Chapter 1 Arrives
Just as Lin Qingqing was about to ride her bicycle into the yard, she ran into Yu Xiuhong, who had just returned from getting food. Upon seeing her, Yu Xiuhong said, "Hey, sister-in-law, someone has come to your house. He's been standing at your door all afternoon. He says he's Commander Xie's older brother, do you know him?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Xiuhong got off her bicycle and pushed it into the yard. Sure enough, she saw Xie Baoshan standing in the yard with two large woven bags beside him. She quickly said, "Brother, why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could have picked you up at the train station."
“It’s the same if I come here myself,” Xie Baoshan said.
Yu Xiuhong, who followed them in, overheard their conversation and asked, "Is this really Commander Xie?"
Lin Qingqing replied "yes," thanked Yu Xiuhong, walked to the door, unlocked it, and asked, "Brother, how did you find me? How long have you been waiting?"
"After I got off the train, I asked someone how to get to the military base, and they told me which bus to take," Xie Wei said as he followed Lin Qingqing into the house carrying his things. "It was a coincidence that the ticket seller on the bus was also a military dependent. When she heard that I was Brother Xie Wei, she told me to get off at the final stop and even introduced me to the guard at the door."
When Lin Qingqing heard him mention military dependents, she guessed it was Li Chunying. She handed Xie Baoshan a porcelain cup half-filled with cool boiled water, saying, "Brother, have some water."
"After I came in, I asked someone where you lived, and someone brought me here." Xie Baoshan said, taking the enamel mug. "I arrived at around four o'clock and have been waiting until now."
Lin Qingqing wondered why he didn't go to the supply and marketing cooperative to find someone, but then she thought that since it was his first time here and he was unfamiliar with the area, it would be more convenient for him to wait at the door. So she asked, "Did you come alone this time?"
"Yes, the garment factory has limited funds," Xie Baoshan asked, taking a sip of water. "Isn't Xie Wei coming back tonight?"
“He comes back twice a week, and he should be back today, but a little later.” Lin Qingqing said, remembering something, she got up, went out, pushed her bicycle back in, and took down the bag of vegetables hanging on the handlebars.
Lin Qingqing bought the vegetables at a vegetable market near the supply and marketing cooperative. Since it was the beginning of the month, she bought half a pound of pork belly, two potatoes, and a bunch of greens.
Since there were only two people eating, there was only a small handful of greens, but the potatoes were large, and she thought she could save one to stir-fry tomorrow, so she bought them. Lin Qingqing thought that there were still eggs at home, and that if she stir-fried the potatoes and made an egg drop soup, that should be enough, so she said, "Big brother, you cook, I'll go light the stove and cook."
After saying that, he saw the woven bag on the ground and asked, "What's this?"
"This is the first batch of clothes."
Because of Duolin Qingqing's trust, and because both mailing and hiring a transport team would incur additional expenses, Xie Baoshan decided in an internal meeting before coming to have him bring the first batch of goods before the contract was signed.
After hearing this, Lin Qingqing didn't say she wanted to see the goods first, but only said, "Why don't we put them in the room?"
"good."
After placing the groceries in the kitchen, Lin Qingqing led Xie Baoshan to the guest room. Pushing open the door, she asked, "Brother, is this room alright for you?"
When they moved in, there was a bed and a desk in the guest room. Later, the desk was moved to the master bedroom, leaving only a bed in the room. The bed was covered with a thin cotton quilt, which Lin Qingqing and the others brought with them when they accompanied the army. Instead of a cotton quilt, they used a thin towel blanket.
"It's hot now, so I haven't changed the quilt. See if it's enough," Lin Qingqing said.
"That's enough." Xie Baoshan placed the woven bag in the corner.
After settling Xie Baoshan in, Lin Qingqing went into the kitchen, took out the coal stove, plucked a small tuft of straw from the bundle, rubbed it to make it fluffy, lit it with a match, put it in the coal stove, then added more firewood, and after the fire started burning, she added honeycomb briquettes.
After Lin Qingqing finished lighting the coal stove, Xie Wei returned.
Lin Qingqing was carrying a coal stove and was about to enter the house when she saw him and stopped, saying, "Big brother is here."
Xie Wei looked surprised upon hearing this, strode into the house, and saw Xie Baoshan sitting in the living room. He smiled and asked, "When did you arrive?"
"We'll arrive this afternoon," Xie Baoshan said.
Lin Qingqing put the coal stove into the kitchen, came out and said, "My older brother asked for directions and came here. He stood at the door for a while."
Upon hearing this, Xie Wei said, "Why don't you come to the camp to find me?"
"I didn't wait long, just to avoid troubling you." Xie Baoshan said, looking around the living room, "Are all these houses allocated by the military?"
"What's wrong?" Xie Wei walked to the dining table, poured himself a glass of cold water, and asked as he drank it.
Xie Baoshan said, "I think it's great."
"Um?"
Xie Baoshan didn't hide anything from Xie Wei, saying, "Factor compounds in the city all have staff quarters. I'm thinking of building a staff quarters in our brigade once the garment factory is doing better."
"That must cost a lot of money, right?" Xie Wei asked.
When the topic of money came up, Xie Baoshan sighed and said with a wry smile, "Yes, it's a lot of money."
Although the Xingfeng Brigade Garment Factory was doing well, it didn't have much working capital. Building a house would cost a fortune, including sand, gravel, bricks, tiles, and labor. Xie Baoshan didn't know when his idea would come true.
During the meal, Lin Qingqing wrote a letter inviting Li Xingfang to come and stay, and asked Xie Baoshan about Li Xingfang's thoughts.
"Mother would like to come, but she's a little worried that she won't be used to the place and the people there," Xie Baoshan said while eating.
“Xie Wei and I are both here, how could we be unfamiliar with this place?” Lin Qingqing said.
Xie Baoshan shook his head and said, "I can't really persuade her. If you want her to come, you can go back home for the New Year and talk to her yourself. She can come over after the New Year." Then Xie Baoshan remembered something, "By the way, are you going back home for the New Year this year?"
The main reason for asking this question is that Xie Wei hadn't been home for several years.
Xie Wei pondered for a moment and said, "It's not certain yet; we'll have to see how the military arranges things."
"I don't think I'll get my Chinese New Year holiday too early," Lin Qingqing said. The supply and marketing cooperatives don't close for the New Year until the 29th of the lunar year, and they have to go back to work on the 8th of the new year.
Xie Baoshan didn't say anything after hearing this: "Then we'll talk about it after you've made a decision."
...
The next morning, Lin Qingqing took Xie Baoshan to the supply and marketing cooperative.
When Zhou Xiaofang saw her, she was taken aback and asked, "Aren't you off today? This is..." She had only met Xie Wei twice and only knew that he was good-looking, but she didn't remember his facial features very clearly. So when she saw Xie Baoshan, her first reaction was Xie Wei, but then she felt that something was off, as Xie Wei didn't look that old.
Lin Qingqing introduced, "This is my husband's older brother." Then she pointed to Zhou Xiaofang and said she was a colleague.
Zhou Xiaofang suddenly realized, but was also puzzled as to why Lin Qingqing would bring Brother Xie Wei to the supply and marketing cooperative. However, before she could ask, Lin Qingqing led the people upstairs.
After going upstairs, Lin Qingqing went directly to find Director Gao.
Director Gao only gets a day off on Sundays, so when he heard Lin Qingqing's voice in his office today, he looked up, walked over from behind his desk, and shook hands with Xie Baoshan.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two sides sat down.
Lin Qingqing took out the contract she had drafted over the past few days and showed it to Xie Baoshan.
The contract was drafted by Lin Qingqing. After Director Gao reviewed it, he had it checked again by a professional to ensure there were no problems before showing it to Xie Baoshan. When Xie Baoshan was looking at the contract, Director Gao said, "This is the first draft of the contract. If you have any questions, you can raise them, and we can discuss them together."
After reviewing the contract, Xie Baoshan indeed offered some suggestions for revision. The three discussed his suggestions and decided to change what needed to be changed and leave what didn't.
After revising the contract, Director Gao asked to see the sample again—she saw Xie Baoshan carrying a package when he came in.
Xie Baoshan didn't refuse after hearing this. He opened the bag at his feet and took out the clothes one by one, introducing them: "These five dresses are the first batch of clothes made by our Xingfeng brand, among which..."
While Xie Baoshan was introducing the clothes, Director Gao was also looking at them. She noticed that the styles were all very novel, and four of them were designed to flatter the figure. Although Director Gao was older, she was still a woman and knew what kind of clothes attracted women the most. Seeing these clothes, she thought it was no wonder that Xingfeng Garment Factory had doubled its workforce in just two months.
In addition to the first batch of five dresses, Xie Baoshan also brought six newly produced women's clothing sets.
Xingfeng Garment Factory held a meeting before producing its own garments, mainly to determine its brand positioning and future direction.
Lin Qingqing had said at the time that men's clothing styles were limited, and the only competitive advantage lay in branded fabrics and quality. However, because the garment factory was newly established and lacked resources, it couldn't compete with others on fabric quality, which resulted in shortcomings in clothing quality. As for brands, Xingfeng simply didn't have any. Therefore, Lin Qingqing suggested focusing on women's clothing initially, using innovative styles to gain a foothold.
Although Lin Qingqing left Xingfeng Garment Factory, the route set at the previous meeting remained unchanged under Xie Baoshan's leadership. Therefore, he brought women's clothing this time as well, but with innovative designs.
The first batch of women's clothing consisted entirely of dresses, but the second batch included dresses, skirts, and shirts, totaling six outfits.
When looking at the first five dresses, Director Gao thought that young women would like this one, and might buy that one. But when she saw the last six outfits, her thoughts shifted to "I can wear this one, and I want this one." Clearly, the target customer group for the last six outfits was much larger than that for the first five dresses.
After seeing the clothes, Director Gao, who had initially only intended to test the waters, began to have high expectations for this collaboration. She started to believe that this collaboration would bring new vitality to the Qingshan Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Thinking of this, Director Gao asked, "Has Comrade Xie visited the store?"
"Not yet." Xie Baoshan shook his head.
"Shall I take you to see the counter?" Director Gao suggested.
Xie Baoshan had originally planned to check on the counter after the meeting, and naturally agreed when he heard what Director Gao said, so the three of them went downstairs together.
...
The first floor has a main entrance, so the layout is such that an L-shaped counter is placed on the left side, with the door to the backyard to the right of the long L-shaped counter. Next to the door is the staircase leading to the second floor. The second floor layout is slightly different from the first floor. To the left of the stairs are three L-shaped counters selling ready-made clothing and fabrics, while to the right are two I-shaped counters selling watches and shoes. Opposite the stairs is a small warehouse.
Director Gao led the people directly to the ready-made clothing counter, pointed to the outermost counter and said, "This ready-made clothing counter will be vacated later and used specifically to sell Xingfeng's clothing."
The supply and marketing cooperative is only a small place, so it's hard to say which counter is better or worse. Xie Baoshan wasn't a particularly picky person, so he naturally wouldn't nitpick or point out any faults, but he wasn't particularly pleased either; he just nodded with a smile.
Xie Baoshan remained calm, but the others couldn't sit still.
Xingfeng? Which Xingfeng?
Author's Note: Second update
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