Chapter 4 — Respect Has No Price

My mother stood behind and softly exclaimed:

"What? Counterfeit goods?!"

The manager's legs immediately became weak and he had to hold on to the display cabinet next to him to keep from falling. The two remaining employees looked at each other in confusion. Their expressions were of genuine shock, clearly completely unaware of what had happened before. The male police officer's face immediately became serious. He took out his phone, probably reporting the situation to his superiors. The female police officer stepped forward and stopped in front of the manager.

"Manager, this bag is fake. Did you know that?"

The manager bowed his head and did not answer. The female police officer raised her voice.

“I'm asking you!”

“I… I don't know…”

Her voice was as small as the buzzing of a mosquito.

“I have no way of knowing…”

“Don't know?”

I laughed coldly.

"Just now, she insisted that this was a town treasure, listed the price at 300,000 yuan, and forced my mother to compensate."

"Now that it's been determined to be a fake, you say you didn't know?"

I took a step forward.

"If you really don't know that this is a fake product, then it means you guys are intentionally listing fake products at the real price to sell them on the market."

“It is an act of trading in fake and poor quality goods.”

“And if you knew it was fake…”

I looked straight into her eyes.

“It's even more disgusting.”

"Knowing clearly that the product is fake, they still use it to frame customers, slander them, and then extort money."

“You choose yourself.”

The manager's whole body trembled more intensely.

“I… I really don't know… is… is…”

Her eyes began to wander towards the young female employee who initially accused us of scratching her pocket. Her face immediately turned white and she shouted:

"Manager! What are you looking at me for?! What does it have to do with me!"

“Tieu Chu, stop pretending!”

The manager suddenly exploded, pointing straight at her.

“Three months before the real bag was warehoused, you were the one in charge!”

"After that, you were always sneaky and suspicious. I still wonder why you're suddenly so diligent, taking the initiative to clean that counter every day!"

“She farted!”

The female employee named Tieu Chu immediately became angry.

“Your hands and feet are not clean and you still want to blame me?!”

The male police officer shouted loudly. The two immediately fell silent. He turned to look at me.

“Apart from this fake bag, did you find out anything else?”

I thought for a bit and suddenly remembered something.

“That's right… camera.”

I turned to the manager.

“You said the camera was broken earlier, right?”

The manager paused and nodded.

“What about the data backup system?”

A look of confusion appeared on her face.

“H… what backup system?”

“Cameras in the brand's flagship stores all have independent power sources and cloud backup.”

“This is a mandatory regulation from headquarters to prevent equipment from being damaged or vandalized.”

“Don't say you don't know?”

The management's face completely collapsed. The male police officer immediately understood and turned to the female police officer:

“Contact the technical department, extract this store's cloud backup data.”

The female police officer nodded and went aside to make a call. As soon as Tieu Chu heard the words "cloud backup", tears immediately welled up in her eyes. But this time it's clearly not an act anymore.

“It's over… it's really over…”

She muttered continuously, her voice shaking to the point of crying. The manager stood frozen in place, unable to move. About ten minutes later, the female police officer returned and leaned close to her ear The male police officer whispered a few words. His expression immediately darkened. He turned to look at the manager and Tieu Chu.

“The technical department has extracted the backup data.”

“Pictures from three months ago show that after the real bags were warehoused, the two people coordinated the exchange of goods.”

“The actual bag is carried out of the store through the staff aisle.”

“And this fake one is placed on the display counter.”

He paused for a moment then continued:

“In addition, in the past three months, the two have used the same trick to defraud at least three customers.”

"Each time, they intentionally lured customers into touching this fake bag, then used the excuse of scratches to force compensation."

“The amount is between 50,000 and 200,000 yuan.”

"Due to fear of trouble and losing face, the previous victims chose to come to an agreement and pay."

The manager and Tieu Chu simultaneously knelt down. I turned my head to look at my mother. Her eyes opened wide and round. Perhaps in this whole life she never expected that... just going to buy a bag would turn out to be a whole scam. After a few seconds, she muttered one sentence:

“Oh my god… I don't know what kind of karma this has created…”