Xiang Wan, while talking to Tang Haichao, opened her phone to a WeChat message.
The factory manager was asking where she was, wanting to discuss the advance payment.
"What's wrong?" Xiang Wan asked. "I'll head back after I finish eating."
The manager replied, "There are many similar clothes appearing online now, and the competition for raw materials is fierce."
"To ensure timely delivery, I want to secure all the raw materials at once."
"Otherwise, if we keep doing this piecemeal, what we just got might be snatched up by others."
"But if we buy everything at once, we don't have enough capital. Hurry over so we can discuss it."
Halfway through her noodles, seeing the urgency, Xiang Wan told Tang Haichao the truth.
"I have something to attend to and need to go back for a meeting. I'm sorry, I can't talk anymore. I have to go."
When they first arrived, Tang Haichao had driven his small truck.
The sun was quite strong, and walking would take a long time. He quickly stopped her.
"I'll give you a ride. Walking is too slow."
Xiang Wan was pregnant, and walking that far would indeed be tiring.
"Then eat a couple more bites. I'll wait for you."
He hastily shoveled a couple more mouthfuls into his mouth and drank some soup.
"Let's go, let's go, that's enough. It's fine."
Once in the car, he asked Xiang Wan if something had happened.
Xiang Wan then explained the matter of purchasing raw materials.
"Buying so much at once is a lot of money. What if someone cancels their order midway or something unexpected happens..."
Xiang Wan said.
"Order cancellations are rare events, and we can afford them based on a percentage. That's not a big problem."
"Unexpected events, you mean like a fire. I'll be extra vigilant."
"Once the raw materials are purchased, pay special attention to that aspect."
Tang Haichao: "That's good. We can't afford any accidents when investing such a large sum. Otherwise, it would be troublesome."
They parted ways, and Xiang Wan entered the manager's office.
The manager explained the situation and pushed the procurement list for her to see.
"I've had someone calculate it. If you agree to purchase everything at once, you'll need to transfer this much money."
2.23 million.
The total for the order of over 140,000 items was over 7 million. Over 2 million had already been completed, leaving more than 5 million.
She only needed to pay half as a deposit, so over 2 million was required.
Xiang Wan understood the logic and the strategy, confident that the investment was worthwhile, but she genuinely lacked the spare funds to commit.
The manager sighed.
"In business, who doesn't take out bank loans? The bigger you are, the more indebted you are to banks."
"Look at that big shot in real estate; he owes banks hundreds of billions."
"Miss Xiang, if you want to do great things, you can't be timid."
"The situation has reached this point. If you're not afraid of competitors stealing your business or delaying delivery, then I don't mind."
"We can proceed slowly. You'll still owe me every penny, but your own losses will be much greater."
Xiang Wan knew what he was talking about.
She also knew that taking out bank loans made sense.
In the startup world, who uses their own money to lay eggs? Everyone borrows a chicken to lay eggs.
It was just that she was timid and couldn't make up her mind.
It seemed this time, she had no choice but to make a decision.
"I'll think about it some more. You can keep negotiating, but don't finalize anything. I'll give you an answer by tomorrow morning at the latest."
Xiang Wan left the office with her phone, intending to call Lu Mingzhe to estimate how much she could borrow against her house and car.
But then she thought, wouldn't telling him this be tantamount to asking him for money?
He had already taken the brunt of the fire incident for her, and now she was asking him for money again.
If her business grew even larger in the future, requiring more investment, she couldn't possibly ask him every time.
She thought of Tang Haichao.
Fortunately, Tang Haichao was just a supervisor and didn't need to be hands-on, so his time was relatively flexible.
He soon met Xiang Wan again.
He shared his own experiences and various strategies for getting bank loans.
Seeing how familiar he was with the process, and considering the data in the live stream was still rapidly increasing, Xiang Wan gritted her teeth and made up her mind.
"Accompany me to the bank. I've decided, I'm going to apply for a loan. We must have a brilliant fight during this Double 11."
Tang Haichao, however, stopped her.
"Everyone's situation is different, and men and women are different. My personal experience isn't necessarily a good reference."
"Miss Xiang, I'm not trying to persuade you to do this. Please think it through carefully."
Xiang Wan nodded.
"This is my own decision. With my small-time vendor mentality, I'll never be able to grow my business. I need to learn from you all."
"Let's go. I'm troubling you."
The two of them spent the afternoon at the bank and successfully applied for a loan of over 4 million yuan.
Although it normally took several days for approval, Tang Haichao knew people there, and the first batch of funds arrived eight hours later.
Xiang Wan finally breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she could secure all the raw materials the next day.
"Mr. Tang, words can't express my gratitude. Let's be lifelong friends. If you ever need anything, just ask me, and I'll help if I can."
Tang Haichao smiled, "Okay, I'll remember that."
At the end of the workday, Lu Mingzhe came to pick up Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan asked him about the renovation progress. Lu Mingzhe didn't hide anything from her.
The preliminary estimate was three to four million yuan, and that was with an internal price from Zhan Beijue.
Fortunately, he had saved some money over the years, but after this, their wedding plans would have to be scaled back.
"Please don't be angry."
What right did she have to be angry?
Xiang Wan hugged his arm.
"How about we skip the wedding? We can have it after the baby is born and grown up."
"Let him be our ring bearer. Many people do that now."
"But won't you feel wronged? Will Grandma accept it?"
Xiang Wan said, "Not at all. My grandma definitely won't feel that way either."
"Their generation went through much tougher times than us and managed to get through it. My grandma isn't that materialistic. She values how well you treat me."
Lu Mingzhe smiled.
"You should have said so earlier! If you had, I wouldn't have had any psychological burden, and we would have gotten our marriage certificate already!"
"It's too late today. How about tomorrow? We'll go get our certificate first thing tomorrow morning!"
Xiang Wan felt like crying.
"Psychological burden? If you have any thoughts in the future, tell me directly. Am I someone who cares about those things? Don't keep it to yourself."
Lu Mingzhe said, "Okay."
"Then I'll take you home. I won't be staying for dinner tonight."
"My mom took the household registration book a couple of days ago to get her passport. I need to get it back from her and also talk to her about our situation."
"I haven't properly told them about my divorce from Chen Jiaojiao yet. My dad is old-fashioned; I'll probably get a stern lecture."
"But with our baby as protection, they won't do much to me for its sake."
"Once things are settled there, I'll bring you back immediately. Okay?"
He gently touched Xiang Wan's belly twice.
Looking at his sincere smile, Xiang Wan held his arm even tighter.
"Okay. I'll wait for you."