Too Late for You to Take It Back

Jin Xia looked at the middle-aged man before her and could not help furrowing her brows. She had never intended to get in for free!

She was a paying customer. She did not expect him to treat them like gods, but he should at least recognize one thing: they were customers!

Teacher He and Teacher Bai exchanged a glance, then hurried forward and stopped Mengmeng and the other children. "Come on. We're never coming here again. Let's go home!"

The old man rolled his eyes at the two teachers and sneered, "Can you even afford to come here? You can't afford ninety-nine yuan per child, so why bring them out at all? Why not just stay in your welfare home? Know your place!"

Jin Xia stepped forward, opened her phone, and dialed the municipal service center's complaints hotline. "Say what you just said again."

"What if I say it a hundred more times? Can you paupers stop coming out and making trouble for society? If you can't afford to play, get back to your lousy welfare home and stay there. We have a business to run!"

With one hand on his hip, he pointed at Jin Xia's nose and berated her!

Neither flustered nor angry, Jin Xia glanced down at her phone. "You heard that, didn't you? This is how Happy Fight Amusement Park treats its customers."

Normally, even a complaint to the municipal service center about something like this would take at least three to five days to process.

But when Jin Xia identified herself as being from Tongxin Welfare Home, the person on the line immediately contacted the staff responsible for welfare homes. She had barely hung up when a follow-up call came in.

"Hello, ma'am. I've received your complaint. You said Happy Fight Amusement Park humiliated its customers and verbally abused the children, correct?"

Hearing the woman's question on the other end, Jin Xia was just about to speak-

The old man rolled his eyes at Jin Xia and said dismissively, "Go ahead and complain. Complain wherever you like. I'm not scared at all. When you're in the right, you have nothing to fear wherever you go. This is the first time I've ever seen people try to get into an amusement park without paying and still act as shameless and self-righteous as you!"

Teacher Bai's chest heaved with anger. "I said we would pay! You don't accept Zhifubao, but did we ever say we wouldn't pay cash? You're clearly discriminating against the children from our welfare home! Ever since I said we were from a welfare home, you've been mocking us and making snide remarks!"

Even after hearing Teacher Bai say that, the old man remained utterly unrepentant. "Yes, I'm discriminating against them. So what? They're just a bunch of kids with no parents. Even their own parents didn't want them. They're wild children with no one to keep them in line. Their very existence is a burden on society!"

Hearing this...

Even the woman on the follow-up call struggled to keep her composure. "Ma'am, please wait where you are. We'll send someone over right away."

Jin Xia nodded and answered quietly, "All right."

After hanging up, she hurried over to Mengmeng and the other children. "Today was all my fault. I didn't plan things properly and put you through this. Don't be scared. I just ordered you some food. ZJS Express-hamburgers!"

"Hamburgers?"

The moment Mengmeng heard that, her foodie nature came out.

The children gathered around Jin Xia, tugging gently at her clothes and chattering noisily...

"I want a hamburger too!"

"Wow! Are they the same hamburgers as the ones in the TV commercials?"

"This will be my first time eating a hamburger!"

The purest smiles spread across the children's faces, their eyes sparkling like brilliant stars high in the sky.

Unfortunately, ZJS Express arrived at the same time as the municipal service center staff and the person in charge of the amusement park.

The two young delivery men hurriedly took out the hamburgers. Teacher Bai went over to them awkwardly. "Um... please put them on the ground over here for now. We still have something to sort out."

The delivery men exchanged a glance and quickly unloaded the food.

A man in a gray-blue casual outfit, following behind the municipal service center staff, hurried over to Jin Xia and the others.

Lan Jie glanced around, his brows tightly furrowed. "You called to complain about poor service at our amusement park?"

Jin Xia looked at him and asked in confusion, "I need the person in charge of your amusement park to handle this. And you are?"

Lan Jie quickly took out his business card and offered it with both hands. "I'm the person in charge. My name is Lan Jie. Could you tell me exactly what happened? The thing is, our security guard is my father. He's getting on in years, and he can be a bit stubborn in the way he talks sometimes..."

Jin Xia raised her phone, started the recording, and held it right in front of Lan Jie. "This is no longer about whether he speaks politely. He was insulting the children from our welfare home. He can refuse a Zhifubao transfer, but he can't just start hurling abuse at our children without knowing the facts."

The recording clearly captured the old man's furious abuse and his cruel words about the children from the welfare home...

Lan Jie's face alternated between green and white. The two staff members behind him also stepped forward quickly.

The one in front said coldly, "Aren't your tickets priced at 29.9 yuan? Why were you charging them ninety-nine yuan per person?"

Only now, seeing the amusement park being investigated, did the old man rein himself in a little. He hurried over with a smile plastered across his face. "Young men, let me explain. These welfare home people are dishonest. They wanted to get into our amusement park for free, and I caught them. That's why they reported me."

"Then first explain why you were charging unauthorized prices."

The man pushed the door open, strode inside, and picked up the tickets lying on the desk, fixing Uncle Lan with a stern gaze.

Uncle Lan scratched his head and gave an awkward smile. "Well, I just thought that if they couldn't afford the tickets, we wouldn't have to waste each other's time here. This really is just a misunderstanding! You have no idea how awful this welfare home is..."

"Don't change the subject. First, you humiliated the children from our welfare home and discriminated against their backgrounds. Then you charged unauthorized prices. Under the law, conduct like yours is subject to three months' detention and an administrative fine of five thousand yuan."

Jin Xia stared fixedly at Lan Jie and his father.

Lan Jie hastily waved his hands. "This really is a misunderstanding. Miss, how about this? I'll open the gates, and you can take the children in for a whole day for free. My dad is an uneducated man who knows nothing about the law. He doesn't understand any of this..."

Even after he said that, Jin Xia's expression did not change in the slightest.

Free admission? She did not care about that at all!

She only hoped the children at the welfare home could have the same rights as other children.

Uncle Lan hurried over and grabbed Jin Xia's arm. "Why are you so ungrateful, young lady? Didn't we already tell you we'd let you in for free? That's still not good enough?"

"Dad! Just stop talking. I told you before, if you're going to work here, just collect the admission fees properly. Look... this is all your fault!"

Lan Jie turned to his father in fury.

Uncle Lan still showed no intention of admitting fault and shouted self-righteously, "Wasn't I doing this for your amusement park? If just any riffraff can come in and play, would that be worthy of the high-end equipment we spent a fortune on?"

The two staff members investigating the matter walked over quickly. Without the slightest hesitation, they took Uncle Lan away. "Come back with us and cooperate with the investigation first. We have grounds to suspect your attraction has been charging unauthorized prices for a long time."

"I-I really am being wronged..."

Uncle Lan looked helplessly toward his son. Unfortunately, although Lan Jie looked deeply vexed, he showed no intention of helping him.

After Uncle Lan was taken away, Jin Xia made a call to arrange for a car.

She looked back. The children from the welfare home were all sitting on the ground. Though they were making a mess as they ate, every face shone with a brilliant smile. "How about I take you to the biggest children's amusement park in the city?"

Mengmeng shook her head, and the other children followed suit, shaking their heads and waving their hands.

Teacher Bai stepped forward, patted Jin Xia's shoulder, and said with a smile, "Xia, I know you meant well and wanted to take the younger children out to have fun. But it's getting late, and we should take them home. We can come out again another time."

Lan Jie hurried over with a stack of tickets. "I really didn't know you were from a welfare home, a charity bringing the children out to play. If I'd known sooner, never mind twenty-nine yuan-I wouldn't have charged you a single cent for admission!"

"There's no point saying any of that now."

Jin Xia gave him a cold glance and walked straight toward the Alphard parked ahead.

No wonder she vaguely remembered this amusement park closing down around this time.

A business like this would probably struggle to survive, wouldn't it?

Although she had not managed to take the younger children to enjoy the amusement park, every one of them still wore a bright smile when they returned, utterly happy.

Jin Xia instructed An He, "Take me to the mall in a little while!"

An He nodded. "All right."