The New Year holiday was quickly coming to an end, and Zhao Mingyue and her husband, along with their son, embarked on their journey home. The coming year would bring many challenges, and Zhao Mingyue needed to be on her guard and handle them well. Next year was crucial for Shen Xuyue; she couldn't afford to let anything go wrong.

Liangliang was very satisfied with spending the Spring Festival at his maternal grandmother's house. He didn't feel cold at all, only that it was fun. He even said he wanted to come again in the future. Zhao Mingyue decided to arrange for him to spend the summer vacation at her parents' house after he started elementary school, so that he could live in the countryside for a period of time, broaden his horizons, enrich his experience, and cultivate his character.

Back home, everything sprang into action again. Watching the spring clothes roll off the production line, Zhao Mingyue realized it was time to design summer clothes, and felt utterly exhausted. This wasn't originally her forte; she'd been forced into designing for years, and it was already proving difficult. This couldn't continue indefinitely; she needed to hire some professional designers quickly. She could simply guide them and offer suggestions. Therefore, the most urgent task was to recruit fashion designers.

But in those days, everyone was still living off the state-owned enterprises, and very few people were willing to leave to find other jobs. Since resuming work after the Spring Festival, Zhao Mingyue had posted a job advertisement for a designer at the labor market. In the following two weeks, only one person applied. The applicant was a tailor who could only make the most basic designs; he wasn't even as good as Zhao Mingyue herself. Zhao Mingyue kept him on as a pattern maker, responsible for pattern making. After all, he was quite skilled and could cut fabric according to designs, and he was familiar with the characteristics of fabrics. The tailor was quite satisfied with the job; it was still making clothes, and the pay was decent.

Zhao Mingyue had considered recruiting two outstanding graduates from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. Young people generally have a stronger sense of fashion, but nowadays, all college graduates are assigned jobs by their employers. Going to a state-owned enterprise means securing a stable job, while private companies are less reliable, and most people probably wouldn't be willing to do it. However, Zhao Mingyue still planned to give it a try. But since the graduates were young and not yet ready for a major responsibility, she needed an experienced and excellent designer to take the lead; otherwise, she would have to shoulder the responsibility herself.

There are very few fashion designers these days, and it's not easy to find a suitable one. The key issue is the lack of information; relying solely on a labor market is simply not enough.

Weekend mornings are the happiest time for the whole family. Zhao Mingyue stayed in her comfortable bed, not wanting to get up. Spring is the best season for sleeping in, and the heating had already been turned off. The cold snap in Beijing was quite chilly, so she was reluctant to leave her warm bed.

When his son called from the next room to get up, Shen Xuyue got up, put on his coat, ran to the next room, picked up his little darling Liangliang, grabbed his clothes, and carried him into their bedroom.

Liangliang, dressed in thermal underwear, was shivering and curled up in a ball, screaming loudly, "Dad, you're going to freeze me to death!"

Zhao Mingyue, still in bed, lifted the blanket a little: "Come in quickly, come in quickly, my darling is freezing, let Mom warm you up."

Liangliang got into bed and quickly burrowed under the covers. Zhao Mingyue hugged her son and said, "Hehe, you're all frozen. Come here, let Mom warm you up."

Liangliang hugged her neck and said, "Good morning, Mom."

"Good morning, my good son." Zhao Mingyue kissed him on the cheek.

Shen Xuyue quickly crawled into bed. Liangliang said, "Dad, go buy some douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), I want to eat four jiaoquan (fried dough rings)." This little guy is a true Beijinger, and he actually loves drinking douzhi. Zhao Mingyue still hasn't gotten used to the taste.

Shen Xuyue stretched out his arm and put his son and daughter-in-law on it, then said, "Wait, let your dad warm up a bit, Dad's cold too."

Zhao Mingyue patted her son's little belly: "Liangliang can eat four fried dough rings, he's a real big eater."

"I want to grow taller than Zhuangzhuang!" Liangliang shouted. "Zhuangzhuang can eat three fried dough rings, I want to eat more than him."

Zhao Mingyue burst out laughing: "It's enough to be full. Eating too much will make you feel uncomfortable."

“I’m not upset, I can finish it,” Liangliang said stubbornly.

Shen Xuyue said with his eyes closed, "Okay, I'll buy you four in a bit." His son was chattering in his ear, and it felt so good. Liangliang still wants to sleep with his parents whenever he has the chance. But in two more years, when he's older and knows he's shy, he probably won't want to sleep with his parents anymore.

Zhao Mingyue wanted to go back to sleep, but Liangliang couldn't stay in bed any longer; he wanted to get up and play. Shen Xuyue had no choice but to get up, dress himself and his son, and the two of them went to wash up before heading out for their morning exercise and to buy breakfast. Zhao Mingyue remained in bed, unhurried by her husband or son, both feeling sorry for her tiredness from work.

Shen Xuyue is still working in Tianjin. After the Two Sessions, his job will be transferred. He doesn't know where he'll be transferred to; it would be troublesome if it were to another province, since Zhao Mingyue can't go with him, and the couple would have to live apart. But if that happens, there's nothing that can be done; many people have gone through this.

When Shen Xuyue returned with his son after buying breakfast, he saw that Zhao Mingyue was still sleeping, so he said, "Wife, get up and have breakfast."

Zhao Mingyue yawned, rubbed her eyes, and stretched: "Help me get my thermal underwear out of the closet."

Shen Xuyue readily agreed: "Which one do you want? White or black?"

Zhao Mingyue said, "Black, please. And get me a wool coat too."

Shen Xuyue threw her clothes onto the bed. Zhao Mingyue sat up, took off her pajamas and put on her thermal underwear. Holding a wool sweater, she said, "Spring in Beijing goes by so fast. I can only wear spring clothes for a few days before summer arrives. I've only finalized two summer outfits, and I still have to figure out how to design them myself. Why is it so hard to find a fashion designer? When will we be able to find one?"

Shen Xuyue turned his head to look at the newspaper and suddenly said, "Wife, why don't you put an ad in the newspaper to recruit fashion designers?"

“That’s right, how come I didn’t think of that? How about this, I’ll put up a fashion design competition in the newspaper and recruit talents at the same time, what do you think?” Zhao Mingyue was inspired by Shen Xuyue and became extremely excited. In those days, television was not yet widespread, and newspapers were the only major source of information for people. They also had the advantages of low cost and a wide audience, so advertising in newspapers was the perfect solution.

Shen Xuyue said, "That's a good idea. Even if we can't recruit anyone, we can still gather good ideas. It's a win-win situation. Great, let's put up a big ad in the evening paper, make it eye-catching."

Zhao Mingyue gave him a thumbs up: "That's fantastic! How much bonus do you want?"

Shen Xuyue thought for a moment and said, "The grand prize is 200, the first prize is 100, the second prize is 50, and the third prize is 30. I guarantee there will be a lot of people signing up. Do you think it's expensive?"

"It's not expensive. A generous reward will surely bring forth brave men. You can even come up with the advertising copy for me. Thank you, honey!" Zhao Mingyue smiled and kissed Shen Xuyue on the cheek.

"No problem." Creating a promotional article for such a competition was very easy for the talented Shen.

To make the story seem more credible, Zhao Mingyue accepted Shen Xuyue's suggestion, went to the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, sponsored the institute with a sum of money, and invited them to be judges for the competition.

Zhao Mingyue personally intervened, appealing to both reason and emotion, and persuaded the dean of the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology to agree to serve as a judge. After all, there are too few people who value fashion design these days, and Zhao Mingyue's seriousness made the former dean feel respected and encouraged by her commitment to the field.

Two days later, the Beijing Evening News published a large advertisement for the inaugural "Lucky Star Cup" Clothing Grand Prix, sincerely inviting talented individuals from all walks of life to participate. Zhao Mingyue, with her deep pockets, had indeed placed such a large advertisement. However, she felt it was a worthwhile investment; it served multiple purposes – advertising for her company and recruiting talent simultaneously. To ensure the advertisement reached a wider audience, Zhao Mingyue also placed smaller advertisements in the evening and morning newspapers over the next few days. The advertisements stated that submissions could be mailed to the factory or delivered in person, and that visits to the factory were welcome.

A few days later, the factory began receiving submissions from various sectors of society. These days, people have a weak sense of copyright and are generally unguarded. Zhao Mingyue only required clothing design sketches, and many people, hoping to increase their chances of winning, wrote down every detail, even including fabric and size specifications. This was practically handing Zhao Mingyue resources; if they encountered unscrupulous organizers, they could simply use the submissions and pocket the prize money.

However, Zhao Mingyue was still very kind; there was no need to compromise her conscience to save such a small amount of money. This was all the hard work of the creators and deserved respect. The deadline of one and a half months was mainly to allow people more time to create.

She only did advertising in Beijing this time, mainly for recruitment convenience. Generally speaking, these days, only a minority of people are willing to leave their hometowns to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Besides, when it comes to clothing, people from smaller towns are limited by their geographical location and access to information, so their horizons are limited, and they don't quite keep up with fashion trends. Shanghai is a good place, but it's too far away. If this time it's not ideal, she can go to Shanghai to advertise and compete next time.

After the call for submissions closed, over two hundred entries were received, about half of which came from students of the Fashion Institute, while the other half came from various sectors of society. This shows that there are quite a few people who enjoy this kind of work, and many excellent pieces were discovered. Zhao Mingyue invited several teachers from the Fashion Institute to review the submissions, selecting over thirty outstanding works. One special prize, three first prizes, ten second prizes, and fifteen third prizes were awarded.

The day the results came out was in May, when the lilacs were in bloom. The air was filled with the rich fragrance of lilacs. The May sky was light and graceful, like willow catkins floating in the air, which made people's hearts feel soft and light.

Among the entries, two works stood out for their exceptional talent, winning the Grand Prize and First Prize respectively. When Zhao Mingyue sent the prize money to them, she also included an offer letter to see if they would be willing to work at her factory. Zhao Mingyue was in high spirits. After the judging session, she accompanied several experts on a tour of her factory. During their casual conversation, the teachers learned that Zhao Mingyue had originally worked at a teachers' university, but had quit her job to start her own business and build such a large enterprise. They were all very impressed. Zhao Mingyue, an outsider to the clothing industry, had managed to start a clothing business, while they, who had spent their entire lives dealing with clothing, were still teaching at a university.

As the group was looking around, someone came looking for Zhao Mingyue. Zhao Mingyue said to the teachers, "Excuse me, teachers, I have something to attend to and will be gone for a few minutes."

The person who came to see her was a manager from the company, surnamed Wang, who was in charge of garment production. "Manager Wang, what's the matter?"

Manager Wang said, "General Manager Zhao, a contestant has come to apply."

Zhao Mingyue said in surprise, "Why are you only arriving now? Our deadline was yesterday."

Manager Wang said, "This contestant is from Shanghai. He said he found out about the competition quite late and tried his best, but he still missed it. Would you like to take a look at his work?"

Zhao Mingyue asked in surprise, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"It's a man, a young man. I just came in from outside and heard him talking to the security guard at the door. The guard wouldn't let him in, but after I heard what his purpose was, I took a look at his drawing. It's quite good, so I brought him in. Please take a look," Manager Wang said with a smile.

Zhao Mingyue nodded: "Okay, in the sample showroom?"

"Yes, I told him to wait in the showroom."

Zhao Mingyue said, "Go and keep those teachers company for me. I'll go check it out and be right back." Zhao Mingyue was very interested in this designer who had come all the way from Shanghai, which actually attracted designers from Shanghai.

The showroom is on the first floor. Every time a new design is created, one of the designs is kept and hung in the showroom. This serves both to recommend it to customers and to provide inspiration for our own samples.

Zhao Mingyue looked through the window and saw a man with punk-style permed hair, his back to her, examining the samples in the showroom and sketching something with a pen and paper. She smiled and knocked on the door: "Hello!"

The man turned around; he was a young man in his early twenties, with the slender and fair complexion typical of southern men. His clothes were also quite distinctive, not the mainstream style, but probably homemade. He said, "Hello! May I ask who you are?"

Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Zhao Mingyue, and I'm the owner of Lucky Star."

The man quickly walked over, extended both hands to shake hands with Zhao Mingyue: "I heard that all the clothes here were designed by you? You are truly amazing."

Zhao Mingyue smiled. This was hardly her design; it was merely plagiarism of the wisdom of her predecessors. "Not at all, you flatter me."

The young man quickly replied, "Oh, right. My name is Sun Yao, which is the 'yao' in the 'yao' trigram of the Eight Trigrams."

Zhao Mingyue nodded: "I understand."

Sun Yao sighed, looking somewhat conflicted, and said, "I came from Shanghai. I only learned from a relative a couple of days ago that you were holding a fashion design competition here. I just heard from Manager Wang that the competition has already ended. I wonder if I can still have another chance?"

Zhao Mingyue said, "Can I see your design draft?"

"Sure, sure." Sun Yao quickly handed over his sketchbook. "These two are ones I drew in the last two days. They were done in a hurry, so they're not colored yet, and I didn't think about the fabric of the clothes very well. The first one is one I drew before. Take a look."

Zhao Mingyue flipped through the clothes and found them to be very avant-garde and daring, far exceeding the consciousness of people in this era. She was a very talented and thoughtful young woman, and some of the designs could indeed be made and might even start a trend.

Sun Yao said, "Look at the clothes I'm wearing, they're all my own designs. I've loved making clothes and drawing since I was little, but I didn't like studying, so I only barely finished junior high school. My family sent me to work in a toothpaste factory, but I couldn't stand it. I always wanted to open my own clothing shop, but I didn't have the capital. I heard that you not only collect submissions but also hire designers, right?"

Looking at his work, Zhao Mingyue's lips curled into a deep smile. Wasn't this a talent delivered right to her doorstep? Although it was a bit ahead of its time, with some modifications, it could be turned into new clothing styles. She would train him for two years, or perhaps just one year, and he would be able to take on major responsibilities in the future. "Not bad, I can see you have a lot of ideas. The clothing designs are very unique. Some of these clothes can even be made into physical products and launched on the market, so that many people will wear your clothes."

Sun Yao exclaimed in surprise, "Really?" Every tailor and fashion designer hopes that more people will wear the clothes they make or design. Sun Yao is no exception. His clothing designs are very bold. No one else would wear the clothes except himself. He has finally met a mentor.

“Of course it’s true. Would you like to stay at our factory?” Zhao Mingyue asked.

Sun Yao nodded vigorously: "I'm willing, I'm willing." The young man was thinking that his dream could come true, so he didn't ask anything else and quickly agreed.

Zhao Mingyue put away his sketchbook and said, "I can see that you have a lot of ideas, but you don't have much practical experience, so you still need to familiarize yourself with the process in the factory. I will arrange for a few experienced pattern makers to guide you, familiarize you with the fabric and garment production process, and some details of the garments. I hope you can further refine your ideas and combine your imaginative thinking with practical operation. Before long, you will be an excellent fashion designer."

Sun Yao nodded vigorously: "Okay, thank you, Boss Zhao." He then bowed deeply.

Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "No need to be so polite, just call me Sister Zhao. As for the salary and benefits, I'll have HR talk to you about it. You can tell me if you're not satisfied. You won't be participating in this design competition, since our results are already in. For every design of yours that our company adopts, we'll pay you a corresponding design fee. This is in addition to your salary; it's considered your intellectual property. Is that okay?"

"Yes, yes! Thank you, Sister Zhao!" Sun Yao truly felt that he had met a mentor.

"So you're already planning to come to our factory?" Zhao Mingyue looked at the large duffel bag on the floor by the door, it seemed the young man had brought all his belongings.

Sun Yao chuckled, revealing his gums: "That's right, I've come to seek refuge with Sister Zhao."

Zhao Mingyue laughed and said, "What if I confiscate your money?"

“Then I’ll go find my relatives. I don’t plan to go back; I’ll just find something to do in Beijing.” Sun Yao scratched his face and smiled憨厚ly.

Zhao Mingyue nodded: "Okay, I'll have Manager Wang come find you in a bit. Make sure you have your ID and everything with you. Go with him to HR to register, and they'll arrange accommodation for you."

"Thank you, Sister Zhao!" Sun Yao said, bowing again.

And so, this promising young man walked right into her doorstep. Zhao Mingyue, of course, contacted his relatives and family to confirm that the young man wasn't lying and had no criminal record. After all, these days, it's too easy for someone who's committed a crime to find a place to hide; ID cards aren't linked to the internet, making it very unsafe. However, this was actually an overreaction. People who commit crimes certainly wouldn't flee to big cities; they'd only escape to remote areas. This Sun Yao was clearly a young man full of ideals and dreams, perhaps considered somewhat unconventional by his parents.

After the competition results were announced, Zhao Mingyue sent out the prize money along with job offers to a few outstanding participants. She didn't know how many people would apply, but estimated not many. Sure enough, of the four offers she sent out, only two came to the factory for a visit. In the end, only one person remained: a man in his thirties who used to work as a designer in a state-owned garment factory. His family was struggling financially, and Zhao Mingyue offered him a higher salary, so he quit his previous job to come here.

In this way, Zhao Mingyue had an experienced designer, Sun Yao, who was enough to handle the design work. She only needed to make the final approval, thus completely freeing herself up.