Lin Mo walked along the clean cobblestone sidewalk of central Tianhai Avenue, holding six-year-old Little Guo’er by the hand in the warm morning sunlight.
The little girl wore a bright red padded jacket with fluffy white rabbit-fur cuffs. In her other hand, she held a glistening skewer of candied hawthorn berries. The bright red berries shone like polished rubies beneath a crunchy glaze of caramelized sugar.
“Big Brother Lin, try one!” Little Guo’er held up the skewer, her eyes sparkling with joy. “The sugar on the outside is sweet, but the berry on the inside is sour!”
Lin Mo leaned down and took a small bite of the crispy sugar shell, nodding in approval.
“Very crisp, Guo’er,” Lin Mo said with a smile. “Old Uncle Wang makes the best sugar glaze in the old quarter.”
A sudden commotion at the intersection ahead caught Lin Mo’s attention.
At the pedestrian crosswalk of South Central Avenue, a seventy-year-old grandmother stood on the curb. She held two heavy woven bamboo baskets overflowing with fresh white turnips and leafy green spinach.
Surrounding the elderly grandmother were six burly, broad-shouldered men.
