"The garment factory is going to be sold?" Zhen Zhen was interested when she heard it: "I'll call Sun Rende later and ask him to allocate funds to you first. As long as the government doesn't treat us as suckers, we will definitely buy this factory."
Wang Xinzhi sounded confident: "Don't worry, boss. I will definitely take over this factory."
Zhenzhen chuckled twice: "From now on, the clothing factory will be fully handed over to you. You must hand over the furniture factory to Director Sun. Don't let him be so busy that he has no time to eat."
"I know, otherwise Sister Sun would be unhappy." Wang Xinzhi laughed heartily and said, "I have already discussed the candidate for deputy with Director Sun, and we can decide after you review it."
Zhen Zhen immediately said, "You don't need my review. Since I'm handing the factory over to you, I naturally believe that you can do everything well."
Wang Xinzhi was deeply touched by Li Mingzhen's trust. A gentleman would die for his confidant. Having an investor like this who not only provided money but was willing to give him power and trusted him wholeheartedly, Wang Xinzhi felt that Li Mingzhen was worthy of being his mentor.
Zhenzhen didn't notice Wang Xinzhi's excitement. She wrapped her fingers around the phone line twice and asked curiously, "Last time we cooperated with the garment factory on several business deals. Logically, as long as they operate normally, they can at least last until the end of the year. Did the factory director make some strange decision again?"
Wang Xinzhi thought of the warehouse full of army green cotton cloth, and suddenly he had a headache: "He bought a lot of army green cotton cloth to make green military uniforms, intending to use green military uniforms to seize the autumn clothing market." Wang Xinzhi laughed helplessly when talking about this: "But now ordinary people don't buy that as a coat. As soon as the sample was made, there was no way to deal with it. No store was willing to buy it. I think if it weren't for the special period in the past few years when we could only wear fixed styles of clothes, the clothing factory would have closed down long ago just because of Si Yaren and his gang."
Zhenzhen nodded in agreement. In the past few years, the streets were full of green military uniforms and gray jackets. From young to old, people didn't have to worry about what to wear. Anyway, these were the only things they could wear. If they wore bright colors, they would be criticized, not to mention new styles of clothes. When Zhenzhen took the college entrance examination, there was a university that explicitly stipulated that no one wearing jeans would be admitted. But then again, if they hadn't been suppressed for so long, the clothing business wouldn't be so good now.
After thinking about the fashion trends for a while, Zhenzhen came up with an idea: "Don't waste that batch of army green cotton cloth after the clothing factory buys it. Make it into military coats."
"Military coat?" Wang Xinzhi was a little puzzled. In his eyes, a military coat was not much more fashionable than a green military uniform.
Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Nowadays, the number of dance halls in the capital has increased from one to three, attracting many fashionable men and women. According to the popular trend, dance halls will be sought after by more and more fashionable young people in the future. Girls who are looking for a date will go there. Nowadays, when young people go out to play, they either walk or take the bus, or ride a bicycle if they are better off. It's okay in spring, summer and autumn, but in winter, they have to wear something light and beautiful inside to dance, and they can't do without warm clothes outside."
Wang Xinzhi followed Zhenzhen's idea and found the usefulness of the military coat, but he still thought it was too ugly. Zhenzhen chuckled and said, "Although people's lives are better now than before, their economic conditions are still limited. They can't afford high-end mink furs. Fashionable winter clothes are too short and don't keep you warm. Although the military coat is a bit ugly, it is not that expensive. You can buy one with half a month's salary. Think about it, there is no clothes now that are warmer, thicker, and more windproof than the military coat. Although young people like to be cute, they are also afraid of the cold."
Thinking of the living standards of ordinary people today, Wang Xinzhi had to admire Zhenzhen's keen observation. After Zhenzhen identified the consumer group, he immediately thought of a sales strategy: "Wait until winter, find a few young girls and boys in the factory and let them wear military coats to the dance hall. This trend is learned. As long as more people wear it, it will definitely lead others to follow the trend. Besides, military coats are a simple old tradition. As long as we promote this trend again, I think even middle-aged people, the elderly, and leading cadres will follow suit. After all, when it comes to keeping warm, nothing can compare to military coats."
Zhenzhen smiled: "These army green cotton fabrics are not afraid of being a pain in the ass. We can still survive well by following the fashion trends of TV dramas in the short term. However, if we want to make our clothing factory bigger and stronger, we have to create our own brand. To do this, we must have professional designers. Xinzhi, if we want to make our clothing a nationally renowned brand like Tengda Furniture Factory, it will not be accomplished overnight."
Wang Xinzhi's smile faded, and his face became more serious and solemn: "Don't worry, I will work hard to make long-term and short-term plans for the garment factory, and I will definitely make the garment factory a brilliant one in my hands."
Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Okay, I'll leave it to you. The distribution ratio of the clothing factory and the furniture factory is the same. I'll give you 20% of the shares and 40% of the annual net profit as dividends." Wang Xinzhi's lips moved, and he was so excited that he couldn't speak.
After hanging up the phone, Li Mingzhen called Sun Rende again and explained the matter of approving a sum of money to Sun Rende. Only then did he feel relieved.
Stretching lazily, looking at the profile of Xi Junjie who was reading under the desk lamp, Zhenzhen walked over, hugged Xi Junjie's neck from behind and kissed him on the face.
Xi Junjie turned around and hugged Zhenzhen in his arms and held her on his lap: "Are you done?"
"Yeah." Zhen Zhen leaned in Xi Junjie's arms and breathed a long sigh of relief: "With Sun Rende and Wang Xinzhi in the factory, I don't have to worry too much. It's just that there are too few people I can use. Most of the people in the factory are the kind who command one action at a time, and few are willing to use their brains."
Xi Junjie hugged Zhenzhen and helped her think of ideas: "There is no school in China that specializes in training talents in business management. You can only train some young people who are flexible and daring to explore, and see if you can pick out a few who are loyal and have management skills, or directly introduce high-end talents from abroad like Wang Zhixin. But..." Xi Junjie sighed: "It is too difficult to meet young people like Wang Xinzhi who specializes in business management and is willing to return to China to develop their careers."
"Yeah." Zhen Zhen crossed her arms and sighed, "I'm lucky to have met Wang Xinzhi. It's too difficult to meet a second one. I can only think of other ways to recruit some more management talents."
After touching Zhenzhen's hair, Xi Junjie asked curiously, "Do you have any other ideas for making money?"
Zhen Zhen nodded and looked at Xi Junjie mysteriously: "Let me ask you, whose money is easiest to make?"
Xi Junjie was stunned for a moment, thought for a long time and answered hesitantly: "Could it be rich people? They spend money lavishly, so it is relatively easier for them to make money."
Zhenzhen smiled and stretched out her finger to stroke Xi Junjie's face: "You are wrong. The best money to make is from women! Especially women who love beauty!"
This answer broadened Xi Junjie's thinking. After all, he had lived in the fashion capital for many years. He was deeply touched by the French women's persistence in pursuing beauty. He raised his eyebrows and an idea formed in his mind: "You already have a clothing factory, so what are you going to do? Are you going to acquire a household chemical factory to create your own cosmetics brand, or something more direct, such as opening a beauty salon?"
Zhenzhen sat up straight immediately and gave Xi Junjie a big "boo" on the mouth: "You guessed it! I want to open a beauty salon, but this is harder than opening a furniture factory or a clothing factory." Zhenzhen leaned softly in Xi Junjie's arms and sighed: "We can directly acquire established factories like furniture factories and clothing factories. All we need is excellent management talents, market-leading designs, and perfect sales strategies. But beauty is different. It is still a brand new field in China that no one has touched upon. Not to mention old workers, there are no experienced ones. So if I want to set up a beauty salon, I must first find some reliable and particularly clever girls, send them to Hong Kong Island or even abroad for training, and then have a management talent who can manage the beauty salon well, and it is best if she is a woman, so that the beauty salon has the basic conditions for opening."
Zhenzhen got down from Xi Junjie's arms and took out a piece of paper to write and draw: "If you want to build your own beauty brand, it is essential to enter the cosmetics industry later." Zhenzhen paused with the pen in her hand and scratched her hair in annoyance: "People, I'm short of people."
Xi Junjie smiled and said, "The cosmetics factory is not urgent, but I have someone I can recommend for the beauty salon."
"Who?" Zhenzhen looked at Xi Junjie with her eyes shining with excitement.
Xi Junjie smiled. He held Zhenzhen's hand and gently uttered two words: "My mother!"
***
Ling Xiulan went to France with Xi Changbo. As the wife of a diplomatic ambassador, Ling Xiulan had to participate in many activities of the upper class in France. Participating in such activities is not just about washing your hair and changing clothes. In order to show your importance, you must go to a beauty salon for a beauty treatment. If you are more extravagant, a more high-end beauty salon will also match different dresses and shoes and bags according to the customer's requirements, and make a beautiful hairstyle according to the selected clothes. This set of services is considered complete.
Ling Xiulan has been in France for more than ten years. In addition to attending banquets, she also chooses to go to beauty salons for daily maintenance and hairstyling. Because of this foundation, although Ling Xiulan is now in her forties, she still looks like a person in her thirties, and there are not even slightly deeper wrinkles on her face.
Zhenzhen nodded immediately when she heard her mother-in-law's name, but then she hesitated: "Running a beauty salon is not an easy job. There is no established experience in China, so we have to cross the river by feeling the stones. Besides, we have to take people abroad for study and research in the early stage. What if our mother is exhausted?"
Xi Junjie touched Zhenzhen's hair and said, "Ask our mother later if she is willing. Since she returned to China, her career has been put on hold. She has no other hobbies except growing flowers. If she has something to do, she will probably be happy."
Zhen Zhen nodded: "I'll talk to mom tomorrow."
The next day was a workday. Zhenzhen didn't mention this matter until the family sat together drinking tea and chatting after dinner. However, Zhenzhen was not sure whether Ling Xiulan had the idea of starting a business at first. After hesitating for a long time, Zhenzhen asked tentatively: "Mom, I think Chinese women have gradually changed their thinking in the past two years. They pay more and more attention to the beauty of appearance. They like to follow the fashion on TV in terms of clothing and hairstyles. I think since the market prospects for women are so good, I want to open a beauty salon. What do you think?"
Ling Xiulan's eyes lit up immediately. She stood up excitedly and asked Zhenzhen: "Is it a beauty salon that does skin care?" Seeing Zhenzhen nodded, Ling Xiulan praised sincerely: "This is a great idea. Women must pay attention to maintenance, especially regular care is indispensable." Ling Xiulan didn't even bother to drink tea. She held her chin and pondered for a moment: "I think this can be done, and it has great prospects. Although we ordinary people are not particularly rich now, you should not underestimate women's persistence in beauty. If it were me, I could skip meals, but I must do beauty treatments." Ling Xiulan became more and more excited: "Zhenzhen, where are you going to open your beauty salon? Have you thought about where to get the equipment?"
Seeing Ling Xiulan's enthusiastic look, Zhenzhen smiled bitterly and shook her head: "It's just an idea at the moment, and it will probably take some time to take shape. I work at Huaguoshe to broaden my horizons and accumulate connections, so I can't quit my job to run a beauty salon for the time being. To be honest, I have a ready-made store and funds, but what I lack now is people. My idea is to find someone who knows about beauty to manage the beauty salon, and then find some clever girls to go to professional beauty salons abroad for training for a period of time, so that customers will feel that they are getting great value for money."
"Your idea is right!" Ling Xiulan nodded in agreement, then she frowned slightly: "As for the person in charge of the beauty salon..." She paused and suddenly smiled: "What do you think of me?"
Ling Xiu Lan's words were a pleasant surprise to Zhen Zhen. She had originally just wanted to ask Ling Xiu Lan indirectly to see what she thought, but she didn't expect that Ling Xiu Lan would take the initiative to speak before she even invited her.
"Mom, are you really willing to do it?" Zhenzhen was so excited that she couldn't express it in words. Seeing Ling Xiulan nod with a smile, Zhenzhen immediately said: "It would be great if Mom is willing to take charge of the beauty salon. Mom is beautiful and young-looking. As long as she walks into the store, she will be the living signboard of our beauty salon. But..." Zhenzhen changed the subject, with a little more worry on her face: "It won't be easy to run this beauty salon. Mom won't be as leisurely as she is now."
"Who would want to stay idle at home if there is a career they like?" Ling Xiulan sneered: "Zhenzhen, let me tell you, only when a woman has her own career can her life be colorful and she can live younger and younger. When your father and I just came back, the domestic situation was very tense, which directly extinguished my passion for career. There was not even a small flame left. Although the domestic situation has improved in the past two years, I didn't think of what to do for a while. People get lazier and lazier the longer they stay at home. I have been counting petals at home for several years and I don't even want to use my brain anymore."
"Are you able to think straight now?" Xi Changbo refilled the tea for everyone and looked at Ling Xiulan with a hint of sarcasm.
"Of course." Ling Xiulan's eyes sparkled as she talked about her favorite things: "The beauty industry is still a blank in China. People like me who come back from the fashion capital must be a pioneer."
Zhen Zhen looked at Ling Xiulan's confident look and couldn't help but smile: "Mom, is it a deal?"
"It's settled!" Ling Xiulan clapped her hands and made a decision: "Prepare the materials in the next two days, and I will go to handle the industrial and commercial procedures first. Then we need to quickly decide on a store and find someone to set it up. Then we need to recruit people for training and equipment."
"A beauty salon needs a big place. I have several places with four or five stores connected together." Zhenzhen was thinking about the shops she bought. Before she could decide which one to choose, Ling Xiulan took out a pen and paper and handed it to Zhenzhen: "Write down the address. I'll go take a look tomorrow."
Zhen Zhen wrote down the address, and excitedly hugged Ling Xiu Lan's arm and laughed: "Mom, we will be partners from now on."
Ling Xiulan patted Zhenzhen's hand and smiled: "Not only are you a partner, you're also my boss."
****
Ling Xiulan is a person who does what she says. In the morning, when Zhenzhen and Xi Junjie had just finished washing up and went to the front hall to eat, Ling Xiulan had already eaten and gone out. When Zhenzhen came back in the evening, Ling Xiulan had already cut out a lot of magazines that she brought back from France to prepare the design drawings.
"Mom, what are you busy with?" Zhenzhen took off her coat and leaned over to look at the thick magazines on the table. Ling Xiulan didn't even raise her head. She flipped through a picture of a beauty salon and picked up a pair of scissors to cut it out: "I'm thinking about design and decoration. I'm not very good at drawing designs, so you'll have to do the drawing later."
"Have you chosen a store?" Zhenzhen picked up a bunch of messy blueprints, glanced at the area on them and guessed the location of the store: "Have you chosen the place on East Chang'an Street?"
"Yes." Ling Xiulan kept writing while she spoke: "That location has a large flow of customers. It is the busiest place in our imperial capital. To put it bluntly, there are more people just watching the excitement than elsewhere. In addition, this store is not far from the Imperial Capital Hotel, which makes it easy to attract high-end customers. But this store now has a clothing store. I think the business is booming. If your contract has not expired, they may not be willing to move."
Zhenzhen smiled: "That was a shop I opened when I was in college, just to make some pocket money. As long as you choose a good place, I will immediately have someone vacate the shop."
Ling Xiulan didn't expect that her daughter-in-law not only opened a factory but also a clothing store. She couldn't help but praise her: "Zhenzhen, you have a unique vision. I think the clothes in that clothing store are very novel, and the location of the store is also good. You are really good at doing business."
Zhen Zhen smiled and took Ling Xiu Lan's arm: "Mom, please stop praising me. I will blush if you praise me again."
Ling Xiulan smiled, rubbed her neck, and saw that she was getting hungry. She put down her pen, stood up, and supported Zhenzhen's shoulders: "Let's go, let's go eat, and then we can discuss the design of the store."
The beauty salon has now become a big deal in Ling Xiu Lan's mind. Even when she is eating, she is often distracted, shaking her head and muttering from time to time: "No, it can't be designed like this." Or she would suddenly slam the table, and she didn't know what she was thinking of, but she looked particularly excited, scaring several people.
After a thrilling meal, Zhenzhen had just rinsed her mouth when Ling Xiulan pulled her up and ran away. The father and son stared blankly at the two women's disappearing backs and sighed at the same time.
"I'm beginning to think that asking Zhenzhen to work with my mom is not a good idea." Xi Junjie sighed in distress: "Why did my mom suddenly become such a workaholic?"
Xi Changbo thought of the study room occupied by his wife, so he simply made tea in the front hall: "It's good that your mother has something to do. I was always worried that she would become less and less energetic the longer she stayed away from work. People age quickly when they lose energy. Someone who loves beauty like your mother will definitely not be able to stand it. She became a workaholic because she found something she likes. Even if she is busy and tired, as long as she likes it, she is happy to do it."
Xi Junjie sighed with a sad face: "I think my mother has spirit and energy, but I am losing mine."
Sure enough, that night, Xi Junjie waited in the house until 10 o'clock and still didn't see Zhenzhen come back. Although Zhenzhen was in the front yard and there was a light under the corridor when he passed by, Xi Junjie was still worried and took a thick coat to go out to pick up his wife.
When he walked into the main courtyard, he saw bright lights shining through the glass. Just as Xi Junjie was about to go in, he found that the lights in the wing were also on, so he turned and went to the east wing. When he opened the door, Xi Junjie saw Xi Changbo had changed into pajamas and was leaning on the bed reading a book. Suddenly, a bad premonition came to his mind: "Dad, why are you sleeping here?"
Xi Changbo glanced at Xi Junjie bitterly: "Your mother and your wife are talking excitedly. I don't think they are going to go to bed for a while. Your wife is in the study, and I am embarrassed to stay in the bedroom, so I just brought my pajamas to the east wing. Fortunately, tomorrow is Sunday, so everyone can sleep in. If she goes to work, your wife will definitely be late."
Seeing his son's devastated expression, Xi Changbo looked at him sympathetically: "It's okay. Anyway, you two said that you would have children in a few years, so it doesn't matter if you sleep alone."
"Who said it's nothing?" Xi Junjie looked like a complaining woman: "I've only been married for less than a month, why am I alone in an empty house? No, I'll talk to my mom."
Xi Junjie turned around and walked out. Xi Changbo sat at the window expectantly, thinking that if Xi Junjie took Zhenzhen away, he could still go back to sleep. But he waited and waited, until he yawned continuously and could hardly open his eyelids. Then he muttered in resentment, "Useless boy." Then he reluctantly lay down on the bed and went to sleep.
The clock pointed to eleven o'clock. Xi Junjie watched as his mother overturned all the previous plans and enthusiastically wanted to rebuild a three-story building on the original site to create a professional and luxurious beauty salon. At this time, Xi Junjie decisively picked up Zhenzhen and carried her on his shoulders. Seeing that the clothes Zhenzhen was wearing were not thick enough, Xi Junjie simply pulled over the small quilt that Ling Xiulan used for sleeping in the afternoon and covered Zhenzhen with it.
Ling Xiulan stared in amazement as her son robbed his daughter-in-law like a bandit, and at the end she said, "Don't wake us up tomorrow morning."
Ling Xiulan touched her chin and shouted to her son with ill intention, "Got it. I'll prepare some kidney-strengthening and health-promoting soup for you tomorrow morning."
Xi Junjie paused for a moment and quickly left the main courtyard.
The author has something to say: I went to the gym for two hours this afternoon. Now the flesh on my back hurts and the flesh on my legs keeps shaking. I don’t think I will be able to get up tomorrow. I am so laughing and crying~~~