The store was selling like crazy!
They didn’t send out the last customer until after 10 PM.
The brightly lit clothing store had attracted many customers even in the evening. Looking at the empty walls and sparse clothing racks, Xia Xiaolan had thought this batch of goods would last until after the New Year. Tomorrow was only January 25th, with eight days until the New Year. Xia Xiaolan and Li Fengmei had planned to close the shop no earlier than the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month.
Before the New Year, they needed to return to their rural hometown to clean the house, slaughter chickens for ancestral offerings, and visit the graves of Xia Xiaolan’s grandparents. While doing business in the city, they couldn’t forget their roots. Their city residence was someone else’s property after all, and these traditions had to be completed in their hometown.
“I’ll send a telegram to Yang City tomorrow. We must restock before the New Year – it would be a shame to miss this peak period.”
The restock would be the same items they had previously ordered.
With a three-story shop, Li Fengmei definitely couldn’t manage alone. Liu Fen no longer needed to deliver pork crackling, and after a family discussion, she was assigned to handle the cash register. The store had fixed prices with no bargaining, making accounting simpler. There weren’t many counterfeit bills at the time, so managing the cash register wasn’t complicated – with a calculator, a few simple keystrokes ensured accuracy.
All day, Xia Xiaolan and the others barely had time to eat or drink, being constantly on their feet.
When they finally counted the day’s earnings that evening, the sales totaled 6,448 yuan.
Based on Xia Xiaolan’s pricing strategy, after deducting inventory costs, electricity, and rent, they maintained at least a 100% net profit margin.
In other words, 3,224 yuan was pure profit from “Lan Feng Huang’s” first day!
“At this rate, could we recover the rent and renovation costs before the New Year?”
Even robbery wasn’t this profitable – becoming a “ten-thousand-yuan household” in three days seemed unbelievable to Li Fengmei.
“The shop is almost half empty, with so many clothes sold, six thousand isn’t that much. Besides, it’s just the novelty factor. Business is good these days before the New Year, but once the excitement dies down, sales will stabilize.”
The shop renovation and rent had cost 12,000 yuan.
When going to Yang City with Kang Wei for inventory, Xia Xiaolan had brought all her savings, amounting to just over ten thousand yuan in goods. First-day sales of over 6,000 yuan meant they’d sold about one-third of their inventory. Xia Xiaolan would have liked to stock more, but the renovation went over budget, leaving her with only that tight amount for inventory.
Initially, she contributed 3,000 yuan and her uncle Liu Yong contributed 2,000 yuan, establishing a 60:40 partnership ratio. If Xia Xiaolan were to invest the 3,000 yuan she’d earned from Bai Zhenzhu (principal plus interest) into the business, Liu Yong’s family would need to invest another 2,000 yuan to maintain the original ratio, or their profit share would be diluted.
Being family, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t do that. She knew her uncle only had 5,000 yuan from dissolving his previous partnership and moving to the city had many expenses. Asking for another 2,000 yuan investment would drain their savings completely.
Their initial capital was just 5,000 yuan when they partnered in November. In less than three months, including the store renovation investment, they had grown it to over 20,000 yuan with profits. From being chased around by city management while running a street stall to having a permanent store, the business was finally developing steadily.
All three women slept deeply that night.
Early the next morning, Xia Xiaolan went to the train station to see off Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong.
“You’ve both been such a great help. I don’t know how to thank you properly. At least take some local specialties back since you came to Shangdu. Kang Wei, I also need to trouble you to take some things to Zhou Cheng.”
Xia Xiaolan gave them three large bags, with Zhou Cheng’s bag clearly labeled to avoid confusion.
While saying Sister-in-law was too kind, Kang Wei was quite pleased.
He didn’t mind helping, as he was closer to Zhou Cheng than Shao Guangrong was, though Shao Guangrong was also friends with Zhou Cheng. As expected of a future sister-in-law, she handled things thoughtfully and generously.
“Brother Cheng’s woman is something!” Shao Guangrong gave a thumbs up.
His big mouth had spread the news about Zhou Cheng’s relationship in their circle, with many waiting to mock Zhou Cheng for dating an out-of-towner. However, after spending several days with Xia Xiaolan, Shao Guangrong had to admire Zhou Cheng’s taste. Beyond her beauty, Xia Xiaolan had many other qualities – capable, generous, excellent interpersonal skills, plus a university education. Apart from her rural background… whose wife or girlfriend in their circle could compare to Xia Xiaolan?
All his previous girlfriends who were beautiful had been high-maintenance, immediately thinking about marrying into his family after getting together. Besides being pretty, they had no other qualities, and Shao Guangrong didn’t want to marry any of them.
Zhou Cheng had good judgment. Shao Guangrong casually opened the bag and found some Yunan specialties, and separately, a coat.
Navy blue, with soft fabric – it was the wool coat that Chen Xiliang had priced at 70 yuan wholesale.
“Wow, this coat looks great!”
Shao Guangrong and Kang Wei had sleeper tickets, and the compartment was warm, so Shao Guangrong immediately tried on the coat. Kang Wei had received one too, also navy blue, with different details in the collar, sleeves, and buttons, but the same cut.
The coat suited tall people well. Kang Wei was shorter than Zhou Cheng, while Shao Guangrong was about the same height, both over 175cm.
Kang Wei was delighted – he wasn’t short of money now, couldn’t he afford to buy a coat?
But a coat gifted by Xia Xiaolan felt different!
Though younger than him and Shao Guangrong, she carried herself like a future sister-in-law.
“Lan Feng Huang” was an instant success.
Entertainment options were limited in those days, and people loved new attractions.
It seemed like you couldn’t even participate in workplace gossip if you hadn’t visited the store. The clothes were attractive, and the store’s decoration was truly impressive, making the small clothing vendors on West First Street anxious. It was strange how old customers bypassed cheaper clothes to get “fleeced” at “Lan Feng Huang.”
These clothing store owners were certainly unhappy, posing as customers to assess the situation, feeling jealous before even entering.
Forget about the decoration effects and customer flow – could the low-rise shops on West First Street even compare to this location?
Er Qi Road was already Shangdu’s prosperous area, with the Shangdu Department Store at No. 47. “Lan Feng Huang” was at No. 45, separated not by No. 46 but by half a square, with its building standing prominently. Anyone at Er Qi Square could spot it immediately!
They couldn’t secure such a location. Without Xia Xiaolan’s daring and Liu Yong’s thick-skinned ability to please the deputy director’s parents, without connections, how could such a store survive long-term?
But Xia Xiaolan wasn’t afraid. Beyond Yuan Honggang’s presence at the opening ceremony, there was Secretary Hou, and even Director Yang personally attended the ribbon-cutting. The nearby police station would naturally look after Xia Xiaolan’s store – not to cause trouble, but to keep an eye out. What did the South City Police Station think? Xia Xiaolan had taken down Ding Aizhen and the joint defense team – she was an untouchable force!
The goods from Yang City would arrive on the 28th. They weren’t sure if Chen Xiliang had received the wire transfer, but his prompt shipping showed their trust was worth several thousand yuan. Of course, it might also be worth that much to maintain Big Brother Pan’s face – someone who casually threatened to kill Ke Yixiong was not someone small-time Chen could afford to offend. Though only 6,000 yuan was wired, Chen probably shipped 10,000 yuan worth of clothes.
Chen Xiliang’s shipment was like timely rain. After several days of hot sales, “Lan Feng Huang’s” clothes were almost bought out by Shangdu’s frenzied female customers.
Some didn’t just buy single pieces – they bought entire sets that Xia Xiaolan had coordinated.
If the Yang City goods didn’t arrive soon, they’d have nothing to sell and would have to close early for the New Year. Fortunately, Chen Xiliang rushed the goods onto the train at top speed. They frantically received the stock on the 28th and managed to keep selling until the evening of January 29th.
Xia Xiaolan counted the earnings with her family, carefully locked up, and posted a pre-written red paper on the door: “Store closed January 30th – February 5th, reopening February 6th (Fifth day of the First Lunar Month).”
“Money can’t all be earned at once – we need to rest during Spring Festival.”