The man who stopped the boy was tall and strong, a young man who looked to be only in his early twenties.
The young man was also quite rugged-looking, but he spoke very politely: "Sir, you haven't paid for this bag of rice yet."
"Which eye of yours saw that I didn't pay?" the rice thief immediately retorted, his argument both unreasonable and defiant.
He just thought no one had seen him take the rice and leave, and he was trying to get away with it.
Even after he retorted rudely, the shop assistant who stopped him remained polite: "I saw it with both eyes, this bag of rice of yours—there is no label indicating that it is sold by our store."
"What markings?" The thief was instantly bewildered.
The shop assistant slowly held up a green, very conspicuous round piece of paper.
It was stamped with a red seal, and the content was a bright "sold" label.
Meanwhile, other people who had bought grain and were about to leave all had labels attached to the grain they were carrying.
One of the customers glanced at him and cursed, "Are you stupid? The store is checking things very carefully. You think you can steal anything?"
"Pah! There are so many thieves these days, they have no shame!"
The thief, his face contorted with rage from the insults, turned and threw the bag of rice at the shop assistant, yelling, "Can't I just not take it?!"
After saying this, he hurriedly fled in a disheveled state, but tripped on the threshold of the shop and almost fell flat on his face.
"Pfft!" He Zhilan, who had been watching this scene from the side, couldn't help but burst out laughing.
After the thief disappeared into the alley outside the door, she looked at the shop assistant at the door with admiration, then turned to Lin Qixia and asked, "Where did you find these people? They're really amazing."
It seems Lin Qixia had made arrangements in advance; her previous worries were unfounded.
Lin Qixia watched with satisfaction as the shop assistants busied themselves restoring order, and replied to He Zhilan, "It was naturally my brother's doing. I instructed him to recruit these people."
Of course, those who were willing to come were arranged by her to stay in a courtyard not far behind the store, which was the staff dormitory she rented for them.
She conducted rigorous training and instruction on them over the next three days, and thankfully, the results were quite good.
Those who passed the selection were all very clever and quick-witted; they learned everything she taught them very quickly.
The female employees, in particular, worked exceptionally hard.
"So that's why you've been leaving the shop every now and then these past few days," He Zhilan said, suddenly realizing.
Lin Qixia admitted, "That's right, but there are a lot of other things besides that, but luckily I've taken care of most of them."
"Of course, the most important thing is the official seal approving the right to open a shop."
At this point, Lin Qixia frowned; she had made several trips but still hadn't received the money.
With that in mind, Lin Qixia decided to urge them again tomorrow.
After all, those constables didn't give her much time, and if she didn't handle things well, they would probably cause her trouble again.
He Zhilan knew what she was worried about, and patted her on the shoulder: "Alright, now that it has passed the review, I believe they will give us the seal soon."
"Mm," Lin Qixia replied, no longer dwelling on the matter.
She stepped forward and patted the tall store clerk on the shoulder: "Chu Xin, you did a great job."
"Thank you, boss!" Chu Xin gave her a big, honest smile, looking very sunny and cheerful.
Lin Qixia turned around and went to check on the work of the other shop assistants.
Inside Xiahezhuang's large shop, many people dressed in green were moving around, and they all seemed more nervous when she walked over.
Some people even made mistakes because of nervousness, even though they were doing things smoothly.
"I'm so sorry," the little girl quickly apologized, her hand trembling as she had put the label on the wrong thing.
The customer waved and quickly walked away.
The young girl still looked at Lin Qixia nervously, "Boss, I—"
"It's alright, Xing'er," Lin Qixia gently comforted her. "Just be more careful next time."
Three days was too short to train these people to the level she wanted, but she had explained the relevant work processes to them in a very organized manner over the past few days.
I believe they will gradually become more skilled as they get used to it.
"Thank you, boss!" Li Xing'er nodded quickly, looking relieved that Lin Qixia had moved away, and then worked even more diligently.
Li Xing'er watched Lin Qixia's departing figure, her expression complicated as she recalled the events that had occurred after she descended the mountain a few days prior.
She signed up and went down the mountain with a group of other people who signed up at the same time. At that time, she felt very confused.
They didn't even know what they would face after going down the mountain; they simply followed the address Lin Xiao gave them and arrived at a very spacious courtyard in Lichong County.
The courtyard was divided into two areas, separated by a wall.
There were many rooms in both areas. That night, Lin Qixia assigned each of them a room, cleaned it, and helped them move in.
When she announced that the place belonged to them and was their "staff dormitory," everyone was excited.
"Young lady, are you really going to give us this place to stay?"
"That's how it is. You can stay here from now on. I won't charge you anything, so you can stay here without worry."
"As for where you work—it's in 'Xiahe Manor,' not far to the right after you go out the door," Lin Qixia explained slowly as she stood at the front of the group.
Everyone was very excited, including Li Xing'er in the crowd.
"The boss is so kind! He's giving us a house to live in for free!"
"We will definitely work diligently under the boss's guidance!"
The whole courtyard cheered.
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