From receiving the task on Monday, to handing over the quotation to Wenqin on Wednesday, to Mr. Sun making the final decision on Friday, Zhan Xi has basically completed the task of sending the hot-embossed ornaments to the Japanese.
The next step is to keep in touch with the other party until the work is completed a week later.
The flower Mr. Sun selected was the pot of "Good Luck", and the party he cooperated with was naturally "Xiao Yu Yu Handmade Hot-pressed Flowers", because their quote was the cheapest, only three thousand six hundred.
Zhan Xi explained to Mr. Sun: "This... is a limited-time special offer. There is only this one model. The original price is six thousand!"
Mr. Sun was very satisfied and praised Zhanxi for her high work efficiency and completely handed the matter over to her.
Regarding the price of three thousand six hundred, "Xiao Yu Yu Handmade Perm Flowers" actually refused to acknowledge it at first. Zhan Xi then sent the screenshots of the chat between himself and "Hao Da Yi Tou Yu" on the P station, and the other party had no choice but to agree.
After paying the deposit, Zhan Xi finally had the opportunity to ask the other party a question.
Strawberry Cake: You and the big fish are not actually the same person, right
Xiaoyuyu Handmade Hot Stamping: Honey, why do you ask
Strawberry Cake: You two both have different tones of voice.
Xiao Yuyu Handmade Ironing Flowers: Dear, to be honest, he is a young man in my studio, he is not well educated, sometimes his words may not express what he wants to say, please forgive me.
A young man with little education... I see.
Zhan Xi held his chin up and thought to himself, if that was the case, the owner of that pair of beautiful hands should be "a big fish". What kind of person is he? A boy in his teens or twenties? How could his hands be so skillful
Fang Xu had a nice attitude online, but he was so angry that he was vomiting blood in private. It would be more depressing if this deal was done than if it wasn't done. If his peers knew about this offer, he would definitely be hated, so he was furious when communicating with Luo Jingyu.
Fang Xu: You are sick! You are still connected through the Internet! You are doing a business that is losing money!
What a big fish: no loss.
Fang Xu: I want to get 4,000 yuan for my share! Not even a single gift!
What a big fish: OK.
Fang Xu: This customer is very troublesome. He asked me to send the production progress every day, saying that he was worried that the product would be ugly. I’m too lazy to pass on the message from you, so I’ll just give him your WeChat account when the time comes.
What a big fish: Good.
Zhan Xi and Fang Xu discussed the delivery method. Fang Xu suggested express delivery. Zhan Xi was worried that the express packaging would ruin the shape of the flowers. Fang Xu repeatedly assured him that there was absolutely no problem with the packaging, and only then did Zhan Xi report the company address to him.
Fang Xu was delighted when he saw it.
Xiao Yuyu handmade embossing: Dear, are you in Qiantang
Strawberry Cake: Yeah.
Xiaoyuyu Handmade Hot Flower: What a coincidence! My studio is also in Qiantang, so there is no need for express delivery. When the time is right, I will find someone to deliver it to your door, and you can save the packaging.
Zhan was overjoyed and made an appointment to deliver the goods in person on Friday afternoon a week later.
Fang Xu sent her a WeChat account and asked her to add him as a friend, saying that it was inconvenient to chat privately on the QQ site, so he would use WeChat to report progress to her every day.
Zhan Xi searched and found out that the other party's nickname was "What a Big Fish" and his avatar was a blue cartoon whale. This ID gave Zhan Xi an inexplicable surprise and he quickly sent a friend request, but still did not open his circle of friends.
Not long after, the other party approved the application.
Now that you've added a big fish, you can start chatting.
Egg Pudding: Hello!
What a big fish: Hello.
Egg Pudding: It was you who chatted with me on P station that night, right
Luo Jingyu hesitated for a moment and answered.
What a big fish: Yes.
Egg Pudding: Are you also going to make the flower pot I ordered
What a big fish: Yes.
Egg Pudding: Are you the one who will be delivering the goods next Friday
Luo Jingyu frowned and looked at the screen of his mobile phone. The avatar of Egg Pudding was a round little eggshell man. He thought, is this person the sugar-fried egg? Does he like to eat eggs very much
What a big fish: Are you in Qiantang
Egg pudding: Yes~ [happy]
What a big fish: Now we can't know who is delivering the goods.
Egg Pudding: Okay, it’s up to you to arrange it. Please make it more delicate for us. It’s a gift for someone. Please, please, thank you!
Egg pudding: cat acting cute.jpg
Hmm... Luo Jingyu judged in her heart that the other party should be a young girl.
—
After a week's work, Zhan Xi finally had a weekend off without having to review his homework.
She secretly made an appointment with Luo Xinran to go house-hunting on Saturday, and explained to Qin Fei on Friday night that she had to meet her college classmates the next day and would not be able to pick up Weiwei from the Children's Palace to attend the interest class.
This was the job Zhan Xi took on after Weiwei started primary school. My nephew was also very hard-working. He had classes from 9am to 10:30am and from 1:30pm to 4pm every Saturday. He left early and came back late, and had to find a place to eat and rest in between.
Zhan Jie couldn't be relied on, and Qin Fei sometimes had to work overtime on Saturdays, so Zhan Xi volunteered to be picked up and dropped off by her. But over the past three months, even if Qin Fei didn't work overtime, the job of picking up and dropping off had unknowingly become Zhan Xi's responsibility.
Qin Fei's face turned unhappy after hearing this. Zhan Jie asked, "Huan Huan, which university classmate are you meeting? Is it Qing Qing or the one with the surname Luo?"
Among the three roommates, Yao Ying returned to her hometown to work, while Zhao Qingqing and Luo Xinran both stayed in Qiantang, the former studying for a master's degree in the school and the latter working.
"Luo Xinran." Zhan Xi answered, having a bad feeling in his heart.
Sure enough, Zhan Jie frowned: "Why are you still in contact with her? Didn't I tell you not to associate with her? She is not a decent girl, she smokes and drinks, aren't you afraid of being led astray by her!"
Zhan Xi hung his head and said nothing.
"If mom finds out, she will not only scold you but also blame me. Listen to me, there is nothing you can do while you are in school, but after you graduate, you should have less contact with her!" Zhan Jie said in a serious tone.
Zhan Xi still didn't respond. It was impossible for her to agree, but she didn't want to refute. In the eyes of her mother and brother, Luo Xinran had already been labeled as "not a good person", and no amount of explanation would be of any use.
Zhan Jie couldn't bear it when he saw his sister's depressed look, so he said earnestly, "We are doing this for your own good. You are a grown-up now, you should be careful when making friends. Bad company breeds bad people, understand? Okay, okay, come back early tomorrow for dinner."
Zhan Xi whispered, "I won't come back for dinner. I'll eat outside."
Qin Fei saw Zhan Jie's face change, and interrupted him before he could speak: "It's normal for a girl to eat out occasionally. As a brother, you are too nosy."
Zhan Jie sighed and stopped making things difficult for Zhan Xi. Qin Fei happily took her husband's arm and asked, "Hey, are you going to work overtime tomorrow? If you don't, let's go out for dinner tonight. I haven't taken Weiwei out for a big meal for a long time."
Zhan Xi glanced at her and rolled back to his room silently.
—
On Saturday afternoon, Zhan Xi met Luo Xinran at Qingquemen subway station. Because Zhan Xi was preparing for an exam, they hadn't seen each other since the National Day. Zhan Xi was very happy to see each other at this time.
She liked Luo Xinran very much. What was wrong with smoking and drinking? What was wrong with hanging out in bars? What was wrong with changing boyfriends all the time? Luo Xinran had the one thing Zhanxi longed for the most, and that was freedom.
However, this time, Zhan Xi was shocked by Luo Xinran's appearance. She was wearing a woolen hat, and her original chestnut long hair was nowhere to be seen from the back of her neck. However, the rose tattoo on the back of her neck was clearly visible.
"Where is your hair?!" Zhan Xi asked with wide eyes.
Luo Xinran casually took off his hat to show her that he had a crew cut with only gray hair on his temples. He asked, "Is he handsome?"
"Oh my God! Why did you shave your hair?!" Zhan Xi was really shocked.
"Don't mention it. Pipixia, that idiot, got mad at me because I cut my hair short a while ago. I got so angry that I shaved all my hair off and kicked him out." Luo Xinran put on his woolen hat again and asked with a smile, "Looks pretty cool, right? It's just too cold."
Zhan Xi: “…”
She was even more shocked: "No! What? You broke up with Pipixia?"
"Well, you meddle in other people's business. You really think you're an important person." Luo Xinran is about the same height as Zhan Xi, both close to 1.7 meters. But unlike Zhan Xi who wears a pink down jacket and a sweet and ladylike style, Luo Xinran has always been fond of a cool and hard style. She wears a military green cotton jacket, ripped jeans and riveted boots. Her outfit is the kind that would make Chi Guilan pinch her philtrum when she sees it.
The two girls talked as they walked and told each other about their recent situations. After finding an agency, a male agent named Liu took them to look at houses nearby.
Among the several residential areas close to the building where Zhanxi works, the most suitable one for renting a house is a community called Qingque Jiayuan, because there are many small-sized apartments with elevators there, which the landlords bought for the purpose of renting out.
After viewing two houses, Zhan Xi and Luo Xinran followed the agent to view the third one. This house is located at the southernmost part of the community, on the eighth floor, Room 802. The balcony has an unobstructed street view and can see the building where Zhan Xi works a few hundred meters away. The house has one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen and one bathroom. It is not large and is clean and tidy.
Agent Liu said: "This apartment was renovated only a year ago, and it has all the furniture and appliances. It's very suitable for a girl to live alone. If you like it, you should hurry up. Small apartments like this are very popular."
The two girls looked around inside and out, and Luo Xinran said, "This set is not bad, better than the two sets we just saw."
Zhan Xi was also quite satisfied. She asked about the rent, which was 2,300 yuan a month, three months' payment and one month's deposit. She had more than 20,000 yuan in savings, which was enough.
She thought that she would have to tell Zhan Jie about this when she got home, and she would inevitably get a scolding. But when she thought about moving out and living on her own, Zhan Xi was mostly excited and expectant.
After they had seen enough, Agent Liu said, "Let's go. There's one last set."
"Okay." Zhan Xi put on a mask. It had been a week, and her cold had not healed. Instead, it was getting worse, and her stuffy nose made her uncomfortable.
—
The order was accepted and the delivery would be made a week later, so Luo Jingyu prepared to start work.
He took out the "Good Luck" lottery ticket and studied it carefully again.
Over the years, he has been making embossed flowers, and most of them are actually jewelry, hair accessories and clothing. Occasionally, he also helps teachers to set up exhibitions and make large items. Even when making floral ornaments, he designs them himself and does not make them according to pictures like he does now.
This is similar to a composition assignment. Luo Jingyu knows the needs of the customer. It is not necessary to make it exactly like the picture, which is impossible. The customer requires the charm of the flower pot to be elegant and beautiful, and the style to be exquisite and delicate, so that people can feel the sincerity of the craftsman when sending it out.
This is a traditional Chinese flower arrangement, using a jar as the flower container, with an upright asymmetrical composition. In the lower left corner are three sunflower lilies, with petals of varying shades of purple-red, gradually fading to white at the edges, and dark purple spots on the petals; in the center and lower right corner are three branches of crane orchids of varying heights, in different shapes; the green leaves of the entire flower arrangement are cypress and broad-leaved euonymus, layered one on top of the other, and each one is not easy to make.
Both sunflower lilies and crane orchids are flower shapes that Luo Jingyu is familiar with. There is no need to buy fresh flowers to observe. The difficulty lies in pruning, adjusting the flower shape and the final assembly.
But at this stage, the first thing he has to do is to go out and buy a small tank.
—
Agent Liu and the two girls were standing on the eighth floor waiting for the elevator.
The elevator stopped, the door slowly opened, and there was a person standing inside.
Zhan Xi looked up at him. He was a tall young man with fluffy hair. He was wearing a black shirt and black pants. He had a black mask on his face and his hands were in his pockets.
When the three people entered the elevator one by one, the man's eyes revealed on the mask lowered, and he didn't look at them. He also moved a step to the corner, leaning his shoulders against the wall of the elevator, looking lazy.
The elevator door closed and went down. No one spoke in the car.
Zhan Xi stood closest to the man and glanced at him secretly. He could see the long and thick eyelashes of his right eye, which blinked gently twice.
“Ding”, we’ve reached the first floor.
The elevator door opened and four people filed out, with the man in black at the end.
After they walked out of the apartment, Liu said to the two girls, "Come with me. There is another apartment on the west side of the community."
Zhan Xi turned his head and found that the young man had put on the hood of his down jacket and was walking quickly towards the gate of the community with his hands in his pockets.
She didn't think much about it, but Luo Xinran whistled, nudged her with his elbow, and whispered, "Hey, it's a handsome guy."
"Huh?" Zhan Xi was puzzled, and turned back to look at the man, leaving only his back figure far away. "The one just now? How did you know? He was wearing a mask."
Luo Xinran said confidently: "His eyebrows, eyes, and nose are all very good-looking. He is also tall and has a perfect frame."
Zhan Xi laughed: "You are just seeing the whole picture through a tube, right?"
"I'm seeing the big picture from the small details." Luo Xinran smiled mischievously, "Weren't you also peeking in the elevator? Don't think I didn't see it."
"How could I peek?" Zhan Xi was glad that she was wearing a mask. Luo Xinran couldn't see her blushing face and teased her, "You seem very regretful. Why didn't you flirt with her just now?"
"Ah..." Luo Xinran touched his woolen hat, "I'm like a terminally ill patient now. I can flirt with handsome guys, but you should do it. My Xier is so pretty!"
Zhan Xi kept shaking his head: "I can't do that. I'm timid. If you ask me to flirt with her, I have to start by saying 'Excuse me, are you a civil servant or a public servant?'"
"You're hopeless!" Luo Xinran laughed and took Zhan Xi's arm. "Let's go. After we look at the last apartment, we'll go eat!"