It's almost always banter done for self-amusement rather than anything which should be treated as "love at first sight" romantic interest. If OP is staying in girlfriend's village, the juice stand ladies probably already know the answer to whether you have a girlfriend or not and they're probably asking just to see if you'll give an honest answer. If you lie and tell them you don't have one, your philandering nature will almost certainly be reported back to your girlfriend, directly or indirectly. Also not true that married women all wear wedding rings, and never flirt with other men. I've seem married Thai women jokingly say they're looking for a farang husband right in front of their Thai husbands. The question "Do you have a girlfriend?" the vast majority of time shouldn't even be treated as a romantic overture. Most of the time it should be viewed as a probe for information, small talk, or a test to see how you'll react or whether they can still manage to hook a naive foreigner's interest. Most of the time it's just banter to pass the time. And in a village, 99% of 18-35 y/o women are romantically involved already.
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