The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve.
Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei took a car to the city early in the morning to make purchases.
Just like the previous days, Xia Minmin arrived at the cashier at eight o'clock in the morning. By almost six o'clock in the afternoon, only a few customers were left shopping in the store, and it was time to go home.
Yesterday's incident involving Ms. Jin Cancan had a significant impact on Xia Minmin, as it was the first time she had encountered such a situation in real life.
Before she could think any further, the checkout counter was already overflowing with the purchases of customers.
Xia Minmin looked up at the young man and asked in a steady tone, "Handsome, are all of these yours?"
The young man looked quite attractive; his hair was styled like Andy Lau's, with lots of mousse making it look stiff. He wore jeans and a leather jacket, his clothes were clean, and he wore what appeared to be an expensive watch on his wrist, which occasionally peeked out. He was about 170 centimeters tall, with fair skin, like a pretty boy from a TV drama.
This caught Xia Minmin's attention. The young man bought things that were expensive and varied, but they all had one thing in common: they were very easy to sell.
The main customers of the discount supermarket are people with limited means, housewives, and nannies. Some factory managers also come to buy things, but the overall impression is quite different from that of the person in question.
"That's right, little sister, you're already working at such a young age? How about I introduce you to a job that pays well and isn't tiring?" The young man's tone was very gentle, like a neighborly older brother.
"Thank you for your kindness, but it's not necessary. My family is not in financial difficulty; I'm just going to work to improve myself."
While Xia Minmin was chatting with the young man, her hands didn't slow down the scanning of the QR code.
"Hello, the total is 1,527.9 yuan. Let me round it down to 1,527 yuan."
The young man took out his wallet from his pants pocket. Xia Minmin examined it discreetly. It was a wallet from a top international brand, but in the current situation, it felt strangely odd.
Xia Minmin had no choice but to keep a close eye on the young man's every move. The young man took out a stack of hundred-yuan bills from his bag, counted out 1,600 yuan, and handed it to Xia Minmin.
While counting the money, there were about ten hundred-yuan bills. Xia Minmin felt a strange sensation, as if they weren't real money. She took the ten bills out and put them in a money detector.
The cautious Xia Minmin checked the money over and over again. The money detector repeatedly indicated that it was real money. If it had a strange feel, it would tell Xia Minmin that it might be counterfeit.
The young man was startled by Xia Minmin's actions but did not object. He appeared calm and nonchalant, seemingly unconcerned about being discovered using counterfeit money. His confidence likely stemmed from the fact that even a money detector couldn't verify the authenticity of the counterfeit currency.
Xia Minmin stared warily into the man's eyes. "Sir, please wait a moment. There's something wrong with these ten hundred-yuan bills. I need to call our supervisor over."
"Okay, I have no problem. Investigate however you want. If you can't find anything wrong, how will you compensate me? If you can't find anything wrong, you can give me this bag for free?"
The young man remained calm and composed, seemingly quite certain that Xia Minmin and her team couldn't find any reason for the incident.
But Xia Minmin's intuition told her that the man had already given himself away and the money was fake.
Without making a sound, she pressed the one-click alarm button on the cashier system and sent someone to find Xiao Wu.
Throughout this time, the young man showed no impatience whatsoever, and his gaze towards Xia Minmin held a more inquisitive quality.
Less than five minutes later, Xiao Wu rushed over, still sweating, probably unloading the goods.
"Xiaomin, what happened?"
"Supervisor, I received 1,600 yuan, including ten 100-yuan bills that may be counterfeit, but the money detector can't detect them. This gentleman said that if we can't prove the money is counterfeit, then we have to compensate him for this bag of goods."
Xiao Wu glanced at the contents of the bag; they were expensive items from the store.
Xia Minmin added quietly, "I already called the police before you arrived."
Xiao Wu gave Xia Minmin an approving look.
The young man appeared flustered upon hearing the alarm, but quickly regained his composure.
"Boss, I don't care. You can investigate however you want. If you can't find anything, you have to compensate me for this bag of stuff."
Xiao Wu smiled slightly, "Okay, sir. If it's our fault, we're willing to compensate you for your losses. Rest assured, all our actions and conversations were recorded by our surveillance cameras above and diagonally above us."
The young man looked up warily at the surveillance cameras around him, his expression changing as if he were somewhat annoyed. He glanced at the supermarket entrance out of the corner of his eye and noticed that there seemed to be several more young and strong men there.
The police station wasn't far from here either. About eight minutes after Xia Minmin pressed the alarm button, the police appeared at the supermarket entrance.
The young man thought that the threat of calling the police was just a bluff, but he didn't expect it to be a real threat.
The sound of a van engine roared as a police van pulled up in front of the supermarket, and three policemen got out.
The police appeared at the door, and he tried to rush into the supermarket, but unfortunately, he was caught red-handed by Xia Minmin and Xiao Wu, who had been keeping a close eye on him.
The police officers at the door noticed the commotion and ran over. "What's going on?"
Xia Minmin recounted what had just happened, saying, "We also have surveillance cameras here, and we can access them if needed."
Xia Minmin handed ten 100-yuan bills to the older policeman.
The older policeman looked at the familiar banknotes in his hand and pondered for a moment before saying, "He should be the young man who has been using counterfeit money all over Shenzhen in the past six months."
“Every time he appears, he basically targets large supermarkets or stores, and each time he buys more than a thousand yuan worth of goods, ten of which are the same banknotes, exactly the same as the ones you gave me. He uses all the same tricks as you did. If the shop owner doesn’t notice the problem or call the police, he will be asked to compensate for the goods.”
One of the young policemen looked at the young man pinned to the ground and muttered, "This doesn't seem like it! I heard the known amount involved is already as high as 100,000."
The older officer slapped the younger officer hard on the back of the head. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and take him back to the station."
The young policeman pulled out handcuffs from his belt and handcuffed the young man.
The handcuffed man glared fiercely at Xia Minmin, "I never thought I'd fall for a little brat like you. You just wait, when I get out I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget."
The older officer said to the other two officers, "Take him away."
Then he turned to Xiao Wu and said, "I'd appreciate it if you could come over later to take my statement and also make a copy of the video. When you get to the gate, just give me my name. My surname is Qian, just call me Officer Qian."
Xiao Wu chuckled and said, "No problem, I'll pack up and head over. Cooperating with your investigation is what we should do."
The older policeman turned to look at Xia Minmin and said, "Is this child a relative of yours? She's so clever."
“She is my niece and also the daughter of the supermarket owner. The supermarket has been busy lately, so she came to help out.”
"We'll talk later." With that, the older policeman left the supermarket.
Supermarket customers and staff witnessed this, and it was like an explosion. In the past year, counterfeit money has been pouring out. Whether it's a hundred-yuan bill or a ten- or twenty-yuan bill, people have received fakes, making it impossible to guard against. Ordinary people carry a counterfeit money detector with them at all times.
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