"I heard that Chen Rong's blind date has already married her cousin." As soon as she got to work, Ma Yan relayed the latest news to Zhan Chunlan.
"It's been almost a month, hasn't it? There should be a problem if they're not married yet." Zhan Chunlan carefully calculated the time; about twenty days had passed. When she first heard about it, her cousin's request was to get married. Isn't this a case of getting what you ask for?
"You don't understand. When he went on a blind date with Chen Rong, they agreed that he would follow her to the military after they got married. He even arranged a job for her there." Ma Yan had gone through countless difficulties to get this job. She had to pull many strings and ask many people for help. But this guy got in easily and has other units to take him out. I'm tired of saying I envy him.
"Then Chen Rong has a job opening up?" Wow, a job, she wants one too. Zhan Chunlan didn't hear anything else clearly, only the word "job." She currently has neither parents she can rely on nor a favorable environment for her to live off. She can only scramble around and find a job to truly gain a foothold in this world.
"Heh~" Ma Yan chuckled and said in a somewhat villainous tone, "You know, some people pick up sesame seeds but lose watermelons. Originally, only her cousin was unemployed in the Chen family. It was agreed with Chen Rong that after she got married, the job would be sold to Chen Rong. The money wouldn't be paid all at once, but would be deducted from her salary every month."
"And what happened? She pulled this crazy stunt: he wouldn't let her accompany him to his military base. They only got their marriage certificate, didn't even have a wedding banquet, and went back to his unit that same day, leaving her alone in their hometown to take care of his parents."
“However,” Ma Yan changed the subject, her tone becoming more sarcastic, “she has gotten what she wanted; she doesn’t have to go to the countryside anymore.”
"What happened? I used to buy rice candy from you, and a box would have twelve pieces. How come the one I bought from you yesterday only had eleven pieces?"
Another argument broke out from the food counter. This time, it was a woman in her fifties or sixties who was speaking. With her strong voice and calm demeanor, Zhan Chunlan knew at a glance that this time they had probably hit a nerve.
Recently, several people have reported that a box of rice candy is missing one piece. One or two people could be considered isolated incidents, but the fact that so many people have reported this indicates a problem. I wonder if Huang Yun at the food counter has reported this to higher authorities.
"You bought it from me yesterday, and now you're coming back saying one piece is missing? Who knows what happened?" Huang Yun retorted, not to be outdone. She was completely innocent and wasn't afraid of anyone investigating. In fact, she was happy for someone to come and check carefully. She always had to deal with this kind of thing, and it annoyed her a lot!
"What do you mean?" The old woman felt that she was being sarcastic when she heard her words, and she was immediately displeased. She slammed her hand on the counter and pointed at her, launching into a tirade: "Let me tell you, I work at the grain station, my family members are factory workers, my son is a teacher, and my family has been poor farmers for eighteen generations. How dare you say that I came here to cheat you out of a piece of rice candy?"
Since Huang Yun adopted a more assertive attitude, few people have dared to raise their voices in front of her. So, she was completely taken aback by what she had just heard. It had been a long time since she had encountered someone like this.
"I'm not talking to you. Call your manager out here. I want to see how your department store cheats customers out of their money."
The worst thing to do during an argument is to lose focus. Seeing that she was a little absent-minded, the old lady slammed her hand on the counter and pressed her advantage, hoping to finish her off in one fell swoop and pin her to the ground so she couldn't even get up.
"Comrade, could you please tell me what exactly happened?" Seeing that Huang Yun had taken a step back and lost her momentum, Zhang Yun, another teller, took the initiative to mediate and winked at her colleagues, signaling them to call Director Hu over.
Fearing the conflict would escalate, Hsiao Hung also took the initiative to support the food counter, standing next to the two female sales clerks.
Indeed, when the two women saw him coming, they felt a little more at ease, even though he hadn't done anything yet.
"What's going on? You're selling yourselves, don't you know it?" The old woman seemed to have just won a battle, her back ramrod straight, not even giving them a glance.
"We really don't know. Could you please explain in detail how you discovered the problem? When the manager comes over, we can relay the information to you so you don't have to explain it to us again." Regardless of the old lady's attitude, Zhang Yun remained composed, maintaining a professional smile and speaking in a calm and unhurried manner, much like a modern e-commerce customer service representative.
"I made it clear as soon as I arrived. I bought this box of rice candy here yesterday. Yesterday was the last box of rice candy. I believe the sales clerk should remember it." Seeing that Zhang Yun's attitude was reasonable, the old lady softened her tone. When she mentioned the sales clerk, she even condescended to nod to Huang Yun, indicating that Huang Yun had sold it to her yesterday.
Zhang Yun also looked at Huang Yun, her eyes full of inquiry, "Is what she said true?"
Huang Yun nodded. She did indeed remember her quite well. She wanted to buy two boxes, but there was only one left in the store. She insisted that Huang Yun find her another box. What could Huang Yun do? She wasn't a rice candy maker. The department store's warehouse was empty. How could Huang Yun conjure up another box for her? She was about to lose her temper, but she managed to hold it in.
Seeing her nod, the old woman continued, "I originally planned to buy them yesterday to give as gifts, one box for each person, but I only managed to buy one box. So, I thought I'd divide them into six pieces each to solve the problem. But when I opened the box, there were only eleven pieces inside!"
What's the big deal? Everyone can just get five pieces, and you can even keep one for yourself. Zhan Chunyun, seemingly unconcerned, was unusually quick-witted.
"Do you know how devastating eleven pieces of rice candy can be for a pair of twins? My two grandsons have been crying since yesterday, and their voices are hoarse from crying."
The old lady recalled that when she opened the box yesterday to distribute the rice candy, one piece for you, one piece for me, one piece for you, one piece for me... In the end, there was an extra piece. Whoever got it, the other would be angry. Even if the old lady hid it when they weren't looking, it wouldn't work. The whole family didn't sleep all night, taking turns to coax the two children. If you had experienced what I went through yesterday, you would understand me!
Uh... twins sharing eleven pieces of rice candy, that scene is definitely hellish enough.
Suddenly, a rather tall figure blocked Zhan Chunlan's view of the melon. She couldn't help but frown unhappily. Who was it that was so inconsiderate?
"Comrade, hello! This is Director Hu from our department store. Don't worry, I've already reported what you just said to Director Hu, and he's here to help you solve the problem." Zhang Yun immediately introduced Director Hu to the old lady upon seeing him. At a time like this, you can't let the director come up and introduce himself to you.
After she finished speaking, she immediately gave a brief explanation of the situation that the old lady had just mentioned.
Director Hu nodded, smiling warmly at the elderly woman, appearing very approachable: "I understand the situation you raised, but the current situation is that you are reporting that the quantity of boxed rice candy is less than expected. This involves three parties: first, the food factory; second, our company; and finally, you. So this cannot be resolved by you and us simply exchanging a few words."
"Give me a few days, and I will arrange for the pastry factory staff to conduct a self-inspection with us to see which part of the process went wrong. Whatever the result, I will personally explain it to you and issue a public announcement."
"Xiao...Zhang, later take a pound of milk candy to this comrade and tell her to go back and comfort her grandson. The two children suffered a great injustice here the other day."
This old lady is indeed not an unreasonable person. If her two children hadn't been making a fuss at home yesterday and today, she wouldn't have come all this way. At worst, she would just stop buying this rice candy in the future.
The way this director handled things so far seems fair, but it's unclear whether they'll actually conduct an internal investigation.
Who cares? I'm content with a pound of milk candy.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com