A Young Woman's Heart

"Hey, I didn't have any money to begin with, but now that I've won a round, I do!" He picked up two bottles of Coke and handed one to Liu Xiaowei. "Here, it's on me."

"Great!" Liu Xiaowei eagerly unscrewed the bottle cap, the hissing sound making his mouth water. "Hey, want to play pool with me?"

Just the two of us?

"Chen Cheng will go over there later too."

"Okay, let's go."

"Then get in my car."

"Damn, can you even carry people in the back of that beat-up car?"

"Don't worry, you won't die from the fall!" Liu Xiaowei's smile was rather lewd, though he probably didn't mean it at all. "Come on, get in the car!"

"Can we walk over there?"

"It's a bit far; you'll have to come to my place first."

"Over there in Xiwen Village."

"Yes, it's a shop owned by my uncle. We can play pool for free at the pool table outside!"

"Okay, if it's free, let's go have some fun. Let's go, let's go." Vest looked around, then sat on the back of the beat-up bicycle parked nearby. "Is this bike... any good?"

"Don't worry, although it's a bit wobbly and looks like it's about to fall apart, it's actually quite sturdy!"

"The more you talk, the more panicked I get!" the alias said with a laugh.

"Let's go!" Liu Xiaowei tossed the cola into the basket, kicked the stand back, and quickly hopped on his bicycle.

After driving out of the urban village and onto a desolate suburban road, it took a full half hour to finally arrive at another urban village.

A dead rat floated by in the stinking ditch next to us, with several maggots wriggling on it.

But the man sitting next to the stinking ditch, in front of a noodle shop, was eating noodles with relish, seemingly oblivious to the stench.

The layout of houses in urban villages is always chaotic because everyone builds houses on their own land, so they try to make them as big as possible, which makes the roads very narrow.

"Let's go this way, hurry up." Liu Xiaowei, wearing a vest, walked into a narrow alley that was barely wide enough for one person to pass through. Before he knew it, the dark walls had rubbed his coat dirty.

However, neither of them cared; they were only thinking about getting to their destination as quickly as possible.

Soon, a relatively spacious small square came into view, which is quite rare in urban villages.

Traces of the past can still be seen in the square – it used to be a pond, but it was filled in to create more space for activities.

The stone railings beside the pond were only half removed; the rest, whether due to laziness or something else, were left there and became a 'landmark' 'building'.

Across the street is a large, well-ventilated general store; with proper renovations, it could even function as a small supermarket.

The grocery store sells a lot of pirated goods, but they are cheap—in fact, these things sell better in the urban village.

"Uncle, I'm here!" Liu Xiaowei shouted to the middle-aged man who was busy restocking the store.

"Okay, you can take the snacks in the store yourself. If you want to play pool, there are cues and balls over there!"

"Okay, Uncle, you're busy." Liu Xiaowei scurried into the store and grabbed some biscuits and bread from the bulk snack section.

The packaging of these things looks familiar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, you'll find that there are always one or two words that are different.

For example, things like "Little Bear" instant noodles, "Katianka" cookies, and "Little Master" sandwich cookies...

The taste is also quite different, with a strong saccharin flavor.

But none of this matters to the children, since most of the kids living in urban villages don't have the money to buy genuine snacks.

It's edible enough if it's passable, and the taste is about three or four parts similar to what's expected.

"Hello, Liu Xiaowei! How long have you been here?" Just as the two of them came out, they saw a tall boy walking towards them from outside the door, accompanied by a pretty girl with black hair and blue eyes.

"We just got here too." Liu Xiaowei's gaze fell on the girl next to him. "Chen Cheng, you didn't happen to hook up with our school beauty, did you?"

"Don't talk nonsense, you know I have a girlfriend."

"Then how did she end up coming with you?"

"What, can't I come and play pool with you?" the blue-eyed girl said with her hands on her hips. This school beauty is none other than our classmate Mo Xueyao.

"Having the school beauty with you today is great!" Vest nudged Liu Xiaowei and chuckled.

"Hehe, how about it? You came to the right place, didn't you?" The latter responded with a wink and a lewd look.

"Hmm, there's always a bad smell here." Mo Xueyao waved her hand, finding it hard to imagine what it would smell like in the summer.

"You'll get used to it," Liu Xiaowei replied casually, taking out his pool cue.

Playing billiards is an elegant sport that isn't too tiring, yet still provides some exercise benefits. Unlike golf, it's more accessible to the general public; all you need is a billiard table to play.

"Why did Mo Xueyao suddenly decide to play pool today?"

“My house is right above the noodle shop that Chen Cheng’s dad owns, so when he said he wanted to play pool, I came along too.”

"Isn't his girlfriend jealous?" the anonymous user asked curiously.

"The second reason is that Lianlian asked me to keep an eye on him." Mo Xueyao rubbed her delicate nose smugly. "Hmph, to prevent him from doing anything bad, right?"

"...Don't make up excuses, okay?" Chen Cheng glanced at her with droopy eyelids. "It's clearly just your own idea to come."

"But Lianlian didn't object, so you're saying I'm here to keep an eye on you!"

"What can I do? Do I really need to be monitored?"

"Pshaw, none of the handsome guys are reliable."

Mo Xueyao's words struck a chord with Ma Jia and Liu Xiaowei, who quickly nodded in agreement.

"I said, are we still going to fight or not?" Chen Cheng asked irritably.

"Come on, put the balls in! One ball per person!" Liu Xiaowei quickly took out the billiard balls and put them all in a triangular frame. Only after the balls stopped moving around did he remove the triangular frame.

"I'll go first!" Mo Xueyao took the lead, poking the ball with her cue stick, and the white ball flew up...

……

Chapter 208 The Increasingly Lively Commercial Street

In front of a hamburger shop, a worker stood on an A-frame ladder and replaced the original sign with a lit letter 'H'.

"Ginniang Burger & Fried Chicken" is the name of this restaurant.

These past few days have seen some simple renovations and maintenance, or more accurately, an upgrade.

For example, the sign at the entrance has been replaced with one that can light up, the walls inside have been repainted with odorless shell powder paint, and a fence has been installed in the previously empty corner, with a slide and climbing frame installed. The floor there will be covered with ocean balls to serve as a simple playground for children.

The renovations are almost complete, and the burger joint, which was closed for a week, will be open again tomorrow.

"Xiao Ji!" Duanmu Bi walked in carrying two small plastic bags containing fast food packed in styrofoam boxes. "Time to eat!"

Duanmu Ji wiped the sweat from his forehead, put the mop aside, and let out a long sigh.

It was already 2 p.m., but they were only just starting to eat lunch.

The main thing is that we need to wrap things up today, so there are too many things to do and we need to clean up properly.

The tables and chairs that were messed up for the sake of renovation also need to be rearranged.

"Eat slowly. We'll continue cleaning after the guy who put up the signboard leaves."

"Hmm." Duanmu Ji picked up his chopsticks, wanting to put a mouthful of rice in his mouth, but because he used too much force, he punctured the foam box.

A little rice leaked out of the hole, but because the chopsticks were stuck in it, they managed to catch the rice and prevent it from leaking out completely.

"Pfft, hahaha, Xiao Ji, what's wrong with you! You have so much energy now?"

"I just got used to using too much force when I mopped the floor before..." Duanmu Ji awkwardly tore off the lid of the foam box and placed it underneath to plug the two holes that the chopsticks had poked out earlier.

The bleakness of winter did not reduce the number of customers on the commercial street; on the contrary, the number of customers coming here has increased.

Many of them came to the supermarket, mainly because the supermarket was heated to the brim, and it was so hot inside that you could even wear short sleeves.

Over time, it naturally boosted other shops in the vicinity, and even this burger and fried chicken shop has a lot of repeat customers.

Duanmu Bi took a bite of rice from the styrofoam box and couldn't help but squint her eyes. She remembered that when it first started, there were very few people here, and there were only a few orders a day. But now, she was busy from noon until evening. When she was alone, she was already too busy to keep up.

"Yo-ho~!" Just as she was lost in thought, she saw a pair of twin sisters standing outside the glass door waving at her. One of the girls, who had a strawberry-patterned hair clip, smiled especially brightly, "Sister Mumu~!"

Duanmu Bi's surname is two characters, but when she worked here, in order to make it easier to address her and to make the address sound nice, the two sisters from the Mo family later called her Sister Mumu.

As for Duanmu Ji, he is still naturally called Xiao Ji.

"You two are here! Long time no see!" Duanmu Bi laughed heartily and waved to them. "Have you eaten yet? Want to come and eat?"

"Let's eat!" Mo Zhuyou hopped into the store like a rabbit. "I've been here before, but you were under renovation. And since it's Saturday today, we came to buy some things and also to take a look around."

"The renovations will be finished tomorrow! Come over for fried chicken then, and I'll give you a 50% discount!"

"Shouldn't it be free?" This question wasn't asked by Mo Zhuyou, but by Duanmu Ji.

"You good-for-nothing brat, you're not even married yet and you're already siding with outsiders?"

"What and what..."

“Look, do either of you like my Duanmu Ji? He’s honest and obedient, absolutely perfect as a boyfriend!” Duanmu Bi promoted him without any embarrassment.

"Let's think about that later," Mo Xiaoxiao said with a light laugh.

"Absolutely not!" Mo Zhuyou's answer was very firm, and she hugged her older sister tightly. "I want to spend my whole life with you, sister!"

"Haha, when you grow up you'll want to find one."

"I won't grow up! Humph..."

"Sister Mumu, do you need any help? It seems like there are a lot of places that need tidying up?"

"Yes, yes, of course I'll help!" Duanmu Bi said without any hesitation. "You've come at the perfect time! We were just doing a big clean-up. Let's help out later! I'll make fried chicken for dinner tonight!"

"I want a hamburger!"

"Okay, okay, everything is available. The ingredients will be delivered this evening, so you can have whatever you want to eat. Don't worry, but it will take a little time to prepare."

"My sister and I can help! Marinate the chicken legs and stuff! Slice the bread and stuff~!" Mo Zhuyou rolled up her sleeves, seemingly full of enthusiasm. "Then let's get started!"

On the first day of reopening, we must present a clean and tidy image to welcome both new and old customers.