Chapter 95 She had sworn never to be the one to reach out again…
Faced with his wife's silent question, Fu Ci didn't know how to explain, and just smiled with a rare hint of embarrassment.
Tang Mingli, who was not getting a reply, could not remain silent forever.
She quickly looked at the excited shop assistant who was talking to her and responded warmly, "Hello, hello. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that my arrival has made you so excited."
The shop assistant honestly admitted that he was very excited and explained, "It's mainly because the boss mentions you all the time, and we're all very curious about you."
"You mention it often?" Tang Mingli was surprised once again. Fu Ci actually mentioned her in her own work environment?
"Oh, after all that talk, you haven't introduced yourself yet." The shop assistant, true to her sales background, showed no timidity in front of the boss and his wife, and said with a hearty laugh, "My name is Zheng Hao, Zheng as in Zheng Chenggong, and Hao as in getting better and better."
Tang Mingli liked this kind of introduction.
This is the most positive and energetic woman she has ever met in this era.
She smiled and replied, "Comrade Zheng Hao, it's a pleasure to meet you."
After a brief chat, Fu Ci led Tang Mingli upstairs and introduced, "The second floor is a warehouse."
Tang Mingli saw it.
There was a warehouse of about 150 square meters, piled high with goods for sale, all of which were winter clothes.
Is Fu Ci's work style really this aggressive? Aren't you worried that taking so much stock will make it unsellable next year?
But then I realized that people nowadays don't really care about style when it comes to clothes; they're happy just to have new clothes to wear.
It seems that this simple sense of satisfaction brings happiness not only to individuals but also to business owners.
But even so, isn't this warehouse full of clothes a bit too much?
Tang Mingli couldn't help but ask worriedly, "How long will it take to sell all of these?"
However, the answer I heard was: "These are basically all pre-ordered. You know, I mainly do wholesale now."
Tang Mingli knew, but she was still shocked.
What she perceived as wholesale and what her husband actually did seemed very mismatched.
Fu Ci's business is doing exceptionally well.
He could become a self-made millionaire by focusing all his efforts on this, but he wanted to do something even bigger.
I dare not imagine how happy her life will be in a few years.
Thinking of the bright future, Tang Mingli couldn't help but get excited and couldn't help but praise her husband.
Fu Ci felt both proud and happy to be praised, and thankfully he did not disappoint her.
After a brief look at the warehouse, Fu Ci led the group to the third floor.
The third floor is the office space. It lacks the opulence of later companies, but it is kept very clean and tidy.
Private offices, meeting rooms, and a tea room—it has everything you need.
Upon hearing his wife praise the cleanliness, Fu Ci explained, "Zheng Hao usually takes charge of cleaning this place as well."
He then laughed and said, "It seems she's doing a good job; she deserves a raise."
She's a capable employee, handling both sales and cleaning.
Tang Mingli jokingly asked, "How much salary do you pay her each month to make her willingly do so much work?"
Fu Ci gave a number, and Tang Mingli nodded unconsciously.
That's equivalent to two months' wages for an average worker in a state-owned factory; no wonder they're so enthusiastic about their work.
However, it was Zheng Hao's personality that made Tang Mingli realize, even after only a brief encounter, that she was a great and energetic employee. Fu Ci was lucky to have hired her, and it was also a matter of good judgment.
She glanced at the two closed rooms and asked, "Which one is your office?"
“That one,” Fu Ci pointed to the room to the south.
Now that we're here, we should naturally go in and take a look.
The two walked toward the office, but when they reached the door, Fu Ci's hand, which was about to push the door open, paused.
Tang Mingli asked, puzzled, "What's wrong? Is it inconvenient to go in?"
If it's inconvenient, she doesn't necessarily have to go in.
"No," Fu Ci quickly denied, "It's just..."
He just remembered the photo of the two of them on his desk.
Since it wasn't inconvenient to go in, I suddenly hesitated.
Tang Mingli deliberately looked at him with a scrutinizing expression, implying that there was something fishy about not letting her in.
Faced with the choice between being ridiculed by his wife and being misunderstood, Fu Ci chose the former.
He pushed open the door, and the huge office came into view.
The office was small and simply furnished, with a desk and chair set and a row of folders.
It's completely transparent; there are no hidden rooms.
So what was he suddenly hesitating about?
As Tang Mingli walked inside, she joked, "I thought you'd set up a hidden room here to keep me from finding out."
Fu Ci smiled and said, "How could that be?"
When Tang Mingli walked up to the desk and saw the only thing on it that was unrelated to work, she stopped in her tracks. She understood why Fu Ci had hesitated at the door earlier, and she also understood why Zheng Hao could recognize her at a glance even though they had never met before.
It's quite surprising that someone with Fu Ci's personality would display a photo of the two of them together at her workplace, and it also makes one feel a little sweet inside.
She rarely showed such shyness, and quickly glanced at Fu Ci.
That's good, he seemed a little embarrassed too.
This photo was taken on our third anniversary; he insisted on taking me to a photo studio.
She said that she clearly heard him ask the photo studio to print two photos, but when she got home, there was only one.
Fu Ci, whose secret had been discovered, had a slight blush on his ears, but he still tried to pretend to be nonchalant and reminded her, "I haven't worked here for a long time, so there might be dust on the desks and chairs."
His office is generally off-limits to others unless there are special circumstances, not even for cleaning.
Tang Mingli hummed in agreement and nodded, saying, "I saw it."
The desktop is indeed dusty.
However, she said this while looking at the photo frame on the table, making it hard not to feel that she was implying something.
Fu Ci coughed lightly to cover up his slight embarrassment and asked her if she was thirsty.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a slightly questioning voice came from behind him.
"Pay your resignation?!"
“It’s me,” Fu Ci replied first, then whispered to his wife, “It’s my partner, Li Zhengdao.”
The two arrived at the door.
Li Zhengdao was walking towards Fu Ci's office when he saw Tang Mingli. He paused for a moment and blurted out, "Hey, you're bringing your lover to work today."
Tang Mingli smiled sheepishly and quickly explained on Fu Ci's behalf, "I was a little bored today and thought I'd come and take a look."
"Don't mind me, sister-in-law. I was just joking. Actually, I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."
As Li Zhengdao spoke, he reached out to shake hands with Tang Mingli, but Fu Ci brushed him off.
Fu Ci laughed and scolded, "Alright, don't use your business tactics here."
Li Zhengdao was always teasing Fu Ci, and he laughed heartily at Fu Ci's protective reaction.
However, he quickly realized that they had important matters to discuss today, so he hurriedly said, "Alright, alright, enough joking around, let's get down to business."
Tang Mingli knew that her husband had been away on business for so many days, and he had to come to work without resting for even a day or two after returning, so he must have something important to do.
Fearing that her presence might disturb the two of them, she tactfully said, "You two talk about serious matters, I'll go downstairs and take a look."
Li Zhengdao noticed her hesitation and smiled, "We're talking about official business, you can listen."
Tang Mingli didn't doubt that she could listen, but she had suffered psychological trauma from her job in her previous life and didn't want to listen to any official business anymore.
She said, half-seriously and half-jokingly, "I'm afraid listening to this will give me a headache. I'd rather go downstairs and look at some pretty clothes."
Fu Ci understood his wife well, so he did not try to dissuade her.
-
Tang Mingli arrived on the first floor, where there happened to be a few customers, and Zheng Hao was skillfully serving them.
Seeing Tang Mingli come down, he smiled and nodded at her.
After listening for only a short while, Tang Mingli was confident that Zheng Hao was a natural talent for sales.
Not only is he eloquent, but he is also very sincere and professional.
She could clearly describe the material, the workmanship, and how it felt to wear.
In the end, all the guests found clothes they liked and left happily.
At the same time, several groups of guests also came in.
Tang Mingli had only been in the store for less than half an hour when she saw several sales completed.
Today is still a workday, and it's still working hours. I can't imagine how good business would be if it were a weekend.
After the last group of customers left with the clothes they wanted, Zheng Hao could finally catch her breath and walked towards Tang Mingli with a smile.
Tang Mingli spoke first, praising, "You're so professional, you know so much about clothing."
She assumed that he must have worked hard after starting this job, otherwise he wouldn't have reached this level.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Hao said, "I used to work in a garment factory, so I know a little about it."
"Those are workers from state-owned factories. Why would they give up that job to work here?"
Tang Mingli truly felt that she had encountered more unexpected things today than in the entire past year combined.
“I struggled with it too. My family didn’t agree either, but in the end I gritted my teeth and gave up my stable job at the garment factory.” Zheng Hao chuckled as he said this, then continued, “I had no choice. The salary here is higher. One month here is equivalent to three months at the garment factory.”
She held up three fingers, looking very proud.
She has saved a lot of money in less than a year of working here.
Once she has saved enough money, she wants to open her own clothing store.
Hearing that Zheng Hao had such a dream and even spoke about it openly, Tang Mingli was not unhappy at all; on the contrary, she admired and respected him greatly.
"You can definitely do it, and I believe that when you open your own clothing store in the future, the business will definitely be very good."
Zheng Hao was greatly encouraged by these words, and she honestly told Tang Mingli, "You are the third person to support me."
"Really? Then the other two must be your parents?"
Zheng Hao shook his head: "It's the two bosses."
A look of disappointment appeared on her face when she mentioned her parents.
“My parents didn’t even support me quitting my job at the garment factory, so how could they possibly support me opening a shop? They always felt that working steadily in a state-owned factory was the only long-term solution, that working for a private boss was unreliable, and that opening my own shop was just throwing money down the drain.”
"However, regardless of whether they support me or not, I will definitely do it. I believe in myself."
As he spoke, Zheng Hao's eyes hardened again.
Tang Mingli really admires such brave, resolute, and opinionated women.
Tang Mingmei and she are about the same age, but the difference between them is so big.
Half an hour later, Tang Mingli had another thought.
Don't criticize people during the day for no reason, even if you criticize them secretly in your heart, otherwise you might easily encounter ghosts... oops, I mean people.
Not wanting to disturb Zheng Hao's work, she wandered around the neighborhood and unexpectedly bumped into Tang Mingmei, who was holding a child.
Both were surprised, but Tang Mingmei was more embarrassed than Tang Mingli.
"What a coincidence." Tang Mingli was the first to break the silence.
Tang Mingmei said, "Yes, what a coincidence." Then she casually asked, "What are you doing here?"
After asking the question, she laughed at herself for asking a question she already knew the answer to. Tang Mingli, who lived such a comfortable life, would definitely be here shopping.
Unlike her, who didn't want to stay in her suffocating in-laws' house but had nowhere else to go, she could only wander around aimlessly with her child.
Sure enough, Tang Mingli replied, "I was just thinking of going out for a walk today."
She didn't ask Tang Mingmei why she was there instead of going to work or staying home with her children.
Her intuition told her that talking too much would cause trouble.
After exchanging those few words, the two seemed to have nothing more to say.
Just then, the child started crying.
Tang Mingmei quickly bent down to comfort the child.
Tang Mingli noticed that the child's nose was red from the cold and worried that he had caught a chill.
She still softened towards the child and reminded him, "It's a bit cold today. The child is too young and can easily catch a cold."
Tang Mingmei replied, "I know, I've already dressed her in two extra layers of clothing."
This isn't about how beautiful you are or how many clothes you wear... Never mind, Tang Mingli decided to shut up.
The child cried even harder, which made Tang Mingmei even more annoyed. Thinking of what Tang Mingli had said, and worried that the child might really be cold, she said to Tang Mingli, "Let's talk another day. I'm taking the child home now."
The thought of returning to that suffocating home made her feel breathless.
But there was nothing she could do; where else could she go but back there?
Tang Mingmei boarded the bus in a daze and returned to her husband's house in a daze.
When Li's mother saw her return, she immediately put on a stern face and said irritably, "Weren't you supposed to be so proud as to take the child out? Why are you back so soon?"
Tang Mingmei didn't want to argue with her. The child's expression was off, so she picked up the child and went straight into the room.
Li's mother, however, was relentless. She chased after him to the doorway and whispered, "Let me tell you, there's no room for negotiation. You must give up your job at the brown sugar factory and hide away to give our Li family a son. Anyway, your lousy factory is always busy, and the meager salary of ten or twenty yuan a month isn't enough to live on..."
Tang Mingli's mind was entirely on her child, and she didn't listen carefully to what her mother-in-law was saying.
She touched the child's face, which was icy cold, but the body was burning hot. She realized something was wrong; the child had really caught a cold and had a fever. So she started searching around to see if there was any medicine left from the last time the doctor prescribed the child for a fever.
She quickly found several packets.
How come there are so many packages?
Children's medicines are all crushed into powder and wrapped in the same kind of paper, so she can't tell which ones are for fever reduction, which ones are for colds, and which ones are for coughs.
Even if Tang Mingmei was ignorant, she knew that such a young child should not be given medicine indiscriminately.
In their anxiety, the child's cries grew weaker.
Tang Mingmei was scared and wanted to take her child to the hospital, but when she realized she didn't have two yuan on her, she was so anxious that she wanted to cry.
Her salary was already low, and after having a child, she frequently had to take leave. In addition, the brown sugar factory hadn't paid her for three months, so the little money she had saved was almost all spent after taking her child to see a doctor a few times.
Li's mother talked for a long time until she was tired. Then she realized that Tang Mingmei hadn't gone crazy and argued with her as usual.
It's a ghost story.
Just as I was thinking that, I saw Tang Mingmei with red eyes and a ferocious expression say, "Give me ten yuan."
As soon as the words left my mouth, it felt as if a string in my heart had snapped.
Having been given a second chance at life, she vowed never again to be the kind of person who begs for money from others.
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