On January 23rd, all preparations were completed.

On January 24th, the “Lan Feng Huang” clothing store officially opened for business at No. 45 Er Qi Road.

Xia Xiaolan borrowed several female servers from the Municipal Party Committee Guest House through Hu Yongcai. The young women wore dress suits and high heels, with only a thin layer of stockings on their feet, and wore makeup as they served as hostesses.

Though it was called borrowing, Xia Xiaolan generously gave each of them red envelopes. While they felt somewhat shy in their outfits, even before the ribbon-cutting ceremony began, one girl privately asked Xia Xiaolan if she could keep the stockings she was wearing.

“I don’t want payment, I just want these stockings.”

They had only seen such nylon stockings on television. They heard that foreign women all wore them, especially in summer. A pair of nylon stockings was breathable and smooth, concealing any imperfections on the legs. Such feminine stockings were not only unseen in Shangdu but were rare even in Yang City.

Xia Xiaolan had put 20 yuan in each red envelope. She didn’t know the cost of the stockings – they were “smuggled goods” that Bai Zhenzhu had acquired from Peng City fishermen. She had given Xia Xiaolan a package, which Xia Xiaolan directly used to outfit the temporary hostesses.

Unexpectedly, these borrowed female servers from the Municipal Party Committee Guest House loved them.

They liked the dress suits too – the blue and black combination made them look like foreign flight attendants from movies. The clothes were too expensive to ask for, but they wanted the stockings. It seemed like a pair of stockings could give them that sophisticated lifestyle of foreign women… Xia Xiaolan didn’t mock them but seriously agreed:

“The payment is as agreed, and you can keep the stockings too.”

Hu Yongcai and his wife both came. Hu Yongcai didn’t know what powerful connection Xia Xiaolan had made, but she had emerged from the police station unscathed and instead got Ding Aizhen into trouble. Ding Aizhen was still in detention, and the State Cotton Mill No. 3’s director had been suspended pending investigation. Hu Yongcai was shocked by his foresight, and fortunately, Xia Xiaolan’s attitude toward the couple remained unchanged.

“This store looks impressive and grand!” Hu Yongcai’s wife exclaimed in amazement.

There was no precedent for such a store in Chengdu. The department stores in Shangdu weren’t decorated as well as “Lan Feng Huang.” It wasn’t that the department store was small in scale, but it sold miscellaneous items and lacked the distinct style of “Lan Feng Huang.” The extensive use of lighting and glass mirrors was so striking that even passersby would be startled by its magnificent effect.

Hu Yongcai was also amazed. It seemed like just days ago when Xia Xiaolan had come to the Municipal Party Committee Guest House to sell eels, and now she had opened a large store on Er Qi Road.

Hu Yongcai watched as Xia Xiaolan and her family wore well-fitted new clothes, while the hostesses in stockings held the red silk rope. Liu Yong set off firecrackers, and the invited leaders took up scissors for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Snap, snap – Xia Xiaolan had even invited photographers to capture the moment!

Secretary Hou hadn’t expected such a grand ceremony either.

Director Yang smiled as he placed the scissors on the tray held by the hostess, “This is quite novel.”

Yuan Honggang was equally surprised; he hadn’t known what a ribbon-cutting ceremony would be like.

While high-ranking officials wouldn’t appear at such a private business opening, Secretary Hou, the leader’s closest confidant, was present, along with Director Yang from the Public Security Bureau. Though there were rumors about Yuan Honggang potentially becoming the director of State Cotton Mill No. 3, the appointment hadn’t been announced yet. As just a deputy director, attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside Secretary Hou and Director Yang was certainly not embarrassing!

Yuan Honggang had been pressured to come by his mother.

Secretary Hou came purely out of respect for Shao Guangrong.

Director Yang had simply misunderstood, seeing Secretary Hou’s enthusiasm and assuming Xia Xiaolan and Shao Guangrong were a couple.

If she was the leader’s niece-in-law, they were all family. Since the leader couldn’t appear in person, Director Yang felt he should show his loyalty by being actively involved.

The opening ceremony of “Lan Feng Huang” was exceptionally lively. Of course, after the ribbon-cutting, Secretary Hou and Director Yang left. Yuan Honggang, being from the textile industry, was somewhat related to the business and stayed to look around.

The crystal chandelier that cost over a thousand yuan was eye-catching. The walls weren’t overly complex, just decorated with plaster Roman columns in the corners, which complemented the faux crystallite floor tiles – this European style was already quite luxurious by current domestic standards.

Instead of being crammed with clothes, each wall displayed only three garments, complete with matching pants, some with silk scarves on the collars.

Several standing racks organized the clothes by category – wool coats weren’t mixed with cotton coats, and red items weren’t jumbled with green ones.

Many full-length mirrors adorned the walls… Yuan Honggang had never seen such a store. He felt that everything from the lights to the floor tiles, from the Roman columns to the mirrors, from the coordinated wall displays to the color-sorted clothing racks, showed careful planning and knowledge. To Yuan Honggang, it was all very foreign.

As Deputy Director Yuan wasn’t a woman, he was merely surprised.

He didn’t fully understand the decorating style, nor did he have any intention of learning from it. State Cotton Mill No. 3 sold textiles, and their products had no trouble selling. He didn’t need to learn from a small clothing store.

But the women who flooded into “Lan Feng Huang” were somewhat frenzied.

The floor tiles were so shiny they hesitated to step on them, and buying clothes in such a store was an unprecedented experience. Even the department store didn’t offer this sense of luxury, and yet the prices hadn’t increased much.

For instance, a women’s wool coat that previously sold for just over 100 yuan now selling for 128 yuan wasn’t unreasonable, was it?

The department store charged similar prices but didn’t have “Lan Feng Huang’s” modern styles. The clothes needed to be coordinated, and the beautiful female staff always provided satisfactory answers to questions.

“My goodness!” Hu Yongcai’s wife clutched her husband’s arm tightly, worried about slipping on the shiny floor tiles.

“Once you enter this door, how can you leave without spending money?”

It wasn’t that anyone was forcing customers to spend; the brilliant lighting highlighting the carefully selected and coordinated clothes made it hard for women to resist the appeal of beauty.

There were dedicated fitting rooms where lighting and mirrors were used even more extensively.

From the moment they opened, both fitting rooms were constantly occupied – as soon as someone came out, another person rushed in.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t expected such good business on the first day.

She and Li Fengmei attended to customers, as only they were most familiar with the prices of various clothes. Liu Fen was assigned to the cashier, and Xia Xiaolan had to temporarily ask Hu Yongcai’s wife to help hang back up the clothes that customers had tried but not purchased.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan so busy, both Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong were tactful enough not to disturb her.

Shao Guangrong commented on how nicely the shop was decorated, and Kang Wei also chuckled:

“Uncle Liu, I heard you did all the decoration?”

With many female customers inside, these men were squatting outside in the cold wind. Liu Yong breathed out white puffs, “I just followed Xiaolan’s requirements. Being educated means knowing more – I’m just a rough fellow, how would I know these things!”

Since when did education teach about decorating rooms?

Both Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong hadn’t attended university, and they felt the underlying mockery in Liu Yong’s words.

Kang Wei thought about his own money, which he didn’t know how to spend, and wondered if he could renovate his house. That house had been assigned to his mother by her work unit when his parents married. His father had died early, and the interior decoration hadn’t changed much. The house’s decoration, like its atmosphere, was stagnant.

“Uncle Liu, I have a favor to ask. After the New Year, could you help me renovate my house?”