Volume 1 / Chapter 11: Little Raccoon Crispy Noodles

For a man, standing to urinate was perfectly natural.  

But Mo Xueyao was no longer a man.  

As a girl, standing simply wasn’t an option.  

Forcing it would only result in soaking her pants—or rather, since she wasn’t wearing pants right now, likely her shoes...  

Thankfully, she caught herself in time.  

Or rather, luckily, she didn’t have the habit of leting go without holding anything.  

Reaching out, she found only empty air.  

A chilly autumn breeze seeped through some unseen crack, making her shiver.  

"Huff…" She took a deep breath, enduring the unfamiliar sensation, and slowly lowered herself into a squat.  

She’d been using a squatting position in the hospital too, but those were proper toilets. The psychological resistance had been slightly less.  

Being a girl complicated even the simplest bodily functions.  

Instinctively, Mo Xueyao tried to "adjust the trajectory," only to remember there was nothing to adjust.  

She could only shift her body back half a step to avoid splashing outside the squat pit. The last thing she wanted was a messy floor.  

"Shoot… I forgot to bring tissue…" Mo Xueyao groaned, scanning the sparse surroundings of the cramped stall. No toilet paper. Not even an empty dispenser.  

Back when she was a boy, this wouldn’t have mattered.  

But as a girl, it presented a new set of problems.  

Not wiping properly meant risking stains on her underwear.  

No one wanted the wind to lift a skirt and reveal unsightly yellow marks on a girl’s pristine white panties.  

Mo Xueyao felt a headache coming on.  

Only one solution remained:  Is to wait. Let the air dry her.  

It sounded absurd, but it was the only option.  

"Mo Xueyao? Mo Xueyao? Are you done yet?" Wang Jiale’s voice chimed from outside the stall door, accompanied by a knock.  

"Not yet…"  

"Just peeing? Taking so long! Did you forget paper?"  

"Mm-hmm…" The sound squeezed out from Mo Xueyao’s throat. She could feel her face burning.  

"Hmm… Open the door just a crack. I’ll pass you some," Wang Jiale offered kindly.  

"Thanks…" Despite the embarrassment, Mo Xueyao felt overwhelming relief.  

Paper secured, she could finally attend to matters properly.  

Wang Jiale, for all her bubbly, scatterbrained energy, proved unexpectedly prepared. The packet contained not only dry tissue but also a few individually wrapped wet wipes.  

Finished, Mo Xueyao hastily pulled up her underwear and burst out of the stall.  

"Hey, hey, wait! I still need to go!" Wang Jiale quickly grabbed her.  

"Uh… here…"  

"Just, wait for me outside!" Wang Jiale said casually, disappearing into the stall.  

Mo Xueyao finally escaped the bathroom, standing at the sinks outside. She washed her hands thoroughly, splashed water on her face, and exhaled deeply.  

Ah… fresh air, blessedly far from the women's bathroom …

Solving basic bodily needs was just part of daily life. Yet these mundane tasks felt like a series of hurdles for Mo Xueyao.  

How long would this adjustment period last?  

"Mo Xueyao~ Let's go~" Wang Jiale shook her wet hands and skipped ahead.  

The long break lasted a full thirty minutes.  

Even subtracting the five-minute eye exercises, it was significantly longer than other breaks.  

Funny how thirty minutes felt fleeting during holidays, yet at school, everyone seemed determined to make the most of it.  

Most used the time for bathroom runs or… trips to the small shop downstairs for snacks.  

Even with only two classes left until lunch, for some, the wait still felt endless.  

"Mo Xueyao, wanna go downstairs for a snack?" Wang Jiale asked, barely seated after returning to the classroom.  

"Uh… no thanks." Mo Xueyao shook her head, her gaze drifting unconsciously to her backpack.  

She didn’t even have a wallet. The twenty yuan her mother gave her for emergencies was tucked into the small coin pouch inside her bag – money she couldn’t casually spend.  

As for pocket money…  

Mo Xueyao never had any.  

"Not going? Okay…" Wang Jiale wasn’t deterred; she could always find someone else. She seemed quite popular, easily chatting with most girls in the class.  

"Zhou Yong! Going downstairs to the shop?" The familiar boom of male voices echoed from the back.  

Mo Xueyao glanced back and saw a wiry boy with slightly shifty features standing near the last row of her section, the fourth column.  

She suddenly realized Xue Xiansheng wasn’t actually in the last row. That spot belonged to an unremarkable-looking boy.  

Xue Xiansheng did have a deskmate, but that boy seemed much closer to the actual last-row occupant. Their desks were pulled back significantly, making Xue Xiansheng appear isolated.  

Huh…

Were those two really that invisible?

Mo Xueyao scratched her head absently. Perhaps Xue Xiansheng’s striking presence overshadowed the two boys who were masters of classroom camouflage.  

"Nah." Zhou Yong was lounging, flipping through a palm-sized comic book – probably Doraemon.  

"My treat."  

"I’m in!" Zhou Yong sprang up, stuffed the comic into his pocket, and trotted eagerly after the wiry boy.  

Such a familiar scene…  

That kind of exchange happened constantly among boys.  

Usually, the person being treated wasn’t truly stingy. Things were rarely spoken aloud, but favors were remembered. Often, the closer the friends, the more carefully they maintained this unspoken economy of mutual snacks – a quiet understanding.  

Watching the snack-buying exodus, Mo Xueyao felt her own stomach rumble.  

But remembering her family’s finances, she swallowed the craving.  

Wang Jiale returned shortly, hands stuffed in her pockets. She parted ways with another girl at the classroom door, each heading to their seats.  

It seemed baffling from a boy’s perspective…  

Usually, after buying snacks together, you’d linger and chat near someone’s desk, right?  

Girls sometimes gave the impression of using each other purely as convenient companions.  

Sitting down, Wang Jiale pulled out a packet of "Little Raccoon Crispy Noodles" from her pocket and extracted two seasoning sachets.  

One contained orange-yellow powder.  

The color alone told Mo Xueyao the flavor: slightly spicy, with a hint of sweet and sour tang. Delicious.  

The thought made her mouth water.  

The other sachet held dried meat floss.  

Not much, but it transformed the flavor!  

Whether psychological or not, Mo Xueyao firmly believed this was the best flavor.  

Wang Jiale had good taste.  

Mo Xueyao really wanted a packet too.  

But she had no change.  

She dared not break that twenty yuan bill, afraid the floodgates would open once she started spending.  

"Want some?" Wang Jiale asked after adding her seasonings, sealing the bag, and giving it a vigorous shake. She’d clearly noticed Mo Xueyao’s gaze.  

"Me? Uh… well…" Mo Xueyao hesitated. If it were a guy, she might have accepted readily. But this was a girl…  

Somehow, accepting snacks from a girl felt like freeloading…  

Perhaps some lingering male pride remained.  

Yet, almost involuntarily, she gave a small nod.  

"Here." Wang Jiale pulled another full packet from her pocket and handed it over.  

"Huh? The whole… packet? For me?"  

"Yep! That way it’s easier and cleaner to eat."  

"But… it’s a whole packet…" Mo Xueyao licked her lips.  

Prices in this era weren’t high. A decent-sized packet of tasty crispy noodles cost just fifty cents .  

But most high schoolers who weren’t boarders only got about three yuan for breakfast money. Five yuan usually included pocket money.  

Breakfast was cheap back then:  

Scallion oil noodles cost about 1 to 1.5 yuan; add a fried egg for another fifty cents.  

A set of fried dough stick and sesame cake cost fifty cents.  

A single fried dough stick or sesame cake was twenty-five cents each, though "cents" were fading from use, so singles were often rounded to thirty cents.  

Pan-fried meat dumplings? One yuan bought ten!  

Put that way, fifty cents wasn't insignificant.  

"What’s wrong with a whole packet?"  

"……" Mo Xueyao didn’t press further, not wanting to sound pitiful. "Thanks."  

She thanked her solemnly, accepting the packet as if receiving a precious gift – a mix of secret delight, surprise, and lingering awkwardness.  

How can I repay her for this?

Next time when I have something to eat, I’ll share with her.

Mo Xueyao resolved.  

She added the seasonings like Wang Jiale, but while Wang Jiale kept her noodles in fairly large chunks, Mo Xueyao crushed hers into fine pieces.  

That way, she could nibble slowly, making it last.  

By the end of the long break, Wang Jiale had finished her packet. Mo Xueyao had eaten barely a fifth of hers.  

Never having known abundance, "frugality" was etched deep into her bones.