ABFMV Chapter 43

Even though she knew in her heart this might just be a waste of time, Xiao Zi still kept a polite smile and stepped forward to greet the girl sitting on the sofa.

“Hello, miss. Are you here to buy parts?”

A sales clerk standing nearby let out a snicker and sneered, “What kind of stupid question is that? You think she came to a parts shop to buy desserts?”

Xiao Zi lowered her head in embarrassment.

Xu Linlang noticed Xiao Zi’s expression wasn’t good, and she also picked up on how the other salespeople carried themselves around Xiao Zi with arrogance and disdain.

Since she needed to buy parts anyway, she figured she might as well just place the whole order with Xiao Zi today.

She asked directly, “You’ve got D-grade and C-grade parts here, right?”

The other sales clerks quietly rolled their eyes. As they’d expected, some clueless little girl who didn’t look like she could place a decent order.

Coming into a high-end parts shop only to ask about the lowest-grade mech parts?

She probably had never touched a mech in real life—most likely just bought one or two cheap pieces on the virtual net as souvenirs.

But unlike them, Xiao Zi didn’t look down on Xu Linlang. Instead, she pulled out a product catalog. “Here’s an introduction to the C- and D-grade parts. You can pick whatever you need.”

Xu Linlang skimmed the catalog. “Do you have the full sets?”

Xiao Zi froze for a moment. The other sales clerks stared at Xu Linlang as if she were hopelessly ignorant.

Asking if their shop was “fully stocked”?

She had no idea what kind of store she was in.

But Xiao Zi answered seriously, “Yes. Aside from A+ and S-grade, we carry complete sets of everything. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Xu Linlang closed the catalog. “Then I’ll take full sets of A, B, C, and D-grade parts.”

Xiao Zi stammered, “A… a full set?”

All the staff turned to look, eyes wide, whispering among themselves in surprise.

“She wants a full set?”

“Probably just showing off. I know plenty of repair techs who don’t even buy full sets—usually just the parts that wear out fastest.”

The supervisor cleared her throat and walked over in high heels, stopping in front of Xu Linlang. “Customer, if you want full sets, you’ll need to pay the full amount upfront before we can pull them from storage. Otherwise, if you back out, it would waste a huge amount of manpower and resources.”

She shot Xiao Zi a side glance. “Did you even give the customer a full quote?”

Xiao Zi shook her head.

The supervisor smirked like she’d expected as much, and began bringing up a holographic calculator to tally the total.

Before she finished, Xu Linlang handed a card to Xiao Zi. “No need to calculate. Just charge it to this.”

When she’d recharged her virtual balance earlier, Xu Linlang had discovered that her star-coin account qualified her for a black card. The black card linked directly to her account, so purchases were charged automatically—no more tedious repeated top-ups.

The supervisor’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. She knew very well what that card meant.

Anyone who could pull out a black card in the real world was either rich or powerful—basically the top tier of society.

And she had just acted all high and mighty toward this client. That was beyond arrogant.

She took a deep breath, stepped in front of Xiao Zi, and bowed. “My apologies, we didn’t treat you properly. Please, allow me to handle your order personally.”

Xu Linlang gave her a sideways glance. “No need. Let Xiao Zi do it—I like her.”

The other clerks nearly choked on their regret. If they’d known, they would’ve tried to cozy up to this girl. Now the chance had fallen right into Xiao Zi’s lap.

Xiao Zi herself froze in shock. No one had ever been this kind to her.

Because she was of beast-folk blood, her coworkers all excluded her. Coupled with her shyness, she hadn’t closed a single deal since joining the shop.

Even if she managed to approach a customer, the more silver-tongued clerks would swoop in and steal them.

No client had ever insisted that only she serve them.

And if she couldn’t complete a sale soon, the manager would fire her. No boss would keep a salesperson with no numbers.

Yet today, she’d met this girl.

Xiao Zi blinked hard, turned away to wipe her eyes, then took the black card and processed the payment, calling the storeroom to start packing.

When she came back with the storage ring, she found the store manager himself sitting by the sofa, personally pouring tea for the girl.

Still… even with such a large order, it shouldn’t be enough to warrant the manager’s personal reception.

Unless it was because of the black card.

Xu Linlang accepted the storage ring and, despite the manager’s obsequious fawning, left the store.

She had no idea how much good fortune her appearance that day had just brought Xiao Zi.