The rain was still drizzling down, pattering on the camper's windows with a soft, fragmented sound.
Under the eaves by the roadside, a small boy's silhouette bustled by the bamboo basket, moving with agility that belied his five or six years of age.
Taozi asked for twenty pairs of socks, and he instantly squatted down, his small hands rummaging through various colored wool socks, sorting them quickly by color and size. In the blink of an eye, he handed over a stack of neatly folded socks, each pair arranged flat, with the tightly knitted sock openings facing up, indicating he was long accustomed to helping his mom with work.
"Ten yuan for three pairs, twenty pairs doesn't calculate well, I'll add one more pair to make it twenty-one pairs, perfectly seventy yuan."
Taozi, seeing the few pairs left in the bamboo basket, simply added.
"It's cold, take the child home early," Taozi said, paying the money.
