Chapter 6 The Tofu Stall Incident

Chapter 6: The Tofu Stall Commotion

The three of them froze in their scuffle.

Sixth Aunt Song exclaimed in surprise, "Little Wan? How did you come over here on your own? Where's your aunt?"

"A guy let me through, so I slipped in. My aunt is still waiting outside for us."

"Oh, so you have an accomplice! A young lad like you, not staying home to embroider, but instead hanging around with a crook—did the two of you steal my money together?"

The tofu stall woman, having lost her money, was frantic and started going crazy, blaming everyone.

Finally, someone spoke up with a kind word, "This young man was clearly buying cloth at the fabric stall just now. I came over to watch the commotion right after him. How can you wrongly accuse him?"

The tofu stall man changed the subject, "I don't care who this young man is. This woman stole my money. As long as we get it back from her, we'll let her go."

His wife wasn't happy with that, "Let her go? With her nerve to steal from my money box, next time she'll be after my husband!"

The tofu stall man flushed red and scolded his wife, "What the hell are you talking about? Just get the money back so we can get back to business."

"The money wasn't stolen by my Sixth Aunt," Meng Wan cut in at the right moment.

The tofu stall woman stood with her hands on her hips and laughed bitterly, "You say it's not, so it's not? Did the money have a mark or what?"

Meng Wan nodded hard, "You're right. My Sixth Aunt's money does have a mark."

Sixth Aunt Song was stunned. Since when did her money have a mark?

"Sixth Aunt, take out your money."

Sixth Aunt Song shoved the tofu stall couple's hands away, carefully pulled her money pouch out from her shirt, and held it out in her hands.

She had come today to buy some red fabric for her son's wedding robe and quilt. Red cloth was expensive, so she had brought two strings of coins, along with a few loose coins from selling eggs.

"Everyone, look—this is the mark. My Sixth Aunt, afraid of losing her money at home, strung them all together and put them in her pouch. But the tofu stall's money was all loose change collected this morning in their money box. I mean, in that short time, could she have stolen it and strung it all up?"

Meng Wan held up the two strings for everyone to see. Sixth Aunt Song, scared someone would grab them, stayed close to Meng Wan, guarding the money.

The tofu stall woman was baffled, "This... this..."

"And another thing!"

Meng Wan continued, "Folks, you might not know this, but my Sixth Uncle and his son are strong swimmers. During the off-season, they fish at the dock to earn some extra money. They sell the fish fresh, right off the boat, no matter the price. So the coins always smell like fish that lingers for a long time. Smell it yourself if you don't believe me!"

Meng Wan knew about the smell on Sixth Aunt Song's money because he remembered Chang Jinhua saying she gave her some sweets, and Sixth Uncle gave her a fish back. He also knew that while Aunt Song was efficient at work, her house was a mess, and someone told her to clean up before the wedding.

When he walked through the village, Meng Wan had seen Aunt Song's house from a distance. They dried the leftover fish into jerky and hung it out in the yard, without even using salt. It stank of fish from the doorway, so the coins must have picked up the smell too.

Meng Wan didn't expect Aunt Song to have her coins strung, but it was strong evidence. Could she have stolen it and strung it up in that short time? With skills like that, she wouldn't be a farm woman—she'd be better off at a casino.

Feeling braver after Meng Wan's words, Aunt Song took her money back from him and shoved it in the tofu couple's faces, "Is this the money from your money box? Smell it! Go on, take a whiff!"

They didn't just sniff it—when the money went past their noses, a strong fish smell hit them.

"Hah!" Aunt Song then showed it to the surrounding crowd.

"It really is!"

"That young man is clever. There really is a fishy smell!"

"The money at the tofu stall comes from all sorts of people. How could it all smell so fishy? They've wrongly accused her!"

"They've been dragging her around for so long; they ought to apologize."

The couple couldn't bring themselves to apologize. The tofu stall man stubbornly said, "She still stepped on and ruined my tofu. She has to pay for that."

Meng Wan was exasperated, "Tofu is soft and delicate. Even a slight force would crush it, let alone a drop. It was clearly knocked off by the thief in a panic. What does that have to do with my Sixth Aunt?"

The tofu stall man was clearly trying to extort Aunt Song, but his wife had some sense left. She knew the priority was to find the lost money. She tentatively asked Meng Wan, "You said earlier you could find our lost money?"

Meng Wan smiled, "Even if I could find it, why should I? You two have humiliated my Sixth Aunt so much, and you expect me to help you? That's wishful thinking."

The tofu stall woman gritted her teeth, "If you can help me get my money back, I'll kneel and apologize to you."

"Who wants your kneeling apology?" Meng Wan was a junior; he couldn't accept that. In this era of propriety, filial piety, and respect for elders, the onlookers would immediately turn on him for bullying the couple.

"Then how about I give you two pieces of tofu each?"

Despite her husband's disapproving glare, the tofu stall woman's heart ached. A piece of tofu cost two coppers, so four pieces would be eight coppers. They usually only made one batch a day to sell in the village, and sometimes didn't even sell it all. Today, they had brought three batches to the market, but only sold one and a half before this happened. If they didn't resolve it quickly, the villagers would soon head home after the commotion, and who would be left to buy tofu?

Eight coppers wasn't much after costs, but could this young man really catch the thief?

Meng Wan didn't agree right away. He first asked Aunt Song, "Sixth Aunt, what do you think?"

Aunt Song whispered to him, "Can you really find the thief?"

Meng Wan took that as agreement. Without answering, he raised his hand and pointed in a circle. Everyone followed his pale finger as it stopped at a certain spot.

"It's you. Stop trying to squeeze away." At the spot he pointed to, a short figure was pushing outward, about to escape. The crowd had gathered to watch the commotion; anyone leaving would have been carrying tofu and heading home. That person had no tofu and was in a hurry to leave—who else could it be?

The tofu stall woman rushed forward, but her husband stayed rooted to the spot.

She grabbed the short figure, turned him around, and revealed his face. It was a boy of eight or nine, clutching his bulging chest tightly. But his strength was no match for the hardworking tofu stall woman.

She yanked his hand away and pulled out a handful of coins from his chest. When she reached in again, there were more.

The little thief had been in such a hurry to steal that he hadn't even had time to put the money in a pouch.

"So it was you, you little rascal, who stole from my money box!"

The tofu stall woman's eyes blazed with anger, "Call your parents here! I want to see which shameless person raised a child to do such dirty deeds!"

The tofu stall man tried to calm her down, "Forget it, forget it. The kid's young. Just return the money and let it go." He was suddenly playing the good guy.

His wife glared at him, "Do you know how much he took? If not for this young man catching him, we'd have wasted half the day!" The child might be small, but his hands were big. He had grabbed about forty or fifty coppers—a whole batch of tofu only sold for seventy-two coppers!

Without further delay, the tofu stall woman, seeing Meng Wan empty-handed, scooped up four pieces of tofu and placed them in Aunt Song's basket, thoughtfully lining it with oil paper.

"Today, I lost my mind over the lost money and wronged this sister. Thanks to this young man for finding it. Don't think little of these few pieces of tofu; take them home and enjoy them."

With the truth out, the crowd gradually dispersed. As Meng Wan left with the tofu, he kindly reminded them, "This money box was right under your noses. One of you must have been watching it. With so many people at the market, how did someone manage to steal from it so easily?"

The tofu stall woman froze. Yes, everyone at the market was wary of theft, so they set up a money box. Unlike pouches or bags that could be easily snatched, this box was heavy and hard to move. To take money, you had to lift the wooden lid. They, as stallholders, were always alert. How could someone have grabbed such a large handful?

Unless the owner of the box had deliberately cooperated!

She looked at the little thief in her grip, finding him increasingly familiar. Suddenly, she turned and glared at her husband.

"Isn't this Gou'er from the neighboring Li Family Village?"

"Did you flash the money at him on purpose?"

"Was it for that tramp from the Li family!"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"I only did it 'cause they were a poor widow and her kid..."

"You shrew, cut it out! My face..."

The folks who left late got to see another show, but none of it concerned Meng Wan anymore. Chang Jinhua yanked him aside and chewed him out.

"Who gave you the nerve, a young whippersnapper butting into grown folks' business!"

Meng Wan played nice, hanging his head and fessing up. "Aunt Song, I won't do it again, I swear."

Inside, though, he figured he'd still go watch next time—it was way more fun than watering the garden at home.

Aunt Song Liu stuck up for him. "Sister-in-law, don't be too hard on Wan Geer. If it weren't for him today, I wouldn't have gotten away from those two thugs so fast."

She dug through her basket to show Chang Jinhua. "The tofu stall guy gave me these. Thanks to Wan Geer today, you take these four home."

Chang Jinhua declined. "My family's tiny, how could we eat all that? You keep 'em."

"I can't keep 'em. If you feel bad taking 'em all, leave me one and put the other three in your basket."

With that, Chang Jinhua didn't refuse. "Alright then. I was gonna buy two coarse bowls anyway. I'll grab 'em after I get the bowls."

Chang Jinhua stopped by a bowl stall and bought two large coarse ones. Her family had grown, and they were running low on dishes. Besides the bowls, she also grabbed a deep dish.

With that, Chang Jinhua had everything she needed from the market. She took Meng Wan to keep Aunt Song Liu company at the cloth stall, where they bought two bolts of red fabric. Aunt Song Liu shelled out the cash without a second thought.

The three of them headed home together. That evening, Aunt Song Liu must've told her husband about what happened, 'cause early the next morning, she brought over a fish.

"This fish is so fresh!" Meng Wan grabbed a big wooden basin, filled it with water, and put the fish in so it could swim around a bit.

Aunt Song Liu and Chang Jinhua sat on the kang in the main room, talking about the October wedding and how much betrothal money they'd given the Tian family. Hearing that, she laughed. "Your Sixth Uncle went out early this morning to catch 'em fresh. The biggest one was brought over by your Brother Zhu Zi."

Meng Wan plucked a large scallion from the vegetable garden. "Aunt Song, when Cousin comes back at noon, let's make fish stewed with tofu!"

Chang Jinhua was curious. "Fish and tofu together? I wouldn't know how. How about you give it a try?"

Aunt Song Liu tugged at her sleeve. "Let the child waste good ingredients like that? The fish is fine, it's from home, but that tofu costs two wen a piece." Farm boys knew a bit of cooking, laundry, and needlework, but valuable meat dishes were always handled by the adults, who feared the young would ruin good food.

Chang Jinhua, however, was more open-minded than the average farm wife. "He earned it himself. Let him cook. I'll handle the braised meat later."

Meng Wan looked up with a smile. The autumn morning light fell on his fair, clear face, making his features even more delicate. "That's great! I love Aunt Song's braised pork the most."

Aunt Song Liu watched him through the open window as he picked vegetables outside. "Tsk, tsk, your Wan Geer is truly handsome. You couldn't find such a fine figure even in town."

Chang Jinhua took out the indigo blue fabric she'd bought yesterday and asked Aunt Song Liu to hold it taut so she could cut it.

"He's just a bit fairer than others. Wan Geer's thin. Look at this cloth—can I make him a short jacket and cotton trousers, and still have enough for a robe skirt?"

Aunt Song Liu went along with the change of topic. "Enough, enough. I think there'll even be some left over."

The two discussed cutting the fabric, occasionally calling Meng Wan in to measure against him.

After a while, as the sun rose higher, Meng Wan picked up his basket, loaded it with the fish and scissors, and headed to the river to clean it.

"Aunt, Sixth Aunt, I'm off to the river. I'll be back soon."

The two women inside responded, and Chang Jinhua instructed him, "Wan Geer, kill the fish before you carry it over. If it flops into the river, you won't catch it back."

"I know, Aunt~" Meng Wan's voice faded into the distance.

A three-meter-wide river ran through the entire village. The section near his home was the middle part, but Meng Wan, afraid of making a mess, deliberately went downstream to clean the fish.

Downstream, two people were washing clothes together. One, a young woman of about sixteen or seventeen, tilted her head to look at Meng Wan. She wore a bright red cloth skirt, her hair done up in a married woman's bun, and said playfully, "Hey, are you Aunt Song Da's nephew?"

Beside her was a man of about twenty, dressed in clothes that were gray and worn—not dirty, but faded and old-fashioned, a stark contrast to the young wife.

They were neighbors, so Meng Wan naturally knew who they were. The speaker was Tian Wang's wife, the second grandson of the Tian family. The man was the husband of Tian Xing, the eldest grandson, married a few years ago. They were of the same generation. Tian Xing was older than both Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan, so Meng Wan called him brother, and his husband was addressed as sister-in-law. Tian Wang, the second, was younger, so Meng Wan could call him by name.

"Sister-in-law, Xiao Mei, you're washing clothes here?"

Tian Xing's husband was quiet, only nodding. Xiao Mei, bored washing with her sister-in-law, eagerly struck up a conversation with Meng Wan. "You know my name? They all call you Aunt Song Da's nephew. What's your name?"