RGL – Chapter 50

“You know, Minzi really designed this dress well. I was worried that with my big belly, clothes wouldn’t look good on me anymore. But wearing this, I don’t feel much of a difference at all.”

“Do you like it, Auntie?” Su Min asked with a smile.

Li Meng nodded with a laugh. “I do.”

Su Min chuckled and turned to Sun Hai, who was also admiring his wife. “Uncle, this is one of our newest styles, it hasn’t even hit the market yet. I only brought it out because it’s for family. I won’t charge you much—just 30% off.”

Su Changrong burst into laughter when he heard that. “I knew this girl wouldn’t be that generous. Just today, I ordered a dress for Qiufang and she only gave me 20% off. And I’m her own father—not even as good as you, her uncle.”

Sun Hai laughed, “We should pay for it. Minzi’s running a business now, and we should help her get a good start. Minzi, see if you’ve got any other clothes suitable for your aunt. I’ll take one of each.”

“Uncle, you’re so good to Auntie. Auntie, come on, let’s go to my room and pick out some clothes. Pick as many as you want!”

Li Meng was already blushing from ear to ear.

As for the rest of the clothes, Su Min and Liao Zhaodi spent a whole week finishing them. After altering them, they removed all the original tags and replaced them with handmade rose patches sewn where the tags used to be.

Looking at the neatly folded clothes on the bed, the two of them collapsed onto it in exhaustion.

After resting for a while, they turned to look at each other and smiled contentedly. Su Min said, “Tomorrow, we’ll go sell them in front of the mall.”

Early in the morning, Su Changrong used his tricycle to help Su Min haul all the clothes to the open space in front of the mall. He was a bit uneasy. He had been okay with the two girls selling popsicles—after all, they were mostly dealing with kids. But selling clothes was a different story; now they’d be interacting with adults. Could the two of them really handle it? He wasn’t so sure.

While helping his daughter set up the stall, he said, “Minzi, maybe you should find someone to help out. Can the two of you really manage?”

Su Min replied while working, “Why not? It’s not like we’re getting into a fight—we don’t need a crowd. Zhaodi and I already worked it out: she’s in charge of watching the goods, and I’ll handle the selling. Just the two of us are enough. We didn’t bring much anyway, only a few dozen pieces. If we sell them, great. If not, we’ll just take turns wearing them ourselves.”

Of course, she was joking. Su Min had invested real money into this.

She even hung up a sign: Imported Clothing – End of Season Clearance

Su Min knew that just putting up a sign wasn’t enough—she needed to call out to draw people in. So once the clothes were hung up, she immediately started hawking.

“Imported clothing! Fashion clearance sale! End of season markdowns—come take a look!”

The two young girls were dressed in stylish outfits themselves, and their clear, lively voices drew attention. People actually started coming over to check it out.

At first it was just a few people, but after seeing the styles, they couldn’t walk away. They held up pieces and compared them to their bodies. When others saw the crowd gathering, some came over just out of curiosity—and once they looked, they didn’t want to leave either. Soon, the stall was surrounded.

The two had planned ahead: Liao Zhaodi focused solely on watching the merchandise to prevent theft, while Su Min handled customer interactions and sales.

“These designs are fresh.”

“This cut looks really good.”

People chatted while browsing.

Su Min smiled and said, “If you like it, take one home. These are imported clothes—you won’t find these styles anywhere else in the country. Look at this quality, look at the craftsmanship. Not even the department stores carry these. We don’t have much stock either—once these are gone, who knows if we’ll get more.”

Hearing that, people were tempted. After all, they were already out shopping for clothes. Department store prices were high, and the styles were repetitive. These new styles were refreshing and the price was low—practically a steal.

And most importantly, they were imported, and there were only a few of each.

“I want this one—wrap it up for me.” Someone finally made a purchase.

Su Min quickly packed the item in a plastic bag, smiling as she took the money and gave change.

Once the first sale happened, others followed. Seeing someone else buy made hesitant customers worry the good stuff would sell out, so they quickly picked their favorite styles and asked for their sizes. Since they couldn’t try anything on, some were worried about the fit.

Su Min brought out a soft measuring tape and helped take measurements on the spot, recommending the right sizes. With her thoughtful service, even the hesitant ones ended up opening their wallets.

By noon, they had already sold over twenty pieces.

Based on Su Min’s pricing and cost calculations, each piece brought in a net profit of about three yuan. That meant they made sixty yuan in just one morning.

When they packed up at noon, Liao Zhaodi was thrilled after hearing the rough estimate. “Back when we were selling popsicles, we only made a few yuan a day—and it was scorching hot. Now, just one day and we made this much!”

Su Min laughed and said, “It’s not just one day, though. Didn’t you spend a whole week altering those clothes? That’s time cost, too.”

“That’s true.” Liao Zhaodi nodded, then added, “Still, I feel like this way of earning money is much better. It’s easier and more comfortable than before.”

Su Min replied, “It’s just temporary for now—we’ll have to see how it goes in the future.”

This round of sales had shown her the profit margin in clothing.

Even though the prices they sold at were quite fair, so the earnings weren’t huge, she realized they could probably raise the price by a yuan and still sell just fine.

“Zhaodi, we can definitely keep doing this business.”

Su Min had made up her mind—she was going to get another batch of goods.

That afternoon, after the sun had eased a little, the two brought out the remaining clothes and set up the stall again.

Because people had bought things in the morning and gone home to spread the word, more people soon came specifically to find them.

Before nightfall, they sold another dozen or so pieces.

The two didn’t plan on running a night market stall. After packing up, they headed over to Sun Qiufang’s shop together.

Once there, the three of them made plans to go restock the next day, then continue making clothes while the hot weather lasted. Liao Zhaodi happily agreed, then ran off toward home.

After entering the shop, Su Min tossed the leftover clothes onto a chair and beamed with joy.

Seeing her daughter grinning like that, Sun Qiufang asked with a smile, “What’s going on? Why are you so happy? Business went well?”

“It was alright,” Su Min replied modestly, but she couldn’t stop smiling. What had started as just a summer job to earn some pocket money had now turned into something she genuinely wanted to pursue.

The clothing business really was a good trade. Just running a street stall had earned her a decent sum—what if she opened a proper store or even started a factory one day?

She thought about how, in her past life, so many luxury-brand clothes—even a simple T-shirt—could cost several hundred yuan, and people were still willing to buy them.

Now that she thought about it, the clothing industry was always in demand, no matter the time or place.

That evening, when she got home, Su Min finally told Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang how the day’s business had gone.

When they heard she’d made over fifty yuan in a single day, Sun Qiufang was stunned. “Really, that much?”

In recent years, workers’ wages had increased quite a bit—a typical monthly salary was seventy or eighty yuan. And their daughter had made nearly that much in just one day.

Sun Qiufang felt no matter how she looked at it, she hadn’t expected this outcome.

Su Changrong said, “Minzi, your business is really something. But it’s not something just anyone can do. Just look at the designs on those clothes—not something an average person could come up with.”

Sun Qiufang agreed, “Exactly. If it were me, I couldn’t pull it off.” She added, “But Minzi still needs to go to school. Don’t let making money get in the way of your studies. No matter how profitable it is, you can’t skip your education. Earning money can wait—your priority now is to gain knowledge.”

“Mom, I know how to prioritize. But after this experience, I’ve realized I really enjoy this kind of work. This is what I want to do in the future.”

“That won’t do,” Su Changrong said immediately. “If you go into this business, who’s going to take over your mom’s and my shop? That store is our blood and sweat—if you don’t take it over, who will?”

“I can manage both. Once the store grows, we can hire workers. I’ll run both businesses.”

Sun Qiufang laughed. “This girl sure thinks big—wants to do everything.”

But Su Changrong was very pleased. His daughter thinking big meant she could do big things. “That’s our good girl.”

The next day, Su Min and Sun Qiufang went to restock again and brought Liao Zhaodi along to help check the goods.

The supplier, surprised that they came back so quickly for more of the same old styles, asked how they managed to sell them.

Sun Qiufang gave a vague answer, “Small profit, quick turnover—we sell cheap.”

The supplier didn’t think they had any special skills—just assumed they were clearing out at rock-bottom prices.

This time, Su Min and the others bought a large batch again, mostly dresses.

After finishing his own tasks, Su Changrong even brought the family tricycle to help transport the goods.

As they got on the tricycle, Sun Qiufang reminded them, “You two better not tell anyone about making money selling clothes. You’re both young, and people might get ideas. Understand?”

Liao Zhaodi nodded quickly. “Auntie, I swear I won’t say a word.” She was especially afraid her mother would find out that she was earning money to help her sister.

After dropping the two girls off at home, Su Changrong and Sun Qiufang hurried off to watch the store. Meanwhile, Su Min and Liao Zhaodi got to work altering the clothes.

This time, not only did Su Min reuse the previous styles, but she also made new alterations based on the batch of goods they just acquired.

Liao Zhaodi had become quite adept at it too—even when she pricked her fingers with the needle, she didn’t feel any pain.

“There are clothes like this on the market now—you’ve all seen them, right?” In the office of Sanye Garment Factory in the county town, the old factory director, Ye Yongfu, was holding a meeting.

Since the state-owned factory had been taken over by Director Ye, his authority had reached an all-time high, and everyone was working harder than ever. However, the reality was that many employees, whose thinking had been conservative for years, still held outdated ideas even after the factory’s privatization. New policies and innovations were hard to get across.

Ye Yongfu looked at the lowered heads of everyone and sighed internally. “Look at this piece of clothing yourself—see if you notice anything.”

He handed the clothing to the sales department head sitting nearest to him. If Su Min had been there to see it, she would have been stunned—this was the exact piece she had given to Sun Qiufang earlier. It was also selling very well on the market.

The sales department head examined it, then passed it along. Everyone took a careful look and pondered over it.

Eventually, they all looked at Ye Yongfu with puzzled expressions.

Ye Yongfu looked at the sales department head and said, “Director Li, tell us what you see in this piece.”

Director Li, caught off guard, grew a bit nervous and said, “The style is excellent—very fresh and not like what you usually see in the county’s markets. If we put this into production, it should sell well.”

“I think so too. My sister-in-law just bought something like this yesterday and even said it was imported,” the production director added.

The other department heads joined in the discussion as well.

Ye Yongfu rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. His face was full of disappointment. He pointed at the clothing and said, “This piece—my wife bought it at the mall entrance. The sellers were two teenage girls. Do you really think they have access to imported goods and can sell them this cheaply?”

Everyone froze and looked at one another.

“They’re scamming customers?”

Ye Yongfu was so frustrated he nearly slammed the table. He’d been hinting at the answer all this time, and still no one got it. He turned to the production director and said, “Forget the others—you, of all people, haven’t figured it out?”

“This…” The production director stared at the clothing, feeling it looked familiar, but he just couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.

Seeing he was still clueless, Ye Yongfu slapped the table twice. “You still don’t see it? This is from our own factory! You were the one who supervised its production back then! How could you forget so quickly?”

The moment he’d touched the fabric yesterday, he had a hunch it came from their factory. So he went back to the office to check old designs—and sure enough, it was theirs, just modified post-production.

The production director was dumbfounded. He didn’t even remember the factory had made clothes like this. If this had been available earlier, he wouldn’t have spent so long lying low.

Not just him—even the other department heads found it hard to believe. They knew the factory’s styles inside and out. For years, it had been the same. A few styles had come in from the south recently, but even those weren’t much different—certainly not a dramatic change like this.

Ye Yongfu shook his head. “This garment was clearly altered after production. Just look—any spot with lace, the stitching is different. Even the fabric’s wear level is inconsistent. Don’t believe me? Remove the embroidery, take off the ruffles, and you’ll see what the original looked like.”

The production director examined it again and realized—if they removed the decorations and swapped the buttons, it was their factory’s clothing.

Good grief—who had such talent to pull that off?

“I remember now,” Director Li from the sales department suddenly said. “I saw two orders recently for some of our old stock from years ago. I was wondering who would want outdated styles—turns out they were for this!”

Ye Yongfu slapped the table. “That must be it.”

Everyone looked at him. They still didn’t quite get the point. So what if they figured this out? The clothes had already been sold. People could do whatever they liked with them. If they sold well, that was their skill. What was the use of investigating this?

As everyone silently grumbled, they heard Ye Yongfu say, “I intend to find whoever designed these clothes. That person is talented. Our factory is undergoing reform right now—we need people like this.”

Director Li was shocked. “Director Ye, weren’t you always against using new styles?”

Zhou Yongzhi (another leader) frowned. “I wasn’t against new styles—I just didn’t think much of those styles. But this one,” he said as he picked up the garment again, “this kind of clothing, this kind of design, only someone who truly understands fashion could create. Otherwise, if I handed one of you a plain outfit, could you turn it into this?”

Nope.

Everyone silently shook their heads.

Su Min had no idea her little clothing stall had caught someone’s eye—or that someone had even deemed her “talent.”

At this point, she and Liao Zhaodi had almost sold out their second batch of clothes and were preparing to restock again.

With two rounds of goods sold, they’d made a nice profit. If they split it now, each of them could get a few hundred yuan. Su Min was thinking, if this business didn’t take up too much time, they could continue setting up a stall on weekends even after school started.