A Young Woman's Heart

People who grow up in the countryside, however, do not like to follow the explicit rules, but rather the more complex and socially savvy 'unspoken rules'.

A society based on personal connections may seem more convenient, but it's actually more troublesome...

Jetan is a relatively large village, and buses from the city stop here.

The parking lot was filled with buses and minibuses, and groups of people returning home got off with their luggage.

Some people can get home in just a few hundred meters, while others still have to walk a long way, all the way deep into the mountains, to reach their destination...

Returning home for the Spring Festival.

A festival unique to the people of China.

At least in this era, people still have a strong attachment to returning to their hometowns.

Because many people who move to big cities come from rural areas.

As more and more people settle in cities and have children, this homesickness may gradually fade away.

"We're here! The public bathhouse is over here." My cousin was the first to jump off the motorcycle. He maintained his balance with one hand and pointed to the building, which was even more dilapidated than the worst bathhouse near Mo Xueyao's house, shouting, "Let's go, let's go, time to take a shower!"

Today is Chinese New Year, so quite a few people have come from nearby villages specifically to take a bath.

Moreover, most of them are young people—perhaps they all grew up in the city, so they find it hard to accept the way of bathing in the countryside.

"The money's paid, here are your tags." My cousin, speaking in a thick country accent, paid the bill at the counter.

Mo Xueyao saw that he gave her five yuan and even gave her two yuan back.

While the countryside has many inconveniences, prices in many areas are truly affordable...

The bathroom was just an ordinary bathroom, without even a bathtub, only individual shower stalls without doors.

In the steamy bathroom, you can't really see anything beyond a meter away.

Mo Xueyao subconsciously tilted her head back and walked inside, one hand held by Li Wanyan...

After I finished showering, my cousin was already waiting outside.

I rode my motorcycle home through the swirling snowflakes.

The feeling of being dashing and carefree lasted until it was time for the New Year's Eve dinner.

When she was a child, Mo Xueyao loved eating New Year's Eve dinner.

Because back then, I always received a lot of lucky money.

But as she grew older, she realized that none of the New Year's money would end up in her hands, and her interest in it waned.

The amount of New Year's money that actually reaches my hands is only the small amount given by my parents.

But all of it might only cost a few dozen or a hundred yuan.

Although it's already quite a lot on ordinary days, it seems like very little on the special occasion of the New Year.

"Come here, Yaoyao, this is your eldest uncle, this is your third aunt, this one you can call... uncle, and that one is your maternal grandfather..."

At this New Year's Eve dinner, Mo Xueyao was like an emotionless broken record, repeating the titles her mother asked her to use.

Everyone seemed to know her very well.

Some people said they held her when she was little, and others said they used to buy her food...

In short, she had almost no recollection of it.

The dining table is a place for adults.

Mo Xueyao picked out a few dishes she liked, ate a few bites, jumped off the table, stuffed the snacks into her pocket, and ran to the door.

A fire was burning in the stove, and steamed buns were being cooked in the pot.

On New Year's Eve, the fire in the stove will not be extinguished. Even if the steamed buns are all eaten, some water will be added to keep the fire burning.

It symbolizes that the coming year will also be prosperous and thriving, with life continuing endlessly.

"Wanyan!" Mo Xueyao put her arm around Li Wanyan's shoulder. "Want to drink today?"

"why."

"It's a rare occasion to celebrate the New Year!" she said to herself, then stood up, picked up the rice wine on the table, and poured two cups.

The adults were all gathered around the table, while the two girls sat by the stove, which seemed rather deserted and quiet.

Mo Xueyao inexplicably liked this kind of New Year.

Having close friends and family around, and being able to watch others' antics—that's enough.

The rice wine was simply warmed up in front of the stove, and the only snack was some broad beans 'stolen' from the dining table.

Time slipped away little by little amidst the hustle and bustle.

At first there were only a few sporadic explosions, but then the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks suddenly became more frequent.

Mo Xueyao heard someone shout "It's almost twelve o'clock!" and then dragged Li Wanyan, who was slightly tipsy from drinking a cup of rice wine, up to the rooftop on the second floor.

The snow had lessened considerably, and fireworks soared high into the sky, as if trying to disperse the dark clouds.

"Dong, dong—" She clearly heard the old-fashioned clock downstairs chime the twelve o'clock, and then the sky suddenly became as bright as day.

"Whoosh—Bang—Crack—!!"

It's like spring flowers blooming in the night sky.

Colorful, vibrant.

They come in all shapes and sizes, intertwined and spreading across the entire sky.

From afar, it seemed as if the entire world was connected by fireworks.

Perhaps, in the skies above Country Z right now, people's celebrations of the Spring Festival are all connected by these fireworks?

Thinking about it more carefully, fireworks already existed in the Song Dynasty thousands of years ago. People back then, just like people today, were able to set off fireworks and celebrate the Spring Festival in such a luxurious way.

Thus, the distance in space and time is shrunk, because at this moment, countless modern people and countless ancient people are looking up at the same starry sky!

Slightly tipsy, Li Wanyan rested her head on Mo Xueyao's shoulder, gazing at the sky, and murmured blankly, "The east wind releases a thousand blossoms on the night..."

Mo Xueyao felt that the poem was particularly apt at this moment.

However, she couldn't think of anything else to say.

After hesitating for a while, he finally replied, "Hmm... 'A thousand trees bloom before a withered one's own'?"

"Pfft." Li Wanyan couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.

Clearly, she misremembered the sentence.

"Happy New Year." She tilted her head, looked at Mo Xueyao with her slightly flushed face, and said proactively.

"Mmm, Happy New Year!" Mo Xueyao opened her mouth wide, took a deep breath of the sulfurous air, and raised her voice even higher, as if trying to out-shout the fireworks, "Happy New Year!!!"

Li Wanyan pursed her lips slightly, as if she wanted to shout along with her, but in the end she only opened her mouth without making a sound.

Her whisper, barely audible even to herself amidst the fireworks, went: "I hope that every year, we can watch the fireworks together..."

……

Chapter Thirty-Six: An Unforgettable Song

"Every year there are unforgettable songs, each song flows like a river, each song becomes a mighty stream..."

As the song "Unforgettable Song" played, the 2001 Spring Festival Gala finally came to an end.

"Fireworks are going off!" Mo Zhuyou jumped up excitedly and darted outside like a cat chasing a mouse.

Unlike the heavy snowfall at Mo Xueyao's maternal grandmother's house.

It didn't snow or rain in Hangzhou, and the night sky was incredibly clear, with stars and the sun and moon clearly visible.

However, as beams of colorful light shot into the sky from the city, fireworks also bloomed in the sky.

The fireworks display lasted only a moment, then shattered like glass, crashing down and gradually disappearing into the air.

But more and more people were setting off fireworks; if one disappeared, seven or eight would replace it...

"Click, click!" Mo Zhuyou covered one ear as if she were stealing a bell, stretched out her right hand, and lit the 'thousand-shot firecracker' that had already been hung up with half-closed eyes.

It's actually just a string of small firecrackers strung together.

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—" It sounded like machine gun fire, and the whole yard seemed to be blown up, with pale yellow smoke spreading all around.

The smell of sulfur was a bit pungent, but that was exactly what gave it a New Year's feel.

"Xiao Ji—quick, set off fireworks! Let's set off all five fireworks at once!!" Duanmu Bi shouted at the top of her lungs. Although she seemed to have used all her strength, she was still not very clear amidst the sound of firecrackers.

"Why set them off together? It's a waste!" Duanmu Ji frowned. "Back in the day, we'd think long and hard before buying even a single 16-shot firework for the New Year. We can't just squander the money we've earned!"

"Huh—? What—did—you—say—?" Duanmu Bi clearly hadn't heard her clearly. She turned her head and shouted again, urging, "Quickly—set off—fireworks—!!"

Just as the 'Thousand-shot Cannon' was about to end, Duanmu Ji took the lighter from Mo Zhuyou and lit the fuse.

"Whoosh—Bang—Crack—!" The fireworks instantly soared into the sky and then burst into bloom.

When people write essays, they often say that fireworks are extremely dazzling, but at least they have shown their beauty, even if it is only for a moment. And isn't a person's life, relative to the long river of history, just as short as fireworks?

Duanmu Ji once wrote about this kind of formula in his essay.

But at this moment, his feelings were completely different.

If a person's entire life is only meant to be a fleeting moment like fireworks, wouldn't that seem a bit pathetic?

Why burn your life for others to see your most dazzling moment when you're not living for them?

People always marvel at the beauty of fireworks, but in reality, very few people actually want to be fireworks themselves.

"Fireworks are just fireworks, why give them so much human touch..." Duanmu Ji leaned against the glass door of Mo Zhuyou's house, looking up at the night sky illuminated by fireworks. "If we wanted to, humans could create countless fireworks—they're not rare at all."

"Xiao Ji, what are you muttering to yourself?" Mo Zhuyou grabbed her sister's hand and called out to her curiously.

"It's nothing. I just think that intellectuals are too sentimental, to the point that they are controlled by their own emotions."

"What?" Mo Zhuyou asked again, whether she hadn't heard clearly or hadn't understood.

Duanmu Ji didn't answer anymore because his sister pressed his head down and rubbed it hard with both hands. The thoughts that had just popped into his mind seemed to be crushed and blown away by the wind.