Chapter 819 — Go and Ask

"Well? Heard that, didn't you? Ready to give up now?" Gou Huli turned her head triumphantly and looked at Wei Zhao, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu. "Embarrassed yet? You said you had membership cards — so what? So what if you have membership cards? The goods are sold out! Never mind three cards, you could have a hundred and you still couldn't conjure one up!"

"Are you certain this style of dress is gone?" Wei Zhao frowned and asked the sales assistant. By now he understood at last where Gou Huli had gotten her confidence — she must have known all along that this dress was out of stock, and that was why she had dared to make such a boast!

"Yes, aside from the one on display in the window, there's no stock left at all!" the assistant said with some embarrassment.

"Can't the one in the window be sold?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't have the authority to open the display window," the assistant explained. "The merchandise in the window is arranged by our mall's sales department, and only they can change it on schedule. Ordinary clerks and sales assistants like us don't have the window key."

"Oh, I see." Wei Zhao nodded and turned to Gu Mengyao. "Let me have your membership card."

"?" Gu Mengyao was taken aback. She had no idea what Wei Zhao meant to do, but she took out her wallet all the same, drew out the membership card, and handed it to him.

Wei Zhao took the card and passed it to the sales assistant. "Take this card and go find your sales department manager. Ask him whether the sample in the window can be sold."

"A diamond card?" The assistant was briefly startled, but then shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir. Even though you are an esteemed diamond VIP member, we still can't sell it — the mall laid down that rule long ago..."

"Ha! You three servants really have never seen the world!" Gou Huli sneered the moment she saw what Wei Zhao was doing. "You think flashing a diamond membership card makes you a big shot? You've got another think coming! I have a diamond membership card too, but these are the mall's rules. Who do you think you are? You think you can change their rules? Truly, I could die laughing — I've never seen anyone as tacky as you lot. I wonder how your masters usually teach you, to be so ignorant! Think flashing a diamond card makes you look impressive? How naive!"

Gou Huli's words were so biting and mean that even the sales assistant beside them could hardly stand to hear it. She thought to herself: the man only asked whether a diamond card carried such a privilege, and said nothing more. Yet there you go, mocking and jeering — did he ever provoke you?

Wei Zhao ignored Gou Huli entirely, treating her the whole way like a mad dog; even speaking to her was a waste of breath. He said directly to the sales assistant, "Just do as I say. Show this card to your sales department manager, and he will tell you whether that dress can be sold!"

"This... all right." Hearing Wei Zhao insist, the assistant had no recourse but to nod in agreement. After all, this was a diamond customer's request, and every employee of the Gu Group was trained to put customers first, never to disregard a customer's wishes at will.

Even if a customer's request was somewhat unreasonable, one still had to explain patiently or report it to a higher department.

"Still going to try? Try what? How ridiculous!" Gou Huli hadn't expected the assistant to actually agree to Wei Zhao's request, and was instantly annoyed. Why not just turn him down flat? What was the point of wasting time?

"Of course we're going to try. Someone at home is waiting to watch you pull your own head off," Wei Zhao said placidly.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, that someone is me!" Shen Yushu promptly raised her hand to declare her intent.

"Hmph!" Gou Huli glared at Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu. She thought: Fine, then, let you gloat a little longer — the pair of you won't give up until you see the Yellow River, won't shed tears until you see the coffin!

Seeing Wei Zhao hand the membership card to the assistant and send her off to find the sales manager, Gu Mengyao guessed roughly what he intended: he meant to use her identity as the eldest daughter as a battering ram at the door.

And indeed, that was precisely Wei Zhao's thinking. He had already glimpsed a clue in the parking lot guard's face — the man had read the information on Gu Mengyao's diamond card and recognized her: the eldest daughter of the Gu Group! If even a parking lot guard could recognize Gu Mengyao's identity, how could the sales manager of Pengzhan Mall possibly fail to know her?

Once he saw the information on Gu Mengyao's membership card, he would hardly care about rules and regulations — he would simply take the dress out and sell it to Gu Mengyao! To whom did Pengzhan Mall belong? To the Gu Group, naturally! And who stood at the top of the Gu Group? None other than Gu Pengzhan!

As Gu Pengzhan's only daughter and the future heir of the Gu Group, how could these petty managers below fail to curry favor with Gu Mengyao?

So Gou Huli's fate was sealed: all that remained was to see how she would perform pulling her own head off.

The sales assistant was puzzled, but since Wei Zhao insisted, she took the membership card he gave her and hurried to the door of the mall market sales department manager's office. This was the office of the direct superior of clerks like her, so she was a little nervous; she took a deep breath before knocking.

"Come in!" A deep male voice came from within.

The sales assistant pushed the door open and stepped inside, saying with some nervousness, "Manager Wang, I'm sorry to trouble you for a moment..."

"Oh? And you are?" Manager Wang, seated in the office, clearly did not recognize the sales assistant. There were far too many sales assistants in the department store; how could he possibly know every one of them?

"I'm Chen Lili, client sales assistant at the luxury counter in the apparel department..." the sales assistant introduced herself.

"Oh, what can I do for you?" Manager Wang had no particular recollection of Chen Lili, but hearing that she was one of his own subordinates, he nodded and asked.

"It's like this — a diamond client wishes to purchase a display item from the window..." Chen Lili stated her business.

"Oh? Haven't we already laid down the rules on this? Display items are not for sale, and the window displays all have replacement cycles..." Manager Wang frowned. Such minor matters had been emphasized at the regular meetings, so why had this sales assistant come all the way here to ask?