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

Ya Ya hurriedly caught the schoolbag with both hands; it felt heavy in her hands.

"Brother Zhao, isn't this the backpack you really liked? Why did you just give it to me? What are you going to do with yourself?"

Ya Ya looked at the two little pointed ears on the purple backpack. This little doll named Ku Nuomi was very popular with Brother Zhao, otherwise he wouldn't have made clothes and a backpack with this doll.

"It's okay, it's okay, take it." Zhao Haohao glanced at his schoolbag and waved his hand, pretending not to care.

"Then how will you go to school? How will you carry your textbooks and homework without a schoolbag?"

"Don't worry, I have two more at home!"

Ya Ya looked at Zhao Haohao with some surprise. It turned out that Brother Zhao was not as poor as she had thought, and he even had two schoolbags.

That's true, Brother Zhao is an official after all, how could he be poor!

She immediately hugged her schoolbag and smiled sweetly, "Then I'll take it, thank you, Brother Zhao."

"Ya Ya, open it and take a look. I have no idea what Hao Hao put in there," Cao Xiulian said with a smile.

"Good stuff!" Zhao Haohao grinned. Luckily, he had rummaged through drawers and cabinets to find a bunch of stuff, not just some random junk, otherwise he would have been subjected to his mother's judgment.

Ya Ya gently unzipped the longest zipper on her backpack and peeked inside.

Wow! So much stuff!

Ya Ya pulled out items one by one. First were several brand-new and beautiful sketchbooks. At first glance, all four sketchbooks had the same title, only the colors and the animals on the covers were slightly different.

"A hundred thousand whys... how come there are so many books?" Ya Ya muttered to herself, then continued to grope inside, pulling out a round, furry thing.

Cao Xiulian looked at the fluffy purple bag that Ya Ya had taken out, and then looked at Zhao Haohao with some surprise. Wasn't this the Kuromi stationery gift box that she had given Haohao as a reward after he won a medal at the sports meet?

This guy treasures it so much; he usually wouldn't even use it himself, yet he's willing to take it out and give it to his sister?

"What is this?" Ya Ya looked at the fluffy glutinous rice in her hand, which was as big as her head. There was a fluffy ribbon between its two ears and a wide purple ribbon on each side of its cheeks.

"This is a crossbody bag, Kuromi's," Zhao Haohao said, picking it up and helping Ya Ya put it on her back.

The ribbon was a bit long, so Cao Xiulian adjusted it for Ya Ya.

"There's a zipper here that you can open; you can put things inside."

Ya Ya looked down at the fluffy bag around her waist, spun around in place, and smiled so much that her lips almost reached her ears. What a cute little bag!

"There's more in your schoolbag, little sister, keep looking," Zhao Haohao urged from the side, eagerly anticipating her surprise and delight at seeing the complete set of stationery.

Ya Ya then pulled out a box of 12 Kuromi pencils, a Kuromi pencil case, a purple eraser, a Kuromi spiral notebook, a Kuromi keychain, and finally a white ribbon printed with Kuromi cartoon images.

Looking at the pile of things on the table, Cao Xiulian silently gave Hao Hao a thumbs up. Her son had really gone all out, giving away his favorite set of Kuromi.

After Ya Ya finished taking stock of everything, Cao Xiulian reached out and gently put the scattered books and stationery back into her schoolbag, zipped it up, and picked up the Kuromi ribbon.

"Auntie will tie it up for you."

She gently pulled apart the two little tufts on the top of Ya Ya's head, smoothed them out with her hands, and skillfully wrapped and tied them to create a round and cute flower bud on top of Ya Ya's head. After securing it with a rubber band, she tied the ribbon into a big bow.

"Our Ya Ya looks even prettier and cuter dressed up like this."

Ya Ya reached up and touched the headband on her head, then looked down at the small purple bag at her waist. After thinking for a moment, she took out her phone from her pocket: "Auntie, I want to see what I look like now. Could you take a picture of me?"

"Of course you can." Cao Xiulian took several pictures of Ya Ya with her phone.

"Come on, take a look." She handed the phone to Ya Ya.

Ya Ya held her phone, staring at the photos for a long time, her lips curving upwards involuntarily, her eyes sparkling.

So lovely!

Watching Ya Ya's joyful, bouncy movements, Zhao Haohao smirked. He thought it would be even better if his sister had a better-fitting outfit.

This outfit is too old-fashioned!

He clutched the money in his pocket tightly.

Suddenly I feel like buying skins is pointless. My little sister is so cute and generous. Buying her pretty clothes is much more fun than buying skins for the hero!

"Brother Zhao, thank you for the gift, I really like it." After admiring her new item, Ya Ya moved closer to Zhao Hao Hao. "It must have cost a lot of money, right? If you come to work again tomorrow, I'll give you extra pay!"

Zhao Haohao's heart skipped a beat. He was doomed!

Cao Xiulian, who had been smiling all along, changed her expression: "What wages?"

"As for Brother Zhao's wages, the wages I paid him for the work he did for me were twenty-eight yuan. Auntie, isn't that a bit too little?"

Zhao Haohao tried his best to stop Ya Ya from talking, but he couldn't.

"Zhao! Hao! Hao!" Cao Xiulian gritted her teeth. "How dare you take your sister's money? Twenty-eight yuan! You've really grown up!"

"Awoooooo~" Zhao Haohao covered his butt and sprang out of the store.

……

"Cement works so well, why don't you rebuild the house? This house is a bit cramped, little fairy."

Xiong Bo and Da Niu sat squeezed on the threshold, while the village chief and several others sat around the table.

In the afternoon, Xiong Bo, along with Zhao Hu, Da Niu, and a few others, shoveled the silt from the bottom of the well and then moved a lot of stones from the riverbank to repair the well. After that, they went to the bathroom to build a platform for the water heater.

Considering that a water-holding container might be added later, Xiong Bo specifically requested that it be built larger, making it as high as the bathroom ceiling.

Zhao Hu was initially a little confused. He thought that as long as the platform was built with two or three layers of bricks to prevent water from overflowing, that would be enough. Building it so high would be inconvenient to lift it up and down.

But upon hearing Xiong Bo's words, "Water flows downhill," he instantly understood.

The three of them worked in the dark until 7 PM, and only then did they finish building half of the platform, which was as big as the roof of a bathroom.

Knowing that Nannan would be coming back, Zhao Hu told Xiong Bo and Da Niu to finish work and head to Granny Liu's little earthen house together.

"At first, we didn't understand how to use cement bricks. Then, Da Niu's incident happened. Our village is too close to that place, and we always felt it wasn't safe enough," Grandma Liu replied slowly as she listened to Xiong Bo's question.

Xiong Bo was startled and turned to look at the faint outline of a mountain that could be seen in the deep night behind him.