“I heard it was reported by a concerned citizen.”
That afternoon, Tian Tian was still tidying up the shop, getting ready for tomorrow’s opening. Meanwhile, Zhou Haoting had already found out the details about the arrests at the border crossing.
“The report said it was an organized human trafficking operation. Once the victims reached Hong Kong, they would be sold off. The good-looking ones—men and women alike—would all be sold to nightclubs. The less attractive ones would be sold to gangs as cannon fodder. This time they chose to make the arrests at the border crossing so they could catch both the victims and the perpetrators together.
I heard that on the Hong Kong side of the border, a large truck was waiting to load people. When they found out everyone had been arrested on this side, the truck immediately drove off.”
Tian Tian wasn’t surprised to hear this. This was a period of rapid economic growth, but also a time of poor public safety. Even ten years later, there would still be plenty of motorcycle bandits and home burglaries. Otherwise, every household in Guangdong wouldn’t have installed heavy iron gates and security bars.
In her past life, she had seen people on motorcycles snatch purses, gold necklaces, and gold earrings right off pedestrians in the street.
So she wasn’t shocked by this kind of human trafficking. What surprised her was that hadn’t Jiang Fubin’s village supposedly had many people working in Hong Kong? They were going there this time to join their fellow villagers. Yet it turned out exactly as she had guessed—it was a scam to sell people off in Hong Kong.
It seemed that in her past life, Qian Lizhen really had been sold off by Jiang Fubin. How truly black-hearted. Tricking a girl who liked him into being sold.
When Tian Tian voiced her question, Zhou Haoting was blunt: “Their fellow villagers in Hong Kong are probably involved in selling people. As for whether Jiang Fubin, the ringleader, knew about it, that depends on the subsequent interrogation.”
“I can’t believe it was actually a scam. Good thing I didn’t listen to Jiang Fubin.” Just then, Qian Lizhen, who was helping organize things nearby, suddenly spoke up.
Tian Tian looked at her. “Sister Zhen, Jiang Fubin approached you too?”
Qian Lizhen nodded. “He came to see me several times these past few days. Said you could earn a thousand yuan a month working in Hong Kong. If I hadn’t been selling clothes with you, I might have actually been tempted.”
Besides, no matter what, Jiang Fubin was someone she had liked for a long time. When facing someone she had once liked, she still tended to trust them.
“Thank you, Tian Tian.”
Tian Tian understood what she was thanking her for and waved her hand, saying it was nothing. But inwardly, she knew it was confirmed. This must have been the point in her past life when Qian Lizhen was tricked into going to Hong Kong.
And now, because she had fallen out with Jiang Fubin and had made money selling clothes with Tian Tian, she had escaped her tragic fate from the previous life.
Tian Tian sighed. Every choice in life really can change the future.
“Let’s not talk about that anymore. Sister Zhen, didn’t you say earlier you wanted to wholesale some of these clothes? My shop opens tomorrow. I think you should just take an outfit, put it on, and go sell outside your factory gate.”
Tomorrow was her shop’s official opening. Qian Lizhen happened to be off work. She could wear a batwing sleeve top with jeans and stand at the factory gate—she’d be a striking sight.
The toy factory had plenty of female workers. When they saw their coworker dressed so nicely, there was no way they wouldn’t be tempted.
“For wholesale, the tops are fifteen yuan each and the jeans are sixty-five a pair. If you resell them, you can add ten yuan to the top and sell the jeans for eighty. If someone buys a whole outfit, you can give a small discount.”
As she spoke, Tian Tian pulled out two posters of Hong Kong celebrities wearing jeans.
“Take these posters with you. When people see them, they’ll know this is the trend.”
In the 1980s, jeans spread from the West to Hong Kong and became a fashion trendsetter. Shenzhen bordered Hong Kong, and many trends spread from there. Among other things, for young people chasing fashion, these jeans had lethal appeal.
This wasn’t the first time Qian Lizhen had heard the prices, but she was still shocked by the cost of the jeans.
“These stiff pants are actually a trend?” She couldn’t quite appreciate jeans. And the wholesale price was high. So in the end, she decided to wholesale ten pairs of pants and a hundred tops, and take them back to the factory to see how they sold.
Tian Tian didn’t try to persuade her otherwise. This time was different from last time. Last time, she had been helping out as a favor, letting Qian Lizhen take the goods first and pay after selling. This time that wouldn’t work. Otherwise, once the habit formed, it would be hard for the two of them to maintain a good relationship.
Once the prices were settled, the goods could be picked up directly from Zhou Haoting’s house. Hui was also going to take goods to sell. Although he had been a bit embarrassed the first time he sold women’s clothing, after making money, he no longer knew what embarrassment meant. These clothes—though he couldn’t appreciate them—he trusted Tian Tian’s eye.
“Alright. If either of you knows anyone who wants to wholesale, send them over. The prices are fixed. Cash on delivery.”
Hearing this, Qian Lizhen fell into thought. Meanwhile, Hui was already thinking about which relatives might want to do this.
Seeing this, Tian Tian said no more. Instead, she took out several specially customized life-size posters, ready to paste them on the glass door. But before she could step outside, she saw a familiar Santana drive past.
The car paused in front of her, then, as if nothing had happened, continued toward the border crossing.
“What are you looking at?”
Zhou Haoting saw Tian Tian standing motionless in the doorway holding the posters and came over to ask.
Tian Tian watched the group of people who had already entered the border crossing and shook her head. She hadn’t expected to see Xiao Ming so soon. The man had lost over twenty gemstones earlier. But judging by his expression through the open car window just now, he didn’t look like he had suffered any loss at all. He had even waved and smiled at her.
It was utterly baffling.
On the other side, Xiao Ming, having crossed the border, got directly into a car with a human figure logo.
“How’s the company doing now? Has Lao Hei made it back to Hong Kong?”
The driver was Xiao Ming’s subordinate, Old Yang. Hearing the question, he immediately replied, “Lao Hei came back by water last night, in the middle of the night. The moment he arrived, the Second Boss picked him up. Right now, the Second Boss and the Big Boss are in the company having talks.”
Everyone said Lao Hei was the Second Boss’s illegitimate son. Old Yang figured his own boss was in deep trouble. After all, the order to move against Lao Hei had come from his boss.
Xiao Ming saw what Old Yang was thinking and said indifferently, “The Big Boss will put the Second Boss in his place.”
Old Yang said no more and continued recounting what had happened in Hong Kong recently, including the morning’s events at the border crossing.
“Those useless trash are Lao Hei’s people. Look at what they did. They didn’t even clean up after themselves and got caught red-handed by the police. The people they left behind in Shenzhen are definitely all arrested now.”
Old Yang was a subordinate, so naturally he didn’t like bosses like Lao Hei. Fortunately, the boss he followed, though ruthless, had brains. That was what kept people like him safe.
Xiao Ming neither confirmed nor denied this. No one could tell what he was scheming. As for Lao Hei’s people, they would soon be uprooted entirely by the police.
Meanwhile, by evening, Tian Tian had indeed heard some of the details about today’s events.
Specifically, Zhou Haoting had looked into it. After all, three renters from their village had been tricked into going. They had been detained at the border crossing to cooperate with the investigation. It wasn’t until evening that someone notified the village head to come collect them.
She was just listening to Granny Cui talk about how the day’s events had stirred up the village when she heard arguing outside.
She didn’t even need to leave the courtyard—she could hear that the village head had brought the people back.
“I won’t say anything else. I’ve brought you back, and I’ve done all I can. People who won’t listen to advice like you—our village doesn’t dare take you in. Seven days. I’m giving you seven days to move out.”
Zhou Qiaoqiao had been keeping her head down. Hearing they had to move out, she immediately begged, “Village head, please. My mom is the way she is, and my family has no money. We can’t move. If you kick us out now, you’re driving us to our deaths.”
The other two also started pleading.
They were different from Zhou Qiaoqiao. She still had her mother, so she hadn’t canceled her lease. But the two of them had thought they were going to Hong Kong and had directly terminated their leases. Now that they were back, they could only beg the village head to let them rent again. There was no other choice—among the nearby villages, Tianfu Village had the best environment.
Not that the houses were the newest, but the atmosphere in this village was the best. Since they couldn’t leave, of course they wanted to stay.
But the village head ignored them. He waved his hand, and several village aunties who had been watching the commotion stepped forward and separated the three who were trying to grab at him.
“I don’t care what you’re thinking. Wanting to make money is normal, but you can’t take crooked paths. It’s not easy being outsiders, but look at Granny Cui’s renters. They either honestly go work in factories or work hard to start their own businesses and make money.”
The village head gave them a thorough scolding and issued the ultimatum again. Then he turned to the villagers watching and said, “And those of you with idle family members—find them something to do. At the very least, have them wholesale some clothes from Little Tian and go sell them.”
This trip to the police station to collect people hadn’t just gotten him scolded. He had also seen plenty of locals who had been idle and ended up in detention. He needed to tighten the reins on these idlers quickly.
Tian Tian, who was watching from the crowd, hadn’t expected the village head’s lecture to mention her! She pointed at herself toward Zhou Haoting. He smiled and nodded.
Tian Tian thought the village head had just said it offhand—surely no one would actually come to her to wholesale clothes, right?
But they actually did.
Before dinner was even finished, people started showing up one after another asking about wholesaling clothes. Tian Tian had no choice but to smile and introduce her shop to everyone. She also brought out sample clothes. In the end, not many wanted to wholesale. But quite a few wanted to buy clothes for themselves. And most of them were young people. One person bought and went out, and by ten at night, there were still young people running over to buy jeans.
Some people didn’t like the batwing sleeves, but jeans—those were a trend!
Quite a few young men also came asking about jeans. But most of this batch was women’s style. There were only five hundred pairs of men’s. Tian Tian wanted to save those to attract foot traffic to her wholesale shop. So in the end, she only sold a hundred pairs. Some of the wealthier ones even bought two or three pairs at once.
After seeing these people off, Tian Tian couldn’t help saying to Zhou Haoting, “Your village is actually pretty wealthy.”
Zhou Haoting said, “These are all people whose families have houses to rent out.”
Tian Tian understood immediately. She wanted to have houses to rent out too—lying around doing nothing and still collecting money.
“But not many people want to wholesale clothes from me!”
Zhou Haoting said, “When people have money in their pockets, they don’t want to work. My uncle has been worrying about this for the past two years. We’re fine here—just earning some rent. Even with money in their pockets, it’s limited. Some villages up ahead that got expropriated—that’s what you’d call truly miserable.”
In this era, demolition and expropriation weren’t necessarily good things.
Having just gone from starving to having enough to eat, a sudden windfall was more than many people could handle. And plenty of people set traps to swindle that money. In the end, villagers lost their land and houses and ended up deep in debt.
So if anyone in their village least wanted the village to be expropriated, it was his uncle.
Tian Tian had also seen plenty of examples of people who got rich overnight from demolition and expropriation, only to end up poor again. She nodded at his words. But inwardly, she still wanted to be one of the newly rich.
Forget it, no more dreaming. Opening the shop tomorrow and making lots of money—that was the real priority.
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