On August 15th, Chen Jing, Ji Xia, Hou Fang, Hou Xiaolian, and Chen Qiuyu, carrying large and small bags of luggage, waved goodbye to their family and friends who were seeing them off at the platform and boarded the train to Beijing.
Following the flow of people in the carriage, the five people arrived at the sleeper carriage in front and found their seats.
Chen Qiuyu and Hou Xiaolian couldn't help but pinch their noses, avoiding the surrounding passengers: "So many people live in such a small place? The smell is a bit strange."
It wasn't that the smell was strange, but rather that it was the hottest time of August, when people were sweating a lot, the carriage was cramped, the air was not circulating, and it was stuffy and hot.
Even with the windows open, the air doesn't circulate much before the train starts moving.
Ji Xia couldn't help but chuckle, handing the luggage to Chen Jing to put on the luggage rack: "This is a train. Do you think you're at home, where you need to stay comfortably?"
"This is already very good. There are fewer passengers in the sleeper car, but there are more people in the hard seat car in front, and some people don't even have a seat. They can only stand in the aisle for dozens of hours, squeezed together like sardines. In the summer, there are many people and the smell of sweat is strong. I don't know how uncomfortable it is."
Fortunately, although I smelled sweat along the way, I didn't find anyone with severe body odor. If I had encountered a passenger with body odor, that would have been truly awful!
When Ji Xia was working at the supply and marketing cooperative, she once encountered a middle-aged woman with body odor. When she got a few steps closer, she could feel the suffocating stench in the air around her, and after a while, she would feel dizzy.
The supply and marketing cooperative was a fairly spacious place, and it wasn't always overcrowded. It would be really uncomfortable to encounter such passengers in a train carriage during the summer.
Upon hearing this, Chen Qiuyu and Hou Xiaolian immediately looked distressed, unable to imagine what was happening.
Chen Jing put all the luggage on the luggage rack, leaving only a bag containing fruit, snacks and biscuits on the table in the middle of the small compartment.
The five people were spaced just apart, which was convenient.
The group sat down on the lower bunks, and Chen Jing waved to the three of them: "Just a reminder, the journey is long and anything can happen. If you need to go to the restroom or get hot water, you must go in pairs, especially the women, who must be accompanied by a man."
"Is it that serious?" The two young women couldn't help but look worried.
Ji Xia took the water bottle, poured some cold water, and drank it: "Don't worry too much. There are five of us, including two men. Ordinary people won't mess with us."
Seeing that Ji Xia and Chen Jing looked relaxed, the two young women finally relaxed and rested on the ground floor for a while before being assigned seats.
For safety reasons, the two men stayed on the ground floor, Ji Xia and Hou Xiaolian stayed on the middle floor, and Chen Qiuyu went up to the top floor to rest.
The train slowly started moving, and a gentle breeze blew in through the windows, dispelling the stale air in the carriage and clearing one's mind.
Chen Qiuyu was bored sitting on the top floor, so he climbed up to the second floor to keep Ji Xia company.
But then she saw Ji Xia holding a black notebook and sketching with a pencil, and couldn't help but admire her: "Sister Xia, you're so diligent. Are you designing a new style?"
"No, I was just drawing randomly to record my sudden inspiration."
Ji Xia casually picked up the sketchbook and said, "Bored? Want to read a book? I brought a few with me."
Chen Qiuyu shook her head, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face: "I can't concentrate on reading. I just want to sleep whenever I see a book, hehe!"
Ji Xia couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.
Chen Qiuyu took the black notebook from her and flipped through it. Suddenly, she asked curiously, "Sister Xia, I heard that Boss Song opened a small workshop in the county town. Do they have anyone designing clothes?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Xia's eyes flickered. Did they need to design it themselves?
Not long after she and Chen Jing returned from Huacheng, they also received news that Boss Song had started his own business.
The business orders that had been handled by Boss Song were naturally taken away by him.
Chen Jing had originally intended to set up a stall in Baima to do wholesale, and upon hearing this, he became even more determined to do so.
So after completing the previous orders, the small workshop started making new autumn clothes and sending them to Huacheng Baima.
After Chen Jing accompanied Chen Xiaogang to Huacheng, he heard that he saw Boss Song and Liu Pianran. The two looked very close, and Chen Jing bought Liu Pianran one new women's dress after another.
Ji Xia suspected that they were buying the new women's clothing because they wanted to buy samples and make their own pirated versions.
After expressing her doubts, Hou Xiaolian on the other end of the line covered her mouth in surprise: "What can we do? Just watch her imitate our design like this?"
Ji Xia couldn't help but smile bitterly: "What can we do? What can we do? It's very difficult to prevent this kind of thing from happening again."
At that time, copyright was not taken seriously, and piracy was rampant in the 1980s and 90s. This was true for records, DVDs, and even clothing.
Whenever a new model comes out, countless pirated versions quickly flood the streets.
Just like the styles she designed last year and this year, you can see similar styles in both county towns and flower cities.
Let alone in the 1970s and 80s, even 30 or 40 years later, this kind of thing cannot be completely eliminated.
Just like the trendy Hong Kong and Taiwan styles that Huacheng sees, aren't they just clothes that have been modified and reproduced based on what they see on TV?
Chen Jing took out some snacks, melon seeds, biscuits, and preserved plums from his luggage bag and handed them over.
"Don't overthink it. This is a new design we created ourselves. We're ahead of the curve and we're ahead of the competition."
He handed a packet of preserved plums to Ji Xia and gently comforted her, "I was thinking, last time I saw some time-honored brands in Beijing, like Peking duck and mutton hot pot. Although they are everywhere, Quanjude and Donglaishun are doing much better business. Why do you think that is?"
"Brand effect: even if it's the same product, some people prefer to recognize the brand."
Ji Xia's eyes lit up, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes shone, brimming with autumn water, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, captivating all who beheld her.
She suddenly looked up and said, "We'll also design two brands and logos for our clothing to create our brand effect."
"Two brands? Why two brands? Isn't our workshop called 'Three Lives of Good Fortune'?" The four people on the bunk beds were puzzled.
Ji Xia smiled faintly and explained in a low voice, "I plan to create a high-end brand that is dedicated to serving elites. It will focus more on quality and have higher requirements for fabrics, workmanship and design."
"Another factor is that the largest market right now is still the general public market. So, we'll create another mass-market brand with more affordable prices that most customers can accept."
She lowered her head, gazed intently, and smiled: "Of course, this is just my personal idea. We can discuss it together after we arrive in the capital."
Chen Jing subtly took her hand, his eyes filled with tenderness: "Your idea is good, I agree."
Ji Xia smiled and said, "Just agreeing isn't enough. We also need to design a brand name and then design a logo based on the brand. Think about it, what would be a good name for our popular brand?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
