A Young Woman's Heart

"Shall we order milk?" The father looked downstairs, seemingly lost in thought about a variety of things.

……

Morning at Yu Liang's home.

"Honey, is Xiaoyao's matter difficult to handle?"

"It shouldn't be too difficult," Yu Liang replied ambiguously.

Of course, he wouldn't say that he had looked up some information last night and found that this corrective surgery was actually similar to sex reassignment surgery. Because Mo Xueyao's body didn't have female organs, certain parts had to be replaced according to the procedures for sex reassignment surgery. Although the final result might be the same as that of a real girl, it would be much better than that of ordinary sex reassignment surgery patients.

But it is still quite complicated.

It can be said to be the most advanced surgical procedure.

It's not a simple matter at all.

In 1999, there were very few doctors in China who had performed such surgeries.

Otherwise, why would they need to invite an expert to perform the surgery personally?

Hiring a doctor from abroad is obviously out of the question—because it's just too expensive.

"But that would cost fifty thousand yuan. Ah Yu's family has worked so hard. Can they afford that much money?"

“If you can’t come up with the money, we’ll lend it to you,” Yu Liang replied matter-of-factly.

"Borrow? You don't need the money anymore?"

"What does it matter? We should help our friends when they are in trouble, especially since our two families are such good friends."

"No matter how good the relationship is, you can't just take out money like that, can you? The girls in the family need a lot of money to go to school."

"What are you talking about?" Yu Liang frowned and put down his chopsticks. "Money can be earned again, and we can afford to pay for our daughter's schooling. We're not short of money—but the illness can't be delayed. Now that it's been discovered, we need to treat it as soon as possible, which will also benefit Xiao Yao's future growth and development."

"He's not your son, why are you so worried about him? Are you that good to your daughter?"

"...Forget it, I can't reason with an uncultured woman like you. You're always so short-sighted." Yu Liang was a little angry. "Can friendships be measured in money?"

"Tch, let's see if you'll still say that after you've been a section chief for a few years."

"I can't be bothered to argue with you. It's an insult to my intelligence for a college student like me to debate with someone who only has an elementary school education." Yu Liang finished his porridge in a few gulps and went straight into his study.

……

Chapter Six: Are you alright?

"Mom, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Go mop the floor," the mother replied quickly, as if it were instinct, then paused abruptly and said, "Never mind, don't mop it, I'll do it myself."

"Huh? What's going on? You think I didn't clean it properly?" Mo Xueyao pouted and got angry. It was like she was trying to provoke him; she didn't want him to come, but he insisted on coming anyway.

He picked up a rag, lay down on the floor, and started mopping diligently.

There isn't even a floor in the house; there are only tiles in the kitchen and bathroom.

The floors of the living room and bedrooms were simply painted with a layer of dark red paint.

Mo Xueyao dragged the floor with such care that it immediately shone as if it had been waxed.

Just as he finally finished dealing with this matter, his mother had already done many other things.

"Honey, hang the clothes out to dry." The mother said while quickly eating her breakfast, finishing a bowl of porridge in just three minutes.

It was still a little hot when Mo Xueyao tasted it...

I'm going out.

"You're up so early today too?"

"Finish your work early and get off work early," the mother replied, then pushed open the door and went out, followed by the sound of her hurrying downstairs.

Mo Xueyao, holding a bowl of white porridge that was already stained with a little vegetable oil, looked at her father, whose clothes were still drying on the balcony: "Dad, come and eat!"

"Coming right away."

Breakfast was not particularly lavish.

The staple food was white porridge, and the side dishes were preserved mustard greens, salted duck eggs, and one poached egg per person.

It was far from lavish; in fact, it was quite rudimentary.

But Mo Xueyao was already quite used to it. Although she couldn't taste anything special in this kind of breakfast, she could just mechanically swallow it to fill her stomach without any problem.

"Xiaoyao, just leave the dishes and I'll wash them."

"What's wrong with you all today? Why are you being so nice to me?" Mo Xueyao asked suspiciously. "You're not planning something weird, are you?"

"What strange thing could happen? Would your parents harm you?" Her father flicked Mo Xueyao's forehead. "Alright, hurry up and do your homework. It's the last part of summer vacation. How much have you actually done?"

"I'm almost finished writing, what's there to worry about? Do you think I'd let the teacher come to my house to cause trouble?" Mo Xueyao scratched her cheek. "Well, but I don't plan to stay home today."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the Xinhua Bookstore! At least there's air conditioning there. It's 39 degrees Celsius today, Dad. You'd better stay home and pray for yourself!"

As she spoke, Mo Xueyao put on her clothes, casually slipped on her canvas shoes, and left home.

"Okay, be careful on the road, and come back soon."

"I know! Dad, you're just as nagging as Mom." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, slammed the iron gate shut, and went down the stairs.

Mo Xueyao lives on the sixth floor, the top floor of the building, while the fifth floor is occupied by a family who runs a fried food stall, the kind that sells fried pork chops, fried pork tenderloin, and stinky tofu.

Because his family sells stinky tofu, you can smell the stinky tofu aroma when you pass by his house.

His son is much older than Mo Xueyao and is already in college this year. I heard that his family earns a lot of money. Last time I saw his son making a call with a brand new Nokia phone.

Mo Xueyao couldn't help but imagine it for a moment, and just thinking about it made her incredibly envious.

As I walked downstairs, I noticed that the flowerbeds along the roadside were neglected and overgrown with weeds. It would be so easy to keep a rabbit; it could just graze here every day.

Mo Xueyao, who had no experience in taking care of rabbits, thought to herself.

Actually, he had wanted to have a pet for a long time.

Unfortunately, my family is small and poor, and we simply don't have that much spare money.

"I wish I had been born into a rich family." He often had this fantasy.

Thinking about how I have a daily allowance of one hundred yuan!

Then you can buy anything you want.

For example, the remote-controlled cars at the shop near the entrance—even though he'll be starting high school in September, he still has a special fondness for these kinds of things.

Yeah, and you can also save up some money to buy pirated game consoles!

The kind with a black and white screen.

Of course, the proper name for this kind of thing is 'learning machine'.

Although Mo Xueyao had never seen anyone use this thing to 'study'.

Most of them were engrossed in playing games.

Mo Xueyao got on her bike and was about to leave through the back gate of the community when she heard other people calling out to her.

"Hey, Haruka!"

"Ah, Uncle." Mo Xueyao looked over at the sound and smelled the aroma of oil, chili, and cumin.

"Want to go out and have some fun?"

"Go to Xinhua Bookstore."

"Wow, you love studying so much?"

"Haa...it's nothing, I'm just using the air conditioning."

Have you had breakfast?

"I've eaten, I've eaten," Mo Xueyao quickly replied.

How about a skewer of stinky tofu?

"Uh...no need." Mo Xueyao swallowed.

"Haha, come on, it's freshly fried." The latter laughed loudly, handing a skewer of golden-brown, crispy stinky tofu to Mo Xueyao. "How about sweet and spicy sauce?"

"Uh...really, it's not necessary." Mo Xueyao casually wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

But the latter grabbed his arm very forcefully and shoved the wooden skewer of stinky tofu into his hand.

"Eat up, eat up, and be careful on the road!"

"Ah, okay." Mo Xueyao happily accepted the stinky tofu, and to avoid eating it too quickly and missing out on the delicious taste, she ate it in small bites.

Holding the food in one hand and riding the bike with the other, I wobbled through several traffic lights before finally finishing it.

Xinhua Bookstore is quite far from home, but Mo Xueyao wasn't in a hurry, since arriving soon wouldn't make a difference since the bookstore wasn't open yet.

Enjoying the scenery along the way is also nice, since the morning is one of the few cool times in summer.

—Although it's not much cooler.

There were many people queuing up in front of the sesame seed cake stall by the roadside.

They only sell ordinary sesame seed cakes and fried dough sticks; you have to go to the soy milk shop next door to buy it.

Mo Xueyao recalled his school days when, if his mother didn't have time to make breakfast every morning, he could happily take the money and go outside to buy breakfast.

Yes, it's more enjoyable to eat breakfast outside.

Because such a situation is very rare.

Back then, I would spend 50 cents to buy a sesame seed cake and fried dough sticks, and then go next door to spend another 50 cents to buy a bag of soy milk.

Yes, it's packaged in very thin plastic bags to save on product costs. You can pour it into a bowl or drink it directly with a straw.

If the road is too bumpy, accidents may happen—for example, the soy milk bag might break, making the basket sticky and wasteful.