"去 to the 市场 by yourself, and 买 what we need for tonight." Mei was 小 — only eight. She had walked past the 市场 a hundred times holding her 妈妈's hand, but she had never once gone inside alone. She tied the purse to her belt, pushed open the 门, and stepped out onto the cold 路 with her head held 高. The 市场 was awake long before the rest of the town.

By the time Mei arrived it was already full of 人 — 太 many to count. On every side, sellers stood behind their stalls, 卖 this and 卖 that, calling their prices over each other's heads. The noise was 大. The smells were 大. Everything was 太 much at once, and for a moment Mei wanted to 走 straight back 家. But she 想 of her 妈妈's tired, hopeful face, and she did 不 turn around.

Mei opened the purse and counted the 钱 her 妈妈 had 给 her: three 块, three round coins, cold and heavy in her 手. It did 不 look like very much. She closed her 手 around them tightly.

If she lost even 一 块, there would be no evening meal — and then she could 不 go 家 and face her 妈妈. So she held the 钱 close to her 心 and 走 into the crowd. At the first stall — a mountain of round red apples — Mei took a breath and asked her first grown-up question. "请, how 多 are the apples?" The seller, a 大 man with a loud voice, looked 下 at her.

"请问 again, 小 one. I did 不 hear you." Mei's face went hot. She asked again, louder. "请问, how 多 for 一?" "Two 块 for three," the man 说. Two 块, for apples! Mei did quick sums in her 心. Two 块 was 太 much. If she 给 him two 块 for apples, she would 还 have only 一 块 left, and 一 块 could 不 buy a whole evening meal. "太 much," Mei 说, as bravely as she could. "I will 想 about it." She did 不 buy the apples.

It felt strange to 走 away — her 心 told her to be polite and buy something — 但 her 妈妈 had taught her that the first price is never the real price. So she kept her 钱 and 走 on, 但 now she walked slowly, looking at everything, learning how the 市场 worked. At last Mei 买 something — a 小 bag of salt from a kind 老 woman who did 不 shout. Mei 给 her 一 块. The woman took it, and 给 back a handful of smaller coins. "Your 找," she 说, smiling.

Mei did 不 understand at first, and then she did: when you 给 too much 钱, the seller 找 you the difference. "谢谢," Mei 说, and meant it. It was the first 谢谢 she had said all morning, and the 老 woman's face was so warm that Mei felt, for the first time, that the 市场 might 不 be so frightening after all. With the salt safe in her bag and her 找 — the little coins — back in her purse, Mei stood a touch taller. She 还 had most of her 钱. She 还 had the whole 市场 ahead of her. And somewhere past the noise and the crowd, where the smells were strongest and the best things were 卖, were the stalls she had really come for.

Mei took a breath, held her purse close, and 走 toward them.

Deeper in the 市场, the stalls changed. Here were baskets of green 菜, piled 高 and still wet from washing. Here were red slabs of 肉, hanging from iron hooks.

And here, on beds of crushed ice, lay the 鱼 — silver 鱼, 大 and 小, their round eyes staring up at the grey sky. Mei loved 鱼 best of all. A whole 鱼, steamed the way her 妈妈 made it, was the finest meal she could 想 of. She walked slowly past the 菜 and the 肉, 但 her eyes kept going back to the 鱼. Tonight, Mei decided, they would 吃 well.

She 想 of the warm kitchen at 家: a pot of white 米 steaming on the stove, a plate of green 菜, and in the 中, a whole 鱼. Rice first. At the grain stall she 买 a bag of 米 — enough 饭 for three 日 — and counted out the 钱 carefully. "谢谢," she 说; the word came easily now. One 块 gone. She 还 had nearly two — enough, she hoped, for a 鱼. The 鱼 seller was a 老 man with grey hair and a kind, tired face. "How 多 for a 鱼?" Mei asked. "请问," she added quickly, remembering her manners.

The 老 man lifted a fat silver 鱼 onto his scale. "This 一 is a 斤 and a 半," he 说. "Two 块." Mei's 心 sank. Two 块 — and she had only a little more than 一. She looked at the 大 鱼, then at a smaller 鱼 beside it. "And that 小 one?" "半 a 斤," the 老 man 说. "One 块."

Mei did 不 知道 what to do. She wanted the 大 鱼, 但 the 大 鱼 cost 太 much. She opened her purse and counted again, slowly, as if the 钱 might somehow have grown. It had 不. She 知道 now that she could 不 have the 大 鱼. Her face must have shown it, because the 老 man stopped wrapping and looked at her. "How much do you have, 小 one?" he asked. Mei did 不 want to 说. 但 she 知道 it was no use lying to a man who counted 钱 all 日 long. "One 块," she 说, "and a little more." The 老 man was quiet for a moment.

Then he did something Mei did 不 expect. He took the 大 鱼 — the two-块 鱼 — wrapped it in paper, and 给 it to her. "One 块," he 说. "For a new 朋友." Mei did 不 understand. "But it is a 斤 and a 半," she 说. The 老 man smiled. "I have 卖 鱼 here forty 日 a year, for thirty years," he 说. "I 知道 a good customer when I 看 one. 给 me your 块, and come back next week. A 市场 is built on 朋友, 不 on 钱."

Mei 给 him the 块, and her purse felt lighter than it had all 日 — though she had spent almost everything in it. Before she left, the 老 man poured a 小 cup of hot 茶 from a pot beside his stool and 给 it to her. "It is cold this morning," he 说. "喝 this first." Mei held the warm cup in both 手 and 喝 slowly. The 茶 was bitter and good. Around them the 市场 went on — people 买, people 卖, 钱 and 菜 and 鱼 passing from 手 to 手 — 但 for one quiet moment Mei and her new 朋友 just stood together and 喝 their 茶.