Zhang Jingdong lingered with Chu Yi for a while longer before leaving the store.
At this time, Chu Yi returned to the second-floor balcony, admired the scenery for a bit, and then took out her phone to call her cousin.
"Qingci, where are you at now?"
"At work, what’s up?"
"I’ve already rented the café space. When do you have time to come by? We should discuss how to set it up."
"Really? No problem, I’ll head over around noon. Which place did you rent?"
"First and second floor of the Jiangwan Building."
"Wha... What? Jiangwan Building? Sis, are you kidding me? How much is that going to cost? That’s..."
"An annual rent of 800,000, signed for two years."
"Sis, have you... have you lost your mind? Sure, you have money but you can’t just throw it around like that!"
"I’ve found an investor. They invested 10 million in me!"
"Wha... What? 10 million!? Who invested in you?"
"It’s too complicated to explain over the phone. We’ll talk about it in detail when we meet at noon."
"Alright, okay, then I’ll come over now. Wait for me!"
"No hurry, you should get to work first."
"Now that you’ve got 10 million, what am I going to work for? I’m heading over immediately!"
Half an hour later, Zhang Jingdong arrived at the fashion company.
Today, Lin Xirui wore a white dress she designed herself, while Zhao Ziqiu wore a black tank top with high-waisted skinny jeans.
One in white, one in black, both excelling in their own style.
Zhang Jingdong seriously reviewed all the design drafts and finally selected 6 out of 10 garments.
Then he took a sip of water and said, "Now that we have completed the design for our first batch of clothing, I will hurry up and get the factory to start production."
"But this doesn’t mean you all will have nothing to do in the meantime; on the contrary, there is a lot you all need to learn during this time."
"Firstly, you need to understand online shopping. Does anyone here know about Taobao?"
"Taobao?" Liu Shuang turned her head towards Lin Xirui: "President Lin, isn’t Taobao the website you often use to shop online?"
Lin Xirui nodded: "Correct. Boss, are you talking about shopping on Taobao?"
"Yes, but what you need to research is how to open an online store on Taobao to sell stuff."
Li Nian hesitated: "Boss, I also know about Taobao, but I think that online shopping, while novel, is far from widespread at the moment, so I believe we should focus on traditional sales channels."
Zhang Jingdong’s expression remained unchanged: "What kind of clothing are we making again?"
Liu Shuang blinked her lychee-sized eyes: "T-shirts with cultural designs!"
"So, what age group do you think our T-shirts are targeting?"
Liu Shuang continued: "16 to 24 years old, you mentioned it last time!"
Zhang Jingdong nodded with satisfaction: "I saw a piece of data recently. Our country’s current internet user count is 94 million, of which almost 50 million are under 24, and these numbers are still growing rapidly by tens of millions each year."
"So although online shopping isn’t widespread yet, I am confident that it will become a consumer fashion in the future with the explosive growth of internet users."
"Apart from that, online shopping might not be so popular now, but being online already is very common. Does anyone know who Mu Zimei is?"
Upon this question, everyone except Liu Shuang blushed, clearly having sneaked a peek at her diary.
Seeing this, Zhang Jingdong continued: "It’s alright, there are no outsiders here. Just admit it openly; no one will make fun of you."
Li Nian was the first to raise his hand: "That... I know her, but I... I really haven’t read her diary."
Zhao Ziqiu let out a silent sigh of relief and was the second to raise her hand: "I... I also know her, but I heard about her from a classmate. I... I haven’t secretly read her diary either."
Lin Xirui gave Zhang Jingdong a sideways glance and then raised her hand: "Alright, I admit it, I... I know her, and I... I’ve read her diary."
Zhang Jingdong then gave a mischievous thumbs-up to Lin Xirui: "As expected of President Lin, boldly owning up to it, you really have broad knowledge and courage!"
Unable to hold back her curiosity, Liu Shuang finally asked: "But... who is this Mu Zimei? Why would you sneak a peek at her diary?"
"And why are you all blushing? What’s written in her diary?"
Lin Xirui said irritably: "If you’re really interested, look it up yourself later!"
Then she glared at Zhang Jingdong again: "Did you ask us just to make us look foolish?"
Zhang Jingdong quickly waved his hands: "Of course not, I’m not that narrow-minded. Besides, I’ve always believed that the content on the internet isn’t just for us men, but also for you women, and we can only improve by learning together!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Ziqiu couldn’t help but glare at Zhang Jingdong as well.
Finally, Liu Shuang seemed to grasp something: "I get it, her diary wouldn’t happen to contain..."
Lin Xirui cut her off directly: "Don’t say anything, you guessed it!"
Zhang Jingdong struggled to hold back his laughter, continuing: "I brought her up because I wanted to ask you all a question. Do you think that without the internet, someone like Mu Zimei could become so famous?"
Lin Xirui thought for a moment and then vaguely caught on to something, replying: "Probably not. Her writing is fine but definitely not up to a professional writer’s standard. Without the internet, she couldn’t rely on just her writing to gain that much fame."