Chapter 30: The Boss Lady Is Doing This?

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East King Town was not very large, with only seven factories of any real scale.

After visiting the fourth factory, Lu Yao pulled up at the entrance and said, “This one should work.”

After being turned down by three factories in a row, Xu Ziqiao had already lost much of his enthusiasm.

He had even begun thinking about asking his father to help him start a factory of his own.

It was only sexy lingerie, after all. What kind of technical barriers could there be?

Lu Yao dispelled the idea. Starting a factory himself was certainly possible, but it would be terribly uneconomical.

The true appeal of e-commerce was that it was essentially an intermediary business: a light-asset model, a classic case of accomplishing much with little.

What mattered was vision and operations.

The more wildly e-commerce took off, the more important a good operations manager became. Some business owners were even willing to offer them shares and profit dividends.

Not to mention that once a region developed an industrial cluster, it produced a formidable supply-chain effect.

That created an absolute moat in terms of pricing.

Lu Yao got out of the car and continued inspecting the factory.

Compared with the previous three, this one was much smaller. It occupied only five or six mu of land. The buildings looked relatively new, but they were also rather rudimentary, and even the production lines inside did not seem particularly busy.

Lu Yao walked into the factory as casually as though he were entering his own home and began looking around.

Various fabrics and materials were piled up in many places.

In a few corners stood mannequins dressed in the finished sexy lingerie produced there.

Xu Ziqiao watched, secretly thrilled.

“Damn! We can’t go home without bringing back some local specialties, can we?”

Lu Yao, however, appeared unimpressed.

Compared with the lingerie that would become popular in the future, the styles here looked somewhat old-fashioned.

He showed not the slightest interest. His disappointment was written all over his face.

“Judging by your expression, Boss, you seem rather dissatisfied with our products.”

A clear, resonant female voice suddenly rang out amid the noisy factory.

Lu Yao turned toward it and saw a woman at least five feet seven inches tall, slender yet shapely and full of vitality, smiling at him.

Lu Yao was surprised. “Are you the owner?”

The woman extended her hand with a smile. “Yes. My name is Chen Xing, and I run this place. What should I call the two of you?”

Lu Yao shook her hand. “Lu Yao. This is my partner, Xu Ziqiao.”

The moment he heard himself called a “partner,” Xu Ziqiao straightened his back.

Then Chen Xing noticed the watch on Lu Yao’s wrist, and her smile grew even brighter.

“The factory floor is a mess. Let’s talk in my office.”

“Fine.”

Boss Chen’s office was almost completely undecorated.

The only things filling it were mannequins.

Every mannequin was dressed in products made by the factory itself.

With such a crowd of mannequins as her backdrop, Chen Xing—slender, shapely, and full of vigor—sat among them with her rosy complexion and attractive oval face.

It was enough to make a man’s imagination run wild.

This Boss Chen was no simple woman.

She had not allowed her youth to make her underestimate herself.

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Although having all those items in her office was perfectly reasonable, they subtly increased her chances of success when negotiating with clients.

And when he recalled the way she had looked at his watch earlier…

Boss Chen was certainly a very careful-minded woman.

Lu Yao got straight to the point. “We’re in e-commerce, so we came to study the market.”

Chen Xing laughed cheerfully. “Welcome. The quality of our products is excellent.”

But Lu Yao waved a hand. “In this niche, the products don’t need to be too well made. What matters is texture and imagination. Sometimes customers actually dislike excessively high quality.”

“What?”

Chen Xing looked puzzled.

Lu Yao smiled. “When people are in the heat of the moment, they should be able to tear it apart no matter how they pull. Otherwise, they get frustrated! I even received a bad review from a customer because of that.”

“What?”

Chen Xing froze again. Then her already rosy oval face flushed unnaturally.

Lu Yao had not said anything particularly improper.

But with just a little imagination, she understood exactly what he meant.

Good heavens.

So there was another side to it…

She had learned something new.

It seemed she would have to adjust her previous approach of pursuing quality above all else as soon as possible.

From that one remark alone, Chen Xing could tell that Lu Yao was absolutely an experienced e-commerce operator.

He had thought of even that detail!

Beside them, Xu Ziqiao listened with sudden realization. He had encountered the same problem himself.

Whenever he watched the little pieces of sexy lingerie on his companions being torn into shreds, he felt a surge of pride at how formidable he was.

As for what to do when they were ruined?

Buy more, of course!

Although this stuff was called clothing, its actual position in the market was that of a fast-moving consumer product.

Chen Xing continued, “We already supply several e-commerce businesses. Whatever you need, just tell me. Even if you only take a single piece, I’ll still give you the wholesale price.”

That was her way of repaying Lu Yao for the advice he had given her.

But Lu Yao shook his head. “I want your factory to handle fulfillment for us.”

Chen Xing was taken aback again. “Fulfillment?”

What kind of arrangement was that?

The e-commerce industry was not yet so fiercely competitive. Most manufacturers were still competing on quality and price; few had reached the stage of competing on service.

But getting a head start in this area would certainly benefit future business.

So Lu Yao began working on the female boss’s mind.

“In the end, every product category competes on service.”

“If you get started before anyone else, you’ll be one step ahead. Even if other factories want to imitate you later, they may not be able to catch up in the short term.”

“Besides, this will greatly help you enter the e-commerce market. You’ll attract even more online shop owners to source their products from you.”

After Lu Yao’s energetic sales pitch, the female boss kept nodding.

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For a woman to build up a factory like this, she had to possess ambition.

But at present, nearly all the local production capacity and sales channels were controlled by Boss Lei.

Her factory had remained stuck in an awkward middle ground, unable to advance or retreat.

Sometimes she even had to accept, at low prices, the orders Boss Lei’s factory could not finish, earning only a little money for her labor.

But Lu Yao’s arrival had shown her a possible path forward.

She had no idea whether that path would actually work…

But she was not lacking in nerve.

So she decided to give it a try.

“All right!”

The female boss made an immediate decision. “I can handle fulfillment for you!”

Lu Yao smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you lose out. President Xu, go to the car and bring me my briefcase.”

“Oh.”

Xu Ziqiao rose instinctively, then realized something was wrong.

Why had he become the errand boy?

Never mind!

Follow Brother Donkey, and you’ll get nineteen meals in three days!

Xu Ziqiao soon returned with Lu Yao’s briefcase.

Lu Yao took out a small paper bag, then selected a black velvet mannequin from Chen Xing’s office and set it up.

After removing the display piece from it, he pulled several decorative pieces made of finely braided golden chains from the tiny paper bag—each no larger than his palm—and dressed the mannequin with them.

On the black velvet mannequin, the slender golden chains fell from the neck toward both sides, spreading across its curves like the delicate contour lines of a sketch.

In an instant, the mannequin seemed to acquire an entirely more luxurious air.

Xu Ziqiao stared in awe.

“Holy crap?”

Brother Donkey, how many outrageous tricks did you have up your sleeve?

He could now almost find the headless mannequin attractive, as though its features were clear and delicate…

As the owner, Chen Xing’s instincts were even sharper.

“This… looks like something you could actually wear outside?”

Xu Ziqiao stared. “What?”

No!

What kind of outrageous move was this now?

Lu Yao merely smiled enigmatically. “Exactly. Who says sexy lingerie has to be worn only in the bedroom?”

It could be worn out in public, openly and confidently!

Xu Ziqiao was thoroughly convinced.

He felt that all his years navigating the world of romance had gone straight to waste.