mo Xueyao only felt cold when she stopped to wait for the traffic light.

"Phew..." She wiped the sweat from her forehead, feeling that her legs were already a little sore.

"Are you tired?" Li Wanyan asked. "Do you want me to help?"

"Hmm—never mind, I'll do it."

Don't be reckless.

If it were the old Mo Xueyao, she would have refused without hesitation, but today she hesitated for a while before finally stopping at the next traffic light: "Phew, Wanyan, can you take my place?"

"Ah."

"Haha... It's so much more comfortable sitting in the car." Mo Xueyao stretched her legs out and stretched them out. "My legs are sore."

Li Wanyan breathed warm air on her right wrist and started riding the tricycle at a speed no slower than Mo Xueyao's.

"Haha, I suddenly thought of those scenes in TV dramas where someone puts their dead father on a tricycle, pushes it to the market, and shouts something like 'selling oneself to bury one's father'..."

"Your old man isn't dead yet..." The father, whom everyone thought was asleep, exhaled a breath of stale air. "Can't you hope for something better?"

"Pfft, haha, Dad, you're still alive, no, you're still awake?"

"You're going to drive me crazy," the father said sarcastically in a flat tone. "Where is this?"

"On the road to the underworld."

"Go away—turn around!" the father shouted, waving his hand.

"Why turn around? Let's go tear up the Book of Life and Death of the King of Hell right now!" Mo Xueyao shouted cheerfully. "We're going to the underworld to summon our old comrades, with ten thousand banners to slay the King of Hell!"

"Alright, kill!" the father shouted in perfect unison.

"Dad, it seems you're not too drunk today? You haven't thrown up at all."

"Please don't say it, okay? If you say it again, I'll really throw up." The father leaned back on the tricycle. "Ha... phew... how about we start renovating the house after the New Year?"

"Renovate?" Mo Xueyao asked excitedly. "Really? But do we have enough money?"

"Haha, you don't need to worry about the money, little girl."

"Hmm... I hope the bathroom at home is like Grandma Jin's, with a shower and a toilet and stuff."

"Didn't you hate toilets the most? When you came back from surgery, you kept telling me that the toilets in the hospital were uncomfortable to sit on."

"Well, now that I'm used to it, I find the place at home a bit inconvenient."

"Alright, alright, we'll install one then! Our bathroom is too small; a shower enclosure probably won't fit." The father rubbed his chin. "There's only about one square meter of space. Is that enough?"