"You mean you'll give my son happiness? And what I'm doing now is destroying him?"
"You're quite confident. What will you give my son happiness with?"
"This thirty-year-old face and body, and a job that could become obsolete at any moment? Ridiculous."
The two again failed to see eye to eye.
Glancing at the waiting staff, Xiang Wan sighed.
"Mrs. Lu, we have fundamentally different views, and we'll never agree. Please don't come to me again; it's a waste of time."
"As I said, if you want me to leave, talk to your son directly. I have other things to do, so I can't stay any longer."
As she was about to get out of the car, Mrs. Lu grabbed her.
"Miss Xiang, I told you. If you don't listen to me, I'll make your life miserable. Don't think I only talk and don't act."
Xiang Wan turned back. "I don't think you're afraid to act. In fact, you're not only brave enough, but you're also very ruthless."
"If I'm not mistaken, the fire in our residential complex last night was related to you, wasn't it?"
"To make me break up with Lu Mingzhe, you even bribed people around me. You're quite dedicated."
"But what does that achieve? On the contrary, you've also tested your son. Is he an unfeeling person in the face of disaster?"
"You'll be disappointed. He loves me deeply. Not only is he not unfeeling, but he's also willing to bear some of the consequences for me."
"I know you're capable and have many tricks up your sleeve. You can continue. But I won't yield."
"This will only make me realize more clearly that Lu Mingzhe loves me, and he'll smooth over everything for me to be with him."
"If you like seeing him worry, then just be even more ruthless."
With that, she tried to get out again. Mrs. Lu cursed her fiercely from behind.
"Shameless!"
"When trouble arises, you rely on men, letting them shield you. A Zhe actually praised you to me? He hasn't seen through you at all!"
It didn't matter.
She had said all she wanted to say. What Mrs. Lu thought was her own business.
Xiang Wan slammed the car door shut with a bang and left.
She went to the factory, selected the fabric, conducted experiments on the spot, and examined the patterns and quality.
She was very satisfied.
Xiang Wan took the samples back and put them up for pre-sale in the live stream that same evening.
Whether it was the traffic from that video or an official push, the live stream, which usually had only one to two thousand online viewers, reached a peak of over fifty thousand viewers that night.
In four hours of broadcasting, over 400,000 cumulative viewers tuned in, and over seventy thousand items were sold through pre-orders.
The pre-sale price for one piece of clothing was 188 yuan. After deducting various operational costs, employee salaries, rent, and utilities, Xiang Wan's commission was 20 yuan per piece. This meant that from the clothes pre-sold in this single live stream, she could earn over 1.4 million yuan.
Everyone was ecstatic.
Since this piece of clothing sold so well, they quickly placed an additional order with the factory and continued the live stream pre-sale.
Over two days of broadcasting, the cumulative pre-order volume reached over 147,000 pieces.
The factory paused production of other clothing items to focus solely on this one. They worked day and night, and it was uncertain if they could even finish production by the time of Double 11.
Although it was very profitable, they had to halt the pre-orders.
It didn't matter. While other styles didn't sell as explosively as this one, they could still be promoted quickly to capitalize on the momentum.
They would earn both big and small amounts of money.
Xiang Wan monitored the raw material intake at the factory, selected materials, and supervised their quality.
At the same time, she had to focus on the operation of the live stream.
For a while, she forgot about the fire incident. Although she was busy from dawn till dusk, her mood was excellent.
The next time she went to the factory, she even unexpectedly met an old acquaintance, Tang Haichao.
Tang Haichao was doing renovation work for a factory in the industrial zone. Seeing Xiang Wan's car, he came over to greet her.
They stood by the roadside and chatted.
Tang Haichao said, "Sometimes when I get home after work and have nothing to do, I tune into your live streams. Business seems to be good lately."
"That night, the streamer's voice was hoarse, and you sold tens of thousands of orders. That's amazing."
Xiang Wan didn't humble herself with him.
"I still owe you money, so I have to work harder for you."
"Ah, you're young, and your future is full of possibilities. There's no need to rush."
Tang Haichao's words were sincere.
"The live streaming industry is quite tough. I know a few people who say they get bored after a year or two."
"They earn a lot of money, get carried away, and their health deteriorates. You need to take care of yourself."
Xiang Wan said, "Are you afraid that if I earn too much money, I'll get carried away and forget about you, my old friend?"
Tang Haichao was surprised. "Oh, you still consider me a friend?"
"Of course. If it weren't for you, my brother and I wouldn't have gotten out of that situation so easily that day, and you lent me such a large sum of money at a crucial moment."
"Such a deep friendship. How could I possibly forget?"
Tang Haichao looked pleased. "Your words are enough for me."
"I'm not good with words and don't express myself well. Anyway, I just came over to say hello when I saw you. I'm not rushing you for the money, so please don't overthink it."
Xiang Wan joked, "Even if you were asking for the money, I wouldn't be able to give it to you right away."
"The factory is taking in raw materials every day, and we have to pay them a portion as a deposit."
"We also have a lot of payment held up for the live stream operations. On the surface, things look prosperous, but in reality, I don't have any spare cash."
"Otherwise, I would have treated you to lunch today."
Feeling that Xiang Wan was in good spirits lately and willing to joke with him, Tang Haichao waved his hand generously.
"How about I treat you? It's almost lunchtime anyway."
"We don't need to eat anything fancy. We can just grab a bowl of noodles in the industrial zone, and then get back to work. What do you say?"
After borrowing so much money, being hesitant about a bowl of noodles would seem petty.
Xiang Wan let the staff eat in the factory canteen, while she went with Tang Haichao to a small restaurant in the industrial zone.
Sitting in such a low-class place, talking loudly, eating casually.
Even being able to drink beer while eating garlic, throwing trash around, and splattering oil everywhere without anyone judging them felt good.
To be honest, every time she was with Lu Mingzhe, Xiang Wan felt a bit self-conscious.
Lu Mingzhe's elegant demeanor was cultivated from a young age; it was in his bones. She couldn't be too slovenly in front of him.
"I saw you in the passenger seat of a man's car after work that day. He looked quite handsome. Is he your boyfriend?"
She felt a bit embarrassed talking about this.
It was Lu Mingzhe who had asked her to add Tang Haichao on WeChat before.
"Yes. You met him before, during that car accident."
Tang Haichao said, "I figured. Were you two arguing at the time?"
Xiang Wan thought for a moment. "I don't know how to put it, but sort of."
Tang Haichao didn't press further.
"Anyway, it's all fate. When you get married, don't forget to send me an invitation."
"Okay," Xiang Wan smiled.