Chapter 41: Putting an End to Future Troubles?

As soon as those words were spoken, the people who had just bought grilled fish snacks and hadn’t left yet were all frightened and demanded refunds.

“Wait a minute! Refunds are no problem, but let me make one thing clear—my grilled fish snacks are absolutely not poisonous. I can prove my innocence. This lady keeps slandering me, so why don’t you all stick around a bit longer and be witnesses? Once this matter is settled, if you still want a refund, I’ll definitely give your money back!”

Hearing that refunds were possible and it was just a matter of time, plus with some drama to watch, the crowd didn’t mind waiting a little longer.

Chu Xuan recalled that vicious glare from earlier and quickly scanned the people around her—none of them were familiar faces.

Her gaze finally landed on the woman causing the commotion, and she continued, “Since you’re here to settle scores with me, shouldn’t you call the security officers over?”

If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. Her attitude made the crowd unconsciously trust Chu Xuan a bit more.

The woman didn’t respond right away, her eyes darting elsewhere. Chu Xuan followed her line of sight and caught a glimpse of a man’s figure slipping away outside the market entrance.

He looked a lot like Zhang Dong, but it wasn’t him!

Yesterday, Zhang Dong was caught cheating on the scales and got taken away for a lesson—he probably hadn’t been released yet.

Chu Xuan guessed that the man just now was likely a relative of Zhang Dong’s, and as for the woman making a scene, she was definitely connected to the Zhang family.

“Could someone please call the security officers over? Let’s settle this right here and now!”

One of the people who had bought the grilled fish snacks ran out to call for security.

Soon, two security officers arrived.

They looked at Chu Xuan with a “you again?” expression.

The troublemaking woman didn’t dare look at either of them.

Chu Xuan gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry to trouble you both again today. This lady is slandering me, claiming she got food poisoning from my grilled fish snacks. In your presence, I’d like to ask her a few questions, and I’ll need you to take notes.”

The two officers exchanged a glance. Remembering how Chu Xuan handled things yesterday, they were actually a bit curious to see what she’d do today. Both nodded in agreement. One of them pulled out a notepad and pen. “Go ahead.”

Chu Xuan fixed her eyes on the troublemaker and asked, “You say you bought my grilled fish snacks—when did you buy them? Which flavors? How many jin? What did you use to carry them?”

The woman’s heart skipped a beat—no one had told her these details!

Urged on by the crowd, she forced herself to answer, “I bought them at five in the morning yesterday. The flavor was… um… I bought several flavors! I bought… two… three jin. I used a cloth bag.”

Chu Xuan pressed sternly, “Are you sure it was two or three jin? Was it two or three?”

A flash of panic crossed the woman’s face, but she stuck to her story. “Three jin.”

Chu Xuan exposed her lie directly. “Wrong! Yesterday, every customer who bought several flavors bought at least five jin. And none of them used cloth bags.”

They were wrapped in paper and put into mesh bags.

The woman quickly changed her story. “I remembered wrong, I bought five jin. I didn’t use a cloth bag…”

Chu Xuan: “How many flavors of grilled fish snacks do I sell at my stall?”

Woman: “Four or five.”

Chu Xuan: “Is it four or five?”

Woman: “Four!”

Someone in the crowd who had actually bought the snacks couldn’t help speaking up for Chu Xuan.

“This troublemaker doesn’t even know how many flavors there are, and she dares say she bought them here?”

“She’s just jealous of her good business and looking for trouble!”

The woman’s face turned red and her neck thick with anger, but she still shouted, “I got food poisoning from her snacks! My brain’s not working right, that’s why I forgot how many flavors there are. Her snacks are poisonous!”

Chu Xuan picked up a salty-sweet grilled fish snack from her stall and started eating. “Delicious! I’m eating them right now—everyone, do you see me getting poisoned?”

The woman had already prepared her excuse. “Just because you’re fine now doesn’t mean you’ll be fine later! Besides, your snacks yesterday were poisonous, but today’s might not be.”

Chu Xuan turned to the security officers. “Could you please take her to the hospital for a checkup? I’ll pay for the examination. If she’s not poisoned, please help me get my money back from her. I’ll also ask her to compensate me for my losses—because of her, I can’t do business and I’ve lost several hundred yuan.”

Judging by the woman’s mental state, she didn’t look poisoned at all.

The security officers looked at the woman and said seriously, “If the results show you’re not poisoned, you’ll face at least a few hundred yuan in fines and compensation, and you could be detained. How many days or years you’ll be held, well, that’s hard to say.”

Now the woman was scared. “I remembered wrong, I didn’t buy them from her stall.”

She turned to leave.

Chu Xuan grabbed her. “Since you made a mistake, apologize before you go!”

The woman glanced outside the market again, but didn’t see the person she was looking for. “Fine! I apologize! I’m sorry! I never bought your grilled fish snacks, I shouldn’t have said they were poisonous…”

After she apologized and cleared things up, Chu Xuan let her go.

She ran out as fast as she could, afraid that if she was too slow, the security officers would drag her back for questioning.

Chu Xuan snorted coldly. With such petty tricks, you want to mess with me? Hope you fall flat on your face!

Whether it was fate or just bad luck for the woman, as soon as she ran out of the market, she tripped on a stone and fell flat on her face, bleeding from her mouth and nose.

She got up, clutching her face, and kept running.

A crowd behind her laughed and cursed that she deserved it.

After dealing with the matter, Chu Xuan thanked the two security officers, watched them leave the market, and then went back to her business.

“Anyone who wants a refund, now’s the time.”

As soon as she said this, the crowd responded:

“No refund!”

“Sorry for misunderstanding you, no refund.”

Those who hadn’t managed to buy any yet crowded around Chu Xuan’s stall again.

“I’ll take five jin, all three flavors.”

“I want three jin of the spicy flavor…”

…

Chu Xuan got busy again. This time, the attempt to slander her had failed, but she knew that person would try something else.

You can’t guard against thieves forever. She needed to find a way to put an end to future troubles once and for all!

Just as she finished serving a group of customers and was about to ask the nearby stall owners about Zhang Dong and his family, Liu Chao hurried over, pulling a cart.

“Stop selling! Pack everything up and put it on the cart—come with me! Someone just called and wants to buy it all!”

Chu Xuan gave Liu Chao a mental thumbs-up—what a reliable guy.

There were about 150 jin left.

She quickly packed everything up and loaded it onto the cart.

Chu Xuan personally pulled the cart out.

The other stall owners looked on enviously.

At the entrance to the market office, Liu Chao helped weigh the goods: 150 jin and 2 liang. Chu Xuan just rounded it down.

Counting it as 150 jin at 1.6 yuan per jin, that was a total of 240 yuan.

Liu Chao pointed to a small truck nearby. “Chu Xuan, let’s carry it over to that truck and send it off.”

Chu Xuan did as he said.

But just as they were about to load it, no one had paid yet and the truck was about to drive off.

Chu Xuan had to stop the truck. “Wait a second.”

Liu Chao slapped his forehead and hurried over to explain, “I was so focused on shipping the goods that I forgot to discuss this with you. My friend, Yuan Banyue, wants to settle accounts weekly from now on. Is that okay?”

Chu Xuan hesitated—should she let the truck go or not?"