ECG -Chapter 135 Looking Down on People

The next morning, Lin Hao took a taxi to Normal University to pick up Xia Yumeng. The two of them wandered around Suya International Mall until noon, and in the end, they returned to the Guqi specialty store they had first noticed.

Three slim female sales assistants wearing light gray skirt suits were gathered together, leaning against the service counter and giggling as they chatted about something.

There were three of them: one with long hair, one with short hair, and the other had no particularly noticeable features, except that she was wearing a pair of black stockings.

When she saw Lin Hao and Xia Yumeng enter, the short-haired sales assistant walked over with a professional smile on her face.

Xia Yumeng held Lin Hao’s hand and pointed at the black single-breasted suit on the plastic mannequin in the store, smiling brightly.

“After looking around, I still think this one has the best style!”

Lin Hao nodded as well. People were just strange like that. Their first impression was often the one that stuck the deepest. Many times, they would waste time wandering around aimlessly, only to end up buying the first thing they liked.

He glanced at the price tag and couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

12,900 yuan.

Although he had some money now, he had never been wealthy in his previous life. Even in this life, despite already earning quite a bit, subconsciously he still didn’t think of himself as a rich person.

Xia Yumeng reached out and touched the fabric of the suit, then looked through the available sizes. The short-haired sales assistant stood behind her with the same smile, but she didn’t say anything.

Over at the service counter, the long-haired woman and the one wearing black stockings were still chatting.

The long-haired woman said, “That fat guy just now was hilarious!”

The black-stocking woman replied, “It’s so annoying. You can tell at a glance he’s from some nearby rural area. Why come here pretending to be someone important?”

“I’m telling you, you two didn’t go over there. Standing next to him, that smell alone could knock someone out!”

“Someone like that actually comes to shop at Suya International? What were they thinking?”

“Didn’t you notice the woman hanging onto his arm?”

“His wife?”

“Forget it. She’s all dressed up and flashy, but so tacky. You can tell at a glance she’s just a prostitute!”

“Hahaha!”

“I think so too. And not even a regular one—she looks like the kind from the urban-rural fringe!”

“…”

Their voices actually weren’t very loud, but there was no music playing in the store at the moment. Even though they weren’t speaking loudly, Lin Hao and Xia Yumeng heard every word clearly.

Xia Yumeng frowned slightly and turned to ask the short-haired sales assistant behind her:

“Could you please bring me an XL size to try on?”

“Sorry, the XL size only has this one set left…”

The short-haired sales assistant saw two more customers entering through the door. Before she could even finish speaking, she abandoned Lin Hao and Xia Yumeng and went over to greet them.

The two customers were a man and a woman in their forties, dressed luxuriously.

“Brother Li, sister-in-law, what brings you here today? How do you have time to come over?”

The short-haired sales assistant greeted them warmly.

…

Lin Hao couldn’t help frowning.

How was this mall managed? This was a branded specialty store, after all. Could it be that this was the level of professionalism their sales staff had?

In his previous life, the most chaotic period in Xuecheng was from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.

One incident had left the deepest impression on him. It happened in the summer of 1994. The band was going to a nightclub in Xi’an to audition, and after buying their train tickets at the station, the guys wandered around the square outside.

Back then, there were many street vendors in the station square, and it became especially lively in the evening.

A young man was selling a kind of disposable plastic lighter. A picture of a beauty was stuck on the lighter, and if you used another lighter to heat it, the woman’s clothes in the picture would magically disappear.

Lin Hao and the others were curious and gathered around to watch. The band’s drummer, Da Mao, picked one up and tried it several times. But when he asked the price and found out it cost five yuan each, he was frightened and quickly put it back on the stall.

Who would have thought the vendor’s expression immediately changed? He pointed at Da Mao’s nose and cursed.

“You can’t just not buy it! Who told you to pick it up and look at it?”

The group had only argued a few sentences when suddenly, more than ten men with shaved heads surrounded them.

The ending could be imagined.

The four members of the band each had to take out five yuan and buy one lighter.

The green train from Xuecheng to Xi’an took more than twenty hours. The guys’ backsides were practically split into four pieces from sitting so long. The most tragic thing was that the lighter that could make the clothes disappear—after being heated dozens of times, the paper was burned black…

Thinking back now, there were both happy and bitter memories.

In that era, sellers forcing customers to buy things and having terrible attitudes was not uncommon.

But that was more than ten years ago in his previous life.

What era was it now?

It was already 2004, yet there were still such bizarre malls and sales assistants?

Was this some kind of cliché scene from an online novel where he was supposed to show off and slap someone’s face?

…

Xia Yumeng felt very uncomfortable. With no other choice, she called toward the service counter:

“Sales assistant!”

The two women were still giggling and chatting.

“Sales assistant! Sales assistant!”

Xia Yumeng frowned and called out twice more.

In her heart, she cursed silently:

What kind of place did Brother Xiao recommend? Why are the sales assistants here such poor quality?

“Stop calling out!” the long-haired female salesperson shouted impatiently. Then she walked over, her black low-heeled leather shoes making click-clack sounds against the marble floor, while she muttered something under her breath.

She walked up in front of Lin Hao and Xia Yumeng, forcing a professional smile onto her face.

“Are the two of you looking at this suit?”

Xia Yumeng suppressed her anger and nodded.

“Bring me an XL size to try on.”

The long-haired woman kept sizing them up from the corner of her eye.

“I’m really sorry, but this suit is out of stock in that size. We don’t have the size you need.”

Xia Yumeng’s expression darkened.

“I think this one is already XL. It fits perfectly. If not, then let him try this one.”

“Sorry, this one has already been reserved.”

“If it’s reserved, why haven’t you packed it up?” Xia Yumeng’s anger was finally about to burst out, and her voice grew louder.

The long-haired woman still wore that fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She didn’t answer Xia Yumeng’s question, but her expression clearly said: Whether I pack it up or not is none of your business.

Lin Hao understood everything now.

Although Xia Yumeng’s family background was not ordinary, she had always dressed simply. She often wore jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. As for himself, he didn’t even need to mention it—he could wear the same pair of jeans for several months without washing them.

The two of them looked like poor college students. The salesperson was probably afraid they couldn’t afford such an expensive suit, and if they tried it on she would have to put it back away again. So she simply found an excuse and claimed the size was unavailable.

The scene was painfully familiar. The formula and ingredients hadn’t changed at all—the salesperson looked down on people, and then the middle-aged couple who came in later would mock them for being poor…

The next part should have been where he pulled out money and slapped it in their faces.

Lin Hao turned to look at the couple who had entered earlier. Unfortunately, they weren’t cooperating with the script—they had already left.

He hadn’t brought that much cash with him. Would paying by card still be enough to show off?

…

Xia Yumeng was smart. How could she not understand what was happening?

With a cold expression, she said:

“Call your manager.”

“Sorry, our manager isn’t here.”

The moment the long-haired woman heard she wanted the manager, the smile on her face vanished instantly.

Lin Hao sighed.

He really didn’t want to argue with this kind of snobbish person, and even less did he want to act out some childish “face-slapping” scene.

He tugged Xia Yumeng lightly and lowered his voice.

“Forget it. There are plenty of suits. Let’s look somewhere else.”

Xia Yumeng felt suffocated with anger.

If she had been alone, she truly wouldn’t have cared. It wasn’t like she had never encountered things like this before. She had never bothered getting angry at people like this. She would simply turn around and leave—out of sight, out of mind.

But she and Lin Hao had already been shopping for so long, and this was the only brand that was actually decent.

He was leaving on a flight tonight to participate in a competition, and he was going to perform classical piano. How could he not have a good suit?

She never expected they would run into such a salesperson who looked down on people!

Hearing Lin Hao say that, the long-haired woman added in a voice that sounded quite sincere:

“Yes, you should go check out Xiaolong Street instead. The prices are affordable and the quality is good.”

Xiaolong Street was Xuecheng’s clothing wholesale market. Xia Yumeng and Jiang Rong often went there, and many of her clothes were bought from there.

As a student, she rarely cared much about dressing up. She had always prioritized comfort. Especially since several girls in her dorm came from ordinary families, she didn’t want to make herself stand out.

What she wore didn’t matter.

But how could Lin Hao’s performance outfit possibly be bought from some cheap market?

She forced her anger down again.

“Your store manager isn’t here, but the mall manager should be here, right?”

The long-haired woman smiled.

“That, I don’t know.”

Xia Yumeng stopped looking at her. She took out her phone, called 114, asked for Suya International Mall’s main office number, and dialed it.

But the line was busy the entire time.

Lin Hao was also angry inside, but he really didn’t want to lower himself to argue with someone so rude.

Besides, a suit was a suit. Even if he really bought such an expensive one, regardless of who paid for it, he felt it wasn’t worth the money.

So he lowered his voice again and persuaded her:

“Forget it. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“No! I want this one!”

Xia Yumeng’s anger finally exploded.

Lin Hao smiled helplessly. He hadn’t expected she could be so stubborn when she lost her temper.

Xia Yumeng picked up her phone and called again.

Her father’s secretary, Xiao Yuan, had already arrived in the provincial capital ahead of time. He had even visited her at school a couple of days ago.

……

Inside an antique-style teahouse private room, a melodious guzheng tune drifted lazily from the speakers overhead.

Xiao Yuan was drinking tea. Sitting across from him was a white, chubby, middle-aged man wearing glasses.

“Xiaomeng?”

Xiao Yuan answered the phone.

“Brother Xiao, I’m buying clothes at Suya International. At the Guqi store on the fourth floor, I ran into a salesperson who looks down on people and she made me so angry! Please help me find their general manager. I want to ask what kind of attitude this store has!”

Although the long-haired salesperson had behaved badly, she still hadn’t dared to actually curse at anyone.

But now, when she heard Xia Yumeng call her a “dog that looks down on people” over the phone, her heavily made-up face instantly turned red.

She pointed at Xia Yumeng.

“You little brat, who the hell are you calling a dog?”

Afraid she would act impulsively and hit someone, Lin Hao stepped forward and blocked Xia Yumeng.

“Watch how you talk. Don’t point your finger at people.”

“I’ll point if I want to!”

The long-haired woman was extremely aggressive. After shouting, she reached out and clawed toward his face.

Lin Hao had no choice but to grab her wrist. With a slight amount of force, he twisted her arm behind her back.

The long-haired salesperson immediately screamed:

“Ah! Ah!”

Seeing that a fight had broken out, the short-haired salesperson and the one wearing black stockings hurried over.

…

After hearing Xia Yumeng rapidly explain everything over the phone, Xiao Yuan’s expression remained calm, as if he wasn’t surprised at all.

“Alright, wait there. Protect yourself.”

After saying that, he hung up.