Xiao Dong felt it land somewhere in his chest; this man wasn't someone who could be talked around with a smile and a soft word. But he'd already lost too much face in front of this crowd to back down now.
He straightened, forcing his voice into something harder. "Comrade, I don't think you understand where you're standing. This is a state-run department store. If you keep making a scene like this, I have every right to have you removed from the premises."
The crowd went still. A few people exchanged uneasy glances, murmurs dying down.
Qin Lian's eyes narrowed slightly. "Removed? For what? Asking why your staff attacked a child and spread filthy rumours about the customers?"
"For disturbing the order of my store," Xiao Dong said, his tone climbing, some of his earlier composure cracking under the weight of everyone watching him lose ground to her.
And losing to her, of all people, made it worse.
He still remembered her the way she used to be, trailing after Lin Chengyan at every gathering, clinging to his arm, making a scene whenever he so much as looked away from her.
A shameless woman who didn't know when to let go of a man, who'd never once looked at her the way she wanted. He'd never had any patience for her, not back then and not now.
"I've already said the girl will be dealt with. What more do you want from me? A public apology? A parade?"
"I want you to admit what actually happened," Qin Lian said, "instead of trying to bury it because it's easier than doing your job."
"You—" Xiao Dong's jaw clenched.
He glanced around at the crowd still watching, at the whispers spreading further down the floor, and something in him decided this had gone on long enough. He turned toward one of the junior clerks hovering nearby. "Go. Fetch security. If this comrade won't calm down on her own—"
Xu Yinchen's shoulder shifted a fraction closer to Qin Lian.
"Try it," he said, voice low, "and see what happens."
The clerk froze mid-step, glancing between the two of them, unsure whose order to follow.
Xiao Dong opened his mouth, uncertain how to answer without losing more face in front of the crowd —
"Manager Xiao."
The voice cut through before he could find one.
Every head turned. An older man had walked in, dressed plainly, hands folded behind his back, two clerks trailing a step behind him like they didn't dare walk level with him.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the staff at the nearby counters straightened as soldiers called to attention.
"Director Zhang," Xiao Dong said, his voice changing entirely, all traces of his earlier smoothness gone, replaced by something closer to nerves. "You're here for the inspection today?"
Director Zhang gave a short nod, his eyes already sweeping the small crowd gathered by the children's counter and then stopping.
"Xu Yinchen?"
His face broke into open surprise, then genuine warmth. "What are you doing here?"
The floor went quiet. Even Xin Li seemed to forget her own tears for a moment, staring at the exchange.
Xu Yinchen nodded in greeting. "Director Zhang. I came with my family to buy some things for the children."
"Family?" Director Zhang's eyebrows rose. His gaze slid to Qin Lian, then to the three children clustered nearby, and understanding dawned across his face.
"So you've gone and gotten married. And didn't send a word to anyone." He let out a short laugh, more delighted than scolding. "Well. Good. That's very good news."
Then, just as quickly, his expression sobered. "Now, what exactly is going on here? I heard raised voices before I even walked in."
Xiao Dong stepped forward quickly, cutting in before anyone else could speak. "It's nothing serious, Director Zhang. A small misunderstanding with a customer. I was already handling it."
"Handling it," Qin Lian repeated, her voice even. She looked at Director Zhang directly. "Then let me help you understand exactly what he's been handling."
Director Zhang turned to look at her properly for the first time.
His gaze moved over her with quiet scrutiny. The white bandage still wrapped around her forehead, the plain but neat dress, the calm set of her shoulders.
She was young. Younger than he'd expected, standing in the middle of a crowd like this, in front of a man of his position, without so much as a flicker of nerves crossing her face.
Most people, when he walked onto the floor, found some reason to lower their eyes.
This woman looked straight back at him.
"Tell me, then," he said, his tone quieter now, more serious than before. "What happened here?"
Qin Lian kept her voice plain and level. "My son reached out to touch a jacket, the same as several other customers were doing at that same counter. Your saleswoman didn't say a word to any of them."
"But when my son did it, she shouted at him, slapped his hand away, and shoved him aside, because she'd decided, just from looking at us, that we couldn't afford it."
She let that sit a moment before continuing. "When I asked her why she'd only stopped my son and no one else, she didn't answer that either."
"Instead she turned on me, in front of everyone standing here, and said things about my character I won't bother repeating."
"But that's not really the point I'd like you to consider, Director Zhang," she went on.
"The point is what this means for your store. A store this size should be teaching its staff that courtesy is owed to everyone at the counter, not just the ones who look like they can pay for it."
"However, this kind of behavior from your staff shows they don't know how to manage customers, nor do they have any respect or regard for them."
"So tell me, Director Zhang, why would anyone want to come back here, only to be humiliated? Is a state-run store meant only for the rich? Is your staff trying to say they only care for people with money, and not the rest?"
Director Zhang's brows lifted slightly. He hadn't expected that, not the complaint itself, but the way she'd delivered it.
No dramatics, no scene. Just a clear account and a point made plainly, the way he might expect from one of his own department heads, not from a young woman like her.
Xu Yinchen, beside her, said nothing. He'd already known she could speak her mind without losing her composure.
But watching her do it here, in front of a man like Director Zhang, without a single crack in her voice, still struck something in him. She really did know how to hold her ground.
"Director Zhang," Xiao Dong cut in, his voice tightening, "with respect, this isn't really—" He turned to Qin Lian. "Qin Lian, it's not your place to lecture us on how to run this store."
Xu Yinchen's gaze snapped to him, cold enough that Xiao Dong's next words caught in his throat.
"Let's see who dares stop her from speaking," Xu Yinchen said quietly.
The floor went silent.
Director Zhang's expression darkened as he turned on Xiao Dong. "Her place?" His voice was low, but it carried an aura.
"She's a customer standing in your store, telling you exactly what your staff did wrong, and your only concern is whether she has the right to say it?"
"Director Zhang, I only meant—"
"I don't want to hear what you meant." Director Zhang's tone turned sharp, final.
"Didn't you have complaints against this woman before? You've had complaints against this girl already, and instead of dealing with it, you let it reach the point where a customer has to stand here and explain your own store's failings back to you. That's not poor luck, Manager Xiao. That's poor management."
He turned to Xin Li. "You're dismissed. Don't return tomorrow."
Xin Li's knees nearly buckled. "Director Zhang, please, I—"
"Out," he said, and at that, Xin Li fell silent.
No one had ever spoken to her this way. She stood frozen a moment longer, then broke into tears no one bothered to comfort, and was quietly led away by another clerk.
Then, without pause, Director Zhang's gaze cut back to Xiao Dong. "And you're suspended for one week, without pay, for failing to handle your staff and your floor properly. I'll expect a full report on my desk by the time you're back."
Xiao Dong's face went white. "Director Zhang—"
"That will be all," Director Zhang said, and turned away before the man could say another word.
And just like that, the matter was closed, clean, swift, decisive.
Director Zhang's face softened as he turned back to Xu Yinchen. "I won't keep your family standing around any longer."
Then, with a faint smile, "And you, you should find some time to come visit me. Or does this old man have to come looking for you instead?"
Xu Yinchen dipped his head, the corner of his mouth easing into something rare. "I'll come visit you. With my wife."
Qin Lian blushed at the sudden mention, caught off guard all over again. She still wasn't used to hearing him say it so plainly, so easily, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Director Zhang laughed, genuinely pleased, and gave the children a brief, kind nod before turning and walking off with his clerks trailing behind.
The moment the crowd began to scatter and the noise settled, Xu Yinchen turned to Qin Lian. His gaze dropped, just briefly, to the white bandage still wrapped around her forehead, half-hidden beneath her hair.
Without a word, he reached over and gently tucked a loose edge of it back into place, his fingers barely grazing her skin.
"Does it hurt?" he asked quietly. "From all that talking."
Qin Lian blinked, caught off guard by the question. She chuckled and said, "No. I'm fine."
He studied her a moment longer, as if not quite convinced, then let it go.
As if nothing at all had happened, Qin Lian turned back to the counters. "Come here," she called to the children. "Pick out what you like."
The boys were frozen for a moment, but under her encouraging gaze, they ran back over at once, the tension gone from their small shoulders as quickly as it had come.
When it came time to pay, Qin Lian reached for the money in her bag. Xu Yinchen's hand closed over hers before she could count it out, his thumb brushing briefly over her knuckles before he drew the money out himself.
"I'll pay," he said simply.
"You don't need to—"
"I said I'll pay." His voice left no room to argue, though the tips of his ears had gone faintly red.
Qin Lian let out a small laugh and didn't press further.
The money in her bag was his to begin with, after all. But he still wouldn't let her hand it over.
In that small moment, she found herself thinking, being someone's wife wasn't so bad. A husband who treated her like this. How could she not feel content?
As they turned to leave, Xu Yinchen fell into step just slightly behind her and to one side, angling his shoulder so that the lingering stares from the staff and the onlookers near the counter landed on him instead of her.
The two of them walked out of the store together, the children trailing behind with their new clothes bundled in their arms, the whole scene as easy and unremarkable as any family finishing their shopping.
Xiao Dong stood rooted by the counter long after they'd gone, staring at the door.
Qin Lian.
How had she changed so much in such a short time? She looked like a completely different person.
He'd heard about the scene at the Qin household. How she'd screamed and wept and finally slammed her own head against the wall rather than accept being swapped out for Mu Ruoyu.
The story had traveled through the whole compound. There was even a white bandage on her head. So the story was true. She really had hurt herself that badly.
Then why did she look so unbothered? She'd looked at him like she was looking at a stranger, and more than that, she looked completely different.
He'd expected her to fall apart after losing the engagement with Lin Chengyan. Bitter. Resentful. Instead, she looked quite content with her new life, caring about the children, comfortable in this world she'd been forced into.
What happened to her?
He stood there a moment longer, unable to shake the feeling that something about all of this didn't sit right. Then, slowly, his mouth pressed into a thin line.
I should tell Lin Chengyan about this.