Deluxe's Unusualness

The next morning, when Bai Thi and Lua Tia were both away, Bai Ly made his move.

"Young master, you want to visit the family business?" Melina asked. She was the maid that carried Bai Ly when he first came to this world.

The small boy nodded, speaking childlessly, "I want to see! I heard we have a beautiful store in the market. I want to go see!"

"But Master and Lady isn't here right now. I need their permission…"

"Oh please, Melina! Just bring me there. It's just a quick visit," he nagged while dragging her arm left and right.

The young maid was contemplating, but the urges from the little boy ultimately swayed her. "Alright, but please always stay by me at all times."

"Yay!"

—

Melina and Bai Ly visited the town market. It wasn't the first time Bai Ly had seen this place. But in the past, the family would pass it by riding in a horse cart, so he couldn't explore the market.

The Bai family's clothing store, Universal, was located in the busiest section of the market, a prime location that every visitor would see whenever they shop around. It was quite big, around three times the size of the other shops. It was built of rare woods that always give a slight polish shine all year round, so it was very eye-catching.

"Wow, so big!"

Looking across the road, he also noticed a store not smaller than Universal. The sign on it said [Deluxe].

Melina saw the kid being so excited seeing the store and was happy that she agreed to take him there. "Young master, remember to stay with me."

Bai Ly nodded as they entered.

"Melina!" the employees there immediately recognized her and surrounded her.

"They know you?" Bai Ly asked.

"Yes," Melina replied as she greeted them simultaneously. "Whenever I go out to buy groceries, I would go by to visit the shop."

After the greetings, an employee noticed the little boy beside her and pointed it out. "Melina, who is this pretty kid? Is he your nephew or something?"

The employees turned their attention to Bai Ly, who had already hidden himself behind his maid.

"He's not my nephew," Melina quickly denied. "He is our young master, Bai Ly."

The employees all jumped back in shock and quickly apologized to Bai Ly for scaring him, asking him to forgive them and not telling Bai Thy. It was an effort for Melina to finally settle them down. 

"Young master and I are just shopping. I brought him here just to see how our shop is doing," Melina reassured everyone. Meanwhile, Bai Ly already bypassed all of them and wandered around the store, seeing how the clothes and accessories were displayed.

- We're using mannequins to show how the clothes fit the body. That's good.

- Using light to brighten the rings and necklace. Not bad.

- Hm… We're presenting all the available stock of the same item. That's not the best thing to do.

…

After going around the shop and noting the current state of Universal, Bai Ly looked back and saw Melina was still busy chatting with the employees. He was thinking if he should remind them to go back to work, but seeing how there was no customer in the shop, he ignored it.

- Right, Deluxe is attracting all the customers… Since Melina still didn't notice I was missing, let me go check it real quick.

With that thought, he swiftly snuck out of Universal and headed across the street, where Deluxe was located.

The moment he stepped inside, the atmosphere was nothing like Universal. Deluxe was full of life. With sounds of chatting all around. The customers were endless, trying different clothes and posing in front of mirrors.

- They're all too busy to notice me. That's good.

Bai Ly swiftly went and analyzed the shop. Whenever an employee would come by, he acted as if he had a relationship with a random customer without them knowing.

- Just like the conversation between Father and Asis, the prices are generally twenty percent less than ours.

- Hm… They have more employees than Universal. How are they making profits?

- These employees are all young beautiful women, and their uniforms cover them head to toe. That's gonna be uncomfortable in this heat.

Then, an employee passed him and something caught his attention.

- There's redness from her neck, and her her wrists as well. Those look like injuries.

- The other employees also have injuries and scars under the uniform if you have keen eyes. What's going on here?

He kept that question in mind and returned to Universal just when Melina was about to look for him. "Young master?" she called.

"I'm here," he replied right next to her.

"I'm so sorry. I was distracted."

"It's okay. I already explored the store while you were talking."

"Oh is that so? Are you satisfied?"

"Yeah," Bai Ly said and yawned. "I want to go home."