Learning to play games, a 40-year-old woman achieves a remarkable turnaround.

Chapter 279 really looks a lot like Little Nine.

In the game world, after Yuan Bao and his mother convinced their aunt, they finished lunch. Yuan Bao tapped the rim of his bowl with his bamboo chopsticks, the crisp sound startling the swallows on the beam into fluttering flight.

"Everyone! Everyone! We're going shopping and having some delicious food this afternoon! We're leaving at 2 PM sharp, don't miss out on the custard buns at the state-run grocery store!"

Xiaoshan jumped up from the bamboo chair, rice grains still stuck to the hem of his blue and white striped sailor shirt: "I'm going to buy a tin frog! The kind they showed on TV last time!"

Pingping tugged at her cousin's shirt, which was a faded pink polyester fabric: "I want to go to the department store to look at hair ties."

Auntie had already started clearing the table. Hearing this, she looked up, a smile hidden in the fine lines at the corners of her eyes: "Xiaoshan, slow down, don't fall."

My maternal grandparents, wearing faded blue cloth arm sleeves, shakily stuffed motion sickness medicine into the pockets of their Zhongshan suits.

Mr. Yuan filled the military water bottle with hot water, and most of the red characters "Serve the People" on the bottle fell off.

Brother Lin, dressed in a crisply washed navy blue overall, with an aluminum badge that read "Lin's Pharmaceutical" pinned to his chest, unfolded a crumpled hand-drawn map: "Wangfujing Department Store, Qianmen Street, Longfusi Snacks... the routes are all marked!"

The grass-green minibus rolled over the bluestone slabs of the alley, raising a cloud of fine dust.

Xiaoshan pressed his face against the car window, watching the commuters on their old bicycles file past on the street, their canvas backpacks jingling against the baskets.

Pingping suddenly pointed to the newsstand on the street corner: "Cousin! The new issue of 'King of Fairy Tales' is out!"

Yuan Bao looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw the covers of Zheng Yuanjie's fairy tale books on the tin shelf glistening in the sunlight.

The car was parked in front of Wangfujing Department Store. In the glass window, there were snow cream and enamel basins, and chrome compasses gleamed under the lights.

Xiaoshan dragged his uncle toward the toy counter, where the wooden shelves were filled with a dazzling array of tin trains, slingshots, and bamboo dragonflies.

"This is it!" He grabbed the tin frog, wound it up, and the frog hopped crisply on the glass counter.

Taking advantage of a lull in the crowd as everyone gathered around the fabric shop picking out fabrics, Yuan Bao tugged at Xiao Lin's sleeve: "Brother Lin, where nearby can I buy a kitten?"

Brother Lin scratched the back of his head, a cigarette pack peeking out of his workwear pocket: "Go three alleys south, there's a spontaneous pet market, but it's all mixed-breed cats..."

"Okay, I'll go take a look!" Yuan Bao gripped her canvas bag tightly. After hearing what Brother Lin said, she became even more eager to go. She had to go buy the kitten by herself.

The pet market was set up in a corner of the market, with kittens and puppies crammed into bamboo baskets.

Yuan Bao squatted in front of the old man wearing a straw hat's stall, where two kittens were gnawing on fish heads—the orange cat was skin and bones, but it stared with big, round eyes;

The tortoiseshell cat was curled up in a ball of fur, with mud still stuck to the tips of its ears.

"Sir, how much for these two?"

"Buying both together? Five yuan will do, so they'll have each other for company." The old man quickly agreed when he saw a customer coming in.

Yuan Bao took out five one-yuan bills from his pocket, but actually from his spatial storage, and handed them to the old man.

Then, wrap the kitten in a scarf and run to a corner.

In the corner, Yuan Bao looked around; no one was there.

He took out the Spirit Beast Pill from his spatial pouch, confirmed its use, and a pale blue light instantly surrounded the kitten's head, causing ripples in the air.

The orange cat suddenly stood upright, and a mechanical voice rang in Yuan Bao's mind: "Energy injection complete, spirit beast pill in effect."

The tortoiseshell cat elegantly licks its paws: "The kitten has been detected as female, and its appearance is being customized."

Yuan Bao hurriedly tore off two red ribbons, tied a bell to the orange cat, and braided a small braid for the tortoiseshell cat.

The transformation of two panda-themed kittens was completed in just two minutes.

At this time, the cries of vendors selling candied hawthorns echoed along Qianmen Street.

Baoguo held up a string of candied hawthorn berries coated with sesame seeds: "Dad, try this hawthorn, it's super sour!"

Aunt Yuan was weighing pastries at the state-run grocery store. The jujube paste pastries and red bean curd pastries were piled up like a small mountain on the tin plate.

The aunt clutched the floral apron she had just bought; the floral fabric made her complexion look even brighter.

"Sister Bao!" Xiao Shan suddenly pointed to the figure jumping around at the alley entrance, the candy ball in her hand swaying on the bamboo skewer with her movements.

Yuan Bao had two small plush toys tucked into her arms. When the orange cat poked its head out, its soft tail gently brushed against her wrist.

Xiao Shan's eyes widened, and he almost threw the candy ball away: "My God! Sister Bao, where did you come from? You really look just like Xiao Jiu! I was just waiting to go with you so I could be your helper in choosing the cat!"

Pingping came running over in her little leather shoes, the red ribbon at the end of her braid swaying with her movements.

Yuan Bao took out two kittens from the velvet cloth. The tortoiseshell kitten timidly tilted its head and rubbed against Pingping's palm.

"My cousin went to the grocery store to buy pastries and bumped into her at the entrance of the alley."

Yuan Bao blinked. "The stall owner said these were the last two. I was afraid someone else would snatch them up, so I quickly paid, put them in my pocket, and ran back."

She glanced at the two little ones furtively, thinking to herself, "I can't let you go shopping with me, or I'll give myself away."

"Hurry up and name them!" Yuan Bao stuffed the kittens into their arms.

Xiaoshan, holding the orange cat, spun it around, then suddenly exclaimed, "Baojie, look! The lines on its paws look like lightning!" He stared at the light brown lines on the cat's paws, his cheeks puffing out like buns: "Is it called Thunderbolt? The Flash? Or..."

"I've made up my mind!" Pingping held the tortoiseshell cat up to the sunlight, the kitten's purple pupils reflecting tiny glimmers of light. "From now on, we'll call it Purple Eyes!"

The kitten seemed to understand, meowing twice and affectionately licking her nose.

Xiaoshan suddenly jumped up: "I've got it! Little 9 is my sister's darling, so I'll name mine Little 10!"

"From now on, my brother and I will protect you!" The orange cat meowed as he shook it, but it obediently snuggled into his arms, its soft fur rubbing against Xiaoshan's blue and white striped sailor shirt.

The laughter startled the sparrows under the eaves, and the winter sun gilded the downy feathers of the two little ones.

Yuan Bao watched the children playing, her hand hidden in her sleeve clenching gently. Some secrets should be wrapped in icing on the cake, and blown into everyone's memories along with the winds of the 1990s.

"Xiaoshan! Pingping!" Yuan Bao waved to the two of them after they had named the kitten. "Time to go to Quanjude! Otherwise, all the ducks will be gone!"

Xiaoshan was tucking Xiaoshi into his sweater, and the orange cat's head peeked out from the collar, its tail playfully wrapped around his red scarf.

"Sister Bao, wait a minute!" He hurriedly buttoned his shirt. "Xiao Shi said it wants to eat duck skin dipped in white sugar too!"

Pingping wrapped Zitong's head with her newly bought floral headscarf, while the kitten curled up into a fluffy ball, its purple eyes curiously surveying the world outside the courtyard.

The group walked through the alleyway filled with the aroma of roasted chestnuts, with Xiaoshan and Pingping skipping and hopping at the front.

Suddenly, Xiao Shi meowed and scratched at Xiao Shan's chin with its paws, startling him so much that he almost stumbled.

"Stop fooling around!" Xiaoshan happily lifted Xiaoshi up to his eyes again, "If you touch the roast duck again, there won't be any for you!"

Zi Tong nestled quietly in Ping Ping's arms, occasionally sticking out her little tongue to lick Ping Ping's frozen red fingertips.