Chapter 593 448: Something Happened to My Family?

At a counter, Wang Meilan slammed a wad of cash onto the surface with her left hand. With a sweeping gesture of her right, she boomed, "Pack all of those up for me. I'm buying the lot!"

"Yes, yes." The normally proud and aloof sales clerk was now grinning from ear to ear at Wang Meilan. He reached out, scooped up the cash she had slapped down, and began counting it in his hand.

Jin Xiaomei, standing beside Wang Meilan, looked for all the world like a handmaiden attending to a wealthy madam.

Dozens of onlookers had gathered around the pair to watch the spectacle.

"Look, look." Sun Haizhu pointed at Wang Meilan in the crowd and said to Jie Chen, "We've got a real big spender at our Supply and Marketing Cooperative, eh?"

Jie Chen glanced at his brother-in-law, then turned to Zhao Jun and whispered, "Brother Jun, that's your mom buying all that canned food."

Sun Haizhu overheard. He looked at Zhao Jun again, and it clicked. Just then, two clerks walked out, each carrying two cases of canned goods. The crowd couldn't help but murmur, remarking what a big shot she must be to buy so many jars of canned food at one-seventy-five a pop.

"Ahem!" Sun Haizhu cleared his throat, stepped closer to Zhao Jun, and whispered, "That's our Supply and Marketing Cooperative's new canned hairtail fish. It just arrived the day before yesterday—only four cases total. It's pretty expensive; we hadn't sold a single jar..."

He trailed off and suddenly clamped his mouth shut. He remembered that the man standing before him was not short on cash.

But Zhao Jun didn't hear a word Sun Haizhu said. His attention was completely fixed on a middle-aged woman leading a small child.

The little boy she was holding by the hand kept whining, "Grandma, let's go home," but the woman refused to budge, her gaze locked on the flamboyant Wang Meilan.

This inevitably put Zhao Jun on alert. After all, the memory of being ambushed by robbers when he went to sell pelts in the town at the foot of the mountain was still fresh in his mind. He had to be on his guard.

"Ah!" Wang Meilan started to turn away, but as she did, she spotted Zhao Jun standing outside the crowd.

As Wang Meilan headed toward Zhao Jun, the crowd parted for her, even though no one was clearing a path.

She walked right up to Zhao Jun. Seemingly in a delightful mood, she smiled and asked, "Son, you all done?"

"Yeah," Zhao Jun answered. Just as he was about to say more, he saw the woman with the child heading their way.

Zhao Jun started to step forward, but he heard Jie Chen at his side making introductions to Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei. "Aunt Zhao, Aunt Li, this is my brother-in-law."

Zhao Jun snapped back to his senses and quickly introduced them to Sun Haizhu. "Brother-in-law, this is my mom, and this is Baoyu's mom."

Sun Haizhu nodded at the two women with a smile. "Aunt Zhao, Aunt Li, welcome. I hope my Jie Chen hasn't been too much trouble for you while he's been staying over."

"Trouble? What trouble?" Wang Meilan laughed. "Jie Chen is a great kid. He's helped us out quite a bit."

"That's right," Jin Xiaomei added with a smile. "When you're not busy, you should bring your child, Jie Chen's sister, and your mother-in-law—the whole family should come for a visit."

"Will do, will do," Sun Haizhu agreed with a smile.

Just then, the woman and her child came to a stop behind Wang Meilan. Seeing that she was in the middle of a conversation, the woman waited quietly.

Zhao Jun took this all in, and at the first opportunity, he cut in, "Mom, that lady behind you, do you think she needs something?"

"Oh!" Wang Meilan turned and recognized the woman at a glance. "What is it? You still haven't left?"

The woman smiled at Wang Meilan, pointed a finger at Zhao Jun, and asked, "Sister, is this your son?"

"Yes," Wang Meilan affirmed, though she couldn't help but think, 'Why is this old broad so nosy?'

A moment ago, after she'd bought the Jianlibao and Asia Soda, this woman had asked if her family owned a shop and if she was at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy inventory. Wang Meilan had explained she was only buying so much because her son was getting married.

'But even so, that was no reason to linger instead of going home, just to see my son, right?'

But upon hearing her reply, the woman simply pointed to Jie Chen and asked, "Is this one your son, too?"

"That one's not..." Wang Meilan started to answer, but something felt off. She countered, "Sister, what is it you want?"

"Oh, it's nothing." The woman dodged the question and pressed on, "Sister, how many sons do you have?"

"I just have this one son." As soon as Wang Meilan finished speaking, the woman's face fell in disappointment. She turned, took her grandson by the hand, and walked away.

Completely baffled, Wang Meilan looked at Sun Haizhu and asked, "Brother-in-law, do you all still do household registration checks in the city these days?"

"No checks, no checks." Sun Haizhu, who seemed to have understood the situation, smiled at Wang Meilan. "Auntie, don't pay her any mind. See if there's anything else you need. If we don't have it in stock, I'll have it brought over for you overnight."

"No more shopping," Wang Meilan said, shaking her head. "We're heading back now."

Sun Haizhu nodded slightly. As the manager of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, he had made the offer, and that was enough. He couldn't very well pressure a friend's family to buy more.

He might not be able to persuade her, but Zhao Jun could. Now that he was relieved the middle-aged woman meant no harm, Zhao Jun walked over to his mother and smiled. "Mom, we came all this way. If there's something you think we should get, let's just buy it."

Wang Meilan glanced at Zhao Jun, her expression conflicted. It was the look of someone who wanted to buy more but felt she shouldn't.

Seeing her hesitation, Zhao Jun quickly patted the satchel at his side. "Mom, don't you worry about a thing," he said. "Just pick out whatever else you need, and we'll buy it."

But even with his encouragement, Wang Meilan shook her head. "We can't," she said. "If we buy anything else, it won't fit in the cart."