In the bustling market, a vendor was enthusiastically hawking his wares to passersby, holding a cute cat mask in his hand.
A little girl, about thirteen or fourteen years old, stood next to a vendor's stall, watching people come and go on the street. She stood there for half an hour.
A chubby little hamster was perched on the little girl's shoulder, happily munching on sunflower seeds. After it had finished all the sunflower seeds in the little girl's pouch, it squeaked impatiently.
【Zhenzhen, are we going to keep waiting? QAQ Are you sure it's today?】
The little girl patted the hamster perched on her shoulder and comforted it, "Good boy, wait a little longer."
After she finished speaking, she looked up and continued to watch the people coming and going in the restaurant. A man dressed in battle armor and holding a red-tasseled spear came out of the restaurant, followed by several subordinates.
"Squeak!" [Here it comes!]
Qiao Zhen asked the vendor next to her, "Uncle, can I have a cat mask?"
"Little girl, what do you think of this one I have here?" The vendor chuckled and handed her the cat mask he was holding.
Qiao Zhen looked at the mask in the vendor's hand, which suited the tastes of a girl her age. "How much?"
Five coins.
Qiao Zhen opened the brocade pouch and found only a pile of melon seed shells inside. She knew it was the work of the little hamster on her shoulder again. She smiled awkwardly and shyly. "Uncle, I left in a hurry and didn't bring any money." As she spoke, she took the silver hairpin out of her hair. "Would you like to exchange this hairpin with me?"
Before the vendor could answer, the little hamster bristled. "Squeak! Squeak!" [Really, that hairpin costs two hundred taels! Two hundred taels! Not a penny or two! You spendthrift woman!]
Qiao Zhen slapped the little hamster to shut it up, then asked the vendor again, "Uncle, is it okay?"
The vendor was very honest. "Miss, my mask isn't worth as much as your hairpin. Why don't you come back and buy it next time?"
But if they waited until next time, the male and female protagonists in the mission would miss each other. Qiao Zhen hurriedly stuffed the hairpin into the vendor's hand, and then snatched the cat mask. "Uncle, if I like it, then it's worth it."
Qiao Zhen lifted her skirt and ran ahead, stopping the leading officer. "Uncle! Uncle!"
"Young lady, is there anything I can do for you?" The man holding the red-tasseled spear stopped in his tracks.
Qiao Zhen tilted her head and looked at the man expectantly, "Do you know how the battle at the border is going? My father is in the Ninth Prince's vanguard."
The man reached out his rough, large hand and patted Qiao Zhen's head, grinning as he said, "This battle at the border was a great victory. Your father will surely return with glory for the entire family!"
Qiao Zhen noticed out of the corner of her eye that another woman, dressed in coarse linen and with delicate features, had come out of the restaurant where the man had just left. The woman was carrying a two- or three-year-old child in her arms, and she was heading in the opposite direction from the man.
"Uncle, could you help me with my mask? You gave me good news, and I'll give you good news in return." Qiao Zhen handed the cat mask to the man.
The man hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took it.
Qiao Zhen ran behind the man, pointed at him, and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Help! Someone is robbing a little girl's things in broad daylight!"
The man had turned around to see what good news Qiao Zhen had in store for him, but she caught him completely off guard with her outburst. He tried to explain to those around him, but he noticed the strange looks he was receiving and the tearful eyes of the pretty woman.
"But it seems like Uncle needs it more, so I'll give it to him. No need to thank me too much for being so understanding." Qiao Zhen made a mischievous face and then ran off in a flash.
She watched the unfolding events from around the corner: the man stood there, stunned, staring incredulously at the pretty woman and the little dumpling in her hand.
Two clear tears streamed down the woman's face. The little baby stretched out his short, slender arms to wipe away the tears from her face, then pouted and breathed on her face, saying in a childish voice, "Mommy, don't cry, breathing on you will make it stop hurting."
The man seemed somewhat at a loss. He suddenly shoved the red-tasseled spear in his hand to his subordinate, who took it in fright and was almost stabbed by the spear.
Upon seeing this, the woman couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. She explained to the baby, "Mommy isn't in pain, she's happy." Her voice became increasingly choked with emotion, "Mommy, Mommy saw your father."
The man strode over, but when he stood beside the woman, his hands trembled, and he dared not move. She was his beloved wife, the woman he had longed for since childhood, but she was carrying a child, and he hesitated. What if his wife had remarried during the three years he had been away from home? Then he would never be able to hold her, comfort her, or look at her before she fell asleep or woke up.
Seeing the man's conflicted expression, the woman knew he was overthinking something, and she laughed and scolded, "Fool!"
The baby stared blankly at the man, a suspicious liquid still at the corner of his mouth, and mumbled, "Daddy!"
The woman looked at the man's bewildered expression and burst into laughter through her tears: "Did you hear that? Your son just called you."
The dignified man finally couldn't hold back his tears. He carefully hugged the woman and the child in her arms, "It's my fault! It's my fault! If I hadn't insisted on joining the army, how could you and your child have suffered so much?"
The woman buried her face in the man's chest, "But you're back. You let our son know that his father is a hero with blood and guts."
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