Chapter 137: A Minor Sensation

In Boss Tan's shop.

From yesterday until now, only a single set had been sold. Both Boss Tan and Elder Sister Qiu treated the four-piece bedding sets as dispensable items, and Elder Sister Qiu even entertained the thought of returning them.

True to form, the two of them were at it again, sitting in front of the counter.

"Old Tan, do you think we should just return the four-piece sets to little Wang?" Elder Sister Qiu asked, seeking his opinion.

Boss Tan took a sip of his green tea to perk himself up, turned his head toward his wife, and asked, "Why should we return them?"

"Look at us, we can't sell the bedding sets, they just sit there looking like an eyesore, and we even have to clear out a special spot for them. I really don't think there's any future in this business," Elder Sister Qiu said.

Boss Tan shook his head with a smile. "Well, we didn't put any money into it anyway. Let them stay. It'll be best if they sell, but if they don't, we won't lose a dime."

"But they're taking up space! With that much room, I'd rather display a couple more clothes outside. Maybe someone would see them on impulse and buy them?" Elder Sister Qiu calculated meticulously.

Hearing this, Boss Tan thought it made some sense and hesitated. "Then why didn't you say anything just now when little Wang was here?"

"I wanted to discuss it with you first, didn't I? Do you think what I said makes sense or not?" Elder Sister Qiu asked.

"It makes some sense. How about we wait for little Wang to come over later and return the sets to him?" Boss Tan agreed with his wife's suggestion.

"Why wait? Didn't he leave his pager number? I'll call him and ask him to come pick them up." Elder Sister Qiu picked up the phone on the counter and dialed, having the paging operator relay a message for Wang Qiang to come to the shop.

After making the call, the couple sat comfortably at the counter, waiting for Wang Qiang to arrive.

What they didn't expect, however, was that before Wang Qiang even showed up, business for the four-piece sets came knocking—and in a continuous stream at that.

The first to walk in was a woman in her thirties. As soon as she entered, she asked, "Boss, do you have any four-piece bedding sets?"

Boss Tan and his wife looked at each other in dismay, thinking: Why is someone asking for them right when we decided to make a return?

Still, nobody turns away business. Elder Sister Qiu immediately stood up and said, "Yes, we do, we do! Do you want the poly-cotton ones or the pure cotton ones?"

The woman asked, "Let me look at both. How much are they?"

Just as she was about to mention the price, another young woman of twenty-five or twenty-six outside shouted from her motorcycle, "Do you have four-piece sets?"

"We do! Come on in and take a look." Elder Sister Qiu hurriedly patted the counter. "Old Tan, go take care of that customer." With that, she turned back to the first woman and said, "Let me show you. The poly-cotton ones are fifty a set, and the pure cotton is sixty-five."

Then, Elder Sister Qiu began showing the woman the bedding.

Boss Tan also led the young woman over to look at the sets.

Young woman: "The quality looks pretty decent."

Boss Tan: "The quality in our shop is always guaranteed."

First woman: "Pure cotton for sixty-five? Can you go any lower?"

Young woman: "My dear sister, is sixty-five really expensive for a pure cotton four-piece set? Go check out the department store; they're almost selling for a hundred."

Elder Sister Qiu: "Right, right! This is already our cost price. Any lower and we'd be losing money."

As they were talking, a young couple rushed in from outside. The man pointed at the set in Elder Sister Qiu's hands and exclaimed, "Xinxin, they really do sell four-piece sets!"

The woman: "Auntie, do you have a bright red four-piece set? We need it for our wedding."

"I remember we had a bright red set. Wait a second, let me find it for you." Elder Sister Qiu hurriedly squatted down to rummage through the stock.

While they were busy here, people kept running in from outside one after another to ask about the four-piece sets. What puzzled Boss Tan and Elder Sister Qiu was that these customers acted as if they had coordinated it, all arriving at the exact same time.

***

Next to the public telephone booth.

When he received Elder Sister Qiu's page, Wang Qiang was on the phone with his father.

"Dad, is anyone nearby right now?" he checked first.

His father lowered his voice and replied, "Only Old Zhu's wife is inside cooking. Do you want me to keep my voice down?"

"Brother Zhu and Brother Yao aren't there?"

"They're busy running errands for the company."

Having confirmed that the surrounding environment was safe, Wang Qiang immediately stated his purpose. "Dad, in a moment, discuss it with Brother Zhu and Brother Yao. Tell them I might need to draw on forty or fifty thousand yuan from the remaining registered capital, and I'll fill the account back up when I return."

His father asked, somewhat startled, "What do you need all that money for?"

Wang Qiang explained what had happened in Shenzhen, expressing his belief that the four-piece bedding business was about to take off, and asked his father to get the funds ready first. As for whether they actually needed to pick up the stock, he told him to wait for another call.

"I'm afraid they won't agree," his father worried aloud.

Wang Qiang replied bluntly, "If they aren't willing, tell me and I'll call them myself."

"Alright, I'll talk to them in a bit," his father said.

Wang Qiang grunted in acknowledgment. "Wait for my call. When I tell you to go get them, go straight to Boss Zheng's shop to pick up the goods, and then ship them over directly." He gave a few brief instructions, but before he could finish everything, his pager beeped. Glancing at it, he saw it was Elder Sister Qiu telling him to come over, so he hurriedly ended the conversation with his father and rushed across to the Jiahua Foreign Trade Clothing Wholesale Market.

***

The wholesale market.

Wang Qiang didn't know what Elder Sister Qiu wanted, but he was certain it was something important. Without delay, he walked straight inside.

However, as soon as he reached the entrance of Elder Sister Qiu's shop, he was taken aback.

Half a dozen people were crowded around the shop looking at the four-piece sets, while Boss Tan and Elder Sister Qiu were enthusiastically introducing them.

"Boss Tan, Elder Sister Qiu, busy I see?" Wang Qiang walked in and said.

Boss Tan, surrounded by customers, looked back and immediately said, "Little Wang, sit down for a moment. We'll talk once I'm done here."

"Sure, take your time." Wang Qiang sat down on the long bench in front of the counter, watching the couple do business.

"Is this bright red set okay for a wedding? It's pure cotton." Elder Sister Qiu held up a vibrant, very festive red four-piece set to show the young couple.

Both members of the young couple touched the fabric and found it felt exceptionally comfortable.

The man asked, "Is this the only set?"

Elder Sister Qiu enthusiastically pushed the sale: "It's all sold out, this is literally the last set left."

The woman hesitated. "But we need two sets. If there isn't another, we'll just have to ask around at other shops."

How could a cooked duck be allowed to fly away? Elder Sister Qiu hurriedly turned her head toward Wang Qiang and asked, "Little Wang, do you have any more bright red pure cotton four-piece sets on your side?"

Not a set.

He couldn't even produce a single pillowcase right now.

Wang Qiang shook his head. "I don't have any on hand at the moment."

Disappointment washed over the young couple's faces. They apologized to Elder Sister Qiu and left.

This time, actual business had slipped through their fingers. Elder Sister Qiu felt anxious inside, but since Wang Qiang temporarily had no stock, there was nothing she could do. She had no choice but to turn back and continue pushing sales to the remaining people.

The remaining three customers didn't have as many specific demands as the young couple.

After a brief discussion, the young woman and the older woman each picked out a set of pure cotton four-piece bedding, paid, and left.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man bought a beige poly-cotton four-piece set under Boss Tan's heavy recommendation.

As soon as everyone cleared out, peace temporarily returned to Boss Tan's shop.

Only then did Wang Qiang find the time to speak. He asked, "Elder Sister, did you call me here for something?"

Boss Tan and his wife exchanged glances. Earlier, they had intended to return the bedding sets to Wang Qiang, but the sudden influx of customers had left them hesitating. It seemed the four-piece set business was worth dabbling in after all—should they still return them or not?

Elder Sister Qiu immediately smiled and said, "Nothing much, just wanted to ask if you have any bright red four-piece sets." She even feigned a tone of complaint. "You call yourself a wholesaler, why did you only prepare such a small amount?"

Boss Tan nodded and chimed in, "If we want to pick up more stock in the future, you won't be out of them, right?"

"Of course not. I was just testing the waters for the manufacturer this time, so I didn't bring many," Wang Qiang said, offering reassurance once he realized they might still want to source goods from him in the future. "Just let me know in advance if you need them, and I'll make sure the stock is fully prepared for you—however many you want, I'll have. Is there anything else?"

Elder Sister Qiu, who had originally wanted to make a return, flatly denied it. "Nothing else. If you're busy, go ahead and take care of your business. We can catch up on the phone later."

"Alright, then I'll wander around a bit." Wang Qiang felt a little baffled by them. Did they really page him just to ask if he had a bright red four-piece set?

Naturally, he had no idea what the couple had been discussing earlier, nor that they had changed their minds simply because they had sold a few sets just now.

As he reached the doorway, a woman in her fifties rode up on a bicycle, stopped, and asked inside, "Boss Lady, do you have any four-piece bedding sets for sale?"

"Yes, we do, we do!" Elder Sister Qiu blurted out eagerly. "Auntie Xu, how did you know we have four-piece sets for sale over here?"

It seemed the two knew each other.

Giving it no further thought, Wang Qiang continued walking outward as the voices of Auntie Xu and Elder Sister Qiu drifted in from behind.

"How else would I know? It's all written in the newspaper."

"Ah? The newspaper?"

"The Shenzhen Evening News, you didn't know..."

Walking further away, Wang Qiang gradually stopped hearing what they were saying. However, he knew this was yet another customer drawn in by the advertorial in the Shenzhen Evening News. Walking down the crowded aisle, he smiled faintly and glanced at his watch.

It was now three o'clock in the afternoon.

It had only been about two hours since the evening papers were delivered into people's hands, and it had already attracted this many customers?

Not yet fully realizing the depth of the potential, Wang Qiang didn't rush to leave the wholesale market. Instead, he strolled around the shops of the various bosses who had taken in the four-piece sets.

The effect was striking.

The power of advertorial journalism began to manifest itself this afternoon.

Wang Qiang saw numerous people arriving at the wholesale market, some riding bicycles and others driving motorcycles. Some went door-to-door asking if anyone sold four-piece sets, while others genuinely came just for clothing.

It was bustling and lively.

Especially around four in the afternoon, it seemed as though a large group of people inquiring about four-piece sets had suddenly flooded into the wholesale market. Even Wang Qiang was asked multiple times. Knowing full well which shops stocked the bedding, he casually pointed the inquirers in the right direction.

The booming business of the four-piece sets made many shop owners who didn't carry them quite envious. Some of them had seen the Shenzhen Evening News and understood what was going on, while those who hadn't read the paper were simply puzzled: This was a clothing wholesale market, not a home textiles market—what was going on?

This craze continued until around six in the evening, when inquiries gradually dwindled. It wasn't that the demand for the four-piece sets was dropping, but rather that the overall customer traffic in the Jiahua Foreign Trade Clothing Wholesale Market had drastically decreased, as many people were busy heading home for dinner at that hour.

Wang Qiang hadn't expected that a promotional method involving advertorial articles—which would become oversaturated in later generations—could achieve such exceptional results in the current era.

Yet, upon second thought, it seemed only natural.

Even by 2017, as long as an advertorial was well-written, it could still command countless eyeballs. That was doubly true for 1994, an era that had not yet experienced carpet-bombing by various advertorials. Back then, everyone believed that whatever appeared in the news must be current affairs, never suspecting it might be a promotional tactic. Thus, by introducing this method, Wang Qiang immediately sparked a minor sensation among a specific demographic in Shenzhen!