Amid the bustling crowds, Zhou Zhiruo tightly gripped Gu Shao'an's wrist, her delicate face brimming with unconcealed excitement.
"Look, Junior Brother! What a huge sugar painting stall! I saw one when Father took me to the market before. I even watched the vendor make little figures and dragons with my own eyes!"
At that moment, Zhou Zhiruo was like any ordinary young girl, her sparkling eyes fixed on an old man by the roadside beneath a sign reading "Sugar King Zhang."
The old man swiftly traced patterns across a smooth stone slab with golden syrup. In the blink of an eye, a lifelike sugar dragon coiled into shape, drawing burst after burst of cheers from the children watching nearby.
"Slow down, shijie."
Gu Shao'an staggered when she tugged him along, reminding her helplessly yet indulgently.
Zhou Zhiruo nodded at first, but in the next moment, she pulled him into a light jog and stopped before a stall selling clay figurines.
The brightly painted figurines came in all manner of shapes, each one adorably simple and charming.
"This little swordsman looks just like you, Junior Brother!"
She picked up a round-faced, rosy-cheeked clay figure holding a wooden sword, waving it before Gu Shao'an as her eyes curved with laughter.
Only after haggling with the vendor for a while did she take out some copper coins from her purse and buy it.
The weighty purse at her waist gave Zhou Zhiruo plenty of confidence. She pulled Gu Shao'an from place to place, sometimes stopping to smell the rich fragrances at a spice stall, sometimes becoming captivated by delicate velvet flower hair ornaments, and sometimes peering curiously at performers swallowing swords and breathing fire.
The crisp chime of copper bells, the sweet scent of roasted chestnuts, the vivid red of candied hawthorn skewers—everything