A Young Woman's Heart

A snowy Christmas always brings a touch of romance.

Even in front of the fruit shop, a small Christmas tree was set up in keeping with the trend. If anyone bought anything today, Mo Xueyao's father would give them some small Christmas gifts as a bonus.

For example, Santa Claus dolls or small Santa hats.

They were wholesaled from a small commodities market, and the price was very cheap, averaging only about six cents.

But it can bring a different feeling to others and leave a deeper impression.

You absolutely cannot be stingy in business. The more stingy you are and the more you try to save costs, the worse your business will be.

In summary, it's about being generous in just the right way.

This way, others can feel the boss's generosity without losing much money.

Losing money is of course impossible. If you lose money just to appear generous, that's also a sign of not knowing how to do business.

In the nearby grocery store, a stereo was placed at the entrance, playing cheerful Christmas carols.

The large Christmas tree at the entrance was covered with colorful lights, which twinkled with a hazy, dreamlike glow in the city where it was already dark at five o'clock.

Mo Xue could see the Christmas tree lights in the distance and knew she was almost there.

"The noodle shop seems to be doing even better business than usual today..." Mo Xueyao hooked Li Wanyan's hand with one finger. "That's strange, shouldn't everyone be eating at fancy restaurants?"

"Perhaps the restaurant was too crowded."

"So, people who go to restaurants find them too crowded and end up eating at noodle shops instead?"

"Mmm." Li Wanyan hooked one of her fingers around the finger that Mo Xueyao was using to tickle her palm, and the two continued walking forward with their fingers intertwined.

Through a small door next to the noodle shop, Zhuang Lianlian was hurriedly carrying out a bowl of noodles, intending to deliver it to the vendor who had ordered noodles from her.

"Lianlian!" Mo Xueyao waved and greeted her, "Helping someone?"

"Hmm, there are a lot of guests today..." She seemed to have no time to say more and was about to cross the road when Chen Cheng, who was coming from the other side, stopped her.

"Lianlian! Didn't you say I was coming to deliver it?"

"Because...because it's too late..."

"If you're in a hurry, just wait a little while. I'll be there soon." Chen Cheng pointed to his electric scooter. "Besides, are you as fast as an electric scooter?"

"This one is very close, it's the hardware store across the street..."

"I'll deliver it." Chen Cheng put the bowl of noodles wrapped in a plastic bag into the bicycle basket, then turned around and crossed the road again.

Zhuang Lianlian was so busy that she forgot about Mo Xueyao, who had just greeted her, and turned around to go back into the kitchen to continue her work.

"Business is really good." Mo Xueyao was in a good mood—since she didn't have to do any work, and part of the money could be shared with her family, the better the business was, the happier she was, because she would get even more money next month.

Perhaps this is what it feels like to be a capitalist?

Hmm... no, at this scale, it's far from being a capitalist.

The aroma of food wafted from the fruit shop. Although it was Christmas, the food at home was no different from usual.

The nearby grocery store was rather deserted. The husky was unusually quiet, lying by the door. When it saw Mo Xueyao pass by, it symbolically stuck out its tongue and licked her lips, as if to show its goodwill.

"Dad, I'm home!"

"Yaoyao's back? Perfect timing, go to your Grandma Jin's general store and buy a pack of old wine!"

"What kind of old wine?" Mo Xueyao put her schoolbag on the cardboard box next to her. "Why am I being given work as soon as I get back?"

"If you want something delicious, stop talking nonsense! Just have some rice wine!"

"Oh—" Mo Xueyao picked up a longan that was scattered on the shelf. "Dad, give me the money!"

The father, who had just received five yuan from someone, immediately threw the bill at her: "Take it!"

"What are you doing? What if the wind blows it away?"

"You can't even catch this? Seriously?"

"Tch!" Mo Xueyao scoffed, chewing on a longan as she walked into the grocery store next door.

Grandma Jin was the only one in the shop, sitting behind the counter.

"Grandma Jin!" Mo Xueyao greeted her casually, and without waiting for a response, walked inside and easily found the place where the bagged liquor was kept.

When she returned to the counter with the wine, she saw Grandma Jin wiping the photo frame in her hand. Grandma Jin was wearing her reading glasses, which added a touch of intellectual charm to her face.

Perhaps in her youth, she was also a very elegant intellectual.

"Grandma Jin?" Mo Xueyao placed the banknotes on the counter. "Here, two bags, how much was it again? This one?"

"Oh, it's Xiaoyao." She seemed to only then come to her senses, looked up at Mo Xueyao and smiled, "It's one yuan in total, here's your change."

"Hmm." Cheerful Christmas songs were still playing from the speakers outside the shop, and pedestrians were coming and going on the street, walking through the snow.

Busy and lively seem to be the main themes of today.

The grocery store remained quiet; all the hustle and bustle seemed irrelevant to this place.

Mo Xueyao secretly tiptoed to look at the black and white photo in the frame.

A young man was carrying a little boy on his shoulders. The two looked somewhat alike and appeared to be father and son.

Although the photo is in black and white, the sunlight behind them still looks very bright—just like the smiles on their faces.

"This is..." She had more or less guessed who the two people were, but she still couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"She is my husband and my son."

"Ah."

“My husband died on Christmas Day during the Korean War. The day before, they had just won a battle, but the logistics had not kept up… He froze to death and starved to death.”

"Hmm." Mo Xueyao lowered her head, took the change from Grandma Jin, and didn't know how to answer.

"He wasn't much older than you back then, he wasn't even twenty yet."

"Huh?" Mo Xueyao originally thought he was at least twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, but she didn't expect him to be less than twenty. He was clearly just a young man who had just grown up. However, there was no trace of immaturity on his face. Perhaps he came from that era, so he only carried a lot of maturity and vicissitudes.

"Hehe, I'm a bit older than him." Grandma Jin chuckled as she stroked the photo frame. "When he was pursuing me, he said he only liked girls older than himself..."

The fact that Grandma Jin used the word 'girl' to describe herself made Mo Xueyao feel somewhat dazed.

"By the way, Xiaoyao..." Grandma Jin chuckled softly, changing the subject, "What do you think about turning this place into a convenience store?"

"Convenience store? Oh, the kind that's been all the rage lately, right? It seems like there are more and more of them opening up." Mo Xueyao tilted her head and asked, "Why did you suddenly want to change it to a convenience store? General stores and convenience stores... they're actually pretty much the same, aren't they? Hmm, I feel like general stores are better. There are a lot of things that convenience stores don't have, only general stores have them."

“I’m thinking of turning it into a 24-hour convenience store and hiring people to work in shifts. I’m thinking of starting my own chain.” Grandma Jin casually talked to Mo Xueyao about business matters, seemingly not seeking her advice, but simply sharing her thoughts with someone close to her.

"Doing a chain of stores? Starting with this one? Hmm... I think it's no problem, but can we really pull it off?"

How will you know if you don't try?

From the fruit shop came the faint sound of a mother's shout: "Yaoyao—! Have you bought it yet?!"

"Coming, coming!" Mo Xueyao hurried to the door and called out loudly, "Grandma Jin, I'm off now?"

"Okay, go ahead. I'll come over and have dinner with you guys later."

"Okay, I'll ask Mom to cook more!"

"Hehe, no need, I'm just an old woman, I can't eat much."

"Yes, yes." Mo Xueyao nodded repeatedly, hurriedly crossed the small road, and returned to the back of the fruit shop.

This is where my mother usually cooks.

She didn't know if it was because her father hadn't washed the car or because her mother had been cooking there, but she felt that the car door was a little blackened and felt sticky to the touch, as if it had some oil stains.

"You're so late, we don't need any of it later." Her mother glanced at her sideways, took a bag and poured it into the pot, then instructed, "Pour the rest into that bottle."

Which one?

"The empty one."

"Two."

"Why don't you just smell it? If it smells like vinegar, it contains vinegar—oh right, I forgot to tell you, I'll buy two more bags of vinegar later."

"Mom, can't you just finish what you're saying in one go?" Mo Xueyao muttered, her eyelids drooping.

"What's wrong with running a little distance? It'll give you some exercise!"

"cut……"

Mo Xueyao poured the old wine into a Coke bottle and then ran off to buy two bags of vinegar.

When we bought it, Grandma Jin was on the phone, seemingly discussing renovations with someone.

Should we start renovations before the new year?

It's almost Chinese New Year.

This is when renovations will definitely be the most expensive.

However, shop renovations are generally much faster than home renovations. If you're efficient, it might only take a month to complete.

Mo Xueyao only thought about these things casually and didn't worry about them, after all, these were matters for adults.

That's the advantage of being a child—you don't have to take responsibility for many things, and even if the sky falls, someone else will hold it up.

Li Wanyan had already spread out another small table. She had finished her homework in the band room, but was still doing some extra practice that the teacher hadn't required.

Mo Xueyao also took her schoolbag and sat down to the side.

However, considering that it was almost dinnertime, she didn't take out her homework. Instead, she took out a borrowed novel and started reading it leisurely.

Pedestrians occasionally walked by outside the store, and beneath the surface of Christmas's liveliness, there seemed to be more helplessness and sorrow.

"Sigh, they're all giving such expensive gifts."

"yes……"

"I think I have no chance."

"There's nothing I can do, you're neither handsome nor rich."

"Being a man is so hard..."

"Haha, how old are you? Don't be afraid, there are plenty of fish in the sea."

"At least women don't have to make an effort."