The woman glanced at Ge Qiuqin and snorted coldly.
"I'm telling you, if you want to sell clothes, you need to have some discernment. You need to know who can afford them and who can't."
You have to distinguish them, otherwise you'll end up wasting your time and getting all the new clothes dirty.
Looking at Ge Qiuqin and her five children, each of them had more than one patch on their clothes. They looked so poor that they didn't deserve to buy clothes at the department store.
The woman rolled her eyes, feeling that she and her son were making this poor family look bad.
The sales clerk was kind-hearted and didn't listen to the woman, letting Ge Qiuqin adjust Zhang Zhicheng's clothes in front of the fitting room mirror.
"Comrade, I'm really sorry, this is the only small size of this children's sweater left. Why don't you choose another style?"
When the child heard that the sweater he wanted was out of stock, he started to cry and throw a tantrum.
"I don't want it, I don't want it... I want this, I want this."
The woman, while comforting her child, loudly berated the sales clerk:
“She’s been trying it on for ages and hasn’t said she’d buy it. If she can’t afford it, she shouldn’t be trying it on. She’s wasting other people’s time. Go take the sweater off that kid and I’ll buy it.”
The saleswoman felt embarrassed; how could she possibly strip the child of his clothes? That would be too much of a blow to the child's self-esteem.
Seeing the sales clerk standing there without moving, the child's mother became completely furious.
She stood up and took two steps at a time, walked up to Ge Qiuqin, grabbed Zhang Zhicheng, and started to rip off his clothes.
Ge Qiuqin was stunned. What was going on?
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Ge Qiuqin yanked the woman's hand away from her son, grabbed her wrist, and flung her aside. Ge Qiuqin did washing work every day, and over time, her arms had become quite strong.
The woman stumbled from the flash and almost fell.
"You came up here and grabbed my son's clothes, what exactly do you want to do!"
Ge Qiuqin continued to ask.
"You look poor but you're surprisingly strong. I want to buy clothes. Why should I do this? You don't have money to buy them, so you've made others waste their time following you around."
"Don't you even have eyes to see where you are? What are the prices of these clothes? You dare to walk into anywhere with a child."
"What kind of place is this that I can't enter? Is this the Emperor's Palace or the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Court? It's the Yongning City People's Department Store. Why can't I, an ordinary citizen, enter?"
"You can come in, but can your family afford the expensive clothes here, dressed in these patched clothes? It's shameful to try them on for nothing if you can't afford them."
"Instead of wasting time like this, I'd rather go to my neighbor's and ask for some scraps of cloth, then sew and mend them until we can have some for the New Year."
Looking at the woman's arrogant demeanor, Ge Qiuqin realized that she thought the woman couldn't afford the clothes here. But what did it matter to this stranger whether she could afford them or not? She was just meddling in other people's business.
"Whether I buy it or not is none of your business. What have my family done to you? You must have too much salt in your mouth."
The shouts of the two attracted passing customers to stop and watch, all wanting to hear what had happened.
The sales clerk saw that the counter was surrounded by people; this was the first time she had ever seen the children's clothing section so crowded since she started working.
"Please calm down, gentlemen. Everything should be done in order of arrival. This lady's son is trying on clothes. If she decides to buy them, you'll have to choose other styles."
With the year-end approaching, the department store has received many styles of sweaters, and they all look quite nice. Why ruin a relationship over a piece of clothing?
The woman was used to being arrogant and would never let herself be taken advantage of here. Seeing that more and more people were gathering and trying to humiliate Ge Qiuqin, she became even more determined to cause trouble.
“I want this style. Tell her the price and ask if she can afford it. If she can’t, take it off quickly so as not to waste my shopping time.”
The sales clerk had no choice but to turn to Ge Qiuqin and say:
"Comrade, this sweater costs 12.5 yuan, and the coat costs 18 yuan. Your child has tried them on. Which of these three garments would you like to take?"
Upon hearing the price and seeing Ge Qiuqin's attire, the woman knew she couldn't afford it and that she was definitely unemployed.
Is it really possible to spend over ten yuan on a child's clothes in this condition? That's simply unbelievable.
"I'll take all three."
Ge Qiuqin spoke slowly and deliberately to the sales clerk.
The sales clerk was stunned. Usually, customers who come here to buy clothes for their children will pick out at most two items, with most choosing just one.
It's extremely rare for someone to buy a whole set of children's clothes. Since I started working here, this is the first time I've ever heard of someone having to buy a whole set of clothes from themselves.
"Comrade, are you telling the truth?"
"It's true, I want all three of these clothes my son is wearing."
The woman standing to the side listened to Ge Qiuqin's words, raised her head, and gave a disbelieving sneer.
"I told you you heard right, the salesperson told you the price of each piece of clothing. This sweater is 12.5 yuan. The three pieces of clothing together cost more than an average worker's monthly salary."
"Don't you have any concept of money? This isn't just about the pennies or dinies you usually spend."
The people around her felt that her words were a bit too hurtful, but they still wanted to see if Ge Qiuqin could actually afford it.
When Zhang Zhicheng heard that the three pieces of clothing he was wearing were so expensive—more than a working adult's monthly salary—he was shocked.
He still remembers how, when he asked his father for 10 yuan to help his mother, the two of them were beaten black and blue. If his father knew that his three pieces of clothing were so expensive, he would beat his buttocks raw.
And the mother will definitely get beaten by the father too.
Zhang Zhicheng trembled at the thought; he didn't want his mother and younger siblings to be beaten.
He walked up to his mother, tugged at her sleeve, and said:
"Mom, don't buy it. This dress is too expensive, and I looked in the mirror, it doesn't look good on me."
"Mom, just get me a piece of fabric and make me a shirt, I don't want this dress anymore."
The woman chuckled upon hearing this.
"Look at you, you're not even as good as your son at recognizing the truth, yet you're acting all high and mighty here."
Kid, take your clothes off right now, or I won't buy them again, and your mom will have to pay the store for them.
"If you don't have the money to pay compensation, your whole family probably won't even be able to leave the department store today; you'll be detained."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhicheng hurriedly began to take off his clothes.
He didn't want to implicate his family and prevent them from leaving the mall, because his mother would be so heartbroken.
Ge Qiuqin saw her son taking off his clothes and pressed his hand down:
"Don't be afraid, eldest son. Mom can afford it for you."
She straightened up, looked at the sales clerk, and continued:
“I said I wanted to buy these three pieces of clothing, so I’ll only buy these three. Since there’s only one size left, and no one else can buy it, you should let her buy other styles.”
Ge Qiuqin was too lazy to pay attention to that woman, and didn't even want to look at her. Continuing to argue with her would be a waste of breath.
"Second brother, your eldest brother has finished choosing, it's your turn."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
