The harsh winter in the north temporarily deterred some restless people, allowing An Moxue to live a relatively comfortable life during this period. Every day, besides her regular martial arts practice and studies, she would occasionally have the village children come to ask her to fish in the river.

It was too cold, so the two little ones refused to go into the mountains.

Tomorrow is the annual market day, and Aunt Guo says it will be very lively.

An Moxue had never been to a market before and was very curious about what it was like.

The next morning, An Moxue got ready and went to find Aunt Guo.

The two were walking on their way to the market. Aunt Guo was pulling a sled, which had some things on it.

An Moxue asked curiously, "Auntie, why are you pulling a cart?"

"I'm planning to buy quite a lot, so I'll make sure it's light and easy to carry. Is there anything you'd like to buy?"

"I don't know what they'll be like, we'll see when the time comes!"

"Auntie, what are you going to buy?"

"Couplets, firecrackers, and some decorative paper—I want to decorate the house. I'll buy whatever else I can find; we won't be short of anything, it's the same every year. If there's any wheat flour, I'd like to buy some more. Our children will all be coming home for the New Year, and what we two old folks have isn't enough. I wonder if we can get any!"

"It's alright, Auntie. If you didn't manage to buy any, I'll give you some."

"That won't do! You have to save some to eat too."

"It's alright. The soldiers I rescued were thanked by their leaders, who gave me several dozen kilograms of flour. That's enough for me, so don't worry."

The two chatted about everyday things as they walked, and in the distance, they could see the Ursu River.

An Moxue saw a dense crowd, forming a long queue.

As you get closer, it's quite lively, with vendors hawking their wares, people haggling over prices, and children clamoring to buy treats.

An Moxue asked Aunt Guo, who was standing next to her, out of curiosity, "Auntie, can we still bargain?"

"Those are all personal, all bartered."

An Moxue looked closely and it was indeed true.

"Alright, we're here. You don't need to follow me anymore. Go explore on your own! There's plenty of good food out there! Don't miss it. Stop following this old woman around."

"Auntie, I'm going to go shopping now. Wait for me when I get back, I'll help you pull the sled." After saying that, he handed the sled to Aunt Guo.

An Moxue was really curious about what was available at the market. She browsed through the stalls one by one. The individual stalls mainly sold their own products, and those who had extras wanted to exchange them for things they didn't have. There were also some snacks that needed to be exchanged for other items.

There wasn't much to buy here, so An Moxue walked on. This area was all about selling things by village. An Moxue even saw Accountant Chen making transaction records at the stall in Anle Village. From here on, you could buy things with cash coupons.

An Moxue lacked nothing; she simply wanted to come and enjoy the spectacle.

Further on, she saw that state-run restaurants had set up stalls. An Moxue saw some hot wontons, bought a bowl, and sat down at the stall to eat them while watching people shopping busily.

The hot wontons ate and drove away the cold. Even though wontons cost only one cent and two ounces of grain coupons, not everyone could afford to eat them. In the time it took An Moxue to finish a bowl of wontons, she saw several people lingering with longing eyes, and in the end, they all left reluctantly.

After finishing her wontons, An Moxue continued shopping and noticed that the red paper at the supply and marketing cooperative was selling exceptionally well, with long queues forming at each stall.

I asked and found out that they bought them to write Spring Festival couplets and the character "福" (good fortune).

Her parents had just passed away, and she had to observe a three-year mourning period, during which she was forbidden from having any blood, so she didn't need to prepare any Spring Festival couplets.

Each stall was packed with people, and An Moxue had only one feeling: there were so many people!

I went to the food factory's stall and bought two bottles of canned yellow peaches and two bottles of canned hawthorns.

An Moxue walked from one end to the other and looked around. The items were fairly complete, but most of them required tickets, which deterred some people from wanting to buy them. They could only look on longingly.

An Moxue felt there was nothing left to see, so she turned back and started looking for Aunt Guo.

Moving forward was not smooth, and she would occasionally be jostled by people. As the number of people increased, An Moxue had to be more careful to avoid bumping into them.

Every family complained of being poor, but there were still a lot of people going to the market.

An Moxue walked to the end but still didn't see Aunt Guo, so she had no choice but to stand aside and wait for Aunt Guo.

A woman was idly kicking the snow at her feet when a male voice interrupted her, "Comrade, hello! Are you waiting for someone here?"

An Moxue looked up and saw a young man of medium height walking towards her.

An Moxue pointed to herself and asked, "Are you asking me?"

“Yes,” the man replied.

"Stop, don't go any further, I don't know you."

The man paused upon hearing her words, but didn't stop until he was about a meter away from her. He then said to An Moxue, "It's alright, if we don't know each other, we can introduce ourselves. Comrade, hello, I'm a former educated youth sent to the countryside..."

"Stop." An Moxue interrupted him, then continued, "I don't care who you are, and I don't want to know you. Stay away from me. Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!" An Moxue's tone also became more serious.

The man did not back down and said, "Comrade, you must have misunderstood me. I feel that you are also a sent-down youth, and we should have something in common, so I wanted to get to know you."

An Moxue looked him up and down. Although he was dressed fairly neatly, you could tell from his clothes that his family was definitely not well-off.

An Moxue looked at her own clothes again: a military overcoat, suede shoes, woolen pants, a rabbit fur hat and scarf, and she was carrying a large bag of food. She was attracting attention and being watched.

"What common language do you have? Do you have a common language to borrow money from me? Or a common language to ask me for food? Don't you know who you are or what you're worth? You think you can get to know me? Do you deserve it?"

The man blushed and remained silent. An Moxue continued, "If you want to be a gigolo, don't you even look at yourself? Haven't you ever looked in the mirror? It's not your fault you're ugly, but it's wrong to come out and scare people. Go somewhere where there are fewer people! Don't embarrass yourself in public."

The man was completely enraged. "How could you think of people like that?"

"What do you mean? If you're not like what I described, then leave. Staying means you have ill intentions."

Whether out of embarrassment and anger at having his secret exposed, or because he couldn't win an argument with An Moxue, the man turned and left.

An Moxue stood there, muttering to herself, "Why are there so many self-righteous people in this world who want to gain without effort? Do they think everyone else is a fool? Their intentions are so obvious; anyone with a brain can see through them."