Chapter 566 - 189: The ’80s Drama Queen Is Forced to Be a Top Student (24)

Chapter 566: Chapter 189: The ’80s Drama Queen Is Forced to Be a Top Student (24)

"However, I think the most urgent task right now is for the Red Sun Clothing Mall to quickly take all the clothes with quality issues off the shelves."

"Otherwise, someone is bound to realize something is wrong. When they can’t profit from it anymore, they’ll maliciously report you for quality problems and plagiarism!"

Manager Huang nearly jumped to his feet. "I’ll go make a call," he said anxiously. "We can’t give these villains an opening."

His thoughts were gradually clearing up. If they took the clothes off the shelves and disposed of them secretly, no one would have any leverage against them.

The Capital City was the boss’s home turf. How could they really be bullied by some local power in Jiang City?

He had to select more clothes this morning, negotiate the orders, and try to get the new stock in place as soon as possible to minimize the mall’s losses!

Fortunately, the boss had a phone installed at home. Manager Huang pulled him from a pleasant dream and briefly explained the situation, making sure to emphasize the severity of the consequences.

The boss woke up completely. He said the store would close for renovations today and that he’d have all the clothes burned immediately. He also urged them to prioritize their personal safety.

"By the way, Uncle Huang, you said that little girl wants to do business with me?"

Manager Huang nodded and said into the phone, "Boss, at first, I really did just see her as a little girl. I didn’t expect her to be so bold, daring to talk business with you right from the start."

"After we politely declined, she offered to rent a stall in our mall, pay the rent and the salesperson’s salary, just to bring us more foot traffic."

"But after spending three days with her, I’ve realized she’s no ordinary child. She and the other young man were the ones guiding us through this whole thing. It seems like they noticed something was wrong a long time ago."

"If it weren’t for their help, our mall would have been ruined sooner or later!"

At this mention, both men on the phone sighed, a deep sense of lingering fear rising within them. The crackdown on piracy had been especially strict in recent years.

They never imagined that they, as mere bystanders, would have gotten muddle-headedly involved.

"Old Huang, from now on, you will represent me in negotiations with that little girl. Our mall is already half-dead anyway. Without her, Red Sun will have to close sooner or later. And with this Pingyuan Clothing Factory business, it’s just making a bad situation worse."

"Let’s make a last-ditch effort and let the little girl help pick the clothes. If she has any other good suggestions, we’ll discuss them thoroughly when you get back and see if we can adopt them."

"As long as her involvement can bring our mall back to life, we will do our best to meet whatever conditions she proposes."

Manager Huang hummed in agreement. With his boss’s approval, he went straight back to Sheng Leyun and said, "Young lady, we’re tight on time today. How about... how about you help us pick out the clothes?"

"Name any condition you want!"

Sheng Leyun raised an eyebrow and said with a light chuckle, "Can I?"

Manager Huang smiled and nodded. "Of course, you can! Our boss gave the green light!"

"Then let’s continue our conversation about cooperation from the train."

Sheng Leyun’s eyes shifted slightly. She held up two fingers. "I have two cooperation plans. You can see which one you’d prefer."

"First, I join the mall as a technical and management shareholder. I’ll be responsible for selecting clothes each season, training the sales staff, planning holiday promotions, and handling interior and exterior renovations, among other things. In return, I want thirty percent of the profits."

Hearing this, everyone except Gong Zicheng—the three from the mall and the other kids—was completely stunned.

The girl really knew how to make an outrageous demand, asking for thirty percent of the profits from such a large clothing mall...

But Sheng Leyun’s expression was perfectly natural as she continued, counting on her fingers, "Second, I only participate in selecting the clothing styles. For every piece of clothing sold, I get a ten percent commission on the sales revenue."

Manager Huang wasn’t great with numbers, so he turned his head to look at the accountant.

She was also frowning, calculating in her head.

Although clothing was considered a high-profit industry, their Red Sun mall had a clear target audience, which meant their prices couldn’t be too high. They focused on volume.

With various costs spread across each item, the profit margin was not only less than half, but for new arrivals, it was only about a third.

After the season, they would run low-price promotions, squeezing the profit margin even further. They’d sell things off as long as they didn’t lose money.

In that case, if Sheng Leyun cooperated with the mall under the second plan, ten percent of the revenue would absolutely be far more than thirty percent of the profit from the first plan!

"Young Sheng Leyun, thirty percent of the mall’s profits is no small amount," Accountant Liu said patiently, though she was mentally preparing how to haggle with the girl.

Sheng Leyun smiled, pressing her lips together. "Ma’am, if you want a horse to run fast, you have to feed it well."

"The mall has to sell clothes and make a profit first before it can pay my share, wouldn’t you agree?"

"Or, let me give you some more confidence. Show me your monthly account books. We’ll use the results from your best-ever sales month as the baseline."

"If I can’t get the Red Sun Clothing Mall’s profits to reach that level, I won’t take a single cent. But if I exceed it..."

Before Sheng Leyun could continue, Accountant Liu spoke up on Manager Huang’s behalf, "As long as the profit exceeds our mall’s best-ever sales month, you’ll get thirty percent of the *additional* profit!"

Manager Huang nodded as well. "Yes, yes, let’s do that."

After saying this, both he and Accountant Liu looked a little ashamed.

They were blatantly taking advantage of a child.

After all, if the profits didn’t reach their best month’s level, the little girl would have just been busy for nothing, and the mall wouldn’t lose out at all.

Only if profits exceeded the baseline would it be a win-win situation!

Sheng Leyun chuckled and nodded. "Alright. A verbal agreement isn’t enough, so let’s write it down. We can finalize it into a formal contract once we’re back in the Capital City."

"After all, this isn’t a one-time deal."

Manager Huang quickly took a pen and paper from his briefcase and handed them to Accountant Liu to draft an agreement based on their discussion.

Sheng Leyun took it, looked it over, and, having nothing to add, signed her name.

The group headed to the wholesale market without stopping.

While they were browsing yesterday afternoon, Sheng Leyun had already gotten a general grasp of all the stalls: their manufacturers’ clothing styles, the fabrics they used, their target demographics, prices, and so on!

Now, she led the group straight to the stalls, asked Manager Huang about the quantity and types of items he needed to purchase, and then went into a full-on shopping blitz.

She had a unique eye. Classic styles were a must, but she also picked some pieces that looked ordinary but would flatter anyone who wore them thanks to certain well-executed small details.

In others’ eyes, clothes were two-dimensional shapes, but for her, they had a 3D effect.

Along the way, she also picked out items for herself and her friends.

Everyone discovered that Sheng Leyun was a first-rate haggler. She was a sweet-talker who knew how to compliment people, and in a novel move, she managed to secure exclusive regional distributorships for several provinces from a few factories at the same 20% discount others were getting just for bulk purchases.

After picking out the clothes, they went to an area selling small accessories.

Here, the male members of the group, big and small, had absolutely no aesthetic sense.

Sheng Leyun told them, "The people who browse street stalls and are willing to spend money are mostly our female compatriots. And they love anything pretty and inexpensive."

"Whether you’re selling at a street stall or in a mall, an ordinary piece of clothing can look completely different if you pair it with the right accessories!"

The moment she said this, Manager Huang immediately grinned and said, "Little Sheng, we’ll do as you say! Just tell us what accessories we need. We’re not short on cash!"

The other kids also chimed in, saying they trusted her eye.

Sheng Leyun went on another shopping spree.

But a mall that only sells clothes is a bit monotonous, so she also picked out some pretty shoes, bags, silk scarves, pendants, bracelets, and other matching items.