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

"Uncle Manager!" Ya Ya, familiar with the place, nudged the plastic curtain of the two-dollar store open with her little head.

When Chen Lei looked up, he saw the little girl with a handful of grass in each hand, a bowl of fried rice hanging from her fingers, and a small basket in her arms. He couldn't help but laugh. What a sight!

"Ya Ya's here! What do you want to buy today? Did your uncle bring you?"

Ya Ya nodded and then shook her head, tiptoed with her short legs, and shoved the wild onions and ferns in her hands and the small basket in her arms onto the counter.

Chen Lei quickly got up to help catch it.

"We're not buying anything today. Grandpa and Grandma picked some mushrooms on the mountain and brought them over especially for you and Uncle Hemiao. They sell a lot outside, and Auntie loves them! Try some, and if you like them, Yaya will bring you some more next time."

"And this bracken fern, it's crunchy and sticky, so delicious! And this is wild onion." Ya Ya pointed to each one as she spoke, as if afraid the shopkeeper wouldn't recognize them.

"Just now on the street, there was an uncle selling fried rice who wanted to buy wild scallions. I gave him ten scallions, and he gave me an egg, this fried rice, and two dollars!"

Chen Lei was numb from hearing it all: ten sticks for two yuan.

One dares to sell and the other dares to buy.

He doesn't usually cook for himself, doesn't buy groceries, and doesn't know the prices. He just remembers that scallions are usually just a small amount that you get as a side dish when you buy groceries.

Chen Lei took the basket and saw a round egg with mushrooms haphazardly stuffed underneath.

He took out the eggs and then took a small basket to put the mushrooms in.

He knew nothing about wild delicacies and vegetables; he couldn't distinguish between varieties, let alone figure out which were expensive or cheap.

But if you ask him which nearby restaurant uses the freshest ready-made meal kits, he can name three!

Looking at the basket full of oddly shaped mushrooms, some like small honeycombs, others like hammer-shaped white mushrooms, I recognized the oyster mushrooms. These mushrooms had a refreshing, earthy, and grassy aroma that went straight to my nose.

There weren't many varieties; they were scattered here and there. The bracken fern had even dented a little in the middle because it had been squeezed for a long time.

Chen Lei, a grown man, almost shed tears when he saw this tiny little one running such a long way just to bring him a bite to eat.

He was just about to put the mushrooms and vegetables away when a customer came over to pay the bill.

He spotted the item on the counter at a glance, exclaimed "Oh!" and came over.

"Boss, that's impressive, so many wild mushrooms?"

The customer picked up a honeycomb-shaped mushroom, examined it closely, and his eyes lit up: "This is a top-quality morel! The flesh is thick and firm, with a rich aroma and a hint of nuts...tsk tsk..."

"Purely wild, top-quality goods!"

Chen Lei was taken aback: "Huh?"

"These aren't cheap," the customer said carefully, putting the morel mushrooms back. "These are purely wild; this kind of good stuff costs three or four hundred yuan a pound!"

Chen Lei paused, his previously casual movements of picking at the mushrooms instantly slowing down.

He genuinely had no idea that these random mushrooms were so valuable.

"The boss is really something. This two-dollar store may look unremarkable, but the profit margin is really good. You can eat wild delicacies worth hundreds of dollars a kilogram whenever you want."

After saying that, the guest paid the bill, glanced at it a couple more times, and left.

He may envy it, and the product may be good, but he can't afford it at that price.

Why don't we go back and discuss it with my wife, find a source of goods, and try opening a two-dollar store?

The cash register area fell silent again.

Chen Lei stared at the wild vegetables and mushrooms in the basket, thought for a moment, and then moved a small plastic stool for Ya Ya: "Ya Ya, wait here for a while. Uncle will call your sister He Miao and ask her to come and get them."

If it were just ordinary mushrooms, he would have thought it was too late to make a phone call, but these are so valuable, what if they go bad after being left overnight? That would be a waste of Ya Ya's good intentions.

"Mmm!" Ya Ya nodded obediently, a hint of anticipation on her little face.

Although she didn't know why they needed to make a call called a "telephone," she understood the other meaning: her uncle was calling Sister Hemiao over!

Sister He Miao is as beautiful as a fairy, Ya Ya hasn't seen her for two days!

While Chen Lei was on the phone, Ya Ya raised her little head and stared curiously at the row of bright lights above the shop.

The long, bright lights, and the round ones that glow yellow like little suns, are dazzling if you stare at them for a while.

It would be nice if there were bright lights like these in the yard.

Ya Ya watched for a while, then watched the shopkeeper mumble a lot of things to the thin, shiny board before putting it down.

She hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Uncle, are all these glowing, long, and round things in your shop lamps? Could you sell me one?"

Chen Lei looked up at the lights in his shop, which were illuminated by incandescent bulbs and spotlights.

The little guy wants to buy a lamp?

Ya Ya then whispered, "At night, the village is pitch black everywhere, and you can't even see the road. We only have a small oil lamp and a flashlight."

Chen Lei suddenly realized that the old man was reluctant to use electricity. Some of the older generation had been used to hardship and wanted to save every penny. They felt that turning on the lights was burning money.

Avoid lighting up if possible, sit in the dark for a while after dark, and go to bed early.

His maternal grandfather was such a stubborn old man.

The two-dollar store did have light bulbs, but the old man was reluctant to use electricity, so taking a light bulb would be pointless.

It would be better to...

Chen Lei's eyes lit up as he remembered the several packages he had ordered online.

"Wait a minute."

He stood up. "Uncle will go to the back and get you something nice."

He had just ordered a few solar-powered sensor clip-on lights a few days ago, intending to send them to his grandfather. They would clip onto the chicken coop or the yard fence, using little electricity, so his grandfather wouldn't mind.

The sensor lights up when someone approaches and turns off after a delay when the person leaves.

It's just right for the situation in YaYa Village.

Chen Lei turned around and went into the back storage room, rummaged through the express delivery boxes, opened them, and took out several black clip-on lamps, each about the size of an adult's palm.

"Here, take these back with you." Chen Lei placed the three clip-on lamps on the counter.

Ya Ya stared at those dark, indistinct things, her big eyes full of confusion.

Is this a lamp? It looks so strange, with a flat blackboard on one side and a yellow board with small clips on the other.

"What is this?" She gently touched the blackboard with her little hand.

"This is a solar-powered clip-on light," Chen Lei explained patiently. "It doesn't use much electricity. You clip it outside and let it bask in the sun, and it will light up by itself at night. It's also motion-sensored; it only turns on when someone is nearby and turns off when they leave."

"You can clip it anywhere—on the eaves, in the yard, or on a tree branch—but the battery side must face the sun."

Ya Ya was confused, unable to understand many of the words, but she grasped the most crucial sentences:

It glows when exposed to sunlight, and it lights up on its own when people walk by; it can be stuck to tree branches.

Is there really such a magical lamp?

Ya Ya looked at the dark thing.

"So... how much does one of these cost?"

Two pieces.

Ya Ya puffed out her cheeks. "Uncle, you're lying again. You shortchanged me last time, and you're doing it again this time."

She's not a clueless little kid anymore; don't try to fool her!

(Three covers, please help me choose!)