The other two garment factories are also in this area, but they are a bit far apart. It took Shu Yan quite a while to find them. The styles of the clothes are similar to those of Boss He's factory, but the materials are not as good. Of course, the prices are slightly cheaper. Shu Yan wants to go for the mid-to-high-end market, so she can't be greedy for this little bit of cheapness.
We'll tentatively go with Mr. He's clothing factory, and then see if Mr. Hu has any good recommendations. We can't put all our eggs in one basket.
"Boss Shu." Old Hu led two men into the shop and said with a hearty laugh, "This is the Boss Zhang I was talking about. Many shops in Nancheng hire him for renovations. He's good quality and his prices are reasonable."
Shuyan has been too busy these past few days, so she asked Lao Hu to help her find a renovation company.
"Hello." Shu Yan shook hands with Boss Zhang. "I've already spoken to the landlord about this wall. It can be completely torn down and replaced with a transparent glass wall, a suspended ceiling, and eight chandeliers on each side. The cashier's counter will be moved over here. The small storage room in the back will remain unchanged. Two fitting rooms will be partitioned off on the right side. Is that alright?" Shu Yan explained her ideas to Boss Zhang. There were quite a few things to change.
The person following behind Boss Zhang noted down Shu Yan's requirements and then drew a sketch. "Is this correct?"
"Yes, that's it." The other party filled in all the gaps in Shu Yan's explanation. No wonder Lao Hu said that many shops in the south of the city hired them for renovations; this designer alone is quite remarkable.
"Any other requirements?" the man asked, while quickly jotting down the store's data on a draft.
"That's all for now, or do you have any better suggestions?" She had never run a clothing store before, and the decoration was a complete copy of what she saw in the original world.
The man paused for a moment, then said, "I will redesign it according to your requirements. It should take about two days to produce a design draft. You can review it and then make a decision."
After seeing Boss Zhang and his group off, Shu Yan kept Lao Hu behind to inquire about the garment factory.
“I’ve asked around among a few friends in this field, and the clothing businesses in Nancheng are all pretty much the same. Most people still go to Hangzhou to wholesale. It’s simply unrealistic for you to think about wholesaling clothes here.” Old Hu knew Shu Yan’s situation; with two children, it was indeed impractical for her to frequently go to Hangzhou to wholesale.
"I know that. I want to be prepared for both possibilities." Shu Yan actually has big ambitions. She wants to create her own unique style and maybe even establish her own brand. Whether she succeeds or not, she wants to set a goal first. There's a saying that the bigger your ambition, the bigger your stage. She's already transmigrated into a book, living in this era, and has the resources. Why not give it a try?
Speaking of the brand, the store name hasn't been chosen yet. Shu Yan had actually thought of several, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. In the end, she decided on Yan Ni. Why this name? Because it's her nickname. In her own world, her grandparents, maternal grandparents, and parents all call her Yan Ni. It's a nickname filled with affection. As Shu Yan wrote these two words, her eyes instantly reddened. No one will call her by this name anymore. Perhaps when the night is quiet, they will think of this name and feel silently sad? Shu Yan took a deep breath. This is the name. She was afraid that if she stayed here too long, she would forget who she was.
I'm going to an advertising shop to customize a billboard. I'll register the trademark tomorrow, Monday. People in China don't pay attention to this these days, but Shuyan is very clear that many big brands will suffer from neglecting trademark rights in the future and have spent a lot of money to buy them back from others.
At four o'clock, it was time to go back and pick up the children from school. I could see Lin Hui and Wu Xiuyue talking from afar.
"I heard from Lin Hui that you're opening a clothing store. Where will it be? We'll come and support you." After learning that Wang Yitong and Ye Jingjing were both taking tutoring classes, Wu Xiuyue pressured her son to also enroll in tutoring classes for Chinese and English.
"It's on Chengnan West Road, still under renovation. When it opens, I'll invite you all to come and support me, so don't run away!" Shu Yan joked.
Lin Hui's current house is in a different direction from theirs. After they parted ways, Lin Hui suddenly fell silent, looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.
Since she wasn't going to ask, Shu Yan would never take the initiative to ask. They had only met a few times when picking up their children; they weren't even friends. If she needed help, she would help if she could, but she wouldn't force herself if she couldn't. Was it something to be asked or not? Shu Yan wouldn't rush to ask; she had plenty of things to do herself.
"I've been so busy every day, I haven't even bought groceries yet. I'm taking the kids to buy groceries now," Shu Yan said with a smile as she said goodbye to Wu Xiuyue.
Wu Xiuyue was too embarrassed to bring it up, but when she got home and saw her husband lounging on the sofa like a king, she angrily threw her bag at him.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Huafeng sat up from the sofa. "Your son didn't do well on his exam?"
“No.” Wu Xiuyue paused for a moment and said, “The Shu Yan I mentioned last time is going to open a clothing store on Chengnan West Road. I was thinking that Hanhan goes to tutoring classes on weekends, and I can manage my things at home, so I want to work for her.”
"Go to work?" Zhang Huafeng looked at Wu Xiuyue suspiciously. "Go sell clothes?"
"That's what I was thinking, but I was too embarrassed to say it." Wu Xiuyue hadn't worked since giving birth to her son, and now that she suddenly had to go back to work, she was a little scared, mainly because she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"It's a good thing she didn't say anything. Did she think it wasn't embarrassing enough? Our son and her daughter are classmates. If our son's teachers and classmates find out that you're working for his classmate's mother, how will our son ever be able to hold his head up at school again?" Zhang Huafeng looked at his wife unhappily. "Do you even have a brain? Going to sell clothes for your son's classmate's mother, your son will have to be inferior to his classmates from now on."
Wu Xiuyue said unhappily, "What am I supposed to do if I don't go to work? With your meager salary, when will we ever be able to afford a house? It's shameful for me to work for someone else, but it's not shameful for us to live here? Lin Hui and Shu Yan have both bought apartments in Nanfu Mansion, and they're both 120-square-meter suites. Look at our house! Six people are living in 40 square meters. Hanhan is so old and still lives with us. When he gets older, he won't even have his own room. Isn't that shameful? And your sister, she's 28 and still not married. Isn't that shameful?"
“If you’re going to talk about me, talk about me. Why are you bringing up Xiuxiu?” Zhang Huafeng glanced at the doors and windows and lowered his voice. “It’s my fault for being incompetent. Don’t drag Xiuxiu into this.”
Wu Xiuyue remained silent this time. She knew she had gone a bit too far with her words. She sat down on the sofa, sighed, and suddenly thought, "You say I'm embarrassing our son if I go to work, but what about Xiuxiu?"
“Xiuxiu is doing well at the factory, are you suggesting she quit to sell clothes?” Zhang Huafeng felt he couldn’t just let his parents off the hook.
“Xiuxiu’s factory has been shut down for a long time, and she hasn’t been paid for six months. What’s she doing there? She should just buy out her years of service and find a job outside. Don’t blame me for being blunt, but Xiuxiu is indeed 28 years old. At this age, if she wants to find a good family, her dowry should be substantial. I don’t care about a penny of the money she gets from buying out her years of service. Let her save it all herself. With her wages over the years, we can add some money and help her buy a house. Then she’ll have more confidence when she gets married.” Wu Xiuyue isn’t a bad person, but she’s been talked about by the neighbors because of her sister-in-law’s situation over the years, which has inevitably affected her somewhat.
Zhang Huafeng looked at Wu Xiuyue with some emotion, "Wife, I... I'll ask Xiuxiu later, but I need Mom and Dad's permission first. You should also ask Shuyan tomorrow, in case her family has been found."
Shu Yan was having a headache over hiring. Several people had come after she posted the job ad, but they were either not good-looking or lacked eloquence. After all, it was a clothing store; if she herself wasn't pretty, fine, but if her employees weren't good-looking either, who would buy clothes?
So when Wu Xiuyue asked her if she wanted to hire people, Shu Yan didn't refuse.
“It’s my sister-in-law. Sigh! I won’t lie to you, my sister-in-law is not young anymore. Do you want a young girl as your sales clerk? If not, then forget it.” Wu Xiuyue glanced at Shu Yan and said, “But my sister-in-law is really beautiful. She’s fair-skinned and tall, and she can wear any clothes.”
"You're so young, how old can your sister-in-law be?" Whether she's pretty or not, you'll only know after seeing her. "How old is she this year? Does she not work?"
“She’s 28 years old this year.” Wu Xiuyue was extremely troubled when talking about her sister-in-law. “My sister-in-law graduated from vocational school and then went to work in a factory. She’s pretty and good at talking, but she’s too picky. So many men came to our house to propose marriage, but she didn’t like any of them. Now she’s stuck in the middle, and the factory she works at hasn’t paid her wages for six months. My idea is to let her buy out her seniority and find a job outside. Otherwise, it can’t go on like this. Don’t you think so?”
“28 years old isn’t old. When the time is right, you’ll get married naturally.” Shu Yan felt the same way. She herself was 30 and still unmarried, and there was so much gossip around her, especially during the New Year when her aunts and uncles would constantly nag her, making her feel like she had committed a terrible sin. She was still in her 20s or 30s, and the pressure now was probably even greater. If Wu Xiuyue’s sister-in-law was good in every way, she would be quite willing to hire her as a sales clerk. After all, someone who could withstand such pressure must have a strong ability to handle it.
"How about this, have her come to my shop tomorrow. It's not just me choosing people, it's also her choosing a job."
“Okay, I’ll talk to my sister-in-law about it later.” Wu Xiuyue was very happy to receive Shu Yan’s answer.
The clothing store is over 100 square meters. Shu Yan plans to hire a store manager and two sales clerks. She has tentatively chosen Wu Xiuyue, her sister-in-law, for one position, but still needs to find two more. The sales clerks are manageable, but finding an experienced store manager is really difficult. There's still about a month before the store closes, so she'll take her time looking.
First, we registered the trademark and found someone to design a beautiful character "颜" with a colorful butterfly on it. We also registered the store name. Anyway, it wasn't expensive. Shu Yan went all out and registered various names related to Yan Ni, covering all industries including food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
The designer was even faster than he said; he finished the design draft this afternoon.
"You're amazing! This is exactly what I wanted. I'll decorate exactly as you designed it." However, the original sofa doesn't quite match his design anymore. "Won't it be difficult to find these lamps and sofas?"
A hint of embarrassment flashed across the designer's face. He had gotten too excited about the designs and had become a bit detached from reality. The main problem was that this customer was unusually discerning and could keep up with his fashion sense. "I've seen similar things in foreign magazines, but they might not be available in China yet. So, you either have to ask someone to buy them abroad or have them custom-made in China. I know people who can make them much cheaper." He was worried that Shu Yan wouldn't choose these because they were too expensive.
“Okay, let’s have your friend customize it.” Shu Yan really liked the design. She was willing to spend a little more; it was her first shop, and she wanted to make it as perfect as possible.
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