Chapter 104: Chemical Machinery Factory

Under these social conditions, running a clothing store was more lucrative than many other businesses, and this was no exaggeration.

On the first day, the store’s sales amounted to 1,800 yuan, almost recouping half of the investment in the store.

During this period, Wen Jiajia replenished stock with six shipments of goods. She temporarily enlisted Jiang Ruowang’s help and had Zhong Huisheng call her good friends for assistance to manage the opening day.

By evening, her hands were nearly cramping from counting the money. Although 1,800 yuan wasn’t pure profit, it was still impressive.

Zhong Huisheng remarked, “This makes more money than my family’s shop ever did.”

Wen Jiajia was amazed. She had always wanted to make money but never anticipated doing it this way. She was very tempted to open a clothing factory to further increase her earnings.

A month later, seeing the strong sales performance, Wen Jiajia became more determined to start a garment factory to save money.

Despite the challenges of starting a factory, Wen Jiajia was undeterred. She secured a bank loan, used it to purchase land, and began building the factory.

Land in Puxi was expensive, so she opted to buy property in Pudong.

Wen Jiajia spent half of the loan on purchasing land and constructing the factory, and the other half on acquiring old sewing machines and iron. She then added some wood to refurbish the machines, reducing costs and allowing her to buy the first batch of fabrics and pay the initial salaries.

Finding unemployed young people wasn’t difficult; there were more job seekers than available positions in the city. With the return of educated youth, the factories were soon staffed.

All the factory employees were women with basic sewing skills. Wen Jiajia hired a teacher who trained them in just three days, after which they were able to start working.

Wen Jiajia designed and created the patterns herself, and the samples were unanimously approved by the factory. Some young girls even wanted to buy a few pieces before they were sold.

The factory’s female employees had a strong understanding of women’s aesthetics, and their diverse age range, from teenagers to those in their fifties, helped create clothes that appealed to a broad audience.

Wen Jiajia became deeply engrossed in her career. If Wen Chun and Wen Xuan hadn’t been in their third year of junior high, she might have neglected her family entirely.

By the end of the year, after the factory had shipped three batches of goods, it had firmly established itself in Hai City. Many clothing stores recognized the quality of her factory’s products. Not only clothing stores but also supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores placed orders.

With business booming and orders increasing, Wen Jiajia planned to expand. She bought the land next to the factory and intended to diversify into producing zippers and buttons after the New Year.

Zippers and buttons were in short supply, and manufacturing them promised significant profit.

Due to the high volume of business and orders, Wen Jiajia led her employees to work through New Year’s Eve. When the holidays arrived, each employee received a generous red envelope and benefits. Those who wanted to stay and work during the Chinese New Year for triple overtime pay were encouraged to take time off and spend the holidays with their families.

Even though they were reluctant, Wen Jiajia felt it was necessary.

Wen Jiajia was exhausted. 

Over the past few months, she has been busy with purchasing fabrics, creating samples, conducting quality inspections, and negotiating with merchants. She suspected that the severe hair loss she experienced in the last two months was due to fatigue, and she resolved to avoid such overwork in the future.

Fortunately, she had earned a substantial amount of money from her business. By the early 1980s, Wen Jiajia had become a millionaire, a person of considerable wealth.

Despite this, she felt it wasn’t enough. Housing prices in Hai City were rising rapidly, and the money she had spent on buying a small Western-style house would not be sufficient to buy a shop now. Clearly, prices were increasing, so she needed to save more.

During the Chinese New Year, Wei Dai came to Hai City as well. Both he and Wen Jiajia had lost weight due to their busy schedules. Standing next to each other, they looked like two distressed brothers, as Wen Jiajia had also lost weight.

Zhong Huisheng was quite concerned about this and cooked for the couple every day. Breakfasts included pancakes, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and sometimes freshly baked egg cakes. For lunch, there were various fish and meat dishes, such as braised pork, pork belly, boiled fish, and steamed fish. Zhong Huisheng was dedicated to helping them regain the weight they had lost.

Dinner was similar. Wen Jiajia enjoyed hotpot, so her family had mutton or beef hotpot every other day. Additionally, the aunt sourced red sour soup from a friend in the southwest, so when they got tired of mutton or beef hotpot, they had red sour soup hotpot instead.

The red sour soup was tangy and appetizing, and Wen Jiajia enjoyed it so much that she ate it for four or five days in a row without growing tired of it.

As she resumed work, the weight she had lost came back. Seeing this, the aunt was satisfied.

After the New Year, Wen Jiajia began focusing on expanding the factory and business. She now had a stable fabric supplier, so she no longer needed to spend much time on this aspect.

With the winter clothing styles from before the New Year still in stock, the garment factory enjoyed a rare period of quiet. However, this calm was temporary. Spring arrived early in the south, and after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Wen Jiajia needed to lead the two designers in the factory to design spring clothes.

She had recruited these designers from the south at a high price. Shanghai was considered the most developed city in the country, and Shenzhen, still in its infancy, could not compare. When Wen Jiajia offered a high salary, the designers eagerly accepted.

Although not fashion design graduates, the designers came from families with a background in fashion design. They had gained special talents through this influence. Wen Jiajia appreciated their eagerness to learn. They absorbed the design elements from Wen Jiajia’s samples and used their creativity to create new clothes.

Their sensitivity to trends led them to suggest that Wen Jiajia create clothes for TV actors, which turned out to be a successful venture.

With the two designers on board, Wen Jiajia faced fewer troubles. To retain them and invest in their future, she even offered them dividends.

1982 was a year of vigorous development for the factory. Wen Jiajia successfully established a strong financial base, and the two designers also became millionaires.

The factory had faced difficulties before, but Wen Jiajia chose to buy fabrics from Guangzhou at a high price to ensure a steady supply of raw materials.

Despite some ordinary workers leaving the factory, many stayed because of the high wages and good benefits offered by Wen Jiajia. Some even informed her about attempts to poach her employees, for which she rewarded them.

The two designers were frequently poached, but with their dividends and shares in the factory, they remained loyal. They viewed the factory as their home and were fiercely protective of its profits.

In June, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan took their high school entrance exams. A teacher suggested they consider a technical secondary school, but Wen Jiajia declined the suggestion.

At that time, gaining admission to a technical secondary school was often more challenging than getting into a high school, and students could go directly to work after a few years of study. Fang Mingyan from Wen Jiajia’s hometown had managed to attend a technical secondary school, thanks to the books and notes Wen Jiajia had sent.

Wen Jiajia later learned that Fang Mingyan had slowly completed her junior high school education while Wen Jiajia was away, enabling her to take the entrance exam for a technical secondary school.

Wen Jiajia had also considered inviting Fang Mingyan to work in the factory. Like Hao Qingying, Fang Mingyan studied accounting but ended up as administrative staff in a local school. Wen Jiajia knew that having someone she trusted handle finances was crucial.

Wen Jiajia extended an invitation to Fang Mingyan, who packed her bags and moved with her husband without hesitation.

I hadn’t seen Fang Mingyan for many years, but she hadn’t changed much. She said happily, “I like big cities; otherwise, why would I have put so much effort into studying? Unfortunately, I was assigned to a county town. I’m used to living there, so, of course, I’ll move there if I get the chance.”

The familiar face quickly erased the strangeness brought by time, and Wen Jiajia soon felt close to her again. After all, they were friends who had shared many experiences.

Wen Jiajia assigned Fang Mingyan to the Finance Department and recruited a manager to become the factory director. Fang Mingyan’s husband, who was a driver, also came to work at the factory, which was in need of drivers.

Wen Jiajia rented a house for the couple and advised Fang Mingyan, “If you get the chance, try to buy a house. You don’t know how quickly housing prices have risen in the past two years, especially in Hai City. Houses will definitely become more valuable in the future.”

Fang Mingyan took Wen Jiajia’s advice to heart. Since Wen Jiajia was a childhood friend and would not lie to her, plus her academic background as a graduate of a prestigious university with a degree in economics, Fang Mingyan trusted her advice completely.

Wen Jiajia continued, “Once things settle down, I’ll bring your two children here. Children need to be with their parents. Your older child will start elementary school soon. There’s a good school nearby, and I’ve heard it’s quite good. You can send the younger one to our factory’s kindergarten, which is conveniently located inside the factory.”

Fang Mingyan had a son and a daughter, who were currently living with their grandparents. However, the grandparents also needed to help with other grandchildren, so it was essential to have the children live with Fang Mingyan.

She agreed and planned for her husband to go back and pick up the children once she was settled.

With Fang Mingyan on board and the new factory manager being highly capable, Wen Jiajia felt confident leaving the factory in their hands.

As for Wen Chun and Wen Xuan, after discussing with them, Wen Jiajia decided to keep them in Hai City for their studies. High school education was crucial, and she found that the schools in the provincial capital were not as good as Fudan University High School. The score requirements in Hai City were also lower.

Additionally, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had their own circle of friends in Hai City and were reluctant to leave. Their aunt would stay in Hai City to accompany them, so Wen Jiajia decided it was best for them to continue their education there. She did not visit the school to discuss the transfer and planned to return to Hai City once a week.

As the new school year began, Wei Dai took Wen Jiajia and the lively Xiaomei to the provincial capital. When Xiaomei was old enough for primary school, Wei Dai enrolled her in the school associated with his army. The teachers were strict, and the mischievous Xiaomei tested their patience, leading Wei Dai to rely on the teachers for discipline.

Wen Jiajia felt speechless and thought that Xiaomei deserved a good talk. She reflected on how Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had been similarly mischievous at that age, but she was currently too busy to focus on her children’s upbringing. She was occupied with managing loans, purchasing land, and dealing with machinery updates for her new factory.

Despite the challenges, her enthusiasm for running the garment factory had returned. Although she faced setbacks and occasionally considered giving up, the success of her garment factory made it tempting to open more factories for easy profits.

However, the completion of her long-awaited chemical machinery factory brought her to tears. Unlike the garment factory, this factory had been a dream in the making for years. The more she invested, the higher the sunk cost, but Wen Jiajia had poured a great deal of effort into this factory and held high expectations for it.

Although still small, Wen Jiajia was thrilled to see her long-awaited factory standing before her. It was a business entirely her own.

On the first day of the factory’s opening, it was bustling with activity. Almost all the workers arrived early with smiles, eagerly anticipating their new roles.

As the morning sun broke through the clouds, it cast a golden light on Wen Jiajia’s profile at the factory’s entrance. She looked up at the sign “Fuyang Pharmaceutical Chemical Machinery Factory” with bright eyes and a determined expression.

Fuyang was where she had traveled through time and space and where the original owner and her family had lived. She named the factory “Fuyang” to commemorate her beginnings.

Wen Jiajia was ambitious and aimed to make the factory larger and more successful. Regardless of the time and space, she was competitive and determined to rise to the top of the industry, so more people would hear her name and know her achievements.

-The End-

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