Chapter 130: Sister Xu Places Another Order (Special thanks to Blue Big Bun for the fifty thousand coin tip)

Friendship Guesthouse.

Zhu Xiaofeng left, carrying the bamboo basket the landlady had prepared with food for him and Lu Wei.

Old Zhu and Old Yao were still eating and bantering back and forth, acting a bit like children when they were together.

Seeing Wang Qiang take out his pager to check it, his father said with mild surprise, "I didn't quite believe it when the landlady said you bought a pager. You actually bought one?"

"I bought it a couple of days ago. I'll get you one too in a little while," Wang Qiang replied casually while staring at the screen.

His father gave a tight, reluctant smile. "Nobody ever contacts me, what would I want with this thing?"

After casually chatting with his father about the pager for a moment, Wang Qiang let the landlady know he needed to use the phone, turned, walked over to the counter, pulled up a chair to sit down, and dialed Sister Xu's number.

Wang Qiang was rather hopeful that Sister Xu would bring good news. Deep down, for the time being, he relied solely on the four-piece bedding sets to accumulate more capital to start a company, thereby making his father's life easy and giving him "something to do."

Beep, beep, beep.

The busy signal was quite rapid; the call clearly hadn't gone through.

Just as Wang Qiang was wondering if Sister Xu was already on the phone with someone else, he suddenly remembered the telephone might be locked. He called out toward the inner room, "Big Sister, where is the key to the telephone?"

The landlady replied, "In the drawer, the middle one."

He opened the second drawer and fished out the key. Hearing his father chatting with Old Zhu and the others inside, he smiled—they seemed to be getting along all right. He inserted the key into the telephone's keyhole, gave it a turn, and dialed Sister Xu's number once more.

Ring—Ring——

This time, it went through normally.

After about five or six rings, there was a click as the call connected, followed by a woman's voice from the other end, "Hello?"

"Sister Xu, it's little Wang," Wang Qiang said, leaning back in his chair, holding the receiver in one hand while flipping through his pager with the other.

Sister Xu's voice sounded pleased. "You're returning my call pretty fast today."

"Hehe, I have to be fast, wouldn't want to delay your business." Wang Qiang didn't rush to ask about the matter, knowing Sister Xu would bring it up herself.

Sure enough, Sister Xu laughed heartily, "It's fine, not too urgent." Having just said it wasn't urgent, her very next sentence was, "Do you think you could manage to send me some more four-piece bedding sets in the next couple of days?"

His hand playing with the pager paused. Wang Qiang sat up straight and lowered his voice. "The same two types as before?"

The chatter in the inner room was quite loud.

They probably wouldn't pay attention to his phone conversation.

With Old Yao around, Wang Qiang was cautious; he glanced inside and saw that they weren't paying attention to him at all.

Sister Xu's voice came through the earpiece again, "Do you have anything slightly better?"

Wang Qiang turned his head back and said, "We do. As long as you want them, I can even get you pure silk four-piece sets."

Sister Xu paused to think for a moment. "The ones you brought me previously were poly-cotton and pure cotton. Tell me about the other price points."

Regarding the varieties and price ranges of the four-piece sets, Wang Qiang had already made inquiries during his very first trip to Dieqiao. He knew there were many types. The highest-end were the pure silk four-piece sets, which were further divided into mulberry silk, tussah silk, and others. Their prices were extremely high and beyond the reach of ordinary people. The lowest-end were flannel, which was essentially chemical fiber that faded easily and became unusable after a few washes. Wang Qiang refused to take such sets, as they would ruin his reputation.

Recalling the details, he said, "Poly-cotton is thirty-five, and you know pure cotton is fifty. There are also better ones from sixty to eighty, depending on the style and craftsmanship. If you go a bit higher-end, like satin weave, it's eighty to one hundred; sanded-fabric printed sets are over one hundred twenty; large jacquard four-piece sets range from one hundred twenty to one hundred eighty; and yarn-dyed four-piece sets depend on whether they're pure cotton or satin weave. As for silk, regular mulberry silk is three hundred thirty, the best are priceless, tussah silk is two hundred twenty, and top-grade celestial silk is hard to price."

Sister Xu didn't quite understand. "If silk is too expensive, I won't take it. What's the difference between satin weave, sanded-fabric printed, large jacquard, and yarn-dyed?"

Wang Qiang didn't understand them all too well either, so he picked out the parts he comprehended and explained, "Satin weave is soft and delicate in texture, with a smooth and uniform surface... Sanded-fabric creates short, dense fluff on both the warp and weft yarns, resulting in a flat surface... Large jacquard comes in three types: pure cotton jacquard... silk-cotton jacquard... imitation silk jacquard..."

He rattled off a long list, giving several examples until Sister Xu fully understood all the varieties of bed sheet sets before he finally stopped, his mouth feeling a bit dry.

Take pure cotton four-piece sets, for instance. Later on, you could find them online for a little over a hundred yuan, but were those genuinely pure cotton? At least Wang Qiang didn't believe it. A standard 128*68 pure cotton four-piece set had a factory price of around one hundred thirty yuan. How could they possibly sell for just over a hundred online—were the merchants running a charity? Right now, when Wang Qiang went to Dieqiao to source this specification of pure cotton sets, it cost him 25 yuan a set, and the direct factory price should be even a bit cheaper. Transporting them thousands of miles to Shenzhen to sell for fifty yuan—well, considering the information asymmetry and the inconvenience of shipping, earning a 100% profit margin wasn't expensive at all.

After listening, Sister Xu had a general understanding. She said, "Bring me another one hundred sets of poly-cotton, two hundred sets of pure cotton—the fifty-yuan ones, ten sets of the eighty-yuan satin weave, and also bring me ten sets of the one hundred twenty-yuan sanded-fabric printed ones."

Goodness, that was quite a large order.

Could Sister Xu's business really be that good?

Was she selling exceptionally well through retail, or had she hooked up with a major client?

Wang Qiang wasn't entirely sure. This information was crucial to him. If retail sales were booming, he could bring a few more sets to pitch to other bosses. If she had secured a major client, bringing extra sets would be useless because nobody else would buy them.

Therefore, he subtly probed, "Your business must be doing quite well. Are you getting a lot of buyers?"

"Hehe, not really, just so-so," Sister Xu replied, keeping her cards close to her chest. "When you told me to try selling four-piece sets last time, I thought about it and figured it was viable, so I'm taking a few more to try my luck. I hope I can make a go of it."

Failing to glean any useful information, Wang Qiang felt a tinge of regret. He exchanged a few more empty, nutrient-free pleasantries with Sister Xu before hanging up the phone.

He sat before the counter, deep in thought.

Based on the large quantity of four-piece sets Sister Xu had just requested, Wang Qiang estimated he could earn over seven thousand yuan. He currently had thirteen thousand on hand. Even if he completely disregarded living expenses and travel costs, his total net worth after this deal would only reach around twenty thousand. That was still ten thousand short of Old Yao's proposal for each of them to chip in another thirty thousand to run the company. Furthermore, Wang Qiang couldn't possibly throw every single cent into the enterprise; he definitely needed to keep some cash aside for other ventures.

Should he bring a few more four-piece sets to pitch to other clothing wholesale bosses?

Yet, he worried that Sister Xu might have landed a major client, leaving him hesitant and afraid of losing money.

At that moment, he felt as though someone had appeared beside him. He looked up and saw his father.

Seeing his furrowed brows, his father asked, "Why are you looking so gloomy after finishing your call?"

"It's nothing," Wang Qiang looked up with a smile. "Just thinking about some things."

His father pulled up a chair and sat down beside him, peering over. "Tell me, what's on your mind?"

With Old Yao inside, it wasn't very convenient to talk shop. Wang Qiang said, "I'll accompany you to buy a couple of clothes first. We can talk as we walk."

"I have clothes to wear, I don't need to buy any," his father waved his hand dismissively. He was very thrifty and loath to spend money recklessly.

Wang Qiang came up with a reason to persuade him. "You know Brother Zhu and I are starting a company. You'll be the legal representative, representing our company's facade. You need to wear formal attire for official occasions, right?"

His father asked in puzzlement, "You and those guys are starting the company, what kind of legal representative would I be? I'll just help out when I can."

Wang Qiang used the excuse Old Yao had fed him earlier on his father. "How can I be a legal representative when I'm not even eighteen yet?"

Hearing this, his father thought it made sense. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "Alright then, let's go buy a suit. But let's get it straight—one set is enough, don't go wasting money."

"Okay," Wang Qiang agreed.

He ran inside to borrow Old Zhu's motorcycle and took his father to find a nearby clothing store.

...

Outside, the sun had disappeared into the clouds at some point, leaving the sky full of drifting clouds and a gentle breeze blowing.

The oncoming wind was cool. Although he was still torn over whether to bring extra four-piece sets to pitch in Shenzhen, Wang Qiang felt quite good as he accompanied his father to buy clothes.

The two of them found a large clothing store nearby, locating the section with shirts and suits.

Father and son chatted as they browsed.

"Too expensive, let's try another set."

"A suit for over three hundred isn't too bad, is it?"

"No, no, I think this one for just over a hundred looks quite nice."

A female shop assistant nearby immediately pulled a gray suit from the rack and smiled, "Mister, you have a great eye. Oh right, let me get you a shirt as well. How can you wear a suit without a matching shirt?"

His father opened his mouth to speak, but Wang Qiang cut in, pointing to a shirt hanging on the east rack. "That light blue one looks nice. Get that for my dad to try on."

The shop assistant walked over and fetched it.

His father muttered, "I have shirts."

Wang Qiang acted as if he hadn't heard. Once the shirt was brought over, he nudged his father toward the fitting room to change, standing outside and chatting idly.

"By the way, Qiangzi," his father's voice drifted out from the fitting room, "you said back at the guesthouse that you were thinking about something. What was it?"

Leaning against the doorframe, Wang Qiang briefly explained the situation, finally sighing, "I'm afraid that if I take too many and nobody wants them, I'll lose money."

"Hang on, let me change my pants... Ouch, almost fell." There was a thud from inside; his father had probably lost his balance and bumped against the wooden partition.

Just as he was about to ask if he was alright, his father spoke again, "It's no big deal to bring a few more. Isn't that Sister Xu selling them pretty well? Even if you can't sell them yourself, at the worst, you can just sell them to Sister Xu after she clears out her current stock."

Right.

He had almost forgotten about that angle.

Wang Qiang's eyes lit up. Regardless of whether Sister Xu had hooked a major client, at the very least, the four-piece bedding business was selling well. Even if he brought extra stock and couldn't sell it immediately right away, he could still unload it onto Sister Xu next time.

His father had been a huge help.

A single sentence had truly awakened the dreamer.

Wang Qiang's spirits surged instantly. If he managed to pitch them, great—it meant the sales channels for the four-piece sets could be thoroughly cracked open. If he couldn't, he wouldn't lose money; at worst, they would just sit in his hands a bit longer. Besides, the money he would earn from Sister Xu on this trip alone was enough to cover his capital. There was no reason not to take the gamble.

A little over a month ago, he had dared to risk his entire net worth on jeans and cassette players without ever considering the possibility of a loss. Now that he had made a bit of money, he was becoming timid and indecisive instead?

Even the worst-case scenario wouldn't force him back to square one, so what was there to be afraid of?

Wang Qiang made up his mind. He would take them—he definitely had to bring more four-piece sets. Fortune favors the bold, and starvation claims the timid. He was betting on it.

As he was thinking this, the fitting room door opened. His father stepped out, looking stiff in a sharp suit complete with a matching vest, and frowned as he asked, "Qiangzi, help me see how this looks."

Wang Qiang took one look, immediately extended both thumbs, and declared, "Dashing! Dad, you look absolutely dashing!"