Business at Lan Feng Huang has been mediocre these past few days.

With the change of seasons, it was time for the store to stock summer clothing, but they had to wait for Xia Xiaolan to finish her exams before going to Yang Cheng to get inventory. Xia Xiaolan had mentioned that red would be trendy this year, and already female customers were coming in asking about red dresses.

Chen Xiliang’s prediction was spot on. Thanks to the marketing push from magazines like “Fashion,” women across the country would soon be caught up in the “red dress” craze this summer.

Following Chen Xiliang’s suggestion, the Chenyu Garment Factory produced red dresses in various styles, just waiting to be released to the market. Spring and autumn seasons were short and manageable, but clothing retailers really only had two peak seasons: winter and summer. Summer was particularly bustling – after all, summer clothes came in more styles and were cheaper compared to winter wear!

Chen Xiliang had been quite considerate, setting aside plenty of pieces from the first batch of styles for Xia Xiaolan.

Lan Feng Huang didn’t have many spring items left, and now they’d put up posters advertising store-wide discounts. The discounts were substantial – some items were marked down to 60% off, with most at 70% off. A sweater that originally cost 40 yuan could now be bought for just 24 yuan if you were lucky – that’s over ten yuan in savings!

The more expensive the clothing, the more money could be saved after the discount.

Although spring clothes wouldn’t be wearable for much longer, Lan Feng Huang had built quite a reputation in Shang Du. Those with money could wear the new styles immediately, while those with tighter budgets could take advantage of the sales.

Using discounts to clear inventory was common business sense in retail clothing. It wasn’t about how much you sold, but how little inventory you kept that determined your profit margins. The competition wasn’t too fierce yet, otherwise Xia Xiaolan would have to resort to “buy one get one free” promotions. Her integrity wasn’t out of concern for customers’ wallets – Lan Feng Huang simply didn’t have much inventory to begin with.

With business being slow, Ma Wei could take a day off.

She had just completed her first month at Lan Feng Huang, and Li Fengmei had promptly paid her salary.

Handing Ma Wei the envelope containing her wages, Li Fengmei said exactly what Ma Wei had hoped to hear:

“You’ve passed your one-month probation period. You’re now a formal employee of our store, and you’ll be eligible for bonuses starting next month.”

Ma Wei was happy to receive her wages, but even happier to learn she’d been kept on!

“Boss, I’ll work hard!” she exclaimed.

With Lan Feng Huang doing such good business, there was no risk of closure anytime soon. Now that Ma Wei had passed her probation, wasn’t her life more stable? Jobs were hard to come by, and Lan Feng Huang paid well – much better than staying unemployed at home. A young woman in her teens who wasn’t in school couldn’t just idle away at home eating free meals. Ma Wei’s family had more than one child, and she needed to save for her dowry.

It wasn’t until she got home that Ma Wei opened the envelope.

Counting the money carefully, she found an extra ten-yuan note – despite being on probation, Li Fengmei had included a 10-yuan bonus.

Though the young girl wasn’t particularly eloquent, she was efficient in her work and didn’t ask unnecessary questions. Both Li Fengmei and Liu Fen were quite satisfied with her.

With the extra 10 yuan, Ma Wei kept the bonus and gave the 40-yuan salary to her family. This wasn’t gender discrimination – not only unmarried daughters but also unmarried sons had to hand over their wages. The whole family pooled their money together to save for various life events. Whether it was for sons’ marriages, daughters’ weddings, or elderly family members’ funerals – which of these didn’t require money?

Ma Wei’s mother was delighted that she had contributed 40 yuan in her first month.

That evening, Ma Wei’s family ate dumplings filled with pork and Chinese cabbage. Her mother said cheerfully:

“We were worried that a private business might make you work for nothing – they might talk nicely at first but find excuses to dock your pay when it’s time for wages. Fortunately, they paid you every cent!”

Private businesses have only emerged in the past couple of years. No matter where you worked or how your performance was, if the state was paying your wages, they couldn’t default on payment.

Ma Wei’s mother wasn’t the only one worried about working for private businesses – many people had their own concerns.

Those concerns only disappeared once the money was in hand.

Ma Wei couldn’t help but defend her employer, “How could they underpay? The boss is incredibly kind. They promised 40 yuan basic salary for the probation month, and even gave me a 10 yuan bonus! Mom, I’m keeping that bonus.”

This girl, always holding something back even when turning over her wages!

Her mother hadn’t expected the pay to exceed what was promised – could it be that Lan Feng Huang’s boss wasn’t a heartless capitalist after all?

“What do you need to keep so much money for? Your store provides two meals a day, and you eat breakfast at home!”

Put that way, Lan Feng Huang’s benefits were quite good. Ma Wei could have a simple breakfast at home, while lunch and dinner were provided by the store, and the food wasn’t bad – they usually ate at restaurants. Ma Wei had wanted to set up a stove in the backyard to cook for herself, but Xia Xiaolan strictly forbade it. There was no point in saving that little money if the clothing store’s high-end image was compromised by staff smelling of cooking oil.

Ma Wei’s father tapped the table, “Let her keep it. She’s a working woman now, how can she not have any money on her? Mei Mei, I can see your boss is a good person – you must not slack off at work.”

As the head of the household, once Ma Wei’s father spoke, she could finally keep the bonus for herself.

“Our big boss is very kind, and the young boss doesn’t come to the store often but is very capable. She’s taking the college entrance exam this year and I heard her grades are very good…”

Ma Wei wasn’t being sarcastic – she was expressing genuine admiration.

The job at Lan Feng Huang was precious to her, and no one mistreated her. She hoped both bosses would succeed and keep Lan Feng Huang running for a long time!

In He Dong County.

It had been over ten days since Fan Zhenchuan’s arrest, and the political situation in He Dong was gradually stabilizing – after all, most of those who needed to be arrested had been.

The vacated positions provided opportunities for officials who had been working honestly.

Even Liang Bing’an’s immediate superior was implicated, but Liang Bing’an himself, despite losing several pounds from anxiety during these nerve-wracking weeks, remained steadily in his position while others were being arrested. Liang Bing’an was somewhat dazed – had he safely passed through the dangerous period?

Moreover, with the Bureau Chief position vacant, might he, as Deputy Bureau Chief, have a chance to fill it?

People are never satisfied. Initially, he only hoped not to be stripped of his position, but now that he had emerged unscathed, he wondered if he could use this chaos to advance!

Deputy Bureau Chief Liang had remained steady as a mountain during the political movement, and people in the unit believed they could curry favor with him. Mysteriously, rumors spread that Liang Bing’an would be “promoted”… Though Liang Bing’an couldn’t guess the reason, as more people spoke about it, his anxiety transformed into elation.

At such a critical time, one must be especially careful in words and actions. Liang Bing’an stopped using the unit’s car and rode an old bicycle to demonstrate his frugality.

Liu Fang was overjoyed.

The family’s bad luck had been swept away, and this round of vacancies in He Dong County unexpectedly became Liang Bing’an’s opportunity.

If Liang Bing’an continued to rise in rank, why should she worry about being surpassed in status by others from her maiden family?!