Before she could speak, Sister Liu, the melon seed seller, couldn’t hold back.
“You, how can you falsely accuse someone like that? I saw with my own eyes that Lin finished packing up early yesterday, and you sold quite a few buns.”
“Just because I sold quite a few doesn’t prove they bought them from me. Why don’t you bring out some evidence then?” Granny Sun said with a face full of smugness.
With Lin Chuxia around, her buns just couldn’t sell at all.
She had planned to quit after selling these, but she couldn’t stand to see Lin Chuxia’s business doing well, watching others make money filled her with jealousy and envy.
If she could disrupt someone else’s business, even if she closed her stall and stopped selling, she would feel happy inside.
“Looking for evidence, are you?” Lin Chuxia raised her hand to stop Sister Liu, who wanted to speak again, and turned to Granny Sun.
“Yes, show me the evidence if you dare,” Granny Sun declared defiantly.
“Fine, then I will show everyone the evidence and prove my innocence. Let me make it clear, if the evidence is conclusive, you will not only have to compensate these two people for their medical expenses, but also for my reputation damage.”
When the topic of compensation came up, Granny Sun’s gaze flickered, but there was no turning back now, she finally gritted her teeth, “Fine.”
She didn’t believe that baseless accusations could produce any evidence.
Lin Chuxia stepped forward and first asked the two customers when they had bought the buns.
The couple who came first had stopped by yesterday afternoon during a light rain when Lin Chuxia had already packed up.
The other one who bought earlier, lured by the cheaper price, got the extra bun for one yuan from Granny Sun.
“After all, cheap goods aren’t good quality.” The old lady spat again.
“You say you bought them at that time? Who saw it? If nobody saw it, isn’t it just saying whatever you want whenever you want?” Granny Sun was adamantly refusing to admit anything now.
Lin Chuxia nodded, “Alright, then I will find a second piece of evidence.”
She crouched down and picked up the buns from the ground.
Granny Sun immediately knew what she was going to do and spoke first, “Don’t say these buns look like the ones I sell. I could say they look like yours too. This can’t count as evidence; doesn’t everyone make buns the same way?”
She hadn’t just randomly taken over Lin Chuxia’s spot for selling buns.
That day she had gone to see her son and passed by Lin Chuxia’s bustling bun stall, thinking she could also start a small business.
Her buns had always been praised, and she was confident they would sell.
In order to compete for Lin Chuxia’s market, she had someone help her buy a few buns to study, even making sure they were exactly the same size as Lin Chuxia’s.
Lin Chuxia looked at her with a meaningful smile, “I can prove these aren’t my buns.”
Lin Chuxia opened the waxed paper wrapping and let everyone present first look at the buns inside before saying, “I don’t know if those who bought my buns noticed, but my buns always have the same number of pleats – 16. These buns may be the same size as mine, but the number and size of the pleats vary.”
Having said this, she then opened her own steamer to let people at the scene see.
“It’s true, each bun in the steamer has the same number of pleats.”
“That’s right, even though they’re the same size, this girl’s buns look much better.”
“I noticed this point a long time ago; I even mentioned it, depending on the person, the buns, too, match the beauty – 16 pleats per bun take a lot of skill.”
“Miss, you don’t need to prove anything more. We believe you. First, give me 10 buns, I’m catching a train in a while.”
“Give me 20, I just came back from a business trip and haven’t brought anything for the kids, I’ll buy a few big meat buns to stuff those two rascals’ mouths.”
“Give me 5.”
“Give me 8…”
The scene turned chaotic for a moment as everyone crowded forward to buy buns from Lin Chuxia.
Some meddlesome folks didn’t stop there; they urged Granny Sun to compensate.
“Now you have nothing to say, right? If someone gets sick from eating, one should compensate, just pay up.”
“Not only should she pay the medical expenses, but also compensate for the girl’s damaged reputation. This person is simply terrible, selling bad buns after losing her conscience and even falsely accuses the girl.”
“That’s right, let’s all stop buying her buns from now on.”
The two customers who suffered upset stomachs also timely produced their medical bills, “This is our medical fee, plus today’s lost wages. We’re not asking for much, 20 will do.”
Another old lady also said, “I want 20 as well.”
Granny Sun almost cursed, she hadn’t made 10 yuan from selling buns for so many days, yet these two were asking for 40 yuan.
This isn’t asking for money; it’s practically asking for her life.
During the chaos, someone called the nearby duty officer, “Make way, make way, the officer has arrived.”
Dressed in uniform, Sun Hao also spoke up, “Let’s all make way. The train station is crowded, don’t block the way here, affecting others’ travel. If you have any issues, talk to me.”
“Officer, you’ve come at the right time. Her buns are problematic, she denies wrongdoing and falsely accuses this girl, such a person should be arrested and re-educated properly.”
Sun Hao nodded, steadied himself as he walked into the crowd. Just as he was about to lecture, as soon as he saw the surrounded person, he nearly stumbled.
“Mom, why is it you?”
The moment Granny Sun saw her son, she clutched a greasy bun wrapper and smeared it over her face, fearing recognition by her son, but he recognized her anyway.
Reluctantly dropping the oily paper, she gave a sheepish smile, “I was just bored and came here to stroll around.”
She tried to brush it off, but the others wouldn’t let it go, continuously complaining to Granny Sun.
So what if it’s the police? Especially because it’s the police, they should stand up for the people.
In this era, people are indeed afraid of the police, but in their eyes, the police also hold an upright and grand image.
Sun Hao had heard about the situation on his way, but he didn’t expect it to be his mother.
Putting aside personal grievances, he hastily helped to sort things out, apologized on behalf of his mother, and compensated.
Some even approached Lin Chuxia, “Girl, the bun seller’s son, who is indeed a police officer, has arrived. You should ask them for compensation for the damage to your reputation since he should be impartial in law enforcement.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Chuxia looked over and met Sun Hao’s gaze.
“Mr. Lin?”
“Officer Sun, why is it you?”
She looked between Sun Hao and Granny Sun, and couldn’t help but hold her forehead.
The world really is quite small.
She had heard before from Granny Sun that her son was a police officer, and it wasn’t a lie.
Sun Hao also knew what his mother had done. After Lin Chuxia finished her tasks, he sincerely apologized.
“My mother shouldn’t have lied or falsely accused you, affecting your business. I will compensate for the loss of reputation, although I’ve given all my money to those two people. Let me know how much you need, and I will bring it tomorrow.”
Granny Sun watched her son empty out his pockets, her heart bleeding.
Her son’s monthly wage was just over 40 yuan, and now, after a month of hard work from dawn to dusk, not only was it all for nothing, but he also had to compensate Lin Chuxia.
Worried that Lin Chuxia might demand an unreasonably high amount, she muttered quietly on the side, “My words didn’t really affect her; look, her business is doing well.”