A Young Woman's Heart

As evening approached, neither my mother nor my father had returned home.

It wasn't until 8 p.m. that Mo Xueyao, after taking another shower, sat in front of the TV watching cartoons. Although he had seen this episode of Tom and Jerry many times on different TV channels, he still watched it with great interest.

After all, cartoons on TV channels aren't available all the time, and not all of them are ones you like to watch. Being able to see your favorite cartoons is a precious treat!

"Click—" The sound of a key turning came from the doorway.

Mo Xueyao subconsciously looked towards the door and saw her mother walk into the house looking exhausted, leaning against the shoe cabinet taking off her shoes.

"Where's your dad?"

"Not back yet," Mo Xueyao replied without looking up.

"Haven't you had dinner yet?"

"Yes."

"Can't it just burn itself?"

"Uh, I'm not hungry."

"Would you mind having a bowl of noodles?"

"Okay, it would be best to also add a fried egg."

"Didn't you say you weren't hungry?"

"Ahem! Hehe..." Mo Xueyao chuckled awkwardly.

Just as her mother walked in, the door was pushed open again.

The father walked in carrying a large box.

"Come here, Xiaoyao, my wife, come see what good things I bought back?"

Mo Xueyao dashed from the living room to the door, even more eager than when his mother had returned. He looked up at the long box and asked in surprise, "Could it be...?"

……

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Note ①: This is a tribute to the classic but unfortunately discontinued story, "The Daughter's Classic".

Chapter Two: Air Conditioner...Fan?

"Could it be an air conditioner!" Mo Xueyao exclaimed in surprise, hugging the large box with even more affection than she would her parents.

"That's right, it's an air conditioner fan!" Father laughed. "It's much cheaper than an air conditioner! And it's just as cool!"

"Is it really an air conditioner?" The mother was also pleasantly surprised. She completely ignored the word "fan" in the box and eagerly took out scissors to open it. "Honey, why did you suddenly buy this today? Summer is almost over, it's such a waste of money to buy it now..."

Although she said that, the mother clearly seemed very happy.

"Ha, the boss gave us a bonus today. It's not enough to buy an air conditioner, but it should be enough to buy an air cooler!" Dad said proudly, tilting his head back. "Come on, let's try it out and see if it cools us down!"

Among them, Mo Xueyao was the most enthusiastic, as he couldn't wait to experience the coolness brought by the air conditioner.

In this day and age, the only places with air conditioning are large shopping malls. Although you can go there occasionally to sit, you can't go there every day to cool off, that would be too awkward and inconvenient.

When you go to the mall, you can basically only look at the popular science books in the book section.

Libraries should be a great place to go in the summer, but in this day and age, the nearest Hangzhou Library to Mo Xueyao doesn't even have air conditioning, and the others are too far away to be convenient.

After the box was opened, a rectangular object was found inside that was a head shorter than Mo Xueyao, who was about 1.5 meters tall.

It was unlike any air conditioner Mo Xueyao had ever seen.

My mom, being more knowledgeable, asked in surprise, "Is this one of those large, floor-standing air conditioners?"

"Hey, I guess so, this is a brand new model!" Dad couldn't hide his excitement as he plugged in the refrigerator and opened it.

Take a large block of ice from the refrigerator and place it in the sink-like device on top of the air conditioner fan.

"This is... an air conditioner?"

"It's an air conditioning fan!"

"You spendthrift men, this isn't an air conditioner!" the mother asked, both amused and exasperated. "How much did you pay for it?"

"It's not too expensive, five hundred."

"Five hundred?" Mom gasped. "That's way too expensive!"

You should know that my father, as a junior employee in the company, only earns eight hundred yuan a month.

"A real air conditioner would cost two or three thousand, so five hundred is cheap enough. It'll do for now."

"Dad, it's not cool at all..." Mo Xueyao muttered, her eyelids drooping.

"Why isn't it cool? There's a cold breeze here!" the father retorted, placing his hand in front of the air conditioner fan.

"But if it blows far away, it'll get hot again, and do we have that much ice at home..."

"It's okay, this block of ice will last for an hour! We can blow on it when we go to bed tonight."

Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes: "I think it's more convenient for me to take a shower."

In fact, it proved that the air cooler my father bought was not very useful, since the speed at which the refrigerator froze ice was not as fast as the air cooler.

Since I'd already bought it, it would be a waste not to use it. At least its wind power is stronger than an electric fan and it covers a wider area, so in the end, I just started using it as a fan.

That night, Mo Xueyao slept in her own room.

In the middle of the night, my stomach suddenly started hurting again.

The unbearable pain made the sweltering heat seem insignificant. He writhed in agony on the bed until he was too weak to even do so, his face turning deathly pale, devoid of any color.

The pain lasted until the morning of the next day.

"Get up, you little rascal!" Mom's voice rang out. "Don't sleep in during summer vacation!"

Mo Xueyao didn't say anything. In fact, he hadn't slept all night and was too weak to speak.

"You can't pay up, huh?" Mom's voice came from outside the door. Then, the door was pushed open forcefully, and she walked in with a clothes rack, only to find Mo Xueyao curled up in pain.

"Xiaoyao, what's wrong?"

"Mom, my stomach hurts..."

Did you eat something bad yesterday?

"I don't know..." Mo Xueyao felt it probably wasn't an upset stomach, because the pain had been going on for a long time, and it had only recently become more and more 'rampant'.

His mother put down the clothes rack, walked anxiously to his side, and touched his forehead with the back of her hand.

"Your forehead is so cold."

"Do you have a low-grade fever...?" Mo Xueyao said, trembling. "Mom, I'm in so much pain..."

"Oh, you probably have heatstroke. Let me give you a gua sha treatment."

“Okay…” Adhering to the principle of not spending money if possible, even though she knew that scraping would hurt, Mo Xueyao still lay down and prepared to be scraped.

Mom rushed into the kitchen, turned off the stove, poured a bowl of cold water, and sat down behind Mo Xueyao.

Gua sha involves scraping with a spoon, but for even better results, you can twist the affected area directly with your hands.

When you notice your skin turning purple from being pinched, it means the treatment is working.

"Does it hurt?" the mother asked with concern.

"My back doesn't hurt, but my stomach hurts..." Mo Xueyao replied numbly.

Soon, his back was covered in bruises, with almost no intact skin left.

But the stomach pain did not lessen; in fact, it worsened.

Does it still hurt?

"It hurts..." Mo Xueyao gritted her teeth, barely able to utter any other words.

"Mom will take you to the hospital to get checked out."

"I can't walk..."

"Drink some hot water first, I'll call your godfather."

In this era, "godfather" is still a positive term, symbolizing a special kind of kinship that connects people even though they are not related by blood.

Mo Xueyao's godfather is a civil servant who was just promoted to section chief this year. His unit provided him with a car, which was quite impressive in those days.

Before long, there was a knock on the door. A man who was slightly overweight and had a large face, unlike the lean and strong father, stood at the door and called out, "Ayu, open the door!"

His voice wasn't deep or resonant, nor did it possess the maturity and magnetism of a middle-aged man. Instead, it had a bright and refreshing quality, sounding somewhat youthful.

"Here you are, Ah Liang. How come you're here so fast?"

"You drove here. How's Xiaoyao?"

He said he was in so much pain that he couldn't walk.

"I'll do it." The godfather said, walking into Mo Xueyao's room and seeing him curled up, looking pained.

Without asking any questions, I simply picked him up and carried him in my arms.

My godfather always looks so chubby, except that the stubble on his lip has gotten a bit darker over time.

Although her godfather was fat, he was still over 1.7 meters tall, so lifting Mo Xueyao, who was only over 1.5 meters tall, was not a problem.

Although he hadn't exercised for years, he was already sweating profusely after only holding him for a short while.

But he still gritted his teeth and persevered, running downstairs and placing Mo Xueyao in the trunk of that classic 1990s Santana.

In this era, the Santana was still an unattainable car in people's minds. Even his godfather couldn't afford it; it was just a car issued to him by his work unit, which allowed him to drive it as a private car.

Mo Xueyao's mother also got into the car, and her godfather started the car without even fastening his seatbelt.

"Ah Liang, you're not wearing a seatbelt again."

"Anyway, no one's checking."

"It's better to fasten it, it's safer."