"What in the world is going on!!!"
As soon as all the customers had left, the doors of the jewelry store were immediately closed.
Shao Junjie, with a grim expression, pointed at a string of pearls on the counter, the very same one the sales associate had recommended to Liu Shishi and which had fallen to the floor and shattered.
At this moment, among the so-called top-grade pearl bracelet, apart from the one 'pearl' whose color Du Fei had rubbed off earlier, several others had also been sanded down with sandpaper, revealing their true nature.
Seeing this, Shao Junjie felt his rage surge to his head, on the verge of exploding.
This newly opened jewelry store was his first step in expanding his business beyond Jewel Street and into the city of Rongcheng.
Yet, with this first step encountering such a serious problem, it was no wonder Shao Junjie was furious.
Facing the boss's loud accusations, the entire jewelry store was deathly silent. Everyone hung their heads low, afraid of incurring the boss's displeasure at this moment.
"You, what was your name again? Was it you who brought out this pearl bracelet for the customers?"
After a full minute, Shao Junjie, his anger somewhat subsided, pointed at a woman in front of him and asked.
The woman Shao Junjie pointed to was the sales associate who had previously attended to Du Fei and Liu Shishi.
Being singled out by the boss, she was trembling, and replied in a flustered tone, "B-boss, my name is Sun Qian. I-I did bring it out for the customers, but boss, I-I don't know what happened."
She was just a sales associate. When she saw Du Fei and Liu Shishi enter, noticing their extraordinary demeanor and Liu Shishi's exceptional beauty, she thought of recommending a more expensive piece of jewelry to them to earn a higher commission.
Who knew that instead of earning a commission, it would lead to such a huge disturbance.
The sales associate was now on pins and needles.
This trouble could result in her being fired at best, or worse, her responsibility might be pursued.
Thinking of this, she began to tremble.
"Alright, alright, you can go."
Seeing the pale and terrified look on Sun Qian's face, and considering that the matter wasn't entirely her fault, Shao Junjie waved his hand, telling her to step down for now.
Upon hearing Shao Junjie's instruction to leave, Sun Qian felt as if she had been granted a great pardon and turned to go.
Perhaps due to excessive nervousness, she tripped and almost fell.
"Everyone else, stay here for now. Meng Hong, come with me."
Having encountered such an incident at his much-anticipated new store, Shao Junjie had initially been extremely angry.
But now, having calmed down, he knew that mere anger would not solve anything.
Therefore, he decided to get to the bottom of the matter to find out where the problem originated.
Following him, he led the way into the office, with Meng Hong and his assistant following behind.
Shao Junjie sat in the boss's chair in the office, looking at Meng Hong.
"Boss, this is the video footage from the warehouse and the storefront. I've had it all copied onto this laptop."
It had to be said that Meng Hong was indeed shrewd and capable.
Although she had been flustered earlier, she calmed down and immediately found the store's technical personnel to copy the surveillance footage, put it onto a laptop, and placed it on Shao Junjie's desk.
As for what Meng Hong had told Du Fei and Liu Shishi earlier about the cameras being installed but not yet calibrated and functional, it was all a lie.
Shao Junjie nodded and began to click through the video recordings on the laptop.
For a time, the office was silent, broken only by the occasional sound of Shao Junjie clicking his mouse.
After meticulously reviewing all the videos, Shao Junjie found no issues.
"Oh, right, Xiao Zeng, where did this batch of goods come from?"
Suddenly, Shao Junjie's mind flashed with inspiration, and he thought of a crucial question.
Since there was no suspicion of anyone in the store swapping the items, could the problem lie with the procurement channel?
As he pondered this, the more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.
Upon hearing Shao Junjie's question, his assistant Xiao Zeng immediately began to investigate.
"Boss, this batch of goods was… was arranged by Mr. Huang."
Xiao Zeng paused slightly as he reported.
Mr. Huang?
Upon hearing these three words, Shao Junjie's heart skipped a beat.
Mr. Huang's full name was Peter Huang. The name itself didn't sound Chinese.
This was because Peter Huang's father was Chinese, but he grew up abroad with his mother and only returned to China to do business after he came of age.
Shao Junjie had met him by chance.
After they got acquainted, Peter Huang and Shao Junjie found they got along very well. Later, upon hearing that Shao Junjie was in the jewelry business, he visited Shao Junjie's jewelry store several times.
After some in-depth discussions, Peter Huang expressed his desire to invest in Shao Junjie's jewelry store.
Although he had a very good rapport with Peter Huang, feeling as though they had known each other for a long time, Shao Junjie remained cautious when Peter Huang offered to invest in his jewelry store and did not agree immediately.
Even though he hadn't agreed right away, Shao Junjie had indeed been wavering.
After all, the competition on Jewel Street was becoming increasingly fierce, and the invasion of the internet also had an impact on them.
With all these factors combined, Shao Junjie had long wanted to make some changes, but changes required capital.
The daily operating costs of the jewelry store were very high, and Shao Junjie could only wish for change without the means.
Just as Shao Junjie was hesitating whether to accept Peter Huang's offer, the latter approached him again.
This time, Peter Huang did not propose investing in Shao Junjie's jewelry store, but instead suggested a different form of cooperation.
That is, they would collaborate to open new stores in the city of Rongcheng, and the specific shareholding ratio could be discussed later.
Upon hearing this suggestion, Shao Junjie immediately agreed.
Opening new stores was indeed a practice that many industries urgently needed to adopt.
Firstly, it could expand their influence. Secondly, by opening new stores, they could cover more regions.
After hitting it off, Shao Junjie and Peter Huang talked for an entire afternoon that day, and even when night fell, they still seemed to have more to say.
Following this, the cooperation officially began. The majority of the funding for the new store was provided by Peter Huang, while Shao Junjie provided the source of goods and contributed his years of experience, resources, and network in the jewelry industry.
Originally, according to the plans of Shao Junjie and Peter Huang, after the first store was a resounding success, the second and third would follow, and they intended to develop into the leading jewelry brand in Rongcheng.
However, they did not expect that problems would arise with the very first store.
And the problem lay with the supply of goods provided by Peter Huang.
Subsequently, Shao Junjie asked his assistant Xiao Zeng and Meng Hong to leave, and then took out his phone to call Peter Huang.