Age: My Small World

"Would you like some candy?"

Yang Jun always used candy as a weapon when dealing with children, especially after he peeled one open, ate it, and showed a sweet expression.

As he expected, almost no children could resist the temptation of White Rabbit candy.

After one older child mustered up the courage to take the candy and eagerly popped it into his mouth, several other children couldn't resist taking theirs as well.

"What is this? It's so sweet!" (Jiangcheng dialect)

"It looks like candy, doesn't it? I've heard my grandfather mention it." (Jiangcheng dialect)

"Why is this person giving us candy? It looks like he's going home with his grandfather." (Jiangcheng dialect)

"I don't know. Could it be that Grandpa found a Han Chinese husband for Ayili? After Ayili went to school, she really liked doing things the Han Chinese did, so she definitely wants to marry a Han Chinese." (Jiangcheng dialect)

……

Yang Jun couldn't understand what the children were saying. If he knew that he was being misunderstood as someone who was supposed to be married, he would definitely smile helplessly again.

Fortunately, the old man didn't keep him waiting too long; he came out carrying two large foxes in his hands.

Yang Jun was overjoyed. Sure enough, the old man had something good to hide. He had actually kept a trick up his sleeve and guessed that he had wiped out the entire fox family in one fell swoop.

Behind him, a young girl also came out carrying two small foxes.

Yang Jun was momentarily stunned when he saw the girl, because even among the many girls in Jiangcheng, she was probably the most beautiful, roughly equivalent to the looks of the actresses who later came from Jiangcheng, very distinctive.

However, he has experienced many looks before. Xiaoyuer and Jiang Xueying are both top-tier beauties.
So he was only surprised for a moment before returning to normal.

"Hello, here is the fox you requested."

This time, it wasn't the old man who spoke, but the young girl behind him, who surprisingly spoke in Chinese.

The girl took a step forward and looked at Yang Jun with bright, sparkling eyes.

She seemed both curious and hesitant. How come she had never seen such a handsome Han Chinese man on the street before?
"You can actually speak Chinese?" Yang Jun asked in surprise.

"What's your name?" he asked politely.

"You can call me Aili. What's the guest's name?" The girl blushed slightly, then looked at him generously.

“Yang Jun,” he said succinctly.

Yang Jun then stopped rambling and asked directly:

"What's the price of these two big guys?"

Two big foxes must cost more than the small fox from before, right?

In reality, if you really calculate it that way, Yang Jun is at a disadvantage.

Even if each fox weighs fifty catties of grain, there are five foxes here, which is two hundred and fifty catties, enough to feed a family of three for half a year, and that's assuming they eat their fill every meal.

If we eat sparingly, this amount of food will last us a year.

Exchanging a whole litter of foxes for so much grain is indeed quite an inflated figure.

However, Yang Jun did not continue to negotiate the price.

The girl replied without hesitation, "Grandpa said it's fine as long as the price is the same as before, and the size is the same."

Yang Jun glanced at the old man beside him and saw him smile slightly, his face kind.

So he smiled and said, "Alright then, I only brought a hundred catties of grain with me, the rest may have to wait a little while."

Aili raised her long, beautiful eyebrows: "Guests can take these foxes back first, and then bring the food over later."

Aren't you afraid I'll take the things and never come back?

Yang Jun chuckled to himself.

Aili shook her head: "The guest isn't like that."

She stared intently at Yang Jun, seemingly trusting him completely. And it's understandable; Yang Jun is handsome, and good-looking people generally inspire a natural sense of trust. This is determined by human senses; the brain naturally favors beautiful things.

Therefore, being good-looking really does have an advantage.

Yang Jun nodded in agreement.

He took the fox from the two men and left behind all the food he had brought.

He agreed to return in an hour and then left.

Wait until he's gone.

"This young man is really strong. He carried a hundred pounds for such a long distance without even breaking a sweat." (Jiangcheng dialect)

The old man sighed.

The girl then asked a seemingly unrelated question: "Grandpa, do you know where he works?" (Jiangcheng dialect)

"I don't know." The old man certainly didn't know, after all, the two had only met today, and their relationship was merely that of a buyer and seller.

"Oh."

The girl seemed lost in thought, then turned and went back into the house.

After Yang Jun reached a place where no one could see him, he collected all three foxes—two large and three small—into his small world.

He first fed the foxes some spiritual water, and then gave them some chicken.

Seeing the little creatures perk up and start running around in the miniature world, Yang Jun nodded.

"Now there's another species, that's good."

After a while, the sand foxes also set their sights on the two dune cats' territory and began to fight over the dune.

Seeing this, Yang Jun had no choice but to make another piece to avoid not having enough to go around.

With the fox family settling in, the chickens in the small world were destined to have another group of natural enemies.

After glancing at the relatively harmonious animal world, Yang Jun left the small world with the remaining 150 jin of grain and headed towards Ayili's house.

I deliberately delayed arriving by an hour, but it was still early, around ten o'clock.

This was already a long time since Sun had mentioned an hour, and he was sure that guy would nag him for ages when they got back. Fortunately, he had already come up with a plan.

When they arrived at the doorway, they saw the girl peeking out.

Yang Jun paused for a moment, because the little girl, Ayili, had actually become even more beautiful, and her clothes looked brand new.

She seemed to have dressed up on purpose.

"You've arrived, guest! Come in and sit down. Grandpa said he'd like to invite you to dinner today."

She didn't ask about the grain when she came up; instead, she pulled Yang Jun into the house.

"That's not a good idea, I have other things to do..."

Yang Jun wanted to refuse, but the girl insisted on pushing him into the house.

Sure enough, fruit and naan bread were laid out inside, indicating that it was time to eat.

What Yang Jun saw was interior decoration quite representative of the border city. The bed was similar to a kang (heated brick bed), but larger. The cushions and decorations were sewn with unique patterns, which were obviously different from those of the Han people.

"Please sit here, guest." Ayili placed a cushion for Yang Jun, so he could sit cross-legged on the kang (heated brick bed).

She immediately got busy, bringing him tea and a cup to pour for him.

Just then, the old man finished cooking and carried a large plate into the house.

The plate contains chicken and potatoes, similar to braised chicken with potatoes, but this cooking method is more characteristic of Xinjiang.

I didn't expect the old man to be so generous; he actually got him a chicken to eat. (End of Chapter)