RGL – Chapter 169

Speaking of which, although Li Weisi was a serious businessman, he wasn’t exactly a cutthroat one. The contract he provided was fairly drawn up, safeguarding the interests of both parties.

Although Xiuse would become a subsidiary of the Li Group in the future, it would still belong to her.

However, whether or not she would agree, she still needed to take the contract back and study it carefully. She couldn’t afford to get screwed over.

Still, she figured her little slice of the pie probably wasn’t even worth Li Weisi raising an eyebrow over.

Back at the shop, Su Min found Sun Yan and Liao Zhaodi, and also called William over to discuss the matter together.

Neither Sun Yan nor Liao Zhaodi really understood the details, but when they heard that they would be under a major corporation in the future, with office space provided by the company and access to additional resources when needed, they were instantly overjoyed.

Sun Yan laughed, “Isn’t this just like finding ourselves a set of parents?”

“That’s a vivid way to put it,” Liao Zhaodi chuckled. “I didn’t expect this to actually go through.”

“It still feels like a dream to me.”

Su Min felt a bit surreal. She then turned to William. “William, do you think this path of development is a good one for us?”

Su Min and William had grown close, and now he genuinely cared about her development. While a successful partnership with the Li Group would boost his own sales as well, he still gave serious thought to anything that might negatively affect Xiuse.

“I just have one concern,” William said seriously. “Right now, your brand is doing well, but it’s not yet strong enough to make the Li Group want to swallow it whole. But if you grow too big, that risk will become very real.”

Su Min nodded. “I’ve considered that too. But collaboration is always a balance of risk and reward. Xiuse still needs time to grow, so we have time to prepare for how to deal with that issue.”

Seeing that Su Min had her own thoughts on the matter, William didn’t press further. He smiled and nodded. “Alright then, I vote in favor of the proposal.”

The other two also raised their hands in agreement.

Su Min carefully put away the contract. “Good. Then I’ll go sign with them tomorrow.”

The collaboration went very smoothly. Su Min soon received a notification from the Group: a new location for Xiuse had been found, and they could begin relocating soon.

A week before the summer break ended, Xiuse finally began its lively move to the new location.

There’s nothing like enjoying the shade under a big tree.

Su Min was starting to experience that kind of benefit firsthand.

Although Xiuse’s profits would now be shared, and from the outside it no longer looked like it belonged solely to her, the advantages she was actually gaining more than made up for it in her eyes.

The new Xiuse was now housed in a three-story building on a pedestrian street.

The first floor was for showcasing clothing, the second floor was for client reception and office space, and the third floor was the garment-making studio.

Calling it a “studio” was modest—based on the size, Su Min thought it could easily operate as a small garment workshop.

Now that they had been incorporated into the Li Group, Xiuse officially became one of its fashion brands. Su Min was appointed as the general manager of the brand, Sun Yan became the store manager, Granny Zhang served as a technical consultant, and Zhang Qingqing became the technical director overseeing the embroidery department. The other tailoring and garment-making masters were also given official titles.

No one minded the new titles much, but seeing the scale of the new store had everyone excited beyond words.

After the move, Sun Yan dragged Su Min around to look at everything.

“This really is our turf now? A place this size must’ve cost a fortune.”

“The money isn’t the issue—what’s more important is that you can’t find a place like this even if you have the money.” Su Min was also very satisfied with the location. The first time she saw it, she could hardly believe Li Weisi had found such a prime spot.

It was way more high-end than the shop inside the mall.

“Did you leave anyone at the mall store?”

Su Min hadn’t planned on giving up the mall location. That place had been her foothold in City B. The location was good, and they had many returning customers. It was still a great place for showcasing the brand.

Sun Yan smiled. “Don’t worry, I left two people there. I’ll drop by from time to time when I’m free. If they get any orders, they’ll send them over.”

By now, Sun Yan was already very experienced in handling all this.

“But Su Min, Xiuse now belongs to the Li Group. Don’t you feel like it’s a pity?”

“Why would I?” Su Min looked around the store. “Yes, I built this brand from scratch, but I know my own limits. If I held onto it myself, it would never grow beyond a certain point. But with a big company backing us, we can aim much higher.”

She was a practical person. She didn’t care much for empty prestige. On the contrary, this was a strategic decision. If Xiuse wanted to make it internationally, it needed not just the global market—it also needed a strong backer.

Besides, once Xiuse grew, she would still be in charge. As for whose name it was under on paper—what did that matter?

She looked seriously at Sun Yan. “Yanyan, now that we’re part of the Li Group, we can’t get complacent. We have to be more cautious than ever. Big corporations care most about profits. If we can’t bring in results, it’ll be much harder to get support from them down the line.”

Sun Yan nodded in a daze. She didn’t fully understand the dynamics between the Group and Xiuse, but she trusted that whatever Su Min said must be right.

On the first day of the new semester, everyone was in high spirits—especially when talking about where they had traveled over break. The room was buzzing.

But Su Min didn’t feel as cheerful as the others.

Because sitting beside her was the class goddess.

She hadn’t expected it, but today, when Sun Manli walked into the classroom, she went straight to the seat next to her.

Su Min was at a loss for this kind of “goddess-grade weirdo” behavior. But avoiding it wasn’t her style, so she simply ignored her.

“We’re getting engaged—Xue Mian and I. You didn’t know, did you?” Sun Manli sneered suddenly.

Engaged?

Su Min instinctively turned to glance at her.

Sun Manli raised her chin and said proudly, “I told you before—you and Xue Mian aren’t a good match. He would never accept you. Now that he’s about to be engaged to me, if I ever see you two together again, I’ll make sure you’re disgraced in this school.”

Su Min curled her lips into a cold smile. “Really? If he actually agreed to marry you, why would you need to come and tell me all this? Sounds to me like you’re just desperate, and he’s not even interested.”

“Su Min, don’t get cocky!”

Sun Manli trembled with rage.

Su Min’s words had hit the mark. The families had agreed to the engagement, but Xue Mian had adamantly refused—and even had a fight with Aunt Li about it.

She hadn’t shown up for several days now.

She knew that Xue Mian would definitely be in contact with Su Min behind the scenes. So when she saw Su Min today, she couldn’t help but deliberately provoke her.

If she was having a hard time, then she wasn’t about to let Su Min have it easy either.

Su Min saw her trembling with anger and felt secretly delighted. Then she turned away and went back to reading her book.

Although she wasn’t with Xue Mian, she still hoped he would find a truly good girl, not end up with someone like Sun Manli, who was clearly unstable.

Sun Manli was the type who was pathologically proud and looked down on others. Most importantly, she was petty and narrow-minded. Living with someone like that would make life an utter tragedy.

Thankfully, Sun Manli still had some sense of shame.

When her attempt at posturing failed, she took her book and sat off to the side by the second class.

Su Min flipped through her book but found she couldn’t concentrate anymore.

It had been a long time since she last contacted Xue Mian. He hadn’t reached out either.

Maybe… the two of them really couldn’t even remain friends.

The thought that she’d never have this friend again filled her with a deep sense of loss.

At that moment, in a villa in the suburbs of City B, a man in an army green T-shirt, dripping with sweat from punching a sandbag, finally grabbed the water bottle beside him and splashed his face with water.

“Ah, that feels so good.”

He walked into the living room and looked at Xue Mian, who was reading a magazine. “Xue Mian, aren’t you going back yet? Won’t the company fall apart without you?”

“If things fall apart without me, what’s the point of having those people?” Xue Mian didn’t even look up and continued flipping through the magazine. After a while, he suddenly reached for the magazine at the bottom of the coffee table.

“Hey, don’t touch those!” Han Lei rushed over to snatch it away.

Xue Mian raised an eyebrow. He thought he had glimpsed a familiar photo on the cover.

“If I’m not mistaken, that looked like… Liao Zhaodi.”

“No, it’s not,” Han Lei said, pressing the magazine beside him. “Why aren’t you going back yet? My vacation only lasts a few days—I can’t keep babysitting you.”

At the mention of going back, Xue Mian immediately lost interest and sprawled onto the couch. “I don’t want to go back. The moment I show up, they’ll come hounding me.”

“Hey, honestly, Sun Manli’s not bad. She’s pretty good-looking. You wouldn’t be losing out by marrying her. Besides, it’s just an engagement for now. The actual wedding is still a long way off.”

As Han Lei spoke, he placed the magazine into a box and locked it.

He only managed to get that magazine by sneaking it from his mother—he definitely couldn’t let anyone see it.

Just as he was happily storing it away, a magazine came flying at him. He caught it mid-air with practiced ease. “With skills like yours, you think you can sneak attack me?”

“If you mention Sun Manli again, I’ll beat you up.”

Xue Mian sat up straight. “Even if we’re not getting married right now, I can’t stand the thought of another woman taking the place of my fiancée. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.”

“…” Han Lei rolled his eyes. “You’ve got it good and still you complain. With such a beautiful girl liking you, you’re really not the slightest bit tempted?”

“I’ll buy you fish.”

“No thanks, you know fish makes me nauseous. And you want to buy me fish?”

Han Lei quickly waved it off.

“Then that’s that, isn’t it?” Xue Mian leaned back on the sofa again, squinting as if lost in thought.

Hearing that, Han Lei finally got the implication—he was comparing Sun Manli to fish.

“Well fine, I don’t eat fish. But I like other things. Even if it’s not my favorite, there are still plenty of things to eat.”

“But I only want one person right now,” Xue Mian muttered.

Seeing him like this, Han Lei couldn’t bring himself to keep arguing.

He’d already used up so much saliva trying to talk sense into this guy these past few days.

“So what do you want to do? Didn’t you say that Su Min has made up her mind not to be with you? Haven’t you already given up?”

Xue Mian closed his eyes.

Given up?

He had never intended to give up—he was just forcing himself not to seek Su Min out.

At least not until the mess at home was resolved. He couldn’t go to Su Min before that.

But he also knew that fixing things at home was practically impossible. His mother’s prejudices had lasted for decades—getting rid of them would be extremely difficult.

If he really wanted to get married, he could bypass his parents and marry Su Min directly. But unfortunately, Su Min wanted no part of that kind of marriage.

Seeing his friend like this, Han Lei felt a bit dejected too.

“Actually, you and Su Min might still have a chance.”

Hearing that, Xue Mian opened his eyes and looked at him.

Han Lei cleared his throat and said seriously, “Maybe Su Min doesn’t want to get married either. So you can just keep waiting—wait until your hair turns white, and after your mom’s passed on, there won’t be any issues anymore.”

Thump—a book came flying straight at him.

Su Min didn’t know that Xue Mian was dealing with such internal struggles.

In fact, she believed that love was the most fragile of all emotions. Compared to other feelings, it always seemed unreal. So she figured as long as Xue Mian didn’t contact her anymore, he would eventually find love of his own.

But at the moment, Su Min had no energy to think about love.

After joining the Li Corporation, she had clearly become busier than before.

With the heavy sophomore-year course load, she barely had time to go to the company. She was constantly rushing back and forth.

The second issue of Alice Weekly had already been sent over.

This time, the entire photo shoot was handled by the Li Corporation, but the clothing design was still fully in Su Min’s hands.

Su Min had mentioned to Li Weisi that she wanted to recruit new designers, but he rejected the idea.

His reason was bizarre: “The capable should do more.”

Though Su Min didn’t quite buy that strange excuse, she also knew that with her current resources, recruiting top-tier designers was unrealistic. And if the designer wasn’t competent, hiring them would be pointless.

So for now, this matter had to be set aside.

The only thing that brought Su Min some comfort was that Li Weisi planned to publish Xiuse’s international magazine and news coverage domestically.

In other words, Xiuse was about to break into the domestic market in full force.

From the start, Li Weisi had positioned Xiuse primarily for the domestic market.

In his view, no market in the world was as large as that of Country Z.

Even those internationally exported products ultimately wanted to target this country. So why not just directly dominate the domestic market?

That was one of the major reasons he acquired Xiuse. If he wanted to return and develop his business in China, he had to show where he stood.

He wanted people to know that even though he had been abroad for many years, he still deeply respected domestic culture.

So after partnering with Su Min, he had already mapped out Xiuse’s development path.

Given the domestic enthusiasm for international trends at the time, Li Weisi first collected many international reviews and materials about Xiuse and arranged for unified newspaper and magazine publications.

With television still not widely available in most areas, these two methods were the best for spreading the word.

Within just two months, the name Xiuse was known all across the country.

“We’ve got more orders coming in again—we just can’t keep up with the demand. Su Min, can you manage all the designs?”

Sun Yan looked at the latest order report and felt completely overwhelmed.