A Young Woman's Heart

But gradually, An Ruosu realized that she didn't like the scent on her body, but rather the appreciation she felt for beautiful things.

For a time, he even wondered if he had a mental illness, and that he might like a boy because he wanted to be a girl.

But he denied this doubt.

Because he was very certain that he didn't want to be a girl.

I can't explain why, but it's just a gut feeling.

"Li Hongran".

"It's been so long, why do you still call me by my full name?" Li Hongran rolled her eyes, one hand supporting herself on the flower bed behind her, the other gulping down mineral water.

Of the entire bottle of water, he probably only drank about half of it; the rest leaked out from both sides, wetting his clothes.

"I'm used to it." An Ruosu smiled as always.

Well, actually, I haven't described his smile much, so why say it's the same as always?

Because that's how he usually smiles: his eyes are slightly narrowed, the corners of his mouth are always turned up, and his head is raised a little, like a sunflower following the sun.

"What do you want? Call me later, I'm tired." Li Hongran took another big gulp and casually tossed the empty plastic water bottle onto the ground.

An Ruosu bent down, picked it up, and calmly put it into the trash can next to her.

"Tsk tsk, such good manners."

"You have no manners and you still have the nerve to say that?" He shook his head with a smile.

Yesterday was the Lantern Festival. Li Hongran was bored today, so she called him out again. However, no one else came because they were all busy catching up on their homework. So this morning, the two of them played against each other in this empty court—attacking and defending against each other.

"Hey, Li... Old Li."

"Say it?" Li Hongran squinted at the sunlight, then collapsed onto An Ruosu's shoulder, sweating profusely, and slid down onto his lap. "Ha, this is much softer than the flower bed."

An Ruosu raised her head and looked at the bright and dazzling sun, suddenly feeling exhausted all over.

Li Hongran didn't press further—perhaps he had already forgotten what An Ruosu had wanted to ask earlier.

"Oh, I'm asking you."

“Ask me.” Li Hongran turned around and placed her two hairy legs on his lap.

"If you had to choose between a man, a man who is dressed as a woman and is prettier than the average girl, and a girl who is of average appearance, who would you choose?"

"Damn, of course I'd choose the prettiest one!" Li Hongran said, then laughed exaggeratedly. "Oh my, you don't mean you've fallen for Huang Yuxi, do you? Hmm... but he's pretty enough even without women's clothes, tsk tsk."

"I'm asking you, why didn't you choose a girl?"

Are you asking about the kind of liking that involves dating, or the kind of liking that involves marriage? Or is it just the kind of liking that's casual?

"You're... in a relationship, right?"

"Oh—I don't know, but if the guy is prettier than the girl, it's fine to leave him there, at least he's pleasing to the eye?"

"Oh—you're such a pervert," An Ruosu said disdainfully, "You don't even spare men."

"Damn, as long as you're pretty, what's the harm in trying?" Li Hongran said jokingly, but it was hard to tell how serious she was.

"I need to stay away from you." An Ruosu exaggeratedly moved a few steps to the side.

"Damn, which one do you choose?"

"It's a woman."

"What if he/she is very ugly?"

"But at least she's a woman."

"We're not getting married, there's no need to be so serious, right?" Li Hongran stroked her chin, and when she saw the strange change in An Ruosu's expression, she burst out laughing. "Hahaha—you actually thought I was serious? Of course, even if we're dating, it has to be with marriage in mind, otherwise it's just being a scoundrel, so I'll definitely choose a real girl. But if you ask me like this, wouldn't it be boring if I chose someone too ordinary?"

An Ruosu shook her head silently. After a long while, she didn't know what possessed her, but she took out her wallet and pulled out a photo that Teacher Qiu Yi had taken of her during the first year of high school's New Year's Day cultural performance... a photo of him in women's clothing.

"Hey, what's this? Holy crap, your girlfriend?" Li Hongran sat up abruptly, snatching it away before he could even react. "Wow, isn't this from that... New Year's Day? Back in the first year of high school, I'd almost forgotten about it, and you still have it?"

"Yes, if someone asks me if I have a girlfriend, I'll say, 'The girl in this photo is my girlfriend.'"

"I get it, you're using this to reject girls you don't like, right? Brilliant!" Li Hongran gave a thumbs up. In his opinion, it wasn't surprising that girls would chase after a 'pretty boy' like An Ruosu. "When do you ever introduce me to someone you don't like?"

“You…” An Ruosu swallowed back the words she had been thinking about for a long time. “Fine, we’ll see when the time comes.”

"No, Susu, oh no, Brother An, hehe, can you introduce someone? I heard that it's hard to find a good one once you get to college, and even harder to find a suitable one in the workforce. It's better to find someone in high school, and then you can talk about marriage all the way up, isn't that great?"

"I doubt many couples can do that...?"

"Don't worry, once you're in a relationship with me, I guarantee my personal charm will make any girl fall head over heels for me." Li Hongran patted her chest confidently. "Do you believe me?"

"Just a regular letter." An Ruosu smiled as always.

"Hey, can I see that photo again?"

"What do you want?" An Ruosu asked, both willing and unwilling, her eyebrows furrowed, as if resisting or shy.

"Take a look, damn, I think I like this type?" Li Hongran looked up at him and saw him back again, so she couldn't help but tease him, "What are you afraid of? I'm not going to eat you, I'm just talking about this type! It just so happens that this photo is perfect, you know? I mean, damn, the more I explain, the worse it gets. If you see something similar, remember to introduce me to it."

"Okay, I think I encountered something like that when I was taking extracurricular classes."

"Hey, good brother, don't forget your brother when you eat meat!" Li Hongran immediately grinned and leaned over, putting his arm around his shoulder. "I'll definitely remember, I definitely will!"

"You're almost a senior in high school, it's no use even if you catch up, there's no time to keep in touch."

"That's not how it's supposed to be. I'm planning to use my New Year's money to buy a cell phone so I can contact you by text message."

"What if the other person doesn't have a phone?"

“Uh…” Li Hongran looked An Ruosu up and down, “Susu, do you have an old phone? Sell it to me cheaply later…”

"This is the only one I have!" he replied, both amused and exasperated.

Li Hongran was too close; the smell of his sweat couldn't help but seep into An Ruosu's heart...

Although it smells of sweat, it still smells quite nice.

He escaped from Li Hongran's arms like a rabbit, using drinking water to cover up his embarrassment.

"By the way, Susu."

"Are there really boys in our school who like boys?"

"Pfft, cough cough..."

Why are you so excited? Is it strange? I think it is.

"Maybe, why ask that? Do you really dislike people like that?" An Ruosu asked casually.

"It's alright. As long as it has nothing to do with me, I don't dislike it. At least I won't have a competitor, hehe."

“Oh—me too.” He nodded slightly.

Just then, Li Hongran's phone rang. He quickly ran to the side to answer it, and after a while, he said goodbye to An Ruosu.

He has to go home for something and will come out to play again tomorrow.

The afternoon suddenly became rather boring.

An Ruosu, who had been sitting on the basketball court for a long time, finally stood up by herself. However, on her way home, her gaze would occasionally drift to those beautiful women's clothing stores.

……

Chapter 55 The New Employee at the 24-Hour Convenience Store

On Thursday evening, Mo Xueyao, who was sitting in front of the fruit shop casually flipping through Chinese language teaching materials, saw many students carrying school bags and wearing school uniforms leaving school one after another.

She wasn't looking at the supplementary teaching materials for studying purposes; she was just bored and wanted to see what interesting texts were available for the next semester.

The supplementary teaching materials contain the original texts of the lessons, and even some extended readings. Even after spending a whole morning flipping through them, I still found them very interesting.

Sometimes Mo Xueyao would wonder, since Chinese is supposed to be the most interesting subject for Chinese people, why are there still people who can't even pass this subject?

Even if you don't like answering questions in a formulaic way, passing shouldn't be too difficult...

Rather, passing Chinese should be the easiest thing among the main subjects.

"Young lady, even regular high school students get out of school this early?" A familiar-looking guy asked jokingly as the vocational school students in the alley were also out of school. His companion was picking out fruit—they were buying it for themselves, so they only chose the cheapest ones.

"Isn't your school a proper school?" Mo Xueyao glanced at them sideways and asked rhetorically.

"That definitely doesn't count," the guy replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Look, even after coming home, the young lady is still studying her textbooks so diligently. No wonder she was able to get into a good high school."

"Stop looking, you won't learn anything even if you do—hey, Miss, look, this banana has fallen off, it's so black no one will buy it, how about I help you get rid of it?"

"Go away, it's fifty cents a coin." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. She always felt strange about being called "Miss," but these delinquent-like students kept calling her that, and she couldn't correct them, so she could only let them be.

"Look, my brother bought a whole bag of apples, so giving him a banana isn't too much to ask, is it?"

"Take it, take it." She lowered her head impatiently. She was reading an excerpt from Romeo and Juliet. Although she had heard of the novel for a long time, this was the first time she had read the story in writing. She was so focused on it, not because it was so good, but because there was an English version printed on the supplementary teaching material. She was using this to test her English level—she seemed to be able to understand most of it. Perhaps it wasn't actually the original English version, but a simplified version?

It's like a translated version of classical Chinese.

During school dismissal and get off work hours, fruit shops get busy, but even after a busy evening, they may not earn as much as someone else buying a fruit basket for a patient.

Mo Xueyao doesn't help most of the time.

This is one of the advantages of having siblings.

Anyway, there will always be some sensible kids who will help share the workload...

The setting sun had not completely sunk below the horizon before it was covered by dark clouds that filled the sky.

Night fell early.

In the inky rain, the dim streetlights lit up one after another, and in this gloomy rain curtain, the pedestrians seemed to be in a hurry.

As a result, the fruit shop's business also suffered considerably.

Sometimes, if the weather is nice, people are more willing to linger in the store for a while, but now, they probably only have the way home on their minds.

Mo Xueyao felt that it was quieter this way. She could even comfortably put her bare feet on the counter. Her feet, clad in white stockings, were always busy fiddling with the things on the counter—either trying to pick up a pen or poking at the landline phone.

"Mom—haven't you had dinner yet?" She only remembers her parents when her stomach rumbles.

—This was a phrase her mother always used to tease her.