A Young Woman's Heart

My father will probably be busy until late at night again, and my mother recently found a new job as a nanny cooking dinners in the evenings, so she probably won't be home until very late either.

Fortunately, we still had some brittle at home.

Right now, it's burying something with its hind legs in the basin of sand its father has filled.

When Mo Xueyao leaned closer to look, she discovered that there were already several... unidentified objects inside.

Hmm, the cat is clearly very clean, but its poop smells really bad...

Yeah, how could this stuff possibly smell good!

Mo Xueyao pinched her nose, grabbed the edge of the basin, walked downstairs, and dumped them all into the trash can.

Then I found a large bag of sand that was on the balcony, poured it back into the basin, and put it back in the same spot.

"Meow~" Su Tang gently rubbed against Mo Xueyao's ankle, very affectionately.

Although she was a little reluctant because she had just cleaned up its excrement, she couldn't resist its cuteness and couldn't help but squat down and pet it.

Owning a pet always involves dealing with these kinds of things...

That's part of life, isn't it?

Mo Xueyao, who was already a little hungry, realized that she wouldn't be able to wait for her parents to come home and cook today.

So I decided to take care of dinner by myself.

There was some leftover rice in the refrigerator, enough for Mo Xueyao to eat by herself.

Eggs are available, but meat... is not.

But there are scallions.

Making a simple egg fried rice is no problem.

Mo Xueyao could easily chop the scallions into scallion flowers.

To avoid overcooking the eggs, Mo Xueyao chose to put the rice in first, and then add the beaten eggs after the rice was broken up...

It seems the technique wasn't quite right, resulting in the eggs and rice sticking together, looking mushy and not very appetizing.

Su Tang kept meowing at Mo Xueyao's feet, which made it very inconvenient for her to move around, for fear that she might accidentally step on it.

"Alright, alright, why do you keep barking... what's wrong?" Mo Xueyao asked it, not expecting it to answer.

She had already put the fried rice into a bowl, placed it on the table, and then made a simple soup.

It's called soup, but it's more like salted water with a few pieces of pickled mustard greens in it...

Su Tang smelled the aroma of the food and grabbed onto Mo Xueyao's thigh.

"Hey... don't scratch... you'll tear my socks." The ever-frugal Mo Xueyao hurriedly picked it up and placed it on her lap. "What's wrong... um... um? Is it hungry?"

"Meow~ Meow~" Su Tang continued to meow, sticking out her soft little tongue to lick her palm.

"Are you really hungry? Hmm... I think so... I haven't fed you anything since yesterday..." Mo Xueyao slapped her forehead, only then remembering this.

After all, this family is just too busy; it's perfectly normal that they forgot to feed the cat since it just arrived at their home...

If it hadn't kept meowing, I might have even forgotten there was a cat in the house.

Mo Xueyao found a small plate, shared some of her fried rice with it, and also filled a bowl with water for it to drink.

Su Tang was indeed hungry, and thirsty at that. She licked up most of the water in one go, and wolfed down the fried rice in the small dish in one go. Then she looked longingly at Mo Xueyao.

"Eh... do you want more...?"

……

I'm begging for monthly votes!

Chapter Thirty-Six: Days When I Didn't Want to Go to School

The date was Monday, October 11, 1999.

A light drizzle was falling from the sky outside the window.

The sky, which already brightens later than in summer, is now completely dark because of the light rain.

"Ring ring—ring ring—" The alarm clock always rang when Mo Xueyao was sleeping the best.

What greeted it was, of course, a sudden, impatient slap from Mo Xueyao.

The alarm clock was turned off. She turned over and told herself she should get up, but she just couldn't get out of bed.

He pressed one hand against the bed frame, while struggling to stand up with the other.

When she thought she had stood up, she found herself still lying down...

"Meow~" Su Tang was woken up by the alarm clock and gently jumped to Mo Xueyao's pillow, gently scratching her hair with her fluffy little paws.

"Ugh... I'm up..." Mo Xueyao took a deep breath and sat up with force.

"Meow~"

"Good morning... You look so energetic..." Mo Xueyao patted Su Tang's head, but she didn't even have the strength to touch it a few more times.

A morning just like any other.

Breakfast, as always, was laid out on the dining table at home.

"Wait... wait, is there stir-fried rice cake today?"

"Yes, go wash up. The porridge is in the rice cooker. The porridge is cooked with rice cake."

"Wow, not bad, not bad!" Mo Xueyao immediately perked up. It was rare for her family to have breakfast that wasn't just pickled vegetables with porridge, so this stirred up some of her cravings.

After brushing her teeth, Mo Xueyao filled a basin with water, placed it on a stool, and then submerged her face directly in the water.

Cool water can make you feel much more refreshed and also make your skin feel less dry.

Perhaps soaking your face directly in water is even more effective than using a face mask.

"Has Dad already left?" Mo Xueyao asked.

"Yes, I left early."

"So early on a rainy day..." Mo Xueyao yawned widely and slowly sat down in the chair.

Anyway, there's plenty of time, so there's no need to rush.

Whenever it rains, I have absolutely no desire to go out.

On days like these, the place I most want to go is home, and if I had to take it a step further, it would be—my bed.

“Of course all work is this hard,” the mother replied. “Unlike you, you only have to go to school every day, how easy is that.”

"Um...actually, it's raining today, and I'm not really keen on going to school...wearing a raincoat on rainy days is such a hassle."

"You think this is too much trouble? I'd rather go to school myself. When I was in school, your grandfather wouldn't let me go at all. He said that girls were useless in school, otherwise I wouldn't have dropped out of elementary school."

"Well, times have changed—Mom, please stop bringing up old stories." Mo Xueyao picked up a piece of rice cake and put it in her mouth, chewing it heartily. "Mmm! Delicious!"

"Then eat more, so you won't get hungry before you've had lunch."

"It would be great if we could take it to school to eat."

“It’ll be cold by noon,” the mother replied, her voice trembling as she spoke, seemingly never stopping for a moment.

In Mo Xueyao's memory, it seemed that her mother was only truly relaxed when watching TV at night. Apart from that time, she was always busy whenever she was awake.

They're either busy with family matters or busy with work.

It must be really tiring to be on edge every day and rarely have a moment to relax.

In comparison, Mo Xueyao was definitely the most relaxed person in the whole family.

The light drizzle didn't stop until she finished breakfast.

Mo Xueyao preferred a thorough, torrential downpour, one that ended quickly and decisively.

She disliked this kind of continuous drizzle, because it often meant that the rain would last all day.

Especially in autumn and winter, it can make you feel damp all over, as if your clothes are always covered in water droplets.

But the weather in the South has always been like this. No matter how much you don't like it, you still get through each year, right?

Life is a constant struggle against oneself.

For example, even though she really didn't want to go to school because of the rain, Mo Xueyao still had to struggle to walk out the door and force herself to go to school.

She is a very sensitive person. The raincoat she wears while cycling is made of poor material, which makes her feel very uncomfortable when she puts it on, especially the part that is in contact with her skin.

But what can we do?

Even if you don't want to, you have to put it on.

Mo Xueyao put on her raincoat at the door and then, as usual, said goodbye to her mother who was still busy at home.

"Mom, I'm going out!"

"Be careful on the road when it rains, don't ride too fast—" No matter how many times it rains, her mother always seems to say the same thing when she goes out.

He kept repeating the same thing over and over.

People are tired of hearing it.

So Mo Xueyao didn't listen to the whole thing before pretending to be in a great hurry and went downstairs.

Because of the rain, even though it was already six o'clock, the sky looked like it was only four-thirty in the morning.

The sun must have already risen, but it was just obscured by the dark clouds in the sky, which looked as if they had been painted with thick ink.

There were fewer cars and pedestrians on the road than usual, perhaps because of the rain, and most people were going out later.

This is certainly not because I'm waiting for the rain to stop, but because I don't want to go out in the rain, so it will just delay me a little.

Even though I was wearing a raincoat, the cold raindrops were still blown by the wind and fell obliquely into the raincoat.

And the uncovered face was soaking wet, as if a basin of water had been poured over it.

Fortunately, Mo Xueyao doesn't wear glasses, otherwise, in this kind of weather, her glasses would definitely be blurred by the rain.