When Zhou Cheng left, it was with great reluctance.

Since he was traveling to the academy in a company vehicle, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t see him off on the day of his departure. They wouldn’t be able to meet immediately after he reached the academy either, so this farewell meant they would be apart for quite a long time.

Xia Xiaolan returned to her dormitory with bags of items after nine in the evening. Zhou Cheng had left just before his company’s lights-out time.

Grandmother Zhou had given her plenty of food, worried that Xia Xiaolan might not eat well at school since all her money had gone into buying a house… Truth be told, Xia Xiaolan liked Zhou Cheng’s grandmother. The old lady was quite easygoing, different from Grandmother Yu’s sharp tongue. Grandmother Zhou was genuinely warm in her speech.

Nobody could dislike an old lady like her.

In a harmonious family, the entire household atmosphere was pleasant, and everyone would continue to prosper together, with life moving in a positive direction.

If there was a troublemaker like Old Lady Xia in the family, it would be full of schemes and contradictions everywhere. How could anyone focus on working together to build wealth?

“Wow, these are all imported items! Classmate Xia Xiaolan, we must severely criticize you for abandoning the masses again!”

Xia Xiaolan rolled her eyes. “Before you speak, spit out that so-called ‘bourgeois’ milk candy in your mouth.”

Su Jing laughed heartily. “That’s impossible.”

Everyone knew their boundaries. While they joked around, Xia Xiaolan always brought a modest amount of snacks back to the dormitory. What Xia Xiaolan loved most about Room 307 was precisely this – although all eight people had different personalities, none of them tried to take advantage of others. They could tolerate each other’s temperaments, and as long as nobody was extremely difficult, college classmates could potentially remain friends for life.

The day Zhou Cheng left for the academy was also the day of the English competition’s second round.

Beijing had fully entered winter by December. Xia Xiaolan, wrapped in her down jacket, participated in the “National College Students English Competition Semi-finals” organized by the Beijing Education Committee. All students who passed the preliminary round from universities across Beijing had to take the exam at the University of International Business and Economics.

In the three months since Xia Xiaolan had enrolled at Huaqing, Chen Qing, who studied at the University of International Business and Economics, hadn’t visited her once.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t had time to visit Chen Qing either. She had been quite busy since enrollment – weekdays were filled with coursework, and weekends were occupied with various commitments, from visiting Zhou Cheng to traveling to Pengcheng, house hunting, and buying… This showed that Xia Xiaolan wasn’t that close to Chen Qing. For truly important people, no matter how busy she was, Xia Xiaolan would always find time to visit, just like she did with Zhou Cheng.

Forgetting someone when busy proved that Chen Qing wasn’t that important.

However, now that she was at the University of International Business and Economics, it wouldn’t be right not to visit Chen Qing.

The weather wasn’t good on the day of the second round – it was both windy and rainy. Even in her knee-length down jacket, Xia Xiaolan felt cold in her lower legs, and her exposed face was chilled. Though the clothing brand hadn’t taken off yet, one benefit of becoming familiar with Chen Xiliang was that Xia Xiaolan could order custom-made clothes without needing to order hundreds of pieces. Chenyu was willing to process even just a hundred pieces for her.

Current winter coats and down jackets were all high-waisted, but Xia Xiaolan missed the long-style down coats that felt like being wrapped in a small quilt.

This time, Lan Fenghuang directly ordered a batch of extra-long and mid-length styles, similar to the length of wool coats. Though they couldn’t get the highest quality down, they used duck feathers for filling. Even so, Xia Xiaolan was quite satisfied with the knee-length down jacket she received from Yangcheng.

Her dormmates also found her coat warm. Zhou Limin, being from Yangcheng, had never experienced northern winters and immediately ordered one from Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t planned to develop a business among classmates, so she only charged Zhou Limin the factory price. Previously, down jackets cost less than 30 yuan at factory price, but these ankle-length long styles, with more filling and fabric, cost 48 yuan each directly from the factory. The mid-length style that came above the knee cost 40 yuan.

Lan Fenghuang ordered 100 long styles and 200 mid-length styles.

Following Lan Fenghuang’s usual profit margins, a long down jacket would need to sell for around 100 yuan, and the mid-length for 80 yuan.

The November batch of men’s coats matching Zhou Wangjing’s style sold extremely well, with all 400 coats being absorbed by the Shangdu consumer market. By the time copies appeared in the Shangdu market, Lan Fenghuang had already sold out. Although these coats had high costs, they brought high returns, earning the clothing store nearly 30,000 yuan.

For the 300 custom-made down jackets, whether it was Xia Xiaolan, Li Fengmei, or Liu Fen, all were confident they could sell them within one winter.

Lan Fenghuang didn’t do wholesale, and retail was limited by store capacity. These 300 coats only cost just over 10,000 yuan. If Lan Fenghuang had other branches, Xia Xiaolan would dare to order thousands of pieces – they just needed two more stores like Lan Fenghuang!

People in Beijing didn’t lack shopping places. The Wangfujing area had everything for sale, depending only on one’s wallet size.

Xia Xiaolan was considering opening branch stores and keeping an eye out for suitable locations.

Wangfujing would be ideal, but could she get a store there? Just a passing thought!

Among the remaining locations, Xia Xiaolan favored Xidan.

Like Shangdu’s Erqi Square, it would flourish for twenty years in the future.

In Beijing, although Xidan would undergo several demolitions and reconstructions, it would remain prosperous for another 20 years.

The main point was that foot traffic was already high. With Xidan Mall established, along with various hair salons and photo studios, people visiting these places were generally fashionable and willing to spend money, overlapping with Xia Xiaolan’s target consumer group.

Her thoughts had wandered so far that she was still thinking about this when she arrived at the University of International Business and Economics.

“What are you thinking about? Wake up!”

From Huaqing, among the first-year students who passed the preliminary round, Liu Huazheng was acquainted with Xia Xiaolan, so they naturally walked together.

With the exam about to start, Liu Huazheng became anxious seeing Xia Xiaolan lost in thought.

“You need to perform well today! Look around, these are all our competitors. We’re representing Huaqing University.”

Indeed, those coming to the University of International Business and Economics for the second round included contestants from all universities in Beijing. How many people from Huaqing could advance to the second round, and how many could make it to the finals – this wasn’t just about personal honor but also related to the school’s collective reputation.

Huaqing was a good school, but other schools weren’t bad either.

Moreover, English proficiency couldn’t be judged solely by university admission scores. Some people might have lower overall scores but excel in English. Not to mention those from diplomatic families who might have started learning foreign languages at a very young age – Xia Xiaolan might not necessarily outperform them!

“I’m not nervous, and you shouldn’t be either. Let’s both do our best today.”

As Xia Xiaolan and Liu Huazheng huddled together talking, even her quilt-like long down jacket couldn’t hide her beauty. As she waited outside the exam room with other second-round participants from various schools, some people were secretly glancing at her.

Liu Huazheng nodded firmly. “I don’t have much confidence in passing the second round. If only I had stayed abroad like Ji Jiangyuan… I thought Ning Xue would participate in this English competition, but surprisingly she didn’t even register.”