CHAPTER 555: CHAPTER 539: FALLING OUT

Zhang Dan Dan, who had never suffered such grievances, swung her bag back at her. "The police are here, I won’t back down. Are you going to watch me go to jail? Isn’t this your fault? You insisted on using substandard fabric. Were you scammed and now trying to shift the blame onto us?"

"What are you talking about? I was just trying to make more money. I work so hard to get contracts and ship products, only for you to waste the money I just earned back. If I’d known this would be so useless, I would’ve handled it myself."

"Stop making sarcastic comments. Without me and my mom, you’d still be stuck at that crappy job with a dead-end salary. You wouldn’t have this opportunity to make any money."

Last night, Ye Qing gave Zhang Dan Dan two hundred yuan in cash. Not only did she give all the money away, but she also lost so many clothes. Just like that, all her recent earnings were gone.

The two of them didn’t care about the setting and started accusing each other. Meanwhile, at their stall, a vendor came over with more than twenty items. "Have you two argued enough? I’m here to return goods; you need to handle this immediately." "No returns. Once our clothes are sold, we don’t take them back," Ye Qing said harshly.

"Why were those people able to return their items just moments ago, but I can’t? I just bought these this morning."

"Starting now, no returns." If every item sold got returned, they’d be left with all this inventory.

Damn that dishonest fabric supplier for not explaining the details.

The fabric she chose clearly needed an edging machine, but they only have a sewing machine. Where to get an edging machine now? Making clothes is such a hassle.

"Fine, no returns, right?" said the young man, shouting to the back, summoning a few young men his age. "Smash their stall for me."

"Brothers, you heard him, smash everything." The young men said as they threw all the clothes from the stall onto the street and stomped on them. They seemed prepared, as their shoes were evidently covered in a lot of black ink.

Lin Wan, who was busy elsewhere, heard the noise and looked over curiously.

Leading them was Hu Dong, which scared Lin Wan so much she almost called out to him.

Thankfully, those kids were smart, quickly running off after throwing the clothes.

When they passed her shop, Hu Dong glanced over a few times, and upon meeting Lin Wan’s wide-eyed stare, he quickly bowed his head and ran away.

The event happened so suddenly that Zhang Dan Dan and Ye Qing, who were inside the booth, didn’t know how to react at first.

The boys acted quickly; it was all over in just a couple of minutes. Swift as the wind, they vanished without a trace.

Ye Qing and Zhang Dan Dan couldn’t see their faces clearly and didn’t recognize them.

Due to Ye Qing’s few words, their losses became even more severe.

"Look at this, all your fault, saying something about no returns. Now you’ve provoked trouble. Everything’s ruined," Zhang Dan Dan began blaming Ye Qing again as she looked at the ink-stained clothes covering the ground.

Ye Qing reacted faster, quickly following the shoe prints. But when she reached a deserted alley, the blackened shoe prints had disappeared.

Inside her shop, Lin Wan worried about Hu Dong and his group for quite some time. Only when she saw Ye Qing return alone and dejected did she settle down.

As Ye Qing passed Lin Wan’s shop, she looked up at her, and at that moment, Lin Wan’s gaze met hers.

The two held an unspoken stare for a few seconds before looking away from each other. After this incident, they understood each other without words.

The subtle hostility between them was now openly known.

Perhaps one day, they would face-off openly.

Lin Wan felt that day wasn’t far off.

After this outburst, the street vendors probably wouldn’t take their goods in the future.

Zhang Dan Dan had no kindness left for Ye Qing, feeling frustrated as she looked at the scrapped clothes. What a shame. Though they weren’t very wearable, they were still money.

Ignoring the odd looks from others, Zhang Dan Dan packed the clothes into a bag, wondering if they could be washed clean at home.

Ye Qing was furious but helpless in the current situation.

While Zhang Dan Dan was cleaning up, two more people came to return goods. This time, Ye Qing wasn’t as firm, making excuses to postpone the returns until the next day.

The two of them dejectedly carried their pile of clothes away, even closing the shop door behind them.

Su Ling watched them, laughing heartily, while the street vendors pointed and gossiped about the incident.

About two hours later, Ye Qing’s shop probably wouldn’t open again.

Because the customers who bought goods in the last couple of days would find problems and certainly return. With Ye Qing’s character, she certainly wouldn’t just return the money.

That day, their shop’s business was unprecedentedly good, selling over a hundred items in one afternoon. Most realized they’d been scammed by Ye Qing and were determined not to fall for cheap prices again, paying more attention to style and quality this time.

"What? All these clothes were destroyed like that, and you let them run away? There were over two hundred items," Liang Weixiang shouted in disbelief, throwing down her unfinished clothes and sitting on the ground, yelling.

"These were painstakingly made overnight; they are money."

"Aunt Liang, don’t yell here. If you want to blame someone, blame your daughter for not doing her part. She got scared and refunded all the money just because some threats were made, handing over whatever they demanded."

"The police were there. Could I not refund? Don’t make sarcastic remarks. If not for you, we wouldn’t have lost so much today. I’m not taking responsibility for these two hundred plus items."

"What? The police went there?" Liang Weixiang sat up suddenly.

"Yes, the police said if I didn’t refund, they’d take me to the police station. Mom, when picking fabric for goods, she didn’t let me follow, controlling everything herself. Now that there’s a problem with the fabric, she made a mistake and wants to blame us. She just doesn’t want to give us a share of the profits."

"Ah Qing, that’s too much. We agreed beforehand: seventy-thirty, you said. We do more work for less pay, and now you’re willing to send my daughter to the police? And trying to renege on your promise. I’m telling you, not a chance. We work tirelessly every day, and even if we ask for wages, it shouldn’t be little."

"Still thinking about the money? You must be crazy. Look at the books. Our business is bleeding money. You didn’t invest a dime; it was all mine. If the business fails, you just wasted your time, but I lost more than one thousand yuan. Plus, I wasn’t without paying you — I’ve given you nearly a hundred yuan."

"You intend to burn bridges? Turn on us? You’re exactly like your dad, no good."

"Say that again?" Ye Qing hated being associated with her father the most. Sometimes, she wished Ye Weijun wasn’t her dad, or better yet, just dead.

"I said you and your dad are no good."

Liang Weixiang’s words had just left her mouth when Ye Qing slapped her in the face, the force so strong it left Liang Weixiang seeing stars.

With no chance to fight back in her dazed state, Zhang Dan Dan saw her mom being hit, grabbed Ye Qing’s hair, giving her a slap in return.

Ye Qing was prepared for that, not letting her succeed. The two of them then wrestled with each other, neither willing to back down.

Even as tough as Ye Qing was, she couldn’t handle the two of them. In the struggle, she shouted loudly towards her family’s yard.

Just when Liang Weixiang regained her senses and started hitting Ye Qing, Qiu Hualan quickly entered after arranging for Hua Hua at the doorway.

Seeing Liang Weixiang and her daughter beating up her daughter, she rushed forward and joined the fight. Qiu Hualan, having been abused by her husband for years, wasn’t new to brawling.

The four women, two pairs of mothers and daughters, fought from the house to the yard. In the end, Liang Weixiang had a handful of hair yanked out by Qiu Hualan, her scalp bleeding. Her arm was nearly twisted off by Ye Qing, now lying on the ground, moaning painfully, unable to get up.

Zhang Dan Dan, full of bruises and tiredness, groaned in pain.

With their faces showing scars more or less, Ye Qing and her mother returned to their home in outrage.