A Young Woman's Heart

"What do you need a tricycle for?" the mother asked, puzzled.

"Phew...making money, huh..." The father slid off the chair to the floor, then tilted his head back and lay down, falling asleep in less than a second.

Mo Xueyao glanced at her puzzled mother, then at her drunken, sleeping father, and a premonition began to creep into her heart—

Could it be that my father... was laid off?

……

Chapter Two: Struggling to Make a Living

Wednesday, November 1999, 9.

Four o'clock in the morning.

Yesterday, after my father came home, he was completely drunk and unconscious. My mother made a makeshift bed for him on the floor and let him sleep there.

Although Mo Xueyao felt uneasy, she went to sleep.

She rarely gets up to urinate in the middle of the night, but she was woken up by the urge to urinate in the early hours of the morning.

The room wasn't as quiet as I'd imagined; I could almost hear deliberately muffled footsteps.

Mo Xueyao brushed her long hair, which was obscuring her vision, and almost thought a thief had broken into her house.

She carefully opened the door a crack and peered into the living room through the gap.

The living room light was on, and the father was getting dressed, sighing several times to himself.

"...Dad, why are you up so early today?" Mo Xueyao felt relieved and walked out of the bedroom while yawning. She stood in front of the squat toilet at home, feeling a little unaccustomed to it... After pausing for a moment, she closed the door and squatted down.

It's just because I remembered that I'm a girl now, and I can no longer easily stand up and go to the toilet...

"Go haul the goods," the father said in a slightly hoarse voice, followed by the sound of him gulping down water.

"Huh...?"

“Even if you don’t have a job, you still need to eat,” the father cleared his throat and said with a light laugh. “You can actually make quite a bit of money loading and unloading goods with a tricycle.”

"But it must be very tiring."

"Ha, it's alright," the father said with a forced smile. "I'm heading out."

"...Um...Be careful on the road, Dad."

Mo Xueyao's voice sounded somewhat muffled.

After using the toilet and returning to the room, the alarm clock on the bedside table was displaying the time.

It's only 4:10.

Leaving home so early, perhaps it's to try and snag some work.

Although she didn't quite understand, she could sense the hardships her father had endured.

Making a living—these four simple words are like a mountain weighing down on one's shoulders...

For many people, life is not easy.

Mo Xueyao drifted off to sleep again, and when she woke up, her mother had already left the house—seemingly earlier than usual.

After all, her family owed 50,000 yuan, and Mo Xueyao's expenses would only increase in the future, so she couldn't afford not to work hard to earn money.

Both her father and mother were busy making a living and supporting the family, which left Mo Xueyao feeling somewhat helpless.

Instinctively wanting to do something for the family, I found that besides studying hard, there seemed to be nothing I could do.

After today and tomorrow, it will be the National Day holiday.

Mo Xueyao hesitated in bed for two hours until she realized it was already nine o'clock before deciding to give up.

"Forget it, I'll just stay home and rest for the next couple of days..." She instinctively resisted going to school and facing new things.

Perhaps it's because of worry and fear that they chose to find an excuse to escape.

Escape for as long as you can—even if you still have to face it eventually.

But people who can convince themselves to immediately face all difficulties and setbacks are still a minority.

Mo Xueyao swayed as she walked into the kitchen, smoothing her long hair, which was a little messy from sleeping all night.

The porridge I cooked this morning swelled up because I didn't eat it right away, and as a result, it lost a lot of water. It looked neither like porridge nor rice; it was a mushy mess.

There was only one packet of pickled mustard greens left at home. Mo Xueyao couldn't bear to finish it, so when she put the pickled mustard greens in the bowl, she poured some of the pickled mustard greens' juice into the bowl to replace the pickled mustard greens themselves.

"It's a mess everywhere..." Mo Xueyao looked at the things piled up all over the house and the dust in the corners of the floor, and couldn't stand it anymore. "Forget it... I'll clean it properly today."

Normally, cleaning is something I only do when my mother tells me to; it's rare for me to do it on my own initiative like I did today.

This also shows just how dirty and messy her house was, to the point that she couldn't stand it anymore.

Although the house is not big, only about fifty square meters in total, there are quite a lot of things piled up there.

Cleaning is quick, but organizing things is a test of patience.

Bottles and jars, bags of random things, slippers scattered about...

In short, everything was neatly arranged and categorized. Although it was still piled up everywhere, at least it looked much more pleasing to the eye.

Even the corners that her mother couldn't reach when mopping the floor were wiped several times, and those places were basically covered with a thick layer of dust. It seemed that her father hadn't cleaned the house carefully when Mo Xueyao and her mother weren't home.

The house was cleaned spotlessly, which made me feel much more comfortable.

Mo Xueyao stretched with a sense of accomplishment and realized that it was already noon.

Logically, my mother should be home cooking at this time.

It's already one o'clock, but I still haven't gone home.

I guess they thought she would go to class today.

With that in mind, Mo Xueyao decided to make lunch herself.

But when I opened the refrigerator, I found that there was very little food inside.

There were only a few tomatoes and some scallions, plus a bowl of preserved vegetables that my father had been eating before leaving home, which he still hadn't finished after a month.

The preserved mustard greens were covered with a thick layer of lard, but there wasn't a single piece of meat left.

Mo Xueyao originally wanted to find some eggs to make fried rice.

But there weren't even any eggs at home.

I really don't know how my father has been coping these past few days. Has he not been buying groceries at all?

She searched around the house in desperation and finally found a tube of noodles.

"Hmm... I remember you should boil it in water first, then take it out..."

Mo Xueyao tried it herself, but she seemed a bit clumsy and unfamiliar with it.

The first time, the noodles were undercooked, but the second time, they were overcooked.

But I managed to make a bowl of scallion oil noodles, albeit with some difficulty.

The oil used is lard from preserved mustard greens. Although there is no meat, it has a meaty aroma, which is better than nothing.

Although Mo Xueyao doesn't have a large appetite, she was still a little unsatisfied after eating a bowl of scallion oil noodles.

She leaned against the balcony window, looking down at the steamed bun shop that was still open.

It seems there are only a few steamed buns left to buy.

"I really want to eat steamed buns..."

There's money in the piggy bank.

But there weren't many; most were one-cent coins, or even a few cents.

I can still afford to buy a few steamed buns.

But Mo Xueyao couldn't bear to part with the flowers.

After all, it was money she had worked hard to save, and she wanted to keep it to buy herself a gift on her birthday.

But once you start using the money in your piggy bank, you definitely won't be able to save any more.

After all, once something happens the first time, it's easy to do it a second time, a third time...

So even though she was drooling with envy, she didn't actually take money from her piggy bank.

"Just bear with it... After all, I've spent a lot of my family's money lately..." Mo Xueyao muttered to herself.

At that moment, a rhythmic, gentle knocking sounded at the door.

My parents both have keys, so they probably won't knock on the door.

Mo Xueyao ran to the door in confusion and asked, "Who is it?"

……

Chapter 3 Class Monitor of Class 2, Grade 11

Amidst the rhythmic knocking, a crisp, efficient female voice rang out: "Excuse me, is this Mo Xueyao's house?"

"Hmm...it's me..." Mo Xueyao opened the wooden door on the inside with a puzzled look. There was a short passageway between here and the iron gate. Through the gap in the iron gate, she could see a girl wearing a short skirt.

The hem of her skirt was just above her knees, but a section of her smooth, fair thigh could still be vaguely seen.

Mo Xueyao's face flushed slightly, and she quickly shifted her gaze to her face.

She wore a high ponytail, with her bangs pulled back, making her look neat and capable.