Unexpected Encounter

Mr. Wu drove Sun Mei to a big mall in downtown San Francisco. Although the building was huge, the clothing racks in the shops inside were pretty sparse. This, along with the fact that the shop assistants were immaculately dressed, led Sun Mei to believe that this mall was very expensive.

Her theory was also proven right by the limited number of other customers they encountered.

"Sir, why did we come here?" Sun Mei whispered in Mr. Wu's ear as they entered one of the shops. "I'll probably need to go through a background check before I can even buy any socks."

"Why would you say that?" Mr. Wu asked with a frown.

Sun Mei walked to the closest rack of clothes and pulled out a random price tag. She showed it to Mr. Wu silently.

He hesitated a little before he said, "It's not that expensive. Jenny used to come here all the time," he added as an afterthought.

"I'm surprised she didn't lead you to bankruptcy," Sun Mei said jokingly.

Mr. Wu shrugged. "Okay, you don't have to shop everything you need here. Just pick something first and then we can leave. I'm too afraid of the shop assistants to leave empty-handed. They are looking at us like vultures," Mr. Wu whispered dramatically.

Sun Mei laughed. "Are you scared, sir?"

"No, not scared," said Mr. Wu. "More like terrified."

Sun Mei looked around her for a moment and then picked up a pair of jeans. "I'll try those."

"Let's just get them," Mr. Wu said hurriedly.

Sun Mei looked at him with a poker face. "Sir, these jeans cost 200 dollars. You better believe I'm going to try them on before I buy them!"

"I never expected to say this, but you are scaring me more than the shop assistants right now."

Sun Mei grinned widely. "That was the plan."

Then, she took the jeans and asked the nearest shop assistant for directions to the dressing room.

Sun Mei had never seen such a huge dressing room in her life. An enormous mirror covered one of the walls, while a wide comfortable couch took up most of the space available. Even the lights there seemed better than normal.

Sun Mei took off her old clothes and tried the jeans. They actually looked pretty good. If she had been shopping with one of her friends back home or with Yu Zan, she would have gone out to show them the jeans and ask for their opinion. However, she didn't think it was appropriate to do that with Mr. Wu.

She quickly changed back into her clothes, picked up the jeans, and pulled back the curtain of the dressing room. As she was walking out of the dressing room area, she heard raised voices come from the main area of the store.

"You came to my party and poached my nanny! The nerve!"

"I did no such thing! I just saw a miserable girl and made her an offer. If she had been so happy working for you, then she wouldn't have left!"

"She's just a greedy little brat that was tempted by the money you offered her!"

Sun Mei recognized both voices. Mr. Wu was arguing with a woman she knew very well but would rather she had never met.

When she approached the fighting pair, her eyes were instantly drawn to Mrs. Lin.