Chapter 31: Someone Is About to Lose Their Job

The woman speaking was overweight, and at this moment, she sat at the cashier’s desk, cracking sunflower seeds and looking at her phone.

“Supervisor, I'm serving customers right now!”

The kindness on Ke Ying’s face vanished, replaced by a look of sorrow, as if she might burst into tears.

“What’s the matter? Can’t handle a few words of criticism? Now you dare talk back? You think you’ve grown wings and I can’t call the shots anymore, isn’t that it?” The overweight woman was clearly picking a fight on purpose. But it was a private matter within the shop, and Zhang Shen didn’t feel it was his place to interfere; he could only watch quietly.

Seeing Ke Ying still standing there like a wooden post, the fat woman shouted, “If you’ve got nothing better to do, then go clean the floor. It’s better than wasting time here. Open your eyes a bit—dressed like such a pauper, do you even deserve to shop at my store? Luckily, I had cameras installed just yesterday, otherwise things would get messy soon enough.”

Zhang Shen, hearing this, felt his anger rise. He was about to give the fat woman a good lesson when Ye Qiong and Wang Ying walked in.

Perhaps women possess a unique intuition about shopping malls; as soon as they entered, both guessed what was happening. So Ye Qiong and Wang Ying deliberately placed the packaging of their recently bought high-end dresses in a conspicuous spot.

Seeing two wealthy customers arrive, the fat woman quickly shed her nauseating attitude and hurried out to greet Ye Qiong and Wang Ying herself.

“Ladies, are you shopping for your boyfriends or your fathers? We carry only well-known brands.”

Ye Qiong glanced at Wang Ying and replied, calm and unhurried, “For my father, not at the moment; for a boyfriend, I don’t have one yet. But today, I am here to help someone else buy clothes.”

“Who might that be?” The fat woman listened to Ye Qiong’s explanation but couldn’t make sense of it.

“It’s him.” Ye Qiong pointed, and following her finger, the fat woman saw Zhang Shen—the very man she had just mocked.

“Him?” The fat woman sounded doubtful.

“Is there another man in this shop?” Upon receiving confirmation, the fat woman hurried forward to attend to Zhang Shen.

“Sir, which outfit would you like? I'll fetch it for you.” Just moments earlier she had been speaking ill of him, and now she was eager to please. Zhang Shen had no illusions about her motivations; clearly, she was eyeing the commission from the sale.

So Zhang Shen decided to give her a hard time. He tried on outfit after outfit, all of which required her to climb up and fetch them. The fat woman, driven by her desire for commission, struggled up onto stools, her heavy frame wobbling precariously. Had the stool been less sturdy, she would have crashed to the floor with a thud—but that was not part of Zhang Shen’s plan.

Ye Qiong and Wang Ying had taken about an hour to try on and purchase their clothes, but Zhang Shen alone managed to drag out his own shopping for a full hour. At last, with the fat woman’s “help,” he selected two outfits.

“These two will do!” The fat woman was surprised, then quickly adopted a fawning expression, thinking that if this deal went through, she’d earn a twenty percent commission—today was her lucky day.

“Ladies, I’ve made my choice.”

Ye Qiong, seeing the two outfits Zhang Shen had picked, thought to herself: she hadn’t noticed before, but while he usually dressed plainly, he certainly showed no restraint when spending someone else’s money.

Just as Ye Qiong was about to take out her bank card, Zhang Shen whispered in her ear, “Lend me your card for a moment—I’ll show you a good show.”

Ye Qiong didn’t quite understand what Zhang Shen meant, but it was easy enough to lend him the card; at worst, she could ask her father for a new one later.

Zhang Shen took the card and walked to the cashier’s desk. The fat woman said, “Sir, your total is twenty-three thousand yuan.”

“Not bad!” As the fat woman reached for Zhang Shen’s card, he swiftly pulled it back.

“Sir, what do you mean by this?”

“Nothing much—I just think your grubby hands might dirty my card. Besides, when I came in, it was this young lady who attended to me. You were only acting as a porter, so I believe it’s more appropriate for her to handle my card.”

The fat woman’s face turned red with rage. She had worked so hard, only to have all her effort wasted.

Ke Ying, standing nearby, could hardly believe her ears. Was this real? Two outfits costing over twenty thousand—such an impressive commission. Was this good fortune really coming her way?

“Young lady, what are you waiting for? My friends here are about to leave.”

“Yes, I’m coming!” Ke Ying hurried over.

“Fat woman, step aside unless you don’t want to sell the clothes.”

“You… You people are simply outrageous! I’m going to ask the manager for justice.”

The fat woman schemed inwardly, thinking the manager would back her up.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man in business attire entered the shop, immediately recognizing Ye Qiong.

“Miss Ye, what brings you here?”

Ye Qiong turned to him. “Uncle Xia, are you the manager here?”

“Yes, Miss Ye. I’m not sure what happened just now, but if there’s been any offense, please forgive me.”

It turned out Xia Yun had formerly worked for Ye Jianfei. Later, wanting to strike out on his own, Ye Jianfei, seeing his ambition, lent him money to start his venture. Unexpectedly, today he encountered Ye Jianfei’s daughter, Ye Qiong, here.

Ye Qiong explained the situation in detail to Xia Yun.

After listening, Xia Yun assured Ye Qiong that he would handle the matter.

He walked to the cashier’s desk and told the fat woman, “From now on, you’re off duty—and you won’t need to come back. As for Ke Ying, you’ll take over the supervisor’s position from now on. The commission from these gentlemen’s purchases will be added to your bonus this month.”

The fat woman was thunderstruck; she had never imagined she would end up hoisting her own petard, and she collapsed to the floor.

Xia Yun handed the clothes to Zhang Shen. “Ye Qiong's father has shown me kindness. Please accept these two outfits as a token of my gratitude, sir. I will visit the Ye family personally another day.”

Zhang Shen glanced at Ye Qiong, who nodded slightly. He then accepted the clothes.

As the three prepared to leave, Ke Ying hurried after them.