The roommates in Dorm 307 believed in Xia Xiaolan.
Xia Xiaolan was unaware of her roommates’ private discussions and their confidence in her. After her confrontation with the Ji family, she received unexpected support, even from Ning Xue. This prompted Xia Xiaolan to devise a “5-year plan” in her mind.
By the time she graduated, where should she be? Ideally, Ji Ya should be kneeling on Chang’an Street to apologize.
Finding the pace of development too slow, Xia Xiaolan planned to use the two “Lan Fenghuang” stores as collateral to secure a loan from Manager Wu once the Xidan store opened.
Previously, she hadn’t minded taking things slowly, but now Xia Xiaolan wanted her money to generate more money.
Wasn’t Ji Ya yearning for life in America?
By the time Ji Ya realized what was happening, Xia Xiaolan would have already established her business empire in China, riding the wave of Reform and Opening Up!
Xia Xiaolan was confident about getting a loan from Manager Wu, who provided loans to anyone who bought government bonds. With the stores as collateral, plus the courtyard house in Shichahai that Manager Wu had personally seen her purchase, securing a loan of several thousand yuan wouldn’t be a problem.
She estimated that the year-end dividends from the Shangdu Clothing Store would exceed 50,000 yuan. Combined with her current savings, she could first open the Xidan store. Then, using the Xidan store and the courtyard house as collateral, she could secure another loan from Manager Wu to open yet another store.
Relying solely on one clothing store in Xidan would make money too slowly.
In a city as vast as Beijing, even opening ten clothing stores wouldn’t saturate the market.
The southern coastal regions were already becoming fashionable, and the clothing consumption potential of the capital’s residents remained largely untapped. Beijing had no shortage of quality goods – imported items could be found everywhere. However, those items required foreign exchange certificates, making them inaccessible to ordinary people… While Xia Xiaolan’s clothes wouldn’t be cheap either, they wouldn’t require foreign exchange certificates – anyone with money could buy them.
There were many businesses with low investment and high returns; it was just a matter of seizing the opportunity. Like the “tutoring school” that Xia Ziyou had previously run – Xia Xiaolan thought the approach wasn’t wrong.
Look at New Oriental in the future – they successfully listed in the US in 2006. Wasn’t it a success to build an education and training institution to such a scale?
Before Xia Xiaolan’s rebirth, New Oriental’s 2016 annual financial report showed nearly 1.5 billion USD in annual revenue. Setting aside the profit margins from the billion yuan revenue, running an educational training institution carried enormous influence. Social recognition and public approval were far better than those of real estate companies and similar enterprises.
“Tutoring schools” had great potential. New Oriental’s founder initially started with language training. In the early 1990s, as the trend of studying abroad intensified, New Oriental’s founder focused on English training, following the trend.
The tutoring school run by Xia Ziyou was too unfocused. How could hiring a few Beijing Normal University students adequately prepare students for college entrance exams?
If Xia Xiaolan were to run it, she would first thoroughly understand the college entrance examination system. There were so many core teachers from Beijing’s top high schools – why hire barely qualified Beijing Normal University students instead of them? Student tuition wasn’t necessarily cheap, and core teachers weren’t necessarily expensive, especially given the low teacher salaries during this period.
As Xia Xiaolan cycled along, she kept thinking this was a good business opportunity.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Such a promising market had been spoiled by Xia Ziyou, that bad apple.
Now Xia Xiaolan dared not go against the tide. The “tutoring school” had been suppressed due to both human factors and market conditions.
A perfectly good money-making idea – couldn’t it have been used solely for profit? Xia Ziyou not only wanted to make money but also tried to use the tutoring school to build Wang Jianhua’s reputation… These two purposes required completely different operational models. Xia Ziyou had been too greedy!
She had expanded blindly without considering whether she could manage it all.
If Xia Ziyou’s tutoring school hadn’t tarnished the reputation, Xia Xiaolan, having reached the finals of the “English Competition,” could have potentially replicated New Oriental’s model for English training if she won a placement.
But never mind, the market wasn’t mature enough yet.
New Oriental had risen with the tide – by the early 1990s, wages and incomes had increased. But now, at the end of 1984, even though English was included in the college entrance exam, those who would specifically study it remained a minority.
After much consideration, Xia Xiaolan concluded that the clothing industry was still the most profitable in the 1980s – she hadn’t chosen the wrong path.
Home appliances were profitable too, but required more capital.
What was the cost price of a piece of clothing compared to a television set?
By the time she reached Shichahai, Xia Xiaolan had sorted out her thoughts. Grandmother Yu and Liu Fen hadn’t left yet, so Xia Xiaolan conveyed Ning Xue’s message. Grandmother Yu was initially reluctant to meet but later changed her mind.
“No need to wait for him to come. This old woman isn’t anyone important. I’ll go see him. You don’t have classes this morning?”
Xia Xiaolan nodded, “No classes in the morning, only in the afternoon.”
“Then come with me to the Ning house.”
In China’s architectural field, one couldn’t avoid Ning Yanfan.
Ning Yanfan had studied in Beiping in his youth, later studied architecture abroad, and had researched in the field for decades, becoming renowned. It would be beneficial for Xia Xiaolan to meet him.
Without Grandmother Yu’s introduction, why would Ning Yanfan meet a novice architecture student?
Huaqing’s Architecture Department had also been under Ning Yanfan’s influence. The old master was so senior that his students had become architecture professors. How could Xia Xiaolan refuse the opportunity to meet such an architectural master?
Even senior students in the department would push Xia Xiaolan aside for such an opportunity.
Campus beauty or not, at times like these, being beautiful was worth less than a few minutes of close interaction with a master.
When Ning Xue learned that Xia Xiaolan would come along, she wasn’t surprised. It was normal for a younger person to accompany Grandmother Yu, given her age.
Ning Xue didn’t know the relationship between Xia Xiaolan and Grandmother Yu, but since her grandfather treated Grandmother Yu with such respect, Ning Xue wouldn’t be discourteous. At the Ning house, Ning Yanfan was already waiting at the door.
Meeting an old friend after many years, Ning Yanfan was also very pleased.
“Junior Sister Yu, had I known you would leave Shangdu, I would have invited you to Beijing much earlier.”
Grandmother Yu murmured, “What’s so good about Beijing? A dog doesn’t mind poverty – Shangdu is my roots.”
Shangdu was the Yu family’s roots, which was why Grandmother Yu had guarded the old house, afraid that returning Yu family members wouldn’t be able to find their home. Ning Yanfan sighed deeply. Over the years, he had also helped search for news of the Yu family members, but like a stone sinking into the sea, found nothing.
Junior Sister Yu’s latter years were lonely, but now she had company, regardless of blood ties. Ning Yanfan’s tone was very gentle:
“You must be Xia Xiaolan, Ning Xue’s classmate. I didn’t expect such a connection. Would you like to visit my studio?”
Ning Yanfan’s studio?
Architecture students were all interested in Old Ning’s designs, and he remained prolific, still working on the front lines of design.
“Thank you for the opportunity.”
The two elderly people hadn’t met for years and might have private matters to discuss, so Xia Xiaolan readily expressed her interest in seeing the studio, with Ning Xue naturally serving as the guide.