My childhood afternoons were those moments when my mother would hold my hand and take me to Aunt Tu’s rice stall at the end of the alley to buy one or two kilograms of rice to cook in time for the family’s dinner. I remember naively asking my mother, “Why don’t you just buy the big sack over there to use?”
I didn’t know back then that rice was very precious, not like today. Rice was often replaced by all kinds of other things. As for Aunt Tu’s rice stall, now it’s decorated with many things and looks much more modern. But somehow, that simple, old-fashioned look from the past still stays in my memory and won’t be forgotten.