Chapter 93: Chapter 93: After Raising a Child and Getting Rich in That Era, the Delicate Beauty Was Spoiled Rotten 13
Su Zhiruan brought her younger brother and sister safely home.
Li Meihua had already prepared the meal. Seeing them return, relief washed over her face. “Where have you all been? Why are you back so late today? I was almost scared to death!”
“After school, I had a talk with Teacher Qin,” Su Zhiruan said, and then, noticing the two children sneak a bite of food, she turned her head away pretending not to see and continued, “Mother, the factory’s first batch of clothes has been made. I brought a few pieces back for you to see how they turned out.”
As soon as she heard this, Li Meihua couldn’t even care about the meal anymore, her eyes lighting up. She immediately stood in front of Su Zhiruan, “Let me see, how well are they made? After all, they’re made by machines and certainly lack the finesse of handcrafting.”
Su Zhiruan took out the clothes and said to Li Meihua, “I’ll go inside and try them on to see how they look.”
Afterward, Su Zhiruan went inside, took off the jacket she was wearing, and put on the newly made outfit.
The design of this set was very ingenious. The weather was gradually getting cold, and people would naturally not choose thin clothes that could not withstand the cold.
This outfit wasn’t like the previous flower jackets, nor was it black, white, or grey.
The light-colored garment had beautiful buttons at the neck, and instead of bright reds and greens, the patterns were a delicate and regular sprig that didn’t tire the eyes, with a rightly designed shoulder line that made the wearer look spirited and vibrant, instantly seeming slimmer.
“Beautiful! So beautiful!” Li Meihua’s expression became much more excited after seeing Su Zhiruan come out, “I didn’t expect the finished product to look this good. Are there other clothes as well?”
“Don’t worry, Mother, I brought them all back today. Let our small courtyard turn into a stage for tonight,” Su Zhiruan said with a beaming smile. She took out bundles of neatly folded clothes from her bag and brought them back to her own compartment.
Apart from this outfit, there was also a dress, the white one previously mentioned.
Relative to this season, this dress was somewhat out of place.
She decided to use some strategies to sell off-season clothes, and of course, the main reason was that the design and style of the clothes were beautiful. Su Zhiruan didn’t worry about the issue of them not selling.
After trying on all the outfits, Li Meihua expressed great satisfaction, “I didn’t expect clothes made by machines nowadays to look so good. The times are truly advancing!”
Su Zhiruan nodded her head, “Tomorrow you should come with me, Mother. I need to distribute this batch of clothes to different clothing stores, and it might be quite busy during the day.”
“No problem at all! Worst case, we work until night and let Zhishu and Zhixiao wait in the classroom.” Li Meihua waved her hand dismissively.
While eating, Zhixiao tilted her head to ask, “Mother, doesn’t big sister have to study with Teacher Qin tonight?”
“Teacher Qin?” Li Meihua looked at Su Zhiruan in confusion after hearing this name, but then her face showed realization, “Oh, that’s right! Then we really can’t delay until nighttime; we need to finish quickly!”
Su Zhiruan folded the clothes helplessly, “It’s truly just tutoring. Remember when I took these two kids to school, and we gave a basket of eggs to their teacher? Teacher Qin heard I’m planning to take the college entrance exam in two years and offered to help me out. There’s no other meaning.”
“Sure, sure,” Li Meihua didn’t really listen, her eyes full of smiles, the kind that said she had guessed right.
Su Zhiruan shook her head with a helpless smile. It seemed like nothing she said would make a difference now.
“Get a good night’s sleep today. We should be very busy tomorrow,” Su Zhiruan reminded Li Meihua and the two kids. Seeing the three of them nod, she also retired for the night.
The garment factory quickly delivered the clothes.
Su Zhiruan was merely making a preliminary attempt and hadn’t ordered too many clothes at once. She distributed the garments to the clothing stores she had ordered to and helped to sort them out. After finishing these tasks, the afternoon had arrived.
She and Li Meihua arrived at the largest clothing store in town.
This was the store where she had tried on the white dress, the largest clothing store in the town.
The proprietress looked at Su Zhiruan with an appreciative gaze, then pinched the fabric of the dress and examined the stitches, “Not bad, I can give you the final payment now.”
This final payment was all of Su Zhiruan’s profit.
When Li Meihua saw the amount of money, her eyes widened in disbelief.
In recent times, Su Zhiruan had been running between the factory and the clothing store, suggesting quite a few new ideas. The proprietress greatly admired her talent and had repeatedly invited her to help out.
The proprietress studied Su Zhiruan and then cast an inquisitive glance at the middle-aged woman behind her, guessing the relationship between the two.
She stood up and gestured for Su Zhiruan and Li Meihua to sit down, then set out three enamel tea cups and poured them each sugar water.
“Have some hot water,” the proprietress said. Her eyes were fixed on Su Zhiruan. She observed her for a while before suddenly bursting into a curious smile, “I didn’t expect such a young girl to be so capable. If you lived in the city, your potential would be boundless.”
“You flatter me, proprietress,” Su Zhiruan shook her head modestly in reply, “Compared to you, I still have a lot to learn.”
At that, the proprietress burst into hearty laughter. “Ha-ha-ha, what a sweet-talker you are — how about we make a bet today?”
“A bet?” Su Zhiruan looked at her and set down her enamel tea cup.
“Well, not exactly a bet,” the proprietress pondered for a moment and leaned back in her chair, “you’ve brought the dresses, but in this season, they won’t sell. If you can think of a way to sell them all within two months, I’ll give you an additional one percent discount.”
An additional one percent discount.
It must be said that Su Zhiruan was tempted.
That one percent could amount to several dozen dollars, and selling her own designs was naturally easy.
She just needed to apply some modern sales knowledge.
“Alright,” Su Zhiruan agreed without hesitation. Li Meihua anxiously tugged at her sleeve, but Su Zhiruan paid no heed, “It won’t take two months.”
“Oh? Do you think you can shorten the time further to sell summer dresses in winter?” the proprietress became interested.
“Of course!” Su Zhiruan confidently stood up, her face full of determination.
Everyone around looked confused and puzzled.
To sell off-season clothes in one month without reducing the price or offering discounts was undoubtedly a challenge.
But Su Zhiruan didn’t think too much about it. She checked the batch of clothes: there were only two hundred pieces.
The cost of each dress was not high, and they were priced affordably.
There were several different sizes available, varying slightly in price.
After a brief sorting, Su Zhiruan pulled out a large whiteboard, thought for a moment, and wrote on it —