A Young Woman's Heart

“Of course not.” Li Wanyan shook her head. “In the past, we couldn’t even afford electric lights.”

“No wonder people from the countryside are all flocking to the city. But history always comes full circle. Maybe in a few decades, people from the city will be flocking to the countryside again!” Mo Xueyao frowned and clutched her stomach. “Strange… my period ended yesterday, so why does my stomach still hurt today…?”

Did you eat something bad?

"I didn't eat much, just the school lunch. Could there be something wrong with breakfast? But if there was something wrong with breakfast, it shouldn't be taking effect until evening." She rubbed her lower abdomen hard. "Ugh... waves of pain, so strange."

"Go home and take some medicine."

"Hmm—hmm? It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore!" Mo Xueyao straightened up again and jumped lightly on the spot. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I used to have this too."

Occasional stomach aches may be due to gastrointestinal issues.

"Probably...? I did have a really bad stomach when I was little. It's all my parents' fault. I was only seven or eight months old when they started feeding me watermelon juice! It would be a miracle if my stomach was healthy."

After passing through this dark road, the road ahead became bright again.

Even across the street, you can see the colorful neon lights flashing on the billboards hanging on the roof of the shopping mall in the distance.

Who could imagine that such lighting didn't even exist ten years ago?

“My mom said that this used to be farmland, probably in the 1980s... There were rice paddies everywhere, and this place could barely be considered a small town, with old and dilapidated houses everywhere.”

"Ah."

"It's already like this now, and these houses might be demolished in another ten years or so."

"Modern development is very rapid."

"So life is getting faster and faster." Mo Xueyao sighed. "Maybe after we finish learning in university, we'll find that most of what we learned there is useless!"

"Just choose a major that will always be useful."

"Hmm... I guess being a doctor is still the most reliable option, right?" Mo Xueyao muttered, counting on her fingers. "Being a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner would be better, though, it probably wouldn't bring as much of a change..."

Chatting idly, the two returned to the fruit shop.

My mother had just finished preparing dinner, and the dishes were being placed on the table one by one.

Mo Xueyao dropped her schoolbag and sat comfortably on the small stool. Su Tang immediately and skillfully darted over to her.

"Oh my, you're quite clever," she said with a hint of teasing. "Coming to me for warmth again?"

Su Tang meowed a few times, stretched lazily in her arms, and lay down with her head tilted to the side.

"Aren't you the most comfortable one? You come back and there's food waiting for you, and you're sitting there like a princess, waiting for someone to bring it to you. Why don't you come over and get your own bowl and chopsticks?" Her mother came over with the soup and glared at her in annoyance.

"Oh, Wanyan will help me carry it!"

"Is Yan Yan your maid?"

"Hehe—" Mo Xueyao didn't answer, just chuckled foolishly, and Li Wanyan indeed brought her the bowl and chopsticks.

Actually, it wasn't just helping her carry things; she was carrying the bowls and chopsticks for the whole family.

Dinner was pork skin jelly, which was leftover from lunch today. It was originally supposed to be pork skin stewed with soybeans.

Mo Xueyao didn't like them when they were still hot, but she liked them when they were frozen.

As for its appearance, it is somewhat similar to yokan (sweet bean jelly). The frozen parts are actually the original broth. The pork skin jelly is very chewy, but it can get a bit greasy if you eat too much. However, it is definitely one of the best dishes to eat with rice.

She had just taken a bite, and before she could even enjoy the delicious treat, her face suddenly scrunched up, she clutched her stomach, and arched her back like a shrimp about to be cooked.

"What's wrong? Are you having menstrual cramps?" her mother asked with concern, reaching out to feel her forehead. "You don't have a fever either."

"I don't know why, but my stomach keeps hurting in waves..." Mo Xueyao gasped, took the warm water her mother had sent by express delivery, and drank a sip. The discomfort immediately subsided a lot.

"how's it going?"

"It seems better..."

"When did you take the deworming medicine this year?" The mother seemed to have thought of something.

"Oh? I forgot... Have we had it this year?"

“Then it must be roundworms in her stomach.” She said, opening the cabinet under the cashier and taking out a clear plastic medicine bottle containing yellow, tower-shaped candies.

It's actually a deworming medicine, but it tastes sweet and has a creamy flavor.

"Take some deworming medicine," the mother said.

"How could I have roundworms at my age?"

"Roundworms don't discriminate based on age. You're buying breakfast outside every day now, so it's normal that it's not hygienic. Hurry up and eat two of them."

"Oh--"

"Haha, I took this roundworm medicine when I was a kid, but it didn't taste this good back then!" Father sat down with a cup of rice wine in his hand. "Oh dear, the roundworm medicine back then probably wasn't as good as it is now. After taking it, when you went to the outhouse, there were still worms crawling in your stool!"

"Pfft! Cough cough—" Mo Xueyao choked and coughed, "Hey Dad, I'm eating!!"

"Really? I was just reminiscing about the past, tsk tsk, and some of those bugs were even stuck to your butt and you had to pluck them off by hand..."

"Ugh—" Mo Xueyao's face scrunched up in disgust. "Stop talking, stop talking, it's disgusting!"

"Don't worry about the kind you eat. It seems to be able to crush the bugs so that you can't even tell if they're bugs or not."

"..." Mo Xueyao felt she couldn't eat anymore, and the scene her father had just described kept replaying in her mind.

It took her a long time to shake off this terrible feeling, but then he said, "Back then, there was a guy in our village who pulled out a roundworm that was over ten centimeters long, white, and still moving. Half of it broke off inside, and it took him a long time to get it out."

"I'm not eating!" Mo Xueyao slammed her hand on the table in a huff, which made her father burst into laughter.

"We're eating, don't talk about those disgusting things." His mother gave him a disapproving look, and only then did he stop bringing up the topic.

Not long after the meal, Mo Xueyao needed to use the restroom.

On this cold winter night, she really didn't want to go to that dirty and cold public toilet to relieve herself, so she preferred to walk a few more steps to Grandma Jin's house—she would take a shower there anyway.

Even in winter, she and Li Wanyan still took a bath every day, but apart from their underwear, they only changed their clothes every three or four days.

Since I was going to use the toilet, I might as well take a shower at the same time.

So today, Mo Xueyao was the first to take a shower. After she finished, she waited outside for Li Wanyan and looked around the room, feeling a little bored.

On the table were some snacks of various shapes, but all of them were very crudely made.

One of the bags was open, and inside were candies shaped like Coca-Cola bottles. She secretly took one and popped it into her mouth. The taste was completely different from Coca-Cola candy. It was not only very sweet, but it also contained sugar syrup, making her feel like her tongue was almost stuck to her mouth.

“Soda candy… Hmm, I remember now, I ate these when I was little.” Mo Xueyao flipped through the packaging of the candy, then curiously looked at the other snacks. “Grandma Jin also likes to eat snacks, and she even likes to buy these little snacks with toy-like features…”

It's often said that the elderly and children have many similarities, and it seems that's certainly true.

Grandma Jin's house was clean, but not very tidy. She seemed to like to leave the things she used frequently on the table.

The table was covered with snacks and toys, as well as tools such as screws and wrenches. A light bulb and a doorknob were found in the trash can. These tools were probably used when replacing parts earlier.

There was also a bottle of pagoda-shaped candies on the windowsill, the same kind of deworming medicine that Mo Xueyao had just taken. Next to it was another empty bottle of the same kind. I had a feeling that Grandma Jin wasn't taking it as medicine, but rather as candy...

Indeed, this roundworm medicine tastes so good that people doubt its effectiveness. When Mo Xueyao was in elementary school, she also loved to take it. I remember there was a bottle at home, and she finished it in half an hour. Her mother scolded her when she came back.

After all, it's much more expensive than regular sugar.

It is said that good medicine tastes bitter, but the wisdom of our ancestors in making good medicine taste delicious is truly admirable.

She brought Sutang over for a bath today. When it first arrived, it would always run around here, but now it's quite familiar with the place and jumps onto the sofa to curl up.

Cats seem to have the ability to lie down and sleep anytime, anywhere, but they rarely seem to have the kind of long sleep that lasts for several hours at a time, like humans.

Finding nothing new, Mo Xueyao sat down next to Su Tang, stroking it while yawning.

The living room lights were off, but outside light shone easily into the room.

She hid in the shadows and dozed off sleepily. It seemed like she had just closed her eyes when Li Wanyan gently woke her up.

"Yaoyao, are you sleepy?"

"Hmm...are you alright?"

"Let's go back to sleep."

"Hmm—" She glanced at the clock on the wall, the hour hand was only at eight. "How about I try going to bed at eight o'clock tonight?"

"it is good."

……

Chapter 204 Duanmu Ji and the Three-Legged Race

Friday, July 8, 2000.

The afternoon sun was quite bright, but in this cold weather, even a sunny day didn't make people feel much warmer.

Perhaps because the classroom was heated, the students standing in the sunlight felt even colder.

These are the last two classes of the afternoon, and also two consecutive physical education classes.

"My idea is in its final stages! I'll definitely have the draft ready by Monday!" Hua Yinyin excitedly told Mo Xueyao. "Heh heh, it'll probably be a few tens of thousands of words!"

"Won't there be enough material for the performance?"

“But subtraction is easier than addition, so let’s cut as much as we can after we’ve written it out!” Hua Yinyin lay on Mo Xueyao’s back, the soft thing rubbing against her back and making her feel a little itchy.

"Alright, alright, line up!" The PE teacher, who had been resting on the flowerbed, stood up as soon as the school bell rang, swinging the long rope of the timer while shouting, "Line up! Do you still want free time today?!"

Upon hearing this threat, the students, who had been incredibly lazy just moments before, immediately perked up and quickly lined up. Without Li Hongran even giving any orders, they aligned themselves to the right to ensure the line was neat and orderly.

"Okay, good. Go, go for a jog."

"Start—run!" Li Hongran immediately led the team in a run.

The boys and girls were in separate lines, and he even slowed down his pace to accommodate the girls' speed.

"Wow, we only have to run one lap today!" Wang Jiale exclaimed excitedly. "Shall we head straight to the band room later?"

"Yeah, but I still want to go back to the classroom. The band room doesn't have heating..."

"Isn't there a fire pit?" Mo Zhuyou shouted. "We can warm ourselves by the fire later! Oh, and we also brought rice cakes, so we can grill them!"

"Ahem, don't shout so loudly, it wouldn't be good if someone told on us..." Mo Xueyao cleared her throat.

When you first start running, the cold wind blowing in your face makes you feel even colder, but after running half a lap, you will feel your body start to warm up.

Although the playground at Yukong High School is very large, with a lap of 400 meters, running just one lap is really nothing for the students. After running, many of them didn't even break a sweat.