Shu Yan hasn't thought about having a boyfriend yet, let alone remarrying. These things seem a bit far away for her. She only cooks dinner for Fang Zeyu to express her gratitude.

The next day at noon, Shu Yan booked a private room at the restaurant where she had eaten with Hu Ruixue before. After getting off work, she waited near the bus stop for a while before Fang Zeyu appeared not far away.

"A friend of mine brought me to this restaurant, and I thought it was pretty good. I don't know if you'll like the food." Shu Yan invited Fang Zeyu to sit down, and to avoid an awkward atmosphere, she simply started talking about food.

"I'm not a picky eater." Fang Zeyu silently rinsed the two people's bowls and chopsticks with boiling water and then arranged them neatly.

It's said that soldiers have obsessive-compulsive disorder; I wonder if he does too.

Shu Yan said thank you, and the atmosphere between the two became a little awkward again, until the waiter served the food.

"Come on, have some food. I didn't even know what you liked to eat, I forgot to ask," Shu Yan said a little embarrassed.

“I’m not a picky eater,” Fang Zeyu explained again.

Shu Yan paused, silently picked up a piece of food and took a bite, and the two seemed to have nothing to say to each other again.

"Um, the reason I invited you here today is to ask about the human traffickers. What's the situation over there?" How long will this kind of life continue?

"I was just about to tell you, my comrade called and said that the accomplice has been caught, and several children and women have been rescued. You won't be in danger anymore." Fang Zeyu said this, feeling relieved but also a little disappointed. He didn't know why he had this thought; maybe it was because he really couldn't bear to part with the food Shuyan cooked.

The human traffickers have been caught? Shu Yan was surprised that it happened so quickly. The weight that had been hanging over her heart finally lifted, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so grateful to you for all this time. If it weren't for you and your friends protecting me and my child, I probably wouldn't have been able to eat."

"It's my pleasure. Speaking of which, I haven't properly thanked you for saving Dou Dou yet. He's already been discharged from the hospital and returned to Hangzhou. Dou Dou's family originally wanted to come and thank him in person, but I stopped them. Now that their accomplice has been caught, I can't stop them anymore. They should be coming over in the next couple of days." Fang Zeyu was indeed very grateful that Shu Yan stood up for him. There are many good people in the world, but most of them are indifferent to matters that don't concern them.

Shu Yan was startled when she heard that Dou Dou's family was coming.

"No need, please tell them that I have received your thanks and that they should not come over." Shu Yan has always been most afraid of this kind of Chinese enthusiasm; she really doesn't know what to do when it's too enthusiastic.

After a slightly awkward lunch, Shu Yan returned to the shop and saw Zhang Huaxiu and Yingying busy. Yingying was the same as before, and Zhang Huaxiu seemed unchanged, but she didn't feel as close to her as before.

Shu Yan sighed. She was beginning to understand the difficulties of being a boss. Being too close to the employees was not a good thing, because if they made a mistake, it would be hard to explain. But having too strong a relationship was also not a good thing, because the employees would not feel a sense of belonging and would leave at any time. It was really hard to strike the right balance.

She was reflecting on her mistakes. First, she shouldn't have entrusted the entire store to Zhang Huaxiu when she was out. Doing it so often inevitably made Zhang Huaxiu feel like the owner, which is why she made decisions on her own. Second, she was too blunt yesterday and could have used more appropriate language to communicate.

Shu Yan was thinking of talking to Zhang Huaxiu later and having a good chat, but she didn't expect her to come to her first.

"Boss, I thought about it for a long time last night, and I realized I was wrong." When Shu Yan criticized her yesterday, Zhang Huaxiu felt incredibly wronged. She was doing it for the good of the shop, or rather, to save money for her, but instead of praising her, Shu Yan criticized her. She cried as soon as Shu Yan left, and was somewhat absent-minded yesterday afternoon and evening. Last night, she tossed and turned in bed, thinking for a long time, and realized that she had indeed acted on her own initiative.

Shu Yan smiled upon hearing this, "I was thinking of talking to you later, I was a bit harsh yesterday."

Zhang Huaxiu shook her head, "It was my own decision. If this batch of goods is delayed, deduct it from my salary."

Shu Yan looked at her and saw that she wasn't saying it out of spite. She smiled and said, "It's not that serious. We'll sell them during the New Year's promotion. I do intend to train you to be the store manager, but a store manager can't just sell clothes. More importantly, they need to manage. There are many intricacies to managing a store, and I'm still figuring it out myself. You can read some books on this subject. But let me be clear: if you can't handle the job, I won't hand the store over to you."

For the past few months, Shu Yan has been recruiting a store manager. There have been quite a few applicants, including two college students who asked for shares right off the bat. Shu Yan couldn't help but laugh. College students are indeed valuable these days, but not so valuable that she would give them shares just for the title. There were also a few with some management experience, but their management philosophies were different from Shu Yan's. There was one who was good in all aspects, but she had a child and could only get off work day shifts. Moreover, she had to leave work at four o'clock in the afternoon to pick up her child. Shu Yan could understand the difficulties of being a mother, but she was running a business, not a charity, so she could only regretfully decline.

After much deliberation, Shu Yan decided to mentor Zhang Huaxiu. However, yesterday's incident occurred. If Zhang Huaxiu doesn't recognize her mistake today, Shu Yan plans to give up on her.

Zhang Huaxiu may have many shortcomings, but she now has some experience in selling clothes, and I have learned clothing matching from her. She is often not in the store and has not caused any trouble. She can control the overall direction of the business, and it's not like she doesn't come to the store at all.

"Thank you, boss. I'll buy the books and study them right away," Zhang Huaxiu said, her eyes sparkling. Who doesn't want to improve themselves?

After resolving the matters at the store, Shu Yan went back to pick up her child. After boarding the bus, she habitually looked at the entrance, but after the bus started moving, she didn't see any familiar faces coming in. Shu Yan suddenly realized that the person had left at noon and would no longer follow her.

Habits are a terrible thing. In just over a week, Shu Yan got used to having someone by her side to protect her.

It has to be admitted that these past few days have been the safest time for Shu Yan since she came to this world. Now that she's gone back, she suddenly feels empty inside.

After getting off the bus, Shu Yan unconsciously waited until everyone had disembarked before slapping her forehead. "What are you thinking about, Shu Yan? Go pick up the kids, buy groceries, and cook dinner at home."

"Mom, aren't we bringing food to that uncle today?"

When she finished eating, Jingjing obediently took out her lunchbox, but her mother did not take it from her.

"Yes, Uncle has gone home, so you don't need to bring him food anymore." Shu Yan's sense of loss wasn't so strong anymore, and she smiled and said, "Let's eat."

After cleaning up the dishes, Shu Yan composed herself and started writing an advertising plan. The idea was great, but turning it into words was difficult. Shu Yan revised it over and over again, always feeling that something was missing.

It was almost 1 a.m. when Shu Yan finally wrote a reasonably satisfactory advertising proposal.

"Did you write this?" Hu Ruixue looked at Shu Yan in disbelief. Not to mention the beautiful handwriting, the entire plan was also very well done. Even a college student couldn't write it. How could Shu Yan, who didn't finish elementary school, write it?

Shu Yan's heart skipped a beat; she had been a little careless. She smiled faintly and said, "How could I write it down? I dictated it and then asked someone to help me write it down."

Hu Ruixue then felt it was reliable and carefully studied the advertising plan, her eyes lighting up with each reading.

"You're a genius! If we use this ad, we'll definitely be able to quickly increase our brand awareness." Hu Ruixue was eager to find someone to shoot the ad.

"It's best to have a professional take a look and see if there's anything that needs to be changed, since I'm just an amateur," Shu Yan said, still worried.

"You, an amateur, are better than many professionals." Hu Ruixue had also had several advertising proposals come up with in the past few days, but they were all old-fashioned and couldn't compare to Shu Yan's at all. "Regarding the choice of celebrity in your proposal, do you have any good candidates?"

Shu Yan shook her head. Now that she doesn't have a cell phone or computer, and she doesn't watch TV or read newspapers, she really doesn't know which celebrities are around.

"I don't know any celebrities, but for this thermal underwear, we can find a celebrity couple to endorse it." Since there are men's and women's versions, why not make a couple's version?

Hu Ruixue clapped her hands and said, "Now that you mention it, I have someone in mind. There's a celebrity couple getting married recently, and they're quite popular. I'll find someone to contact them and see if we can reach an agreement."

Aside from the advertising, Hu Ruixue showed Shu Yan the designer's latest pajamas and loungewear designs.

How should I put it? In Shu Yan's opinion, it was a bit too conservative.

"Why use solid colors? I think we could use brighter colors, including more patterns for these pajamas." Regardless of the era, loving beauty is a woman's nature. "We are targeting all women aged 18 to 50, so we can't be too monotonous."

“I think similarly to you.” Hu Ruixue’s family is wealthy, and many of her clothes are from international brands, including pajamas. Compared to foreign countries, China is still somewhat conservative. “That’s why I want to establish my own brand. Our China has a long history and so many splendid cultural heritages. We should not let those barbarians surpass us.”

"Let's focus on the present." Shu Yan thought Hu Ruixue had a big heart, but she didn't expect her to have an even bigger one.

International brands are the result of generations of hard work; they are not something that can be achieved easily.