A Young Woman's Heart

"It's still burning!"

Why are you so late today?

"It's only a little past six, what's the rush?"

"Huh, it's only a little past six?" The rain made the sky much darker than usual. In places without streetlights, it was as deep as a black hole, especially in the alleys, which were filled with a sense of the unknown.

When I was a kid, I loved exploring those alleyways. But thinking back, didn't I also encounter those petty thugs who roamed those alleyways when I was a kid?

Sometimes we even deliberately 'provoke' them!

However, they never encountered any trouble.

Perhaps it's because even petty thugs retain some semblance of conscience.

On a rainy night without stars, even the dark clouds seem somewhat lonely.

The fruit shop was empty.

The external cassette player was playing the latest pop songs.

The father swayed his body and hummed a song as more and more dishes were laid out on the table.

"Are there so many dishes today?" Mo Xueyao picked up a fallen grape, popped it into her mouth, and chewed it with her cheeks puffed out.

"Your Grandma Jin and the others are all coming to eat today."

"Oh, Uncle Chen is here too? Isn't he cooking noodles?"

"Don't you get tired of eating noodles every day?" the mother asked irritably as she cooked the vegetables.

Standing under the eaves, Mo Xueyao leaned over and glanced into the pot. It turned out that they were making her favorite sweet and sour pork.

She couldn't help but lick her lips, as if saliva was about to spill out at any moment.

For her, sweet and sour pork was a delicacy she could only enjoy when entertaining guests.

Dinner time was fast approaching, and the dimly lit fruit shop didn't seem quite suitable for entertaining guests.

My father even lit that old-fashioned kerosene lamp and hung it on the red hemp rope, swaying with the wind blowing in from the window.

This gave tonight's dinner a touch of the old society.

That swaying lamp, like the precarious fate of the nation during the Republic of China era, instilled a sense of unease in one's heart.

The mother was almost finished cooking. While she was making soup, she asked Mo Xueyao to call Grandma Jin.

The convenience store was brightly lit, and when she came here from the dimly lit fruit shop, she couldn't help but squint.

Today, the person standing behind the counter in the store is not Zhuang Lianlian from the daytime, but an ordinary boy with an unshaven beard.

He looked like he had just graduated from high school; his features weren't very defined, and he seemed a bit green. He was slightly chubby and looked quite honest. Even if he didn't do anything, he could stand obediently in front of the counter for a long time in a daze.

At dinner, Grandma Jin only ate a couple of bites before returning to the shop and inviting him over to "mooch" a meal.

Mo Xueyao didn't know his name, only that Grandma Jin called him 'Little Wang'.

After all, it's a 24-hour convenience store. Zhuang Lianlian, being a girl, would find working the night shift tiring and dangerous, so she hired a guy who was willing to work all night.

"Xiao Wang, eat more." Mo Wen pointed to the sweet and sour pork with his chopsticks. "This was made especially for you."

"Ah, thank you." Xiao Wang thanked him gratefully, then picked up two pieces a little shyly—and used them to finish the whole bowl of rice.

"Xiao Wang, what school did you graduate from?"

"Uh, I graduated from an ordinary technical school." Xiao Wang seemed reluctant to talk about his past, and answered vaguely.

He sat down next to Mo Xueyao, but whether out of shyness or to avoid suspicion, he moved his seat far away and closer to her father instead.

However, the taciturn 'Little Wang' was surprisingly good at drinking. After two cups of rice wine, Mo Xueyao's father was already rambling incoherently, but he still acted as if he hadn't drunk anything at all, at most his face was slightly flushed.

Mo Xueyao was very curious about his alcohol tolerance, but she refrained from testing him.

Otherwise, I might end up getting the other person drunk.

In any case, none of her classmates could outdrink her...

In the darkness, only under the dim light of the streetlights could the fine rain lines be seen.

Zhuang Lianlian was picked up by Chen Cheng and taken home around 7 o'clock.

I don't know what strange things they're going to do.

The reason she thought this was simply because Mo Xueyao had witnessed Chen Cheng buying a box of a certain brand of contraceptives at a convenience store while Grandma Jin was away...

As the saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet. Who knows, Zhuang Lianlian's belly might get big one day.

At that time, it's hard to say whether it will be a good thing or a bad thing.

But for Chen Cheng's parents, that should be considered a good thing, right?

The clock had already moved to the 'eight' position, and Mo Xueyao's father was already considering packing up the stall.

However, for the 24-hour convenience store next door, this was just the beginning.

Even in Hangzhou, the level of public security drops several notches at night.

Therefore, people who work through the night tend to earn more.

After all, no one can guarantee that they won't run into a few troublesome drunkards at night.

Even if there are police officers on night shift, their efficiency will definitely be very low at that time...

This is still in a large city with a relatively large population. In a small city, without some connections, you probably wouldn't dare to do business all night.

The fruit shop's roller shutter door was already half-closed when it was close to nine o'clock.

At this time, the customers who still patronize the store are basically migrant workers and sanitation workers from the surrounding area.

They usually just pick out cheap fruit that's about to rot, without even going inside the store.

If these fruits can be sold at all, that's already a good thing; at least it can reduce the losses.

With nothing to do, Mo Xueyao walked to the convenience store and found that 'Xiao Wang' was staring blankly at the air in front of him, just like a robot.

This made her unable to resist going into the store.

The "ding-dong" sound brought him back to his senses, and he greeted them as if by reflex: "Welcome to Guangling—uh..."

"I've come to take a look." Mo Xueyao strolled into the store, dazzled by the even wider variety of goods than before. "What time do you get off work?"

"Seven o'clock, uh, morning."

"Oh...you graduated from high school?"

"Oh, no, I started working right after graduating from junior high school."

'Xiao Wang's' answer left Mo Xueyao silent for a long time.

In fact, there are many things in this world that she takes for granted and considers commonplace, but for others, they are a luxury.

Thinking about it more carefully, if her parents were really struggling financially, then perhaps on the day she graduated from high school, she would choose not to gamble on the job prospects after college, but instead choose to go straight to work...?

No one is born on equal footing...

……

Chapter Fifty-Six: Another Circle Around?

When she has nothing to do, Mo Xueyao always likes to count the days.

She can calculate the days to come, and she can also calculate the days to come.

Looking back, time seems to fly by, but looking ahead, the journey seems long.

She grabbed the back of the candy and placed it on her lap. She then picked up a longan that had rolled down, peeled off its crispy outer shell, and popped it into her mouth.

Su Tang stretched out its furry paws, wanting a piece too, but after Mo Xueyao gave it to it, it didn't eat it. Instead, it played with it like a toy.

In the clear sky, there was only a soft, cotton-candy-like white cloud with a hole in the middle, just enough to hold the bright red sunset.

From a distance, it looked just like a fried egg in a frying pan, making Mo Xueyao lick her lips; she even seemed a little hungry.

There's only one weekend left before the official start of school.

However, there are probably not many schools that haven't started yet, because these past two days, you can always see students carrying their schoolbags all over the streets when school lets out.

"Last year, the year before last..." Mo Xueyao tilted her head and slowly calculated, her brain was also lazy and not working, so much so that it took her a long time to think about addition and subtraction within ten.

"It's 2001 now, three years have passed since 1999...? But this year has only just begun, um... it's already February, almost March..."

"What are you calculating?" Li Wanyan sat down next to her, holding a water glass, and sipped the still steaming hot water.

"Counting the time of the surgery, it was the year before last... Wow, that went by so fast."

"Autumn of 1999."

"Time seems to fly by the older you get," Mo Xueyao sighed, as if she had aged many years in an instant.

The orange-red sunset shone on their faces. Li Wanyan gently blew on her water glass and looked at the evening glow on the horizon.

Mo Xueyao's blue eyes were also somewhat unfocused at this moment.

She was reminiscing about the boy when he was a child.

Even though it's a memory from over a decade ago, every time I try to think about it, my brain feels like it's drunk and can't function properly, and the images in my mind become increasingly blurry.

"Hey!" The sudden greeting interrupted Mo Xueyao's thoughts, bringing her wandering soul back to her body.

She and Li Wanyan turned their gazes almost simultaneously and saw Lu Chengyuan, wearing a gray wool coat, standing at the bottom of the steps waving her hand vigorously.

Because she was wearing a lot of clothes, you couldn't tell if her figure had changed. However, her already chubby little face had become even rounder, making her look even more like a big mooncake.

"Lu Chengyuan?" Mo Xueyao blinked and couldn't help but tease, "Has your face gotten bigger again?"

"It's winter break, so I'm bound to gain some weight..." she answered frankly, but still subconsciously touched her cheek lightly, "Xiaoyao, you've gained weight too!"

"I haven't gained any weight. I weighed myself at the pharmacy, and I haven't gained any at all." Mo Xueyao proudly raised her little face. "Trying to fool me? No way."

"That's such a pity. I thought I'd have a companion." Lu Chengyuan sat directly on Mo Xueyao's lap and affectionately pinched her cheek. "Wow, Xiaoyao's cheeks are still so soft."

"Hey, are you possessed by Hua Yinyin? And—you're so heavy!"

"It's not heavy at all~ It's only 110 at most!" She laughed and leaned against Mo Xueyao, as if expressing her longing for them after not seeing each other for so long.