"Fine, do whatever you want. I'm currently unemployed, while you're a bright young man with ideals and ambitions. I'll do whatever you say, okay?"
"You have half a day to get me all the information on Director Fei and her mother, all of it."
"Yes, sir!" Zhou Xing saluted.
It was already noon, so Zhou Xing drove to the entrance of a nearby restaurant. Qin Xiaoyu was indeed a little hungry, so the two of them went up to the second floor.
This restaurant has a long history; it was converted from a hotel built before the liberation. The first floor has been completely converted into a large canteen, catering to ordinary people. However, going up the stairs from the outside to the second floor reveals a completely different world.
The second floor mainly serves Western food, and the waitresses all wear suits and skirts, making them much more pleasing to the eye.
As soon as they went upstairs, they realized that they hadn't checked the almanac before leaving home and had run into the people they were meant to meet.
Bai Weiwei, heavily pregnant, walked over. She spotted Zhou Xing immediately, paused for a moment, and her eyes reddened.
"Brother Xing."
Qin Xiaoyu felt a lump in her throat as she suddenly realized that Bai Weiwei was the one who truly loved Zhou Xing, and loved him far more than she did.
"Oh, hello." Zhou Xing greeted her politely, then gently patted Qin Xiaoyu's back, gesturing for her to walk towards the table by the window.
The two walked over one after the other, and when they sat down, Qin Xiaoyu noticed that Bai Weiwei was still staring at them intently.
"Xiaobai, come here." A man's voice came from the quiet Western restaurant, sounding somewhat abrupt.
Bai Weiwei, like a doll that had run out of power, suddenly recharged and quickly walked towards the table inside.
Zuo Xiangyang was already sitting there, still panting heavily, and began to focus on the steak in front of him.
"I want both flavors of mini wasabi sausage, paper-wrapped prawns, no alcohol, and tiramisu for dessert..." Zhou Xing picked up the menu, casually pointed to what Qin Xiaoyu wanted.
"I'm going to the restroom." Qin Xiaoyu stood up.
She washed her hands and patted some water on her forehead to try and wake herself up.
"Qin Xiaoyu, you're so lucky to still be by his side." Bai Weiwei, as expected, wouldn't let any opportunity slip by.
"We've already broken up, it's okay now," Qin Xiaoyu said coldly.
"A heartless woman," Bai Weiwei sighed.
"You're talking about me? Am I heartless or are you heartless?" Qin Xiaoyu never imagined that one day Bai Weiwei would accuse her of being heartless.
"You, it's you. I see now, Zhou Xing was right, you're just obsessed with money. You haven't cared about anything around you. Did the Zhou family suddenly accept you just because of the child? Think about it, use your brain, if you can." Bai Weiwei, supporting her belly, walked out.
Qin Xiaoyu was stunned by what she said. The Zhou family accepted her only because of the child, right? Zhou Xing's mother kept saying that she didn't want to lose anything again and that she was afraid. She also returned to the Zhou family because she didn't want her child to be hurt again. What's wrong with that?
"Excuse me, are you Qin Xiaoyu? There's a gentleman outside who asked me to ask if you're feeling unwell?" A waitress walked in and asked cautiously.
"It's okay, thank you." Qin Xiaoyu quickly walked out of the restroom, and Zhou Xing cast a worried glance at her from the other side of the seat.
"I go to the restroom and you have to send someone to ask me? What about my freedom?" Qin Xiaoyu said angrily.
“This isn’t like you. I’m mainly worried that Bai Weiwei will bother you.” Zhou Xing glanced at Bai Weiwei.
"Zhou Xing, I want to ask you a question." The waiter had already brought the food. Qin Xiaoyu was carefully slicing the wasabi sausage with a knife when she looked up and saw Zhou Xing's gaze, which was full of water and completely focused on her. A thought suddenly occurred to her.
"Go ahead and ask," Zhou Xing said, withdrawing his gaze.
"What exactly happened during your trip to the south? You seem like a completely different person."
“Everyone changes after walking on the edge of death,” Zhou Xing said, his eyes lowered.
"That's true, but you've changed so much, I almost didn't recognize you."
"I am still me, a different kind of firework." Zhou Xing looked up, a smile blooming on his face, as innocent as a young boy.
"Are you brain-dead?" Qin Xiaoyu said irritably. She hated Zhou Xing's attitude; it made her heart flutter.
“Yes, just consider me an idiot.” Zhou Xing chuckled softly.
Without turning around, Qin Xiaoyu could feel the murderous aura behind her; Bai Weiwei hated her to death. But what were those words she spoke in the bathroom? Bai Weiwei wasn't the type to waste words.
"Xiaoyu, you've been running around so hard every day, otherwise you wouldn't need to beg them. I have some money here, you can use it to start your own factory." Zhou Xing's mother saw that Qin Xiaoyu still looked unhappy when she came back, guessing that she hadn't reached an agreement again.
"Mom, it's not that I absolutely need her factory, I just want them to wake up. Passion can't put food on the table. These people's naivety is unbearable. How much does it affect a family's quality of life if the breadwinner loses their income? Besides, they don't care about sales channels. If they keep producing like this, they'll just be creating more waste. I have to take it over." Qin Xiaoyu was still stubborn.
Zhou Xingzhen was indeed efficient; he quickly obtained Director Fei's information.
Qin Xiaoyu glanced at it and couldn't help but sigh; it was practically a condensed history. In the 1950s, Director Fei's mother, Xie Lanhua, organized a street processing factory, mainly producing pillowcases and similar items. Later, she took the plunge and started a children's clothing factory.
Children's clothing didn't sell well back then, and families weren't wealthy. A piece of clothing would be passed down like a family heirloom, with the second child taking the eldest's, the third taking the second's, the fourth taking the third's, and so on... In the end, it would have to be altered before being worn.
To save money, every woman in the family knew a little needlework, or at least could sew something. When the children's clothing factory was first established, the pressure was immense. Xie Lanhua led two saleswomen, traveling from the city to the county town and then to the rural supply and marketing cooperatives.
By delivering just one or two items, they managed to open up sales channels and became a well-known large garment factory.
Indeed, Director Fei wasn't exaggerating; this was the blood and sweat of the first generation of children's clothing factory workers. However, later, with the revitalization of the market economy, wholesale stations came into play, allowing goods from the north and south to be exchanged. Children's clothing from the south was superior in both style and quality.
To put it bluntly, people who can afford children's clothes are not short of money. Those who are short of money just make them at home. So the question is, given the same price, who wouldn't buy the nicer-looking ones?
Xie Lanhua struggled to keep the factory afloat, but the factory's economic performance continued to decline. She also reached retirement age and handed over the reins to her daughter.
Director Fei is a man of action, and he even went on a trip to the south to investigate, but unfortunately he didn't learn even the basics. He only saw the prosperity of the south, but he couldn't see where the roots of those flowers were planted.
They claimed to be improving the technology, but it was just a superficial change; the children's clothing factory quickly fell into a slump.
Because it is under the jurisdiction of the Second Light Industry Bureau, the higher authorities attach great importance to it and have repeatedly demanded rectification, but they can only issue documents without coming up with any concrete measures.
The children's clothing factory has more than 200 employees, plus retired employees, nearly 400 people to support, which is a headache for the leaders.
Qin Xiaoyu decided to find a breakthrough by working with Xie Lanhua, as Factory Director Fei was too stubborn. If Xie Lanhua had been able to innovate once back then, it meant she could innovate a second time. Exploring her approach would be much easier.
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