Walking On Nanjing East Road

After I lost my wallet, I wasn't in a very trusting mood. However, interesting things still happened on my walk through Nanjing East Road.

When I got there initially, a lady, probably in her mid-thirties, boldly walked up to me.
"No umbrella, eh?" she asked. It was drizzling very slightly.
"Nope."
She proceeded to walk with me and ask how I was doing and where I was going.
"You look young. Are you still in school? Or are you working?"
"Neither."
"Why don't we sit down and chat for a bit?"
"You can if you want, but I'm going to continue on walking," I told her. Maybe I was overly suspicious, but the situation just smelled funny.

Anyhow, I continued on, and a mother and her daughter, a girl in her late teens to early twenties, approached me. They were clearly from the countryside. The daughter starts off and says, "Sorry to disturb you sir, but my mother and I are very hungry. Can you buy us something to eat?"
"I don't have any money," I replied, wistfully.
"Please... just buy us some bread. It only costs 1 kuai."
"I lost my wallet..."
"What?"
"I lost my wallet. If you can help me find it, I will buy you whatever you want to eat."
"You lost your wallet??"
"Yeah, everything... my money, my IDs, etc. I have nothing for you."
The mother looked at me with pity. "Where did you lose your wallet?"
"In Yangpu District."
"I don't know where that is."
"You guys are from out of town, huh?"
"Yes... we are from the countryside."
"Where?"
"Out in Anhui Province."
"What did you do there?"
"We are farmers. We work on our land."
"Ah... Why did you leave your farmland?"
"It's almost winter and so there's nothing to do at home. We thought we can find some work here in Shanghai in the meantime. We heard there was lots of opportunity here, so we came to try to find jobs. But we weren't able to find any so far."
"But why don't you have any money?"
"We brought some but it wasn't enough. We did not imagine that Shanghai would be so expensive! Are you from Shanghai?"
"No, but I am staying here."
"Where are you staying?"
"In Xujiahui."
"Where's that?"
"It's several kilometers from here..."
"What are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to walk back to where I am staying. I may have some extra cash there."
"If only we could walk back home to get some extra cash!" the mother exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's a little far..."
"So you're also from out of town?" the daughter asked.
"Yeah."
"Is it further than where we live?"
"Yes... much, much further."
The daughter and mother exchanged glances with each other in shock, as if they just met someone worse off than them. The daughter looked back at me and asked, "So what do you think of Shanghai?"
I sighed. "I think it's an expensive city."
"Yeah, we never thought Shanghai would be like this..."
As I crossed the street, I waved back at them. "You guys take care. It's a rough world out here..."
"You too..."
"Best of luck!"

Next, I passed by a guy who was trying to sell "massage" services.
"Hey... ladies? Massage? You want?"
I replied to him in Chinese, "No thanks."
He persisted, now in Chinese. "Come on... it's not very expensive."
"No, I am not interested."
"Just 100 RMB! Come take a look."
I tried a different tact. "Look, I don't have any money - I lost my wallet."
"It doesn't matter, just take a look anyways! Come back another day after you get your paycheck."
"I don't have a job."
"Well I'm sure you can ask your family for money."
"If only it would be that easy..."
He smiled and seemed to have got the message. "Alright. Thanks for putting up with me. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Finally, towards the end of the street, I ran into another woman who wanted to walk with me. She wanted to "be friends" and tried to convince me to walk in the direction I came from, but I told her I didn't feel like it.

Funny, it feels like a sort of freedom to honestly tell people you have nothing. I guess even with all the wily and shady characters on Nanjing East Road, it's hard for any of them to exploit you when you feel you have nothing left.