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

The husband, who was sleeping next to him, was startled and sat bolt upright, his eyes still sleepy and his face filled with panic: "What happened? What trouble did our son get into?"

The sound of reciting in the living room paused slightly, remaining quiet for a brief two seconds.

Then, the halting recitation stubbornly rang out again: "Three forty-two... three forty-two..."

5:40.

After being tormented by the recurring, distorted sound for a full half hour, Zhou Zihan's mother finally reached her limit.

She had heavy dark circles under her eyes, her hair was a messy, frizzy mess that she barely managed to pull into a bun with a scrunchie, and she gritted her teeth as she led Zhou Zihan outside.

If it weren't for the fact that the child was too young and she was really worried about letting him go out alone so early in the morning, she would have liked to just send him to the flower bud shop and not see him to avoid the trouble.

I rode my electric scooter to Huaya Shop, and the morning market was already starting to get lively.

The shop door was open early in the morning. Zhao Haohao was wiping things down with a rag, while Cao Xiulian was busy putting steamers on the stove.

Seeing Zhou Zihan get out of the back seat, Zhao Haohao waved a rag and said, "Hey, Zhou Zihan, you're here early today!"

Zhou Zihan straightened her red scarf and said proudly, "We have to be here early. I need to teach Sister Ya how to recite the multiplication tables. We'll be late if we're late."

Zhao Haohao gripped the rag in his hand tightly: "So, can you come upstairs later too?"

Zhou Zihan scratched his head: "I'm not sure where they teach, but I guess so. Xie Yuan teaches upstairs."

"Zihan, go inside by yourself. You'll go to school with your classmates later. Mom's going back now." Zhou Zihan's mother pushed her son into the shop and got back on her electric scooter.

If we hurry, we can go back and catch up on an hour of sleep.

"Okay, Mom, you can go back now."

Not long after, Peng Xuanxuan, Xie Yuan, Xiaopang and other students from Class 2(3) arrived one after another with their parents. A group of children rushed into the store, chattering and making a ruckus. They gathered together to talk about interesting things at school and compared the straw toys they had received.

The parents who accompanied them all had dark circles under their eyes as they looked at these energetic children.

Why do children never seem to get tired?

When Ya Ya arrived, the shop was almost full. Even Uncle Wei's family and Grandpa Zhang were sitting at the table, but Grandma Wang's family was still nowhere to be seen.

"Auntie, Brother Zhao, Xuanxuan, Sister Yuanyuan, Grandpa Zhang... Good morning!" Ya Ya greeted everyone in the shop whose names she knew.

Little Fatty and Zhao Haohao, laughing and joking, rushed out to help Ya Ya carry the bucket.

Xie Yuan glanced subconsciously behind Sister Ya, but didn't see the little basket or schoolbag. It seemed she hadn't brought anything new or interesting today. But that didn't matter; almost everyone had at least two small straw animal figurines these days.

Zhou Zihan eagerly stepped forward: "Sister Ya, it's my turn to teach you today. Let's memorize the multiplication tables."

Seeing this, Xie Yuan also stood up: "There's also pinyin."

Ya Ya blinked, looking troubled. (Simultaneously learning?)

"Can I keep up with all of this?"

Xie Yuan thought for a moment and quietly moved two steps to push Zhou Zihan aside a little: "Let me go first. We learned pinyin yesterday, so we have a foundation. We can learn multiplication tables later. Zhou Zihan can watch how it is taught and he can have some experience too."

Zhou Zihan, don't force Ya Ya to memorize it; just remembering the rhyme won't work.

"Huh?" Zhou Zihan was stunned, looking completely bewildered. "Isn't it just about memorizing the formulas? That's what the teacher said, that as long as you memorize them, you can do the problems. So... how am I supposed to teach you?"

Xie Yuan said calmly, "You need to explain to her why she needs to memorize this, what the use of it will be, and in what situations she can use it."

Zhou Zihan stood there blankly, her mind completely empty.

He only had a vague idea of ​​what multiplication was: it's about adding many identical numbers together, and you have to memorize up to nine. He was already one of the fastest learners of multiplication in the class.

He hadn't really thought about why multiplication had to be used, or the reasons behind it, and it seemed that the teacher hadn't explained these things in detail in class.

"If you can't explain it clearly, you won't be a good little teacher!" Xie Yuan added.

A few words from him instantly eroded Zhou Zihan's confidence.

"It's okay, Brother Zihan, we can memorize it first. That's how Grandpa Fang taught me and Xiaodouzi. We memorized it first, and then we slowly figured out the reasoning behind it. Brother Zihan, you still have time. You can teach me to memorize it first, and then you can figure out the reasoning behind it and explain it to me!" Ya Ya looked up at the somewhat dejected Zhou Zihan.

"That's right!" Zhou Zihan perked up immediately. That makes sense.

"Okay! I'll just sit in and listen to how Xie Yuan teaches. After she finishes teaching, I'll help you memorize it. I'll ask the teacher when we get to school."

"Shall we go upstairs?"

"Walk!"

The three children walked upstairs together. When they passed Zhang Limin and Wei Jingming's table, Ya Ya seemed to remember something and stopped. "Brother Zihan, Sister Yuanyuan, you go up first. I need to talk to Grandpa Zhang about something."

"What's up?" Zhang Limin asked with a smile, looking at the little guy next to the table.

"Grandpa Zhang, do you know why Grandma Wang hasn't come these past two days?"

Zhang Limin shook his head; he really didn't know.

Although everyone is in the same group, he wouldn't ask about other people's private affairs. It's normal for them not to come for a meal for a day or two. Maybe they've overslept or gone out to visit relatives.

Ya Ya frowned: "You don't know either? That's troublesome. I went into the mountains with Grandpa Village Chief, Grandma Li and Aunt Chun Tao and caught a lot of small fish and shrimp, as well as some new wild vegetables, in the stream."

Aunt Chuntao said she's making new food and will bring it over tomorrow to share with everyone. Grandma Wang missed out on my noodles last time, and I wonder if she'll miss the small fish and shrimp I caught this time either.

Zhang Limin's eyes lit up: Mountains, streams, fish and shrimp!

Wow, these are all good stuff.

"I'll ask around for you later to see what Sister Wang is up to and whether she'll come tomorrow. Grandpa will tell you when you go downstairs."

"Really? Thank you, Grandpa Zhang!"

Ya Ya happily thanked Grandpa Zhang and skipped upstairs.

Wei Jingming and his family, sitting at the same table, exchanged glances and nodded in unison.

Wei Jingming silently took out his phone and changed the return flight dates for the whole family, and also renewed their hotel stay.

There will be new delicious food tomorrow!

And judging from what the shop owner said, it seems that it wasn't specifically displayed for sale, so they couldn't miss it even more. They would have to stay here for a couple more days!

With wild vegetables and wild small fish and shrimp, you can tell from a fool that the food made will be incredibly fresh!