HLM -Chapter 1183 Making Peace

Anderson argued, “But we clearly labeled its name, and we even noted its floral meaning!”

Li Jiahao said passionately, “My mother only understands Chinese. How could she know English? Besides, she’s already trying very hard to avoid mistakes. Every time she comes to buy vegetables, she only buys what she’s familiar with.”

Anderson replied, “Sir, I understand your feelings, but we really have tried our best to protect you and all our customers. Every vegetable and flower has a name; all supermarkets do this.”

“This is misleading consumers,” Li Jiahao said angrily. “Mayor, please come judge this matter.”

A waiter couldn’t hold back and said, “Not everything in the green plant section is edible. That’s common sense, sir. Who would think you’d eat daffodils?”

Another female waiter added, “They’re so beautiful, how could you bear to eat them?”

Wang Bo waved his hand impatiently to quiet them. “Are you joking with me? For these elderly people, if these things can’t be eaten, why would they buy them?”

Nearby, some white onlookers supported the supermarket: “This isn’t the supermarket’s fault. Daffodils have been around in the UK for hundreds of years, and no one has ever been poisoned by eating them.”

“You Brits only know how to cook potatoes; you don’t know how to stir-fry other vegetables, so naturally, you never get poisoned,” said a man of Chinese appearance, causing the surrounding crowd to burst into laughter.

Lin Shufen turned to the British man: “Sir, please respect the feelings of us as the victims’ family. Okay, you say these are daffodils, but aren’t flowers sold by the stem? Look at these—they’re cut so neatly and bundled together. If I hadn’t seen the name tag, I might have mistaken them for imported Chinese garlic shoots.”

Wang Bo nodded. Honestly, he might have made the same mistake.

Li Jiahao continued angrily, “And you sell flowers in bottles, bundled like garlic shoots. If that’s not misleading consumers, I absolutely won’t accept it.”

Seeing that both sides were about to argue again, Wang Bo frowned and coughed, “Cough cough, everyone be quiet. Alright, I understand the situation now. Tell me what outcome you want.”

Lin Shufen said, “I want the supermarket to apologize to us, and also provide financial compensation.”

Anderson shook his head. “We certainly have some responsibility for what happened…”

“The only responsibility you have is not having a rule that says these things shouldn’t be sold to idiots,” a bystander said with a grin.

Li Jiahao and Lin Shufen were furious. Wang Bo pointed at the man: “Leave immediately, or I’ll arrest you for disturbing public order.”

The man, still smug from his little joke, was shocked at Wang Bo’s anger and quickly turned to leave.

Wang Bo gestured for Anderson to continue. He nodded and said, “We can provide financial compensation, but we cannot apologize. Within the rules, we did nothing wrong.”

Lin Shufen said, “Then we cannot reach an agreement. We’ll see you in court.”

Wang Bo could have used the authority of the mayor to smooth things over easily, but he didn’t want to. He had always believed that compromising just to avoid conflict not only insulted the law but also the parties involved.

He said, “Within the rules, the Central Supermarket did nothing wrong. This is the green plant section, and they labeled every plant.”

“However, their labels have a loophole—they’re only in English, which can be hard to understand for some other ethnic groups. Here’s what we’ll do: the supermarket will rectify the section and provide financial compensation, but no apology is necessary.”

Lin Shufen shook her head firmly. “A loophole means mistakes can happen. Whether they rectify it is their business, but we must have an apology.”

Wang Bo shrugged. “Alright, since you don’t accept my proposal, see you in court. Good luck to both sides.”

Li Jiahao stopped him. “Mayor, please give us a moment to discuss. My wife is a bit emotional; we need some time.”

The family of four found a corner to discuss. Anderson sent two waiters back to work and said to Wang Bo, “Sorry, boss, for troubling you today.”

Wang Bo said, “This is my town and my supermarket. It’s only natural; it’s no trouble. But hey, can you follow my advice and separate this section?”

Anderson nodded. “We’ll arrange to separate the green plant section tonight.”

“And also, assign more sales staff here—add two more. Tell them to be attentive with both words and actions. When customers come, help introduce the vegetables,” Wang Bo added.

Anderson was surprised. “Is that necessary? It just adds extra payroll.”

Wang Bo rolled his eyes. “The compensation today is enough to cover one sales staff’s salary. Besides, it’s a way to boost sales. If someone tries to sell you vegetables, would you honestly refuse?”

“Even without promotion, our vegetables sell well,” Anderson said optimistically.

Wang Bo nodded. “True, my parents arrange the vegetables nicely, but you still need to follow my advice—assign a few more salespeople.”

After the family discussion, Li Jiahao came over and shook Wang Bo’s hand. “We accept your mediation, Mayor Wang. Both sides were at fault, but thankfully the child wasn’t hurt.”

Wang Bo asked, “I’ve spoken with Manager Anderson; he promised to start the section rectification tonight. So, how much financial compensation?”

Li Jiahao said, “According to our family discussion, the supermarket should compensate us an additional amount equal to the medical expenses.”

Because of New Zealand’s strong healthcare system, their child didn’t incur hospital costs. The ‘one-time medical expense’ is a symbolic compensation.

Wang Bo looked at Anderson, who nodded: “This amount seems reasonable. I think we can accept it.”

Both sides shook hands and made peace. Li Jiahao added, “Many displays in the supermarket are unreasonable. I hope this incident can be a lesson, and you should reorganize the entire layout.”

Indeed, after several expansions, some shelves were haphazardly arranged on top of old ones.

Anderson hadn’t reorganized everything because a complete layout overhaul would have closed the supermarket for at least a week—a luxury a department store couldn’t afford.

Moreover, since the supermarket was already performing well, these layout inconveniences hadn’t affected profitability.

The matter ended there. During dinner, Wang Bo asked his parents, “Dad, Mom, can you tell the difference between yellow daffodils and garlic shoots?”

Father Bo didn’t even look up. “What, do you want to eat garlic shoots? How do you eat daffodils?”

Wang Bo said, “Looks like I need to give you a little science lesson.”