Xia Ziyu wasn’t foolish. Opening a store in Anqing required Principal Sun’s help. In Beijing, finding a suitable storefront and handling paperwork would require connections.
While studying in Anqing, she invested considerable effort in cultivating a relationship with Principal Sun. With his support, Zhang’s Small Restaurant had smoothly opened near County First High School. If Huang Sister’s Fast Food hadn’t suddenly appeared, their shop wouldn’t have failed so quickly.
Now wanting to replicate that success in Beijing, Xia Ziyu suddenly realized that despite being in Beijing for almost two years, she didn’t know a single “capable person” who could help.
Where had all the time gone? All was spent on Wang Jianhua.
Wang Jianhua performed so excellently in his first year, studying single-mindedly because Xia Ziyu handled all his daily affairs. She worried about Wang Jianhua’s food and clothing and also had to worry about Wang Guangping and his wife who were being reformed at the farm.
One’s energy is limited. With Xia Ziyu running around here and there, after two years, aside from getting engaged to Wang Jianhua, she seemed to have achieved nothing else.
It was frustrating to think about – the tutoring class had been such a good business opportunity, how had it failed in her hands?
She lacked some luck. If not for He Jia’s pregnancy incident, her tutoring business would surely be substantial by now.
“Can’t control their waistbands, gets pregnant, and blames the tutoring class…”
Sleep together and get pregnant – the He family didn’t teach their daughter but blamed her instead, causing the tutoring class to shut down and earning her a major disciplinary action. Xia Ziyu had thought about these things before but had endured it. Wang Guangping was the Deputy Director of Higher Education – her disciplinary record would be cleared sooner or later. Trading a disciplinary action for the Wang family’s acceptance wasn’t a loss.
Now that Wang Guangping wasn’t Deputy Director anymore, Xia Ziyu’s previous patience had fermented into dissatisfaction.
For opening the shop, they still needed the Wang family’s help. Though the Party History Office was a cold post, Wang Guangping had been a cadre for many years and must have some friends.
It didn’t matter if the office was cold – the rank was still there. Surely he could handle small matters?
Xia Ziyu didn’t approach Wang Guangping directly but went to Wang Jianhua instead.
She had been somewhat distracted lately, and rarely took the initiative to find him. Wang Jianhua was quite happy: “Ziyu, I haven’t seen you for several days!”
“Jianhua, I need to apologize first. There’s been a lot going on with the new semester, and I’ve been busy with something else. I might have neglected you a bit. You won’t blame me, right?”
Wang Jianhua felt relieved. So that was it.
“What would I blame you for? Would I doubt your feelings for me?”
Wang Jianhua asked what Xia Ziyu had been busy with, and she smoothly expressed her difficulties: “My parents want to rent a shop in Beijing to open a small restaurant. You know they’re used to this work. Running a street stall in sun and rain is hard – having a shop would be better. They’ve saved money for so long and want to try now.”
Wang Jianhua agreed about opening a shop.
Xia Ziyu’s parents selling food from a street stall was embarrassing for Wang Jianhua to talk about. Wang Guangping and Ran Shuyu’s dislike of Xia Ziyu largely stemmed from this.
How could Wang Guangping show his face when his future in-laws were street vendors?
A shop was better than a mobile stall. Beijing has many century-old food establishments. Previously they had all become state-owned under joint public-private ownership, but in these years of Reform and Opening Up, some heirs of century-old shops had quietly gone into private business.
In any case, a restaurant was better than a stall. They didn’t need to reach the scale of Donglaishun – even something like Baodu Feng would do.
Wang Jianhua was enthusiastic, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You’ve been trying to build these connections alone—”
Xia Ziyu smiled bitterly, “I couldn’t manage it! Jianhua, am I useless? My family’s circumstances aren’t good, I can’t help you, and I just cause you trouble. It’s really hard for outsiders to get things done in Beijing without knowing anyone.”
Wang Jianhua pulled her into his arms, “Don’t you know me? We’re engaged – there’s no distinction between us. I’ll handle this for you.”
Was Xia Ziyu incapable of opening a restaurant?
She had managed to rent school facilities for the tutoring class all by herself, knowing how to give appropriate gifts to school leaders.
But now she felt somewhat unbalanced – after giving so much to the Wang family, wasn’t it right for Wang Jianhua to handle some things for her?
Wang Jianhua did indeed have some capability.
Although Wang Guangping had been transferred to the Party History Office and most of Wang Jianhua’s fair-weather friends had instantly dispersed, there were still a few who remained. When Wang Jianhua asked for help, this small matter wasn’t much.
In less than two days, he found a shop location for Xia Ziyu.
“It’s in Xidan. If you think it’s too far, I can find another place.”
Wang Jianhua meant well – any shop needs foot traffic to succeed. You can’t have a business if no one passes by for half a day.
Xidan was very bustling now, though it was about ten kilometers from Beijing Normal University.
Xia Ziyu found ‘Xidan’ familiar – any place familiar to her must be famous. As for the distance, Xia Ziyu wasn’t worried at all – the further the better, so people from school wouldn’t know her parents ran a small restaurant.
“Jianhua, I trust your judgment. Is the rent expensive?”
The rent certainly wasn’t cheap.
More important than the rent was the favor owed. Xia Ziyu looked at him with admiration and gratitude, and Wang Jianhua reluctantly promised:
“I’ll talk to some people, and make sure they don’t overcharge.”
…
On the 20th, Blue Phoenix’s grand opening sale ended.
In four days, the two stores’ combined sales reached 40,000 yuan, with some styles selling out completely. Liu Fen was busy all day without rest, and Xia Xiaolan felt reassured – they could request replenishment stock from Yangcheng, and the flyer promotion hadn’t been wasted.
Chen Xiliang watched enviously. Luna’s business was stable, but compared to Blue Phoenix’s impressive performance, Mr. Chen wasn’t satisfied with mere stability.
Before he could rush to Beijing, Editor Cui finally made a move.
“Fashion” magazine ran a cover story titled “The Dress Wang Mingming Wore,” written from an editor’s perspective about Luna, a domestic Chinese clothing brand.
The article said that although Luna was newly born, it was fashion incubated in China, a brand even Hong Kong celebrities chose. The magazine’s editorial department was naturally curious and discovered Luna’s store in Xidan – an unexpected delight.
From the store’s decoration to the enthusiastic and professional attitude of the sales staff, and back to Luna’s design itself, “Fashion” magazine’s editor praised:
“The spring breeze of Reform and Opening Up blows across China, awakening people’s pursuit of beauty… Luna is fashion that Chinese people can afford!”
Luna’s pricing wasn’t cheap, but compared to international brands requiring payment in US dollars, it truly was fashion that Chinese people could afford.
Wang Mingming had indeed worn Luna brand dresses while singing three songs on the Spring Festival Gala stage.
The 1985 Spring Festival Gala held at the Workers’ Stadium had scheduling problems, and after the Spring Festival, the TV station received complaints packed in burlap sacks.
While the program team hadn’t pleased anyone and the director was severely criticized, it benefited the two shrewd merchants Xia Xiaolan and Chen Xiliang, who had thoroughly exploited Ms. Wang Mingming – as soon as the magazine was published, newspapers in both Beijing and Yangcheng ran similar soft advertisements. Fearing customers wouldn’t find the locations, Wang Mingming’s Spring Festival Gala photo was made into a huge poster displayed in the store windows!