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

Twenty-one people sat around in the courtyard, holding bowls and eating heartily.

The aroma of the sliced ​​meat blends with the freshness of the wild vegetables, and each bite of the poached egg is bursting with oily flavor.

"Delicious! We're finally getting through this tough time!" Grandma Wang smacked her lips, and after taking a spoonful of steamed egg custard, her face lit up with joy.

"That's right! It has salt, meat, and eggs. I never even dared to dream of it before!" someone chimed in, adding another half bowl of porridge to their bowl.

After the meal, a busy new day officially began. Everyone remembered their new coats and hurriedly and carefully took them off, folded them neatly, and put them on the kang (a heated brick bed) in Grandma Liu's room.

I'd be heartbroken if I got this nice coat dirty while working!

I only dared to get down to work after changing back into my old clothes.

Hunter Zhao picked up his hoe and headed to the designated cellar behind the house. He needed to hurry over the next two days, as the rain was coming soon and the cellar had to be dug before the rain.

The others didn't delay either. After helping to clean up the dishes, some carried tampers to continue leveling the soil, while others went outside to move thatch and wooden poles to measure and build the rain shelter.

Fang Tiesheng held a newspaper, squinting as he peered into the light.

This paper was picked up from Ya Ya's little cart. It was delicate and tough, with tiny characters on it, so neatly arranged as if it had been measured with a ruler. He picked up the paper, carefully spread it out, and smoothed it out. There were also some pictures on it, and the painting was very exquisite, with colors, and lifelike.

I don't know which famous artist created this work.

Several sheets of rough paper used for wrapping noodles were spread out on the stone slab next to him, with words he had written on the back.

Spiny shoots: 60/jin

Shepherd's purse: 25 yuan/jin

Bracken fern: 25 yuan/jin

Fragrant Spring: 110/jin

cotton-padded jacket: 10 yuan/piece

Eggs, tangerines, grass...

He carefully wrote down the price of every item Ya Ya brought back that he could tell her. He also learned how to use numbers there. There were ten numbers in total, with few strokes, so they didn't take up much space or waste ink.

"Little Bean, come here." Fang Tiesheng was old and his eyesight was failing.

The child had sharp eyes, and he decided to see if either of the two kids in the village had the potential to be a good student.

Xiao Shuanzi is still too young, just a two-and-a-half-year-old toddler, there's no rush.

Little Bean was squatting on the ground picking at pebbles at the gate of the courtyard. When he heard Grandpa Fang call, he immediately clapped his hands and ran over, his little bun bouncing.

Fang Tiesheng pulled him to sit down by the stone slab, moved the newspaper closer to him, and pointed at the words and pictures on the paper with his rough fingers, his voice softening: "Little Bean, look at this, do you want to study? Grandpa will teach you to recognize the words on this, are you willing to learn?"

Little Bean stared at the newspaper with his round eyes. He found the densely packed Chinese characters fascinating, and he had never seen the colorful pictures before.

"Once you can read, you'll understand these things and be able to help Grandpa," Fang Tiesheng continued, seeing that he was looking at them intently.

"Grandpa, I'll learn!" Little Bean nodded his head vigorously, eager to help!

He didn't want to be a useless little bean; he wanted to help!

Fang Tiesheng was pleased, but he didn't teach the incomplete characters in the newspaper first, as he hadn't even figured them out himself yet.

He picked up a small stick: "Today, let's learn to write our own names."

He then wrote three large characters on the ground.

Little Bean nodded obediently, following Fang Tiesheng's strokes carefully, his soft voice drifting through the courtyard.

There isn't a single proper book left in this village. They burned all the previous ones; they were all about to die, so what's the point of keeping books? There are only a few old books left.

As Fang Tiesheng taught, he sighed inwardly. Xiao Douzi was clever and learned quickly and diligently. If only he had a copy of the "Three Character Classic" or the "Thousand Character Classic," the child would have a structured way of learning, which would be better than this piecemeal approach.

As he was pondering this, he suddenly felt a void in his heart, as if he hadn't heard Ya Ya speak for a while.

He glanced around the yard; it was flat ground, and people were busy setting up sheds.

"Can you see Ya Ya?"

"I haven't seen him leave the yard."

He shakily got up, glanced into the house, and saw no one. Granny Liu and the village chief and a few others had gone up the mountain.

When asked from behind the house, Zhao Hu also said he hadn't seen it.

Fang Tiesheng's heart skipped a beat. Oh no, could it be that they've gone to that strange place again?

They had previously thought that going at night would be the safest option, and Ya Ya had been going at night for the past few days as well. It was her first time going to that unfamiliar place, and with so many people around at night and no one she knew, they didn't recommend that Ya Ya go.

Moreover, it's not even Chen Shi (7-9 AM) anymore; it's almost Si Shi (9-11 AM). No one knows where Ya Ya will be taken.

Fang Tiesheng looked anxious, but there was nothing he could do, so he could only suppress the unease in his heart.

……

Ya Ya did indeed have Xiao He Bao take her there again, and when she opened her eyes, it was the same place she had visited for the first time in that mountain god temple.

This time of day was even more lively than the last time I came.

Today she was wearing the new cream-colored dress that her kind aunt had bought for her. Her little hands and face were also clean and tidy. It wasn't the old coat that was full of patches, holes, and covered in mud and dust that she wore before. Walking along the path, she was small in stature, but she was still very pretty.

No one looked at her with that frowning, disgusted look anymore.

Ya Ya felt much more relaxed and tightened her grip on the small handbag hanging on her body, which contained several red bills and some green and blue bills.

After careful observation, I found that the people at this place were no different from those at the morning market I visited around 5 PM; they were all holding shiny chickens and waving them at the small signs.

That proves that the money in her little handbag can buy things!

Ya Ya straightened her back a bit and became much more confident.

She strolled slowly along the roadside, her aunt reminding her to be careful when crossing the street.

It seemed like its little eyes weren't enough to take it all in, darting around everywhere. The roadside stalls were lined up one after another, brimming with goods, and there were also very shiny signs with patterns and various words hanging on them.

The aroma of steaming food eagerly wafted into Ya Ya's nose, and even though she had just eaten breakfast not long ago, she was tempted.

Everything is new and interesting to her.

On the left, a small stall had a large pot of oil sizzling and popping. The stinky tofu, fried until plump, rolled around in a bowl, mixed with chili sauce, and sprinkled with green cilantro. It was both fragrant and pungent.

Ya Ya pinched her nose and walked a little further away. Why do people here all like to eat smelly food?

Stinky leaves, stinky tofu.

The teppanyaki grill next door was steaming, and round takoyaki balls lay obediently in the holes of the grill. The owner used a small skewer to skewer them, squeezed on some sauce, sprinkled on some seaweed flakes and minced meat, and the aroma made Ya Ya swallow her saliva.

Ya Ya looked around, trying to find the braised eggs from last time, but after walking almost half a street, she still couldn't find them; all she saw were strange and unusual foods.

Suddenly, a loud and piercing horn blared from the intersection ahead, instantly drowning out the surrounding noise and drilling straight into my ears:

"Don't miss out! Everything is only two yuan! Two yuan for everything! You can't go wrong with two yuan! Small stationery and general merchandise, everything is only two yuan! Come and see, come and choose, everything is only two yuan!"