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

At dawn, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, birds chirped merrily in the woods, and Ya Ya groggily opened her eyes.

Grandma Liu doesn't sleep much, so she got up before dawn. Several villagers were already busy in the yard. When Grandma Liu saw the village chief and the others leading them in, she saw the things Ya Ya had brought back.

The group stared at the gray bags piled almost to the ceiling, speechless with astonishment. After a long pause, they finally managed to stammer, "What are these? Thick cotton quilts? How come there are so many!"

Everyone was itching to open it and take a look, but when Granny Liu said that the outer bag made a loud noise when pulled, no one dared to touch it.

They quietly slipped out of the house, moving slowly to sweep the yard and level the ground, careful not to disturb Ya Ya's sleep.

Ya Ya sat up, rubbed her eyes, and saw the pile of floral jackets in the corner. She instantly woke up and quickly put on her shoes.

As soon as I reached the gate, I saw people in the yard. "Grandpa Village Chief! Uncle Zhao! Grandpa Fang! Come quickly!"

Upon hearing the sound, the group's eyes lit up, and they followed the sound into the house.

Ya Ya pointed to the tightly bundled padded jackets, her eyes crinkling with laughter: "Ya Ya bought a padded jacket for everyone! The stall owner said it's three-layered with cotton quilting, it's really thick! Thicker than the cattail quilt Ya Ya used to sleep under, and it's especially soft!"

棉！

Fang Tiesheng clutched his chest! Years ago, when he went to the county town to take the exam, he had heard of cotton, a rare commodity that was precious and could be exchanged for silver! A pound of cotton was worth an ounce of silver. If this thickness was all cotton, what a huge sum of money that would be!

The village chief quickly stepped forward, carefully untied the rope, and—whoosh—

The compressed coat was released, puffed up again, and grew taller.

Seeing the large, wobbly pile, Zhao Hu and Fang Tiesheng quickly went over to lend a hand. The three of them carefully tore off the outermost gray plastic bag, and instantly a vibrant mix of red and green burst into view!

Bright red flowers, vibrant green fabric, and pink and yellow—a riot of colors.

I've never even seen this color before, let alone worn it!

The village chief, Zhao Hu, Fang Tiesheng and the other two placed the padded jackets one by one on the kang (a heated brick bed). They were soft and thick to the touch, as light as clouds and as warm as sun-dried quilts. They didn't dare to hold them too tightly, for fear that their rough hands would rub the material!

"My goodness! This is so beautiful and so thick!" The village chief's throat tightened.

The feel of it made them a little scared. Such a wonderful object must only exist in the realm of immortals. How could Ya Ya have brought it back like this?

"How much money will this cost!"

Grandma Liu also came out of the kitchen. When she saw the brightly colored padded jackets all over the kang (a heated brick bed), she was so surprised that she stood there, unable to move her legs.

"Grandma! Try this on! This red floral-patterned jacket was specially chosen for you by Ya Ya!"

Grandma Liu gently stroked the fabric of the padded jacket; it was thick and soft, even better than the one the Lin family had brought out. How much would one of these cost! Such fine padded jackets filled an entire kang (heated brick bed)!

"This...this is too precious, how could I dare to wear it..."

"Hurry up and put on your clothes! Everyone is wearing new clothes!" Ya Ya pushed her towards the kitchen.

Grandma Liu then remembered that there were three men in the house. Her face flushed, she hurried to the kitchen and carefully took off her old, patched, coarse linen coat stuffed with willow catkins. After hesitating for a moment, she also took off the coarse linen shirt underneath.

She held the brand-new, bright red floral jacket, gently shook it open, and slowly put it on.

As soon as I put it on, a warm feeling enveloped me, not the kind of weak, damp warmth of an old coat, but a warmth that came from the inside out!

It felt soft and clinging to my body, and soon my back was covered in a light sweat.

Grandma Liu's eyes were red, whether from the heat or the fumes, she didn't know. She wiped her eyes and carefully stepped out of the kitchen.

"Wow, Grandma is so beautiful!" Ya Ya clapped her hands, her eyes full of joy.

The village chief and the others looked at Granny Liu's new coat. The blush on her face, combined with the bright red floral pattern, made her seem several years younger.

"Grandpa Village Chief, Grandpa Fang, Uncle Zhao, you should also pick one to wear. Everyone has one, so Ya Ya will buy them all!" Ya Ya stood on the kang and waved her hand proudly.

Zhao Hu couldn't hold back any longer. He reached out and picked out a blue dress with small white flowers. He had looked around and this was the most plain one.

The padded jackets that Ya Ya bought were all women's styles, so each one had a floral pattern, either small floral prints or large floral prints, and they also had small round collars.

The village chief was too slow and picked out a brown one with small pink flowers.

The two of them carefully wore the clothes. Fang Tiesheng didn't rush to move, but instead took Ya Ya's little hand: "Ya Ya, did you... did you trade these for our wild vegetables?"

Ya Ya nodded, reaching into her little handbag and pulling out a handful of colorful scraps of paper. "Yes, yes, we traded them for wild vegetables! Those tender shoots and stinky leaves were so popular, they sold out in no time! Ya Ya even paid back the money Auntie had lent her for the clothes!"

As she spoke, she became a little teacher, fiddling with the banknotes and teaching Fang Tiesheng to recognize them: "Grandpa Fang, look at this red banknote. One stick and two circles mean it's 100, it's very valuable! One note can buy ten coats! This green one with the curved number is 5, and this one with a circle is 50!"

Fang Tiesheng squatted by the kang (a heated brick bed), staring blankly at the pile of scraps of paper. "Heavens! These wild vegetables have been exchanged for more than ten pieces of paper, and one piece can buy ten padded jackets! These wild vegetables must be some kind of divine treasure over there! How can they be exchanged for so many good things?!"

Ya Ya giggled as she listened, then remembered something, got off the kang (a heated brick bed), and dragged the little cart over. "Grandpa Fang, I also bought some eggs and sweet fruits! These yellow ones are called tangerines, and these red ones are called strawberries. They're so sweet!"

The village chief and Zhao Hu stopped looking at their clothes and helped Ya Ya take the things out of the car. There was a bag of golden, round fruits, a basket of bright red, heart-shaped fruits with sesame seeds, and at the bottom, there was a whole pile of white eggs!

The village chief immediately swallowed hard; he hadn't eaten eggs in ages!

I wonder if this egg will hatch into a chick.

Hunter Zhao stared at the fruit he had never seen before, leaned closer to smell it, and exclaimed, "What a unique fragrance! It smells sweet!"

"Grandpa Fang, stop daydreaming and hurry up and pick out some clothes!" Ya Ya urged, seeing that all three adults in the room were wearing new clothes, but Grandpa Fang was still looking drab.

"Okay, okay! Grandpa will pick one right away!" Fang Tiesheng immediately agreed and picked out a brown-yellow floral-patterned jacket.

Before long, all four of them were dressed in their new padded jackets.

Her face was flushed with joy.

Inside the house, a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) was burning, and all four of them were wrapped in three layers of cotton-padded jackets. Before long, they were all sweating profusely, but none of them wanted to take them off. So they simply took the eggs and fruit to the yard, tidied up, and prepared to make breakfast.

By then it was already broad daylight, and villagers were coming to Granny Liu's courtyard one after another. As soon as they entered, they saw four people standing in the courtyard and were instantly stunned!