A Young Woman's Heart

Now that her parents have passed away, she should live on in their place.

—Take their happiness with you.

"Dong dong."

The car door was knocked on again.

Zhuang Lianlian paused for a moment, then gently opened the car door.

I thought of what Chen Cheng had said yesterday.

Although she refused, he seemed to come anyway.

"Good morning!" A young man with a cigarette in his mouth stood at the car door, holding a steaming breakfast in his hand. He greeted her with a smile, as beautiful and radiant as the morning sun overhead.

……

Chapter Twenty-Three: Gao Yuan's Family Business Vehicle

On Friday morning, snowflakes were still falling in the streets.

Through the narrow window of the fruit shop's small room, you can see that white world.

Although there was no golden sunlight, light still shone in from the window, allowing one to see the dust particles dancing in the air.

The whole world looked like a black and white illustration, with the heavy snow seemingly obscuring all other colors.

"Ugh—" Mo Xueyao felt a little short of breath and slowly woke up from her sleep.

Although the sun hadn't come out, it was already quite bright. On a snowy day, if the sky is still this bright, it usually means it's already very late.

She didn't know if it was because she had slept for too long, but her head was a little dizzy, her hands and feet were a little numb, and she couldn't muster any strength.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that Li Wanyan was holding her tightly, her brows furrowed, and her lips moving as if she were muttering something, but no sound came out.

"Wanyan, Wanyan..." Mo Xueyao struggled to pull her hand away and shook her body. "You're holding me too tightly, I can hardly breathe..."

"Hmm...?" Li Wanyan probably only showed this adorable, slightly bewildered expression when she was still half-asleep. She rubbed her eyes in confusion, smacked her lips softly, and whispered, "Good morning..."

"Good morning, time to get up." Mo Xueyao reached for the alarm clock on the bedside table. "Ah, it's already past nine!"

"You've slept for so long." Upon hearing this, Li Wanyan rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up, but she immediately fell back down. "Anyway, there's no class, I'll sleep a little longer."

Mo Xueyao was somewhat surprised, not expecting that Li Wanyan would also have times when she wanted to stay in bed longer.

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the small room.

"Yaoyao, Wanyan, are you still not awake?" Her mother's voice came from outside.

"I'm awake, I'm awake, I'll get up right away!" Mo Xueyao quickly replied, taking the clothes that had been covering her with the blankets while she slept and putting them on one by one.

Mo Xueyao doesn't like to wear too many clothes when she sleeps, which makes it difficult for her to get out of bed in winter.

—Because it's too cold to wear just a tank top.

If she wears too many clothes, she won't be able to sleep.

So I would put the clothes I would wear the next day on the blanket each time, so that I could just get dressed in bed in the morning.

"Your classmate is here to pick you up for a club activity."

"Huh?" Mo Xueyao was stunned. She had no recollection of any club activities and had no idea who had come to find her.

The problem is, it seems like nobody knows where her family's fruit shop is, right?

And even if you knew, how could you be so sure she was in the fruit shop?

Of course, it's also possible that they're looking for Li Wanyan; if they find her, they can also find Mo Xueyao.

Since there was no school today, Mo Xueyao was finally able to avoid wearing that winter skirt that was still chilly even with fleece-lined leggings underneath.

Unfortunately, none of the clothes left here were pants, so she still had to wear a skirt.

However, this is a long dress that my mother bought a few days ago, the kind that goes all the way up to her ankles.

In any case, it's much warmer than a short skirt.

Of course, you still need to wear fleece-lined leggings underneath, since the wind can still blow in.

It seems that her mother is always trying to change Mo Xueyao's hobbies and habits, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This long dress is a very girly pink, and you know that nowadays high school girls don't really like to wear pink clothes.

The skirt has some white stripes and is made of cotton, so it's quite comfortable to wear, although it looks like ethnic minority clothing.

If you ignore the overly pink color...

She wore a thermal undershirt over a sweater, and then a short white coat over that.

It's called a short coat because it doesn't reach the thighs; it only covers half of the buttocks.

The cold air was finally kept out, but Mo Xueyao felt as clumsy as a bear that had accumulated a lot of fat.

My arms seem unable to straighten out.

"Summer is definitely better," she muttered to herself. "If I had to choose between summer and winter, I would definitely choose summer."

"Really?" Li Wanyan tossed her hair and put on her clothes. When her mother bought clothes for Mo Xueyao, she also bought her an identical set. "If I had to choose, I'd pick the winter one."

"why?"

"Because it's too hot in summer, you can't take off all your clothes, and in winter, you can just wear something thicker."

"Pshaw, you can go swimming in the summer too."

"But you can't stay in the water all day, can you?"

"Hmm...that's true. I don't like summer or winter either. Spring and autumn are definitely the best." Mo Xueyao climbed out of the window, stretched, glanced at the ground, and then realized her shoes were gone. "Mom—where are my shoes!"

"It's washed!" the mother replied. "Of those two pairs of leather shoes over there, the one a size smaller is yours!"

"And you're buying leather shoes too..."

"It's almost New Year's, of course I need new clothes!"

"Okay." Mo Xueyao slipped her feet into the pair of women's leather shoes that were a size too small, stomped her feet, and said, "Hmm, that's about right."

"Yaoyao's feet are so small," Li Wanyan said with a faint smile.

Mo Xueyao stretched out a big yawn and picked up the toiletries next to her: "Really? It doesn't seem that small."

“Any smaller and you’d be a child.” Li Wanyan climbed out of bed and put on her little leather shoes. “Yaoyao’s size is 34, right? Mine is 36, but even 36 is considered small.”

"So, what size should it usually be?"

"If you're around 1.6 meters tall, 36 or 37 inches would be normal. If you're 1.7 meters tall, it should be around 38 inches."

"I see." Mo Xueyao nodded. "Anyway, let's hurry up and wash up. It seems someone is waiting for us outside."

"It should be Gao Yuan."

"Huh? How did Wanyan know?"

"Guess."

Pushing open the door, I saw a black van parked in front of the store, and a large group of students from the club were chatting with Mo Xueyao's parents.

It seems like they just arrived.

"Hello Uncle, hello Auntie~" Mo Xiaoxiao greeted politely and said sweetly, "Auntie must have been very beautiful when she was young. She still has a lot of elegance now."

"Oh my, young lady, you're so sweet-talking! Hehe, no, no, I'm not that pretty."

"You must be very beautiful. Yaoyao must look just like you, right?" Mo Xiao smiled with her eyes crinkling, greeting Mo Xueyao who had just come out. "Yaoyao, you're finally up?"

"Hey, what brings you all here all of a sudden? And how did you know about this place?"

"Hehe, I pointed out the way." Zhou Yong said smugly, "Didn't you tell that girl that your family's fruit shop was downstairs from the Cancer Hospital the other day? Then when Gao Yuan picked me up today, I told him that there's only one fruit shop downstairs from the Cancer Hospital, so it's quite easy to find."

"Your ears are too sharp." Mo Xueyao yawned helplessly. "What are we going to do today? Hmm... I need to wash up first."

After saying this, the mother gestured to Mo Xueyao with her eyes and said tactfully, "Xiaoyao, take your time washing, no need to rush."

The implication was that she should be more ladylike and not just apply some face powder and call it a day, since so many people were watching.

"I understand." Mo Xueyao raised her eyebrows, understanding her mother's meaning.

What follows is a performance.

Even when Mo Xueyao is washing her face properly, it doesn't usually take that long.

But today she spent five minutes just brushing her teeth.

It took me ten minutes to wash my face, and I applied the face wash three times. I felt like I was about to wash my face raw.

Is this a good or bad thing?

I feel that everything in excess is as bad as deficiency.

But everyone thought it was normal.

Or rather, it would be strange if someone as beautiful as Mo Xueyao didn't pay attention to skincare at all, right?

Furthermore, boys often have a mindset influenced by their elders.

That is, girls always have a long time to prepare before going out. Even high school girls who don't need to wear makeup will take longer than boys, which is normal.

After a night's sleep, Mo Xueyao's hair was a bit messy. She picked up a comb and combed it a couple of times, intending to finish, but Li Wanyan subtly grabbed her wrist: "Xiaoyao, let me comb it for you."

"Ah...? Oh, okay." So, Li Wanyan spent a few more minutes combing Mo Xueyao's hair neatly. "How about we don't tie it up today?"

"Huh? It's inconvenient not to tie it up." Mo Xueyao touched her hair, which was already longer than her shoulders. "Speaking of which, I feel like my hair is getting a bit long. I should get a haircut."

“It looks better with longer hair, why bother with a haircut? Let Xiaoyao wear her hair down like this today,” Mo Xueyao’s mother said, leaving her with no room for argument.

There were just too many people, so I felt embarrassed to directly refute them.

So I had no choice but to agree.

"Haha, she usually wears a single ponytail, but it's nice to go without it sometimes," Zhou Yong laughed. "Anyway, Mo Xueyao is beautiful no matter what!"

The compliment made the situation a little awkward for a moment.

Gao Yuan rolled her eyes, nudged Zhou Yong's arm, and continued the conversation: "Perfect, we've never seen Mo Xueyao with long hair before, let's feast our eyes on her today, hehe, how about the girls don't tie their hair up anymore?"