A Young Woman's Heart

"That was back in kindergarten!" Mo Xueyao waved her hands angrily, as if trying to cover her mother's mouth from a distance.

"What's wrong with kindergarten? They say you can tell what a person will be like at three years old..."

"Tch! Did you see what I look like now when I was three years old?" Mo Xueyao asked, tilting her head, which put her mother in a difficult position, leaving her speechless.

"Alright." Li Wanyan patted Mo Xueyao's head. "Let's go to the supermarket."

"Dad, give me the money!"

"Damn, am I an ATM?"

"If you're not an ATM, then who is?" she replied confidently.

……

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Highest Five-Cent Snack Shop

Unless you're buying branded snacks, supermarkets are never the best option.

Under the bright sunlight, Mo Xueyao led Li Wanyan through the alleyways, taking shortcuts, until they finally arrived at a snack shop that children frequented.

The shop was almost completely undecorated; the floor was cement, and the walls weren't even painted. The owner was someone whose gender was indistinguishable from an old man or woman; the concept of gender seemed incredibly ambiguous in him.

There wasn't even a sign outside the store; from a distance, you wouldn't even know it was a snack shop.

The first time she came here, her godfather brought her along.

This is probably one of the few remaining memories of Mo Xueyao's childhood.

I was probably three or five years old at that time...

Moreover, it seems that my godfather didn't have much money back then.

It seems like he just graduated from university.

Considering his age, he was indeed much older than the college students who came later.

But in reality, when he took the college entrance exam, the national college entrance examination had only been open for a short time.

Later, Mo Xueyao would often come here to buy all kinds of snacks. The prices were cheaper than in supermarkets, and the variety was much greater than in convenience stores.

Whether it's niche or popular, you can find it all here.

However, snacks that are not frequently purchased may be covered with some dust, so you need to check if they have expired.

The owner still looked listless, with droopy eyelids, watching the two children walk into the shop.

For the regular customers of his shop, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan were probably among the oldest.

The air was thick with dust that no amount of fanning could shake off, and the dust became even more noticeable under the light shining into the store.

Like snowflakes falling from the sky, they danced gracefully in the sunlight.

Mo Xueyao blew a breath, which seemed to create a hurricane, causing them all to start spinning.

"Wanyan, pick whatever you like! The most expensive snacks here are only 50 cents... Uh, is that still the case, boss?" Mo Xueyao had only said half of what she wanted to say when she remembered the rising prices and asked somewhat uncertainly.

"Yes." The boss looked like he was about to fall asleep. He had short, white hair and a masculine face, but a figure that was clearly that of an old woman. Mo Xueyao, who had studied biology, wondered if 'she' had experienced a surge in male hormones in old age, which led to her current condition.

If you look closely, you can even feel that his neck has a slight protrusion, which looks like an Adam's apple.

Women tend to age faster than men, primarily because estrogen levels drop sharply with age, while men are less affected by this, as they don't have much estrogen anyway. This is why men generally appear younger than women among the elderly.

She's not even eighteen yet, but she can't help but worry about what she'll look like when she gets old.

But... no matter how great a person is, who in this world doesn't grow old?

The items in the snack shop are all clearly priced; you can see the price by simply flipping the item over to the back.

It's called a snack shop, but it also sells some simple toys.

For example, wind-up frogs, bamboo dragonflies, or small packages of soldier figures.

The most expensive one will never cost more than 50 cents.

This place is simply a paradise for children.

Even with only a small amount of pocket money, you can still enjoy shopping here.

Among these inexpensive snacks, the most common are various kinds of spicy strips.

Some are filamentous, others are strip-shaped, some are block-shaped, some are plate-shaped...

The taste varies depending on the brand.

For example, Weilong's is on the sweeter side, while dishes like the "Big Knife Beef" are on the spicier side...

The smallest pack of spicy strips costs two cents a pack at the school gate, but here you can buy it for only one cent.

After all, rent is not expensive in these alleys that are rarely visited by ordinary people, so the prices of goods are much lower.

If you don't like sweet and spicy snacks, you can also buy savory-sweet 'Beijing Roast Duck' or 'Nanjing Salted Duck'. There are too many manufacturers, and Mo Xueyao didn't remember the names, but the taste is roughly the same.

If you only like sweet snacks, then you can choose from all kinds of candies.

They come in all sorts of shapes: soccer balls, animals, stars...

The tastes also vary.

Fruit flavors are the most common, followed by cola flavors, and the least common are candies containing alcohol.

Mo Xueyao ate candies with alcohol in them when she was a child.

It seems that apart from her, the other students couldn't really eat that stuff.

—After all, that was when she was in elementary school. There are very few people like her who can drink so much alcohol.

Mo Xueyao took one of the old shopping baskets next to her to hold the snacks she wanted to buy.

The shopping basket isn't big; even if it's filled to the brim, it'll probably only cost a few dozen yuan.

"These toy soldiers have been around for so many years, and their designs haven't changed at all..." Mo Xueyao picked out some snacks and then unconsciously walked to the toy shelf.

Although the toys here are roughly made, many of them are full of whimsical ideas, like sketches for a drawing. If toy manufacturers could make these toys more exquisite, they would certainly be no worse than those so-called imported toys.

However, if that were the case, ordinary children probably wouldn't be able to experience the novelty they bring.

"The people who design toys must be adults with a childlike heart, right?" Mo Xueyao muttered to herself as she squatted down in front of the shelf.

What attracted her wasn't any soldier toys—in fact, she wasn't very interested in them when she was little because they couldn't move at all, and she always felt they lacked a sense of control.

Her favorite things were the dinosaur egg toys that could transform.

Without a doubt, it only costs five cents each.

The resulting transformations are always unexpected.

Most of the time, you'll get dinosaurs, but sometimes it'll be Transformers, monsters, or even Ultraman.

Even at such a low price, it was a huge sum of money for her when she was a child—initially, it didn't even cost 50 cents.

Now, with money in her pocket, Mo Xueyao finally couldn't resist taking a few more 'dinosaur eggs' and throwing them into the basket, which could be considered a small fulfillment of her childhood dream.

Fried foods, dried fruits, soft candies, hard candies...

These are the mainstream products here.

However, Mo Xueyao wasn't particularly interested in them; she focused on selecting those with novel shapes.

For example, a small beer bottle the size of a palm feels like plastic, but when you open it, it's filled with fried green beans and broad beans.

This is for adults to have with their drinks.

However, children always like to play the role of adults, just like playing house, as if eating beans from this plastic beer bottle and drinking some water makes them feel grown up.

This little plastic bottle used to be quite a hot commodity, often used by students to fill with water—even though they could only fill it with a small amount each time.

But he insisted on using it to drink.

Children want to grow up quickly, while adults miss their childhood.

Just like the novel "Fortress Besieged" written by Mr. Qian Zhongshu.

Drinks are also available, of course.

However, they were all pirated.

The most common type is the spray-on beverage.

It's just a tiny bottle, smaller than the palm of your hand, yet it can last you a long time.

They have all kinds of flavors, including cola.

If you only use the spray, you can't taste any difference between it and cola.

But if you remove the spray nozzle and pour it directly into the container, it will feel as sweet as if you've been planted in a sugar jar.

It may even taste slightly bitter.

The only truly authentic Coca-Cola sold here is probably Wahaha's Very Cola.

The price is lower than usual, but the taste is also worse; it always seems to have a medicinal taste.

But upon closer inspection, one cannot taste any bitterness.

Although the shop is small, you can easily spend a lot of time browsing and selecting items inside.

The sunlight in the sky was at a slightly angled point, and it didn't seem as bright as before.

The beams of light that had originally shone into the store also retreated as if they were tentacles.

"OK, OK, that's all!" Mo Xueyao filled the entire basket. Although there were some small toys mixed in, she was sure she wouldn't be able to finish all the snacks on the way back.

Li Wanyan hadn't taken much to begin with, only filling less than half the container. Seeing that she had taken a lot, she took some more out and put it back on the shelf.

"Wanyan? Are you done yet?" Mo Xueyao called out from across several shelves.

"Okay." She came out after a while and placed the small basket containing a few snacks in front of the shopkeeper.

"Let's calculate the money!" Mo Xueyao took out a fifty-yuan bill from her pocket, which her father had given her, and slammed it on the table with great force.

The shopkeeper glanced sideways at the dark green banknotes and listlessly began counting the snacks.