"What do you mean selling fake and shoddy products? Do you know you could be sued for libel and slander for saying such things!"
The exquisitely made-up woman's face changed dramatically, her voice rising as she pointed at Du Fei.
For a jewelry store, reputation is paramount, akin to a person's life.
If branded as selling fakes, the store's days would be numbered.
"Fake?"
Upon hearing Du Fei's words, Liu Shishi instinctively turned to look at him.
Not just Liu Shishi, but the onlookers gathered around also shifted their gaze to Du Fei.
"Fine, you can sue me, but let me finish speaking first," Du Fei said calmly, pointing to the pearl in his hand. "This pearl, broken in half, fell from the unique and extremely rare premium pearl bracelet that your sales associate was talking about. You have no doubts about that, do you?"
Meng Hong, the manager of the jewelry store, paused, unsure why Du Fei was suddenly bringing this up.
The sales associate nearby, not thinking much, interjected first. "Yes, this kind of premium pearl bracelet is currently only sold in our store in the entire Rongcheng city. It's unique. If your girlfriend hadn't pushed me just now, this bracelet wouldn't have fallen on the floor. We, the jewelry store, are already being very generous by covering twenty percent of the loss."
The sales associate had been exceedingly polite to Liu Shishi and Du Fei earlier, but now she was completely different.
"I also heard the people in their store introduce how good these pearls are. Fortunately, I didn't look, otherwise I would be in trouble right now."
"I saw this pearl just now, and it's indeed better than the one I bought two years ago, but the price is too high."
"Yes, if the price weren't so high, I'd also like to buy a pearl bracelet to wear."
Aside from the pearl Du Fei held, which was broken, the rest had already been picked up by the store staff.
The onlookers in the jewelry store, seeing the milky white pearls glittering, felt very tempted, but upon hearing the price of eighty-eight thousand eight hundred, they all exclaimed about how expensive it was.
Meng Hong coughed lightly. "Yes, this pearl bracelet is indeed an extremely rare premium pearl. May I ask what your doubts are, sir?"
"Heh heh, premium pearl? I call it garbage!"
Du Fei sneered and then applied a slight bit of force with his fingers.
As Meng Hong and the sales associate beside her were about to retort, they froze when they saw Du Fei's open palm.
At this moment, Du Fei's thumb and index finger had turned milky white, while the pearl, broken in half in his palm, had turned white, completely different from its original milky white hue.
"What's going on? The pearl lost its color?"
"Could it be that this young man is right, and this so-called premium pearl is a fake and shoddy product?"
"I think so. Otherwise, why would the color change just by rubbing it? It must be fake!"
"Damn it, if these premium pearls worth over eighty thousand can be fake, then the jade given away earlier must be fake too. Give me a refund! Refund!"
Seeing the pearl in Du Fei's hand and the color of his fingers, the crowd was stunned.
Some people, upon realizing the truth, immediately understood that the so-called premium pearls were fake.
Among them, the loudest were the customers who had been appeased by Meng Hong earlier.
Some had already left, but those who remained, believing the eight-thousand-plus premium pearls were fake, and therefore the jade given away for a thousand yuan purchase was even more fake, immediately began clamoring for refunds.
Liu Shishi was also bewildered by this sudden turn of events.
She looked at Du Fei beside her. "What exactly is going on?"
"What else could it be? These are not premium pearls at all. They are just coated with something by the people in this jewelry store using a special process."
Initially, Du Fei, like Liu Shishi, had thought the pearls in this jewelry store were indeed very good.
He had even planned to buy one to give to Liu Shishi.
However, due to the sales associate's actions, the pearl bracelet fell to the ground. Then, when the store manager Meng Hong arrived, the sales associate bit back and shifted all the blame onto Liu Shishi, which immediately made Du Fei very angry.
Later, Du Fei accidentally picked up a pearl that had fallen near his feet and, upon careful inspection, immediately discovered there was a problem with the pearl.
Following that, the scene just witnessed unfolded.
However, it was only because Du Fei possessed the Myriad Manifestations Art that he could use his true energy to instantly rub off the coating on the pearl.
Otherwise, even if an ordinary person knew the pearl was fake, it would be quite difficult to remove the outer coating.
Hearing Du Fei's explanation, Liu Shishi felt a surge of relief.
Fortunately, she hadn't agreed to buy it, otherwise spending over eighty thousand yuan on a fake pearl bracelet would have been a complete rip-off.
What was most infuriating was that this jewelry store had the audacity to pass off inferior goods as superior, and they had wanted her to compensate for eighty percent of the damage. Such behavior was utterly shameless.
At this point, apart from the manager Meng Hong's flustered expression, the other sales associates and staff were at a loss, completely unsure how to handle the situation.
For a moment, the jewelry store was like a boiling pot, with people everywhere demanding refunds and calling them unscrupulous merchants.
"Everyone, listen to me. Everything in our store is of the highest quality. We absolutely do not sell fakes, and the talk of fake and shoddy products from this gentleman is sheer nonsense!"
However, Meng Hong was, after all, the manager of the jewelry store. After calming down slightly, she immediately announced loudly to everyone that the store did not sell fakes.
But the crowd, having witnessed the pearl in Du Fei's hand and having had suspicions beforehand, was unwilling to listen to her explanation.
"Manager Meng, right? Weren't you planning to call the police? Then hurry up and do it. We'll be waiting."
Knowing the truth of the matter, Liu Shishi's attitude also turned cold.
She looked at Meng Hong and the sales associate in front of her and urged them on.
Meng Hong's face turned from red to pale, then back to red. Finally, she swallowed. "Esteemed guest, I know that what just happened might have caused some unpleasantness for everyone, but I assure you that all the jewelry and accessories sold in our store are genuine..."
"All genuine, including this premium pearl bracelet?"
Before Meng Hong could finish speaking, Du Fei held out his hand to her.
"This, this..."
With the irrefutable truth before her, even the glib-tongued Meng Hong didn't know how to defend herself, or rather, how to quibble anymore.
However, just as the store descended into chaos, two men walked in from outside.
The man in front, seeing the scene in the jewelry store, immediately turned as black as the bottom of a pot.