Chapter 25

At the dinner table in Old Mr. Luo's house, the old man asked his daughter-in-law while eating, "Koulan, how did you handle Xiaohongjian's matter?"

"Lizhi is such a good girl, come, finish the last spoonful." After Wang Koulan finished feeding her daughter, she smiled and turned to answer, "I called an acquaintance at the Changning District Industry and Commerce Bureau and asked him to pass the message to the people in charge of consumer rights protection..."

"Is there any other preparation?" Old Mr. Luo asked unexpectedly.

"Father, what do you mean? Isn't Xiao Jia claiming compensation for the fake calculator he bought? Isn't this exactly what the consumer rights protection department of the Industry and Commerce Bureau is responsible for? Do we need any other preparation?" Wang Koulan asked with a slight hint of confusion.

"I remember you had an old classmate who works at a newspaper, right? The Ziyun Mall, a state-owned mall, is selling fake goods and disregarding the trust of the people, openly deceiving the masses. Shouldn't such a serious violation be reported to let the whole country know?" Old Mr. Luo took a puff of his cigarette and frowned, his words shining with the righteousness of an old revolutionary.

"Um..." Wang Koulan lowered her head slightly, pondering. Then she seemed to notice the obedient little girl sitting beside her. She looked at her daughter with tenderness and seemed to make a decision. She nodded and said, "Father, you're right. Okay, I'll call that old classmate now and have her come tomorrow... No, I'll drive to pick her up tomorrow and take her to expose Ziyun Mall."

The next morning, around ten o'clock, after the early market ended, Jia Hongjian and the little fox spirit led a group of over ten people on a bus to Tian Shan Road. "Everyone, remember what I said? When the time comes, act as if you bought a Sony calculator for your child and found it to be fake. Got it? While accusing Ziyun Mall, distribute flyers to the onlookers. If the police come, don't panic. No matter how they scare you, they can't legally detain you, got it?"

"Got it, Jia Xiaoge, we'll definitely do as you said... But when will we get the money?" The loud-voiced owner of the breakfast stall, who Jia Hongjian had approached first, asked.

"Once it's done, I'll pay you. Besides, you sell breakfast in front of my neighborhood. I can't cheat you, can I? Even if the monk runs away, the temple won't."

Hearing this, the loud-voiced owner smiled happily. But at that moment, her husband, sitting beside her, whispered, "Wife, if we go and block the mall entrance, will the police really not arrest us?"

"Look at you, you get scared at the slightest thing! We're not blocking government offices, and we're not staging a political protest. We're just helping Jia Xiaoge speak the truth. How could that be illegal? I've never heard of such a thing being illegal in the army..." Ha! It turns out the breakfast stall owner was indeed from the army!

Soon, the group arrived near Ziyun Mall and got off the bus. As they approached the mall entrance, they saw some elderly people waiting to queue up to enter. Seeing this, Jia Hongjian smiled bitterly.

In the shrewd city of Shanghai, no matter what era, you can always see elderly people queuing up to enter malls. Why? Because many large malls now have central air conditioning! In the scorching heat of late August, wouldn't the elderly be smart enough to come in for the air conditioning?

Not only that, but after the year 2000, when some street offices and 24-hour convenience stores in Shanghai had air conditioning, these elderly people would often go there to enjoy the cool air. Eventually, a specific term in Shanghai dialect was born to describe this behavior—“hatching air conditioning.” The word “hatching” accurately describes how the elderly, like hens sitting on eggs, would come on time every day, even treating the air conditioning vents as if they were eggs to be hatched...

"Alright, everyone, go ahead now. It's up to you. I'll wait here. If anyone insists on knowing who's behind this, tell them to come find me." Jia Hongjian waved his hand. As he did, a group of over ten middle-aged men and women, holding stacks of flyers, walked quickly towards Ziyun Mall with looks of righteous indignation.

When these middle-aged men and women reached the entrance of Ziyun Mall, a few women even sat on the ground, wailing and cursing the unscrupulous Ziyun Mall. The men, with faces of righteous indignation, as if they hadn't been paid for a year of work, continuously accused Ziyun Mall of its wrongdoings...

This scene immediately attracted the attention of the elderly people who were about to enter Ziyun Mall to enjoy the air conditioning or had already entered. What do elderly people have the most of? Time! These elderly people first stopped in surprise to see what was happening. After about ten to twenty seconds, when they understood what was going on, they all came forward to inquire.

When they heard that these hardworking people from out of town had bought a Japanese brand calculator for their children at Ziyun Mall, only to later find out it was fake, and that when they came to Ziyun Mall to return the item and claim compensation, they were driven out and threatened with arrest, the elderly people became agitated. What? A state-owned mall selling fake goods? State-owned malls are more expensive than small commodity markets because their reputation guarantees that the products are genuine! If state-owned malls sell fake goods, why not just buy from the markets directly?

Moreover, this directly affects the lives of the elderly! If the calculators sold by Ziyun Mall are fake, could the TVs, radios, and VCRs bought by their children at Ziyun Mall also be fake? If any of them are fake, wouldn't they have been deceived all along? How outrageous! Seeing the invoices and copies of the Sony repair center's appraisal report presented by the middle-aged men and women, the elderly people were almost ready to explode with anger! Some of them even joined the ranks of the middle-aged men and women in their accusations, and some were already pointing at the Ziyun Mall employees inside the mall and cursing them!

At this moment, a black Volkswagen Passat drove to the intersection of Tian Shan Road and Loushanguan Road, not far from Ziyun Mall. After parking in a nearby parking spot, Wang Koulan pointed at Ziyun Mall and said to the woman with a camera beside her, "This is Ziyun Mall. Let's go down. I'll call Jia Xiaoge."

"Wait," the woman with the camera suddenly grabbed Wang Koulan, who was about to open the car door, "Look at the mall entrance, why is there a crowd?"

"Hey? Really! What's going on?" Wang Koulan asked, blinking her thick eyelashes in confusion.

The two women got out of the car and stood by it, curious about what was happening. At this moment, Wang Koulan suddenly noticed a familiar figure in her peripheral vision. She looked closely and saw a man who looked more and more like Jia Hongjian!

Looking at Jia Hongjian, Wang Koulan was puzzled for a moment, but then, seeing the people at the mall entrance who were continuously cursing, she seemed to suddenly understand something! At this moment, her old classmate, the journalist, noticed her expression change. "What's wrong? Did you find something?"

Wang Koulan pointed to Jia Hongjian's figure not far away, "See that boy eating an ice cream next to a pretty girl? That's the Jia Xiaoge I mentioned."

The old classmate was surprised, "You haven't called him yet? How... Could all this be his doing? Oh, Koulan, your son... Wow, he's not just anyone!"

Wang Koulan hadn't told her old classmate about Jia Hongjian's various unusual traits, so the journalist had thought Jia Hongjian was just a normal 15-year-old boy. Now, seeing that Jia Hongjian could orchestrate such a large-scale event on his own, she was genuinely surprised. Moreover, if he could do this at 15, what would he be capable of at 25?

"Speaking of which, Koulan, why do I suddenly feel like my childhood was destroyed? It's like my age has been lived by someone else..." The journalist, seeing 15-year-old Jia Hongjian's prowess, recalled her own 15-year-old self, who was diligently studying and preparing for exams, and felt quite stupid and incompetent...

"You say that, and I feel the same way..." Wang Koulan laughed awkwardly, "Forget it, let's go find him."

"Wait, why are you in such a hurry to find him? You asked me to help report his situation. I can report it here, can't I? The details can be filled in later." The journalist smiled and raised her camera, starting to take pictures of the middle-aged men and women distributing flyers and the elderly people cursing.

At this point, the slow and inefficient management system of Ziyun Mall, a state-owned enterprise, finally kicked into action. One by one, the mall's leaders, big and small, walked to the entrance, their faces full of shock. They had never seen such a scene in their lives!

Meanwhile, the instigator, Jia Hongjian, stood not far away, turning to the beautiful little fox spirit beside him and asking, "This grape ice cream is really good. I love it. Do you want one? It's only 50 cents, very cheap!"

The beautiful little fox spirit, who had been fully focused on the situation at the mall entrance, turned back in confusion when she heard this. She was surprised, "You... How can you be so calm? How can you be so relaxed? When did you buy the ice cream?"

Indeed, she couldn't understand. How could the boy, who was a year younger than her, be so calm while she was so nervous, her palms sweating? How could he be like an outsider watching the commotion? How could he seem completely unpressured, as if it had nothing to do with him? How could he be so calm?

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