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murmured, looking up and around. “I don’t remember this bakery.”
    “What’s the matter?” asked Molly.
    Peichi frowned. “Uh, we should have come to Mulberry by now.”
    “You mean, we’re lost?” asked Molly. The sun was beating down on her face. She wished she had her sunglasses. Throngs of tourists and shoppers threatened to separate her from Peichi.
    “Oh! I know,” said Peichi. “We went the wrong way down Canal. Let’s turn around.”
    Whatever, thought Molly. Just as long as we’re not lost. Someone bumped into her. Suddenly she felt like she was a million miles from home.
    The girls turned back and finally came to Mulberry Street. They turned right, and came upon a store with a big awning. Rows and rows of cooked ducks hung displayed in the window.
    “This is it!” cried Peichi. “It’s one of the biggest stores in Chinatown. You’ll see.”
    The girls went inside. A long line of people waited patiently for a duck, crispy chicken, or barbecued spareribs. But that part of the store was small and almost separate from the rest of it.
    Peichi spotted her grandfather filling a large jar with loose tea leaves. “Hi, Ah-yeh!” she called, going toward him.
    Startled, the senior Mr. Cheng turned around.
    “Peichi!” he cried in surprise. He hugged her and said some words to her in Chinese. Then he saw Molly. “Hello,” he said, nodding and smiling.
    “Ah-yeh, this is my friend Molly,” said Peichi. “Molly, this is my grandfather.”
    “Hello, Mr. Cheng.” said Molly, blushing. She always felt awkward around adults she didn’t know.
    Peichi’s grandfather called out something in Chinese, and Peichi’s grandmother appeared from a back room.
    “Peichi!”
    “Surprise, Ah-mah!” cried Peichi, reaching out for a hug. Then she introduced Molly.
    While Peichi was busy talking to her grandparents, Molly decided to explore. She was staring at a display of shredded squid when Peichi caught up to her. “Come on, I’ll show you around,” she said to Molly.
    The girls wandered up and down the aisles. Molly hardly recognized any of the food for sale.
    “This is one of my favorite snacks,” Peichi said, holding up a foil package. “Roasted hot green peas. And here are shrimp chips!”

    They came to the tea section, where lots of people were reaching for pretty tins of all kinds of teas. There were big jars of tea leaves. And there were porcelain tea sets and rice bowls.
    And then there was the sweets aisle.
    Molly picked up a clear package of round, striped cookies. “Umbrella cookies,” she read. Not every package was printed in Chinese.
    Peichi picked up a package of candies that were wrapped in red foil. “These candies are so good! They’re strawberry flavored. We always eat them during Chinese New Year.” Suddenly the package slipped from Peichi’s hand and fell to the floor. “Whoops,” she said, and kneeled down to pick it up.
    Peichi didn’t get up right away.
    “What are you doing?” asked Molly. “We really need to get going.” She was getting nervous about the time.
    “There’s something under this shelf,” said Peichi. “Oof.” She grunted as she reached her arm as far as it would go. “Here it is.”
    Peichi had found a small pouch. “There’s something in it!” she said in a loud whisper.
    “What is it?” asked Molly. “Open it!”
    “I’m trying to,” said Peichi. “It’s hard to open.” Inside the pouch was a package that was taped shut.
    “Ohmygosh!” exclaimed the girls as Peichi finally unwrapped a large grayish, yellow-green gemstone. It was a disc-shaped pendant, highly polished with a beautiful carving of a dragon and elaborate designs.
    “This is jade!” said Peichi.
    “Jade?” asked Molly. “I’ve never seen this stone before.”

    “Jade is used a lot in China,” said Peichi. “And guess what? ‘Peichi’ means ‘precious jade’. This couldn’t be real, though. It’s too big. But it’s so pretty! Cool!” She stuffed the