Chapter Ninety-Two: Troubled by an Unwelcome Visitor

“My little girl just ate apples bought from your store, and then she fell unconscious. Waaaah... We’re a widow and an orphan, and we don’t even have the money for treatment. Waaaah...”

The manager, Chen Da, stood nearby, anxious and helpless, knowing only how to keep urging the woman to get up.

After watching for a while, Zhao Fan was extremely dissatisfied with Chen Da’s handling of the accident. This was no time to let the woman make a scene in broad daylight.

“Madam, I’m sorry, but could we move somewhere else to talk? There are so many people here that we can’t make sense of the situation. Please rest assured—if this really is our supermarket’s fault, we will cover your daughter’s medical expenses in full. We will never dodge responsibility or play dirty.”

As he spoke, Zhao Fan bent down to pick up the little girl.

“I’m not leaving. Why should I leave? The one who got hurt is my daughter. I need an explanation, and you will give me one!”

Like a madwoman, the woman slapped at Zhao Fan’s hand and shoved him aside.

“Don’t touch her! Get away!”

Her hysteria was enough to make even Zhao Fan, a man, feel wary.

Chen Da leaned close to Zhao Fan and said quietly, “This woman has been like this the whole time. No matter what we say, she refuses to come inside and talk. She insists on sitting at the entrance.”

It was fortunate that it was noon and not many people were shopping. If this had been morning or evening, the entrance would already have been packed solid.

Zhao Fan rubbed his brow. A customer who only wanted to make trouble and refused to cooperate was indeed a headache.

The woman kept crying while holding her daughter, muttering over and over that it was because the girl had eaten apples from the supermarket.

At first, the onlookers were inclined to believe her, but after watching for a while, they gradually felt something was off.

The supermarket had already shown its sincerity and was trying earnestly to communicate, but this woman was acting like a lunatic and simply would not speak to them.

An older man could not bear it anymore. “Listen, crying here all the time won’t help. If there’s something to discuss, go inside and talk it over properly. Your supermarket is so big—surely it wouldn’t cheat you over something like this, would it?”

“That’s right. Go inside first and lay out the whole story, from beginning to end. Then we can see who’s right and who’s wrong, and it’ll be easier to handle.”

“Whatever the case, you should at least take the child to the hospital first.”

“...”

Once one person spoke up, then two did.

As more and more people joined in, the woman suddenly stopped crying.

Just when everyone thought she had been persuaded, the woman abruptly lifted the child and, under everyone’s gaze, actually prepared to leave.

A vein twitched at Zhao Fan’s temple. What was this woman playing at? She had come here to cause a scene for so long, and now she wanted to leave?

“Stop her!”

The supermarket security guards were already nearby. At Zhao Fan’s command, they immediately moved to block her.

The onlookers erupted. “What do you people at the supermarket think you’re doing?”

Looking around, Zhao Fan said calmly, “With so many people watching, what could our supermarket possibly do? Chen Da, call the hospital and tell them there’s a child here—”

“No! Don’t call the hospital!”

The woman, still clutching the child, rushed straight toward Zhao Fan without regard for anything else.

Seeing this, the security guards hurriedly stepped in between them, not allowing her to come near Zhao Fan.

“What are you doing? Our boss is thinking of your child’s wellbeing. What kind of child is sick and still not taken to the hospital?”

“No hospital, no—ahhhhhh...”

The woman’s scream was shrill and grating. Everyone who heard it frowned, and some had already begun backing away. This woman had to be insane.

Zhao Fan also felt that her mind was not sound. He gave Chen Da a look, and Chen Da immediately moved away from the crowd to call the hospital.

The woman was still holding the child. Worried that she might hurt the little one, Zhao Fan signaled the security guards to step back a few paces.

“We won’t go to the hospital. We won’t. Don’t be afraid. You want to talk here, right? No problem—we’ll talk here. Tell us first what happened from beginning to end. All right?”

Unlike in later times, there were no people around who loved drama for drama’s sake, so once Zhao Fan spoke, the crowd around them mostly fell quiet in cooperation.

The woman did not move. Her eyes fixed on Zhao Fan.

In the silence, her hoarse voice finally rose. “I bought a few apples at your, your supermarket, and after I got home I gave them to Nannan, and then, then...”

Seeing that her emotions were about to spiral again, Zhao Fan immediately cut in, “What do you want our supermarket to do?”

What do they want to do?

For an instant, confusion flashed in the woman’s eyes.

“I, I...”

The silence around them was so complete that a dropped pin might have been heard. Everyone was waiting for her answer.

If anyone had still thought of blaming the supermarket before, the moment they saw the woman’s condition, most of them understood at once.

There was nothing wrong with the supermarket goods. The woman herself was not normal.

“I, I want... I want compensation. Yes, your supermarket must pay compensation. I want your supermarket to pay.”

Zhao Fan smiled faintly. “Compensation is no problem. How much do you want?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chen Da returning from the rear, and his expression eased a little. Now they only had to wait for the ambulance.

Perhaps Zhao Fan’s gentleness had calmed her somewhat; the woman’s hysterical state actually began to ease. She lowered her head and stood motionless, saying nothing.

The child still had her eyes tightly shut. Zhao Fan looked her over a few times but could not see anything unusual.

She seemed merely to be asleep.

No, no—if she were only asleep, then in such a noisy environment, the child would have woken long ago.

Time passed little by little. Suddenly, Zhao Fan noticed the crowd parting. Looking more closely, he saw several nurses carrying a stretcher emerge without a sound.

He was not the only one who noticed. The others around them were also staring at the woman.

In the blink of an eye, a group rushed forward, pinning the woman down while also taking the child from her arms.

“Hurry, hurry, get the child to the hospital right away!”

The woman struggled desperately, but she could not break free from the many hands holding her.

“Get this woman onto the ambulance too.”

As the ambulance departed, the crowd gathered at the supermarket entrance slowly dispersed.

“That woman’s head is definitely not right. Her child was sick and she didn’t take her to the hospital—she ran to someone else’s supermarket to make a scene instead.”

“She’s gone crazy over money. Who knows where her family was, to be so放心 and let such a mad woman raise a child.”

“...”

The crowd chatted as they drifted away, unaffected.

On the other side, Zhao Fan followed the ambulance. Since the woman had caused trouble at the entrance of his supermarket with the child, whether it was true or not, he had to make some kind of response.

At the hospital, Zhao Fan promptly paid the fees and arranged a room.

Before any examination had even begun, a doctor recognized the woman and said she had been discharged not long ago. It was merely a nervous disorder, and it had proved impossible to cure.

Zhao Fan had the doctor write up the paperwork and examine the child. The result was that she was only asleep, with not a single problem.

Zhao Fan: “...”

What was an unforeseen calamity? This was an unforeseen calamity.

The woman had only been out of the hospital for a short time. The hospital checked its records and found the phone number of her family.

An hour later, a man hurried into the room.

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”