A Young Woman's Heart

After all, the customer's shopping experience is the top priority.

Nobody wants to shop in a store where they often see fathers and daughters arguing, right?

Even though the father and daughter thought it was just playful banter.

Since we're in a fruit shop, I should at least help out a little.

The father was always in charge of the big orders, but when things got busy, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan had to take care of the other customers.

"Boss, what's the price for a freshly made fruit basket?"

"It depends on what fruits and flowers you want. I suggest you buy them ready-made, but I can also make them for you..."

"Boss, how much are the oranges per pound!" The father was still greeting the customer who had driven there when another woman dressed plainly walked up to the fruit shop with a child, picked up an orange, and shouted out the price.

“That tangerine is 98 cents, and the regular tangerine next to it is 70 cents…” Mo Xueyao hesitated.

Li Wanyan, who was standing next to her, then chimed in, "Seventy-two cents."

Winter is the season for eating oranges.

Especially this cold winter, many households may have bought small electric heaters. These things are cheap and warm, but they consume a lot of electricity and... can easily cause dry and cracked skin.

Eating some oranges can effectively alleviate this condition.

"What about this one?" The woman wasn't in a hurry to buy it, but kept asking about the price.

This is very common in fruit shops. Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan patiently said in unison, "One yuan and sixty cents."

"So expensive?"

"That's a citrus fruit."

"what about this?"

"That's a high-quality orange, it's a bit bitter," Mo Xueyao kindly reminded her. "Most people might not like it, but it's very good for the throat, hmm..."

"How much?" The woman with the child was still insistent on the price.

"Three yuan and two jiao."

"So expensive," she muttered again.

Mo Xueyao nodded as if it were commonplace. "So expensive" was probably one of the most common things she heard in the fruit shop.

"Can you give me a discount on the tangerines?"

"Uh... well... the price is already very cheap..."

"Then I'll have some to try." The woman with the child still seemed unwilling to suffer a loss.

"Eat..."

"Hmm... I'll just take some tangerines."

"Okay." Mo Xueyao replied, but before she could get up, Li Wanyan had already opened the plastic bag and walked over.

When customers come to buy things, the service must be excellent.

Before the two customers had finished shopping, three more customers arrived—they seemed to be together, and they were three young people.

Although Mo Xueyao appeared lazy, she kept a close eye on them to prevent them from stealing anything.

It's actually quite common for fruit shops to have a few pieces of fruit stolen when they're busy...

Even if surveillance cameras are installed, it won't make a difference. After all, even if most fruits are expensive, taking one or two doesn't cost much, and it's impossible to file a case against it.

What do you want?

"Do you sell pineapples?" asked the youngest man among the three, who was the cleanest. His two companions behind him were joking with each other, their arms around each other's shoulders, seemingly not planning to participate in the purchase.

It seems this young man mostly bought the pineapple for his girlfriend...

"Yes, do you want it cut or whole?"

"Can you make it whole and then slice it for me right away?"

“Uh…” Mo Xueyao, who didn’t know how to do this job, looked at her father with some difficulty—he was still talking about a ‘big business’, so she could only ask Li Wanyan for help with her eyes.

Li Wanyan often helped out and was already quite skilled at peeling pineapples, so she handed the bag to Mo Xueyao, who then carried it while she went to entertain the three young people.

One advantage of young people is that they don't haggle when buying fruit—at least most of them don't.

So doing business is exceptionally easy and smooth, and there won't be as many troublesome things afterward—as long as the fruit isn't rotten or tastes ridiculously bad.

Even though the mother often picks out the rotten fruit, there are always young people who don't pick and choose and just stuff a handful into the bag, and they'll end up eating a few rotten ones. Afterwards, they'll come over and complain, which is sometimes quite ridiculous.

If they were acquaintances, the father would generously compensate them in some way.

This has led to more repeat customers.

Once the shop gets busy, it seems like it never stops.

Mo Xueyao had just finished weighing the tangerines and received the woman's money when another customer arrived.

She wanted to buy sugarcane, but she didn't know how to peel it, so she had to ask the customer to wait a little while and wait in line after the person who had just bought pineapples.

After finalizing the business deal with my father, we started preparing to make fruit baskets.

"Boss, how much are your Emperor Bananas?" a knowledgeable customer asked.

"Dad, are Emperor Bananas eight pieces?"

"Eight yuan! Eight yuan!" the father called out without turning his head as he picked out suitable flowers.

"Eight dollars and eight dollars, or eight dollars!?"

"Eight dollars!"

Mo Xueyao turned her head and put on a smile: "Eight yuan."

"That's really expensive." Then he asked about the prices of other fruits, but in the end he left without buying anything.

That's quite normal...

However, when there are many customers, having a customer who asks all sorts of questions but doesn't buy anything can be a real headache.

It was probably only at times like this that Mo Xueyao would miss her mother so much, hoping she would come back soon so that her mother wouldn't have to be busy entertaining guests and collecting and changing money.

Fortunately, she was quick at mental arithmetic; otherwise, she probably would have had to use a calculator to get change for a few dollars!

—That's what my mother always does.

……

Chapter Thirteen: Long Time Nora

winter vacation.

Many students have a lot of free time.

Mo Xueyao's best friends Shi Haiming and Li Gutao were no exception.

So, I came to visit the fruit shop today.

"Oh my goodness, the weather is so nice today." Shi Haiming put one hand on his hip and asked in a pretentious manner, "Boss, how much are these apples per pound?"

Mo Xueyao, who was doing her homework at the small table next to the counter, felt that the voice was somewhat familiar. When she looked up, she saw that it was indeed the boy from her memory.

This guy had changed his fashionable look from when we last met, and reverted to the image of an ordinary teenager—he looked much cleaner.

This made her wonder if he had found a rich woman, or if it was still the same one and he just wanted a change of pace.

"Oh, it's you, kid. What are you doing here? And can you stop acting like a translator? You're acting like an idiot." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, stood up from the small stool, and stretched her slightly sore legs.

"This outfit is beautiful." Shi Haiming gave a thumbs up in a flippant manner. "Those wool socks, those legs, tsk tsk..."

"Oh, you're quite the clever one, aren't you?" Mo Xueyao wasn't embarrassed at all. In fact, back in junior high, this guy often teased her as if she were a girl. "Still not drained dry?"

"Of course! I'm young and strong, and in great health!"

"Good my foot." Mo Xueyao walked to his side and patted his lower back. The latter immediately cried out "Ouch!" and bent over like a shrimp about to be cooked.

"How have you been lately?" Mo Xueyao wanted to reach out and pat Li Gutao on the shoulder, but when she saw Lin Huihui next to him, who looked like a little wild animal with her dyed red hair, she awkwardly withdrew her hand.

"Classmate?" The father, who had originally intended to entertain the business owner, lowered his head again.

"Yeah, best buddy." Mo Xueyao picked up a banana that was lying on the counter and handed it to Shi Haiming, saying jokingly, "Here, you are what you eat."

"Damn it!" Shi Haiming bent over, raised his arm above his head, and gave Mo Xueyao a bright middle finger.

She noticed that the nail on his middle finger seemed to be slightly shorter than the one on the other hand...

"Xiao, Yao!" A slightly hesitant voice rang out. Nora, who was 1.76 meters tall, stood at the bottom of the steps and waved vigorously at her. Her dark red hair, tied in a fishtail braid, was as 'sturdy' as her figure.

In fact, Nora certainly has a great figure, but given her bust size, she can't possibly be as petite as Mo Xueyao.

"Wow!" Shi Haiming clicked his tongue and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "What a foreign beauty..."

"You can't be so rude when speaking to foreign friends." Mo Xueyao slapped his head, then grinned and waved at her, "Nora!"

"I'm back!"

Nora returned to Russia before December 2000, and has probably come back now after the New Year.

How was your New Year?

"Yeah, yesterday was just over, and I was feeling bored, so I came today."

"Oh, was yesterday your New Year?"

"Yes, January 14th." Because she had gone back to stay for a while, Nora's Chinese sounded a bit rusty again.

"A distant relative from Russia?" Li Gutao asked curiously, while Lin Huihui, standing beside him, tugged at his arm, staring at Nora's hair with a look of curiosity—she seemed to want to have such natural red hair too.

"They're just friends from Russia. What a coincidence that you all came." Mo Xueyao glanced back at the not-so-busy fruit shop. "How about we go out and have some fun?"

“Let’s go!” Shi Haiming nodded immediately.

"Wanyan—I'll leave anything to you to do later—" She turned her head and called out to Li Wanyan without any shame.

In fact, families with only one child have been very rare throughout history.

From the perspective of human social structure, if a family has only one child, the child's growth will always be somewhat incomplete.