Blocking Hang Xiaowen was not a spur-of-the-moment decision for Wang Shuang.
Last night he had simply switched his phone off to sleep and avoided her calls. The moment he turned it on this morning, he found dozens of unread texts.
Every single one was from Hang Xiaowen.
Because of the character limit, her long “little essays” had been split into many messages. Wang Shuang skimmed two and saw nothing new, so he deleted the rest unread. The only texts allowed to stay long-term on his phone were Li Mengjiao’s. They messaged every day. If he didn’t clear out everyone else’s, how would he have space for hers?
He finished reading and didn’t reply.
By noon Hang Xiaowen lost patience and rang him repeatedly, even threatening to come find him in person to explain.
Wang Shuang had no time to waste arguing with her. He had no classes that afternoon, so he went straight to the hotel to hang out with Wen Ying.
Now, reminded by Wen Ying, he realised he was right. Why give Hang Xiaowen any more chances to pester him? A clean block was the perfect solution!
After blocking her, Wang Shuang felt only one thing: utterly refreshed!
“It might sound heartless, but Senior Sister Hang really does care too much. She’s always fussing over me. I was starting to wonder if I’d suddenly gained an extra older sister.”
Wang Shuang wasn’t incapable of taking advice, but there was a condition: he only listened to people he genuinely admired!
Like Xie Qian and Wen Ying.
Those two were clearly smarter than him, so of course he listened to smart people.
Hang Xiaowen’s mistake was trying to play the wise, caring big sister before she had ever proved her own ability. Once Wang Shuang’s stubborn streak kicked in, he was fully capable of marching over to the girls’ dorm and kicking doors too!
Seeing how decisive Wang Shuang was, Wen Ying dropped the subject and asked about last night’s stocktake instead.
“Have you decided what to do with the clothes? Honestly, Senior Sister Hang may not have much business talent, but her professional skills are decent. The styles she chose are pretty good.”
The clothes could definitely be sold. It was just a question of how.
Selling them in bulk would mean taking a huge loss. Retailing them one by one would be time-consuming and exhausting.
Wang Shuang gritted his teeth. “I’ve made up my mind. This summer I’m not going home to Chengdu. I’ll stay in Shanghai and sell those clothes. Even if I have to set up a stall under a bridge, I’ll recover as much money as possible!”
“Set up a stall?”
Wen Ying gave him a reality check. “That’s nothing like when we used to sell crayfish. In this heat, dragging a huge pile of stock around, exhausted and sunburnt, plus playing cat-and-mouse with the city inspectors every day. Do you really think you can handle that hardship?”
Wang Shuang huffed. “Don’t underestimate me.”
He hadn’t given up on e-commerce, nor did he want to change the product category.
Although he was a management major, his university had originally been a prestigious textile institute. Textile-related subjects were its flagship strength. That was a natural advantage he refused to abandon.
If he was going to do clothing, he had to understand the industry properly.
His first failed start-up had taught him one crucial lesson: the most important things had to stay in his own hands.
Didn’t know how to select styles? Didn’t understand clothing?
Then learn!
He hadn’t known what “public relations” meant either, yet during his internship at Tianjiao he had picked it up just fine.
Last night’s door-kicking interrogation was exactly him putting what he’d learned at Tianjiao into practice. Public opinion could be guided!
A small test, and the results were excellent. Wang Shuang couldn’t help feeling a little proud. “While I clear the inventory, I’ll also observe how young women actually dress and put outfits together. I’m bound to learn something~”
Wen Ying looked at him with new respect.
Was this guy really the type who got a little smarter every time life knocked him down?
She couldn’t resist giving him a further nudge. “It’s excellent that you’re thinking about studying your target customers’ styling habits. That’s a great start. But if you only want to make a bit of pocket money through e-commerce, that’s enough. If you truly want to ride this e-commerce wave and reach the very top of the industry, simply copying others’ outfits won’t cut it. You need the ability to set trends… Have you ever watched fashion shows? The real ones from the top luxury brands!”
Which straight man ever watches fashion shows?!
Wang Shuang shook his head vigorously.
Wen Ying pulled out her laptop and made him start watching right away.
In 2007, internet copyright awareness was weak. With clever use of search, almost anything could be found online.
Wen Ying located two full runway shows from 2005 for him.
After watching, Wang Shuang’s head was full of question marks.
“You want me to select stock based on these shows in future? Some of these clothes look weird even on the models. If ordinary people wore them, it would be a disaster!”
Calling it a “disaster” was already polite. His first reaction had been “demons and monsters”!
On such a high-end stage with perfect lighting, even the models made him confused. On regular people? That was beauty he simply couldn’t appreciate.
Of course, after two full shows, he could recognise the design beauty in some pieces even as a straight man.
Wen Ying knew this guy understood nothing, just like she had been when she first came to Shanghai in her previous life.
People grow.
A chubby kid can slim down. A country bumpkin can transform into a city beauty.
Your starting point doesn’t matter. What matters is that you spend your whole life learning.
“You don’t watch fashion shows the way you just did.”
Wen Ying searched the forums again and, sure enough, found detailed analytical threads on both shows. A popular poster had broken them down with pictures and text, trying to help ordinary people understand runway fashion.
Wang Shuang patiently scrolled through the entire thread.
Between the original post and all the replies, his eyes ached from reading so much.
He had taken in too much new information at once and couldn’t digest it. When he reached the final page, he rubbed his eyes.
“Phew, exhausting…”
He turned his head to say something, then let out a small “eh?”
Wen Ying was wearing a white dress today.
The first moment he saw her, he had thought it looked nice, but he couldn’t say exactly why.
He hadn’t paid it much more attention.
She was his friend, not his girlfriend. He shouldn’t be staring at her outfit. That was his to admire? If Xie-god found out he was looking too much, what if he gouged his eyes out?!
After having fashion-show knowledge forcibly crammed into his brain by Wen Ying, Wang Shuang suddenly connected the dots.
He mentally compared Wen Ying’s dress to the two shows he had just watched and had an epiphany.
Wen Ying was waiting expectantly for his thoughts, but Wang Shuang hesitated, then finally couldn’t hold back and said earnestly, “You’re a bestselling author and a Tianjiao shareholder. You’ve made plenty of money. You don’t have to wear last season’s dresses, do you?”
Wen Ying felt as if someone had smashed her head with an iron bar. It hurt dully.
“That’s the conclusion you reached after studying all afternoon?!”
“Yes! They were already pushing fringed skirts in the 2005 shows, and you’re only wearing one now. It really is out of season. Take my advice: money is just a material possession. You know how to earn it, so learn how to spend it. Don’t be so stingy. Ow! Why are you hitting me?!”
Wang Shuang hugged his head and fled while Wen Ying, furious, chased him around the room with a cushion, determined to take his life!
