A Young Woman's Heart

"What are you doing? Are you going to drink one more sip even if it kills you?" Mo Xueyao muttered, rinsing her arm with tap water in disgust.

"Xiaoyao, don't swat the mosquitoes on yourself. Their mouthparts will stay inside your body and cause inflammation," Lu Chengyuan reminded her.

"I know, but no matter how I try to shoo them away, they won't leave. I can't just let them drink their fill of blood before they leave, can I?" Mo Xueyao complained. "Ugh, mosquitoes are so annoying. Why do mosquitoes even exist in this world?"

“Mosquitoes are also part of the ecosystem,” Li Wanyan said, moving the mosquito coil closer to Mo Xueyao.

"Realgar wine is completely useless! It's supposed to repel insects, but it can't even keep mosquitoes away!"

This is probably one of the troubles of summer.

Summer is not as cold as winter, and you don't need to wear thick clothes that restrict your movement.

However, those annoying mosquitoes also do nothing to lift one's spirits.

The most annoying of them are mosquitoes, and the most disgusting are cockroaches.

"Smack!" Su Tang slapped a cockroach that crawled out from under the cabinet to death and disdainfully swept it outside the fruit shop.

"Wow, Su Tang is amazing! She actually killed a cockroach!" Lu Chengyuan exclaimed.

"Ugh, how disgusting." Mo Xueyao frowned. "I have to wash Sutang's paws before going to bed, otherwise it will use those paws that it used to swat cockroaches to step onto our bed."

"Mm." Li Wanyan nodded in agreement.

"Why are you so disgusted with it? It's quite dutiful, isn't it? It catches both mice and cockroaches, like a cat doing two jobs!" Lu Chengyuan laughed with a hint of schadenfreude. "And even if it's been washed, what if it goes off to swat cockroaches and catch mice again while you're asleep at night?"

"Yeah, right, we should keep Sutang outside the door so it can't keep sneaking onto the bed." Mo Xueyao pinched Sutang's chin. "Silly cat, you even went to bite the cockroach! Ugh—you have a cockroach leg in your mouth, spit it out!"

"Meow—?"

……

Chapter 319 I refuse to believe that dreams are a manifestation of the subconscious! (Part 1)

Sometimes, people can realize that they are not in reality, but that doesn't mean they can realize that they are dreaming.

When Mo Xueyao woke up and saw the rows of medieval-style stone buildings, she was somewhat bewildered.

For a moment, she didn't understand where she was.

"Could it be... that I traveled back in time?" she muttered to herself.

However, she was only conscious when she first entered the room.

Then it was as if she had been replaced by another personality, and she was able to swim freely in this strange world as if she had been born here from the very beginning.

Past memories are so real and fulfilling—in reality, they're not fulfilling at all, but in dreams, you don't care about those tiny, minor mistakes.

Standing on the bustling street, she now resembles a greasy middle-aged man.

According to his memories in the dream, he was thirty-three years old that year.

He barely makes a living by ghostwriting formulaic scripts for playwrights, and spends most of his time in the low-rise building left by his parents in the suburbs, where he never sees the sunlight.

I only go out when I need to buy food and daily necessities.

Just like those men who walk by on the street who are about to leave their youth and enter middle age, he always presciently calls himself a middle-aged man.

This is actually a form of self-deprecation.

Like the overweight middle-aged men walking by on the street, he had sparse hair.

From any perspective, they are just ordinary people.

"I heard that the prince is looking for the girl he met at the ball when he was thirteen, and he wants to marry her and make her his queen!"

"The marriage arranged for him by the king has already been rejected..."

"Isn't the prince afraid that the king will prevent him from succeeding to the throne because of this?"

"Haha, that's impossible. Although the king is still the king, he is actually..."

"Shh, there are some things you shouldn't say."

The sound of people talking could be heard from the street.

Little did they know that the woman the prince was looking for was actually right beside them.

That's right, it's the overweight middle-aged man next to me who, although only thirty-three years old, looks forty.

This stemmed from a life-altering event that plunged his family into dire straits, forcing him to become a pillar of society and support his family.

Excessive hard work left him exhausted, and he didn't have enough money or time to take care of himself.

However, don't misunderstand, he didn't turn from a woman into a man. Rather, the dance partner the prince is looking for is the same person he was when he was thirteen, dressed in a noble gown and made up.

He silently walked past the people talking, sighed softly, and couldn't help but think that he had also had such times when he was young.

He was once handsome, and even more beautiful than a girl.

It was this beauty that left a deep impression on the prince's heart, which is why he wanted to find her as his wife and make her his queen before he ascended the throne.

However, time never returns.

He sighed and carried the food and daily necessities he had bought into the forest.

Passing through this forest, you will arrive at his home located in the suburbs.

—Although he clearly remembered that his home was in the city, even with this change in his memory, he did not feel any sense of incongruity.

It was as if his memory had never been altered at all.

As he walked through the forest, he was suddenly blinded by a ray of sunlight and then saw a gemstone necklace hanging from a treetop.

The red gemstone necklace is both alluring and beautiful.

It was as if a voice was urging him to grasp it.

Then, he actually heard that voice.

“Pick it up, it’s the power left behind by the witch… If you get it, you can go back to the past, back to when you were thirteen years old.”

A strong impulse stirred within him, making him unable to resist grasping the ruby ​​necklace.

A voice inside him screamed: "I want to be a beautiful girl, not an ugly, greasy middle-aged man!"

In fact, the age of thirteen was the peak of his dream realization.

From a young age, he had this urge to be a girl with smooth skin, delicate features, and beautiful appearance, and to enjoy the love and envious glances of others.

Although he would still be a man if he returned to the age of thirteen, at least at that time, he had a more captivating appearance than a real girl.

So he took the ruby ​​necklace in his hand.

A strange light enveloped his entire body, making him look like he did when he was thirteen years old.

She was light-footed, had delicate features, and smooth skin...

The feeling of having lost it and then regained it almost made her cry.

However, the witch's power does not come without a price.

That extra age must be transferred to someone else, and if that person dies, it must be transferred to a new unfortunate soul.

In addition, to maintain her current beauty and prevent aging, she must absorb the lives of others.

However, this is not difficult; as long as you are in a crowded place, you can ask the people around you to share the burden.

For example, stealing the life of the man standing in front in the first second, and stealing the life of the woman standing to the side in the second second.

Because they only steal small amounts each time, no one notices.

All she had to do was wander around crowded places, steal enough life force, and store the excess.

This relieved her of any psychological burden.

As for who should bear the burden of her excessive age and accelerate her aging?

It's very simple; just let the 'bad guys' take the blame.

For example, that woman in the clothing store who always looked at me with disdain...

So Mo Xueyao did just that. She walked past the clothing store and blamed the extra age on her.

She aged twenty years in an instant.

But no matter how terrified she was, it could not be changed until the day she died.

This is the power of time.

The original owner of this ruby ​​necklace was none other than the legendary Witch of Time.

She spent a lot of money to buy a beautiful dress, and when she put it on, she was so moved that she cried.

"Waaah...waaah...everything, everything is back..."

Even without makeup, the owner of the upscale clothing store couldn't tell she was a boy instead of a girl. He asked with some confusion, "Little girl, why are you crying? Is it because you really want to buy it but don't have the money? It's okay, I can give you a discount, and I'll even give you all the matching accessories."

"Um... thank you...!" Mo Xueyao's tears flowed even more uncontrollably.

Yes, this is a privilege only beautiful girls can enjoy...

They're back, they're all back, her youth has returned.

She wore one piece of jewelry after another, and each piece seemed to fill her heart with joy.

Hair accessories, hair ties, bracelets...

The necklace she wore was, of course, the ruby ​​necklace, which further accentuated the whiteness of her skin.

She danced on the street, performing the most beautiful dance.

Some were amazed, some were impressed.

Some people wondered if this was the girl the prince was looking for.

However, so many years have passed, and that thirteen-year-old girl is now thirty-three. No matter how well she takes care of herself, she could never look so young.

She felt deeply intoxicated by the envious, admiring, jealous, or even greedy and burning gazes of others.

To be the center of attention—what a wonderful thing.