Chapter 1 — Respect Has No Price

On Mother's Day, I took my mother for a walk to the shopping center and stopped by the most famous luxury handbag store in the city. When paying, I just took out my VIP card, the counter staff only glanced at me and immediately frowned contemptuously:

"If you don't have money, don't try to pretend, okay? Use some supermarket card to pretend to be VIP?"

I burst out laughing because I was angry. She had never seen a special customer card personally issued by the group's vice president, which was normal. But this blatant attitude of looking down on others... I'm no longer interested in spending money.

“If you don't recognize this card, then we won't buy it anymore.”

“Mom, let's go.”

My mother regretfully put down the bag. I conveniently took out my phone and sent a complaint message straight to the deputy general manager in charge of the brand. But as soon as I walked to the door, the female employee who had brought a few people rushed to block the way and grabbed my mother's hand.

"This lady is really terrible! She dares to even scratch our store bag!"

She picked up the bag my mother had just put down, pointed to a small, hard-to-see scratch on the underside, and loudly started arguing.

"If you don't compensate 300,000 yuan (about 1 billion 80 million VND) today, you and your mother will not be able to walk out of here on your own!"

The store manager heard the news and immediately ran over. The surveillance camera hadn't even bothered to check. She contemptuously rolled her eyes, looking at my mother from top to bottom, then smiled faintly.

"Auntie, I'll be honest. This bag is a product from my store, priced at 300,000 yuan. It's normal if you can't afford it, but if you can't afford it, don't touch it casually."

“Now that something has happened, what do you think?”

She paused for a moment, the corner of her lips curled up sarcastically:

“If we really have to pay... surely selling the whole house wouldn't be enough, right?”

My mother's eyes immediately turned red. She worked as an elementary school teacher for thirty years, her salary was not much, and she spent her entire life saving money to raise me. What she fears most is wasting money. I'm even more afraid... because I'm bothering others.

“I really didn't scratch it… I just took it to see… girl, you can trust me…”

Looking at my mother's frantic appearance, her hands shaking, my heart felt like someone was squeezing it. On Mother's Day, making her suffer this kind of resentment... It's because a girl like me is so useless. I immediately pulled my mother behind me.

“Mom, don't be afraid, I'm here.”

I squeezed my mother's cold hand, without saying another word, directly took the phone to call the police.

“If such a large amount of money is involved, then report it to the police quickly.”

The manager's expression immediately changed.

"You called the police? What did you report?!"

“You guys are the ones who broke things, does it still make sense now?”

I didn't bother to pay attention to her. As soon as the phone was connected, I calmly stated the address:

"Hello, I'm at the XL Luxury flagship store at 13 People's Street. There's a consumer dispute going on here. The other side said we damaged an item worth 300,000 yuan, but refused to check the surveillance camera."

"There are a lot of people around them, with an aggressive attitude and even threatening my mother. Please come and help handle it."

After hanging up the phone, I raised my head to look at the manager.

“The police will be here in ten minutes.”

Her lips twitched slightly, in the end she just snorted coldly and turned her head to wink at the staff nearby edge. The young female employee who initially received us suddenly moved slightly. She slowly walked towards the display counter, her eyes glanced over the bag, her fingers slightly flexed and then released. She wants to take that bag away. My heart immediately sank. If you let her take the bag, what will happen next... you can think with your toes.

“Stop!”

I shouted loudly. The female employee was scared by me and stopped standing in place.

“What are you going to do?”

“I… I just want to put my bag away…”

Her voice was clearly guilty.

“Store what?”

I took a step forward and directly placed my hand firmly on the bag on the counter.

"Currently this is an item related to the incident, worth 300,000 yuan. Before the police arrive, no one is allowed to touch it."

I raised my head and glanced at all the people present in the store.

"Whoever dares to touch even a little bit is sabotaging the scene. What is the nature of the 300,000 yuan incident of destroying the scene... you probably understand better than me."

The young female employee's face immediately turned pale and she turned to look at the manager. The manager curled his lips and smiled coldly.

“Little girl, you are also formidable.”

"Okay, then wait for the police to come. I want to see if the police come, do you still need to pay compensation if you damaged something?"

My mother behind me softly pulled my hand:

"Or... let's pay you back, don't make a big deal out of it..."

“Mom, no need to pay.”

I held her hand tightly.

"Why do you have to accept something that your mother didn't do?"

“But that scratch…”

“It wasn't my mother who did it.”

I said firmly:

“I believe in you.”

Mom looked at me, her lips trembled a few times, and finally said nothing more. But she still held my hand tightly and didn't let go, her palms were full of cold sweat. Time passes minute by minute. Several employees stood in a row, occasionally leaning their heads to whisper, their eyes constantly glancing at me. The manager leaned against the counter, bowed his head and pressed his phone continuously, his fingers quickly scrolling across the screen as if texting someone. About seven or eight minutes later, footsteps were finally heard outside the door. Two uniformed policemen entered, one male and one female. As soon as they entered the door, the two quickly observed the situation in the store.

“Who called the police?”

The male police officer asked. I raised my hand.

“What happened?”

Before I could open my mouth, the young female employee immediately rushed forward, showing an unjust expression.

“Comrade police, you are finally here!”

"These two people came into the store and messed with our bags, even damaging the store's town bag! They even used supermarket membership cards to pretend to be VIP cards to trick people!"

"It's a limited edition worth 300,000 yuan! I gently talked to them, but not only did they refuse to accept it, they were also aggressive with us, insisting on reporting to the police... It's really difficult for us businessmen..."