“Oh, you are finally back,” said Aunty as she dried her hands. She quickly took Tianbao from Shu Yan. “What bad timing that Tianbao got sick on my day off. Poor Tianbao. How are you feeling now?”
“He had some IV fluid and his fever was gone. He still has a cold. I’ll give his school a call in a little bit and take the day off for him. How come you are back so early?” It was Aunty’s daughter’s birthday and she had taken the day of particularly to spend time with her daughter. Shu Yan even gave her a big cake.
“My daughter went back to school and I have nothing else to do. So I thought I’d come back.” Aunty carried Tianbao back to his room and returned to making breakfast. “You must be hungry. The porridge is ready. Let me get you a bowl.”
“No, it’s alright. I’ve already eaten. Tianbao said he wanted noodles that I make. I’ll make him a bowl.”
“Perfect, I just made some dough. You can use that in a little while,” said Aunty.
Shu Yan returned to her room to shower and change. She was covered in disinfectant smell and it was very unpleasant.
JingJing woke up too after Shu Yan had made Tianbao his noodles and she had some of that as well. They hadn’t have noodles that Shu Yan made in a while now and the two children thoroughly enjoyed that.
“Let Mommy knows whenever you want it. Mommy will make them for you if she is home.” Shu Yan felt that Aunty’s cooking was way better than hers. Perhaps the children just liked what their mother made.
Shu Yan felt that her brain was foggy after being up all night. She went back to take a nap when Aunty took the JingJing to school.
She didn’t wake up until the afternoon. After she had gotten up, Aunty said that she had a few calls from Hu Ruixue and Zhang Huaxiu. She figured they were asking about her whereabouts.
She returned Hu Ruixue’s call first. “Tianbao was running a high fever yesterday so I took him to the hospital for IV and didn’t get home till this morning. I won’t be going into the office today.”
“I was going to ask you over for dinner. Well, if Tianbao is sick, you should stay home with him.”
Shu Yan dialed Zhang Huaxiu next.
“Boss Lady, the landlord came today. I asked him what it was about but he didn’t say anything. Just said to have you give him a call and for you to go talk to him.”
The landlord? Shu Yan had no idea what this was about. Rent wasn’t due yet.
“Okay. I’ll go look for him in a little bit. Everything else all good at the shop?”
“Yes, nothing special.”
Shu Yan was just about to hang up when she recalled Mother Zhang mentioned that Wu Xiuyue had been having promotional activities, so she asked, “Your mom mentioned that your sister-in-law has been having promotional activities. What’s going on?”
Zhang Huaxiu let out a long sigh when she heard that.
Per Shu Yan’s business plan for her, Wu Xiuyue’s store was to be a high-end store where a shirt ran between 50 – 100 yuan, considerably expensive at this day and age, but very profitable. Selling just 7, 8 or 10 a day would bring in around 10,000 yuan a month. Definitely considered good income.
The promotional activity was designed by Shu Yan and Zhang Huaxiu and could bring in around 2,000 yuan a day. Naturally, they would not be making the same amount once the promotional activity was over. 600 ~ 800 yuan a day would be good income. Nevertheless, after seeing the power of promotional activity, Wu Xiuyue could not look at things the same way anymore. She’d run promotional activity once in a while.
It worked well at the beginning but, as it happened more and more, those around the area had learn that this shop ran promotional activities all the time and the store became way less classy. Then the patrons started bartering with her. Wu Xiuyue listened to Shu Yan at the beginning and refused to give in even a penny. After losing a few patrons, however, Wu Xiuyue’s heart started to ache over the lost business.
She could still make a lot even at the bartered price, so why not? So she bartered with the next patron. Once she started down that path, more and more patrons bartered with her. Once she has broken her own rule, those in the area knew that they could barter and the place became even less classy.
After a few rounds of that, the high-end patrons stopped visiting her store. Instead, she was attracting cheapskates who wanted to buy high-end clothing. The bartering became more intense and Wu Xiuyue’s profit dropped even more. Now she’d pick up lower-end clothing when she went merchandising. The vicious cycle continued and her had turned her store into one that sold low-end women’s clothing.
