The little one's purse connects the two worlds, turning a desolate village into a paradise.

"Oh my, Uncle, it really is you!" Ya Ya walked up and her eyes lit up.

"Wow, Uncle, you're amazing! You found such a big fish!"

Guo Shun looked down and laughed: "Hey, little friend, it's you!" He used a lot of force to take the fish off his shoulder, hooking its mouth with his finger. It was a big fish, only half a head shorter than Ya Ya.

"Look at this fish, Uncle. How's it? Is it bigger than last time?"

"Wow, so much bigger!" Ya Ya held up her hand to show the height of the fish compared to herself. "Uncle, you're amazing! You said you could catch a big fish last time, and you really did! Will you catch an even bigger fish next time?"

Guo Shun was flattered by the compliments and squinted with delight. This white dog weighed ten pounds, and he even posted it on his WeChat Moments.

In March 2026, the weight was 10.2 jin (approximately 5 catties).

If he catches an even bigger one, countless people will envy him. He has now completely shed his "air force" label.

Just now, quite a few anglers on my WeChat Moments asked him about fishing spots.

He hadn't planned to set up a stall; he was just passing by the morning market and wandering around. It was the morning market that was crowded at this time, and he happened to run into this sweet-talking little guy.

"Wait a minute, kid. Let me check if my fish are cleaned yet." After saying that, Guo Shun went to the fish stall in the back street. He had caught quite a few other fish and asked the familiar owner to clean them for him so he could make a mixed fish hot pot and give the extra to his neighbors.

Ya Ya waited at the intersection, holding onto the small cart with a puzzled look. After a while, she saw the uncle who delivered fish coming over with a large plastic bag.

"Come, come, these are all for you, they're freshly caught this morning."

He put the fish on the cart, turned around, and carried the fish away.

"Uncle, wait a minute!" Ya Ya quickly called out to him.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else?"

Ya Ya moved the small basket she had been carrying on her back to the front, lifted the cloth covering it, and took out two bunches of fresh, tender wild water celery with her little hands, handing them over. "Uncle, these are for you to eat. They're so fresh! Grandma said they've absorbed the river's essence, and eating them will make you smarter!"

Guo Shun glanced down and saw wild water celery. There was plenty of it at his fishing spot, but he was too lazy to pick it because he found it troublesome to deal with the insects.

However, the two bunches the child was holding looked even fresher and more tender. Not only had they been washed and processed, but they were also a token of the child's affection, and a little lucky charm to bring him good fishing luck. He immediately accepted them with a smile: "Thank you, little friend, Uncle was just looking for this!"

Guo Shun said it casually, but fearing the child might think the gift was worthless, he added that he was just thinking of looking for it himself.

But to Ya Ya, it was a different story. This uncle knew he wasn't smart, he just couldn't find the right dish.

I'll bring more for my uncle next time.

There is no more water celery in her space.

After parting ways with Guo Shun, Ya Ya went into the inner street and bought two chickens and ten bags of salt.

I used some of it to pickle small fish last time, so I'll add a little more. I can also pickle vegetables later.

We'll make pickled vegetable buns and pickled vegetable pancakes with flour later.

The sauerkraut in that fish fillet dish last time was also delicious. If you buy more salt, you can make more sauerkraut.

Ya Ya remembers that most people usually pickled vegetables. Occasionally, some people, like Aunt Chun Tao, would make some sauerkraut and put it in a big vat. The smell was sour that you would swallow your saliva when you passed by.

After wandering around for a while, Ya Ya realized it was getting late and decided to check out the back general merchandise area to see if there were any new stalls.

From a distance, Ya Ya could see a large group of people gathered around a car, with four rows of clothes racks hanging next to it.

The numbers above are six yuan in the first row and eight yuan in the third row.

What are they selling? Why are so many people buying it?

Ya Ya squeezed in with her little cart and looked around. Oh my, weren't these the little pants and thermal underwear that her aunt had just bought for her?

She stood curiously in front of a row of pants. The pants were all dark colors, either gray, black, or dark blue. She noticed a pocket-like seam down the middle of the pants and secretly touched it. Oh dear, each pair of pants had a small hole in the front. No wonder they were so cheap.

The row of eight-yuan pants next to them was different; they were all in pretty colors—pink, red, purple, green—with small floral patterns, and the pants didn't have any holes in the front.

The middle row consists of thermal underwear, half dark and half patterned.

There was another row of short underwear priced at eight yuan each, with three pairs hung up in a small bag, and a few samples hanging in front of them.

Half of it was a dark color with a flat corner like my own underwear, and the other half was bright and colorful, with three big holes visible, making it look like a triangle!

Ya Ya was a little embarrassed to look. Could she really wear these pants? They were even shorter than the underwear her aunt had given her. Would her bottom really show?

The stall owner was a middle-aged woman with a neat short haircut and wearing a mask.

The busy moment came when a few old ladies came to stock up on underwear for their homes. Only after they finished did they notice a little boy in a red shirt among them.

"Little one, these are adult thermal underwear; there aren't any for you."

Ya Ya looked up at her with her little face and asked, "Auntie, why are there holes in the front of your pants?"

The auntie selling thermal underwear couldn't help but laugh out loud as she followed the direction the child pointed. How was she supposed to answer that?

"These are men's long johns, so they have holes. The other side is women's long johns, so they don't have holes."

Ya Ya still didn't understand why men had to have a hole in their penis.

"You'll know when you start school! It'll be in the books and your teacher will teach you." The aunt didn't know how else to explain, so she could only brush it off like this.

"Oh! I see... So these shorts are also divided into men's and women's?"

"That's right," the aunt replied.

Ya Ya nodded her little head and started counting on her fingers.

These clothes are even divided into men's and women's, so she has to count them to make sure she doesn't buy the wrong ones.

Grandma Li, Grandma Wang, Grandma Liu, Aunt Chuntao...

There are eight women in the village, plus myself, making nine.

There are twelve men.

Ya Ya counted several times before confirming it.

"Auntie, I want to buy eight of these flowery dresses and twelve plain ones."

"So there are twelve men and eight women, right? What size are they? Should we buy one-size-fits-all, as long as they don't weigh more than 120 pounds?"

One size fits all? Ya Ya found the term somewhat familiar. It seemed like the older brother had asked the same question when she bought a padded jacket before. One size fits all means it's for people who are slim.

"Yes, one size fits all!" Ya Ya nodded affirmatively.

After buying thermal underwear and long johns, the shopping cart was piled high with them.

Even something so bright and shiny couldn't be stored in the space Grandma Duck gave her. Luckily, it wasn't heavy. Ya Ya continued pushing the little cart around. It seemed that the little boy hadn't come; she hadn't heard his "Clearance Sale" shouts.

Looking around, Ya Ya suddenly spotted a new stall.

Good heavens! So much iron!

She covered her mouth in surprise, slowly stopped and squatted down in front of the stall covered with floral cloth, her eyes wide open.

She recognized most of these iron pieces; some had wooden handles, were curved like crescent moons, and had blades that were polished to a shine—exactly the same as the sickle that the village chief treasured so much!

Some were completely bare, with only a round hole hanging on the cloth, looking like machetes without wooden handles, while others were square axes.

The long strip of red, white, and blue snakeskin cloth stretched as far as the eye could see.

Ya Ya looked up and saw all sorts of kitchen knives—long, square, thin…

The large scissors were piled up into a small mountain.

With her gaze falling back on the sickle in front of her, Ya Ya tentatively stretched out a little finger.

"Little one, you mustn't touch that, or you'll scratch your hand!" The old man who was squinting and smoking in the back quickly stood up.

He sells real, sharpened knives and farm tools here, not some cheap plastic products.