Zhang Dandan sneered and said, "Xiao... Sister Xiao Wan, why did you come over here?"
Lin Wan stared at the clothes and replied, "Why canât I come here? Have you forgotten, the clothes you sold me a few days ago all fell apart in just two days, completely unwearable. Really, I never thought you would dare to deceive your relatives." Lin Wan spoke with a tone of disappointment tinged with anger. Her words successfully drew the attention of some people browsing the clothes, and upon hearing that the clothes fell apart in two days, a few of them hesitated and put the clothes back.
Zhang Dandan immediately understood that Lin Wan was here to stir things up. "Cousin, when did I ever sell you clothes? Donât cause trouble here, Iâm busy."
"What? Youâre denying it after the sale? The fifty clothes are still at my house. Are you trying to make dirty money? Life isnât easy for your cousinâs family either; the kid is still young. You pleaded with me to wholesale your clothes, just one yuan each. Now, in just two days, youâre leaving me in the lurch. Thatâs fifty yuan, which is your cousin-in-lawâs two-month salary. Now Iâm left without clothes, and without money, how should we live? If you donât refund me today, believe it or not, Iâll call the police to teach you a lesson for being so heartless."
"Miss, those clothes really canât be worn?" A customer who had just bought something chimed in.
Lin Wan quickly jumped in, passionately saying, "Exactly, these clothes are knockoffs of the Wanyi brand. The fabric looks similar, but thereâs a big difference. If anyone has water, rub it a bit and youâll see."
"I have, I have, I brought a water bottle."
The "enthusiastic" Yin Peibai came over with a bottle of water. "Comrade, let me help you wet it and see."
"Alright, wholesaled at just one yuan, but sold to us with several yuan added, itâs too deceitful. Bringing home clothes that canât be worn makes them swindlers!" An older woman said this and took the clothes, rubbed them with water from Yin Peibai. Just as Lin Wan said, the wet part immediately became transparent, revealing the layer beneath. "Wow, it really is! Isnât this tricking people? Itâs too much, using the hard-earned money of us common people. I want a refund."
"Yes, comrade, lucky you came in time; otherwise, we would have surely wasted money today."
"Refund us now; I donât want the clothes anymore." The angry woman threw the clothes back onto Zhang Dandanâs stall.
A few others who had also paid began clamoring for refunds.
"What are you doing? You washed the clothes yourself and now want me to refund you? You think Iâm a chump?" Seeing the money at risk, Zhang Dandan wasnât willing to budge.
"Look at this, everyone! She wants to force us into buying, different before paying and after paying. Isnât this forcing sales?" The nearby Su Ling intentionally spoke loudly.
"Yes, are you trying to force sales? If you donât refund us today, we might have to call the police immediately."
"Iâve already been swindled out of fifty yuan by her. Damn it, Iâm her cousin! And sheâs deceiving me like this. Dandan, I beg you as your cousin, please return the fifty yuan to me. Thatâs my babyâs formula money! If she doesnât give me the money today, I will definitely inform the police. Comrades, if she doesnât refund you today, letâs go to the police station together." Lin Wan spoke emotionally, her voice quivering, successfully persuading everyone to nod along. "Right, if she doesnât refund us, letâs go find the police immediately."
"Comrade, Iâll help call the police for you. The station isnât far from here." Yin Peibai said "enthusiastically".
"Thank you, comrade." Lin Wan gratefully nodded toward Yin Peibai.
"What... What are you doing? Who forced the sale? We donât accept returns for clothes from our shop." Zhang Dandan, a teenager, however crafty, panicked in such a situation.
The young girl beside her dared not speak a single word.
"Donât accept returns? Youâre ruthless merchants, you didnât say this when we bought them. The young girl beside you said if they donât fit when worn, we can exchange them."
"No. No. No." The young girl hastily responded, worried it would implicate her, "Iâm just a worker here, those things were told to me by the owner. Thatâs how she introduces it to customers, which is why I said so."
"I didnât say that," Zhang Dandan quickly denied.
"Refund quickly, or weâll call the police, together itâs eighty or ninety yuan, right? Enough for a criminal case, right? Let such heartless people spend a few years in prison. With the current crackdown on gangs, her forcing sale behavior is no different from gang activity," Yin Peibai reminded everyone nearby.
The young girl was frightened, sweating, shaking her head, retreating, "I just work for her, I donât know about this. I... I donât want my salary." That said, she left Zhang Dandan behind and fled faster than a rabbit.
"Refund, refund, weâll refund, wonât we?" Zhang Dandan became timid, her arrogance visibly decreasing, her attitude improved a lot.
With trembling hands, she hurriedly refunded everyone their money. "My fifty," Lin Wan quickly stepped forward and said.
Perhaps Zhang Dandan was scared; hearing Lin Wanâs words, she mechanically took out fifty yuan from her pocket and handed it to Lin Wan. By the time Zhang Dandan realized it, Lin Wan had already pocketed the money.
"Vicious merchants, donât ever be fooled by such clothes again. Warn your relatives and friends; you may not be as lucky to get your money back next time," Su Ling reminded everyone nearby.
The comrades nodded in agreement, "Indeed, tomorrow at work, surely we should spread the word so others wonât be deceived."
"Yes, yes, when buying clothes, always check the quality, and donât just go for cheap prices. The same style doesnât guarantee the same quality."
"Exactly, keep your eyes peeled."
Those who hadnât bought anything were lucky, those who did were even luckier to get their money back.
When the voices of conversation gradually died down, and the crowd dispersed, Zhang Dandan realized Lin Wan was nowhere to be seen.
Frustrated, she cried out loudly, "Lin Wan, damn it, return my money!" On the other side, Lin Wan and the others were secretly laughing.
"Xiao Wan, I didnât expect you to have this skill; without any effort you swindled fifty yuan. With this talent, who would bother working hard?" Su Ling praised Lin Wan, giving her a thumbs up.
"Itâs not entirely unjustified swindling. A few days ago, Zhang Dandan took twenty items from us without paying, so these just offset that."
"Xiao Wan, how could your family have such shameless relatives? Weâve made clothes for so long and never met such unreasonable workers like them before." Their usual tailoring collaborators were honest and dedicated, unlike Liang Weixiangâs mother and daughter.
Lin Wan sighed, "I also want to know how I could have such peculiar relatives. Earlier, while she wasnât looking, I grabbed a few items. Tomorrow, weâll take one to Sister Zhao and Director Wang as samples for customer comparison, and hang the rest in the shop."
"Yes, thatâs a smart move. No one would spend several yuan to buy such clothes to wear at home," Yin Peibai nodded.
"Todayâs commotion might not have much effect. The consumer crowd in S City is large, letâs maintain our original price and do comparative advertising. Time will show them our quality," Lin Wan said.
"Thatâs too easy on them, daring to imitate our styles; who knows if theyâre selling under our brand name?" Su Ling said.
"Donât worry, within a month there will be repercussions for them. Imitation is inevitable, but if they use the same style and material, we can sue them for copyright infringement."
"Xiao Wan, I didnât know you understood these things, thatâs impressive." Zhang Hanfu worked at the prosecutorâs office, and as the wife of someone in such a position, Yin Peibai had some knowledge, but not as extensively as Lin Wan, who seemed to know a lot.
"Running a business requires some legal knowledge, otherwise you might unknowingly break the law and regret it later. I think you should all learn a bit more about it too; itâll benefit us in the future."