CHAPTER 434: CHAPTER 434: LET ME TAKE A LOOK

Mrs. Song had actually had some reservations about Xu Jingjing living here before, but after all, the house had been bought by her second daughter-in-law with her own money. The second daughter-in-law was capable, and they had never lacked for anything because of her. Women sometimes are not as broad-minded as men, so she occasionally grumbled at home. Once reminded by Father Song, she gradually came around, realizing it was their second daughter-in-law’s own money that paid for the house. Before their daughter Song Tianxin married, and when their youngest son lived there, the daughter-in-law’s younger sister helped take care of the little ones.

Moreover, now that Song Yuan Yao was married, even though Wu Lixue’s family had bought a house in Z City, the Wu family’s means were average, and the house they bought was somewhat small. Occasionally, Mr. Wu and Mrs. Wu would come to stay in Z City too, which wasn’t convenient for Song Yuanming to live there. Since the son got along well with Xu Jingjing, he had continued living on this side, freeloading and inconveniencing them. Over time, Mrs. Song also became a bit embarrassed and naturally had no more objections to Xu Jingjing living in the house.

Nowadays, Xu Jingjing’s level of virtue was continuously rising. Although Wei Jiaqiang doted on her, she was outstanding at household chores. Little Hong Dou was also starting to babble and learn to speak. When the family returned home from the hospital, Xu Jingjing had already prepared lunch. The whole family was there, except for Song Tianxin, who sulked silently, yet it could still be considered unusually lively.

"Xiuxiu! Mom and your big brother will take Niuniu back home tomorrow. We still have some chickens and ducks at home, and I’m not at ease with your dad taking care of himself, let alone remembering to take care of the chickens and ducks," Mrs. Song said. She couldn’t stay in Z City any longer; in her life, she had rarely been apart from Father Song. Now, for the first time, she left household matters behind, and she definitely missed them!

"Mom, since you’ve come all the way here, stay another day, please! I’ll take you to the mall to look around, buy you a couple of pieces of clothing, and by the way! You can also help me bring some stuff to my second sister. I’ve also bought her something," Xu Xiuxiu said. In truth, the things she bought for her second sister, Xu Qingqing, weren’t much, and wanted Mrs. Song to take them as just an excuse to persuade her to stay one more day.

Xu Xiuxiu had always been tactful about such matters. Although she sent gifts home to her family now and then, fearing Mrs. Song might feel uncomfortable, she had always done so privately.

Mrs. Song was originally very worried about her home, but hearing Xu Xiuxiu’s words and thinking that since she’d already come, staying one more day wouldn’t cause any trouble, she nodded in agreement.

Xu Xiuxiu, having persuaded Mrs. Song, thought that since it was a rare visit to Z City, she took Mrs. Song around the neighborhood and personally picked out two outfits for her.

"Xiuxiu! You don’t need to buy clothes for mom. You send things to our home every month, and I already have more clothes than I can wear. There’s no need to waste money buying so many," Mrs. Song said. Although she had tried on the clothes and was quite pleased with the one she was wearing, she still couldn’t bear the price after seeing it.

She knew that the things Xu Xiuxiu usually bought weren’t cheap, and not knowing the price might let her rationalize it somewhat, but seeing the price and insisting on buying the clothes was still painful for her.

"Mom, don’t worry about the money. Just look in the mirror; you look so good! You seem to have gotten younger by several years. Clothes are meant to adorn a person, and if this attire can make you look younger, then it’s money well spent," Xu Xiuxiu said, smilingly paid for the clothes for Mrs. Song, and then went with her to pick out clothes for Father Song.

Mrs. Song was a bit reluctant to buy for herself, but she felt differently about Father Song. She didn’t say much when purchasing clothes for him. Perhaps this was just the instinctual way a rural daughter-in-law treated her man—so it was that Mrs. Song stayed two days in Z City and then boarded the train back home.

Xu Xiuxiu, after Mrs. Song and the others left, also thought about returning to Imperial City. But since she had come back to Z City, she decided to check on Soup City. Today, Soup City was even busier than when it opened two years ago, even boosting Z City’s tourism industry and luxury goods sales as well.

Xu Xiuxiu actually didn’t have much interest in luxury goods, but many people did, and that was where the astonishing profits lay, so she thought of checking on the business operations. This trip back to Z City was for a reason, so Xu Xiuxiu didn’t inform Ye Hua of her return. She knew that if she told the staff she was going to inspect the sales situation, they might prepare, and then she might not witness the real customer service attitudes presented on a regular day—only by conducting a secret inspection, like an emperor in ancient times, would she be able to see the true hardships of the people.

With this in mind, Xu Xiuxiu deliberately changed into a set of more ordinary clothes that were still clean and fresh. Originally, Xu Xiuxiu just wanted to learn about their attitude towards customers. After all, there were plenty of arrogant salespeople in the ’80s. Xu Xiuxiu, in her past life, never got to be wealthy and had experienced being looked down upon by luxury good salespeople. So, in this life, having gained wealth through foresight, she naturally wanted to put herself in others’ shoes and try to prevent such situations.

Even if many people walked into luxury goods stores just to look, she believed that all customers who entered Soup City deserved the utmost service. Looking down on people with disdain was truly insulting.

After all, Soup City offered excellent benefits to its employees, and even though they worked on a commission system, they could still live comfortably on a low commission. Relative to the retail industry, luxury good salespeople had much better compensation than ordinary sales staff. But that’s just human nature—never satisfied.

"Excuse me, could I take a look at that handbag?" Xu Xiuxiu stood in a luxury handbag store while several sales staff chatted behind the counter, none of them wanted to attend to Xu Xiuxiu upon seeing her ordinary dress.

Xu Xiuxiu was specifically looking for this phenomenon. She hoped she was overthinking it and wanted to see a group of professionals, but reality proved her expectations wrong—snobbish salespeople were all too common. She could somewhat understand a lack of enthusiasm, but when a customer comes in and speaks up, if the sales staff are indifferent and unwilling to even come forward to address the customer, that’s a serious problem of character.

"Excuse me, would someone show me that handbag?" Xu Xiuxiu’s tone had cooled, and she stared angrily at the chatting sales staff.

"None of our handbags are cheap, you know. I can show it to you, but please don’t touch it." Finally, one of the sales staff stepped forward and reluctantly approached Xu Xiuxiu, giving her instructions with an impatient and disdainful expression.