It turned out that the customer had ordered a bowl of spicy potato noodles. After finishing one bowl, he felt he hadn't had enough, so he asked for an extra bowl. The shop offered this service; if one bowl wasn't enough and he didn't want to buy two bowls, he could spend four coins to get an extra bowl.

Because the shop was crowded, Shen Yun couldn't keep up with the demand by herself, so Cui Ying brought up the cooked noodles. When she poured them into the bowl, she accidentally splashed some chili oil onto the customer.

Cui Ying was startled and hurriedly apologized repeatedly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I accidentally dirtied your clothes."

The diner glanced down at the red oil stains on his sleeve and immediately became furious, shouting, "Sorry? You think one 'sorry' is enough? Do you know how expensive this dress is?"

The man happened to be wearing light-colored clothes, making the few drops of red oil particularly glaring. Cui Ying was so frightened that she didn't know what to do and could only stammer, "How about you take off your clothes and I wash them for you?"

They work in the shop, and it's inevitable that they'll get some oil stains on their bodies. But they can usually wash them clean with a little scrubbing.

"My clothes are made of silk. Do you think they're like your tattered clothes, something you can just wash however you want?"

The man had a very loud voice, which attracted the attention of many people. Cui Ying became even more nervous and said she wanted to compensate him, which led to the scene just now.

"Sir, I'm so sorry. I guess I was too busy today and made a mistake. How much is this dress? I'll definitely take care of it for you." Hearing that it was a mistake made by one of the shop's employees, Meng Zhao's tone softened a bit compared to before.

The man sized Meng Zhao up and down, noting that she was only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a somewhat childish face, and then asked with a hint of contempt, "Who are you?"

"I am the owner of this shop. Sir, please rest assured that since this happened in my shop, I will take full responsibility. You can tell me the price of this garment, and I will compensate you."

Upon hearing Meng Zhao's words, the man was immediately seized by greed. His eyes darted around, and he made an outrageous demand: "I spent ten taels of silver to buy this dress, so you should compensate me with ten taels."

He deliberately raised his voice, as if to announce to those around him the expensiveness of his clothes.

Cui Ying, who was standing next to her, was even more startled. Although she had just wanted to offer to pay him back, she thought it would be at most a hundred coins. Who knew that the clothes would be so expensive?

Seeing his exorbitant demands, Meng Zhao's face instantly turned cold. She had earned money and loved to spend it. She had bought a lot of clothes and fabrics during this period and was no longer as clueless as when she first arrived.

Although the material on this person's clothes was indeed silk, the quality was clearly only of medium to low quality, and the clothes had no embroidery and the craftsmanship was not complicated. When she looked at the red paint on the cuffs earlier, she also noticed that the cuffs were already frayed, so they must have been worn for some time.

According to Meng Zhao's estimate, the clothes wouldn't cost more than two taels of silver. Besides, after wearing them for so long, there would be some depreciation. If this person was being reasonable, Meng Zhao would have given them the money directly. Who would have thought that this person would actually treat her like a sucker and rip her off?

"May I ask, sir, did you buy this garment as a ready-made piece, or did you purchase the fabric and have it embroidered by a separate embroiderer?"

The man frowned, his tone tinged with impatience, "Why are you asking this?"

Meng Zhao said weakly, "We run a small business and don't earn much each day. It's just that your clothes are too expensive, so we naturally have to investigate before we lose money."

“If you buy ready-made clothes, I can go to the shop to see if there are any similar ones. If you buy fabric, we can ask about the price. It’s not right for you to just say ten taels and call it ten taels.”

Upon hearing Meng Zhao's words, the man became furious and his face turned bright red. "Your employee did something wrong, and instead of paying compensation to settle the matter, you dare to doubt me? I think all you merchants are black-hearted and only know how to bully others by relying on your power."

Shen Yun was always quick-witted. Seeing that the situation was not good, she had a sudden idea and immediately started crying out, "We who come out to work work from dawn to dusk every day. It's not easy to earn money. Ten taels of silver is more than I can earn in a year. Since you want us to lose money, you should at least give us some proof."

Shen Yun was young, and when she started crying, some diners couldn't bear to watch. An older man stepped forward, looked at the man's clothes, and said:

“Young man, where did you buy this dress? I’m also in the fabric business. I want to see which shop is so unscrupulous as to sell a dress made of this kind of material for ten taels of silver. Isn’t that ripping people off?”

Many people in the shop had never seen such expensive clothes before, and they curiously crowded around to take a look. Every now and then, someone would say:

"This garment costs ten taels; I don't think it looks like it."

"Is this some kind of deliberate scam? A garment worth ten taels of silver wouldn't be like this."

Seeing that the man's face was flushed and he was very embarrassed, Meng Zhao said, "There are clothing stores and fabric stores on this street. Why don't you come with me to take a look? Maybe you're mistaken."

The man wasn't there specifically to extort money, so he wasn't very professional. When he saw Meng Zhao offering him a ladder, he immediately took it, saying, "Oh dear, oh dear, I misremembered. I bought this dress for two taels of silver. You should compensate me with two taels of silver."

At this time, there were many other customers watching. Meng Zhao didn't want to make things too ugly, so he said, "Okay, then please go home and change your clothes first, and bring these dirty clothes over."

Upon hearing this, the man frowned immediately. "What do you mean by that?"

"Your clothes cost two taels of silver. We will pay you two taels of silver as if we bought the clothes ourselves, and the clothes will naturally belong to us."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!