Ji Ya’s wedding was scheduled for the second day after National Day.

There weren’t many days left.

Pengcheng’s temperature was high – even in October, one could still wear dresses.

The “One-Cut Sun” that Grandmother Yu asked Xia Xiaolan to inquire about had for generations been the tailor for nobles in the Forbidden City. Later, when the people became masters of their destiny, those nobles fell from their cloud-high positions. “One-Cut Sun” was the last tailor from the Sun family to serve in the palace… When One-Cut Sun made clothes for Grandmother Yu, she was merely twenty years old!

One-Cut Sun was nearly fifty then, and Grandmother Yu was certain he wouldn’t be alive now, but the Sun family should have descendants:

“With their craftsmanship passed down for generations unless the entire family is gone, someone must have inherited the ancestral skills.”

That’s how inheritance works, passed down from generation to generation.

Besides, tailoring was a livelihood skill – surely some descendant of the Sun family would need a trade to earn their living? Better to practice what you know, and tailoring requires much experience.

Xia Xiaolan was skeptical, “That’s hard to say. During those tumultuous years, the Sun family’s prestigious background might have become a source of trouble.”

This comment deeply deflated Grandmother Yu.

That was true indeed.

Someone who had made clothes for Forbidden City nobles was highly sought after in civilian life. Even after the emperor was gone from the Forbidden City, One-Cut Sun’s reputation and skill still earned him work from merchant daughters like Grandmother Yu… The Yu family wasn’t just any merchant family – at their peak, half of Shangdu’s shops and properties were connected to them. Some elderly witnesses to historical changes in Shangdu still remember that before the founding of the nation, there was a ‘Yu Half-City.’

Grandmother Yu was the daughter of the legendary Yu Half-City family. With half a city to their name, what luxuries hadn’t Grandmother Yu seen?

For her to praise One-Cut Sun’s craftsmanship so highly naturally made Xia Xiaolan very curious.

She inquired about One-Cut Sun as per Grandmother Yu’s instructions, though Grandmother Yu only remembered the general area where they lived, not the exact location.

That made sense – when she was studying in the capital, the Yu family had a residence there, and One-Cut Sun would come to their home to take measurements and make clothes. After so many years, it would be too much to expect the former Young Miss Yu to remember a tailor’s exact address.

What could Xia Xiaolan say? She could only acknowledge that she didn’t understand the world of the wealthy – she shouldn’t be so pleased with ten million yuan; poverty had indeed limited her imagination!

At least Grandmother Yu provided useful clues.

Since Xia Xiaolan had to attend school, she could hire someone to investigate. The Sun family had a name and history – if they still existed, there would be traces.

At Blue Phoenix’s Xiushui branch, there was a saleswoman named Wang Lin who was hardworking and eager to learn. Among employees hired at the same time, Wang Lin left a deep impression on Xia Xiaolan. A clothing store clerk who took the initiative to learn English because she worked at the Xiushui Street branch – this showed an ambitious person.

Xia Xiaolan was willing to give opportunities to ambitious people.

With more and more branches opening and suitable managers hard to find, they might as well train their own.

Liu Fen also found Wang Lin hardworking and studious. Both mother and daughter had thoughts of promoting her, so Xia Xiaolan simply assigned the task of finding the Sun family to Wang Lin:

“How’s your English coming along lately?”

It had been four or five months since Wang Lin said she wanted to learn English. Xia Xiaolan wanted to test if she was just being clever, trying to curry favor by saying what she thought Xia Xiaolan wanted to hear, so she spoke directly in English.

Wang Lin was already nervous about being summoned alone by Xia Xiaolan, and this made her even more anxious.

But she had some composure – Xiushui Street frequently had foreign visitors, and even when Wang Lin knew only a few words, she dared to communicate with foreign customers through gestures. Surely Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be harder to communicate with than foreigners?

Thinking this way, she gradually calmed down and responded to Xia Xiaolan in English.

Xia Xiaolan was quite satisfied:

“Your daily conversation is quite good now – you did study hard!”

The praise made Wang Lin a bit embarrassed:

“President Xia, the daily conversation doesn’t require many obscure words. I still have a long way to go.”

This was honest – to reach Xia Xiaolan’s level in just a few months, one would either have to be a language genius, or Wang Lin must have already been quite proficient and was just pretending to be less skilled.

Wang Lin’s learning attitude pleased Xia Xiaolan, and she explained the One-Cut Sun matter to her:

“Try to find One-Cut Sun’s descendants – blood relation alone isn’t enough, they must have inherited the ancestral craft and know how to make clothes!”

With President Xia owning several clothing stores herself, Wang Lin didn’t understand why she needed to find a tailor, but this was the first task Xia Xiaolan had personally assigned to her, so Wang Lin naturally promised to complete it, patting her chest in assurance.

She had to work during the day, but when she told her family about it after returning home, her mother exclaimed: “Old Wang, look at this situation – Wang Lin’s young boss wants her to find someone! Wang Lin, they won’t dock your pay if you can’t find them, will they?”

Wang Lin was stunned, hesitating: “President Xia isn’t that petty…”

But she would feel bad anyway.

Blue Phoenix’s benefits were too good – after the probation period, they all received commissions on top of their base salary.

Sell more, earn more – wasn’t this why Wang Lin was working hard to learn English? The Xiushui store often had foreign customers, and through diligent study and memorization, she could now communicate with foreigners in daily conversation, securing this customer base and naturally achieving the highest performance in the store.

Wang Lin’s base salary plus commission each month was higher than her parents’ combined wages, and with her improving sales skills, it showed an upward trend.

This job was too important to Wang Lin and too precious to the Wang family.

No one had expected Manager Wu’s favor would be so significant – with Wang Lin’s education level, it would be impossible to find another job with better benefits now. Wang Lin’s father heard his daughter’s words and nodded firmly: “You focus on your work. Since it’s your boss looking for someone, even if this Sun family’s descendants are hiding in a mouse hole, we’ll dig them out!”

Everyone had work.

But hadn’t the older generation worked hard their whole lives for their children’s sake? Why else would some retire early to let their children take their positions?

Wang Lin couldn’t lose this job – she needed to do even better. The Wang family mobilized everyone to search, just like when they distributed flyers for the clothing store’s opening. Don’t underestimate the power of common people – old Beijing residents had deep roots in this city, who knew who they might know?

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know about Wang Lin’s search process, but after just two days, Wang Lin said she’d found the person.

“Really? Then I’ll go personally to invite them.”

Wang Lin was confused, “President Xia, I’ve already asked them to come tomorrow – did I do something wrong?”

President Xia was such a busy person, yet she wanted to personally invite the Sun family descendants. Wang Lin naturally assumed the Sun descendant should accommodate Xia Xiaolan’s schedule.

This was Xia Xiaolan’s habitual thinking at work – because Grandmother Yu praised One-Cut Sun’s tailoring skills, Xia Xiaolan assumed the Sun family descendants were still prestigious… But times had changed. If even the Young Miss of Yu Half-City had to sweep the streets, the descendants of One-Cut Sun, who made clothes for Young Miss Yu, might be worse off than Grandmother Yu if their luck was poor. Having a big boss seek them out wasn’t something to be arrogant about.