Wang Shuang did not know he had nearly been tower-stolen successfully by Peng Guoqing.
At the critical moment, it was his own mother, Mrs Wang, who turned the tide for Wang Shuang.
Even if he knew, it would not matter. After the trials of this summer, Wang Shuang no longer cared about Peng Guoqing’s little schemes for favour.
A boy’s sudden heartbeat for a girl happens in an instant. Growth is the same.
Summer was nearly over. Wang Shuang had set up his stall in Modu for two months. Except for heavy rain when he could not go out, Wang Shuang had not missed a single day.
Through such persistence, Wang Shuang actually cleared his clothing inventory before summer ended. He did not recover the lost promotion fees or paid wages, but the batch of clothes did not lose money. They broke even.
Wang Shuang’s great achievement was not only clearing inventory. He had also earned some money from stall-selling clothes!
In fact, as early as the end of July, Wang Shuang had cleared the inventory. Tens of thousands in clothes seemed a lot, but in a consumption market like Modu, it was nothing. With the right sales channel, selling hundreds of thousands in inventory over a summer was not rare.
Inventory cleared, Wang Shuang continued operating his styling blog.
To maintain popularity, the blog needed constant updates.
Updates naturally required material.
How to pair big-brand clothing did not trouble Wang Shuang. Those had their own loyal customers cultivated over years. People who could afford big brands would not come to his blog for styling tips.
Wang Shuang asked Tianjiao’s female employees where they bought clothes.
He asked not the management, not even Li Mengjiao’s assistant Xiao Mei, but the most ordinary female clerks in the office.
Working in an entertainment company, female clerks saw glamorous stars daily and naturally imitated their dressing.
Wang Shuang had recently studied fashion. His taste was no longer so straight-male. He discovered the office female clerks had their own little clever ideas in styling.
Tianjiao paid employees well, but office female clerks were replaceable. Salaries were not extravagantly high.
These young girls loved beauty but minded their wallets. They did not wear big brands, not even mall counter brands. Wang Shuang, preparing his styling blog, had solidly memorised first-line big brands, second-line light luxury, and domestic mall counter brands like reviewing for gaokao.
Wang Shuang did not recognise what brands the female clerks wore. He thought they were minor miscellaneous brands.
Yet the texture looked quite good.
Wang Shuang thick-skinnedly inquired. The female clerks did not hide it. A few girls even took Wang Shuang shopping on weekends.
Clothing wholesale market!
Wang Shuang had an epiphany.
No wonder his first venture failed. He had never been to Modu’s clothing wholesale market, done no market research. Everything followed Hang Xiaowen’s lead. If he did not fail, who would?
Clothing quality in the wholesale market varied greatly.
Cheap did not mean no good items. High-priced could be bosses overcharging. One could not judge quality simply by price.
See with eyes, touch with hands, look more, ask more, compare shops to pick satisfactory styles from piles.
This was the lesson the female clerks taught Wang Shuang.
Wang Shuang came here for blog update material and soon spotted business opportunity.
Since he would keep coming to the wholesale market for blog updates, and summer was not over, why not try wholesaling some clothes himself to sell?
He had mastered the overpass stall-selling routine.
He had experience selling clothes.
Previously, the clothes sold were chosen by Hang Xiaowen.
This time, it was perfect to test Wang Shuang’s own eye.
Wang Shuang tried taking some stock himself to sell. Some sold well, some poorly.
The wholesale market was mixed. Some stall bosses were sweet-tongued but black-hearted, always forcing poor-selling styles on Wang Shuang. Some looked fierce but were warm-hearted, recommending true bestsellers.
Wang Shuang was cheated in the wholesale market, deceived, even had his bag slashed by a thief once, losing several thousand in payment.
Touching the large slit in his waist bag, Wang Shuang could not help crying, more upset than losing 400,000 in the venture with Hang Xiaowen and others.
That 400,000 was Tianjiao dividends, given by his mum.
Tianjiao was an entertainment company. The three signed artists could casually earn 400,000 from gigs.
The stolen thousands were earned by Wang Shuang himself from stalls. In scorching heat, under the sun, sweating, haggling one or two yuan with customers.
Too heartbreaking.
Stall-selling clothes was harder than washing crayfish back then.
Washing crayfish, Wang Shuang just worked. He was not the decision-maker. With friends joking around, he earned money. The process was more fun than hard.
Stall-selling clothes was different. No one decided for Wang Shuang. Sourcing, selling, all alone.
Not fun at all.
Every yuan stained with Wang Shuang’s sweat.
The time money was stolen, Wang Shuang squatted in the wholesale market bawling.
He grieved his hard-earned money.
He also suddenly felt ashamed.
Thinking of his parents.
From when Wang Shuang could remember, the family was not poor. Wang Shuang had never suffered hardship.
Now thinking, the family’s money could not fall from the sky. How much hardship and grievance had his parents endured to build today’s wealth?
Xie Qian’s incident left Wen Ying in chaos, unable to notice Wang Shuang’s changes.
Li Mengjiao was still a fool, thinking Wang Shuang tanned, thinned, quieter, but nothing major.
Boys were not afraid of tanning!
It was Wang Jun, accompanying his wife to Modu only to be discarded after crossing the river, who saw his tanned and thinned son and felt heartbroken.
“What is with your mum? Really no living expenses? No need. A few months ago she gave you 400,000. You have no money even for food?”
Wang Jun did not ask how his son spent the 400,000. While his wife was away, he slipped Wang Shuang a bank card, thief-like cautioning, “Do not let your mum know. Password is your birthday.”
Family money was managed by Mrs Wang.
The card Wang Jun gave was his secret stash.
Stashing secret funds was an innate ability of every married man. Wives mostly knew but turned a blind eye. One hid secretly, one pretended not to know. A quirky marital affection.
Wang Shuang did not take his father’s gift. He pushed the card back.
“Dad, I have money. About the 400,000, let me explain together.”
Wang Shuang recounted his failed venture.
Previously, he felt too embarrassed, unwilling to tell even Peng Guoqing. Now Wang Shuang could face his failure calmly.
He deserved to fail!
Wang Shuang described losing money in venture, seeking investment from Wen Ying and being refused, Wen Ying guiding him. He cleared inventory via stalls, ran a blog, went to wholesale market himself, and earned a bit… Wang Jun was stunned.
Especially when Wang Shuang said emotionally “Dad, you worked hard”, “You and mum had it really tough back then”, Wang Jun nearly teared up.
Wang Jun forcefully stuffed the card into his son’s hand while holding back tears, awkwardly changing topic. “Hey, do not tell me. Organise these words and tell your mum. When she is happy, she will wave her hand and cover your losses.”
Wang Shuang felt he had been too sentimental and was embarrassed. “I am not trying to get you to subsidise my losses. Lost is lost. I feel I can earn it back. By the way, where is mum? Why are you alone?”
Wang Jun was unsure. “Seems she went shopping, all mysterious, saying to help Wen Ying with something.”
How could shopping help?
Wang Jun was puzzled.
But years of henpecked experience told him: if wife says the moon is square, it is square. No need to argue with wife.
…
Wang Jun was truly wrong this time. Mrs Wang was shopping, and helping Wen Ying.
Wen Ying said this matter could only be entrusted to Mrs Peng and Mrs Wang.
In an instant, Mrs Peng and Mrs Wang felt pressure.
The pressure was not from Wen Ying, but from each other. After Wen Ying left, they reintroduced themselves.
Mrs Peng extended her hand first. “Zhu Xu.”
Mrs Wang was a beat slow, losing momentum, extremely annoyed. “Dong Runfang.”
The two hands clasped.
The two secretly competed, neither wanting to disappoint Wen Ying’s trust.
Thus, honest Mrs Pang, having just met Lawyer Liao flown from Rongcheng and signed the agency agreement, was immediately visited by Mrs Peng and Mrs Wang.
These two wealthy ladies, claiming to be Mrs Pang’s friends, did not wait for her to recall when she met such friends. Zhu Xu and Dong Runfang, like kidnappers, pulled Mrs Pang into the car one left one right.
