While Xia Hongbing and his family were suffering deeply, Xia Xiaolan was riding through the hair salon street in a car – two completely different worlds separated by just a wall.
Chen Xiliang looked dejected, too ashamed to face Xia Xiaolan. Seeing her come to find him, he didn’t know what to say.
“Sister Xia—”
Xia Xiaolan returned the account book to him. “I’ve finished reviewing it.”
Chen Xiliang didn’t dare ask if she was still withdrawing her investment. His downcast demeanor irritated Xia Xiaolan:
“I heard you gave your ex-wife a large sum of money. Will that affect the company’s development?”
“Of course not. That money had nothing to do with the company, it was my personal… Sister Xia, does this mean you’re not withdrawing your investment?!”
Xia Xiaolan sneered: “If I withdrew now, would you have enough money to compensate me?”
Chen Xiliang truly couldn’t afford to compensate her. He had just given Lin Meijuan 100,000 yuan. While he had earned quite a bit these past two years, he wasn’t a bank printing money. Seeing his cowardly behavior, Xia Xiaolan felt no sympathy. “Chen Xiliang, I told you early on to handle your family matters well so they wouldn’t affect our cooperation. Is this how you handled it?”
Chen Xiliang had nothing to say. He had made promises, but Lin Meijuan wouldn’t cooperate. He could only accept the scolding meekly.
Xia Xiaolan felt no guilt in scolding him. Thinking of what Ke Yixiong had told her, she grew angry:
“Your former brother-in-law took 5,000 yuan to Ke Yixiong’s subordinate Cao Liu, asking him to find people to teach me a lesson! Can I ever come to Yang safely again? There’s always this hidden danger waiting for me – how do you plan to resolve this!”
This barrage left Chen Xiliang stunned.
Lin Meijuan’s brother wanted to harm Xia Xiaolan.
He must be insane! If anything happened to Xia Xiaolan, not only would Lin Meijuan’s brother be finished, but Chen Xiliang’s career prospects would be ruined too.
Large beads of sweat appeared on Chen Xiliang’s forehead. Right then, he wanted to grab a knife and finish off Lin Meijuan’s brother, ending it all. He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and rushed toward the courtyard gate. Li Dongliang caught him around the waist: “Boss Chen, don’t be rash. Violence isn’t the answer. Let’s talk this through.”
After finally wrestling the cleaver away from Chen Xiliang, Xia Xiaolan figured his reaction was seventy percent genuine and thirty percent deliberately dramatic to show his stance.
With his troublesome marriage ended, Xia Xiaolan had no intention of withdrawing her investment. She brought this up only to make Chen Xiliang take it seriously.
She had no time now to deal with the Lin family.
Dealing with worthless people like Lin Meijuan’s brother would be a waste of her time.
“Sister Xia, I’ve let you down. If you want to withdraw your investment, I’ll sell everything I own to return your money.”
Xia Xiaolan looked around the courtyard, still stacked with merchandise. Chen Xiliang’s wholesale stall was now being managed by others and surely wasn’t as profitable as when he ran it himself. There were gains and losses – Chen Xiliang had sacrificed much for Luna. Xia Xiaolan felt that in his current state, he would either succeed or go crazy.
She wasn’t here to drive Chen Xiliang to his death; she just wanted him to be fully committed. She worried his ideas would keep changing and Zhou Cheng’s investment would be lost.
“Chen Xiliang, when I first came to Yang two years ago to source goods, there were many wholesale stalls, but I bought from yours – that was fate. I only had a few hundred yuan in capital then. You should know how profitable retail clothing is. I could focus on retail clothing – I’ve already figured out that business path. I don’t need to risk ventures like creating a clothing brand with you.”
Chen Xiliang nodded.
He did wholesale, she did retail – both businesses were profitable.
Creating a clothing brand from scratch would be much harder than their previous business model.
Even her brother-in-law didn’t trust him, yet Xia Xiaolan invested real money and let him have the majority stake, even letting him manage the company. This wasn’t just trust in Chen Xiliang’s character, but also in his abilities.
But he had been indecisive and created this mess.
“We’ve known each other for over a year, and our cooperation has been quite pleasant. I won’t withdraw my investment now, but I reserve the right to withdraw. I hope you won’t disappoint me in the future.”
Chen Xiliang was both shocked and delighted.
What he needed wasn’t just Xia Xiaolan’s capital, but also her grasp of the bigger picture. Xia Xiaolan hadn’t seen those samples, and Chen Xiliang himself was nervous about large-scale production.
“You’re more professional than me in clothing design. I won’t interfere with the styles. A brand can’t stand out with just one or two unique pieces – the quality must be excellent, we must capture consumer psychology, and we need promotion… Today is February 15th, three days before the Central Television Spring Festival Gala on February 19th. If you want both stores to open after the New Year, whatever method you use, get the Gala hosts or performers to wear Luna women’s clothing during this year’s show! That’s just the first part. Secondly, photos of them wearing the clothes must be taken on-site. You must establish connections with magazine editors or journalists – in the first spring issues, magazines and newspapers must report on Luna’s stores in Yang and in Xidan, Jing!”
Three days to get Luna’s clothes worn by Spring Festival Gala hosts or performers?
And that was just the start – they also needed coverage of the store openings and photos of the hosts wearing Luna clothing.
Chen Xiliang knew about advertising, but Xia Xiaolan’s approach seemed more than just advertising.
The combination of advertising and publicity stunned Chen Xiliang.
But what if they followed Xia Xiaolan’s plan?
Chen Xiliang’s heart raced – Luna might become an overnight sensation!
“We need newspapers in Jing, need ones in Yang…”
Chen Xiliang muttered to himself, and Xia Xiaolan nodded: “Of course, we only have stores in these two places.”
Too much publicity would just waste money. Luna wasn’t ready for national promotion yet, but sponsoring Spring Festival Gala clothing should be done sooner rather than later – the Gala’s influence would only grow.
The more Chen Xiliang thought about it, the more excited he became, wishing he could fly to Jing immediately.
Could he accomplish this in the remaining three days?
Even Xia Xiaolan wasn’t sure.
She hadn’t mentioned this idea earlier because she hadn’t seen Luna’s samples. If the clothes were truly ugly, appearing at the Spring Festival Gala would damage their reputation, and Luna would need to develop slowly and wait for other opportunities.
Now Xia Xiaolan thought the samples were decent, so Chen Xiliang might as well try.
Success would be ideal, but failure wouldn’t affect their original store plans. Worst case, they would open the two stores first and then do hard advertising!
With the New Year approaching, Luna was planning to start mass production after the holiday anyway. Xia Xiaolan told Chen Xiliang to take the samples with him. Size wasn’t a major concern – women these days were all extremely slim, and one M size could fit all.
Chen Xiliang packed all the samples from the small showroom at top speed and even brought the female designer on the plane.
“Good luck!”
Xia Xiaolan waved to him, and Chen Xiliang’s cheeks quivered with excitement.
“No, we will succeed, Sister Xia, we will succeed!”