Chapter 39 Jiading

Chapter 39 Jiading

Jiang Luo turned his head again: "Still calling me son? You're trying to take advantage of me."

Huo Zongzhuo: "Eyes on the road, focus on driving."

The two first went to the Hilton to book a room and drop off their luggage.

While paying at the front desk, Huo Zongzhuo asked Jiang Luo which room he was staying in and specifically requested the front desk to book his room right next to Jiang Luo's.

"Why not stay in the presidential suite?"

As they headed to the elevator together, Jiang Luo teased Huo Zongzhuo again: "You're a high roller, and you just made money selling airplanes."

Huo Zongzhuo, rolling his suitcase, teased back: "I'm sharing the hardship of eating and staying in ordinary rooms with you."

Jiang Luo burst out laughing at this.

They went upstairs. Huo Zongzhuo went to drop off his luggage, while Jiang Luo returned to his room to wash his hands and grab some candy.

Coming out of his room, unwrapping a fruit candy, Jiang Luo arrived at Huo Zongzhuo's door and glanced inside. Just then, Huo Zongzhuo came out with a bag of items and handed it to him.

Huh?

Jiang Luo, with the candy in his mouth, looked puzzled as he reached out to take the bag. He then offered a candy to Huo Zongzhuo: "Want one? Fruit candy."

Huo Zongzhuo accepted it and explained: "I brought you some hot pot base from Chuancheng."

As he spoke, he also unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth.

Oh.

"Thanks."

Jiang Luo didn’t take the hot pot base back to his room. He carried it, planning to bring it later to the apartment building at the silk factory for Bai Ting, so they could have hot pot at her place sometime.

Huo Zongzhuo went back into his room, took his cell phone from his bag, came out, and closed the door: "Let's go, check out your company."

"Sure."

Jiang Luo had no objections.

So they drove off, with Jiang Luo taking Huo Zongzhuo to the company.

At the company, there wasn’t much to see—it was just a modest space with a few desks outside. Since it was the weekend, no one was around.

Entering the inner office, Jiang Luo pointed to two desks: "That’s Wang Chuang’s, and this is mine."

Huo Zongzhuo glanced around and nodded approvingly: "Not bad."

Jiang Luo sat down behind his desk: "Can’t compare to your company, for sure."

Huo Zongzhuo smiled: "I’ve been in business for years. You’ve just started. No need to compare. You definitely won’t be worse than me in the future."

There were chairs by the wall. Huo Zongzhuo pulled one over to the desk and sat down beside it.

After chatting a bit more about the brand counter, Huo Zongzhuo asked: "So you’re only doing business with Wing On Department Store, selling at the counter? Nothing else you want to do?"

"The goods are produced in Wencheng, branded with your company’s label, and sold at Wing On. What about on your end? Just like this? No other plans?"

Jiang Luo leaned back in his chair: "Can’t I just take it easy and earn some easy money?"

As he spoke, he pulled open a drawer, reached in, took out a notebook, and tossed it in front of Huo Zongzhuo: "Here, this is what I’m planning to do next."

Huo Zongzhuo picked up the notebook, opened it, took a look, and was a bit surprised.

The next day, Monday, at Shengfei Trade, Accountant Xue and three other employees arrived on time for work.

In the inner office, Jiang Luo had just arrived, leaning back in his leather chair with his long legs propped up on the corner of the desk, munching on a pork bun. Wang Chuang arrived right after.

"Whoa, smells so good."

Their inner office also had air conditioning.

With the AC on and the doors and windows closed, the small office was filled with the aroma of Jiang Luo’s pork bun.

The two hadn’t seen each other over the weekend. Jiang Luo had picked up Huo Zongzhuo and didn’t know what Wang Chuang had been up to. Now, seeing Wang Chuang and thinking of Mo Wanzhen, who was currently selling goods at the Wing On counter, Jiang Luo instinctively teased Wang Chuang: "Didn’t go chasing after some older woman or something? How’s the sister doing at the counter?"

Wang Chuang immediately knew Jiang Luo was referring to Mo Wanzhen.

"Don’t talk nonsense! Nothing like that!"

Wang Chuang denied it: "Chasing what sister? I spent the weekend playing arcade games for two days."

"Real impressive."

Jiang Luo snorted.

He finished his bun, put his legs down, crumpled the plastic bag, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

Jiang Luo wiped his mouth and hands with a tissue and waved Wang Chuang over: "Come here, I actually want to discuss something with you."

Huh?

Wang Chuang pulled a chair over and sat beside Jiang Luo’s desk.

As soon as Wang Chuang sat down, Jiang Luo sat up, rested his arm on the edge of the desk, and looked seriously at Wang Chuang: "I wanted to ask you, given the company’s current situation, if you have any ideas or things you’d like to do."

"After all, the company isn’t just mine—it’s yours too."

"It can’t always be me deciding what to do. Of course, I should ask you too."

Wang Chuang reached out and lightly tapped the edge of the desk: "What a coincidence, I was just about to talk to you about that."

"Okay, go ahead."

Jiang Luo looked at Wang Chuang, adopting a calm, attentive posture.

Wang Chuang said: "Back when we gave up on the small market, didn’t I mention that if we’re not doing business in the small market, and not in Haicheng, we could still go to nearby Nanjing or Hangzhou? They’re both provincial capitals, big cities—I'm sure the goods will sell well."

"You also said we should focus on our own brand instead of selling those items."

"While playing arcade games over the weekend, I thought: why not take our brand to other department stores in other cities?"

Wang Chuang said earnestly: "I’ve thought about it, and I think we should bring our brand to department stores in Nanjing and Hangzhou."

Mm.

Jiang Luo nodded, approving: "That’s a pretty good idea."

“Yeah?”

Wang Chuang chuckled.

Jiang Luo: "Let me tell you what I plan to do next."

"Okay, shoot."

Wang Chuang put on a serious face.

Jiang Luo said: "I plan to set up another clothing booth at Wing On, launch our own brand of women's wear. We'll design the clothes ourselves and set up our own factory."

Wang Chuang was surprised: "We're selling clothes?"

He thought for a moment, his eyes darting, then nodded: "Could work."

"But for designing, will we need to hire a tailor too?"

Jiang Luo: "I've got the design covered, don't worry about it."

He then brought up topics like the factory's location, the types of sewing machines needed, and the recruitment of nearby workers.

The two talked it over for a good while.

And so, Wang Chuang and Jiang Luo roughly mapped out their respective plans: Wang Chuang would go to Nanjing and Hangzhou to see if he could get their brand into local malls;

Jiang Luo would be in charge of the women's wear.

They got right to it. The next day, Wang Chuang bid farewell to his parents, packed his bags along with some samples labeled with the Shengfei brand, and hopped on a train alone to Nanjing.

Jiang Luo, meanwhile, went to Jiading.

Why Jiading?

Because in his previous life, Jiang Luo's clothing factory was located in Jiading.

Yes, making clothes, especially selling women's wear, was one of Jiang Luo's old trades.

Back then, Jiang Luo was in his early twenties. After hanging around Dongfang No.1 and the streets for a couple of years, he realized that messing around wasn't getting him anywhere—he needed to make money—so he started thinking about doing something real.

Coincidentally, during those two years, the small market had moved to a new building, where the third and fourth floors sold all kinds of clothes, drawing big crowds.

He had accompanied several girlfriends and female friends on shopping trips there many times, so he knew the place like the back of his hand.

Seeing how well the clothing stalls were doing, and since he didn't know much else or have other connections, he decided to get some inventory and give clothes selling a shot to make some money.

Thus, in his previous life, after leaving Dongfang No.1 and quitting his reckless ways, Jiang Luo began to figure out how to make money and doing business by selling clothes in the retail market.

The good part was that he actually made money from selling women's wear;

The bad part was that, due to his lack of experience, he ran into plenty of obstacles in the clothing industry, especially in women's wear—wasting time and effort, hitting one dead end after another.

After literally banging his head against the wall, Jiang Luo finally managed to open his own clothing factory, taking his business to the next level.

Now, driving to Jiading, recalling these past experiences and the path he had taken, scenes flashed through his mind. Jiang Luo felt completely calm, feeling neither sentimental nor emotional—only a detached, third-person perspective, and a critical review of the wrong turns and detours he had made in the past.

Given a second chance now, Jiang Luo was clear: in this year of 1990, he would get his brand of women's wear nationwide.

No matter what else he might do in the future, women's wear—the trade he knew best—would be the starting point of his business ventures.

After a good while driving, he finally arrived in Jiading. Jiang Luo cruised slowly, relying on memory.

He reached Juxiang Town, a familiar place, and rolled the window down. He saw many shops with signs hanging on both sides of the road, one after another, that read "XX Clothing Workshop" or "Fabric Processing."

Some shops were open, and inside, a few people could be seen sitting behind sewing machines, heads bent, busy working.

Some noticed Jiang Luo and the Mercedes-Benz W140 sedan driving slowly.

Most just glanced curiously—after all, cars were still uncommon back then.

Anyone who could drive a car and came to their town was, without exception, a boss—a clothing business owner.

And bosses were to be greeted by bosses. The workers sitting behind machines and sewing machines, on piece rate, wouldn't rush to greet him.

They just took an extra look and went back to their work.

Jiang Luo didn't get out of the car either. He just scanned the area casually as he drove forward.

Only when he reached a small shop with a sign reading "Master Zhang's Tailor Shop" did the Mercedes-Benz W140 finally stop.

Jiang Luo got out of the car, shut the door behind him, and looked up at Master Zhang's Tailor Shop. Well, above the half-open door, there was another sign: "Shop for Transfer."

Jiang Luo thought to himself, "Huh," he snorted inwardly: Old Zhang, down on your luck, huh?

Inside the shop, an electric fan whirred overhead. Behind several sewing machines, a few men and women sat with their heads down, focused on stitching fabric under the needles.

Piles of fabric waiting to be processed lay on the tables beside them, and scraps of cloth and thread littered the floor. Large cardboard boxes filled with materials were stacked around their feet.

The shop was stuffy and silent. No one chatted; everyone minded their own business.

They all knew that after finishing the work for the next few days and getting paid, there would be no more jobs at this workshop.

They would all have to find new work.

Because the shop was closing down. Master Zhang, the owner, had been a tailor his whole life, making clothes for decades, but he couldn't compete with the other shops and workshops in town.

There was no helping it—he couldn't make enough money, so he had to shut down and transfer the shop.

At this moment, everyone was worried. Leaving this place meant having to find another workshop. But the surrounding workshops were all fully staffed, and no one knew if they could find new jobs or how long it would take.

Ah, such worries.

Just then, a young girl near the door noticed someone outside.

She looked up from her machine and saw a handsome, exceptionally young man with a striking presence. Puzzled, she asked, "Who are you looking for?"

The young man didn't enter but stood at the doorway, pointing at the paper sign hanging outside. "For transfer? Is that right?"

The girl was taken aback, her work forgotten as the sewing needle slowly stilled. "Ah, yes, the boss is transferring the shop." He...

Everyone inside the shop turned to look at the door.

Jiang Luo, with one hand in his pocket, said unhurriedly, "Hmm, then I'm looking for your boss, Boss Zhang."