If Tong Lili’s foolishness reached Xia Xiaolan’s ears, she would burst out laughing. What irony – buying clothes at Blue Phoenix meant money for Xia Xiaolan, but spending at Luna supposedly meant profits for her Zhou Cheng. If she knew that Zhou Cheng had surrendered his bankbook and Xia Xiaolan managed all the money, Tong Lili would have gone mad.
While Xia Xiaolan hadn’t seen it, Shao Guangrong and Kang Wei had. Luna’s store wasn’t far from Blue Phoenix. Kang Wei watched Tong Lili storm into Luna and emerge shortly after with bags of purchases, the staff smiling broadly as they saw off their big customer. Kang Wei doubled over laughing:
“Miss Tong is quite amusing. Brother, you were right to reject her advances. Could you trust her to raise your children?”
Before, when they all hung out together aimlessly, he had thought Tong Lili’s style was cool – a bold Beijing girl who dared to love and hate. Now, with an excellent benchmark for comparison, Tong Lili’s group seemed incredibly childish.
“Stop talking nonsense and get in the car to rest. By the way, why haven’t Aunt Guan and your mother arrived yet?”
It was almost noon – weren’t they supposed to come help with business?
Xia Xiaolan and her staff worked continuously until 2 PM before catching their breath.
Zhou Yi and her friends bought several outfits. At checkout, Xia Xiaolan had Chen Yiyi calculate a 30% discount. While others received 10% off, Zhou Yi saved an extra 20 yuan per 100 yuan purchase. With 460 yuan worth of clothes, she only paid 320 yuan.
Zhou Yi’s friends giggled, “No wonder your sister-in-law wins over your elders – she’s quite generous.”
Free clothes were impossible – what business gives things away on opening day? But the pricing showed consideration – saving over a hundred yuan was giving face to Zhou Yi!
Zhou Yi felt relieved. She had shown sincerity in breaking the ice by entering the store and abandoning Tong Lili, making her stance clear. If Xia Xiaolan hadn’t offered this olive branch, Zhou Yi would have truly lost face today… Perhaps because Xia Xiaolan had humbled her several times before, Zhou Yi was almost shocked by this favorable treatment.
Damn, when had she become so submissive?
Whenever she thought about standing up to Xia Xiaolan again, she kept seeing images of her uncle enthusiastically discussing Xia Xiaolan’s academic achievements. Zhou Yi felt she couldn’t stay there – for a long time, her nightmare had been Grandfather Zhou saying “Bring the video tape.”
By 2 PM, the morning shoppers had dispersed and afternoon browsers hadn’t arrived yet, finally giving Xia Xiaolan a chance to rest. Everyone was exhausted – the two shop assistants, and three roommates, without exception.
Shao Guangrong and Kang Wei hadn’t waited idly; they brought packed lunches, which everyone ate quickly in the store.
“Thanks for your help, everyone. Today’s sales exceeded expectations. You’ve all worked hard – tonight’s dinner is on me, let’s have something nice.”
The flyers’ effectiveness proved how diligently they had been distributed, with distributors carefully following Xia Xiaolan’s instructions. This was how ordinary people approached work in 1985. In later years, paid flyer distributors would sometimes dump beautifully printed flyers in trash bins without supervision, unlike the free but effective distribution Xia Xiaolan had now.
When Xia Xiaolan mentioned dinner, Qian Ying smiled:
“Boss Xia, looking at today’s business, who knows when we’ll be able to close tonight!”
Qian Ying hadn’t handled money today but had been busy since 8 AM. She estimated sales were in the thousands. She particularly remembered a popular jacket from the flyer – they’d run out of sizes, and a customer who couldn’t fit the remaining small size still wanted to buy it.
Overall, the morning business had been excellent.
Xia Xiaolan realized dinner might be unrealistic, with accounting and inventory still to do after closing. Looking at the half-empty clothing racks, she said:
“Let’s restock while there aren’t afternoon customers yet.”
Each garment in storage needed ironing – without modern steam irons, they needed a large table to press clothes flat, which was time and labor-intensive. Without Yang Yonghong and others’ help, the morning would have been more chaotic.
Xia Xiaolan told Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong they didn’t need to wait all afternoon. “You two check Xiushui Street – Aunt Guan and the others might be at that store.”
“Sister-in-law, I should still come pick you up tonight. Business is so good today, someone might target the cash…”
Xidan had all sorts of people. After the crackdown ended over a year ago, thugs and thieves were active again.
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t worried today – she’d leave with Yang Yonghong and the others. But with Liu Fen managing three stores alone in the future, collecting daily revenues together, Shao Guangrong’s security concerns were valid. Even with a manager at Luna, the fundamental problem remained – who would transport the cash?
They needed police attention like at Shangdu. Xia Xiaolan decided to ask Manager Wu to introduce her to local police leaders. Not for bribes, but to build relationships – having police patrol nearby would deter criminals.
Private businesses needed connections beyond police – industry and commerce, urban construction, fire safety… all relationships needed balancing.
In the afternoon, Grandmother Yu took the bus to the store from Xiushui Street.
“Zhou Cheng’s mother brought many friends to that store. I saw Ning Yanfan’s granddaughter too – Ning Xue, right? She was shopping with her mother.”
Why had everyone gone to Xiushui Street?
Xia Xiaolan asked curiously: “How’s business there? Many customers?”
Though Xiushui Street wasn’t bustling yet, Xia Xiaolan was prepared for slow business. Grandmother Yu kept the details mysterious: “I’ll tell you tonight.”
From Grandmother Yu’s observation, the same stores selling the same clothes attracted completely different customers in Xidan versus Xiushui Street.
Xidan drew younger customers, mostly women in their twenties.
Xiushui Street attracted more customers of Guan Hui’e’s age.
While Xiushui Street had fewer customers, they had more purchasing power.
Qian Ying was right – on opening day, the Xidan store didn’t close until 9 PM, and Xia Xiaolan spent another half hour on accounts.
Chen Yiyi’s bookkeeping was crystal clear – which styles sold, what discounts applied, payments received, change given… as precise as computer printouts. The girl showed good judgment by not calculating the total, and letting Xia Xiaolan work the calculator herself. Looking at the revenue, she was very satisfied:
“I owe you all a big feast – no refusing, you’ve been a huge help today.”
Besides exhaustion, Xia Xiaolan had one realization – Beijing’s market was larger than Shangdu’s.
The capital of this vast country already had ten million people in 1985 – what consumer potential! Xia Xiaolan felt two stores weren’t enough; she should quickly capture a share of Beijing’s clothing market… She hadn’t forgotten her bet with the Ji family. If she didn’t become an exchange student this semester, Xia Xiaolan set herself a goal: by the end of 1985, her net worth would exceed one million yuan!