RGL – Chapter 104

“Su Min, I just hope that if something happens to me, you’ll remember the affection we once shared and help out Sanye. It’s the work of my entire life,” he said, his voice growing weaker as he spoke.

Ye Ling said, “Dad, we don’t need her help. Focus on getting better. I’ll make sure Sanye thrives in the future.”

Su Min also shook her head. “I will never work with Sanye again. But I won’t take revenge on you either. From now on, let’s stay out of each other’s lives. I won’t have anything to do with Sanye anymore.”

Ye Ling glared at her angrily. “You’re so heartless. We don’t need your help anyway. My dad was so good to you back then, always speaking up for you. Now look how quickly you’ve turned your back on us.”

Su Min let out a cold laugh. “Miss Ye, you’re overthinking it. My relationship with Factory Director Ye was purely business — a partnership based on mutual interest. It was never as complicated as you think.”

When Sun Qiufang heard the Ye family starting to criticize her daughter, she quickly stepped in. “Alright, you’ve seen my daughter now. The compensation you promised back at the police station — don’t forget about that. Don’t make any more demands, or we won’t let this go. We only came because Factory Director Ye is sick. Don’t think we’re easy to push around.”

Madam Ye wiped away her tears. “Don’t worry, we’ll pay. You’ve upset Old Ye.”

Sun Qiufang pursed her lips and pulled Su Min along. “Come on, daughter, let’s go home.”

Su Min nodded, not intending to stay any longer.

She wasn’t someone who clung to the past. Since Factory Director Ye was the first to act unjustly, she wasn’t going to forgive him out of sentimentality.

They originally thought Ye Yongfu wouldn’t make it, but when Su Min and her mother came to collect the compensation a few days later, they were surprised to hear that Ye Yongfu’s condition had improved. He was now recuperating in the hospital, though it seemed he’d had a stroke and couldn’t move one side of his body. He wouldn’t be able to manage Sanye anymore.

And now, because of this incident, Sanye had lost its reputation in the industry. Once people learned that Sanye had entirely relied on Su Min, and now she had become their enemy, it was clear she wouldn’t support them again. Sanye’s future looked bleak. Many businesses that had partnered with Sanye started returning goods.

Sanye quickly fell into crisis.

When it came time to hand over the compensation, Ye Ling glared at Su Min. “You’re such a cold-hearted person. In the future, no one in society will want to get close to someone like you. Just wait — Sanye isn’t going to fall like this. Even without you, I can still run it well.”

Su Min smiled. “Then I wish Sanye great success.”

Sun Qiufang took the money with a stern face, carefully counted every bill, then pulled Su Min to leave. “Hmph, it’s better to see the truth about a factory like this early on. No need to work ourselves to the bone for them and get nothing in return.”

Ye Ling clenched her teeth, staring as they walked away.

After returning to the city, Su Min discussed the division of the compensation with Sun Yan.

Sun Yan was overjoyed to receive the money but then began to worry about the future of the store.

“We won’t have a supply channel anymore. What are we going to do?”

Su Min had been thinking about that too. After everything with Sanye, she no longer wanted to work with any clothing factories. But she couldn’t just shut down the store either — it wasn’t just her involved anymore. Sun Yan had given up her job to join her. Su Min couldn’t let her down.

“Yanzi, how about this — we hire a few workers and set up a small workshop in the house you and Zhaodi are renting. We can make our own clothes. Everything we sell in the shop will be made by us.”

“We hire workers ourselves?” Sun Yan’s eyes widened.

Su Min nodded. “Zhaodi and I had thought about this before, but she had school, and I didn’t have time to manage it. Now that you’re here, you can help supervise things. I’ll design the clothes — you all just need to handle the production.”

Sun Yan was shocked by the plan, but also excited.

Right now, she was running the shop alone. If they hired workers, she could manage them. Even if it was just a few people, it would still be a proper small workshop.

“Minzi, let’s do it! I can help make clothes too. We just need to hire three more people. We’ll sell and produce at the same time. No need to worry about unsold inventory anymore.”

Su Min smiled. “This way, we can control both quality and quantity.” Suddenly, she remembered a term that would become quite famous in the future — haute couture.

In the future, as more people became wealthy, they would no longer buy clothes off the rack. Instead, they would go to designers for exclusive, hand-made custom pieces.

One outfit could cost more than an average person earned in a month.

Of course, their shop was nowhere near that level yet. At best, it was just a slightly bigger tailoring shop.

As part of the shop’s transition, the remaining inventory needed to be sold off quickly.

Later, Su Min had Sun Yan put up a hiring notice for tailors at the store entrance. Since Sun Yan understood tailoring, it made sense for her to handle this. Because of school, she and Liao Zhaodi didn’t manage the shop during the day — they only drew designs after finishing their homework in the evenings.

Now that they were going the custom clothing route, Su Min didn’t plan to draw too many designs — just a few to get things started. They would expand gradually.

Although the store wasn’t making as much money as before, Sun Yan worked with great enthusiasm.

There had recently been a wave of reforms or closures among city garment factories, so a number of experienced workers were now unemployed. The recruitment went smoothly.

Sun Yan selected three people from the applicants — those who were skilled and looked hardworking. After agreeing on the wages Su Min had proposed, she asked them to get a certificate from the local community office proving their identity and household registration.

This was for safety — if someone ran off with goods later, they’d need a way to track them down.

Once the documents were ready, Sun Yan took them to each corresponding office to verify the information. Only after confirming everything was accurate did she allow them to start work.

Since they were doing custom orders, the focus was on quality, not quantity. They couldn’t pay by the piece. To encourage the workers to focus on craftsmanship, Su Min decided to pay them a 10% cut of the profit for each piece sold. If the clothes sold well, they’d earn more. And during slower times, Su Min guaranteed them a base salary.

These people originally didn’t have jobs at home. Although they weren’t quite used to this custom clothing format, when they heard that there was a minimum living allowance of twenty yuan a month, they all agreed.

Of course, Su Min wouldn’t let them sit idle. When there were no custom orders, she would draw some designs for them to make, which would then be displayed in the shop and sold as ready-to-wear clothes. They would also receive a commission from the clothes sold.

To promote the new store, Su Min specially came up with a slogan: “Xiuse Custom Clothing – Crafting Your Exclusive Elegance.”

The slogan was catchy, and with the city’s relatively high standard of living, plus the unique designs displayed in the Xiuse Clothing Store and the option for customers to choose their own styles, many people gradually came to check it out by word of mouth.

By the time Su Min finished her midterm exams, the clothing store had already started to pick up some business.

After the exams, the classmates all wanted to relax. Tang Man suggested that, since the weather was still fairly cool, they should go for a stroll in the city park together.

This free and safe suggestion quickly gained the class’s support.

The boys proposed giving money to the girls to buy snacks and food to bring along. Once there, they could find a spacious spot and even do some activities together.

Since the New Year’s party, Su Min had become much more comfortable interacting with her classmates and gradually got used to spending time with these pure-minded young people. So when Tang Man asked her to help buy sunflower seeds and peanuts, she didn’t refuse.

“Go to Rongfang Supermarket downtown. Their stuff is cheap and they have a wide selection. Buy some sunflower seeds and peanuts—they’re good for snacking. See if there’s any cheap fruit too.”

Su Min felt a bit awkward when she realized they’d be going to her family’s supermarket.

“Let’s have a couple more classmates go with me,” she suggested. Buying things on behalf of the whole class was a delicate matter—if what she bought wasn’t satisfactory or wasn’t enough, some people might complain or be suspicious. And since it was her family’s supermarket, it would only make people talk more.

Tang Man didn’t think that deeply. She never doubted her classmates’ intentions. They were all in the same class—how bad could anyone’s intentions be? So when Su Min made this request, she simply assumed Su Min was worried she couldn’t carry everything by herself and arranged for Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan to go with her.

After school in the afternoon, Su Min went with them to her family’s supermarket.

It was rush hour, so the supermarket was crowded with shoppers. Sun Qiufang was at the counter handling payments, while Su Changrong was busy in the storeroom.

As soon as Su Min entered the store, Sun Qiufang spotted her and smiled, “Minzi, what brings you here today?”

“Our class is organizing an outing, so I’m here to buy some snacks,” Su Min said, pointing to Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan. “These are my classmates.”

“Oh, classmates? Then go ahead and get them some things. I’m busy right now.”

Su Min nodded and led the other two to pick out items.

Once they were far enough from Sun Qiufang, the two girls curiously asked, “Su Min, do you know the owner of this store?”

“This store belongs to my parents. That woman just now is my mom.”

“Your family owns a supermarket?” Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan’s eyes widened. Yin Jing, especially, looked shocked. “This is the biggest store in the city! And it’s your family’s? But didn’t you say your family ran a small grocery shop?”

Su Min continued putting peanuts into a bag as she replied, “We used to run a grocery store. Later, the shop got bigger, so it became a supermarket.”

Yin Jing looked at her with a mix of surprise and admiration. She had thought Su Min came from an average family, but it turned out she just didn’t flaunt it.

Once they had picked everything out, they went to pay. Sun Qiufang even threw in some candy as a free gift.

Su Min initially didn’t want to accept it—she felt it was bad to receive special treatment. But Sun Qiufang insisted. After all, her daughter was bringing her classmates to buy things from their store; it would seem stingy not to show any hospitality.

After packing up the candy, Sun Qiufang said, “Your dad just brought back a batch of fruit today. Want to pick some?”

“No need. This is already enough. We still have to spend the money wisely.”

Su Min carried some of the items, while Yin Jing and Zhang Panpan each carried a bag too. Because they were in a hurry, Su Min didn’t chat much with Sun Qiufang and quickly led the others back.

They brought everything to the dorm and handed it over to Tang Man. Su Min took the opportunity to swing by the clothing store.

“So Su Min’s family is so well-off. And she never brags about it. No wonder people say real rich folks don’t go around flaunting their wealth,” Yin Jing thought to herself. She had even distanced herself from Su Min before, thinking her family background was average. Now she felt embarrassed about her previous assumptions.

Zhang Panpan sighed and nodded in agreement. Everyone else had such good family conditions—only her own family was poor. She was determined to study hard, get a good job after graduation, and make more money.

Business at the Xiuse Clothing Store was getting better and better. Several new designs Su Min had launched were quite popular. The little workshop had been busy nonstop lately.

When Su Min arrived at the store, it was already getting dark. Sun Yan and Liao Zhaodi were just getting ready to close up.

Seeing Su Min, Sun Yan greeted her happily, “Didn’t Zhaodi say you went to the supermarket today to buy snacks for your class?”

“I finished shopping and had my classmates take the stuff back. I just dropped by.”

“In such a hurry, running back and forth,” Sun Yan said with a smile as she took down the display racks. “Oh right, a lady came by today looking to get a dress made, but she couldn’t find any styles she liked.”

Su Min wasn’t surprised. She was still in the exploratory phase, and her designs might not suit everyone’s taste.

As they finished packing up, Sun Yan added, “But I saw she had a big belly—probably couldn’t find anything that fit.”

“She’s pregnant?”

“Yeah. She said she needed something for an important event, but with her belly, she couldn’t find suitable clothes. Then someone told her we do custom clothing, so she came by—but still didn’t find anything she liked.”

Su Min smiled. “All my designs are for regular wearers. Of course they wouldn’t suit a pregnant woman.”

“Well, why don’t you design something? She looked so troubled. And if more pregnant women come wanting custom clothes, we could help them out too, right?”

Su Min thought for a moment. That could indeed expand her business. She had once designed an outfit that could be worn by both pregnant and non-pregnant women, and her aunt had loved it. But that design was only suitable for daily wear—not for formal occasions.

Sun Yan’s comment sparked something in her. She suddenly recalled some bridal shops she had seen in her previous life.

The shop had been large, filled with wedding gowns and various formal dresses for events.

She hadn’t been in a relationship back then, but she’d still harbored hopes for the future and went in to take a look. Seeing how she was poorly dressed, the staff hadn’t served her. She had just browsed around quietly and left quickly.

Back then, she had thought the clothes in there were truly beautiful.

Just a single dress had made her feel like she was shut out of a whole other world.

Now that she could design clothes herself, she couldn’t help but want to draw a few elegant gowns—just hanging them up would make her happy, even if no one bought them.

That evening, after returning home, Su Min did two math problems and memorized thirty vocabulary words. Since they were going on an outing the next day, she didn’t bother studying more. Instead, she gave in to her itch to draw and took out some paper, slowly sketching out the dresses she had seen in her previous life.

Too much time had passed, and she had only seen them in a rush, so her memory was hazy. She filled in the unclear parts using her own aesthetic sense.

After finishing, she added color herself. Of all the colors, she especially liked red and sky blue. One was bold and passionate, the other was elegant and refined.

After completing two gowns, she recalled what Sun Yan had said earlier about designing a dress for a pregnant woman.