A Young Woman's Heart

In the past, Mo Xueyao would often climb over the small door to go out, but now that she is a girl, it is really not suitable for her to climb over the wall while wearing a skirt.

She only fantasized about it in her mind for a moment, and then obediently left the community through the main gate.

There's a car repair shop at the entrance of the residential area. A middle-aged man wearing glasses is intently repairing a broken chain in front of the shop, while a few idle old men watch from the side. Men always seem to be interested in these kinds of mechanical gadgets.

After walking across a long road, she finally arrived at the supermarket entrance.

This is a small supermarket, but it's not called "Century Lianhua" but "Century Hualian".

Although Mo Xueyao couldn't figure out the difference between the two, they shouldn't be from the same company, right?

Drinks and popsicles are always cheaper in supermarkets than in small shops. Mo Xueyao touched the money in her pocket, hesitating whether to buy popsicles or drinks, or both.

"Hmm... I'll buy the cheapest popsicle and two bottles of Coke to make Coke ice cubes," she muttered to herself, looking for the cheapest popsicle according to the labels on the freezer.

Ice cream is out of the question, and for popsicles, the only option is one that looks like an ice cube.

The simplest kind is inevitably the cheapest.

Finally, she found a popsicle called 'Mint Popsicle', which came in a pack of twenty. The wrapping paper was plastic, and each popsicle was wrapped in paper—yes, from the name to the packaging, it was so simple and unpretentious…or rather, cheap.

Mo Xueyao had tried this flavor of popsicle before, and the taste was actually okay. It felt like just sweet water mixed with mint, but she couldn't easily make it taste like that herself.

As a refreshing popsicle, it's definitely a qualified one.

"Okay, this is it." Mo Xueyao picked it up, quickly walked to the cashier to pay, and then took a detour back to the community through the main entrance.

The old man's mongrel dog was running wildly, which startled her. The old man, who seemed quite energetic, was struggling to keep up while shouting the dog's name.

However, the big yellow dog ran even faster.

"Ouch!" Just then, a gasp came from behind Mo Xueyao. She turned around instinctively and saw a girl with a bun hairstyle fall to the ground, with stationery from her bag scattered all over the floor.

"Are you alright?" Mo Xueyao instinctively and habitually stepped forward and asked with concern.

"Mmm...no, it's nothing..." she said very softly.

"Ah...it's—Yu Shu?" Mo Xueyao was stunned for a few seconds before she remembered her name.

"Eh! Um... Haruka?" She seemed a little unsure whether she should call her that.

"Let me help you pick them up," Mo Xueyao said, putting her drink and popsicle aside. She picked up the stationery scattered on the ground—pens, erasers, correction tape, and the like—and put them back in her shopping bag. Then she reached out and helped her up.

If she were a boy, Mo Xueyao might subconsciously brush the dust off her clothes, but since the other person is a girl, she wouldn't do such a thing at all.

From a man's perspective, even if a girl has dust on her clothes, it's still very impolite to presumptuously brush it off for her.

"Thank you..." she said, her head bowed and her face slightly flushed.

"Uh, it's alright." Mo Xueyao nodded and picked up her popsicle and drink. "I have to hurry back, or the popsicle will melt."

"Hmm..." Yu Shu nodded slightly again.

"What, aren't you going upstairs?"

"Hmm... I think I forgot something."

"Forgot what?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously. She and Yu Shu both lived on the sixth floor, and the two of them could easily go up together.

"I don't know..." Yu Shu pouted and said pitifully.

"Huh?" This stirred up many memories for Mo Xueyao. "You're still as silly and dazed as you were when you were little..."

"Huh?"

"Yes, just like when I was a child, nothing has changed."

"do you remember?"

"Of course I remember."

“Back then you were still…still like a boy,” Yu Shu said with a light smile.

"So, what exactly did you forget?" Mo Xueyao reminded her.

Yu Shu was stunned for a moment, tilted her head and thought for a while, then gently patted her shirt pocket, then her skirt pocket, and after a full five seconds, her expression changed from calm to panic: "Where...where are my keys!?"

"...So you really did lose your keys." Mo Xueyao covered her forehead. "You used to lose your keys all the time when you were little."

"Huh? Is there...is there?"

"Hmm, let me think, where did you go today?"

"I just came back from the supermarket..."

When did it stop?

"I remember... it was still there when I left the supermarket."

"Then let's look for it quickly." Mo Xueyao turned her head and looked around. "Could it have fallen out when you fell?"

"Hmm...but...there aren't any nearby."

Mo Xueyao even went to the sewer to take a look: "It couldn't have fallen in, could it?"

"No, no way...?"

"Why don't you go home and put your things down first, then look for them later? Are your parents home?"

"No, not here..."

"Uh, my popsicle is melting, I need to go upstairs for a bit, or you can leave your things at my place?"

"Okay... um... thank you."

"What are you thanking me for! We were very good friends when we were kids!" Mo Xueyao laughed and scratched her head.

The two quickly went up to the sixth floor, and Mo Xueyao knocked hard on the door: "Wanyan—!"

"They're here." Li Wanyan's voice came from inside, and then both doors were opened. She glanced at Yu Shu behind Mo Xueyao, but didn't ask anything.

"Here, put these things down for now. These are popsicles. Wanyan, please put them in the freezer compartment for me! Yu Shu lost her key, I'll go help her find it."

"Ah."

After putting their things away, Mo Xueyao ran downstairs again. It seemed like the two of them hadn't done any strenuous exercise in a long time, and they were panting like broken bellows. But time was of the essence, and if they didn't hurry to find the keys, someone might pick them up.

While it's generally fine, it could be troublesome if someone picked it up and happened to know which house it belonged to.

Even if the possibility is extremely small, for the sake of psychological comfort, it's necessary to change the lock.

"Which supermarket is it?" Mo Xueyao had just lowered her head to start looking when she remembered an important question, since there were quite a few supermarkets of all sizes in the vicinity.

Tesco…

"Oh, that's alright, it's not too far."

Tesco is the closest large supermarket to here.

"Yes, this is the road I should be taking..."

"This is the road, right? Let's look for it then, pay attention to the ground." Mo Xueyao said, head down. Just as she finished speaking, they heard the sound of a bicycle bell coming from the opposite direction—

"Watch out!" a man shouted as he rode past her on his bicycle.

"Tch, can't you see for yourself?" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "You're blaming others for your bad technique."

"He didn't blame you..." Yu Shu blinked. "Didn't he tell you to be careful?"

"So you mean it's my fault!" Mo Xueyao glanced at her sideways. "Yu Shu... uh, you seem as silly and dull as ever."

"What's wrong? I've already said it twice..."

"Cough cough, it just feels really good."

"Huh? Why?"

“Because nothing has changed,” Mo Xueyao chuckled. “No change is the best thing, the best… um… I don’t know how to put it.”

"Everything as before?"

"Ah, that's roughly what I mean, hehe." Mo Xueyao chuckled and scratched her head, then quickly lowered her head and refocused her gaze on the ground. "Uh... let's look for the key."

"OK."

……

Chapter Sixty: Where Did the Key Go?

Finding the key has always been a 'century-old problem'.

Because almost everyone has experienced losing their keys, but very few manage to find them again.

Sometimes, even if you haven't left the house and are still inside, you still can't find your keys.

Many times, things just end up being left unresolved.

Mo Xueyao stared at the shade of each tree, searching carefully, but she couldn't find any object that looked like a key.

Suddenly, she spotted a reflective metallic object and excitedly rushed towards it. Before Yu Shu could even beam with joy behind her, she wore a disappointed expression: "Eh... a one-cent coin..."

If she were a child, she might have picked up the penny, but in recent years, prices have risen so fast that a penny is almost worthless. Although she can still get change, most small shops have stopped calculating the amount after the 'jiao' (cent).

Only supermarkets still honestly calculate in units of 'cents'.

"It's still a penny, after all." Yu Shu suddenly smiled foolishly, "When you were little, if you found a penny, you were so happy..."

"Uh, what's wrong with being happy?"

"Um, it's nothing." Yu Shu gently covered her face, seemingly becoming a little shy.

Walking out of the community, we left the community area. This is a side exit of the community. There are several side exits, but they don't have doors. They look like a series of alleys.

On the side of the alley, across from the park, an uncle on the fifth floor was selling fried skewers when he suddenly saw Mo Xueyao, who was engrossed in searching for her keys: "Hey—Xiaoyao, what's up? Did you run out to play with your childhood sweetheart today? Back to your childhood?"

It's probably only these very familiar neighbors who would know about Mo Xueyao's childhood.

"Tsk, what do you mean by going back to childhood? Can't we play together now that we're grown up?"

"Of course, but you two can only be sisters. Oh dear, it would be great if you weren't such a tomboy," the uncle selling fried skewers joked.

"We came out to look for our keys...!" Mo Xueyao exclaimed helplessly, "Uncle, have you seen Yu Shu's lost keys?"