boyutpedia Chapter 3384 Wise and Courageous
Chapter 3384 Wise and Courageous
Chapter 3384 Wise and Courageous
It was already night; the sun had set and disappeared, the moon had come out, and the stars were nowhere to be seen. It would be very, very difficult to see stars over the Huangpu River.
At this very moment, a special "punitive expedition" is marching through the alley, heading towards that small stationery store.
Little Bai walked at the front, his little face tense, his steps firm.
Xu Jun walked with her; he was the oldest among the children and consciously took on the responsibility.
Xiao Songqin held Xiao Zhou's hand and followed closely behind, while Xiao Zhou clutched the three one-yuan bills in his other hand. Dudu stood on his other side, giving him a sense of security.
Xi'er, Xiaomi, Xiao Weiwei, Wan Xiaohu, Robin and other children followed behind, making the line very long.
"It's that one up ahead!" Xiao Songqin pointed to a small stationery store not far away.
A brand-new sign hangs at the entrance of the store, which reads "Convenience Stationery Store".
This is a newly opened store. I remember passing by here a few days ago and not seeing this store.
At this moment, a middle-aged man wearing a t-shirt was sitting at the entrance of the shop, with a plastic basin next to his feet containing several watermelons.
He saw a group of children rushing towards his shop from afar, paused for a moment, then smiled broadly: "Oh, kids, you're here to buy stationery? Pick whatever you want..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xiaobai had already stopped in front of him, looked up at him, and cut to the chase: "Boss, did you give me too little change?"
The shopkeeper's smile froze for a moment, and he slowly stood up, asking, "Little friend, what are you talking about? How could I shortchange you?"
Xiao Songqin pulled Xiao Zhou forward, spread out three banknotes in her hand, and said angrily, "Xiao Zhou just bought a pencil and an eraser from you, which cost 3 yuan in total. He gave you 10 yuan, so you should have given him 7 yuan in change! But you only gave him 3 yuan! You gave him a 1 yuan note as if it were 5 yuan!"
The boss's gaze lingered on Xiao Zhou's bewildered face for a moment, then swept over the group of children before him, and he understood. He had seen this little boy before and knew that he had poor eyesight.
"nonsense!"
The boss's face darkened, and his voice rose a few decibels.
“I’ve been running this shop for over ten years, and I’ve never shortchanged anyone! You kids, don’t talk nonsense! Money is money, and I’ve made sure I’ve paid the exact change!”
Xiao Bai said, "Boss, you probably mistook a one-yuan bill for a five-yuan bill. You didn't do it on purpose. Just give the shortfall back to Xiao Zhou now."
The shop owner waved his hand impatiently and said, "How could I possibly give you the wrong change?!"
He reached out to take the banknotes from Xiao Songqin's hand: "Come on, let me see, maybe you lost them yourselves..."
"Don't touch it!"
A clear, crisp sound rang out, and Xiao Mi darted forward, standing in front of Xiao Songqin.
Although she is young, she has a commanding presence when she puts on a serious face, after all, she is determined to become a police officer.
“Boss, Xiao Zhou is our classmate, he never lies! It’s wrong of you to take advantage of him because he can’t see and give him less change!” Xiaomi said, staring at the boss.
"Yes! No!" Xi'er chimed in, her little face puffed up with anger. "Bullying children is immoral!"
The shopkeeper, surrounded by the children, looked even more displeased. He waved his hand impatiently and said, "Go away! Stop causing trouble here! If you keep making a scene, I'll call your parents! The little blind boy can't count his own money, and he's blaming others? Who knows if you've hidden the money yourselves to try and extort me?"
"you--!"
Xiao Zhou's body trembled slightly; the words "little blind man" pierced his ears like needles. Xiao Songqin's eyes reddened with anger, and she gripped Xiao Zhou's hand tightly.
Upon hearing the words "little blind man," Xiao Bai's anger surged to the top of his head.
She stepped forward, almost touching Mr. Wang, tilting her small face up and glaring with wide eyes: "Which one are you calling the little blind person?! You dare say it again and see what happens!"
Her voice wasn't loud, but the fierceness in it startled even Boss Wang.
Xiao Bai stared into the boss's eyes and said, word by word, "Let me tell you! Xiao Zhou is our Little Red Horse's child! He can't see, but he understands things better than anyone else! If you bully him, you're bullying all of us!"
"Yes! They're bullying all of us!"
Dudu stepped forward as well. Usually, she was always smiling, but now she had a serious face, her hands were clenched into fists, and the small muscles in her arms were tense.
Xu Jun and Wan Xiaohu, two boys, stood on either side of Xiao Bai. Although they didn't say anything, their tense bodies and serious expressions made their attitude clear.
At this moment, people in the nearby shops heard the commotion and poked their heads out to see what was going on. Some of them recognized Xiaobai.
"Isn't this Xiaobai?"
"What's wrong, Boss Bai? Do you need our help?"
"Is there something you need, Xiaobai?"
……
In no time, seven or eight adults gathered around.
The boss glanced at the group of teenagers in front of him, then at the people gathering around him. He felt a little guilty, but he still forced a smile: "What? You kids want to hit someone? Let me tell you, I..."
His words came to an abrupt end.
An inflatable steel fork with two exaggerated "devil horns" at the top suddenly emerged from behind the crowd, its tip pointing directly at his stomach!
Robin, carrying a fork, squeezed out from between Xu Jun and Wan Xiaohu, his face flushed red. He tried his best to make the fiercest expression and shouted in a shrill voice, "You bad boss! Give me back my money! Or I'll fork you! I have a fork! My fork is really powerful! I've forked flies, watermelons, and even Captain Sun!"
Her sudden "weapon" and her cute-yet-fierce threat added a touch of bizarre humor to the tense atmosphere.
The boss looked at the inflatable fork that was clearly a toy in front of him, and the little guy who was holding the fork and whose height only reached his waist. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be angry or laugh.
"puff--"
Some of the adults watching couldn't help but cover their mouths.
Robin looked at the man with displeasure; she herself didn't find it funny at all!
She gripped the fork handle tightly with both hands, her forearms trembling slightly from the effort, but her eyes were incredibly focused as she stared intently at Boss Wang, repeating, "Give me the money! Four yuan! Not a penny less!"
The boss, realizing what had happened, became furious and reached out to push the ridiculous fork away: "Who are you trying to scare with a toy, you little brat? Get out of the way!"
"and many more!"
Xiao Weiwei, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly opened her mouth.
She pulled a small notebook and pen from her purse without her noticing, and with a serious yet childlike tone, she opened the notebook and asked:
"Boss, may I ask your surname? I'm a junior reporter from Pujiang TV, conducting a live interview. You just called our classmate 'little blind man,' isn't that an insult? Isn't that discrimination? You also said you didn't shortchange anyone, so don't you have CCTV footage or other evidence? If not, how can you prove you gave 7 yuan instead of 3 yuan?"
She fired off a series of questions, her words somewhat naive, but her logic was clear, and she really did have the air of a journalist conducting an interview.
The shop owner was completely dumbfounded. What kind of kids were these? Some wanted to kick him, some wanted to interview him... He had been running his shop for so many years, and this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
Taking advantage of the boss's momentary lapse in attention, Xiaobai seized the opportunity and pressed him again: "Boss, we'll just ask you one question: are you going to refund the four yuan or not?"
Her gaze swept across the store: "If you don't give us a refund, we'll stand here and tell every adult who passes by that your store is taking advantage of blind children, shortchanging them, and even swearing at them!"
Xi'er immediately chimed in, "Yes! Tell all the parents! My sister will know too! My sister knows so many people!"
Robin waved his fork and added, "My grandma will know too! My grandma is stern! She sells jianbing (Chinese crepes)! She knows everyone on the street!"
Immediately, some adults in the crowd said, "This child is right. Her grandmother is Jack Ma, who has a lot of influence. Boss, you better not think that they are easy to bully just because they are children."
Others chimed in, "Boss, you should be careful."
The shop owner's expression changed. For a small business like his, the worst thing was a bad reputation. If these kids really caused a scene at the shop entrance, word would spread, and who would dare to buy anything from him in the future? Moreover, judging from the tone of the people around him, it seemed that these kids had a lot of influence.
At this moment, Xiaobai's eyes lit up as he scanned the store, and he said, "There are security cameras over there. We can check the footage and find out!"
The boss's expression changed again, and his last bit of hope and bravado finally vanished.
He scratched his head in frustration and muttered, "Fine, fine! I guess I'm just unlucky! A few kids making such a fuss over a few dollars..."
He turned around and went back behind the counter, opened the drawer, pulled out four one-yuan bills, walked over, and shoved them into Xiaozhou's hand with a huff: "Here you go! Four yuan! Take it! Don't say I gave you too little change again!"
Xiao Zhou touched the banknotes in his hand; this time there were four thin bills.
He looked up, and although he couldn't see, he whispered in Mr. Wang's direction, "Thank you."
It's not that I'm thanking him for refunding the money, but rather that I'm thanking him for finally admitting it.
Xiao Bai took the four yuan, counted it carefully, and after confirming that it was correct, said to Boss Wang, "Boss, we're not trying to cause trouble. If we're short of money, we're short of money. We can't accept being taken advantage of, but we won't ask for more either. Xiao Zhou may have poor eyesight, but he's not stupid, and he's not someone you can bully. If you run your shop here in the future, you must operate with integrity and not treat people differently based on their status. You won't last long doing that. If I hear anyone complaining about you in the future, I'll come back again."
"Hey, you little rascal!"
The boss waved his hand, sat back down in his bamboo chair, started fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, and stopped looking at them.
"Happy Baby, why don't you say a few words?"
"If you don't do business properly, you won't be able to stay in business."
"Alright, let's go!"
With the cause-and-effect law of the Happy Doll in mind, Xiaobai waved her little hand, and the expedition team turned and left the stationery store, thanking the adults around her who had supported her.
Xiao Zhou clutched the four yuan she had recovered tightly and whispered to Xiao Bai beside her, "Xiao Bai, thank you."
Xiao Bai patted him on the shoulder: "What are you thanking me for? We're in this together!"
Dudu said, "That's right! Xiaozhou, if anyone dares to bully you again, just tell us! We'll help you!"
Wan Xiaohu nodded vigorously: "Yes! We have that many people!"
Robin lowered the inflatable fork from his shoulder, panting heavily, but his face was full of pride: "My fork is awesome, isn't it! That boss was scared of me! Hehe~"
Xiaomi said seriously, "But next time we still need to reason with each other first, and we can't just take out 'weapons' without reason."
Little Vivi quickly jotted down in her notebook: "I'm going to tell all the children of Little Red Horse about this. If anyone gets bullied in the future, they can tell us. We're not afraid of trouble!"
Listening to the chatter of his friends around him, feeling the paper money in his palm, and the warmth of Xiao Bai's hand on his shoulder, Xiao Zhou slowly raised his head, which had been slightly lowered.
Just then, a figure ran towards them, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Liu Liu.
Liuliu spotted them too and shouted, "Comrades, comrades!! Don't be impulsive! Wait for me! I'm late, comrades!!! How did it go? Did the boss confess? I've already called the police, they're on their way!!!"
Everyone: "..."