Chapter 5 — Respect Has No Price

An elementary school teacher who has taught for thirty years like my mother... I probably cannot understand for the life of me why someone considers fraud and extortion as a way to make a living. The male police officer used a walkie-talkie to call for more support. Ten minutes later, two more police arrived. After a few brief exchanges, they began to block off the scene.

“From now on, this store is temporarily closed.”

“All staff are not allowed to leave, pending investigation.”

“This manager and employee, please follow us to the station to take statements.”

My mother looked at the backs of the other two people and sighed softly:

"You're so young... why not do it..."

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

“Mom, don't feel sorry for that kind of person.”

“Mom doesn't love…”

She paused, as if unable to find the right words. Finally, I just shook my head slightly. The remaining two employees stood frozen in place, looking at each other in panic. The expression on his face was both scared and innocent. One person mustered up the courage to ask quietly:

“Comrade police officer… can we go yet?”

“Not for now.”

The policewoman replied.

"You guys need to cooperate in taking statements. Tell everything clearly about what you know."

The two immediately nodded vigorously. One girl even had red eyes:

“We really don't know anything… we're just employees…”

I looked at them but didn't say anything. Honestly, whether they know about it or not, I'm not sure. But I don't want to dig too deep. But there is one thing I understand very clearly. There are things... you can't just say "don't know" to get rid of the relationship. Just as the police were preparing to take people away, urgent footsteps were suddenly heard outside the door. A man in his forties pushed the door open and entered. He was wearing a dark blue suit and his hair was combed so shiny it almost reflected the light.

“What is going on?!”

“I just received a phone call from headquarters saying there was an incident here?”

The female police officer raised her head to look at him.

“Who are you?”

“I am the Greater China region operations manager of this brand, surnamed Chen.”

He handed over his business card while looking around the sealed shop, showing a heartbroken expression.

“Comrade police, I fully support the investigation.”

“We absolutely will not cover up this type of pest that affects the entire brand!”

He spoke extremely eloquently, each sentence was full of righteousness. I stood next to it and watched with only one thought: That's a bit too much. Director Tran quickly turned to me and my mother, immediately changing his warm face.

"You two are the victims, right? I'm really sorry for making you and your aunt suffer."

He bowed slightly, his attitude lowered extremely low.

"I would like to send my most sincere apology on behalf of the brand. This is completely the employee's personal behavior and has nothing to do with the brand."

"Our brand has always pursued the highest standards of quality and service. This type of worm..."

“Director Tran.”

I directly interrupted his lengthy speech. He stopped.

“You say this is a personal behavior, not related to the brand?”

"Of course!"

He smiled very sincerely.

“The core value of our brand is…”

“So how did this fake bag pass warehouse inspection?”

I pointed towards the bag on the counter.

“Checking process Intending to stock a flagship store has at least three levels of approval.”

“From logistics, warehousing to display, every step must be signed.”

“You said this was a ‘personal act’…”

"So I would like to ask, which individual is capable of passing three levels of inspection to bring a high-end fake bag to the 'town treasure store' counter?"

The smile on Director Tran's face immediately stiffened. I continue.

“In the past three months, they have used this fake bag to trick at least three customers.”

“Less is 50,000 yuan, more is 200,000 yuan.”

“Whose pocket does that money go to?”

“Into the ‘personal’ bag…”

I deliberately stopped for a moment.

“Or is there someone who closes one eye and opens the other and accepts a share?”

Such a big brand... Where did two small store employees have the courage to do this on their own? Director Tran's face suddenly darkened.