A Young Woman's Heart

Humans, regardless of gender, may all have a destructive tendency.

"Phew, I'm so happy! I feel so much better now!"

"Really?"

"Mmm! The feeling of firecrackers exploding is really great!"

"It's a pity there aren't any left." Mo Xueyao threw the last firecracker out, and it landed in the dark river.

However, she waited for a long time, but it did not make a sound.

"Dumb." Huang Yuxi held up the whiteboard and shone a flashlight on the words.

"Okay, okay, I'm tired—" Even in such heavy snow, Mo Xueyao was covered in sweat, which shows how intense the game had been.

My clothes were covered in gunpowder and dirt, and they were quite dirty. I had to hurry back and wipe them clean with a damp cloth, otherwise the stains might not be able to be washed off.

Inside the room behind the French windows, the table had been tidied up, and the other girls were sitting around it. On the table was an exquisite box, while Mo Zhuyou was writing and drawing in her notebook.

"Ah, it's so warm inside." Mo Xueyao staggered in, and Li Wanyan handed her a rag that she had prepared beforehand.

"What are you eating?" Sanhua Tongjue asked curiously.

"A liqueur-filled chocolate, oh, it's really strong in liqueur, be careful, one bite and you'll get drunk~" Mo Zhuyou played with the bottle-shaped chocolate in her hand, then put it in her mouth and took a bite, making a crisp 'crunch' sound. Then, her little face scrunched up, "Ugh—it's not tasty at all..."

"It's so delicious!" Hua Yinyin said with a flushed face, her eyes dreamy as she opened her arms to Mo Xueyao. "Hey, little Yaoyao~ hug!"

"You didn't get drunk from eating a chocolate with a liqueur filling, did you?" Mo Xueyao pinched her cheek with droopy eyelids, but the latter grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving.

"No, I only ate seven or eight, I won't get drunk!"

That's what drunk people usually say.

Mo Xueyao also picked one up and put it in her mouth. It tasted similar to Mo Zhuyou's—terrible.

The liquor inside tastes even worse than baijiu (Chinese white liquor); it's practically like eating alcohol directly...

……

Chapter 233 Falling Asleep in the Kotatsu

A kotatsu is mainly composed of three parts: a table, a large quilt laid on the table, and a soft carpet on the floor.

Inside the quilt is a heating device similar to a 'mini sun', and it has a special protective net to prevent people from getting too close to it and getting burned.

When you feel warm, you can turn the setting to the lowest level, so it won't matter if your legs are resting on the grille.

Below the kotatsu is a large quilt that can accommodate many people, except that you can't roll up in the quilt to sleep like you normally would.

Mo Zhuyou was lying on the carpet, playing a paper adventure game with Mo Xueyao using a die—it seemed like they spent Christmas Eve like this last year.

However, the room was very small back then, and there were far fewer people gathered there.

"By the way, Youyou, can I borrow your sister's phone?"

"Call back?" Mo Zhuyou asked, turning to pat Mo Xiaoxiao sitting next to her. "Sis, Xiaoyao wants to borrow your phone."

“Actually, there’s no need to use chocolate to make other shapes of chocolates…” Mo Xiaoxiao, who was chatting with Sanhua Tongjue about various ways to make chocolate desserts, handed her phone, which was on the table, to Mo Zhuyou, and continued the previous topic, “Chocolate is not easy to buy in China. I think it would be nice to make some pastries with red beans or something similar.”

Li Wanyan nodded: "Chocolate can also easily lead to weight gain."

"Actually, if it's the original flavor, it won't be, but those are really bitter..."

"Here." Mo Zhuyou handed her sister's phone to Mo Xueyao, turned to the next page of her notebook filled with various notes, and erased the pencil writing on it. "Xiaoyao, do you want an orange?"

"Okay, my lips are a little dry." Mo Xueyao replied while unlocking her phone screen with the hashtag and asterisk keys and directly entered her father's phone number.

Mo Zhuyou leaned against the table, only half her head showing, and whispered to Hua Yinyin sitting opposite her, "Yinyin, throw some oranges over here—"

"Then her mother, who was sitting behind her, asked her, 'Why did you suddenly go downstairs?' Only then did she realize that her mother was in the room helping her tidy her clothes. So who was shouting downstairs just now?"

"Ugh!" Wang Jiale gasped.

Hua Yinyin didn't even turn her head before casually pushing a few oranges over.

"Hello? Dad?" Mo Xueyao had already dialed the number.

"Mmm—" Not wanting to sit up, Mo Zhuyou stretched out her arms and pulled the oranges from the middle of the table over to her side.

The oranges on the heated table were no longer cold; they felt warm to the touch, making them perfect for eating at this time.

"Then suddenly a shout came from downstairs, telling her to run away quickly."

"Wanyan, have you ever made dried tangerine peel yourself using orange peels?" Mo Xiaoxiao asked Li Wanyan on the other side, bypassing Mo Zhuyou and Mo Xueyao who were standing between them.

"So who is the fake one?" Wang Jiale pressed.

"I have done it." Li Wanyan nodded gently, her eyes filled with a hint of reminiscence for the past.

"Dad? Hello? Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you, but the signal is a bit weak. Where are you? Hmm? Is the signal bad on my end?"

"Could it be that her mother died a long time ago?" Huang Yuxi's whiteboard also joined in the discussion about Hua Yinyin's ghost story.

"Haha, this year's Christmas was pretty good. Although the snow wasn't heavy, at least it still snowed!"

"Then she ran down the stairs in a panic and saw her mother downstairs asking her anxiously, 'Did you hear someone shouting for help just now?'"

"Dried tangerine peel is really delicious, wait a minute—" Mo Xiaoxiao crawled out of the warm kotatsu, quickly ran to the refrigerator, grabbed a small glass jar filled with dark brown dried tangerine peel, and then hurriedly crawled back into the kotatsu. Only then did the expression on her face finally relax. "Hmm, it's so cold outside..."

"They're sealed inside and can't get out!" Sanhua Tongjue teased playfully.

"Did you make this yourself?"

"Hmm, homemade! I sprinkled a lot of white sugar on it, but it's still a bit bitter. However, the taste is just right. Try it!"

"How many mothers does he have...?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, just then there was a knock on the door. The nanny said she had come herself, but my mother said she hadn't called the nanny at all." Hua Yinyin's expression became mysterious, making Huang Yuxi and Wang Jiale nervous as well.

"Huh, isn't it snowing in the city?" Mo Xueyao rolled around a bit and rested her head on the back of Li Wanyan's hand. "Ah, I didn't expect the weather to be so different just from a short distance away. Hmm, it must be colder in the mountains. I'll take this. Hmm, I'm definitely not going back today."

“I like eating those tangerine peel balls.” Sanhua Tongjue’s word order becomes strange when she speaks too fast. “Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? In China.”

"I guess we'll celebrate, right? We'll probably celebrate both Qixi Festival and Valentine's Day. There are so many more holidays for couples these days." Mo Xiao smiled and shrugged. "By the way, what are you all planning to do on New Year's Day?"

"Hmm—" Sanhua Tongjue's gaze began to drift towards Huang Yuxi.

"And then what happened?" Wang Jiale continued to press for the sequel to the horror story.

"Um... well... I couldn't make this up anymore~"

"I know, I know, I'll get up early tomorrow, no need—um, we'll all go to school together… Oh, if it's cold, I'll ask you to bring it over."

"Hey, be serious!" Wang Jiale shook Hua Yinyin's body vigorously.

"Let's talk about something else—if someone keeps struggling to wake up from their dream, but every time they wake up they find themselves still sleeping, so they try to wake themselves up by jumping off a building, and after this happens many times, they finally wake up—would they still think they're dreaming and run off to jump off a building?"

"That would mean you'd really die."

Mo Xueyao grabbed an orange with one hand, held it high, and handed it to Li Wanyan, who naturally took it and peeled it for her.

"Can't find Sutang today? It probably ran away. It needs to celebrate Christmas Eve too, you know. Maybe it'll bring back a little female cat in a few days..."

Li Wanyan peeled an orange and fed it to Mo Xiao one segment at a time, then smiled and said, "The school's activities on New Year's Day will continue until about nine o'clock at night."

"Huh? Another rumor?"

"Yes, my homeroom teacher told me that they will send us a notice tomorrow."

Hua Yinyin interrupted her story, leaned on the table, and asked Li Wanyan, "So that means there's no holiday for New Year's Day?"

"Yes, but we have a day off on the 2nd."

"You guys are only finding out now?" Mo Xueyao lay down on Li Wanyan's lap. "I knew a long time ago!"

"Of course Xiaoyao knew a long time ago, after all, the class monitor was there."

"I wasn't talking to you. Okay, okay, Dad, I'm using someone else's phone. I'll hang up if there's nothing else."

"I've never had a dream like that, but if I were to experience it in person..." Huang Yuxi handed the whiteboard to Hua Yinyin, and after she finished reading it, she erased it and added the unfinished words at the end, "I might really jump, because I wouldn't be able to distinguish reality from fiction anymore."

"Terrifying...a dream like that...Let's go on an adventure together, on New Year's Day."

"Where does Tongjue want to go?"

"Something a bit more exciting?"

"Something a bit more exciting? Hmm...maybe I'll have to ask Xiaoxue later, he seems to know Hangzhou quite well."

Mo Xueyao hung up the phone, put it back on the table, and then rolled back to Mo Zhuyou's side: "Where were we playing just now?"

"Mr. L wants you to go to his room."

"Oh, is that it... Hmm, can I sneak in through the window and kill him?"

"Okay, but you need to place a bet."

"What time is it?"

"Orange peels can also be used to make tea, and it tastes quite good."

“Yes, when I was in the countryside, I used to pick some wild tea leaves by the mountains. Some tree roots and bark can also be used to make tea.” Li Wanyan touched the sideburns on her forehead.

"It can only be done at six o'clock."

Sanhua Tongjue rested her chin on her hand, puffed out her cheeks, and muttered, "I hate drinking tea the most. It doesn't taste good at all, not even as good as cola!"

"Wow—it's so difficult, but that makes it even more worthwhile to try!" Mo Xueyao held the dice high in the air, and then suddenly dropped them when the dice weren't looking.

The dice spun a few times on the fluffy carpet before coming to a stop.

"Tea should be enjoyed slowly..." Before Mo Xiaoxiao could finish speaking, she heard Mo Xueyao cheer and shout from the side.

"Yay, six o'clock!"

She smiled and shook her head, then continued, "Tea is meant to be savored slowly, but... perhaps only people with sensitive stomachs really enjoy drinking tea?"

"That's right. How many healthy people like to drink tea? It's bitter and tasteless. Only old men and women like it!"

"We can't be too absolute in our statements."

Mo Zhuyou nodded, it was unclear whether she was agreeing with Li Wanyan or pondering the subsequent plot. Then she flipped through a few pages and found the scene that would be triggered if the infiltration was successful: "You slipped through the window and quietly entered the room. He was sitting on a leather sofa, and his bodyguard had one hand in his pocket, staring intently at the door—"

"I knew he had bad intentions! Kill him! Die, you fatso!" Mo Xueyao shouted with great empathy.