Chapter 47 New Factory

Chapter 47: The New Factory

That evening at home, Zhao Guangyuan told Su Lan about Zhao Shuo’s phone call.

Zhao Guangyuan was in high spirits, chuckling, “Eldest Brother is a business genius, Zhao Shuo is doing well with his municipal projects, and now Jiang Luo is out there hustling—he’s even learned to drive. We don’t have to worry too much about him. It seems business talent truly runs in our Zhao family’s blood.”

“A Mercedes?” Su Lan was surprised. “That car is even more expensive than Zhao Shuo’s, isn’t it?”

“You’re right. Jiang Luo probably can’t afford it; it must be rented.”

Su Lan sighed. “We’ve been so busy lately, we haven’t been able to look after Jiang Luo. He won’t come home either, always out on his own.”

Zhao Guangyuan reassured her, “It’s fine. He’s a grown man now. It’s good for him to make his own way in the world.”

“Once I’m less busy, I’ll go find him and have a good talk. I’ll apologize.”

“He’ll definitely need money for his business.”

“We can support him a bit then.”

“When he sees our sincerity, he should be able to forgive us.”

“That’s all we can do,” Su Lan nodded, then asked, “How much are you planning to give Jiang Luo?”

Zhao Guangyuan had clearly already thought it through. “When Zhao Shuo started out, Eldest Brother gave him a million, and we gave 200,000.”

“Now, for Jiang Luo, it certainly can’t be less than 200,000.”

“I’ve thought about it—even if it’s just to make up for all the years he wasn’t with us, we should give him more.”

“Let’s give him 500,000 then.”

“If he feels it’s not enough, we can give him more.”

“A couple of days ago, I also spoke with Eldest Brother. He said he’ll contribute too.”

“He gave Zhao Shuo a million back then. Now, for Jiang Luo, he said he’ll also give a million.”

“You know Eldest Brother—he has no children of his own, so our kids are like his own.”

“Of course, he’ll treat them equally and fairly.”

Su Lan, being more meticulous, immediately thought of Zhao Mingshi. “Will Ming Ming be unhappy if he finds out?”

This remark somewhat displeased Zhao Guangyuan.

Zhao Guangyuan said, “Ming Ming isn’t our biological child, and we don’t owe him anything. Loving him, caring for him, giving him things—that’s our choice. But if he thinks we should give him things or that we owe him, doesn’t that seem wrong?”

Zhao Guangyuan stated directly, “Ming Ming is still a student. He’s not in business and doesn’t need that much money.”

“If he wants to start a business later, we can discuss it then.”

“But Big Brother already made it clear: his money is only for Zhao blood relatives—only for you, me, and no one else.”

Su Lan asked, “Is Eldest Brother still bothered by the baby switch incident?”

Zhao Guangyuan sighed softly. “Yes, he is.”

“When we talked about it on the phone, he mentioned that even when Ming Ming was little, he felt Ming Ming didn’t resemble us.”

“He regrets not taking it seriously back then. Otherwise, we could have found Jiang Luo earlier.”

Su Lan asked, “Does Eldest Brother dislike Ming Ming now?”

Zhao Guangyuan replied, “It’s not that he dislikes him. You know, Eldest Brother has no children, so he puts even more stock in bloodlines. When he found out about the mix-up, he was more anxious than we were and urged us to find our child quickly.”

Zhao Guangyuan sighed softly again. “There’s one thing Eldest Brother said that I think is right.”

“All these years, we’ve been so good to Ming Ming, loving him and caring for him, because we thought he was our child.”

“If we had known from the start that he wasn’t, would we have loved him as much?”

“Essentially, we don’t love the child—we love the child we gave birth to, the child who shares our blood.”

“Blood comes first, then love.”

Su Lan said worriedly, “But we raised Ming Ming after all. After so many years, there are feelings.”

Zhao Guangyuan countered, “Just because we didn’t raise Jiang Luo, does that mean you have no feelings for him?”

“Of course I do. He’s my biological son.”

Su Lan argued, “But as parents, we love the person, not just a biological connection.”

Zhao Guangyuan ignored this and insisted, “I agree with Eldest Brother. My money and my love can only go to my biological son.”

“No matter how good Ming Ming is, he’s not my own flesh and blood.”

“I have feelings for Ming Ming, but those feelings can’t surpass what I have for my biological son.”

“In the future, what I give Ming Ming will never exceed what I give Jiang Luo.”

“Unless Jiang Luo disappoints me so much that I feel having him as a son is worse than not having one.”

Su Lan’s expression was complex, and she held her tongue.

She felt that both Zhao Guangyuan and Eldest Brother had valid points, yet in her heart, the weight of Zhao Mingshi, whom she raised, and Jiang Luo, her biological son, felt the same.

Ultimately, she had stronger feelings for Zhao Mingshi—after all, they’d shared eighteen years, and she had loved him for eighteen years.

Business at Vilanido was booming. Within a few days, Jiang Luo made the decisive move to relocate the workshop to a proper factory space. The space was large enough to accommodate machinery, a sufficient number of employees, and even had an area that could be used as a warehouse for clothing.

—The cost of renting the factory was not an issue at all; the company’s accounts now had ample funds.

Soon after, the workshop was relocated. All employees, men and women alike, began moving machinery, supplies, and inventory. To speed up the process and improve efficiency, Jiang Luo even hired help from nearby towns to assist with the move. He pitched in himself, working until he was drenched in sweat.

At the new factory, the place was a hive of activity—people moving various items back and forth, creating a buzz of noise.

Jiang Luo and Zhang Ningfu stood in a corner of the factory. Zhang Ningfu was going through a ledger in his hand, discussing with Jiang Luo the shipping status of several hot-selling items. They also talked about how many new hires they needed, how many sewing machines and other machinery needed to be purchased, and even whether they should hire a cook at the new factory. Since the new factory was located on the outskirts of town, many workers lived far away. With three shifts running, it would be difficult for them to get home for lunch or dinner.

Jiang Luo was decisive. “There’s a building behind this factory that was once a canteen.”

“We’ll get it cleaned up, hire someone, and set up a small canteen.”

At the factory gate, the rusty iron gate stood wide open, and the guard booth at the entrance was empty. A BMW slowly drove in.

The driver's side window rolled down, revealing the face of Huo Zongzhuo behind the glass.

Huo Zongzhuo leaned out, glanced around, and smiled to himself—they had already moved to a larger factory building, meaning the new brand was selling very well at Wing On Department Store.

"I'm here to order shelves. We can store the finished clothes in the warehouse here first..."

Jiang Luo was having an efficient conversation with Zhang Ningfu when he noticed Zhang Ningfu turning his gaze toward something behind him. Jiang Luo turned to look.

As soon as he turned, he saw Huo Zongzhuo approaching. Jiang Luo broke into a smile and said, "Dad, you're here? Here to check my 'homework'?"

He extended a hand.

Huo Zongzhuo reached out and slapped his palm, then nodded at Zhang Ningfu, who was watching, and replied, "No, just visiting, to see your new factory."

He looked around and added, "Looks like you just moved in today."

"Yeah."

Jiang Luo joked, specifically telling Zhang Ningfu, "My dad."

Zhang Ningfu murmured "oh," as if snapping to attention, quickly reaching out to shake hands with Huo Zongzhuo. Just as he was about to make small talk, Huo Zongzhuo shook his hand and said first, "Just kidding, we're friends. My surname is Huo."

"I take my mother's surname, Jiang," Jiang Luo added.

"Hello, hello."

This left Zhang Ningfu confused, unsure whether the visitor was really Jiang Luo's father or not.

Zhang Ningfu observed that Huo Zongzhuo didn’t look fatherly—his face seemed too young.

But he also noticed that Huo Zongzhuo was dressed in a suit, carried himself with an air of importance, clearly a big boss.

"You two chat, you two chat."

Zhang Ningfu remembered he had other things to do, said goodbye, and left, leaving Jiang Luo with the man surnamed Huo.

Huo Zongzhuo nodded and smiled, seeming very gentle.

After Zhang Ningfu left, Huo Zongzhuo turned to Jiang Luo, his smiling face showing a touch of helplessness, while Jiang Luo burst out laughing, unable to contain himself.

"Still laughing."

Huo Zongzhuo said with a light laugh.

Jiang Luo wasn’t afraid at all: "If you can take a joke, let me have my fun."

Seeing Jiang Luo so upbeat, Huo Zongzhuo knew that the Wing On counter had opened smoothly and was doing well, which made him very happy.

Soon after, the two toured the new factory together. Walking together, Huo Zongzhuo said, "Why did you rent such a big place?"

Jiang Luo had rented a pretty big factory.

In addition to the main workshop, there were two or three smaller workshops nearby. Even if used as warehouses, it clearly exceeded the scale of the original workshop.

It really was too big.

Jiang Luo curled his lips and said evasively, "Guess."

Huo Zongzhuo had already guessed a bit: "Isn't this moving too fast?"

He cautioned, "Ambition isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s easy to bite off more than you can chew."

Jiang Luo: "If I bite off more than I can chew, I still have you. What’s there to fear?"

Jiang Luo was joking, and Huo Zongzhuo knew it—he wasn’t actually expecting him to bail him out.

But Huo Zongzhuo actually considered how he would support Jiang Luo if his operations grew too large. Confident he could handle it, he nodded: "True."

He really treats him like a son.

Jiang Luo was amused and glanced at him.

Huo Zongzhuo continued walking and observing as he said, "With the current scale and production rate, there shouldn’t be any issues supplying the counter, right?"

"Not bad."

Jiang Luo: "The main thing is the variety of ready-to-wear items. The counter turns over inventory quickly, so we’re working ahead to keep up."

Huo Zongzhuo had some understanding of the clothing industry. Hearing this, he found it strange and asked, "A lot of variety? How many items do you have per season?"

Jiang Luo rattled off effortlessly: "Take autumn wear, for example: 20 types of pants, 30 types of skirts, 30 types of tops, 30 types of dresses."

"We roll out new styles every week."

Huo Zongzhuo was surprised: "That many styles."

Jiang Luo walked with his hands behind his back, a confident, almost bold smirk on his face: "I want those fans with money to buy this week, next week, and every week."

"I’m not afraid they won’t buy—I have plenty of styles."

He then turned to Huo Zongzhuo and said, "Do you have a girlfriend, someone you like, or female friends? Give me their height and size. They can take any clothes from here as gifts."

"Give them a few styles—they'll like something."

Huo Zongzhuo listened and smiled.

Someone like Jiang Luo—you could search high and low and only find one like him.

Huo Zongzhuo: "Height around 1.7 meters, slim. Help me pick a few dresses to give as gifts."

Jiang Luo turned to look at him: "Girlfriend?"

Huo Zongzhuo corrected: "Female friend."

He added: "I’ll introduce you another time."

"Sure," Jiang Luo agreed.

Huo Zongzhuo then asked: "Where’s the office? In a few days, I’ll have someone bring over a tea set as a gift to celebrate your move to the new factory."

Jiang Luo said without hesitation: "Rosewood."

Huo Zongzhuo laughed: "Alright, rosewood it is. If I'm giving it to you, of course, I’ll get you a good one."

"Thanks, Dad," Jiang Luo was acting up again.

This time, Huo Zongzhuo had returned to Haicheng and was staying once more at the Hilton in Jing'an.

Jiang Luo had practically moved into the Hilton—never changing rooms, always staying in the same one. When Huo Zongzhuo came back, he specifically requested the room opposite Jiang Luo’s, choosing the same room he’d stayed in before.

That evening, after dinner together and returning to the city from Juxiang Town, they went back to the hotel. Jiang Luo entered his room, then came out again, knocking—knock, knock, knock—on Huo Zongzhuo’s door.

Huh?

Seeing Jiang Luo holding a suit in his hand, Huo Zongzhuo was slightly puzzled.

Jiang Luo handed him the suit: "Here. I found this fabric a few days ago and made it based on your measurements. The size might not be perfect—I used standard sizing—but it should fit."

Huo Zongzhuo took it, looking down at the neatly pressed black suit in his hands, clearly surprised.

He hadn’t expected such a gift from Jiang Luo, nor had he imagined it was handmade by Jiang Luo himself.

Jiang Luo casually leaned against the doorframe with a grin. "Lately the company’s finances are doing well, so I thought about buying you something, but couldn’t decide. The other day at the textile mill, I saw this fabric and figured—why not make you a suit? This is something I’m good at."

He added lightly, "Don’t knock it. When I make something, it’s guaranteed top quality. This is a handmade suit—the 'Jiang Luo' brand—one of a kind in the world."

A warmth spread through Huo Zongzhuo’s chest.

Handmade—nothing could compare.

"Thank you. I really like it."

His eyes were soft with tenderness.

Then remembering something, he turned around. "I have something for you too."

Huo Zongzhuo returned to the doorway, raised his hand, palm up, revealing a small white ball of fur.

Hmm?

What?

Jiang Luo reached out and took it.

Huo Zongzhuo smiled. "It’s fur from that little white cat back home."

Huh?

Jiang Luo pinched the fluffy ball between his fingers, eyes wide with surprise. "You’re giving me this? Are you seriously treating me like some kid who needs spoiling?"

Huo Zongzhuo laughed. "I couldn’t bring the cat—it has to stay with my mother—so I brought some of its fur for you to play with."

Jiang Luo pinched the fur again, amused.

He asked, "What’s that cat’s name anyway?"

"It used to be called Little White."

Huo Zongzhuo’s eyes sparkled with amusement. "But I changed it. Gave it a new name—Liushui."

As in *luohua liushui*—fallen flowers swept away by flowing water.

Jiang Luo said, "Do you think Liushui approves of you giving away its fur as a gift?"

Huo Zongzhuo: "Too late now."

Jiang Luo waved the fur ball, stepped back, and headed to his room. "This is from Liushui, not from you."

Huo Zongzhuo watched him go, smiling with quiet affection.