He had good luck today. Although his second order was interrupted, at least his first order was successful. He just felt the stack of cash with his hand; it was quite thick. Today's harvest was still pretty good.
The people at the scene, having been warned, could no longer succeed. He didn't leave either. Although he hadn't seen the person who shouted, he remembered the voice and was determined to find the person who ruined his plans.
At the entrance of the department store, the thief found a sheltered spot, hands in his pockets, wanting to tally his spoils. Wait, did I just succeed? Why is there nothing in my pocket? Could it be in another pocket? He searched every nook and cranny carefully, but still nothing. Was his pocket torn? Did it fall out? He turned all the pockets in his clothes and pants inside out to check, but there were no holes.
The thief was confused. Had he actually failed? But he clearly remembered seeing a large, rolled-up wad of money. Was it just his imagination?
His eyes were fixed on the department store. He couldn't believe it; there must be another thief inside who had stolen from him too! That damned, despicable thief, stealing from a fellow thief! He was furious! He had to steal it back!
After waiting in line for at least thirty minutes, it was finally Huang Ju's turn: "Give me nine feet of cloth."
The sales clerk didn't even look up, continuing to arrange the fabric while routinely reminding customers: "Each person is limited to 3 feet. For anything extra, you'll need to take your household registration booklet to the local street office to get a certificate. Let me see the certificate."
Huang Ju was a little panicked. She had only learned about the defective fabric issue this morning and hadn't had time to get the necessary documentation. But after waiting in line for so long, she didn't want to give up: "I have my household registration booklet, would that work?"
The salesperson completely ignored them, probably having encountered this many times before, and didn't change their tone at all: "No, I'm looking for proof, not the household registration book. Either buy 3 feet, or go get the proof!"
Huang Ju was furious. She'd waited in line for so long, and they thought they could just dismiss her with a simple "no"? "The household registration book is right here. Why do I have to make another trip? Can't you just look at it and see how many people are in the household? Why do I have to go all the way to the street office? Can't you be more flexible?"
"We don't look at household registration certificates. That's the rule, set by the department store. It's not up to me." The sales clerk wasn't going to bother with that; without proof, it wouldn't work.
"Hey, young comrade, Chairman Mao said we should serve the people, so why are you so afraid of trouble when it comes to me?" Huang Ju rolled up her sleeves, placed her hands on the counter, and looked like she was going to reason with her: "Besides, who lives alone these days? I've brought my household registration book, what's wrong with you taking a look? It's just nine feet of cloth, you take the money and the receipt, I pay you and give you the receipt, it's not like you're giving it to me for free."
"No, the chairman also said that without rules there can be no order. We need to build an organized and disciplined team. What, you want to break the rules?" The saleswoman wasn't afraid of her. It wasn't like whoever raised their voice was right.
Seeing that she couldn't buy anything and was blocking others from buying, the people around her quickly chimed in, "That's right, why are you making things difficult for this young girl instead of getting the necessary paperwork?" Since she couldn't buy anything, the people behind her could buy more, urging her repeatedly, "If you want to buy, buy; if not, get out. We're all waiting for you."
Huang Ju saw that so many people were surrounding her, urging her to give up her seat, but she wasn't intimidated at all.
She slammed her hand on the counter and pointed at the saleswoman with an air of authority: "Let me tell you, my brother-in-law is the director of the Revolutionary Committee. You have to sell today whether you like it or not, or I'll have my brother-in-law drag you through the streets tomorrow."
Zhan Chunlan was speechless. She had originally planned to quietly return the money the pickpocket had stolen to her, but now... looking at the arrogant words she uttered, she wondered how many innocent people she was targeting. Oh well, she decided to keep it for herself; after all, she still had plenty of free space.
The saleswoman wasn't afraid of her at all: "Let me tell you, my family has been poor peasants for eight generations. My brother, sister, and brother-in-law are all martyrs. My whole family are martyrs' families. I'm not afraid of you! If you drag me out to be paraded through the streets, we'll appeal all the way to the central government to bring down your brother-in-law!"
Upon hearing that someone was going to bully a martyr's family member, the people around immediately surrounded Huang Ju, pointing at her and saying, "It was your own fault for not getting the certificate, why are you making things difficult for a young girl?"
"If your brother-in-law hears you bullying the family of a martyr in his name, I wonder if he'll still acknowledge you as his sister-in-law?"
"She wants to parade people through the streets just for buying a piece of cloth. I wonder how many people she's bullied because of her brother-in-law? Does she think her brother-in-law is the boss of Jiangcheng?"
Someone comforted the saleswoman: "Young lady, don't be afraid. So many of us are watching. She's being unreasonable. It has nothing to do with you."
Some people also teased Huang Ju: "Hey, are you going to buy it or not? If not, move aside. So many people are waiting for you!"
Seeing the large crowd in front of her, Huang Ju weakly spoke up: "Then I'll buy 3 feet first." Flawed cloth is rare, and it's actually not much different from the genuine article. The price is also cheaper, and there are fewer cloth coupons. It's a great deal. If I don't buy it now, I guess I won't even have 3 feet left.
The salesperson, in a rigid and inflexible tone, became even more unpleasant: "Money and tickets."
Huang Ju quickly reached into her purse, but couldn't find it. "Hey, I put it in this purse when I left home. Did I remember wrong?" She tried another purse, but couldn't find it after searching for a long time.
"Why pretend to be rich when you don't have any money? You can't even afford three feet of cloth, yet you want to buy nine. You're wasting everyone's time." People around her started jeering when they saw that she hadn't produced any money or coupons.
"No, I took a lot of money with me when I went out. How did it disappear? Who stole my money? A pickpocket? Who just said there was a pickpocket?" Huang Ju quickly denied it, grabbing the people around her, "Was it you? Did you steal my money? You kept getting close to me, it must have been you!"
The man threw her away, yelling, "Are you crazy? You have no money and you accuse others of stealing? I'd say you're the pickpocket! Someone shouted 'pickpocket!' and everyone was checking their pockets, but you didn't move. I've been watching you for a while. You're the pickpocket! You're crying 'the thief' here. You didn't steal anything, so now you can't afford cloth, huh?"
"Exactly, no wonder she didn't go to the street office to get a certificate. She probably came to steal money and tickets to buy cloth. She didn't manage to steal the money and tickets, so she had to pretend to buy cloth." The people around her knew that she had probably been robbed, but they were all quite annoyed with her. Because of her, an hour had been wasted, and everyone started talking nonsense.
It was only after the department store manager came out that everyone calmed down, took Huang Ju aside to resolve the situation, and called the police.
When Zhan Chunlan finished selling the fabric, Huang Ju was still nagging her, demanding that the department store compensate her for the money she lost. Zhan Chunlan overheard this and left.
Xu Lixia originally only allowed the sale of 6 feet of cloth to make a new outfit for Zhan Hongyu to wear for the New Year. Zhan Chunlan now has money and ration coupons, and she got a little more when she got the certificate. She also bought a few feet of cloth for herself to make two sets of underwear as a token of her gratitude to Ms. Huang Ju for her gift.
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