Chapter 65 I wasn't trying to ask for money indirectly.
After Zhao Wei finished communicating with Yongying, he was probably really anxious, so he skipped the appointment process and Yongying sent someone directly to Oriental Entertainment to take Zhao Wei and Xia Mian to visit the factory.
The factory was located in Tongshan, not far from Beijing, less than a two-hour drive away. They were greeted by Sun Guodong, a dark-skinned middle-aged man wearing a dark green polo shirt and slightly balding.
The driver called him "factory manager," so he must be the boss of Yongying.
Perhaps because Xia Mian was dressed so fashionably and cleanly, Sun Guodong washed his hands before shaking hands with him and then warmly led the two into the factory area.
"We were among the first enterprises established after the founding of the People's Republic of China to specialize in the production of bags and luggage. Initially, we were collectively owned, and after restructuring, we gradually developed into what we are today. The factory area may look a bit old, but the production lines have been updated in recent years. The environment may be outdated, but our production technology will never be outdated."
It's not just a little old, it's extremely old, still the kind of brick and tile house. Sales are probably just average, and there aren't many workers either; judging by their age, they're probably all aunties and uncles recruited from the surrounding villages.
But they did a good job. Xia Mian could tell that they were honest and down-to-earth, and they used very high-quality raw materials.
"This is the office area. The administrative staff, finance staff, designers, and so on usually work here."
Compared to the workshop, Yongying's office environment was even more rudimentary; even the boss didn't have a separate office, and everyone was in one room.
Xia Mian looked around and saw a booklet labeled "Design Drafts" in the filing cabinet.
"Can I take a look?" he asked.
"See, no problem." Sun Guodong opened the file cabinet for him and handed the catalog to Xia Mian.
At first, Xia Mian looked a little serious, but the more he looked, the more relaxed he became.
After reading everything, he looked up and asked Sun Guodong a question: "If I accept the endorsement, will you raise the price?"
"We won't raise the price; we've maintained this price for five years. But if you ask me to lower the price, I can't; lowering it further would make the costs unprofitable."
“That’s fine,” Xia Mian said. “I’ll take it.”
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's eyes welled up with tears.
"Thank you, thank you for being willing to help us."
An established company, lacking marketing acumen and focusing solely on production, failed to keep up with the times, resulting in declining sales and brand recognition. If it doesn't take action soon, the factory will undoubtedly go bankrupt within a year or two.
Losing money is not a problem, but the villagers have worked at Yongying their whole lives and are now getting old. Where can they go after losing their jobs?
The surge in popularity that Xia Mian brought with "Infinite" was their last chance.
That's why Sun Guodong was willing to spend a lot of money to seize it.
Sun Guodong thanked them profusely, and tearfully saw them off to the car. On the way, Zhao Wei asked, "Why did you pick them up?"
“Original intention,” Xia Mian said, “I’ve seen the design drawings. Although the style is ordinary, it’s all original and there’s no trace of imitation.”
Brands these days are strange; they seem unable to create something new without copying others. Pick any one of them, and you can always see the shadow of a big brand.
And it did sell very well, making people very wealthy.
Profit is the main reason for rampant plagiarism. In a distorted market environment, it is commendable that Yongying can do so.
Moreover, Xia Mian has used their products before, and the quality is indeed quite good, so she can recommend them with confidence.
“Okay,” Zhao Wei smiled. “Yongying is in a hurry, so the filming is scheduled for tomorrow. Send me your home address, and I’ll send someone to pick you up tomorrow.”
Oh, so he's going to have a nanny van and his own team?
Thinking of this, Xia Mian excitedly rubbed her hands together.
He went back to Xia Garden to sleep that night. He hadn't changed his clothes for two days and had to go back, otherwise they would smell bad.
The next day at 8:30, he was woken up by a phone call. Zhao Wei and his staff were already waiting at the entrance of Xia Garden.
The car was a high-end business van provided for him by Dongfang, spacious and comfortable. Xia Mian acted as if he had never seen a luxury car before, constantly touching the leather seats under his buttocks.
Zhao Wei wanted to laugh: "Alright, alright, you'll get the skin all irritated if you keep touching it. Let me introduce you. Chestnut, 25 years old, and Big Yellow, 26 years old. From now on, they will be your assistant and makeup artist—the company is short-staffed right now, but we'll give you an assistant once we've hired more people."
"Chestnut, Rhubarb, hello there!" Xia Mian couldn't contain her excitement and took out her phone. "Come on, let's create a group chat face-to-face, I'll send you red envelopes."
Zhao Wei quickly stopped him: "No need, the company has already paid this month's salary."
After being transferred to the Summer Sleep team, their salaries were all generated from Summer Sleep's performance, meaning they were paid by Summer Sleep.
"Consider it a red envelope for starting work, to bring good luck."
Xia Mian insisted on creating a group chat, so Zhao Wei ignored him and watched as he sent 888 to each of them.
Although Chestnut was young, she had a rather calm personality. She thought to herself, "Everyone online says that Xia Mian is poor, but he lives in a place like this and is very generous. He doesn't seem poor at all, and he's also quite kind."
Big Yellow was a delicate little boy—no, perhaps calling him a sister would be more appropriate. He covered his cheek, and the groundhog squeaked, "Thank you, boss! You're beautiful and kind inside and out!"
"Hahahaha." The car erupted in laughter.
They were all young people with common topics, and they had already gotten to know each other well on the way to the photography studio.
Yongying had a low budget, chose a relatively unknown filming team, and had an outdated aesthetic sense. While directing Da Huang on styling, he also explained the scene to Xia Mian: "You need to play a successful businessman. The scenes will be you dragging a suitcase through the bustling crowds, at airports, and train stations..."
Xia Mian didn't have any objections to the plot, except...
He glanced at his suit and the belt with the shiny logo around his waist: "Do successful businessmen wear Goldlion?"
"This is the only outfit I can borrow. Besides, domestic products are so much better, young people."
Xia Mian didn't think Goldlion was bad, it's just too old-fashioned, like something someone Sun Guodong's age would wear.
"What about the watch... Gamio?"
Omega watches are marked with an "Ω", but this watch is upside down, making it a blatant counterfeit.
Xia Mian definitely couldn't wear a counterfeit watch, so before he could even refuse, Zhao Wei immediately spoke to the director and had the watch removed. Wearing fake goods would damage an artist's image.
The director chuckled and said, "Okay."
After the makeup was done, Da Huang combed Xia Mian's hair into an adult style, and the official filming began.
Xia Mian had taken acting classes when she was a trainee, but it had been so long that she was a bit rusty. Fortunately, the script didn't have a continuous plot; it was all fragmented. Even so, after moving between several outdoor locations, they barely finished filming that evening.
Zhao Wei's other artists had other commitments and left, leaving the remaining three squatting in front of the computer, watching the sample footage that the editor had quickly edited on the spot.
The young man, carrying a suitcase, wandered around the streets like a street urchin, eventually entering an office building. He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor, overlooking the lights of countless homes outside.
The camera pans from a distance to a close-up, passing over the young man's Goldlion suit, Goldlion belt, slim-fit trousers, and black socks, before finally settling on the Yongying suitcase beside him.
"Beauty is justice," Chestnut clenched her little fist after reading it. "We have to believe in Xia's good looks; we can definitely break this deadlock."
Da Huang: "Actually, the rural business style is quite good. There are many village and town entrepreneurs now, and they have identified their target audience very well."
Xia Mian was both amused and exasperated by what was said, feeling a little melancholy and a touch of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both sadness and reflection).
This marked the beginning of a new chapter in his life.
I don't know what will happen in the future, whether things will get better or... they'll just disappear altogether.
Thinking of this, Xia Mian recalled a person. While everyone was discussing the advertisement, he secretly slipped into the dressing room, took a selfie in front of the mirror, and sent it to them.
Before I could finish typing and expressing my feelings about shooting my first commercial, the other party had already replied.
Z: [Who is this?]
summer: [...]Me
Z: [Didn't I already give you the card?]
Your debit card ending in 3256 received a transfer of GPB 100,000, leaving you with a usable foreign currency balance of £100,000.00. P.S.: Purchase. [Construction Bank]
aestivation:"......"
I'm not trying to ask for money indirectly, Xia Mian thought. I just suddenly wanted to share my life with you.
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