A slap in the face at the coffee shop [2]

"I bought this shop for a purpose. Please move out within three days and restore it to the condition specified in the contract, or I'll take legal action," Chi Qing said crisply after waiting for the proprietress to finish.

"Miss Chi, you..." Seeing that the soft approach had failed, the proprietress's expression changed immediately. "Miss Chi, you should know who my brother is. You bought this shop to make money in this mall, too. You should understand that offending me won't do you any good."

Well, well, now she's playing hardball. "Who's your brother, and what can you do?" Wang Xiaoyan, who had been standing silently in the background, suddenly spoke up.

"My brother is Jiang Tao, the head of engineering for this mall. All he has to do is tamper with your shop a little, and you won't be able to do anything!" Goaded by Wang Xiaoyan, the proprietress threatened them outright in a low voice. "Miss Chi, as long as you rent the shop to me-at a lower price would be even better, of course-I'll have my brother look after your other shops. Whatever you do in this mall will go smoothly." The proprietress continued with her veiled threats.

"All right, I've recorded what you just said and saved the recording online." Wang Xiaoyan calmly fiddled with her phone. "Go on. What do you want your brother Jiang Tao to do to us?" The proprietress went pale and reached to snatch the phone, but stopped when she heard that it had been saved online. "You... fine! Just you wait!" After leaving them with that threat, the proprietress walked away again, apparently to make a call.

"Xiaoyan, nicely done," Chi Qing said admiringly. "It never even occurred to me to record her."

"Of course. We're going to open a shop here, so we have to guard against petty people like that," Wang Xiaoyan said proudly.

"Awesome. I can rest easy leaving this shop to you." Chi Qing gave her a thumbs-up.

Before they could finish talking, Chi Qing's phone rang. It was Zhang Jingyuan. Well, that engineering-head brother must have gone to the marketing department.

"Hello, Chi Qing, you went to 77 Coffee Shop to take possession of the shop?" Zhang Jingyuan sounded troubled over the phone.

"Jingyuan, just say what you need to say." Chi Qing did not waste time either.

"Chi Qing, that head of engineering called our head of marketing. He said we sold the shop without consulting him and showed him no respect. Now the owner's there to kick his sister out, and he wants an explanation from the head of marketing." The more Zhang Jingyuan spoke, the angrier she grew. "An explanation! What right does he have to demand one? He let his sister use the shop for free behind the company's back, and our job in marketing is to sell shops! That shop's in such a good location. If you hadn't bought it, someone else would have. Were we supposed to keep holding it for him to use for free forever?"

"Jingyuan, has this caused you any trouble?" Chi Qing asked. She did not know how much authority this head of engineering had; it would be bad if Jingyuan got dragged into it. "Not really. He may be the head of engineering, but all the properties have been handed over now, so there's really not much left for him to do," Zhang Jingyuan said. "But we still have to keep things cordial. Chi Qing, could you keep renting the shop to her?"

"No, I need the shop," Chi Qing said. "How about this? I can buy another ten, or take all the shops you have left. Do you think that would resolve it?" "Huh, all of them!! Chi Qing, yes! That'll resolve it!! I'll tell the head of marketing!! Let him sort it out!! Worst case, I'll resign once I get my commission. I'll quit. This absolutely has to be resolved!!!"

Listening to Zhang Jingyuan's jumbled reply on the other end, Chi Qing could not help being amused. Chi Qing had just seen their inventory. In fact, half the shops in the commercial center were retained by the company, and only the other half were put up for sale-fewer than fifty units in total. She estimated that only thirty or forty remained now. Buying more would make it convenient to rent them out or use them for something herself.