As evening fell, the shops on both sides of the main street gradually lit their lamps. The daytime clamor had not entirely subsided before the lantern light drew it in another direction.
Someone was selling freshly boiled tangyuan by the roadside. Steam rose from the pot, carrying the sweet fragrance of glutinous rice and sugar.
A group of children crowded around the stall, waiting for the tangyuan to come out of the pot. Some held bowls and squatted by the roadside to eat, the steam curling over the rims blurring their faces.
A woman stood before the stall with her child. She took out several copper coins from her sleeve and bought two bowls, handing one to the child while holding the other herself. The two squatted on the stone steps by the road, their white breath merging with the steam from the glutinous rice soup.
Several middle-aged men leaned against the wall of a teahouse, each holding an earthen bowl filled with hot wine. They stood beneath the lanterns and chatted in low voices, their conversation coming in fragments. Now and then, someone laughed before they fell silent again, their hands never leaving the bowl rims.
When night had fully fallen, the entire street seemed to have been set ablaze. Lanterns stretched from one end of the street to the other, their light joining into one continuous glow. From higher ground, the outline of the main street could be seen clearly traced by a red ribbon of light.
Some people walked from one end of the main street to the other, stopping every so often to look at the lanterns on both sides.
Someone released a lotus lantern by the riverbank. The paper boat drifted across the water for a while before a gust of wind pushed it off