"You silly child, sometimes you come back often, sometimes you can't come often, you're talking nonsense." Old Mrs. Hu chuckled, "You should just do whatever is convenient for you."
Shang Yechu's voice deepened, and after a long pause, he finally said, "Mm."
Grandma Hu continued, "Don't be too ambitious when you're out there... If you can't make it, Old Chen said the shop across the street is for rent. You can come back and sell some hand-pulled pancakes or something, and you won't starve."
"Yes. Don't worry, Grandma."
"When renting a house, you should read the contract carefully. Everyone in the pedestrian street has been reading rental contracts for decades. If you don't understand, you can ask others."
"Okay, Grandma."
"Making a lot of money is a good thing, but don't risk your life. Eat less junk food."
"Okay, Grandma."
"Don't forget to take your books, your schoolbag, your hand warmer, and the scarf I crocheted for you..."
"I won't forget, Grandma."
Shopkeeper Hu said everything he could, then suddenly remembered something else: "Oh, right, I found a stack of scrap paper under the table yesterday with something written on it like 'I'll always love Feng Que' or something—your ugly handwriting hurts my eyes just looking at it. Don't forget to clean it up before you leave."
Grandma Hu pulled a stack of rough, yellowed paper from under the table, muttering, "You've bought up all of Old Wen's old, unsold, rotten paper..."
Shang Yechu turned around, laughing and crying at the same time, and said, "Grandma, please don't expose my secrets, I'll throw them away in a moment."
Grandma Hu looked around and felt that she had said everything she could to advise her, and there was nothing more to say.
Looking at Shang Yechu's beautiful, pale face and her slightly downturned lips, Old Mrs. Hu suddenly felt an indescribable desolation and heartache. This feeling was fleeting, almost making her think that her old heart problem had flared up again.
Grandma Hu stepped forward, patted Shang Yechu on the shoulder, and after a long while, said, "I knew you would leave sooner or later. I even prepared a parting gift. I have nothing but books, so I'm leaving one of them for you."
Under Shang Yechu's astonished gaze, Grandma Hu said, "It's on the top shelf of that old bookshelf at the very back of the bookstore. Go get it after I leave."
With that, Grandma Hu walked away unsteadily.
As Shang Yechu watched her retreating figure, for some reason, she suddenly thought of Li Yi—and of how Jiang Shang Nongchaosheng had always protected Li Yi.
She wanted to rush forward and hug Grandma Hu, but a sudden surge of fear overwhelmed her, holding her back.
She may never have someone she can hold without hesitation.
Shang Yechu collected the waste paper, went to the bathroom, tore it into small pieces, and slowly flushed it down the drain.
After destroying the evidence, Shang Yechu walked to the last old bookshelf in the bookstore and stood on tiptoe to reach the book placed on the top shelf.
This is a bright green hardcover book with a lush green meadow on the cloth-textured hard cover. A leaf-shaped blank space is in the center, with the title written in both Chinese and English.
Leaves of Grass.
The book is old; the plastic wrap has been removed, and there are many signs that it has been read many times.
Shang Yechu casually flipped the book open, and the pages automatically turned to a certain page—a page with a leaf as a bookmark.
On the thick pages, the four-character title, "Song of Myself," was neatly printed in lead type.
I praise myself, I sing of myself...
I leisurely invite my soul.
I bend down to idly examine a blade of grass in summer.
Shang Yechu seemed to have been burned, slamming the book shut and pulling it into her arms!
...
Half an hour later, Shang Yechu dragged a large leather suitcase and carried an old schoolbag, walking out of the bookstore with a rumbling sound.
Shang Yechu locked the bookstore door and walked onto the pedestrian street.
As the year draws to a close, most of the neighbors have left. Only a handful of shops remain open.
When the neighbors saw Shang Yechu also dragging a suitcase, they all greeted him:
"Xiao Ye, are you leaving?"
"Yezi, are you going home for the Chinese New Year?"
"Wow, Yezi, your suitcase is so big, what's in it?"
As Shang Yechu walked to the entrance of the mobile phone store, Boss Lu was about to close the store. When he saw Shang Yechu, he quickly called out, "Yezi, come here quickly!"
Boss Lu pulled a lemon-yellow phone case off the shelf. The phone case was made of soft silicone, which was both soft, bouncy, and thick, with a chubby little chick holding a gold coin embedded on the back.
"Ye Zi, look at this!" Boss Lu said happily, "A get-rich-quick chicken! The Year of the Rooster is almost here, this is perfect!"
Shang Yechu smiled helplessly: "Aunt Lu, this will cost thirty or fifty, right? Even the richest family doesn't have enough money to buy a phone case."
Boss Lu said, "Oh dear! This casing is the same style as your old Renxing brand phone, nobody buys it anymore! It was a complete mistake in ordering—five yuan, five yuan is fine with me."
Shang Yechu walked to the street corner with a chubby, lemon-yellow cell phone in her hand. Uncle Ke and Aunt Meng's shop was about to close. Ignoring Shang Yechu's refusals, the couple stuffed a golden, juicy roast duck into her hands.
"This is the last duck of the year!" Aunt Meng exclaimed. "Xiao Ye, when you become a big star, you'll have to advertise for my shop!"
Shang Yechu agreed, feeling both amused and exasperated.
With a chicken in his left hand and a duck in his right, Shang Yechu struggled to walk out of the pedestrian street.
Standing at the entrance of the pedestrian street, Shang Yechu turned around and glanced at the pedestrian street sign.
The large characters "Happiness Commercial Street" shimmered with a soft golden light in the winter evening, as if plated with gold.
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