The cloth bag Chuntao was holding in her arms was also knocked to the ground.
Zhou Hongxia quickly bent down to pick it up, then hurriedly went to support Chuntao. "Sister-in-law Chuntao, are you alright?"
Zhou Xiaobao's small hands tightly gripped the hem of Chuntao's clothes, his voice trembling with fear. "Sister-in-law Chuntao!"
Two sharp cries rang out from the crowd: "Catch the thief! Don't let him get away!"
The ones shouting were two women. One was in her early thirties, her forehead covered in sweat. The other was in her twenties, her braids coming undone from running.
The man who had bumped into Chuntao was dark and skinny, not very tall, wearing a faded blue-and-white striped tank top, with a patched coarse cloth jacket draped over his arm.
Just a moment ago he had been in a panic, but now he leisurely fished out a pack of "Maolu" cigarettes from his pants pocket, followed by a crumpled box of matches.
Just as he placed a cigarette in his mouth, the two women rushed up to him.
The older woman grabbed his arm. "Take out the money! You stole my money!"
The younger woman yanked on his jacket, her face flushed with anxiety. "Hand it over! If you don't, we'll take you to the police station!"
The dark, skinny man glared, looking every bit the picture of someone wrongly accused, and shook his arm vigorously. "What are you doing? What are you doing? Who took your money? Let go!"
His voice grew louder and louder. People nearby gathered around in twos and threes, and before long, a thick crowd had formed, blocking them in completely.
"I saw you take the money out of my sister's pocket with my own eyes!" The younger woman stamped her foot in anger and reached out to check his pockets.
"Hold on!" The man pushed her hand away, a rogueish smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You can search me, but let's get things straight first. If you find the money, I'll admit defeat. But if you don't, you're falsely accusing me, and you'll have to give me an explanation."
"Fine!" The younger woman puffed out her chest, full of certainty. "If I find it, not only will I take the money back, but I'll also send you to the police station! If I don't, we'll do whatever you say!"
The older woman panicked a little. She quietly tugged at the younger one's clothes and leaned in to whisper, "Did you really see it clearly? Don't make a mistake..."
"Sister, I saw it plain as day. He's the one who stole your money!"
The dark, skinny man suddenly chimed in with a cheeky grin, "If you don't find it, you can come home with me and be my wife!"
As soon as he said this, the onlookers burst into laughter. A few young men even whistled and jeered along, "Yeah! Let's do that!"
The younger woman flushed crimson with embarrassment, stamping her foot as she cursed, "Shameless!"
"You said it yourself, if you don't find it, we do what I say. I just happen to be short a wife!" The man continued his glib remarks.
"Keep your filthy mouth shut!" The older woman grew anxious as well, glaring at the man and scolding him.
The man was not afraid in the slightest. He tilted his head back. "If you don't want to be my wife, that's fine too. Just give me ten yuan for ruining my reputation, and we'll call it even."
Chuntao and Zhou Hongxia had no interest in watching the drama unfold, so they squeezed their way back toward where Aunt Zhou was sitting.
The morning performance had ended, and people were pouring toward the street. Chuntao and the others were walking against the flow of the crowd and were nearly knocked over several times.
"Grandma! Grandma!" Zhou Xiaobao squirmed in Chuntao's arms, his little head looking this way and that.
Aunt Zhou hadn't moved. Afraid they wouldn't be able to find her when they returned, she had stayed seated on her chair waiting.
"Godmother!" It was only a short distance, but it took them quite a while to get there.
As they turned back, they saw the crowd hadn't dispersed yet. The dark, skinny man was still surrounded in the middle. The group bypassed the crowd and headed down the street.
"Sister-in-law Chuntao, that man looks so slippery. Do you think he actually stole the money?" Zhou Hongxia glanced back, full of curiosity.
Chuntao frowned and lowered her voice, "Who knows? When he squeezed out of the crowd just now, he was acting panicked, which looked a bit suspicious. But if he really did steal it, he wouldn't dare let them search him, right?"
Aunt Zhou listened, but she had her own doubts.
She had heard people say before that thieves always had accomplices. The money might have already been passed off to a partner, which was why he wasn't afraid of being searched.
The group walked to the intersection in the middle of the street, which was packed with food stalls.
White steam rose from the bamboo steamers filled with buns, the scent of scallions wafted from the griddles making flatbreads, and fried dough sticks sizzled in woks of hot oil.
There were also mung bean jelly, cold skin noodles, jellied tofu, and spicy soup. The stall at the very end had set up a small pot, boiling noodles and dumplings.
The various aromas mixed together, making people's stomachs rumble.
"Godmother, what would you like to eat?" Chuntao scanned the stalls and turned to ask.
A woman selling food nearby quickly called out, "Auntie, ladies, come sit! I've got spicy soup, jellied tofu, and millet porridge, all freshly made. It's noon, eat up quickly so you won't miss the afternoon show!"
"I want spicy soup!" Zhou Xiaobao shouted, craning his neck to look into the large iron pot.
Hearing this, the woman smiled and picked up a coarse porcelain bowl. "Alright! Let's get the little one a bowl of spicy soup!"
As she ladled it out, she lifted the pot lid to show them. "Look here, ladies, my spicy soup is made with real, solid ingredients. I put in plenty of peanuts and glass noodles!"
Since Zhou Xiaobao was fussing to eat, the group sat down on the small low stools in front of the stall.
"Auntie, ladies, what will the rest of you have?" the woman asked again.
"I'll have a bowl of jellied tofu," Aunt Zhou said, looking at Chuntao and Zhou Hongxia. "If you two want something else, go ahead and buy it. Xiaobao and I will wait here."
Zhou Hongxia tugged at Chuntao's sleeve. "Sister-in-law Chuntao, what do you want to eat? I'll go buy it for you!"
"No need, I'll have the jellied tofu too." Chuntao shook her head.
Zhou Hongxia said, "I'm going to buy a bowl of mung bean jelly," and walked over to the adjacent stall.
If Chuntao had come to the fair by herself, she certainly would have been too reluctant to spend money eating on the street. But today she was with Aunt Zhou and the others, and she couldn't let the elderly and the young go hungry.
Just drinking something liquid would leave them hungry again quickly. Seeing a stall frying dough sticks across the street, she said to Aunt Zhou, "I'm going across the street to buy some fried dough sticks!"
Aunt Zhou hurriedly reached into her pocket for money, but before she could pull it out, Chuntao had already crossed the road.
Most of the stalls across the street were relatively empty, except for the fried dough stick stall, which was surrounded by quite a few people.
They were all farmers attending the fair, buying a couple of pounds of fried dough sticks wrapped in paper to take home as a treat for their elders and children.
Seeing that there were too many people, Chuntao continued walking down the street, knowing there was another fried dough stick stall up ahead.
She had only taken a few steps when a small child suddenly grabbed the hem of her clothes.
The child looked to be about six or seven years old. His clothes were covered in patches, his little face was flushed from the sun, and it was smeared with tears and snot.
Chuntao was startled. Just as she was about to speak, the child burst into loud wails.
Crying, he said, "I... I can't find my mom... Please help me find her..."
Chuntao's heart skipped a beat. With so many people at the fair, it was a common occurrence for children to get separated from their parents.
She quickly crouched down, pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the snot and tears from his face, and asked, "Which village are you from?"
The child didn't answer. Instead, he pointed to the entrance of a small alley by the street and said, "My mom went to the outhouse over there to relieve herself... Take me to find my mom..."
Hearing this, Chuntao breathed a sigh of relief. The outhouse was close by, so it wouldn't take much time.
Without a second thought, she picked up the child and headed toward the entrance of the alley across the street.
Aunt Zhou and the others were still waiting over there! Chuntao walked briskly with the child in her arms.
She was completely oblivious to the young man in a gray shirt who had silently slipped out from a narrow path next to the alley.
Pressing himself against the base of the wall, he trailed behind Chuntao, keeping a careful distance.
