country bumpkin

Mu Shuyun, Granny Zhang, and Granny Niu from Kongjia Village took Yunya and Caixia to the market.

Yunya was always happy to go to the market. She skipped and hopped ahead, while Caixia followed behind with small, quick steps. Their adorable and lively personalities were infectious, infecting everyone else with their joy.

When Yunya meets familiar people on the road, she greets them, "Grandma Song, Aunt Li, Uncle Han, Aunt Zhang..." Her little mouth never stops.

Yunya greeted everyone as she ran into the market, her eyes immediately lighting up as she saw colorful stalls selling clothes and fabrics.

The fabrics had all sorts of patterns, like colorful clouds. Yunya pulled Caixia towards them.

"Sister, look how pretty this blue and white floral fabric is! It would be absolutely gorgeous to make a dress out of it," Yunya said excitedly, pointing to a piece of fabric.

Caixia nodded with shining eyes, "Really? And that pink floral one is nice too."

Mu Shuyun and the others gradually followed, and couldn't help but smile when they saw the two children's excited expressions.

Granny Zhang joked, "Oh dear, these two girls are probably going to be spoiled for choice."

Old Lady Niu chimed in, "Kids just like all these colorful things."

Upon hearing this, Yunya turned around and said with a smile, "Grandma Zhang, Grandma Niu, we're just looking, we won't buy anything." Then she went to look at other fabrics.

Just then, a stall owner nearby shouted, "New fabric just arrived, selling cheap!" This attracted a lot of people to gather around, and Yunya and Caixia also squeezed in curiously to see what was new.

The stall displayed many floral fabrics, as well as samples made into skirts and pants, which were very attractive.

One of the hair accessories, a pink lace-trimmed one, caught Yunya's attention.

Seeing that the little girl liked the hair accessory, the vendor introduced it, saying, "This hair accessory is made from leftover fabric scraps from making clothes, and it has lace trim. It looks very pretty on your head. If you buy the fabric for a whole outfit, you get the hair accessory for free."

Yunya excitedly pulled Caixia along, looking at this and touching that. Caixia took a fancy to a white hair accessory with black flowers. The design made her think of all sorts of things.

Caixia pointed to the white hair accessory with black flowers and showed it to Yunya: "Yunya, look, isn't this pretty? It's so beautiful!"

Yunya looked at the hair accessory and giggled, "It's pretty, but it reminds me of cows, quacking away..."

Caixia: "…………" These girls have such strange thought processes.

Upon closer inspection, it does indeed resemble a cow drawn in a picture book.

However, she liked it very much. Caixia ran to Grandma Niu's side, "Grandma, I want that hair accessory." She pointed to the white hair tie with black flowers.

The old woman asked the vendor, "Fellow villager, we don't need clothes, and we don't want to buy fabric. Could you sell me one of those hair accessories instead?"

The vendor looked at them with difficulty and said, "How much are these? They're a free gift with the purchase of fabric. The hair accessories aren't priced either! Why don't you buy a few feet of fabric and make a little skirt for your child?"

Granny Niu was also in a dilemma. Her family wasn't well-off, and Caixia's clothes were all secondhand clothes that her second daughter had gotten from her husband's relatives. Caixia had basically never spent money on her own clothes.

Her second daughter married into a wealthy family in the city. Some of the children's clothes were still 8% new, so they were discarded and given to Kong Chun'e to give to her niece.

When she has time to come back to visit her mother, she often gives her eldest sister, Kong Chunhua, some pocket money. It's not much, but it's enough to make her sister a little better off.

Mu Shuyun knew about their family situation and stepped in to smooth things over.

He said, "Boss, we're all from the same village, or from nearby villages. If you're not from far away, we're all neighbors. If you don't like it, just ask for the price you see at the market, okay?"

The vendor chuckled, "Alright, we're all from the same hometown. Each one costs 5 cents at the market, I won't charge more, 5 cents each, what do you think?"

Granny Niu thanked her repeatedly and handed over the money. Yunya also bought one, the pink lace-trimmed hair accessory.

The two children happily put on their hair ornaments and ran ahead, skipping and hopping towards the center of the market.

Her little braids, adorned with hair accessories, bounced and swayed to the rhythm of her hopping, making her look very lively and adorable.

A crowd had gathered ahead, and Yunya ran over to see what was going on. Caixia followed closely behind.

It was a pants vendor, shouting: "Trendy and fashionable bell-bottoms! This style is all the rage in big cities now. Young, pretty girls and handsome young men are all wearing them. Anyone who wears them will look beautiful and good-looking!"

Then he shouted, "Everyone from the south and the north, come and see! All the good-looking, fashionable, trendy, and popular things are here, come and take a look!"

Hearing the vendors' shouts, Yunya couldn't help but laugh out loud. The onlookers watched the girl honking like a goose...

An old woman said, "Whose little girl is this? So cute and pretty, it's a pity she's mentally challenged."

After hearing this, Yunya glared at her fiercely, said nothing, and continued to chatter away.

Several young women and men started trying on pants. Yunya ran over and asked, "Boss, how much are these pants per pound?"

Boss: "This kid is really naughty. Pants aren't sold by weight."

Yunya continued, "I want to buy a pair of pants for one yuan, but weigh out one yuan's worth for me."

Everyone looked at Yun Ya with a mixture of doubt and pity, "...Could this child really be a fool?"

Yun Ya giggled and cried out. She was laughing so hard she almost fell over.

Mu Shuyun went over and pulled Yunya away. She apologized, "I'm sorry, the child was being naughty and mischievous."

Onlookers commented, "Oh, so he's a troublemaker. We thought he was an idiot. This kid is really naughty."

After leaving, they continued browsing the market. Yunya and Caixia were still running ahead.

Several adults followed behind them, buying and buying. Vegetables, fruits, pork, all kinds of food were available.

Summer and autumn are great; there are all kinds of vegetables available, and the fruits are fresh and plentiful.

Everyone bought a large basket of vegetables. The adults carried the baskets, and the two children carried half-filled woven bags, swaying as they walked home.

The journey was lively, filled with laughter and playful banter. As we neared home, large, dark clouds rolled in from the horizon, pressing down with a heavy, oppressive weight.

Granny Niu glanced at the sky worriedly and said, "It looks like it's going to rain. We need to hurry back." Everyone quickened their pace.

As soon as they stepped inside, large raindrops began to pelt down. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thankful they hadn't gotten soaked.

The children excitedly ran into the house and started playing with their new purchases.

The adults were busy tidying up the vegetables they had bought. Mu Shuyun, while sorting the greens, joked, "This trip to the market today was worthwhile, I've got a lot to show for it." Granny Niu smiled and agreed.

At this moment, Caixia discovered that a piece of fatty meat was missing, and the group searched for a long time without success. Granny Niu slapped her thigh: "It must have been shaken off on the way here. Alas, what a pity for that good piece of fat."

Yunya blinked and said, "It's okay, we still have so much good food. Besides, the piece of fat that fell off was extra given to us by the owner, it didn't cost us anything." Everyone laughed when they heard this.

The rain was drizzling down, and the house was filled with laughter as everyone started discussing how to make a sumptuous dinner with the ingredients they had. The little incident of losing meat earlier was quickly forgotten.

After discussing cooking, they started gossiping about some recent events in the village.

An hour later, the rain subsided a bit, and Granny Niu and Granny Zhang took their vegetable baskets and went home.

Caixia stayed behind to play with Yunya.

The two children were playing house, looking in the mirror, and starting to admire themselves.

Just as they were admiring themselves, Yunya saw several chicks running around in the rain in the yard.

She pulled Caixia along and said, "Let's go and herd the chicks back to the coop, otherwise they'll get sick."

So the two children rushed into the light rain and, with great effort, managed to herd all the chicks back to their coop.

Back inside, both of them were soaked. Seeing this, Mu Shuyun quickly brought dry towels to dry their hair, saying as she did so, "Don't catch a cold."

After drying off, the two changed their clothes and resumed their playful antics.

The rain gradually stopped. The yard was wet. They went into the yard.

This time they decided to play hopscotch. They drew a grid in the yard with sticks and took turns hopping on one foot.

But Caixia slipped and fell in a puddle, scraping her knee. She was also covered in mud, so Yunya quickly helped her up and ran back into the house to find Mu Shuyun to help apply medicine.

Caixia grimaced in pain, but said it didn't hurt. After applying the medicine, she changed into Yunya's clothes.

The two children sat together again, planning the next game they would play, and laughter once more echoed through the room.