But the familiar voice made Xiao Xiao stop in his tracks.
He peered through a gap in the crowd.
Then he saw a familiar face.
Zhou Mingbao.
Zhou Mingbao had come to the Xiao Family Teahouse with Grandpa Zhou several times, so Xiao Xiao knew him.
What was more, their parents had introduced the two children to each other.
However, Zhou Mingbao didn't look quite like Xiao Xiao remembered.
Whenever they met, Zhou Mingbao was always smiling brightly, his expression cheerful.
The adults around him also loved teasing him.
But now, Zhou Mingbao was crying.
Zhou Mingbao rubbed his face with both hands. Perhaps he was rubbing too hard, because streaks of red had appeared on the child's tender skin.
"I didn't... I don't know..."
"He told me to do it."
He pointed at another child.
Including Zhou Mingbao, there were five children in all.
From the conversation among the adults nearby, Xiao Xiao roughly gathered what had happened.
It was a stationery shop.
The shopkeeper had caught Zhou Mingbao and the others stealing things from the store.
Now the shopkeeper was watching over the children to make sure they didn't leave.
He had already retrieved the stationery they'd stolen, and was now asking for their parents' contact information so he could tell them about the children's theft.
Naturally, the children weren't happy about that.
If there was one thing children feared most, it was having their parents called.
The moment the shopkeeper said it, the children panicked.
Then Zhou Mingbao started crying and pointed out the "culprit."
"I don't know..."
"I'm sorry... uncle..."
Zhou Mingbao scrunched up his little face and cried pitifully, looking both confused and innocent.
"No... it wasn't me!"
The child he'd pointed at stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "You were the one