"Mr. Huang, I'm Chen Hanfeng. Prices have skyrocketed in Shanghai recently, especially for rice, flour, grain, and oil. Business is tough here. Manager Lin knows we have some food in stock, so he wants to hold a raffle with three prizes: half a pound of rice, flour, one pound of rice, and two pounds of rice. I'm wondering if you agree."

Huang Wanzhen shook her head subconsciously. "No, those foods are reserved for you to eat. They are given to guests as rewards. What will you eat? Making money is important, but your life is more important than money."

There was silence on the other end for a moment, and then a female voice suddenly rang out, "Mr. Huang, I'm Lin Zexin. I need to explain to you that I'm not asking you to give out all the food as a reward. Only a small portion will be enough."

"This is the Shanghai Concession. For their own sake, the foreigners won't let food prices remain high. After a period of time, prices will slowly return to normal. But right now, business in our shop is very bad. We need to use some food in exchange for the opportunity to sell off our surplus products. This will not only revitalize our working capital, but also make money. The food is considered purchased by the store. Once the store makes a profit, I will deposit the purchase money into your account as soon as possible."

Huang Wanzhen thought about how she had prepared enough food to last three years, and that Shanghai would be occupied by the Northern Expedition Army next year. Giving some away wouldn't affect anything, but she was worried about having to pay out more later. "Can you guarantee that it's only this time?"

Although Lin Zexin's expression could not be seen, the voice that came out of the receiver was clearly smiling, "Yes! I promise, just this once."

Huang Wanzhen said in a cold and hard voice, "Remember what you said, otherwise I can build Shanghai Jixiangtang or destroy it. Give the phone to Chen Hanfeng."

After the phone returned to Chen Hanfeng, Huang Wanzhen told him very seriously that he could only use one-third of the food for the event, and she would only allow this to happen once.

After hanging up the phone, Huang Wanzhen tapped her fingers on the table and pondered for a while. Just as she was about to make another call to Shanghai, she heard the phone ringing.

"Hello? I'm Huang Wanzhen. Has Lin Zexin left?"

"Lin Zexin?" A gentle, magnetic male voice came from the phone. Huang Wanzhen was stunned for two seconds before reacting, "Dr. Shen? Hello, hello. Excuse me, I thought it was a colleague calling. What can I do for you?"

"Next Sunday, Mr. Fan, a great literary figure, is organizing a salon to raise funds for the relief center. I'd like to ask if you would like to go."

Huang Wanzhen was stunned for two seconds, not knowing what Shen Junyan meant. After thinking about it, she thought that he probably thought that she was a businesswoman and had some money, so she could donate some. Based on her trust in Shen Junyan, Huang Wanzhen agreed without thinking.

On the day of the salon, Huang Wanzhen changed into a simple plaid cheongsam and wore only a pair of pearl earrings. She was holding a handbag and beating the board in Jixiang Hall while waiting for Shen Junyan to pick her up.

Although business is not as good as before, most of Jixiangtang's regular customers are wives and daughters from wealthy families. They will never be short of money for cosmetics regardless of whether there is a war or not, so there are still customers coming in and out of the store every day, and Huang Wanzhen has not changed the frequency of updating the design drawings.

The sewing women in the rented yard on the back street were prospering daily. Huang Wanzhen had stockpiled a lot of cheap cotton fabric and commissioned several basic shirt and cheongsam designs for them. These garments, when finished and sent to Huamei Clothing, were a few cents cheaper than the previous shirt prices. Huang Wanzhen marketed them as "patriotic and affordable."

Overnight, all the clothing stores in Beijing knew about "Huamei Clothing", but Huang Wanzhen limited the number of wholesales they could sell to no more than 500 pieces a week, and the selling price could not exceed the original list price. Once discovered, if they raised prices arbitrarily, their distribution rights would be permanently revoked.

Huang Wanzhen did this because she was afraid that someone would buy it all and then sell it at a higher price. If all her hard work ended up turning into gold bars in someone else's pocket, she would be so disgusted that she would die.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, a black Citroën stopped at the door of Jixiang Hall. Xiao Shitou thought it was a distinguished guest, so he smiled and walked forward to open the car door. When he saw that it was someone he knew, he quickly smiled and greeted, "Oh! No wonder there was a magpie calling in front of the door so early this morning. It turned out to be Doctor Shen. Please come in."

Shen Junyan smiled and was about to get out of the car when he heard a sneer coming from the driver's seat.

"Your eyesight is not very good today, didn't you see that Master Chu was driving the car himself today? If you don't greet him, he will definitely pick your gift."

Little Stone tilted his neck to take a look, then quickly looked at the face. "Oh! It's Doctor Chu. Look at me, I'm so blind, I just saw you. Please come in, I'll make you some tea to make amends."

Chu Yanzhi turned sideways, with one arm resting on the back of the chair, "Stop joking, go call your manager out and tell her we won't wait." He hated waiting for women to put on makeup the most. It took at least an hour each time, two or three hours was normal, and for those who were abnormal, they might have to wait for half a day. It was terrible.

Huang Wanzhen came out quickly. Within two minutes, she ran out with her handbag. Not only did Chu Yanzhi look at her in astonishment, but even the usually calm Shen Junyan was slightly surprised. "Did you lose a lot of money in business? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have called you today."

Before Huang Wanzhen could speak, Chu Yanzhi sighed deeply. "Let me tell you, her 'Hua Mei Clothing' made a patriotic and affordable dress. You know how expensive fabric is these days. The price she set is not enough to cover the cost of the material, and she still has to pay for the labor. If she's not poor, who is poor?"

Shen Junyan had heard about Huang Wanzhen's righteous act a long time ago. Not only him, but many people had heard about it. If Huang Wanzhen had not limited the product and the scale was not too large, some people who wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune would have dealt with her long ago.

Shen Junyan invited Huang Wanzhen to attend Mr. Fan's salon this time, also wanting to introduce her to a few people, so that those people could express their approval of her behavior at the salon, so as to deter some villains for her.

"Wanzhen is so righteous. You are truly as good as any man. I should call you 'Mr. Huang'." Shen Junyan turned his whole body sideways, faced Huang Wanzhen, and saluted her with his fists.

Huang Wanzhen returned the gesture with a fake fist-clasp, her face stern as she said, "Every man is responsible for the fate of his country. We young people are at the age where we should shoulder our responsibilities. Although as women we cannot go to the battlefield, we must still do our best to do practical things for the people."

Shen Junyan looked at Huang Wanzhen with admiration, "Mr. Huang is truly a role model for our generation."

Chu Yanzhi said in a deep voice, "Even if you can go to the battlefield, you can't go! Right now, the whole country is cheering for the revolutionary army. If you go to the front line, won't you be rebelling against Tian Gang?"