"Young lady, open the door," the shopkeeper called out.

Wen Qing unlatched the door, opened it, and before she could say anything, the shopkeeper greeted her with a smile: "Little girl, we've finally found you!"

Wen Qing was slightly puzzled.

The shopkeeper immediately asked, "Young lady, do you still have your clothes and shoes?"

“…Yes.” Wen Qing hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Sell them to me, I'll buy them all!" the shopkeeper said hurriedly.

"What's the rush!" the woman next to the shopkeeper snapped at him.

The shopkeeper fell silent.

Wen Qing looked at the woman. She had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and while she lacked some of the gentleness of a woman, she had gained a bright and open look.

"Hello, young lady, my name is Zhang Xiuying, and this is the head of the household, Lao He," the woman said with a smile.

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Hello, hello, come in and let's talk."

"Hey." Zhang Xiuying and Lao He entered the hall.

"I'll go get some water." Wen Qing turned around.

Zhang Xiuying grabbed Wen Qing's arm: "Little girl, no, no, don't rush. We're not thirsty. We just came to talk to you about something."

"Then, please sit down," Wen Qing said, pointing to the stools.

Zhang Xiuying and Lao He sat down respectively.

Zhang Xiuying glanced at Lao He, who immediately took out thirty-four yuan from his pocket and handed it to Wen Qing.

Wen Qing didn't hesitate, took the money, kept the thirty yuan for herself, and handed four yuan to Lao He.

"No, no, no!" Zhang Xiuying quickly stopped her.

Wen Qing said, "Sister Zhang, don't refuse. This is what I promised Boss He, and it's all in writing. I must keep my word."

Zhang Xiuying glared at Lao He.

Old He quickly took out the agreement and tore it up in front of Wen Qing.

Wen Qing looked at Zhang Xiuying.

Zhang Xiuying said, "Young lady, it's like this: I wasn't home this afternoon, and Lao He was helping out at the house. He doesn't know much about clothes, but I thought your clothes were pretty." In fact, as soon as the clothes were hung up and the shoes were put on display, someone came and bought a set without even haggling. Four or five people fought over the remaining set, almost coming to blows. In the end, one person bought a top, another bought a pair of pants, and yet another bought a pair of shoes, paying a deposit to reserve them. Zhang Xiuying and Lao He had been selling clothes for years and had never seen any garment sell so well. Zhang Xiuying, in particular, immediately saw a business opportunity.

"Thank you for the compliment, Sister Zhang," Wen Qing said with a smile.

Zhang Xiuying smiled and said, "Old He and I came here because we wanted to buy your clothes wholesale. I wonder which factory you got them from?"

“I didn’t work for any factory; I made it myself,” Wen Qing said.

Zhang Xiuying and Lao He were stunned. They looked at each other, unable to believe that the young girl in front of them had such abilities.

"Young lady, you're not kidding, are you? You can tell from the stitching that the dress was made by an old tailor. You're probably not that old, are you?" Old He said with a dry laugh.

Wen Qing smiled and looked at Zhang Xiuying: "Sister Zhang, you've been selling clothes for a long time, you must have seen a lot of clothes. Have you seen clothes like mine in any factory?"

Zhang Xiuying shook her head: "No, there really isn't."

Wen Qing: "I made the shirt, pants, and shoes myself." Wen Qing pointed to the sewing machine next to her. Besides a villager and half a steamed bun, there was also a white, half-finished polyester shirt on the sewing machine.

Zhang Xiuying and the other two had no choice but to believe it, and their gazes towards Wen Qing now held a touch more appreciation.

“Little girl, how many of these clothes do you have here? I’ll buy them all,” Zhang Xiuying said.

Wen Qing said calmly, "There are only two sets."

"Only two sets?" Zhang Xiuying and Lao He were surprised.

"That's too little!" Old He said.

Zhang Xiuying said, "Two sets it is fine. I'll take both sets first. Anyway, the clothes can still be made. I'll pay the deposit first, and you can finish making them."

"I can only give you one set out of the two," Wen Qing said.

Zhang Xiuying was taken aback: "Why?"

Wen Qing said, "I need to keep one set to take back and have my Aunt Xiao rush to finish it, otherwise how can we make a large batch?"

Zhang Xiuying was immediately overjoyed: "Young lady, do you mean you've agreed to supply us with goods?"

Wen Qing laughed: "Sister Zhang, who wouldn't want to make money?"

Zhang Xiuying immediately laughed heartily: "That's right, that's right!"

Old He, however, felt that one set was not enough.

After laughing, Zhang Xiuying took out seventeen yuan: "Here you go, little girl, this is for the money."

Wen Qing took the money; she had no doubt that Zhang Xiuying was capable of selling the top, pants, and shoes for more than twenty yuan.

After paying the money, Zhang Xiuying thought for a moment and said, "Young lady, how about this? I'll give you a hundred yuan deposit. I want twenty sets first, including shoes. If they sell well, I'll order more from you later. What do you think?"

“Okay, let’s write a written agreement,” Wen Qing said.

Zhang Xiuying was a decisive person. She did indeed need twenty sets of clothes and shoes next Friday. After signing the papers, she promptly took out one hundred yuan and gave it to Wen Qing.

Wen Qing took the money and put a set of clothes and a pair of shoes from the room into a cloth bag embroidered with the words "Feng Qing" and handed it to Zhang Xiuying.

As Zhang Xiuying and Lao He were leaving, Wen Qing handed over four yuan to Lao He as a land fee, saying, "In business, honesty is the most important thing."

Zhang Xiuying had no choice but to let Lao He take over.

After leaving the house, the couple praised Wen Qing highly.

After closing the door, Wen Qing was incredibly excited. If her previous attempts to make money had been somewhat opportunistic, this time, she was truly earning money through her own abilities.

This gave her a sense of accomplishment and boosted her confidence.

After standing at the door for a while to calm herself down, she put the money away, sat down at the sewing machine again, and continued eating half a steamed bun.

After finishing her meal, she took advantage of the time she had to make a white polyester shirt.

The next morning, she was carrying a cloth bag when she ran into another shopkeeper from the previous night.

The shopkeeper gave her 34 yuan for two sets of clothes and two pairs of shoes, and also gave Wen Qing a 100 yuan deposit, saying that he wanted to try selling 20 sets as well, and then left happily.

Wen Qing originally planned to go back to the county town and ask Aunt Xiao, Yao Shiling, and Bao Hong to help her finish twenty sets of clothes by next Friday. Now it seems that she, Aunt Xiao, Yao Shiling, and Bao Hong are exhausted and they will not be able to finish forty sets of clothes by next Friday.

At this moment, Wen Qing thought of Tang Quan Garment Factory, so she took her cloth bag and went to Tang Quan Garment Factory.

When the security guards at Tangquan Garment Factory saw Wen Qing, they greeted her with genuine enthusiasm.

Wen Qing smiled and asked, "Is President Tang here?"

"Yes, yes, yes," the security guard said with a smile.

Wen Qing easily entered the factory and found Tang Quan.

Tang Quan asked in confusion, "You want to make two hundred sets of clothes at once?"

"Mm." Wen Qing nodded.

Tang Quan asked, "Will they sell? They only want forty sets of clothes."

Wen Qing smiled faintly and said confidently, "Yes."

Tang Quan thought for a moment and said, "Okay, if we can't sell them, Uncle Tang will take care of them for you."

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Thank you, Uncle Tang, but you have to believe me. I'll treat you to a meal after we sell them all."

"Okay, it's settled then! I'll wait for you to treat me to dinner." Tang Quan smiled.

Then, Wen Qing took out a set of clothes and explained the production process and the division of labor on the assembly line to Master Zhu and Master Ye.

When Master Zhu heard that Wen Qing had sold forty sets all by herself in such a short time, he held up the clothes and smiled, saying, "I didn't realize, Wen Qing, that you were quite capable in business."

Wen Qing laughed: "Master Zhu, you flatter me. We don't know how it will turn out yet."

"These clothes are sure to sell well!"

"Thank you for your kind words," Wen Qing said with a smile.

"Do a good job."

"Um."

Wen Qing didn't let Tang Quan Garment Factory make clothes for free. She paid Tang Quan Garment Factory five cents for each set of clothes. She provided the fabric, thread, needles, and buttons. So, for two hundred sets of clothes, the labor fee was one hundred yuan.

After confirming with Master Zhu, Wen Qing did not return to Greenland Garden, but went to the bus station, took the bus back to the county town, and then went straight to Aunt Xiao's tailor shop.

Unexpectedly, not only were Aunt Xiao and Bao Hong in Aunt Xiao's tailor shop, but Yao Shiling and Wen Peng were also there.

"Mom!" Wen Qing exclaimed in surprise as soon as she entered the door.

"Big sister!" Wen Peng was overjoyed to see Wen Qing.

"Wen Qing".

"Sister Wen Qing."

Aunt Xiao and Bao Hong both stood up to greet them.

"Aunt Xiao, Bao Hong, you're all back!" Wen Qing said with a smile.

Yao Shiling stood up and asked, "Wen Qing, why did you come back on Sunday?"

Wen Qing smiled and said, "I need your help with something. Also, I'd like to check if we've finished harvesting our beans. I'll come and help too."

"It's done, Ji..." Before Wen Peng could speak, Yao Shiling covered his mouth and asked Wen Qing with a smile, "It's done. Wen Liang and Wen Peng were on holiday the other day, so it was done. By the way, you just said you were helping out. What kind of help were you giving?"

Yao Shiling glared at Wen Peng.

Wen Peng lowered his head and remained silent.

Wen Qing glanced at them, said nothing, and then took out the shoes from the bag and said, "I want you to help me make shoes to sell."

"Make shoes to sell?" Aunt Xiao, Yao Shiling, and Bao Hong asked in unison, "How many pairs?"

“Two hundred pairs,” Wen Qing said.

"Two hundred pairs!!" the three exclaimed in astonishment.

Wen Qing: "Yes, we need forty pairs by next Friday, so we need to speed things up."

Yao Shiling didn't quite understand why Wen Qing suddenly wanted to make two hundred pairs of shoes.

Wen Qing briefly recounted what had happened to the three of them, leaving Aunt Xiao and Yao Shiling stunned.

Bao Hong exclaimed in surprise, "Sister Wen Qing, do you mean we're going to make money?!"

Wen Qing smiled: "That's right."

"Great!" Bao Hong cheered. She liked the shop to be busy, otherwise she felt embarrassed to only receive twenty yuan in wages.

"Wen Qing, are you telling the truth?" Yao Shiling asked.

Wen Qing took out five hundred yuan from her pocket, pointed to two hundred and sixty yuan of it and said, "Mom, this is what I just earned. After the goods are delivered, it will still be four hundred and eighty yuan."

"So many?" Yao Shiling exclaimed.

Bao Hong was stunned. She had never seen so much money before, and Wen Qing's image in her mind suddenly became even more impressive and powerful.

"Wow, so many!" Wen Peng exclaimed.

"Now you have the motivation to make shoes, right? You have something to look forward to, right?" Wen Qing asked.

Aunt Xiao and Bao Hong said, "Yes."

"Yes!" Wen Peng exclaimed excitedly.

Wen Qing patted his head and said, "Go away."

Looking at the money on the table, Yao Shiling became increasingly convinced of Wen Qing's abilities.

Wen Qing put the money away, picked up the cloth bag, which contained not only finished shoes but also soles, uppers, patterns, and fabric. Wen Qing explained everything to the three women and said, "Aunt Xiao, you know how to use a sewing machine and make clothes, so you can cut, paste, and shape the shoe uppers, okay?"

Aunt Xiao smiled and said, "That's no problem."

“And…” Wen Qing took out a small blue cloth strip embroidered with “Feng Qing” from the bag and said, “Aunt Xiao, this should be added to the heel of every pair of shoes. Besides making them easier to put on and take off, it represents our brand – Feng Qing.”

“Okay, that’s fine too.” Aunt Xiao nodded.

Wen Qing then looked at Yao Shiling: "Mom, you've made shoes before, so after you take the upper from Aunt Xiao, mark four points on the sole, no, mark six points, and then hand the shoes to Bao Hong so she can sew the sole and fabric together with a big needle. After you finish this step, sew the sole together with Bao Hong."

“Okay, I understand,” Yao Shiling said.

“Sister Wenqing, I understand now,” Bao Hong said with a smile. “I even made shoe soles in the village.”

“Okay, then you can start working on it today. While I’m here, I’ll check it first to make sure it passes inspection,” Wen Qing said.

“Okay.” Aunt Xiao, Yao Shiling, and Bao Hong agreed at the same time.

Wen Qing nodded, glanced at the sky, and said, "We'll all eat here for lunch today. I'm going to go and buy some groceries with Pengpeng. You guys think about the shoes first."

Yao Shiling originally wanted to suggest spending less money, but considering that Aunt Xiao and Bao Hong were both working for Wen Qing, she decided not to say anything. She thought, "Let's just spend the money." She then went over to Aunt Xiao to look at the shoes.

Wen Qing put her arm around Wen Peng's shoulder as they walked to the market. On the way, Wen Qing asked, "Pengpeng, do you want to eat chicken?"

Wen Peng nodded: "I think so, I haven't eaten meat this week."

Wen Qing smiled and changed the subject: "How come we harvested the beans so quickly? You and Liangliang did it all, right? You guys are really amazing."

“I’m not that skilled, and I didn’t cut it,” Wen Peng immediately retorted.

Wen Qing feigned surprise: "You didn't cut it?"

“No, it wasn’t me or my second brother, it was Ji Yanjun from the county town who came to cut it!” Wen Peng said.