A Young Woman's Heart

It was still early, but Mo Xueyao felt like she had slept enough and wasn't sleepy at all.

He then pushed open the door and walked out of the small room of the fruit shop.

The roller shutter door was locked. She used a key from the inside to open one of the side doors, stretched lazily, and looked at the street at four in the morning.

"It's rare for me to get up this early," she muttered to herself, filling a bottle with water from the tap to brush her teeth. But as soon as the water entered her mouth, she shivered and exclaimed, "Hiss—it's so cold!"

When it's too cold, my teeth get sensitive.

After washing up, it was still early, and the nearby breakfast shops had only just opened.

"I should be able to buy the first batch of steamed buns today, right?" Mo Xueyao muttered to herself, took some change and walked out the door. "Or I'll buy some noodles and eat them at the shop. It's rare to have a leisurely breakfast."

……

Chapter Ninety-Three: Perfume Lily

Because it was still early, even Li Wanyan, who never slept in, hadn't gotten up yet, since her alarm clock hadn't gone off yet.

Mo Xueyao bought breakfast for two people. The other portion consisted of sesame seed cakes and tofu pudding, which could be eaten even when slightly cold, while her own portion was a mixed noodle dish that she had to eat immediately after buying it.

She even took a walk around the store, but couldn't find the bouquet her father had said he would wrap up and put on the table yesterday.

"You really forgot, didn't you?" Mo Xueyao muttered helplessly. Fortunately, she had already prepared a gift, so it didn't matter that she didn't send flowers.

Rather, sending flowers is more about adding auspiciousness, isn't it?

It was still before five o'clock.

Occasionally, the sound of vehicles passing by could be heard outside the shop.

There was also the creaking sound of deliverymen pedaling their tricycles.

"Click." Suddenly, the sound of the lock turning came from the roller shutter door.

This immediately made Mo Xueyao's ears perk up.

Did a thief break in?

Although there wasn't anything particularly valuable in the fruit shop, the hundred-yuan bills in the drawer would be counted by my father every day and brought home.

but……

It's not that there's nothing to steal.

And what if the other party scouted the place beforehand, and wasn't there to steal money, but to steal people?

As a 'boy', Mo Xueyao felt it was his duty to protect the girl, so he subconsciously grabbed the watermelon knife next to him. Su Tang looked at Mo Xueyao with a puzzled expression, yawned widely, and continued to curl up.

"No sense of crisis at all..." Mo Xueyao glanced at Su Tang with disdain, took the watermelon knife and quietly walked to the roller shutter door, ready to take action.

With a "whoosh," the roller shutter door was suddenly lifted up, and a somewhat travel-worn man with a cigarette in his mouth picked up a crowbar placed next to the roller shutter door and pushed it up.

Because this is not an electric roller shutter, external force is needed to completely roll it up.

"Ok?"

"Hey, Dad?"

"What are you doing so early in the morning?" The cigarette seemed glued to his lips, refusing to fall no matter how he spoke, at most only causing a few sparks to fall. "What are you doing with that watermelon knife?"

"I thought there was a thief." Mo Xueyao breathed a sigh of relief and put the watermelon knife on the table. "Why are you here so early today?"

“I went directly to the wholesale market and brought over a batch of fresh flowers in a tricycle. We had almost run out yesterday.”

"Isn't this usually delivered by someone?" Mo Xueyao asked, puzzled.

Her father stared at her as if she were a fool: "I'm just wrapping flowers for you while I'm at it. Flowers look best when they're fresh."

"Huh? So you're not ordering any other fruits?"

"Yeah, I called the delivery guy and had them bring it all over at once." The father said, taking a deep drag on his cigarette, which he held between his index, middle, and thumb fingers. "What are you standing there for? Come and help, you brat."

"You're the one who smells bad! I take baths all the time!" Mo Xueyao retorted, but still ran to the tricycle to help carry the flowers into the shop.

Instead of putting the flowers into their respective vases, the father first cut a piece of kraft paper and wrapped the flowers for her.

"How do you plan to wrap it?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously.

“As a birthday gift, it doesn’t need to be too fancy. Something simple and clean is best, especially since you’re still students.” The father said, cutting off another piece of purple kraft paper.

The wrapping flowers consisted of three pink oriental lilies.

Three branches do not necessarily mean three flowers.

There are several branches on one branch, with about ten flowers of different sizes.

There are also some delicate pink buds that have not yet bloomed. Although they are not as beautiful as fully bloomed lilies, they have their own unique charm.

Three fragrant lilies mean nearly forty lilies.

If you wrap it up, it'll be a huge bunch—the kind you really have to hold in your arms.

While roses are generally only given to boyfriends or girlfriends, lilies have a wider range of applications.

It can be used as a gift for friends or relatives.

"Fragrant lilies symbolize timeless tranquility, while pink ones also carry the additional meaning of purity and elegance," her father explained to Mo Xueyao as he wrapped the flowers.

"I know, I know, Dad. You always tell the guests the meanings of flowers when you wrap them, and I've memorized all of them, okay?" Mo Xueyao rolled up a piece of noodles with her chopsticks, stuffed a big chunk into her mouth, and mumbled indistinctly.

"Haha, I'm used to it, I'm used to it. But it's good for you to learn more, what if you want to take over my business in the future?"

"Ah, let's talk about the future later." Only Mo Xueyao, a first-year high school student, was too lazy to think about things too far ahead.

"Alright, this is a big bunch, be careful carrying it. Anyway, it's a sunny day today, so why don't you and Wanyan go for a walk?"

"Hmm, but why are there only lilies? Aren't you going to add some other garnishes?"

"No need. Every lily has leaves, which are its own decoration. It doesn't need other flowers or grass to decorate it. That's the natural and pure feeling we want."

"Is that so..." Mo Xueyao leaned closer to take a look. It was indeed a bouquet of lilies that were all pink, but even though they were all pink, the color tone was not uniform.

The petals are lighter in color, with the very edges almost white, while the color becomes more intense closer to the stamen, creating a gradient from white to pink.

Because the flowers are fresh, the petals look very open and the color is very fresh, giving one the illusion that they would taste alright if you took a bite.

The flower was wrapped in three layers of kraft paper: the inner layer was light pink, the middle layer was light purple, and the outer layer was a brighter pink. It was also tied with a ribbon that had a lace-like texture, forming a pretty and cute bow.

"It smells so good." Mo Xueyao took a deep breath. "It smells better than any other flower."

“After all, it’s a fragrant lily. How can it be called ‘fragrant’ if it’s not fragrant?” the father laughed, before starting to arrange the other flowers.

"I thought you two weren't up yet, so I brought you both breakfast. Now it seems I'll have to eat it all by myself." After tidying up, the father sat comfortably in his chair, enjoying the leisurely morning.

It was only 5:30 when Li Wanyan arrived, and she had just put on her clothes and stepped outside. When she saw Mo Xueyao leisurely reading the same newspaper with her father, she was slightly taken aback.

"Yaoyao is up early today."

"Hmm, I don't know why, but I slept very well yesterday. I guess I was in deep sleep the whole time, so I woke up early and didn't feel sleepy at all," Mo Xueyao said with a smile. "Wanyan, hurry up and wash up, then we'll go for a walk today."

"Hmm." Li Wanyan saw the bouquet of flowers and understood why without needing an explanation.

After washing up, Mo Xueyao handed breakfast to Li Wanyan so she could eat while walking, while she slung her backpack over her shoulder and picked up the large bouquet of lilies.

"Heave-ho!"

"Is it heavy?" Li Wanyan asked.

"It's okay, it's not heavy, it just blocks the view a bit," Mo Xueyao said, unsteadily following Li Wanyan forward.

Fortunately, there weren't many cars on the road early in the morning, so we didn't encounter any problems.

Mo Xueyao felt completely enveloped in the fragrance of flowers, as if she had sprayed herself with lily-scented perfume. Even after removing the flowers, the fragrance remained.

"Oh my, where did you get such a big bouquet of flowers? Is it for your teacher?" the friendly security guard at the entrance asked with a smile.

"It's for a classmate—" Mo Xueyao replied unsteadily.

"Male classmate?"

"Female classmate—" She rolled her eyes helplessly, not expecting the security guard to be so gossipy.

"Good morning!" As I walked to the classroom door, an unexpected voice rang out. It was Hua Yinyin, who had arrived so early for the first time.

"Oh, is that Hua Yinyin?" Mo Xueyao felt a sense of relief as she walked up to her and stuffed a large bouquet of lilies into her arms. "Here, one of your birthday presents!"

"Wow—what a huge bouquet!" Hua Yinyin exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Eek—it's lilies! Pink oriental lilies!"

"You can still understand?" Mo Xueyao was a little surprised.

"Waaah—" Hua Yinyin looked very moved, "Has Little Yaoyao finally figured it out?"

"What have you figured out?"

"Don't you know the other meaning of lilies?"

"It doesn't sound like a good thing, I'm not listening." Mo Xueyao said with droopy eyelids, urging Li Wanyan, "Wanyan, open the door quickly, I need to sit for a while. I'm exhausted from carrying these flowers for so long, I'm covered in sweat."

Today's high temperature reached 21 degrees Celsius. Even though it will be a bit lower in the morning, it will still be a fairly warm day.

Springtime like this is the most comfortable time of year.

Mo Xueyao sat in Wang Jiale's seat, enjoying the refreshing breeze blowing in from the window. She felt lazy and relaxed, as if her bones had melted.

Hua Yinyin sat beside her, holding flowers, sniffing them and giggling incessantly.

Mo Xueyao finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Hey, you came so early, you must be here to copy homework, right? If you don't copy it now, it'll be too late!"

"Huh? Hmm... Oh right!" Hua Yinyin then remembered something more important, placed the bouquet on her deskmate Mo Zhuyou's desk, and boldly reached out to Mo Xueyao.

Before she could speak, Mo Xueyao pointed to her homework on her desk.

"They're all there, take them yourself."

"OK, Yao Yao is the best!"

"I just hope you'll stop making weird movements..." Mo Xueyao muttered, her eyelids drooping.

"Knock knock." There was a knock on the classroom door, and a boy with short hair that reached his ears walked in. It was Huang Yuxi.

He seemed to be in a good mood because of the nice weather, squinting his eyes and shaking his head, with a pair of earphones in his ears.