Today was the fourth day of the promotional activities, Shu Yan was so busy that she didn't have time to even think about what had happened that morning. Le hadn't been in the shop for long that day, so she shouldn't have done too much damage. With the exception of the three times this morning plus the one returned, no other customers brought anything back.
"Watch out for those next door in the future. Don't let them come inside again." Business slowed down after 7 PM and Shu Yan pulled the four pieces of clothes out to take a look at them. The jacket had a cut at the sleeve. Perhaps Le didn't have much time, the cut wasn't very severe and could be sewn back up. One of the temporary workers had tried this on before and it had looked good on her. She didn't end up buying it because of the cost. Shu Yan just gave it to her.
"You are giving this to me?" The girl looked at Shu Yan in disbelief. She felt that the small cut was not a problem at all. She hadn't expected the boss lady to straight up give it to her.
The jeans had a cut the size of a thumbnail right around the knee area. Shu Yan cut and made it bigger, removed the fuzz and turned it into ripped jeans. She paired it with a colorful top, and it turned into a fashionable set.
The sweater has a hole in the chest area. Using techniques that she had learned from the internet, she embroidered a red flower over it. With a few flowers on it, the sweater was immediately turned stylish and delicate.
"That was amazing, boss." Everybody surrounded Shu Yan and looked at her with admiration.
"Just some little techniques. I can teach you if you like." She must treat everybody equally, so she gave the other temporary workers either a scarf or a hat. The wholesale cost for them was only 4 ~ 5 yuan, but they didn't know that. They cost over 10 yuan normally. All of them held onto them like they were treasures.
If she was giving things to the temporary workers, she definitely needed to give something to her permanent workers, Zhang Huaxiu and Yingying. Shu Yan gave them each a dress. The weather was starting to cool down and summer styles weren't doing too well. Might as well give them away as gifts rather than keeping them till next year to figure out what to do with them.
***
That night, Shu Yan tossed and turned in bed. Of course there were going to be competitions in business. And it was natural to feel unjust when others' business was better than your own but few would go as far as Le had. How unlucky it was that she had a neighbor like her.
She couldn't just let a poisonous snake stare at her from such a close distance all the time. As the saying goes, one must know one's enemies. The only thing Shu Yan knew about Le was her name and nothing else.
The next morning, Shu Yan headed to check out the progress of her new home after she had taken her kids to school.
The walls, the built-in closets, and the floorings were all done. Now all that was left was just some miscellaneous tasks.
"It's mostly done. We just have to wrap up on the small parts." The foreman walked Shu Yan through the entire place when he saw her. "Probably another half a month or so of work. Let it air out for a couple of months and you will be able to move in before the new year."
Shu Yan hadn't expected that to go so quickly. She thought the remodeling wouldn't be done till almost the end of the year.
"I am not in any rush. Make sure the quality is good," said Shu Yan, worried.
"You don't have to worry about that. We are a big company and we have our standards. You can hire someone to inspect the place when it is done. We will waive all fees if there are any issues." The foreman reassured her. "The progress was fast because our workers had been working over time and we had plenty of manpower. Look around. We have three wood-workers and four more other workers working on the walls. Of course the progress was fast."
Fixed fees and paying by the day were not the same. If they were paid by the day, the foreman would want to drag it out. Each extra day meant extra pay. Fixed fees were different. The foreman would be incentivized to work overtime to finish the job as soon as possible. That way they can move onto the next job sooner.
There were plenty of remodeling going on in City Nan and their company had accepted quite a few jobs. The foreman, too, had been breaking his back on working overtime on Shu Yan's apartment. They would need to keep the quality in mind as well. After all, companies their size have to meet certain standards. If anything went wrong, they might get sued on top of losing their jobs.
"Okay. That's fine. Can I start buying furniture?" Shu Yan had only contracted for remodeling and appliances; she did not have them take care of the furniture as well.
The architecture company said they could get a better price if she was to buy through them. There was certainly some truth to it. Bigger companies would for sure be able to get better discounts than individual customers. Appliances were alright, Shu Yan picked them by their brands and she would also go with the designers to pick them out herself. Furnitures were a whole different story; Shu Yan planned on buying those on her own.
"Get the lights first. We can have them installed right away. Furniture you can wait for a few more days. I will let you know when it is the right time." The foreman showed her the drawing of the layout. "You can take a look first. Oh right, we are probably going to install the appliances next week. Did you want to go with the designer to pick them out? Or, if you already know what you want, you can just hand the list over to the designer, and he can get them and have them delivered."
"My shop has been very busy lately and I haven't had time to look yet. I will free up a day next week to look." She must go see for herself on the appliances. She didn't want to end up with fake ones.
As for furniture, she'd go and ask Chen Fei later. The custom couch that he got for her shop was quite nice and the light fixtures as well. He would be the one to ask.
Shu Yan did not head to her shop directly. She went to look for Lao Hu first. She was lucky, Lao Hu was home today.
Seeing Shu Yan, Lao Hu chuckled and said, "Boss Shu's business had been rolling lately."
"This is the promotional period. It doesn't mean much. We will see how well it really does after the promotions are over." Shu Yan walked inside and took a look. There was nobody else there.
"How come you have time to swing by today? Do you need my help for something?" asked Lao Hu as he poured Shu Yan a cup of tea.
"You don't only help people look for real estate, right?" Shu Yan felt that Lao Hu covered a very broad spectrum of businesses. From buying houses, housing rental, to opening up a business, etc. "Can you help me look into a person?"
"Look into a person?" He neither denied nor confirmed whether he could do that.
He did this periodically as well. As he looked for sources for real estate, he wouldn't just take anything. If the seller was a con artist, it would affect his reputation. So he would normally look into the sellers.
"Who do you want to look into?" Lao Hu looked at Shu Yan, speculating what kind of characters she had gotten involved with.
"She's the owner of the shop next to me. I only know that her name is Le. I want to find out about her family and her background. The more details the better." Shu Yan thought about it for a little bit. She was here already, might as well look into the other two as well. "Oh, and the boss lady of the Apple Men's Wear across from me and Zhu Hung who has a children clothing store on Jiufang Alley. Total of three of them, but Le is the main one."
Lao Hu thought about it for a little bit and said, "Okay. I will get back to you."
He didn't ask her why she wanted to know. In his line of business, he only needed to do what the customers asked for.
When Shu Yan went back to her shop, it was very lively. Layers and layers of people surrounded her shop. Her heart sank as she squeezed her way in and saw a man standing outside the front door. His face was flushed. He looked somewhat familiar.
"Boss Lady," Yingying saw Shu Yan right away and squeezed over next to her. "Someone won the television."
Shu Yan let out a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't anything bad. She smiled and asked, "Who's that lucky person?"
Yingying pointed at the man whose face was flushed. "It's him. The same person who won the fan yesterday. His wife didn't believe that he bought a piece of clothing and won the fan and insisted on coming with him to check it out today. They bought some more clothing and this time they won the television."
"I... I won the television!" The man finally processed what had happened. He was so excited that he was just babbling.
"Quick, Xiuxiu, go get the firecrackers." Shu Yan had Zhang Huaxiu go get the firecrackers. "Excuse me. Please give us some room. Someone won the television. Let me light some firecrackers to celebrate."
The crackling sound of the firecracker made the atmosphere even livelier than before. Everybody on the street came over to watch. Shu Yan, standing on top of a stool, with a megaphone in hand, announced, "Many had doubted whether our raffle was real and that there wasn't really a special prize. And now, someone has finally won the special prize. Let's congratulate this gentleman for winning the special prize -- the television."
Everybody clapped with Shu Yan.
When the clapping stopped, Shu Yan carried on, "Honesty is very important when you run a business. I had promised a television and I meant it. And this gentleman here is extremely lucky. He bought a shirt here for his wife for her birthday and won the second prize – an electric fan. He came back with his wife today and bought more clothes and won the television today. Sir, are you Heaven's own son?"
Bystander #1:"Yeah, how could one be so lucky!"
Bystander #2: "This boss lady is kind of funny. But with that luck, it certainly sounds like he is Heaven's own son."
The man, with the winning ticket still in his hand, paused from Shu Yan's speech. Then he cracked a smile, scratched his head, and said, "I'm just lucky. Lucky."
The woman next to him, her clothes in her hand, was so happy that her eyes were red. She grabbed her husband's arm and shook it back and forth. "Television. We won the television."
Seeing them like that, everybody else could just be envious of them. Buying a shirt yesterday and winning the electric fan; buying another one today and winning the television. That was doubtless some luck.
Before handing them the gift, Shu Yan had the man and his wife say a few words at the front of the shop. The two rambled on a bit about how appreciative they were and left happily with the television.
"Even though the television was gone, we still have plenty of first, second, and third prizes. Don't feel discouraged. The less balloons there were, the higher the chance of winning. You will need to buy new clothes regardless; it'd be even better if you can win something." Shu Yan worked on pumping up the excitement before she turned and saw Le leaning against the door and giving her an expressionless look.
Meeting Shu Yan's look, Le gave her a sarcastic smile before she turned and walked back inside.
Shu Yan harrumphed. There were always those who couldn't bear to see others doing better than themselves. They only wish that everybody else fared worse than them. Those people didn't tend to go very far in life.
The merchandise from City Han from yesterday had arrived. After lunch, Shu Yan headed to the train station to pick them up. On her way, she gave Boss He a call and had him sent over another batch. Over half of her inventory was sold in the afternoon, and many of the styles that she didn't have a lot of were gone.
Shu Yan gave Zhang Huaxiu a heads up, gave her the keys to the shop, and headed over to the Zhang's to pick up her two children. On her way, she asked Wu Xiuyue to take her kids to school the next morning. Then, after asking Jingjing to take good care of her brother, she headed out.
She only realized that there was someone else splitting the ride when she had gotten into the car. He was a friend of the driver; as such, the driver had apologized profusely. He really wasn't able to get a hold of Shu Yan, and he was only going to charge her 50% of the fees. It didn't really bother Shu Yan. There was nothing wrong with saving half of the cost.
The driver's friend sat in the passenger seat. Even when he was sitting down one could tell he was a very tall man. He was very quiet. Only the driver would occasionally say a few things to him, which he'd just grunt an acknowledgement. The driver didn't seem to think that the man was standoffish; in fact, he seemed happy about it. They didn't look like friends, the man looked more like someone that was of a much higher status than the driver.
Only after she had gotten out of the car did Shu Yan see the man's face. He had a crew cut hair and slightly darker skin. On his face, there was a scar spanning the distance from his temple to his chin. The suturing job wasn't great making the scar look like a centipede and the man appeared vicious. She looked away after just a quick glance; it was rude to stare.