This was Xu Yan's first time attending a market.
According to Li Aihua, this period is when the market is most crowded. Before they even got there, they saw many people rushing in.
They jostled and shoved each other.
It was quite a lively scene, with people helping the elderly and holding the hands of children.
“This time everything will definitely be complete,” Li Aihua said, “and there will be many stalls.”
Xu Yan was jostled by someone behind her. She turned around to look, but there were too many people and she couldn't see who had jostled her.
“Everyone’s been pretty relaxed lately since we don’t have to work,” Li Aihua said, oblivious to Xu Yan’s actions. “With so many people around, be careful with your money and such, it’s easy to…”
Before she could finish speaking, Xu Yan grabbed a child's hand.
What are you doing?
The child was filthy, his face looked like it hadn't been washed in ages, his hair was matted and stuck to his forehead, and snot was practically dripping into his mouth.
At this moment, a pair of round eyes stared warily at Xu Yan, struggling to pull her hand back.
"Let go, let go of me!"
The child shouted.
Seeing that Xu Yan wouldn't let go, he raised his foot to kick Xu Yan.
Fortunately, Li Aihua reacted quickly. Although she didn't see clearly what happened, she slapped the child's leg.
The child's cries immediately grew louder.
The people around them, who were pushing forward, stopped when they heard the noise and looked at the two people, one big and one small, with confused expressions.
"Where's the cloth?" Xu Yan's face was grim, and his eyes were cold as he stared at the child.
"What cloth? I don't know," the child pulled his arm away again, then turned and shouted towards the edge of the crowd, "Grandma, Grandma, save me!"
As soon as he yelled, a thin old woman immediately squeezed through the crowd.
I don't know if it's because her hair is combed too tightly, but her eyelids are slightly upturned, her cheekbones are high, and her cheeks are thin, giving her a mean look.
At this moment, she squeezed through and reached out to grab Xu Yan's arm. Xu Yan had already noticed her movement and suddenly veered to the side.
Why did you arrest my grandson?
The old woman missed her target and almost fell on a young girl, but the girl was pulled away by her mother.
"Oh dear!" the old woman cried out, "Fellow villagers, are you just going to stand by and watch a child abductor?"
Xu Yan narrowed his eyes and asked coldly between her shouts, "Your grandson stole my cloth."
"Who stole the cloth?" the old woman cried out, her eyes wide. "Don't accuse me falsely! Your basket is so high, how could my grandson reach it?"
“Yeah, what can he do all by himself?” Xu Yan said, his gaze sweeping around before finally settling on a man wearing frameless glasses who was about to slip away.
"But if we add him, will we be able to reach him?" Xu Yan pointed at the man.
Cheng Jin felt a sudden silence around him, and then several people blocked his way. He moved aside a little, but the people next to him continued to block his way.
Li Aihua kept a close eye on the old woman's expression.
Seeing the anxious look on her face as the man was stopped, she immediately realized that they were indeed in cahoots.
"What are you doing?" Cheng Jin tried his best to maintain his composure, glaring at the people blocking his way.
“What do you think we’re doing?” Xu Yan pulled the child a few steps toward him. “You think you can just steal something and run away? There’s no such thing as running away in this world.”
"Who stole your things? Which eye of yours saw me steal your things?" Cheng Jin turned his head and glared at Xu Yan. Seeing that she was a young and beautiful girl, his tone became even harsher.
“If all else fails, I can let you search me,” Cheng Jin said. “If you can find any cloth on me, I’ll tell you what to say, but if you can’t find anything…”
His gaze swept over Xu Yan's face.
Then he winked at Xu Yan.
Xu Yan was immediately disgusted.
When a handsome person does this gesture, it can even look a bit sexy, but when someone who looks like this does it, all that's left is greasy and an eyesore.
"If you have an eye problem, go to the hospital to get it checked out as soon as possible," Xu Yan said coldly. "Don't go out and infect others."
The people around immediately burst into laughter.
Cheng Jin blushed crimson with embarrassment and anger, pointing at Xu Yan, "You..."
"What do you mean, 'I'm perfectly fine'," Xu Yan said lightly. "But if you don't return the cloth, I'm going to report you to the commune."
“Yes, don’t think we’re easy to bully,” Li Aihua’s voice was very loud, almost a decibel or two louder than Xu Yan’s.
“I saw clearly the worried look in that old woman’s eyes just now,” Li Aihua shouted at the top of her lungs.
Who would have thought that the old woman, who had been quiet just moments before, would suddenly become agitated and start shouting, even pointing her finger at Li Aihua's nose.
"You little slut, who are you calling an old woman? Who's the old woman?"
Li Aihua: "..."
She was completely taken aback by the old woman's question.
“I’m talking to you,” she said instinctively.
"I'll tear your mouth apart! You're the old woman, your whole family are old women!" The old woman wasn't tall, but she was quite a jumper, and she jumped and scratched at Li Aihua's face.
Xu Yan was still holding the child in her hand and didn't react for a moment.
Seeing how agitated the old woman was, he turned to the bespectacled man beside him and said, "Why aren't you going to stop your mother? If anything happens to us, you'll be in big trouble!"
The moment she finished speaking...
The old woman lunged at her like a madwoman, but luckily Li Aihua grabbed the corner of her jacket.
Seeing her sudden outburst, Xu Yan regretted not bringing Xie Zhuo along.
The people around were startled and all took a few steps back.
Of course, many kind-hearted people also came to help stop them.
A tall man stood in front of Xu Yan, and the old woman, not seeing her, calmed down a little.
"Why aren't you restraining your mother? What if she hurts someone?"
Seeing that the situation had improved a bit, the tall man said to the man with a grim expression.
Unexpectedly, the man's expression turned even uglier after he finished speaking.
After a long pause, he managed to squeeze out, "She's not my mom."
Um?
Xu Yan turned to look at him.
Suddenly, the little boy in her arms struggled violently, and she lost her grip, letting him break free.
The child ran a few steps toward the old woman, then grabbed her sleeve, staring coldly at Cheng Jin.
It was as if she was using her actions to tell everyone around her that I was her son.
The matter escalated greatly because of a few words, and someone had to go to the commune leaders to bring the situation under control.
"What's going on?" The commune secretary had a dark face, and when he glared, he looked a bit like Song Guangming.
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