A Young Woman's Heart

Moreover, most people think that cats should eat fish, so to reward a cat, you should feed it fish innards that people don't eat. If you really like a cat, then feed it a whole fish.

Of course, this is a minority. People who treat cats this way are considered to be spoiling them rotten by others.

After all, in an era when most people's living conditions were only average, people themselves might not be able to eat meat every meal, let alone their pets.

Treating a pet like a father is an extremely strange thing in this day and age, and can even be told as a joke.

After washing her hands, the mother sat down next to Mo Xueyao, while the father finally took off his apron and turned off the incandescent light in the living room.

"Why turn off the lights?" Mo Xueyao asked, puzzled. "It's pitch black and we can't see anything."

"It's a birthday, of course there has to be a birthday cake."

"When did you buy the cake?" Mo Xueyao licked her lips. "Was there a lot of cream?"

"Haha, it's not a cream cake, it's a steamed sponge cake." The father said, holding a candle in one hand and a steamed sponge cake in the other, and placed them on the table in front of the mother.

"Come on, let the birthday boy blow out the candles today!"

"So fancy, why make a birthday celebration so complicated?" the mother 'scolded,' but her tone was full of joy as she bent down to blow out the candle.

"Wait, wait, we still have to sing the birthday song, and then you have to make a wish in your heart before you can blow out the candles," the father hurriedly said, and then led the singing, which was surprisingly in English.

This surprised Mo Xueyao, who glanced at him in astonishment. She hadn't expected him to be so trendy.

"Xiaoyao, sing along!" her father urged.

"Oh, happy birthday!"

Amidst Mo Xueyao and her father's slightly off-key singing, the mother quietly pinched the corner of her eye, then clasped her hands together and made a wish in her heart.

"Whoosh—!" After blowing several times, he finally managed to blow out the candle.

"What wish did you make?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously.

"Click." The father slapped the switch and turned the light back on. "Hey, you can't ask that. You can't ask what you wished for, or it won't come true."

“Superstition,” the mother chuckled, though she didn’t reveal what she had wished for. “It doesn’t matter what I wished for; I might forget it by next year.”

"Haha, that means he'll forget about it once it's done." The father laughed and sat down at the table. "Alright, everyone, let's eat! Eat plenty of food today, it's best when it's freshly made, it won't taste as good tomorrow when it's cold."

"Chicken leg! Chicken leg!" Mo Xueyao, having received permission to start eating, excitedly reached out and grabbed a fried chicken leg, eagerly bringing it to her mouth and taking a big bite. She didn't even care that the oil overflowed from her mouth and slid down her chin. "Ahhh, it's so delicious!"

"Eat more if you like it; it's time for you to grow," the mother said with a smile.

"You should eat more too." The father put a fried chicken leg into the mother's bowl, while he poured white wine into his own empty bowl.

"Mmm, it's delicious," the mother nodded in approval. "Even better than that Kiddken brand."

"That's called KFC..." Mo Xueyao mumbled as she ate a chicken leg.

"Yes, it's KFC. Hey, Xiaoyao, why are you eating so badly?"

"How is it bad?" Mo Xueyao wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Isn't this normal? Eating with chopsticks is too much trouble."

"Even if you're going to use your hands, at least roll up your sleeves a little. You're wiping your mouth with your sleeves, making it all greasy. Are you going to wash these clothes yourself later?"

"Ahem!" Upon hearing that she had to wash her own clothes, Mo Xueyao immediately straightened her attitude. "I'll just roll up my sleeves!"

"Don't do it yourself, let your dad do it for you. He hasn't even grabbed the chicken leg yet, his hands aren't oily."

"Hey, Dad, hurry up and roll this up for me," Mo Xueyao urged, stretching out one arm while still holding a chicken leg in her other hand and putting it into her mouth.

"Haha, really, you don't act like a girl at all." The father laughed helplessly twice and helped Mo Xueyao roll up the sleeve of one of her arms. "Give me the other hand."

"Here you go." Mo Xueyao switched hands to hold the chicken leg, then extended her other hand as well. "I'm not a girl, to begin with!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? You're a girl now." Her mother pinched her cheek. "You can't say things like that outside. If outsiders find out about your affairs, you'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Tch..." Mo Xueyao pouted, "It's all Mom's fault. Either I was born a girl or a boy, and now she's made things so complicated..."

"It's good enough that you were born. When I was pregnant with you, your father even said he wanted to abort the baby." The mother gently smoothed Mo Xueyao's hair and brushed it behind her head so that it wouldn't get on the chicken leg later.

"Yes, I was going to have an abortion, but the birth control pills didn't work. When I was five or six months pregnant, I didn't want to have an abortion anymore, so I just gave birth to you." The father took a sip of white wine. "I was young then and didn't want children at all. I thought I could have many more children later, and having one early would just be asking for trouble, so I wanted to have an abortion."

"...Hey, Dad, you're being so irresponsible."

"Unborn children have no human rights, huh?" the father laughed. "Come on, let's have a toast!"

The father's bowl contained baijiu (Chinese liquor), while Mo Xueyao and her mother's glasses contained Sprite.

I bought a big bottle of Sprite today. I can finally enjoy this 'luxurious' drink to my heart's content.

Mo Xueyao grabbed the cup with her greasy little hands, clinked it against her parents' cups, and then drank most of it in one gulp, letting out a satisfying burp.

"Look at you, you should at least pay attention to your image, shouldn't you? Things won't be the same as before. You have to be more ladylike and reserved. What kind of girl burps at the dinner table?" Her mother started nagging again, but Mo Xueyao selectively ignored her words and picked up another fried chicken leg.

She doesn't usually have a good appetite, so she ate so much today simply because it tasted so good.

"Don't just eat the chicken leg, this sweet and sour sea bass tastes great too." The father picked up a boneless piece of sea bass and put it into Mo Xueyao's bowl.

Sweet and sour sea bass tastes similar to sweet and sour pork, but the difference is that the fish meat inside is more tender and delicious.

Apart from Mapo Tofu, all the dishes on this table were on the sweeter side. Even the stir-fried pork intestines had a subtle sweetness, similar to that of braised pork.

Tonight, while celebrating her mother's birthday, Mo Xueyao ate the most to her heart's content, to the point that she felt so bloated that she couldn't stand up.

"Oh no, I ate so much tonight, will I gain weight?" Mo Xueyao started to worry.

"Come on, you? You want to gain weight? You'd be more like a skeleton now, look at you, you're so skinny." The mother said irritably.

"Me? Skin and bones? What a joke... This is all flesh!" Mo Xueyao patted her thigh and left five finger marks on it.

“How can you be considered fat if you don’t even weigh 90 pounds?” The father nodded.

"Hey, the problem is, I'm short!" Mo Xueyao pointed to her head. "It's all my mom's fault for letting my genes take away the height I should have had!"

"Isn't it cute to be short and chubby?" the mother said, suppressing a laugh.

"Not cute at all, short and fat, doesn't she look just like the Earth Goddess?!"

“I think it should be like a bowling ball,” the father suggested.

"It's even worse!"

So, amidst the laughter and chatter, the family began to clear away the dishes...

……

Chapter 47 Heading to Military Training

The date was Monday, October 18, 1999.

The sun was slow to peek out from behind the clouds this morning, and although there was some light, the sky still looked gloomy.

It seems to indicate that it might rain today.

In the small rented room of sisters Mo Xiaoxiao and Mo Zhuyou, the older sister Mo Xiaoxiao was checking whether anything was missing from the items she was going to take to military training today.

"Bedding, pillows, spare clothes when not wearing military training uniforms, teacups..."

Mo Zhuyou, on the other hand, was much more relaxed. She was currently listening to the morning radio broadcast on an old radio that was about the size of two palms.

On the radio, a man and a woman were bickering like they were performing a comedy routine, bringing a lively atmosphere to the quiet morning.

Mo Zhuyou doesn't like her home to be too quiet, so she likes to fall asleep with the radio on at night.

Mo Xiaoxiao doesn't have this habit, but she doesn't mind it.

I wonder if she is also afraid of loneliness deep down, or if she is just taking care of her younger sister's habits?

"Alright, everything's fine now. Let's go, let's head to school." Mo Xiaoxiao gave her little sister's face a good rub. "We have too much stuff today, we have to take the bus. If we don't go early, we'll get stuck in traffic!"

In this era, Hangzhou was only somewhat congested during the morning and evening rush hours.

In fact, the traffic jam doesn't last that long. It's just that if you're late, the buses will be very crowded, and it will be very inconvenient to carry your luggage.

"Hey, hey, hey, you keep rubbing my face, I'm not going to grow into a pretty oval face anymore!" Mo Zhuyou grumbled, turning off the radio and stuffing it into her schoolbag.

"You're bringing a radio too?"

"Of course." Mo Zhuyou covered her schoolbag, as if afraid her older sister would take it out. "I can't sleep if I don't listen to this at night."

"But the instructors will check the dorms during military training, so you can't have the radio on."

"I don't care, I'll just bring it first." Mo Zhuyou said somewhat willfully, which earned her a helpless wry smile from Mo Xiaoxiao.

"Sis, should I carry this suitcase?"

"It doesn't matter, we can divide it up later. We've brought pretty much the same stuff anyway. Let's go, let's go!"

The two sisters dragged their suitcases, which they had used for moving, out of the rented house.

Someone they knew greeted them and asked, "What's going on? Moving house?"

"No, I'm just going to military training," Mo Xiaoxiao replied.

This self-built building, which is only four stories high, houses quite a few people.

Many of them are quite familiar with each other, since they see each other almost every day.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two finally arrived at the bus stop and saw many students from other grades of Yukong High School, as well as some first-year students who were also dragging suitcases.

Waiting for the bus always feels long.

"Sis, shall we buy some breakfast first? I'm a little hungry," Mo Zhuyou said, rubbing her stomach.

"Buy breakfast? Hmm... I think I can just buy some from the breakfast stall next to the station."

"Either is fine, but it seems like the breakfasts there are pretty bland... I'd like to eat pan-fried dumplings."

"Why didn't you say anything when we left?" The older sister playfully pinched her younger sister's nose and said irritably, "What are we going to do when the bus comes? The later the bus comes, the more crowded it gets. We'll just buy some from that little breakfast stall over there."

"Hmph, alright, alright, let me see what she has there." The younger sister said, and walked with her older sister to the other end of the station, where there was a breakfast vendor pushing a cart, selling relatively light food.

For example, zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), steamed sponge cake, bread, and so on.

"Sister, I want to eat black rice cake."

"Okay, I'll have a black rice cake, and I'll have a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling)." The older sister nodded, pulling a small, cute wallet from her pocket. But upon closer inspection, one could see that some parts were already coming undone, and the wallet didn't seem to be store-bought; it appeared to be homemade…

"Savory or sweet zongzi?"