Ye Tiancheng actually felt a little guilty, as if he looked like a bad guy with ill intentions, eyeing someone's child. However, he was truly at a loss and had to resort to any means necessary to achieve his goal.
In short, as long as he didn't do anything truly excessive.
Ye Tiancheng's ultimate objective was merely to extract information, not to do anything wrong.
Ye Tiancheng tidied his clothes, at least making himself appear more upright. Without Hou Mingzhu by his side these days, his personal grooming had become rather sloppy. Fortunately, all of Ye Tiancheng's attire was managed by Hou Mingzhu. Even so, after a few days, he couldn't have become too disheveled, not to the point of looking like a complete villain.
At the very least, he didn't look like the kind of villain who would covet someone else's child.
Ye Tiancheng walked up to the candy stall. The stall was deserted, with no customers around. The stall owner was slightly surprised to see Ye Tiancheng approaching.
It was understandable, really. Ye Tiancheng's appearance didn't quite fit the aesthetic of a candy stall. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with Ye Tiancheng himself, but generally, it was rare for a grown man to approach a candy stall alone. At the very least, they would usually bring a child or a partner, which would make their presence there more likely.
However, for a grown man like Ye Tiancheng to approach alone was indeed very, very rare.
But as a businessman, the owner didn't need to overthink it. Seeing a customer, he simply greeted him.
Thus, the stall owner called out to Ye Tiancheng, "Customer, what would you like?"
Ye Tiancheng's gaze swept over the items on the stall for a moment before he said to the owner, "Please make me a few sugar figures. Are sugar paintings easy to preserve? I want to take them with me. Do you have any recommended designs? I'd like some that are quite cute."
The stall owner immediately understood. While recommending designs to Ye Tiancheng, he also chatted with him.
"Do you think these designs are good? Sugar paintings, in general, won't last for a very long time, but they'll be fine within a day."
"It's rare to see a customer like you at my stall. Are these for your partner or your child? Let me see if I have anything more suitable to recommend to you?"
Ye Tiancheng nodded and said, "They're for my daughter. But please make a couple for my wife too. Children love these things more, so I'd like a few more of the cuter designs. My wife and child were tired from playing yesterday, and today, no matter what, they can't walk. I came out alone to wander and relax, and see if I could bring anything back for them."
The stall owner gave Ye Tiancheng a thumbs-up. "A good man who cares so much about his family, his wife, and his children!"
He then nimbly selected a few designs for Ye Tiancheng. Since Ye Tiancheng also mentioned wanting two for his wife, he recommended two designs that were not too childish.
After looking them over, Ye Tiancheng pondered for a while and finally settled on about ten designs. This was a significant order.
After Ye Tiancheng finalized the designs, he paid first. The stall owner then prepared to start making them and said to Ye Tiancheng, "Making these takes quite some time, especially since you're ordering so many. You might have to wait a while."
Ye Tiancheng replied that he didn't mind. "It's okay. I'm alone now and have nothing to do. I can wait. Boss, please don't rush, take your time."
Few stall owners wouldn't like such an accommodating customer, and Ye Tiancheng wasn't much of a bargainer. The stall owner was naturally delighted and began making the sugar figures for Ye Tiancheng.
The sugar paintings would be made last, to prevent them from being completed too early and melting quickly.
Although this was in the mountains, it wasn't spring, autumn, or winter. The sun was still quite strong. Sugar, under sunlight, was indeed not easy to preserve and was prone to damage.
Ye Tiancheng sat down near the candy stall and casually looked around, "coincidentally" meeting the gaze of the child he had been watching.
The child was staring at the items on the candy stall, its mouth glistening, clearly very tempted.
Ye Tiancheng found it a bit amusing. When the child met Ye Tiancheng's gaze, it blinked its eyes, seeming a bit shy and timid. It instinctively hunched its neck, glanced up at Ye Tiancheng, and remained silent.
"Little friend, why are you here alone?"
Ye Tiancheng smiled and struck up a conversation with the child, then deliberately said to the stall owner, "Boss, this child is quite cute. Is she yours?"
The child was small, not even as tall as the stall, and quiet. It was squatting there alone, with very little presence. The stall owner, with his slow business, hadn't even noticed that a child had appeared beside his stall earlier.
At this point, Ye Tiancheng pointed this out. He glanced at the child and was surprised.
"This isn't my child? Is this someone's lost child?" The stall owner looked at her and said to Ye Tiancheng, "I haven't seen her before. Perhaps she's not from our village. Is she a tourist child who got lost?"
Ye Tiancheng immediately put on a surprised expression. "Oh dear, really?"
"Then what should we do? Are there any good ways to find people? We must keep an eye on this child and help her find her parents. Otherwise, it's too unsafe for her to be here alone. Which parents are so careless that they could lose their child?"
The stall owner chimed in, "Yes, yes. Let's wait and see if her parents come looking. If they don't show up, I'll see if I can inquire at the village's guesthouses and hotels to see if I can find her parents."
This child, perhaps because she was too young, didn't understand much. She seemed completely unaware that Ye Tiancheng and the stall owner were discussing her. She just kept her eyes fixed on the stall owner's candies.
Seeing her like this, the stall owner thought for a moment, freed up a hand, took a small piece of malt candy, and called out to the child, "Little friend, do you want to eat candy? Here, would you like some?"
The child had been staring at his candy stall for a long time and was clearly very tempted. Although she still showed hesitation, she eventually moved, slowly approaching the stall owner and taking the malt candy from his hand.
She quietly said, "Thank you."
"The little friend is quite polite," the stall owner smiled, then said to the child, "Sit here and eat your candy. Don't wander off. Why aren't you staying close to your mom and dad? Wait here and see if they come looking for you. If they don't come, uncle will help you look."
The child looked timidly at the stall owner. After saying "thank you," she remained silent and showed no other reaction, simply popping the piece of malt candy into her mouth. It was unclear if she understood the stall owner's words.
However, the stall owner was just comforting a child and didn't expect her to understand completely.
Since this child had already gotten lost once, to keep an eye on her, adults would naturally need to pay more attention and watch her more closely, lest she get lost again.
Ye Tiancheng looked at the child. She was even slightly younger than his own daughter, with a delicate and lovely appearance, very endearing, like a New Year's picture doll. He saw that the child's eyes were still sparkling as she gazed at the candy stall.
He thought for a moment and then said to the stall owner, "I'll add another sugar figure. Make it for this child first. I see she likes them quite a bit."
The stall owner paused. "Hmm?"
For a moment, both the stall owner's and Ye Tiancheng's gazes fell upon the child.
Ye Tiancheng said to the child, "Uncle sees you like them. Would you like me to buy you a sugar figure? What kind do you like?"
The child still didn't speak. Ye Tiancheng patiently coaxed her a couple of times, and finally managed to get the child to point to the candy stall, indicating a little rabbit, as delicate as a jade ball, just like herself.
Ye Tiancheng then continued, "Then make one like this."
The stall owner agreed, and Ye Tiancheng paid for the additional sugar figure. However, the stall owner saw that Ye Tiancheng was coaxing the child and perhaps also liked the child himself, and was likely kind-hearted. He didn't charge Ye Tiancheng the full price for the sugar figure, only half.
Ye Tiancheng was about to argue, but the stall owner said that since Ye Tiancheng had bought so much candy from him without bargaining, he wouldn't lose money by charging half price for the sugar figure. He considered it a small gesture of goodwill.
Seeing that the stall owner's attitude was not forced and seemed sincere, Ye Tiancheng didn't argue and said nothing more.
Since the child was nearby, Ye Tiancheng asked for the child's little rabbit sugar figure to be made first.
After the stall owner finished making the little rabbit, he handed it to the child. The child saw how cute the little rabbit was, and perhaps unwilling to eat it, she held it tightly in her hands. At this moment, Ye Tiancheng was talking to the child, and perhaps because of the sugar rabbit, she finally managed to communicate.
Holding the bamboo skewer of the sugar rabbit, the child looked around, then cautiously leaned close to Ye Tiancheng, who was talking to her, and whispered, "Big brother, I'll tell you a secret."
Ye Tiancheng thought to himself, this child is quite easily bought.
And she called him big brother. He had explicitly called himself uncle earlier. However, Ye Tiancheng was young and handsome, so it wasn't strange for a child to address him this way.
Ye Tiancheng maintained a gentle demeanor, leaning in slightly to match the child, and asked in a low voice, "What secret?"
The child then spoke.
"Big brother, I'll tell you. I wasn't lost. I ran away myself. The people who brought me here aren't my mom and dad. I remember you. I saw you before I ran away."
Ye Tiancheng's heart skipped a beat, truly surprised by the meaning of the child's words.
He exclaimed, "What? Your mom and dad didn't bring you here? Then who did?"
The child continued, "It was bad people. I don't have parents. I grew up in the Spring Orphanage. Then suddenly they came to adopt me. The 'mother' at the orphanage let them take me away, but they were not good to me at all."
Ye Tiancheng felt this information was a bit overwhelming. He wasn't sure whether to believe it. Children nowadays were very sharp. Ye Tiancheng hadn't expected to misjudge this child and wasn't sure how much of her words could be trusted. However, a new problem had arisen.
Assuming the child's words were true, could he still proceed with his original plan of questioning the child's parents?
If there was even a shred of truth in what the child said, then Ye Tiancheng absolutely could not let this child return to that couple.
Ye Tiancheng thought to himself, he lowered his voice and asked, "What exactly happened? Little friend, are you willing to tell big brother?"
The child blinked at Ye Tiancheng and answered a question with another question. "Big brother, are you a good person?"
The definition of a good person wasn't easy to define. Ye Tiancheng considered himself not entirely a good person, but based on his principles and stance, anyone judging him would likely consider Ye Tiancheng a good person.