A Young Woman's Heart

"No need, just pass on the message—sigh, the fog is too thick today, I can't make it to wrap the flowers in time. I have to wait until the sun comes up and the visibility is better before I can drive out. You can have Xiaoyao wrap the flowers herself, or take some fruit to apologize to the person."

"Ok."

"Okay, I'll hang up now." The father hung up the phone quickly, and the landline receiver went dead.

"Yaoyao, godfather said he can't come today, the fog is too thick."

"I knew it..." Mo Xueyao seemed to have expected this. She scratched her head. "The fruit baskets from yesterday are all sold out, and there are no flower baskets left either. Should we pack some fruit and take it over? But it feels like this isn't a very 'sincere' apology?"

Li Wanyan gently shook her head: "The important thing is the sentiment."

"Ah...uh...how about I try wrapping a bunch myself?"

"Ah."

Although her father wrapped flowers at the fruit shop every day, and Mo Xueyao often watched, she didn't actually learn anything. At most, she knew that she just laid a piece of kraft paper flat on the table and then wrapped the flower inside.

It seems like a cotton ball or something is stuffed at the base of the flower to keep it moist.

"Ah, is it really okay to just wrap it up haphazardly?"

"Give it a try."

Although I got up very early, there wasn't much time to procrastinate.

After hesitating for a while, Mo Xueyao decided to wrap a bouquet of flowers herself.

"I'll keep it simple... how about just three flowers?"

Li Wanyan nodded slightly as she looked at her, seemingly not intending to offer any suggestions.

Although she didn't know how to wrap flowers, Mo Xueyao had learned about the meanings of most flowers by listening to her father do business every day.

She searched through the large pile of flowers on the shelf for a while before finally picking up three yellow tulips.

Tulips are small flowers, and yellow gives a sense of elegance and tranquility. This flower can be used to apologize, and it is especially used to apologize to ladies.

Mo Xueyao set them aside for a moment and trimmed the roots slightly: "It seems like I should sharpen this part a bit? Then wrap it with tape, uh... how do you make that moisturizing ball again... I think there are some ready-made ones?"

Li Wanyan had finished putting on her school uniform and was now sitting in a chair putting on her white pantyhose—she seemed to prefer putting on her skirt first and then her pantyhose, to the point that Mo Xueyao was influenced by her.

There were no cotton balls needed for wrapping flowers near the workbench; she had never actually noticed where her father usually kept them.

However, the purpose of using that moisturizing ball is simply to prevent the flowers from withering in a short period of time.

"It's okay if I don't need to, right?" Mo Xueyao muttered to herself, scratching her left leg with her right foot, the bell hanging from her ankle making a crisp sound. "Then fold the kraft paper into the shape of an ice cream cone..."

She scratched her head and tried several methods before she finally managed to stack the ice cream cone-shaped base.

Sometimes her father didn't even need to use double-sided tape, but Mo Xueyao used both double-sided tape and adhesive tape to barely keep it from falling apart.

This is probably the difference between the mortise and tenon structure used by a skilled craftsman and the crude and simple act of an apprentice who just hammers in nails.

However, a bouquet of flowers consisting of only these two parts would appear quite monotonous.

Mo Xueyao racked her brains trying to recall how her father usually wrapped flowers.

"We need other elements to complement it," Li Wanyan reminded her from the side.

“Ah, right, we should also put some grass or simple flowers next to them... Flowers need green leaves to set them off…” She slapped her forehead and unconsciously started saying what her father often said to guests.

However, her skill level is limited, and if she adds too many flowers and plants, she obviously cannot arrange them perfectly.

In the end, she decided to choose only one: baby's breath.

"Wanyan, what do you think of using this?" However, she still asked Li Wanyan for her opinion.

"can."

Baby's breath is a type of flower belonging to the stone flower category. It gets its name from the fact that a single flower stalk can be covered with many spherical flowers.

From a distance, it looks like a large cauliflower that is rather sparsely growing.

Most of them are white, but there are also some flowers of other colors.

My father said it was dyed; the real baby's breath comes in other colors and is much more expensive—you know, baby's breath is already quite expensive.

It is a flower that can be used as both a garnish and a main flower.

Mo Xueyao once saw her father wrap a bouquet of baby's breath, and it looked so beautiful, like stars scattered from the sky to earth.

She picked up the baby's breath and arranged it around the three tulips. Finally, she chose a piece of red and white striped paper for the upper part of the bouquet. Unlike the 'ice cream cone' part, it had to express that fluffy, blooming feeling.

Sheet paper is also very expensive. A thick sheet of sheet paper like this usually costs my father ten yuan.

Although the cost is only a little over one dollar...

"Exorbitant profits..." Mo Xueyao muttered softly, trying to fold the paper into a fluffy shape.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I couldn't fold it into a nice shape; instead, the paper ended up wrinkled.

"Oh well... let it be?" Mo Xueyao comforted herself. "At least it has a kind of messy beauty..."

She held the bouquet in her hands, feeling as if she were holding a short cane.

"What does Wanyan think?"

"..." Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if she didn't know how to describe it. "Okay."

Does "barely passable" mean...?

"Ah."

"Phew, at least I passed." Mo Xueyao comforted herself again, running into the small room of the fruit shop with flowers in one hand, then hurriedly running out with her schoolbag, the bells on her ankles ringing incessantly, "Let's go!"

The smog was so thick that you could hardly see any cars driving by.

Even on bicycles, people dare not ride too fast, for fear of crashing into something.

Although the visibility was so low that they couldn't see anything more than two or three meters away, the two of them were very familiar with the road, to the point that they could walk it with their eyes closed. Their only worry was not to bump into or be bumped into by anything.

A red light appeared in the distance, and it wasn't until it got closer that it turned out to be a slowly moving bus.

Buses are equipped with fog lights, the main function of which is not to spot others, but to make yourself visible to others from a distance.

"Would you like to have breakfast?"

"Let's buy some to eat in the classroom." Mo Xueyao really didn't want to stay outside any longer. "Ahem—why is it suddenly smoggy today?"

It's a pity there are no masks at home, otherwise she would have worn one even if she didn't like wearing masks.

The two bought three yuan worth of layered pancakes and two cups of tofu pudding from a roadside snack shop, and then hurried towards the school.

The smog was so thick that when I stood at the school gate, I couldn't even see if there was anyone in the security booth.

Holding the flowers she had wrapped herself, Mo Xueyao grew increasingly anxious: "Are these flowers really okay?"

"The sentiment is enough."

"Phew...that's true, and maybe someone as carefree as Yin Yin has already forgotten about yesterday!" Mo Xueyao said optimistically. "I wonder if I've gone to all this trouble for nothing?"

"Of course not." Li Wanyan shook her head gently. "Yinyin isn't as heartless as you think."

"Is that so...uh..." Mo Xueyao wanted to say something, but in the end she chose to keep quiet.

Because she found herself to be somewhat insensitive to changes in other people's emotions.

Of course, this is also because girls are always too reserved in their expressions. If they were all like boys, they would be happy when they are happy, angry when they are angry, and if they are really unhappy, they can just have a fight, and the fight will not affect their relationship.

The air in the classroom was still stuffy, but Li Wanyan only opened the window on the corridor side to let in some fresh air. After putting down her schoolbag, Mo Xueyao took a bag of mille-feuille pastries and a cup of tofu pudding from Li Wanyan and left the classroom.

"I'm going to wait for her in the band room now..."

"Go."

"Ah... um... um... there's no need to deliberately tell her I'm in the band room."

"it is good."

……

Chapter 198 Hua Yinyin, who's easy to deal with

The smog dissipated somewhat as the sun rose.

Sunlight streamed into the band room as if through many layers of gauze. Mo Xueyao absentmindedly ate her mille-feuille, barely tasting anything.

If you gave her a piece of edible cardboard at that moment, she probably could swallow it.

The windows were closed, but there was still an oppressive chill in the air.

The South is certainly not colder than the North; it's just that the South has almost no measures to protect against the cold, which is why people always feel that the South is colder.

She suddenly regretted coming to the band room so early.

"I should have stayed in the classroom a little longer..." She shivered and curled up in her chair.

The radiators in the classroom can now be turned on. After ventilating the classroom, Li Wanyan will close the windows and turn on the radiators.

Then, the students will be enveloped in warmth for the rest of the day.

Mo Xueyao, who sat in the front row, would sometimes have her feet sweat from the heating. She and Wang Jiale would often take off their shoes and put them on the horizontal bar under their desks to enjoy the warmth of the winter.

However, band practice rooms don't offer this privilege.

There is neither air conditioning nor radiators here. If you have just come out of a heated room and then walk into this classroom, it will feel like you have walked into a refrigerator.

"When will the radiators be installed..." Mo Xueyao shivered and shook her leg, as if doing so would make her warmer.

"Squeak—" The classroom door was suddenly pushed open, and she hurriedly turned her head, but it was Mo Zhuyou who walked in from behind the door.

This left her both disappointed and relieved.

My emotions are complicated.

"Xiaoyao? What's wrong? You look so dejected."

"nothing……"

Mo Zhuyou pushed the classroom door open completely and walked in carrying a large, sturdy iron bucket.

Some advertising patterns are still faintly visible on the outside of the metal bucket; it originally appeared to be a paint bucket...

"Ta-da! I brought this. Now we can warm ourselves by the fire in the band room. It'll be very cozy." Mo Zhuyou puffed out her chest proudly. "There's charcoal and some wood in it. That should be enough for us."