Qian Xiaoxiao touched her buzz cut and asked Sister Xin for a hat, saying, "If I go back looking , my parents are going to nag again about how I won’t be able to get married."
Once they see her looking , they will definitely say she won’t be able to marry, and then tell her to grow her hair out and keep it neat. She had listened to them talk so much when she was younger, she found the idea of marriage terrifying. All the dos and don’ts, any slight mistake would prompt remarks about how the in-laws would look down on her. Now that she was older and had seen more of the world, she was even less willing to get married. Without money, a man was like a dead dog; with money, he swaggered around finding other women. So why get married? Being single, comfortable, and free was so much better.
Lu Jiaxin disliked hearing such talk the most: "Our worth as women isn’t just about getting married and having children. If they keep harping on about you not getting married with that broken logic, just fight back. They haven’t raised you, so there’s no need to endure it. Otherwise, they will keep on nagging incessantly. Once you shut them up, they won’t be able to nag anymore."
The next day when Lu Jiaxin woke up, Xiaoxiao was already gone from the villa to look for Gu Wenfeng. Everyone had their own affairs to attend to, and Lu Jiaxin was no different. Her plan for the day was to visit the stores. She didn’t take many people with her, but disguised herself as an ordinary customer instead.
She visited nine stores in one morning, observing from the perspective of a consumer, and found many problems. Some sales staff were overly enthusiastic, bombarding you with chatter the minute you walked in; others were too lax, letting the customers browse by themselves, giving perfunctory responses when asked questions; still others immediately gave up on a sale if they didn’t have the requested size and never thought about transferring stock from another store.
After eating lunch outside, Lu Jiaxin returned home. As soon as she arrived, she encountered a familiar sight and voice, smiling as she asked, "When did you get back?"
"Over an hour ago. The housekeeper said you went shopping. Who did you go with?"
Lu Jiaxin shook her head, "I didn’t go shopping; I went patrolling our stores to identify a lot of issues. I used to focus on expanding store fronts to quickly seize more of the market, but now I see that without addressing these issues, the more stores we open, the bigger the losses we’ll eventually face."
So, she decided not to plan any further expansion of the stores for now. Instead, she would focus on managing the existing hundred or so, otherwise the slightest disturbance could result in closures.
Nie Zhan nodded, "A steady approach is good."
He had actually noticed the problems with Green Forest long ago, but had said nothing. Many things can only be understood and resolved by personal experience, and this is how one grows into a competent owner. Too much guidance could lead to dependence.
Lu Jiaxin discussed Qian Xiaoxiao’s return: "The money was well spent; two years have completely transformed Xiaoxiao. With her and Yan Yijun around, my safety is assured."
Nie Zhan laughed, "Not everyone is like you, spending so much money to send someone for training. That’s a lot of money, enough to cover a whole year’s salary for a team of bodyguards with some to spare."
Lu Jiaxin retorted, "Brother Feng and Xiaoxiao would take a bullet for me. Would your bodyguards do that?"
"Ah Hu and Ah Jie would."
Lu Jiaxin didn’t argue with him about this; it was pointless. "I’ve heard that your trip to Australia this time wasn’t to acquire a hotel, but a clothing brand?"
Since Nie Zhan had acquired quite a few hotels over the past two years, she naturally assumed his trip to Australia was also to discuss the acquisition of a hotel, only to find out that it wasn’t. If she hadn’t asked, Nie Zhan would have told her, but he didn’t say a word this time, and she only found out from Wang Yadan.
Nie Zhan, smiling, said, "Yes, I’ve acquired a clothing brand called Zenith."
Lu Jiaxin was taken aback and asked, "What did you say? You’re acquiring Zenith?"
Nie Zhan pulled out a document from his briefcase, saying with a grin, "It’s not that I’m acquiring Zenith; I’ve already successfully acquired it. It’s now part of my company."
Lu Jiaxin immediately took the document to look. It really was an acquisition of Zenith. Being in the clothing business herself, she was naturally familiar with Zenith. It was originally an Australian fashion brand before being acquired by Hong Kong Rising Sun to become its subsidiary. She wasn’t clear about the exact year of the acquisition.
Setting down the document, Lu Jiaxin looked at Nie Zhan and genuinely praised, "You have a good eye."
Nie Zhan had mentioned before his desire to break into the international market. The quickest way was to acquire an established clothing brand with a mature sales channel. She hadn’t expected that after his long search, he would choose Zenith. After all, this clothing company later became the largest ready-to-wear manufacturer and exporter in Asia.
Nie Zhan hugged her and kissed her, "My judgment has always been good. How come you’re only realizing it now? Aren’t you a little too unconcerned about me?"
He hadn’t told Jiaxin about it because he wanted to surprise her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as thrilled as he had anticipated.
Lu Jiaxin, smiling, pushed him away, "I’ve sweated a lot being outside today. Even if you don’t mind the smell, it bothers me! I’m going to take a shower."
When Lu Jiaxin came downstairs, Nie Zhan mentioned wanting to hand Zenith over to her, "You’re more professional in the clothing field. You should manage it."
Lu Jiaxin didn’t refuse, simply responding, "I just discovered many problems with Green Forest today!"
One of her teachers had even used Zenith as an example in class. Zenith’s success had much to do with the management team’s dedicated efforts. They tackled everything from the hygiene of the chain stores, the in-store arrangement, merchandise display, patient and smiling service, comprehensive after-sales service, to recruitment, promotions, and training of the sales staff, ensuring customers felt right at home upon entering their stores.
Nie Zhan felt this was not a problem, "You only truly took over the company in March. It’s inevitable to have oversights without experience. However, you’re learning while managing, and since you promptly correct any problems you find, you’re already a competent owner."
These words were heartening to Lu Jiaxin. Clothing was her forte, but being a designer and being an owner were not the same. She was learning while running the company.
Nie Zhan suggested, "If Green Forest’s staff service is lacking, then hire someone to train them. Little Days has excellent service attitudes; perhaps hire them to train your staff."
He knew Lu Jiaxin didn’t like Little Days, but business shouldn’t be conducted based on personal likes or dislikes, but from a perspective of profit. Nie Zhan added, "Jiaxin, we spend money on their services so that, in the future, we have the opportunity to make more money from them."
Hearing this, Lu Jiaxin, thinking about how she was still making money off the Japanese Yen, could not help but laugh, "You’re right. We pay for their services, and then turn around and make more money off of them."
Mo Hongbin, Sang Wen, and Deng Weihai had been helping her with betting on the Nikkei Index. From the end of last year to now, it had quintupled again. She kept the principal and continued betting long. When it came to financial markets, she had hit the jackpot with greenbacks/Japanese Yen, making a fortune.