“Hong Kong’s latest styles, Hong Kong’s latest styles! New batwing sleeves—put them on and you’ll be absolutely dazzling. New jeans—wear them and you’ll outshine the whole street. Don’t miss out as you pass by.”
Early in the morning, on the wholesale street near the border crossing, a recorded sales pitch blared out. The sound came from a tape recorder and carried far through a loudspeaker. After the sales pitch, Cantonese songs played, so before anyone could get annoyed, they were already enjoying the music.
With their mood lifted, some people started paying attention to the advertisement’s contents.
Batwing sleeves and jeans—to those who didn’t follow trends, they just sounded unfamiliar and curious. To those who did follow trends, they were something special.
Sure enough, although Tian Tian hadn’t planned to do retail because of staffing constraints, quite a few nearby residents still came to check out the commotion.
Seeing this, Tian Tian simply told Hui to set up a stall at the entrance for retail. Meanwhile, she handled the wholesale customers coming from the bus station inside the shop.
This location was near the border crossing and also close to a passenger bus station, so the foot traffic was staggering.
Many wholesale customers were drawn in by the large posters pasted at the entrance before they even entered the shop. Then they started asking about prices.
“Tops are fifteen yuan each, jeans are sixty-five yuan a pair. For tops, if you wholesale over five hundred pieces, you get one yuan off per piece. Jeans are limited in stock—each customer can buy a maximum of two hundred pairs. For every pair of jeans wholesaled, you need to buy two tops.”
“What? I came specifically to wholesale jeans.”
“No way. This forced bundling is way too overbearing! Is this any way to do business?”
“Fine, bundled it is. Can we negotiate the price? The jeans are too expensive.”
Facing all kinds of objections, Tian Tian patiently explained, “The shop’s jean inventory is limited. They’re all Hong Kong goods. I don’t need to tell you about the quality—you can all see it for yourselves.”
Holding up a pair of jeans, Tian Tian directly introduced them to the wholesale customers.
The shop wasn’t decorated—just simple white walls and concrete floors. On the walls hung several batwing short-sleeved shirts in different colors. The jeans were displayed in men’s and women’s styles. In the corners against the wall, large quantities of goods were piled up.
Of course, the goods and customers were separated by a counter. Tian Tian stood behind the counter introducing the goods to customers. Those who liked something placed an order on the spot, paid, and took the goods. It was just that simple and straightforward.
Many people hesitated because they weren’t sure about the market for batwing sleeves. But the smart ones saw the Hong Kong celebrity posters on the wall and looked at how Tian Tian was dressed, and immediately made up their minds to buy.
No wonder—today Tian Tian was wearing exactly jeans paired with a batwing short-sleeved top. Early March was still a bit chilly. Fortunately, with so many people in the shop, Tian Tian was so busy she was sweating at the forehead.
Zhou Haoting was also there helping. He had taken the day off and even brought two of his cousins to help out.
“Oh my, it’s this busy!”
Tian Tian looked up and saw Cai Xiaomei walking in with two middle-aged women.
Zhou Haoting hurried over. “Mom, why did you bring my aunts here?”
“To help out, of course! Look at all these people. Hey, you—yes, you! Where do you think your hand is going?” Cai Xiaomei didn’t have time to talk to her son. She pushed through the crowd and grabbed the person who was trying to sneak off with clothes.
Tian Tian had naturally noticed this too. She was just about to confront the person when Cai Xiaomei stepped in. The woman’s words were sharp—she scolded without a single vulgar word and drove the would-be thief away.
“Bah! If I weren’t so busy today, I’d make sure she went to jail.”
Then she smiled at Tian Tian and said, “Tian Tian, don’t be afraid. With the few of us keeping an eye out, you just focus on doing business.”
Tian Tian didn’t stand on ceremony with her. There really were more and more people coming in.
Chinese people seemed to have a herd mentality. Seeing more and more people entering the shop, whether they were buying or not, whether retail or wholesale, everyone wanted to squeeze in and take a look.
Zhou Haoting had originally been in charge of guiding customers at the entrance. Seeing the situation, he stopped dawdling with his mother and immediately went back to directing customers.
At the entrance, Hui was also busy as could be. It was only when Zhou Haoting’s eldest aunt came to help that the situation was brought under control.
They were busy until past two in the afternoon before finally having a chance to sit down, eat, and drink water.
The food was bought from a nearby small restaurant. Everyone got two boxed meals—enough to fill them up.
“You guys can’t keep this up!” Cai Xiaomei pulled Zhou Haoting aside and muttered, “Being this busy every day will ruin your health.”
Before Zhou Haoting could say anything, Tian Tian, who had sharp ears, was already smiling. “Auntie, it’s only busy right after opening. It probably won’t be like this afterward.”
“Alright then. Anyway, I’m unemployed. I’ll come help you out these next few days.”
Tian Tian didn’t refuse the kind offer. As an outsider, it would be hard for her to find trustworthy people here on short notice. No matter what, Zhou Haoting’s mother was trustworthy. But she didn’t want to take advantage.
“You can help, but Auntie, I’m going to pay you wages.”
“No need, no need.”
Tian Tian said, “I have to. Otherwise I won’t feel right. Not just you—the two aunties who came to help today, Hui, Sister Zhen, and Zhou Haoting—I’ll pay all of them.”
At that, Cai Xiaomei stopped refusing. Are you kidding? Even her son was taking wages. She couldn’t hold him back.
Just then, Zhou Haoting’s eldest aunt sighed. “You’re a girl with real principles. Not like that Zhou Qiaoqiao. I heard her hometown is in the same county as yours. But her character is far worse.”
At first, Tian Tian didn’t pay much attention to this. She was thinking about taking inventory after lunch and estimating when this batch of goods would sell out.
But then she heard that Zhou Qiaoqiao had moved away early this morning with her mother.
“Moved away? That fast?” Qian Lizhen had an old grudge with Zhou Qiaoqiao. Hearing this, she immediately asked.
Tian Tian was also very curious. Hadn’t this woman been kneeling and begging the village head yesterday to let her and her mother keep living in the village? How had she just up and moved away after one night? That was impressively efficient.
“I don’t know about that. Anyway, early this morning I saw a small truck come to pick them up. It even helped them move their luggage.”
Hearing that someone had helped them made it even stranger. But Tian Tian didn’t want to waste energy on such an unimportant person.
She hadn’t expected to see Zhou Qiaoqiao again that very afternoon.
But this time, Zhou Qiaoqiao was wearing a fashionable dress and a hat, getting out of a small sedan. Behind her followed two burly men carrying luggage. The three of them crossed the border just like that.
Seeing this, Tian Tian rubbed her eyes, thinking she had seen wrong.
“Am I seeing things?” Tian Tian looked at Zhou Haoting.
Zhou Haoting shook his head. “I saw it too.”
“How does she look like a completely different person?”
Zhou Haoting silently noted the license plate number of that car, thinking he’d have someone look into it later to find out whose connections Zhou Qiaoqiao had latched onto.
As they were talking, more customers came in.
The day passed in busyness.
The second and third days continued just as busy, until the fifth day, when foot traffic finally stabilized. Retail customers were no longer curious enough to come inside. Wholesale customers gradually dispersed along the street.
This let Tian Tian breathe a sigh of relief.
These past few days had been exhausting. Besides, although this street was called a wholesale street, half the shops were in the clothing wholesale business. Her business had been booming these past few days, which indirectly made theirs much slower. People had already started asking about her background, openly and covertly—clearly wanting to stir up trouble behind the scenes.
Zhou Haoting had stepped in and sent those people packing. But this was only temporary.
The impact of the batwing sleeves, after five days of spreading, was about to explode tomorrow and the day after.
It wasn’t just her confidence—batwing sleeves were inherently a hit item. And on top of that, a Hong Kong film premiering tomorrow would feature its leading lady wearing a batwing sleeve top with jeans.
That Hong Kong film had been hugely popular in her past life. It had driven quite a few fashion trends.
Meanwhile, Ye Lifeng’s production hadn’t stopped these past few days. She had already placed an additional order.
Thinking about money pouring in like a tide, Tian Tian was thrilled.
And things unfolded exactly as Tian Tian had predicted.
The Hong Kong film premiered, and the batwing sleeve and jeans combo became a hit.
Many people started going to clothing stores looking for the same outfit. Tian Tian’s shop experienced its biggest surge since opening.
Although she had already called in five village aunties to help, Tian Tian still felt dizzy and overwhelmed. Counting money had made her hands cramp. At this time, wholesaling clothes meant cash only. The burlap sack at her feet was already half full of money.
Mind you, at the beginning, the container she used for money had been a mooncake box.
“This won’t do. There are too many people. Not much stock left. Tian Tian, how much inventory do we still have at home?”
Cai Xiaomei squeezed through, drenched in sweat, and asked quietly.
Although the goods were all stored at her house, Cai Xiaomei hadn’t paid much attention to the inventory. Now, seeing half the room nearly emptied, she started to worry.
“It’s fine. Another batch will come out today. Zhou Haoting has already arranged for a truck to go back and fetch it.”
In the end, everyone was so busy that day they barely had time to eat. It wasn’t until ten at night, when the roller shutter came down, that the bustle was shut outside.
By then, no one had the energy to speak. Tian Tian had originally planned to take inventory. But seeing how little stock was left, she simply had it loaded directly into the car to take back.
As for the half sack of money collected today, there was no choice but to take it back first.
They had just arrived at the village and hadn’t even gotten out of the car when they saw the village head walking toward them.
“You’re back! Haven’t eaten yet, right? Come eat at my place.”
No one objected. They all trooped over to the village head’s house to eat.
After dinner, Tian Tian learned that quite a few villagers had gone to the village head wanting to wholesale clothes from her.
“They can just come to the shop directly!”
Tian Tian saw Zhou Haoting gesture toward outside and knew he was telling her to come count the money. So she continued to the village head, “If they don’t want to go to the shop, could the village help tally up the quantities? The prices would be the same as at the shop.”
The village head wanted to get the villagers doing proper work, so he was very enthusiastic. “Sure. Tomorrow I’ll have Damao tally it up. I’ll give you the numbers, and you can see if it’s feasible.”
His wife had been helping at Tian Tian’s shop these past few days, so she naturally knew just how popular these simple clothes were.
Tian Tian didn’t stand on ceremony. She nodded and went outside with Zhou Haoting.
“Whichever families in the village want to wholesale, remember—no credit.” Zhou Haoting had also heard his uncle’s words and quickly reminded Tian Tian.
Having lived here for some time, Tian Tian had a general understanding of the village’s situation. Hearing this, she nodded. Her mind was on that half sack of money.
But halfway there, they ran into Ye Lifeng.
“Factory Manager Ye, is something wrong?”
At this hour, Ye Lifeng wouldn’t have come unless there was a problem.
“Something’s happened.” Ye Lifeng’s expression didn’t look good.
Tian Tian asked, “Is there a problem with the goods?”
Stock was running low now—basically selling as soon as it was produced. Riding this wave, Tian Tian was prepared to make a big profit. If there really was a problem, it would be a hassle.
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