The landlord has multiple personalities and wants everyone to pay him.

"Xiao Shu."

Hearing Ye Guoqiang's voice outside, Ye Shu and Tang Xiaotao got up and went out together.

The four adults were sitting on the sofa. When they saw them come out, Ye Guoqiang said to Ye Shu:

"Your uncles just called and said they'll be here this afternoon. You take Xiaotao and go to the market; you two can buy some ready-made things."

As he spoke, he took out a red bill from his breast pocket and handed it to Ye Shu, but Ye Shu did not take it.

"No need, I have some here."

Ye Guoqiang glanced at him but didn't say anything more.

Ye Shu went back to her room, changed into a down jacket, and casually grabbed her phone from the table and put it in her pocket.

Tang Xiaotao had also changed. She was wearing a light pink cotton coat and a matching light pink scarf around her neck. Just like her name, she looked like a peach, all pink and chubby.

As the two were leaving, Grandma didn't forget to say to Ye Shu:

"Keep an eye on your sister and watch the cars."

"understood."

After Ye Shu and Tang Xiaotao left, Ye Guoqiang laughed and said:

"Your two kids are so grown up, why are you still talking to them like that?"

Grandma pursed her lips and said:

"No matter how old they are, they're still just kids to me."

The weather is so sunny and clear today, the scenery is beautiful everywhere.

Ye Shu had observed before that the winter sun was different from the sun at other times of the year. The sun in spring, summer and autumn had warmth, but the winter sun was like a light bulb that had been replaced with an incandescent bulb; it was bright but had no warmth at all.

In winter, the air in this small county town has a unique smell. It's hard to describe, but when you breathe it in along with the dry, cold air, it gives you a sense of clarity, washing away the stale air you pick up in the big city.

It snowed a couple of days ago, and the snow in some shady places hasn't melted yet; it crunches when you walk on it.

Ye Shu took out her phone from her pocket, saw that there were no new message notifications on the lock screen, opened the chat window, and saw that the message she had sent, "What are you doing?", was still there, all alone, without a reply.

Ye Shu couldn't help but start to wonder. Xiao Xue wasn't usually a particularly quick to reply to messages, but it shouldn't have been this long without any word.

Didn't you see it? Or... is something really wrong?

"Your sister-in-law hasn't replied to your message yet?"

Tang Xiaotao walked beside him, tilted her head and looked at him staring at his phone, asking a question.

Although her face was covered by a scarf, she had never liked wearing a mask since she was little, saying that she couldn't breathe properly. As a result, the scarf really was just a scarf for her, causing her two little cheeks to turn red from the cold.

"No, I'm probably busy."

Ye Shu put his phone back in his pocket, let out a long breath, and exhaled those distracting thoughts as if they were a white mist.

"Don't overthink it. Your sister-in-law is a grown woman; she wouldn't get lost, would she?"

Tang Xiaotao, however, was quite carefree. Looking at the market entrance in the distance, she said:

"When we get to the market, if we see ice cream, let's buy some to take home and eat. Eating ice cream in winter is so refreshing!"

This market has been around for a long time. According to Ye Shu's father, it has been here as long as he can remember.

The whole structure is a large cross, consisting of two streets running horizontally and vertically.

North and South Street mainly sells internal necessities, such as fruits and vegetables, rice, flour, cooking oil, cakes and pastries, chicken, duck, fish and meat.

The East and West Streets were for external use, selling daily necessities, clothes, shoes, and hats.

Ye Shu had a particularly deep impression of this east-west street because when he was a child, almost every shop on both sides of the street, whether it sold clothes and shoes or stationery and general merchandise, would hang two rows of Transformers on their glass doors using wire mesh.

There is also a U-shaped indoor market on this street, which sells clothes and similar items.

But in a corner near the entrance, there's a man who sits there year-round. Behind him, on the wall, hangs a bunch of clocks, and in the glass cabinet in front, there are mostly batteries, key cutting tools, and the like.

Although this place is indeed Ye Shu's favorite in the entire market, because on his glass counter there are always two cardboard boxes, inside which are two neat rows of yellow Little Tyrant game cards.

Although they were pirated cards, usually the kind with 999 games in one, and the games were always the same few, like Super Mario Bros. and Contra, Ye Shu would flip through them all from the first to the last every time she came, then pick the one she wanted most and ask her mother to buy her one.

Five yuan each is indeed not expensive compared to those Transformers that cost twenty or thirty yuan each. Moreover, Ye Shu knows that as long as his mother doesn't stop him when he comes to look for them, she will definitely buy them for him.

But now...

Ye Shu stood in this place that he had considered paradise in his childhood, feeling somewhat sentimental.

That children's clothing store that always had Transformers merchandise that no other store had has now become a commercial establishment.

The corner where I used to dig for treasure is now being used to buy luxury watches.

Moreover, the glass doors of the shops on both sides no longer display Transformers; instead, they are decorated with all sorts of cotton slippers and plastic basins.

The streets seem narrower than I remember, and the ground is dirtier. This once treasured street that I used to linger on has now been reduced to just the most ordinary and slightly outdated local atmosphere.

Ye Shu walked along this street she had walked countless times as a child. The cold wind blew across the street, swirling up unwanted plastic bags on the ground.

A faint sense of melancholy inevitably crept into his heart.

Time pushes everything forward, changing many things, including this market, and also the self who once squatted at the door, staring at the Transformers with eyes shining.

The two walked to the familiar crossroads in the center of the market, where the east-west street and the north-south street meet.

Compared to the somewhat deserted east-west street we just passed, this north-south main street was unusually bustling.

The loudspeakers in front of the shops on both sides were playing a loop announcing how much pork was per pound today. The street was divided into three main lanes by the stalls set up by vendors, with large tables piled with all sorts of things.

It was freezing cold. The stall owners were all wearing cotton-padded coats, their necks were constricted, and they were pacing back and forth in circles, unable to sit still at all.

All those things were just laid out on the table: half a carcass of pork, potatoes, radishes, cabbage, and even ice cream was placed directly on the table, so there was no need to worry about it melting.

"Ice cream! Dude, I really have some!"

Tang Xiaotao's eyes lit up, and she grabbed Ye Shu's sleeve, ready to go over.

"Let's go, let's buy some!"

Ye Shu grabbed her:

"Wait a minute. If you buy it now, you'll have to carry it all with you, and your hands will get cold. Buy the other things first, and you can buy them on the way back."

Tang Xiaotao looked at the ice cream and pouted like a child, but still followed Ye Shu in the opposite direction.

"Brother, don't forget later."

"I know, I won't forget."