At the entrance of a specialty restaurant, a crowd of onlookers had gathered to watch a commotion, as a dispute was unfolding between two women.
One woman was dressed as a server, presumably an employee of the restaurant, while the other, in her thirties with a fierce expression, looked like an aggressive type.
"Iâve brought the money, a full 5000 yuan, stop dawdling and take it!" the fierce-looking woman urged.
The waitress frowned, "How am I supposed to accept this?"
Before her, a metal bucket was filled to the brim with coins, all in 1-cent denominations.
The fierce-looking woman said, "Whatâs the problem? Isnât this money? As long as itâs money, itâs okay!"
The waitress was a bit agitated, "But these are all one-cent coins, how am I supposed to accept this, and I donât even know if it adds up!"
The fierce-looking woman chuckled, "I told you, itâs a full 5000 yuan, not a single jiao short. If you donât believe me, count it yourself."
The waitress was a bit overwhelmed, "So many coins, how am I supposed to count them? Are you crazy? Couldnât you just transfer the money to me, or use hundred-yuan bills? These are all one-cent coins, how am I supposed to count them all? Youâre clearly mocking me; doing this is so trivial, so shameless, donât you know?"
The fierce-looking woman sneered, "The judge didnât specify how to pay; I can pay however I want. Whether you accept it or not is your problem!"
The two of them quarreled endlessly, neither willing to back down.
A tall, beautiful woman emerged from the shop, saying, "Stop arguing; youâre arguing at the entrance of my restaurant, how can I keep doing business?"
The waitress saw the woman and quickly said, "Sorry, boss, I didnât want to argue, but theyâre really bullying me."
The beautiful woman glanced at the bucket of coins, frowned, and looked at the fierce-looking woman, "Hello, Iâm Ah-Yingâs boss, my surname is Ye. May I know your surname, Miss?"
The fierce-looking woman replied, "Surname is Xie, Miss Ye, youâre here just in time. Please advise your employee that Iâve brought the money and ask her to quickly count it. I have to go back and shouldnât waste each otherâs time, so as not to affect your business."
The beautiful woman said, "May I know what position Miss Xie holds in your company?"
The fierce-looking woman said, "Iâm in finance."
The beautiful woman said, "Iâm well aware of Ah-Yingâs situation; what youâre doing is indeed a bit excessive, Miss Xie. I hope you can discuss this with your boss, and not make things difficult for Ah-Ying. Ah-Ying is now my employee, so please do me this favor."
The fierce-looking woman chuckled, "No need, weâve spent so much effort, ran all around Yun Cityâs banks, gathering these coins, specifically for her."
Upon hearing this, the waitress Ah-Ying was nearly brought to tears with anger, "Is this really necessary? Itâs so humiliating!"
The fierce-looking woman said, "If youâre not kind, donât blame us for being unrighteous!"
The two of them pointed at each otherâs noses and started arguing again.
The beautiful woman shook her head with a wry smile, truly at a loss with them.
Suddenly, the beautiful woman noticed something, her eyes lit up, and she hurried over to see Feng Ruolan and Lin Fan were coming over.
"Sister, how come you didnât tell me you were coming?" The beautiful woman ran over to Feng Ruolan, hugged her tightly, very happy.
Feng Ruolan laughed, "Isnât this to surprise you? You always invite me over and Iâve been too busy, today Iâm here to finally give it a try."
The beautiful woman said, "Iâm so happy youâre here."
She noticed Lin Fan, who was beside Feng Ruolan, and curiously asked, "Sister, who is this... could it be...?"
The beautiful woman gave an ambiguous smile.
She guessed that Lin Fan was Feng Ruolanâs boyfriend.
Feng Ruolan quickly said, "Donât overthink it, itâs not what you think. Let me introduce you, Ye Qingmei, the eldest lady of the Ye Family in Yun City, my good sister, and Lin Fan, my godbrother; you can call him Little Fan."
The beautiful woman eyed him, blinking her pretty big eyes, "Godbother? I get it."
She chuckled softly; the Lin Fan in front of her was handsome but dressed quite plainly, evidently not a rich person. Feng Ruolan was the wealthiest woman in Yun City; how could she have such a godbrother? Probably the godbrother thing was a ruse...
Feng Ruolan knew she still misunderstood, but did not explain further.
Ye Qingmei shook hands with Lin Fan, smiling sweetly, "Hello Little Fan, youâre quite handsome."
Lin Fan smiled, "Sister Ye, youâre also very beautiful."
Ye Qingmei couldnât help but laugh softly; although Lin Fan was poor, he had a clever tongue, which no doubt delighted Feng Ruolan.
At this point, the argument at the entrance grew even more intense.
Feng Ruolan curiously asked, "Whatâs happening?"
Ye Qingmei said, "Itâs one of my female employees, in a dispute with her former company. The company unjustly fired her but refused to compensate her. She took it to court, and recently the court ruled that the company should compensate her 5000 yuan. Today, she arranged to receive the money, but the company brought a bucket of coins, all in one-cent denominations, for her to accept, which she refuses, so theyâre arguing."
Feng Ruolan sweated, "This company is quite overboard, the boss is just too petty, clearly picking a fight, and intentionally making things difficult!"
The waitress and the fierce-looking woman argued ceaselessly.
The waitress refused to accept the coins, feeling humiliated.
The fierce-looking woman wouldnât back down either.
"Let me ask you one last time, will you take it or not? If not, Iâll consider it as you voluntarily forgoing this compensation!" The fierce-looking woman chuckled sinisterly.
The waitress cried out in anger, "You all are too shameless!"
The fierce-looking woman said, "Shameless? I wonder whoâs shameless here, you couldnât perform your job well, got fired by the company, and still had the face to sue the company for compensation. Alright, since the court ruled for compensation, weâre compensating you; now, why are you refusing it, have a bit of dignity!"
The waitress said, "The court mandated compensation, but it didnât tell you to compensate with coins!"
The fierce-looking woman said, "The court didnât say we canât use coins, either. Weâll pay however we want, dare you say coins arenât money?"
The waitress was momentarily at a loss for words.
The fierce-looking woman grew smug, "No more to say, huh? Since coins are also money, you can only accept them. If you refuse, itâs considered abandoning the claim."
The waitress said angrily, "I didnât say coins arenât money, but what youâre doing is disgustingly mean, is it really necessary!"
The fierce-looking woman said, "We are doing it to disgust you, so what?"
The surrounding onlookers started chattering.
"Using one-cent coins, thatâs indeed a bit too much!"
"If this isnât humiliation, then what is?"
"What kind of company is this, bullying people like that!"
"What era is this, and still such bizarre companies, oppressing employees!"
"However, she seems to have no choice but to accept it, right?"
Everyone sympathized with the waitressâs plight, but seemed to have no good way to deal with this shameless company. After all, they did compensate, although in one-cent coins, the court didnât specify that these coins couldnât be used for compensation.
This situation was indeed tricky.
Someone suggested a lousy idea, "Why not do this, take it to the bank and ask the teller to count it, wouldnât that sort it out?"
This idea was immediately ridiculed, "Donât do that; just thinking about it gives me a headache; what did the bank tellers do wrong?"