A Young Woman's Heart

This was probably my biggest dream when I was a child.

Mo Xueyao was somewhat surprised, but not as joyful as she had imagined.

She then opened the bag containing the pebble-shaped chocolate candies and poured two into her mouth.

It tasted cloyingly sweet, and my mouth was filled with the flavor of saccharin.

The candy is still the same kind of candy from my childhood, but it doesn't taste the same as it did back then.

……

Chapter Twenty-One: Strolling Through Memories

People are coming and going everywhere in the urban village.

There were even minivans driving into the alley, carrying a full load of fellow villagers home.

"Wanyan used to live here, right?"

"Ah."

"Where do you live?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously.

"later."

Li Wanyan answered somewhat absentmindedly.

In contrast to the pale white sky, there was a dark, stinking ditch next to it.

Fortunately, it was winter, so unless you got very close, you couldn't smell anything bad.

The edges of the road were littered with garbage, and the trash cans at the corners were overflowing but no one had emptied them. It seemed that no sanitation workers ever came to clean up this place.

Of course there are, otherwise this place would probably become a huge garbage dump.

Li Wanyan's former home was located in the middle of this complex of buildings, and it was not much different from the farmers' houses next to it; it was ordinary and inconspicuous.

There was a small vegetable shop downstairs. It was probably past the morning sales time, so the roller shutter was half-closed, and some unsold vegetables were scattered on the low shelves made of cardboard boxes.

Beside the shop entrance was a large, oval-shaped red basin, in which several crucian carp were swimming back and forth, flapping their tails. A crude oxygen pump was filling the basin with air, making the water in that area bubble and gurgle as if it were boiling.

“This wasn’t there before.” Li Wanyan stared at the small grocery store for a moment. “This used to be a breakfast shop.”

Mo Xueyao nodded without offering any comment—that's how it is with opening a shop; someone will always transfer ownership, and even if the business is doing very well, it can still be affected by other factors.

"Should we go up and take a look?" Mo Xueyao pointed to the very steep and narrow staircase.

There were some bicycles parked at the bottom of the stairs, and if you looked further in, you would find a pile of messy junk, as well as a broken bicycle that had been parked there for who knows how long and was covered in dust.

"Hmm..." Li Wanyan hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded gently.

The stairwell had no windows and was very dark, with some lights broken and others working. If you were unfamiliar with the area, you would have to hold onto the handrails to get upstairs.

However, the handrail was also covered in dust, and Mo Xueyao's fingertips turned black after just a light touch.

She spat on her fingertip, then gently rubbed it with her thumb to remove the filth.

Compared to the black patch on my fingertip, my own saliva is definitely cleaner.

The design of this farmer's house is somewhat like a dormitory building, with rooms on one side and railings on the other, which also serves as a shared balcony for all the tenants on the floor.

A thick cotton quilt was still hanging on the railing. Perhaps the brief appearance of bright sunshine in the morning gave him the illusion that the sun would shine brightly today.

At the end of the corridor, a middle-aged woman was lighting a fire in an iron basin in front of her house. She was putting sheets of yellow paper into the fire, which were then crumbled into ashes by the wind and blown away into the distance.

Perhaps it was some kind of custom. Mo Xueyao fanned herself with her hand. She didn't dislike the smell of burning paper money, but she just didn't like the ashes flying everywhere.

A door with paint cracked like a spider web was pushed open, and a little boy hopped out first, pushing a suitcase taller than himself back and forth in the aisle. The four small wheels seemed to bring him the same joy as a toy car.

Behind them, a man in his thirties also came out carrying large bags of luggage, instantly blocking the narrow passageway.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan stood close to the railing—but did not touch each other, for fear of getting their clothes dirty.

The man in his thirties gave them an apologetic smile and called out his son's name in dialect, which they didn't understand.

"Come on!" After calling his son over, he carried his luggage downstairs, while the little boy struggled to carry the large suitcase, swaying as he followed.

It's worrying that he might accidentally roll down the slope along with his suitcase.

However, judging from the current situation, his strength seems to be much greater than it appears.

Walking at the very back was a woman who looked a bit older than the man. She had a canvas bag on her back, was holding a baby in her right arm, and was taking out her keys to lock the door with her other hand.

It looks like they're planning to go back to their hometown for the Chinese New Year.

"My darling daughter, we're going home now, aren't you happy?" The mother gently poked the baby's cheek with her finger, pulled the doorknob with her left hand to make sure it was locked, and then carefully held her in her arms before walking downstairs at a leisurely pace.

The last time I came, this was a family of three, but this time, they've added a daughter.

The family remained harmonious. Although the newborn daughter made them both look a bit more tired than before, their smile lines had also increased.

Mo Xueyao turned around and looked downstairs, where she saw a family of four carrying large and small bags squeezed into a small pickup truck.

The mother, holding her daughter, sat in front.

The little boy, who was probably already in elementary school, sat in the back of the truck with his father.

The little boy didn't feel cold in the truck bed; on the contrary, he felt incredibly excited.

The pickup truck roared to life, and the little boy let out a strange cry.

His father, like a child, joined in the wailing.

"Let's go!"

"Ground armored vehicles, advance!" shouted the little boy.

Although it was just a beat-up pickup truck, it had no armor, and even the truck bed wasn't covered.

But he remained immersed in his fantasy and was very happy.

The beat-up pickup truck gradually drove away, and even the noise of its broken engine could no longer be heard. Only then did Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan come to their senses.

"Wanyan, this house... is it?" Mo Xueyao pointed to the door that the woman had just locked.

"Hmm." Li Wanyan walked to the door with a sense of loss. The middle-aged woman at the end of the corridor had finished burning the paper money and was cleaning up the trash at the door while looking at the two of them with some curiosity.

Next to the door was a small window. Although the curtains were drawn, there was still a gap through which one could see inside.

The familiar double bed was still there, but the house was spotless. Clean wallpaper covered the walls, and everything was neatly arranged. There was even a faded old single sofa near the window.

The room seemed much more spacious, yet its size was clearly unchanged.

"Let's go."

"Oh...nothing to say?"

"...What kind of feelings does Yaoyao want?"

"For example, feelings of emotion or something? That's common, right?"

“No.” Li Wanyan shook her head, but Mo Xueyao was convinced that she was lying.

—Perhaps they just don't want to talk about it, or maybe they don't know how to describe the complex emotions in their hearts.

“However, this one is quite nice.” After a long silence, she suddenly spoke up. By this time, the two of them were almost out of the urban village and on the street.

"A family? Ah...they're a family."

"Ah."

“They are a family of four, and so are we,” Mo Xueyao said with amusement, suddenly remembering something.

“Yes, and you’re a ‘boy’ too.” Li Wanyan pursed her lips, her tone carrying a hint of a smile.

"Ha... I wish it were true." Mo Xueyao felt something she wanted to say float through the depths of her consciousness, but when she tried to pay attention, she couldn't remember what it was.

On Wangma Road, there were even more pedestrians coming and going. Walking among the bustling crowd, Li Wanyan asked softly, "Are you used to it?"

"Getting used to it? Hmm... I guess I'm pretty much used to it. It's been over a year already, how could I not be used to it? But... there are still some things I can't get used to."

“Hmm.” Li Wanyan nodded lightly, then continued, “Sometimes, you don’t have to force yourself to adapt.”

"Oh," Mo Xueyao mumbled, her thoughts wandering.

Now that we're back, we're definitely not going to the fruit shop.

On the other side of Wangma Road is Mo Xueyao's residential compound.

The repair shop owner is assembling a particularly cool bicycle for someone. Its tires and rims are green, and they even emit a slight fluorescent glow in the dark.

A young man who looked like a college student was staring intently at it, as if he couldn't wait to ride it.

This neighborhood is mostly inhabited by locals, so I didn't see many people dragging their luggage on their way home. Most people were doing what they usually do, except that more and more people were going to the supermarket to buy New Year's goods.

"The house is such a mess..." Mo Xueyao couldn't help but say as soon as she entered the door.

I've been staying at the fruit shop lately and haven't been home in a long time.

The house was even more messy than when I last came back. There was a bowl of dried plum vegetables on the table, as if my mother hadn't had time to put the lid on because she was in such a hurry to leave in the morning.

Her room hadn't been used for a while, so her mother had piled up a lot of random things in the hallway.

This place seems to have suddenly turned into a warehouse.

"Ugh... really, why are you leaving things like this?" Mo Xueyao tapped the cardboard box with annoyance. It seemed to contain some New Year's goods or something. "Today is the Little New Year, why don't we just do a thorough cleaning?"

"Hmm." Li Wanyan nodded. In fact, she couldn't stand it anymore either.

The two got right to work and immediately started busying themselves at home.

The first thing, of course, is to organize things.

Actually, the living room can hold a lot of things, but it looks crowded because they are not neatly arranged.

"Spring cleaning, spring cleaning~" Mo Xueyao hummed the tune of "Fallen Leaves Are Like Potato Chips" as she swept the dust out of the house with a large broom.

This is probably what they call 'sweeping away bad luck'.

After sweeping it outside, she used the broom outside to clean up the trash and threw it into a metal bucket, which she would then take downstairs to dispose of later.

The door across the hall opened at that moment, and a slender little hand popped out, placing a trash bag at the doorway, seemingly about to close it again.

"Hey, Yu Shu!" Mo Xueyao greeted her, and the door that was about to close was pushed open again.