“Sister Tian, why are you ruling out this factory? Their clothes are really good quality!” As soon as they walked out of the factory, Huizi hurried over to ask.
Tian Tian looked down at the notes in her hand before replying, “The quality and styles of their clothes are indeed very good.”
That only made Huizi more curious.
Tian Tian sighed. “It’s just that all of these styles are directly copied from major international brands.”
Not just copied—nearly one-to-one knockoffs. In this era, where copyright wasn’t protected, a garment factory like this one couldn’t exactly be called criminal. But it was certainly unethical.
The reason Tian Tian had made this factory her first stop was because it was a large, Sino-foreign joint venture. She had assumed it would have professional integrity. Instead, every single piece they made was a copy—not an original design in sight.
She was truly speechless.
Her ultimate goal was to find a garment factory to partner with—she would provide the designs, and the factory would produce them. A factory that didn’t respect copyright would definitely steal her designs.
“Sister Tian, what’s the big deal?” Huizi didn’t understand what was wrong with copying. In his view, most of what was sold out there was pretty similar. As long as it was cheap and good quality, it was worth buying.
Tian Tian didn’t explain further. She simply said, “Let’s go check out the next factory.”
Just then, she spotted a familiar face standing outside the factory gate. The woman was tugging on a young man, looking very emotional.
“Why does that girl look so familiar?” Huizi followed Tian Tian’s gaze and muttered.
“Her name is Qian Lizhen. She’s a tenant who lives next door to me.”
“Oh, her! That guy must be her boyfriend, right?” Judging by the way they were pulling at each other, Huizi assumed they were a couple.
Tian Tian shook her head. “Who knows.”
But just as Tian Tian and Huizi were waiting for the bus, Qian Lizhen came running over. She paused when she saw Tian Tian, then forced a smile. “Tian Tian, what are you doing here?”
Tian Tian replied, “Came to check out the clothes here. I heard the quality is good.”
Qian Lizhen said, “It is very good. I always get my clothes through an acquaintance there. Are you looking to buy clothes to sell? I know someone in their sales department. I could help make an introduction.”
Tian Tian was a bit surprised by her enthusiasm. They had only known each other for a few days.
“Not for now, but thank you, Sister Zhen. If I need help, I’ll come to you.”
Seeing this, Qian Lizhen didn’t push further. Instead, she snuck a couple of glances at Huizi and then lowered her voice. “Aren’t you dating the village chief’s nephew? What are you doing out with another guy?”
Tian Tian clarified, “We’re not dating—we’re just getting to know each other. This is Huizi. Zhou Haoting arranged for him to help me out since I don’t know my way around.”
Hearing this, Qian Lizhen immediately apologized. “Sorry, I misunderstood.”
Tian Tian shook her head. Qian Lizhen sighed. “I really envy that you’ve found someone who likes you.” Just seeing how Huizi acted, she could tell Zhou Haoting truly cared for Tian Tian. Unlike herself—loving a man who didn’t love her back was so painful.
Tian Tian could see there was a story behind her eyes, but she didn’t ask. Again—when you don’t know someone well, you don’t get too personal.
Qian Lizhen didn’t expect an answer anyway. She continued on her own, “You saw me talking to that guy at the factory gate earlier, right? That man is actually Zhou Qiaoqiao’s boyfriend.”
Tian Tian’s eyes widened. She had suspected something like this from what Qian Lizhen had hinted before, but she hadn’t expected it to be true.
Qian Lizhen smiled bitterly. “You must think I have no morals.”
Tian Tian didn’t pass judgment.
Qian Lizhen continued, “I knew him first. Brother Bin was actually about to confess his feelings to me. But I waited and waited. Then one day, I saw Zhou Qiaoqiao walking arm in arm with Brother Bin right in front of me. That’s when I found out they were together. The ridiculous part? Zhou Qiaoqiao used to be my best friend. I had shared every little detail of getting to know Brother Bin with her…”
Mm… Tian Tian understood. This was a sad story of being stolen from.
“But Sister Zhen, a man who can be stolen away isn’t really a good man to begin with.”
Tian Tian didn’t say more. Women in love could sometimes be unreasonable. Since she had just seen her still tangled up with that Brother Bin, it was clear Qian Lizhen hadn’t let go. The last thing Tian Tian wanted was to offer advice, only for Sister Zhen to turn around and blame her for meddling.
Just then, the bus arrived. Tian Tian said goodbye to Qian Lizhen and took Huizi aboard.
…
On the bus, Huizi lowered his voice and said, “Sister Tian, my Brother Ting has kept himself pure for 22 years. He’s a very devoted man. He’s definitely not the type to get stolen away.”
Tian Tian looked at him patting his chest to vouch for Zhou Haoting and found it amusing. “What, are you afraid I might misunderstand Zhou Haoting?”
Huizi shook his head. “No, no. I just wanted to reinforce your impression of Brother Ting, that’s all.”
Seeing how many times he had brought up Zhou Haoting today, Tian Tian took the opportunity while riding the bus to ask about his relationship with him.
Huizi was very honest. “Brother Ting is like an older brother to me—different fathers, different mothers. When I was little, I was small, and I only had my grandparents at home. I used to get bullied all the time. Brother Ting would help me every time he saw it.”
He paused to glance at Tian Tian, and seeing no unusual reaction, continued, “You know Brother Ting never met his father, right?”
Tian Tian nodded.
Huizi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “The people who bullied me used to try to bully Brother Ting too, because he didn’t have a father. But Brother Ting has five uncles, so they didn’t dare mess with him. So they bullied me instead. Brother Ting felt responsible for protecting me. But honestly, even without him, they probably would have bullied me anyway.”
Tian Tian thought about how hard those years must have been—growing up without parents, only grandparents, barely having enough to eat. It was no small feat that Huizi had turned into such a cheerful, smiling person.
“So, Brother Ting is my big brother. He’s a really good person. I hope you’ll get to know him properly.”
Hearing this, Tian Tian replied seriously, “Alright, I hear you. Thank you for the reminder, Comrade Huizi.”
Seeing how earnest Tian Tian was, Huizi scratched his head a little sheepishly.
Tian Tian chuckled softly, then turned to look out the window so he wouldn’t feel more embarrassed.
The bus soon arrived at the second factory.
This factory was smaller than the first, a private garment factory run by locals. About half as many people were picking up goods here as at the first place, and most of them were outsiders.
No one said anything when Tian Tian arrived. She had Huizi go chat up the factory staff, while she waited in line and asked around among the people in front of and behind her.
This factory had a good point: they hung sample garments on a rack in the open space outside the warehouse. Each sample had a product number. You could look, note down the numbers, and place your order directly with the person in charge.
Tian Tian carefully examined the clothes. The styles still leaned toward Hong Kong fashion, but they weren’t as blatant as the first factory’s one-to-one knockoffs of international luxury brands.
The fabric quality wasn’t as good as the first factory’s, but the wholesale prices were lower too.
So far, so good.
However, when she went to place her order, she noticed that while the sample quality was acceptable, the bulk goods were about thirty percent worse.
It was hard to know what to say.
The wholesale price was cheap, but the quality was only so-so—the kind of clothes that looked decent for a year, then became unwearable the next.
So Tian Tian asked the person taking orders directly: “Hello, do you have any goods made from the same fabric as the samples?”
The man looked up at her. “No. If you have higher standards, you can place a custom order.”
“Alright, then I’ll take a few of these product numbers for now.”
With that, Tian Tian named a few product numbers, ordering fifty pieces of each—a small order.
She placed the order, paid, picked up the goods, and was out quickly.
Since it was already the end of February, the clothes she ordered were summer wear.
When Huizi saw Tian Tian come out, he immediately went over to take the goods.
“Why so few?”
Tian Tian sighed. “Let’s go check out the third one.”
Huizi understood immediately that this factory had issues too.
Tian Tian didn’t explain further. She took Huizi and the bag of goods to the third factory. The result was similar to the second—neither was better than the other. Both used poor-quality fabric. The styles were fine, but the fabric was lacking.
Still, in those days, there was a big market for such clothes.
Tian Tian’s main goal was to find a factory to produce her own designs. After some hesitation, she decided to take goods from both factories back to compare carefully, pick the one with better workmanship, and then discuss cooperation.
After a long day out, Tian Tian and Huizi finally returned to the village, each carrying a moderate-sized bag of clothes.
Before they even reached their lodgings, they saw police cars outside the building next door.
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