Chapter 76 : Stealing Business

“Nothing else matters, just make sure I have a hairstyle for my wedding,” Qin Xiaoting said eagerly. She had wanted curly hair for a long time but could never achieve the perfect look, no matter how hard she tried.

“This won’t be hard. Leave it to me,” Jiang Li reassured her.

After finishing their shopping, Qin Xiaoting stayed with her “relatives” as usual, then headed to the black market to set up a stall selling braised meat.  

Ever since the skinny monkey at the entrance tried the braised meat once, he became completely obsessed. Whenever Qin Xiaoting set up her stall, he’d show up to buy. Now, he was squatting in front of the stall, his eyes gleaming.  

“Give me half a pound of braised pork intestines, and more braised duck hearts. Sister, give me two extra spoonfuls of the braised soup, I’ll save it for noodles tonight.”  

After dealing with Shouhou a few times, Qin Xiaoting had a good understanding of his background. He was a lonely man, and though his food costs didn’t leave him much, most of his money went towards eating.  

“Alright, I’ll pack it for you.”  

“Thank you, sister. You’re really like family to me.”  

As Jiang Li was laying out the hairbands, Shouhou approached and said, “Brother, I saw someone selling hairbands at the market yesterday. He looks a bit like you. You should keep an eye on him.”  

Jiang Li was surprised. Honestly, copying someone online wasn’t hard, but she still felt uneasy that a competitor appeared so soon.  

As they were talking, a man in his thirties, with a short, round face and a straight posture, approached diagonally across from Jiang Li. He looked like a cook.  

He set up his stall and began copying everything: the wooden board, the plain cloth, and even Jiang Li’s advertising slogan. What was even more frustrating was that he was selling the items 20 cents cheaper than Jiang Li’s.  

Qin Xiaoting was furious as soon as she saw it. “Lizi, this person is so shameless, this is straight-up plagiarism!”  

Jiang Li stepped away from the stall and said, “I’ll go have a look.”  

When the man saw Jiang Li approaching, he initially tried to cover his work. But seeing he couldn’t hide it anymore, he shamelessly let Jiang Li see what he was doing.  

Jiang Li wasn’t in a hurry. She looked carefully at the hairbands he had displayed, then picked them up to examine their quality.  

It seemed like he had made them in a rush. The stitching was rough, and the edges of the hairbands weren’t aligned.  

To save fabric, he didn’t bother making the folds for the large intestine hairbands, making his product much lower in quality than Jiang Li’s.  

But his low prices were tempting. In the few minutes Jiang Li spent observing, several groups of people stopped by the man’s stall to browse.  

“Hey, is that the stall selling hair ties?”  

“Why are there two stalls?”  

Two girls, dressed in leather shoes and expensive clothes, hesitated between Jiang Li’s and the man’s stall. The middle-aged man quickly greeted them. “Girls, you’ve come to the right place. We were the first to start selling these, so we’re the real deal. You’ll see when you check it out.”  

The two girls squatted in front of the man’s stall, picking up items and talking quietly to each other.  

“I think something’s off. This style seems a little different from my cousin’s. The color is different too.”  

One girl picked up a blue hairband that looked like a copy. “Look at the color. Isn’t it darker than my cousin’s? It looks kind of tacky.”  

“I heard my cousin said it’s a couple running the stall. Maybe we should check the other stall?”  

The middle-aged man noticed they were about to leave and hurried to keep them. “Girls, our price is 20 cents cheaper. It’s the same product.”  

Jiang Li sneered. “It’s clearly plagiarism, but you still have the nerve to claim you’re the original. Wife, bring out our new models!”

Qin Xiaoting immediately responded loudly, showcasing Jiang Li’s new product, a red silk headband with a small rosebud on it.

The other one was a white silk headband with a dark green ribbon and a camellia in the center.

As soon as these two hairbands appeared, they instantly caught the attention of the two girls.

“Your hairbands are so pretty, can I try one?”

“Of course, this is our sample, specially for customers to try,” Jiang Li said as she took the initiative to style their hair and handed them a mirror for them to admire.

“Look, they’re really nice. Boss, I want both.”

“Me too, give me one of each. And also the one with the white ribbon.”

“Should we buy two for cousin Jane?” asked the younger girl to the other. “Look, there are only a few left on the stall. If she doesn’t get a new one, she’ll definitely be angry with us.”

“Then take two more. How much is that?”

“Girls, these two flower designs are two dollars each, and the silk headband is one dollar and fifty cents. The total comes to thirteen dollars and fifty cents. Since you’re regular customers, I’ll give you a discount and let it go for thirteen dollars. This is just for you, don’t tell anyone else.”

Jiang Li lowered the price and carefully packed the hairbands in nice paper for them.

The older girl asked curiously, “How do you know we were referred by a regular customer?”

“I remember all the customers who come to my stall. You two look a bit like some of my past customers, both of you are as beautiful as flowers. Beautiful people are always unforgettable.”

Although they knew it was flattery, who doesn’t enjoy compliments? The two girls were very pleased and even mocked the middle-aged stall owner as they left.

“Bah! He copied someone else’s work and still dares to call it authentic. How shameless! Let’s go tell others not to be fooled by him.”

As soon as they spoke, two customers who had been lingering at the stall left. The middle-aged man’s face darkened, and he glared at Jiang Li in anger.

The price difference did affect the business a bit. Many customers who had initially come for the style turned to the middle-aged man after noticing his lower prices.

Only a small group of people who had higher standards for product quality returned to Jiang Li’s stall.

Qin Xiaoting was anxious and paced around. She whispered, “Lizi, let’s deal with this plagiarist and make sure he never dares to enter the black market again!”

Jiang Li shook her head. “No need to rush. Look, he’s actually helping us screen customers. Those who want to bargain, love to haggle, and have dirty hands are all going to his stall.”

The middle-aged man’s stall was crowded. Jiang Li saw an elderly woman eyeing the goods, and while the man was busy with money, she stuffed two hairbands into her sleeves.

Others were haggling relentlessly. “Your stuff isn’t worth more than a dollar and three cents! It’s just a small piece of cloth, make it cheaper. I’ll buy it for eighty cents.”

The middle-aged man was anxious but couldn’t stop the bargaining. In the end, he had no choice but to sell one, figuring it was better than nothing at eighty cents.

As soon as he agreed, a woman with a long face rolled her eyes. Seeing how quickly he agreed, she thought she could get an even better deal. She immediately said, “Sixty cents, sixty cents, I’ll take two.”

Before the man could respond, she threw down one dollar and twenty cents, took two hairbands, and left.

When the man picked up the money, he saw it was actually just one dollar and one cent.