A Young Woman's Heart

"Look, Wanyan, she's coming over. Should we buy one?"

"Buy it if it's under twenty yuan."

"It's okay if it's a bit expensive, we can give it as a gift! Look, she sells oil-paper umbrellas there."

Li Wanyan shook her head helplessly. Before she could speak, there was a knock on the glass door of the phone booth.

"Umbrellas for sale, young lady, would you like an umbrella?" the old woman asked in accented Mandarin, her voice rising and falling like she was singing in an opera.

How much is one?

"This oil-paper umbrella is thirty-five, the short ordinary umbrella is twenty, and this short one is also good; it's from Paradise Umbrella."

Paradise Umbrella is a brand of umbrellas that is famous for its high quality and relatively affordable price.

Mo Xueyao still wanted to choose the oiled paper umbrella. She cleared her throat and said, "Well, if we buy this, we can give it to Hua Yinyin later, right?"

Li Wanyan stood calmly to the side and in front of Mo Xueyao: "Twenty for the oil-paper umbrella."

Mo Xueyao took an awkward half-step back. For someone like her who wasn't good at bargaining, she would feel embarrassed whenever someone around her helped her bargain.

Especially someone like Li Wanyan, who immediately cut the price by almost half...

"This won't sell." The old lady picked up an oil-paper umbrella. "My umbrella is even better than the ones sold in stores. It's handmade and of very good quality."

"Handmade doesn't mean the materials are good. Twenty yuan."

"At the very least, I'll give you a five-yuan discount, okay? Little girl, it'll be thirty yuan."

"Twenty, if you don't want to sell, then forget it." Li Wanyan shifted her gaze elsewhere, seemingly having lost interest in the umbrellas.

"Twenty-five, twenty-five, that's the lowest price. I'm only making a dollar for my trouble."

"Okay, okay." Mo Xueyao hurriedly handed over the money to her in a flustered manner, as if she felt guilty because the other party didn't earn much money.

Li Wanyan sighed, swallowing back the words she wanted to say, and let her pay the money.

"Alright, little girl, which one do you want? Pick your favorite color."

"Hmm... this one will do." Mo Xueyao hesitated for a moment before choosing an umbrella with an autumn leaf pattern. "Hua Yinyin should like this one, right, Wanyan? It has leaf patterns all over it."

"perhaps."

"Let's go with this one!"

"Alright, little girl, here you go." The old woman happily took the money, carefully felt it to make sure it was real, and then put it back into her small handbag at her waist before picking up her red plastic bucket and leaving.

The difference between an oil-paper umbrella and a modern umbrella is that an oil-paper umbrella is basically flat when opened, with little curvature, making it easy to get wet.

But it's better than having no umbrella at all. As long as you tilt it slightly when you hold it, it's less likely that water will fall on you.

Most importantly, even if you don't use it, it's nice to just keep it at home as a work of art to admire!

After leaving the phone booth, the two found Chen Cheng and Zhuang Lianlian under the newsstand. They also bought an umbrella to share; it was a long-handled, black, modern umbrella that was obviously bought directly from the newsstand.

Its umbrella was very large, more than enough to cover the two of them, but Zhuang Lianlian still insisted on staying very close to Chen Cheng, seemingly worried about getting wet in the rain, but actually expressing intimacy!

Mo Xueyao saw her wink at her and smiled knowingly: "How about we split up? We can meet again in the square in the evening... uh, at this newsstand."

“Yes, it’s the Lantern Festival, so we should still have dinner at home.” Zhuang Lianlian, who had lost her home, nodded in deep agreement and held Chen Cheng’s hand even tighter.

"How about we buy some sky lanterns to take home today?"

"That should be placed by the river."

"Ugh... this is so troublesome. Or how about buying disposable lanterns? We can just hang them up and light the wicks at night?"

"That one, I'll go with."

"Also, we gave Yinyin an oil-paper umbrella, and Yu Shu a night light shaped like a Kongming lantern. We should also buy one for Lele, Mo Xiaoxiao, and Mo Zhuyou, right? Should we buy one for Xiaoxue too?"

"Whatever you want," Li Wanyan said casually, picking up a small peach wood sword from a nearby shop. It looked like the kind that could be hung on a door to ward off evil spirits. "Does Yaoyao like this?"

"A wooden sword? Hmm... I still prefer the bronze sword with a scabbard next to it..."

"Then let's buy this one."

"Huh? Why did you buy it?"

"A gift for you."

Mo Xueyao suddenly slapped her forehead, looking as if she had just realized something: "Ah, I almost forgot, what does Wanyan want? I'll buy you one too!"

"It's enough that you have the intention," Li Wanyan said seriously, but a slight smile appeared on her lips as she turned her head away.

The light rain continued to fall.

Although the road underfoot is made of cement, it feels as soft as if you were walking on dirt.

Perhaps in the poem "The drizzle on the street is as soft as butter," the word "butter" doesn't refer to the spring rain being as precious as oil, but rather to the road being so soft and fluffy from the rain, like cheese or pastry...

Did Han Yu have cheese when he wrote this poem?

In a dynasty like the Tang Dynasty, where cultural exchanges were frequent, perhaps he really did eat cheese!

The rain in Jiangnan is like a beautiful woman from Jiangnan, elegant and gentle. The rain falls finely and densely, and you can't see the rain lines. Instead, it feels like a layer of mist.

After the Lantern Festival, school will start soon.

Although I'm a little reluctant to say goodbye to the holidays, I'm also looking forward to the start of school.

I haven't seen my familiar classmates for more than half a month, and I miss them a little now.

Mo Xueyao, holding the umbrella, tilted it slightly, letting the raindrops accumulated on the oil-paper umbrella roll down like pearls from a broken string.

She gently caught a few drops of clear, slightly cool rainwater. She didn't feel cold at all; instead, her palms felt itchy, carrying a touch of lazy comfort.

Although Yinshan Mountain doesn't cover a large area, the misty rain made the distant mountains less visible, giving it the appearance of stretching endlessly to the horizon.

The landscape paintings of China possess such freehand beauty, inspiring endless reverie.

"Achoo!" Mo Xueyao's sneeze interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to her senses. Li Wanyan had disappeared, making her look around in a panic, even turning around to look behind her, but she couldn't see her anywhere.

Of course, Yi knew the way home, but without her by his side, he felt a little empty.

It was like the nervousness of a child who had come out with their parents and then lost their way in a daze.

"What are you looking for?"

"Ah, Wanyan!" Mo Xueyao breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you had lost me."

Li Wanyan didn't delve into who lost whom, but simply smiled gently, like a spring breeze: "I've always been right beside you."

"How come I didn't notice it just now? Wow, Wanyan, you've actually started playing pranks? Tsk! Did you learn it from Yinyin!?"

She didn't speak, but just pursed her lips, while her brows were relaxed.

……

Chapter Fifty-Three: Memories of the Lantern Festival

Traditionally, both the Lantern Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival are days for family reunions.

The only difference is that the latter uses the full moon to express longing, while the former is often the last meal before parting.

Because most people have to leave home to work after the Lantern Festival.

It's not just modern people who are always rushing to the city; people in ancient times did the same.

However, only when a place can be called "home" can people feel a sense of reunion when they gather together.

The phrase "family reunion" held a heavy weight in Li Wanyan's heart when she was a child; it was a phrase that carried a sense of warmth and significance.

However, as she grew older, she grew to hate the home where her father was.

For her, as long as she and her mother were together, she was considered a family. As for that guy who was either out gambling or beating women at home, he was not a family member at all.

When I got on the bus back, night had already fallen halfway down, and the city's colorful neon lights were lighting up one by one, making the signs of many buildings even more eye-catching than during the day.

After a day of shopping, Li Wanyan was also feeling a bit tired.

She leaned against the window, her pupils somewhat unfocused, as if she were nearsighted, seeing everything as a blurry mess.

Forcing yourself to concentrate might help you recover, but that will only make you more tired.

So she let her body relax, letting the clear neon signs turn into different colored blocks in her vision.

Perhaps because this life was much more stable and fulfilling than before, she didn't think much about her mother before the New Year, nor did she think about her mother when watching the fireworks in the sky during the New Year. But on this Lantern Festival night, which marks the end of the New Year, her image kept appearing in her mind.

In fact, her mother was almost never by her side during the Lantern Festival in the past, but she had never missed her mother like this before.

I wonder how my mother spent this day in prison, and whether she was thinking of me.

The scene before me became increasingly blurry, with clumps of color merging together, like a child's meaningless colorful doodles drawn with crayons.

That year was the first year of junior high school. Although I was just about to start junior high, I seemed to have matured a lot all of a sudden.

On the Lantern Festival, my mother did not come home as in previous years. The reason was simply that her wages were higher than usual that day.

My father wasn't home either—which should have felt unnatural, but after getting used to it, it felt natural.

He often went out gambling during the Chinese New Year, so it's not surprising that he wouldn't come back for half a month.

Occasionally, when he came back, he would smash open Li Wanyan's piggy bank, take out the New Year's money that Li Wanyan had given to her mother, which her mother had then stuffed under the bed or in some corner, and take this new gambling money to gamble again.

From a very young age, Li Wanyan silently endured the loneliness of being home alone.

At first she would cry, but later she stopped, thinking that her parents were just busy making a living.

But she still hopes that on some Lantern Festival, everyone can sit down together and have a nice dinner.

Later, she came to realize what kind of person her father was and knew that he couldn't change, so she pinned her hopes on the day those gambling addicts would beat him to death at the gambling table.

However, that day never came. In the end, my father died at the hands of the person who loved him most, but that's another story.

In the quiet and desolate home, Li Wanyan didn't have much of a motivation to study. Perhaps it was because she had studied too much before and needed to readjust her mood, or perhaps it was because she simply wasn't in the mood to study on this special day.

She simply rummaged around at home, stacking up the cardboard scraps she had collected over the past few months, and tying them together with red nylon rope. She did the same with the plastic bottles and cans she had also picked up from outside.

She figured the restaurant must be doing really well today, so maybe she should go out and pick up some recyclable scraps.

The drinks left on the large beverage bottles on the restaurant tables are mostly clean, because people don't drink directly from the bottle. If you're lucky, you might even get a free drink.

Oh, and cigarette butts can also be collected. Although it's not the old society anymore, the poor old man downstairs who loves to smoke buys those cigarette butts at a low price. He rolls cigarettes by hand and doesn't sell them; he just smokes them himself. But anyway, it's much cheaper than buying them from a tobacco shop.