Chapter 192 What's Wrong with Being Poor
Friendship Stores don't have the frightening and crazy crowds of department stores. People who come and go here are dressed neatly and elegantly, and walk in and out with their heads held high, pretending to be superior. But the people around them also buy into this and look up at them with envy.
The doors and windows here are bright, and the bells will ring when the doors are opened and closed, making a crisp sound, and the nose is filled with the faint scent of roses. The counters and shelves are made of brown high-grade wood, and even the floor is covered with a layer of the same color.
This is also the existence that department store salespeople look up to.
A salesman was mopping the floor with a mop. When he saw a few people coming in, he pushed them under their feet and cursed, "Don't you know to wear leather shoes when you come in? Your cotton shoes will make you step on mud. Isn't this adding to our workload? Are you responsible for paying the wages?"
Uncle Fang, Aunt Fang and even Fang Hongye didn’t know what to do with their feet. The little ones grabbed the corners of the adults’ clothes and hid timidly behind them.
The sales clerks and customers looked up when they heard the noise, then went about their business as if they hadn't seen anyone, with obvious contempt in their expressions, which made the Fang family feel quite embarrassed.
"Zhixia, forget it, let's just come in and take a look. Things here are expensive, why would we need foreign exchange coupons?" Aunt Fang leaned close to An Zhixia's ear and whispered, "Even if we buy things here, we won't be willing to use them."
An Zhixia smiled, looked at the few people and said, "The purpose of opening a business here is to let people come in. It doesn't cost money to take a look, so why are there different levels? Even if there are goods that require foreign exchange coupons, aren't there still some high-priced goods?
If the salesperson doesn't treat us like other customers, with a face that looks like he wants us to get out, he might as well just hang a sign at the door saying "Foreigners, rich and prestigious people please come in, no one else allowed" and I'll see if this place closes tomorrow!
This sentence cheered up everyone in the store.
"Little comrade, how can you talk like that? Aren't we busy? You can just take a look around, can we chase you out? Our colleague has a lot of work and was in a bad mood and said a few words, are you making a big deal out of it?" An elderly salesperson frowned and said unhappily, "Don't use your poverty as an excuse, who doesn't have poor relatives? Society is good now, as long as you have ambition, you can make a name for yourself anywhere. Why do you have to come here to show off!"
"That's not true. The things here are not something you can afford," a woman in a tweed coat with a rabbit collar said with a sneer, "You came here to embarrass yourself, and you can still blame others? It's free to take a look, but you came in with mud spots, so don't the comrades have to waste water to clean the floor? I don't know if you have biting bugs on your body, so you have to spray some insect repellent, which is troublesome."
An Zhixia felt Fang Lixi and Fang Songyan pulling her harder. She looked down and saw the two little guys hiding behind her with their heads down, their bodies filled with complex emotions that she could hardly fully understand.
She slightly lowered her eyelids. The two older children of the Fang family had lived in Kyoto before. Even if they had been away for four years, they would not be as timid as other children. The only explanation was that they knew this rabbit-collared woman, and the one who caused their reaction must be a close relationship.
Looking at Fang Lixi's little action of forcibly stealing a glance, she suddenly thought of the sister-in-law Fang Yuan mentioned.
An Zhixia looked at the woman. Her eyebrows and eyes were delicate, with the retro style of Shanghai seen on TV, but her eyebrows were too thin, her eyes were upturned, her lips were flat, her cheekbones were slightly high, and her meanness was overflowing from every pore. However, upon closer inspection, the three children did look a bit like her.
She chuckled and took off her hat, revealing her beautiful face. She was satisfied to see the jealous face of the woman. "The Friendship Store is opened by the state. The foreign exchange coupons are only set up to facilitate foreign friends' purchases, but they never restrict the entry of Chinese people. We Xiahua are ordinary people's Xiahua. It's not that we are superior to others just because our family has some money and we have a job. We can show our noses to others. Don't you know that your nostrils are too big and your nose hairs are too much. It's ugly?"
Without giving him a chance to retort, she continued, "Oh, if you are paid by the government, you should work diligently. How can you enjoy high pay and complain about jobs coming to you? If we don't create jobs for you, the store won't need cleaners. Where will you make money?
Oh, no wonder you can only be a cleaner. You are clumsy and complain about everything. You are not smart. How can there be no mud on your feet when you wear leather shoes? If you want people's feet to be cleaner, why don't you put a blanket at the door for people to wipe off the mud? "
The cleaner's face flushed red, "You don't let others look down on you, don't you also look down on cleaners?"
"Wrong, all working people who earn money through hard work deserve respect, but you didn't respect us at the beginning, so we are crazy to respect you?" After saying that, An Zhixia looked at the supervisor, her eyes stopped on the work badge hanging around his neck. Although the distance was ten meters, she could still see it very clearly: "Director Weng, right? My sister-in-law and I are both formal workers in the city. We have a car and a house at home, and our lives are not necessarily more difficult than yours. My uncle and aunt are from Jiangzhou, yes, they are farmers, working in the fields to fill their stomachs, and the happiest time of the year, besides the Chinese New Year, is when they pay their public grain.
The food they worked hard for a year was put into the granary without any regrets, and then distributed to us. Why? Because they have made real contributions to solving the problem of hunger and satiety for the country, and they are proud!
When Director Weng received his monthly food supply, did he ever think that it was the generosity of the farmers that kept him so well fed? If they withheld a few kilograms of food from you and exchanged it for money, wouldn't you be able to live a carefree life wherever you went?
And at this moment, you are pointing fingers at them and saying that being poor is wrong? Haha, who in the country is not proud of this? What's wrong with being poor? There is no money to corrupt one's heart. What's wrong with being devoted to the country and the people and working hard! "
Director Weng was also blocked and couldn't say a word. She thought to herself that he was a guard, and he could turn black into white. She could only force a smile and said, "Comrades, please take a look. Xiao Zhao, you can entertain them."
The salesperson who was called immediately responded and came over. He didn't dare to look at An Zhixia, and led them to the counter with a smile.
The rabbit-collared woman sneered, "I thought she was nothing, but it turns out she's just a little follower who uses chicken feathers as a sword, talking big and pretending to be a hero. Oh, Sister Weng, I guess she's just trying to show off in front of those poor relatives, but she's using me as a raft.
You are just a good-tempered person. If it were me, I would have kicked him out with a broom."
(End of this chapter)
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