Chapter 37

This was a condition that no one would refuse, but Lin Qingping proposed that she wanted 50% of the profits. This wasn’t a problem for the factory manager. She was providing the designs and bringing in the orders, so 50% wasn’t excessive.

With the Clothing Factory settled, the next step was to head straight to the Provincial Capital to meet Xiang Hongying at Mei Sheng Department Store. 

They still hadn’t managed to buy reserved seats, so they stood or sat on the floor throughout the journey to the Provincial Capital. However, because this time they weren’t carrying big bags of clothes or large amounts of cash, though tired, they didn’t feel burdened mentally.

When they arrived in the Provincial Capital, it was still morning. They quickly had breakfast, tidied up their clothes, and went to Mei Sheng at a comfortable pace. 

Upon stepping through the doors of Mei Sheng, they explained their purpose, and someone immediately took them to the manager’s office. Upon hearing the news, Xiao Hongying directly came down to greet them. Gu Youlian thought to herself that just last month, when they had come here, they were looked down upon as country bumpkins. She couldn’t help but lower her head, and tears began to well up in her eyes. 

The conversation with Xiang Hongying went smoothly. Xiang Hongying had been eagerly waiting for Lin Qingping’s arrival and, this time, placed a large order directly with her.

The total amounted to 2,000 pieces, including around 1,000 pieces of already released styles and 1,000 pieces of new styles, with no samples of the new styles even seen.

Xiang Hongying also made a request of Lin Qingping: “Comrade Qingping, I’m taking a big risk with such a large order. I have a condition: you cannot supply to other shopping malls. I must be your exclusive supplier.” 

Lin Qingping hesitated for a moment and expressed her difficulty in agreeing to this. Xiang Hongying carefully considered it and then said: “At the very least, you have to promise me that you won’t supply to anyone else within our province. If other shopping malls want the goods, they must come through me.” In fact, this was essentially the model of an exclusive regional distributor.

Lin Qingping still admired Xiang Hongying’s business acumen. No wonder she could be a manager, able to come up with such forward-thinking models on the spot. It was impressive. “Sure!” Lin Qingping agreed readily.

When it came to signing the formal contract for the 2,000-piece order, an issue arose. In that era, it was unheard of for individuals and companies to sign contracts, at least in their region. Lin Qingping had anticipated this and smiled, saying: “I’m really glad that we could reach a cooperation agreement with Manager Xiang today. Let’s consider it settled. Manager Xiang, when would be convenient for you? Our factory manager can come to sign the contract then.”

“Factory manager? You… have a factory?” Manager Xiang had been curious about this matter for a while.

“Yes, would the day after tomorrow work for you?” Lin Qingping asked.

“Of course, that works.” Xiang Hongying replied, without saying anything more. The 2,000-piece order was not the small one or two hundred pieces from before, where any random promise could be easily taken on. She also wanted to see the strength behind Lin Qingping. 

As a result, Lin Qingping did not return immediately. After leaving Mei Sheng, her first task was to go to the Post Office to call the Clothing Factory’s manager and explain the situation to him. Originally, Lin Qingping expected to need some persuasion to convince Director Hu, but unexpectedly, he agreed immediately, saying he would take tonight’s train to the Provincial Capital. 

Lin Qingping then arranged for Gu Youlian and Du Gen to stay in the Provincial Capital. It was their first time staying in a hostel, and Gu Youlian found it fascinating at first, touching everything and looking around. But once the novelty wore off, a greater sense of frustration crept in.

She sighed and said to her husband, Du Gen: “Genzi, do you think, in just over a month of following younger sister-in-law, we’ve seen more of the world than we ever did in our lives? We’ve been on a train, arrived in the Provincial Capital, eaten at fancy restaurants, stayed in a hostel… After this, I’m afraid we won’t get another chance like this…”

“Why not?” Du Gen didn’t understand her words.

“Look, younger sister-in-law has partnered with Director Hu, and with so many workers in the factory, there’s no need for us to make clothes anymore.” Gu Youlian said anxiously.

“Did you forget? Didn’t younger sister-in-law ask us if we’d be willing to work with her? How could she not need us?” Du Gen pointed out.

“Well, I didn’t think it would come to that!” Gu Youlian sighed.

“Why wouldn’t it come to that?” Lin Qingping’s voice suddenly came from the door.

“Bottle… Pingzi…” Gu Youlian was caught off guard and felt a bit embarrassed.

Lin Qingping didn’t hold it against her but instead asked Du Gen: “Du Gen, tell me, what do you think you could do?”

Du Gen, eager to speak up, said: “If I say something wrong, don’t laugh at me. I’m just a country bumpkin and don’t know much.”

“Go ahead!” Lin Qingping encouraged him.

“I was thinking, you said we need to grow bigger. Originally, I thought we could expand into a neighboring city. Some people even came here specially by car to buy our clothes! But now that Manager Xiang doesn’t want us to sell there, we can go to another province! There are so many provinces in the country, and our clothes could be sold nationwide!” Du Gen spoke with a natural flair for sales. His ancestors had been peddlers who walked from street to street, and it was in his blood.

“We don’t need to make clothes anymore! We just sell clothes!” Du Gen’s confidence grew the more he spoke. This was his area of expertise!

Gu Youlian perked up as well, looking at Lin Qingping. “Pingzi, is he right?”

Lin Qingping nodded: “Pretty much, the idea is sound, but as for how we’re going to sell, we’ll need to plan it carefully.”

“Of course! We’ll listen to you when the time comes!” Du Gen was delighted to receive her affirmation.

“Alright! Let’s go eat first.” Lin Qingping said, full of energy.

Gu Youlian had been thinking about this issue for a while—where would they eat while staying at the hostel? Did the hostel include meals? She had seen Pingzi paying, and for two rooms, it cost only one yuan per night! How much food could one buy with a single yuan?

“Does the hostel charge for meals?” Gu Youlian asked anxiously.

Lin Qingping smiled: “We’re not eating at the hostel today. Let’s go have something fresh.”

Lin Qingping led them to a Western restaurant. In her previous life, she had eaten steak here. She had to admit, although she had experience in the food industry herself, this restaurant made really good steaks. She had often exchanged cooking tips with the restaurant boss. However, at that time, the boss was still the boss’s father. The boss she knew was just a young lad! He was probably still going through his rebellious phase…

Using her memories from her previous life, she found the location of the steakhouse. As a century-old establishment, it didn’t have particularly fancy décor yet; the storefront was very simple. When they entered, the boss had a kindly face—it was indeed the father of the young boss she knew! 

Gu Youlian sat down, glancing around, unsure how to order. “What… what is all this food?” She felt more nervous than when she had treated Manager Xiang last time, whispering to Du Gen.

Du Gen whispered back, trying to reassure her: “Don’t worry, just follow Pingzi’s lead.”

Then, he spoke openly to Lin Qingping: “Pingzi, you order. We don’t know what to choose.”

Lin Qingping took charge and ordered three steaks, one salad, one roasted pigeon, and three desserts.