The waiter brought over the packaged mini cakes, each one packed in a small cardboard box, which took up quite a bit of space. Fortunately, the bag Fu Hong had used to pack her tea and snacks was large enough to fit them all in.
"Next, shall we go to the pedestrian street?" Gao Mingcheng asked.
Xing Zhaozhao nodded: "Mm."
“Me too…” Ying Rongrong blurted out.
However, before he could finish speaking, Gao Mingcheng interrupted him with a stern face: "You've been following us for so long, why are you still following us? Go back."
Ying Rongrong had only said it casually; she herself was hesitant about whether to continue following along. Now that Gao Mingcheng had spoken, she naturally agreed immediately: "Okay, Dad."
As they left the coffee shop, Xing Zhaozhao smiled and waved to Ying Rongrong, saying, "We're leaving now. Be careful on your way back."
"Hmm." Ying Rongrong nodded, watching Xing Zhaozhao leave arm in arm with Gao Mingcheng. Surprisingly, she felt that it was quite harmonious. If she really was her mother-in-law, it would actually be quite nice.
The thought had barely crossed her mind when Ying Rongrong's expression hardened. She quickly shook her head, banishing those inappropriate thoughts.
"What are you thinking? How could she really be her mother-in-law? Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony..." she kept muttering to herself, then turned and went back.
Xing Zhaozhao led Gao Mingcheng to the pedestrian street.
Standing in front of Xiao Xu's stall, looking at Xiao Xu's tattered clothes, Xing Zhaozhao's lips twitched involuntarily: "Where did you go? Did you get into a fight?"
Little Xu, the peddler, looked at Xing Zhaozhao with a mournful face and said pitifully, "It's all because of your clothes."
"My clothes could tear you like this? No way! Don't talk nonsense." Xing Zhaozhao's face hardened, and she quickly shook her head. She wouldn't take the blame for this. Her clothes were just ordinary clothes.
"Your clothes can't tear me apart, but the people who wanted to buy them almost tore me apart alive." Little Xu, the peddler, pleaded with Xing Zhaozhao, "Sister, five sets really aren't enough to sell. Could you make more next time?"
Xing Zhaozhao never expected that selling clothes could turn into such a mess. Looking at the pitiful appearance of the little Xu vendor, she couldn't help but twitch her lips and said, "Then I'll try to make more next time."
"Oh, and this too." Little Xu, the peddler, handed Xing Zhaozhao a small notebook.
"What's this?" Xing Zhaozhao took it and flipped it open.
"The person who pre-ordered your clothes," said Xiao Xu, the peddler.
The notebook is the size of a palm, with exactly five numbers on each page.
Xing Zhaozhao nodded: "Just these few? No problem."
"There's more to come," said the vendor, Xiao Xu, expressionlessly.
Xing Zhaozhao: "??"
Xing Zhaozhao started turning the pages, one page after another, and then another...
Xing Zhaozhao's face turned pale instantly. Before she could finish flipping through the notebook, she threw it back: "Can't do a single thing..."
Little Xu, the vendor, nodded and said, "I also think it's impossible to do it anymore." Especially since they do it by hand, you can imagine how slow it is.
"But, sister, the clothes are selling so well, which means there's a market. Someone must have seen what happened just now and is planning to take this opportunity to secretly set up counterfeit products. If we don't hold onto the market we've opened up, others will take it and make a lot of money. Sister, don't you feel heartbroken?" Little Xu, the vendor, asked Xing Zhaozhao with a serious expression.
Hearing what he said, Xing Zhaozhao clutched her chest and nodded, "It hurts, but what can I do? There's just too much to do." What could she do? She was helpless too.
"Let's cooperate, sis," said the vendor, Xiao Xu, his eyes shining brightly.
Xing Zhaozhao was taken aback: "Cooperation? What kind of cooperation?"
"Let's sell clothes together. You provide the designs, and I'll find a factory to produce them. How about our Lanyuan Textile Factory? We have the machines and workers readily available, and they're practically sitting idle, so we can start production anytime," said the vendor, Xiao Xu, with great enthusiasm.
Xing Zhaozhao: "..." So, he had already planned all this out?
"Lanyuan Textile Factory?" Gao Mingcheng looked at Xiao Xu, the peddler, and suddenly asked, "I just heard Zhao Zhao call you Xiao Xu. If I remember correctly, the old factory director of Lanyuan Textile Factory was also surnamed Xu."
Little Xu, the street vendor, proudly puffed out his chest: "It's my grandfather. After he retired, my dad is running it now."
Gao Mingcheng glanced at the stall in front of him: "What about you? Aren't you planning to take over your dad's business?"
The vendor, Xiao Xu, looked dejected: "What job? I don't even know if my dad can keep going."
"Why keep going when you can't hold on anymore?" Gao Mingcheng asked.
The vendor, Xiao Xu, helplessly shrugged: "What else can we do? A bunch of long-time employees who have worked at the factory for decades have gone under. Where are they supposed to work at their age? They'll just have to make do."
Gao Mingcheng turned to Xing Zhaozhao: "You can give it a try, Zhaozhao. After all, it's an old factory with decades of history, so you can trust it."
Since Gao Mingcheng had said so, Xing Zhaozhao looked at Xiao Xu the peddler and said, "Alright then, I'll go back and discuss it with the tailor, and come back to discuss the details of the cooperation with you in a couple of days."
The vendor, Xiao Xu, was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly: "No problem, sister."
Xing Zhaozhao picked up the goods she had ordered from Xiao Xu the peddler and rushed back home without stopping.
"Sister Xing, you're finally back."
Unexpectedly, Fu Lan was waiting for her in the cellar this time.
Xing Zhaozhao put down what she was holding and asked with a smile, "What are you doing here? Where are the two little ones?"
Fu Lan's expression was somewhat complicated: "They can't leave for the time being?"
"Can't leave? What do you mean?" Xing Zhaozhao didn't understand.
"We have guests at home," Fu Lan said.
"Another guest? What kind of guest is it that they both need to keep an eye on?" Xing Zhaozhao asked curiously.
"You'll see when you go," Fu Lan said with a slight smile.
“Alright.” Xing Zhaozhao said as she walked out of the cellar with Fu Lan. “I brought back a lot of things this time, including the book you wanted. Oh, and there are two other very important things I’ll tell you later.”
As they were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the front room, where Aunt Hao was sitting.
"So it was you, Auntie," Xing Zhaozhao said with a smile. "By the way, weren't Hongfei and Hongyu supposed to be here with the guests? Where are they?"
Aunt Hao smiled mysteriously and pointed to the inner room: "He's in there. By the way, Zhao Zhao, why haven't you mentioned before that you found a child husband for Xiao Hongling?"
Xing Zhaozhao was stunned. What the heck?
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