"This young widow is quite capable," someone finally managed to say after a long pause, only to be met with a fierce glare from Director Fei, at which point he quickly shut his mouth.
"She's quite capable. By the way, will you get paid this month?" Xie Lanhua asked without looking up.
"I'll try my best. If necessary, I'll check the inventory and sell off a batch of goods at a discount..."
"Then let's do it as soon as possible. It's been three months without pay, and everyone is struggling." Xie Lanhua sighed.
On the way back, Aunt Wang kept sighing.
"I think this is going to be difficult."
"Don't worry, godmother, Director Xie has recovered his spirit."
"So what's the next step?"
"Find a time to catch her at home and talk to her alone." The word "give up" doesn't exist in Qin Xiaoyu's dictionary.
This time, she didn't bring her younger sister with her, but instead brought the clothes her younger sister wore that day.
She deliberately chose a day with bad weather, with a strong wind blowing from the river, howling and swirling, filling people's faces with fine sand, making it easy to squint. So the alley was deserted, with no one around.
Having found out the location, Qin Xiaoyu drove straight in, opened the courtyard gate and headed towards the main house, only knocking once when she reached the door.
"Who is it?" Xie Lanhua wasn't too surprised when she opened the door, and hesitated for a moment before letting her in.
"Director Xie, I'd like to talk to you about the Little Sun again."
"What's there to talk about? I'm retired. If you want to talk, go talk to Director Fei." Xie Lanhua adopted a businesslike attitude.
"To be honest, I don't know how you raised your daughter. You're too rigid in your parenting. Now, the only one who can teach Little Sun is yourself," Qin Xiaoyu said with a wry smile.
“Back then, I was busy with my career and didn’t have time to care about her. I only looked at her grades and made sure she got a perfect score. Who knew…” Xie Lanhua suddenly stopped herself, almost letting the words slip out.
Qin Xiaoyu then understood that she didn't approve of her daughter either, which made things easier.
"I brought the clothes my daughter wore that day..." Qin Xiaoyu had just taken the clothes out of the bag when she heard the door open behind her and a group of old ladies rushed in.
"Come on, let's play cards! Everyone's here!" They were all stunned when they came in and saw Qin Xiaoyu.
"Why are you always here, like a ghost?"
"Let's go, let's go!"
"This is so annoying, let's go!" Not a single one of them said anything nice.
"I'm really fed up with you people. You're all so stubborn. If it weren't for the other people in the factory, I wouldn't care about you anymore. We might as well all drown together. You can all eat from the same pot and sink together!" Qin Xiaoyu got angry and started to speak rudely.
"What do you care if we live or die! Get out!" Some hot-tempered men came over and tried to drag Qin Xiaoyu out.
"Wait! I have something else to say!"
Qin Xiaoyu roared, stunning everyone.
"Director Xie, you say this factory is your life's work. Now I'd like to see just how amazing your life's work really is. I'll throw this garment away. Do you dare to make even one like it? Can you even make it? Or is it simply impossible? Give me an answer!"
"I can do it." Xie Lanhua wanted to ignore it, but Qin Xiaoyu's words hurt her, so she couldn't refuse.
"Okay, I'll give you three days. That's plenty of time, isn't it? Such a big factory, if you can't even make one garment in three days, I won't say anything more." Qin Xiaoyu arranged a time to come back next time, threw down the garment, and left.
Three days later, it was indeed a sunny day. When Qin Xiaoyu arrived, there were more people sitting in the alley than usual. Even the paralyzed man who usually didn't leave his house came out to watch the excitement.
"Director Xie, where are the clothes?" Qin Xiaoyu asked directly.
"Wait a moment, Director Fei went to get it, he'll be right back." Xie Lanhua's face was expressionless.
Actually, Qin Xiaoyu did this not because she suspected they couldn't make it. The clothing style wasn't complicated. Although Xiaotaiyang Children's Clothing Factory's design and technology were outdated, they should still have basic imitation capabilities.
After waiting awkwardly for a good half hour, Director Fei finally rode his bicycle into the alley.
She jumped out of the car and threw her bag into the arms of an old woman.
Several elderly women hurriedly gathered around, frantically opening the bag, only to be completely dumbfounded.
Xie Lanhua looked at Director Fei with disbelief, not daring to look up and meet her mother's gaze.
Actually, Qin Xiaoyu knew they had lost when Director Fei entered the alley.
This imitation garment incorporates plenty of sun motifs. The A-line silhouette is correct, but the materials and color scheme have been changed. The garment is now a vibrant green, trimmed with bright pink, the panda on the front is replaced with a brown cat head, and two green apple pockets have been added. The stems are finished in dark green.
Although they are two similar pieces of clothing, when placed side by side, the difference in quality becomes immediately apparent.
"Master Zhang from the workshop insisted on having a unique style for Little Sun. She said that making the same thing as others wouldn't be interesting," Factory Director Fei explained to his mother in a low voice.
"Nonsense!" Xie Lanhua snatched the two pieces of clothing, threw one in front of Director Fei, and stuffed the other into Qin Xiaoyu's hands.
"Director Xie, may I invite you to a place?" Qin Xiaoyu stepped forward and said without missing a beat.
Where to?
"You'll see when you get there. I won't hurt you," Qin Xiaoyu said with a mischievous smile.
Xie Lanhua was indeed more decisive than her daughter. Whether it was the reality of the Little Sun Children's Clothing Factory that had just spurred her on, or whether she was genuinely curious, she got into the car with Qin Xiaoyu anyway.
Qin Xiaoyu pulled her to Hengchang and took her up to the second floor.
The second floor has been renovated these past few days, but no merchandise has been put up there yet. You know, after the second floor was renovated, none of the clothing from the downstairs department was even worthy of being there. They just looked out of place, not even one in a hundred would do.
With no other option, Qin Xiaoyu could only rummage around and iron and hang up her and Zhou Yue's nearly new clothes. She also borrowed two more pieces from Commander Wang and Xiao Mengting, so at least she wasn't completely broke.
Xie Lanhua walked up to the second floor with a stern face, and was shocked as she entered. She had also gone out to investigate in order to seek development in the garment manufacturing industry.
But for some reason, every time she returned full of ambition, she couldn't get things going. Layer upon layer of resistance wore down her will. This is why, even though she could have been rehired after retirement, she preferred to stay home and take care of her children.
The scene before her was the clothing factory showroom she had once dreamed of, but she lacked the ability to realize it. Qin Xiaoyu, however, had truly turned her dream into reality.
"Auntie, I really hope that one day this place will be filled with your factory's clothing." Qin Xiaoyu could see the struggle in Xie Lanhua's heart, so she changed her form of address.
"Sigh, you saw the clothes I brought today. My daughter isn't the only one who's stubborn. I can't do anything about it." Xie Lanhua's eyes dimmed.
“This must be related to management. You’re practically a family business, there’s nothing you can do about it. But what if there’s a strong-willed manager, and he’s an outsider? Would things be different?” Qin Xiaoyu asked tentatively.
"Is this the cooperation you wanted?" Xie Lanhua became wary.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
