The Pentium Era - South to North

There is still a week before the Spring Festival, Zhang Chen's factory has not yet had a holiday, and He Hongmei's studio has already had a holiday. She arrived in Hangzhou from Beijing.

He Hongmei will not go back to Chongqing to celebrate the New Year this year, but will go to Sanya with Zhang Chen and others.

When Xiaofang was there, He Hongmei was not allowed to stay in the hotel. After Xiaofang left, she did not stay in the hotel again.

I have become accustomed to living here. As Xiaofang said, it naturally creates a feeling of home. For example, she said to Zhang Chen, "Let's go home and I will go home first, or I will wait for you at home." These are all words that come out naturally. I won’t say them again. Let’s go back to the room.

In comparison, the studio in Beijing still belongs to her, but she feels that the studio is just a studio and does not feel like home. Although Zhang Chen no longer stays in a hotel when he goes to Beijing again, but stays in He Hongmei's studio, It always gives them a sense of temporary accommodation, without the stability and reliability of home.

Xiao Zhao's urn has always been placed in Xiao Fang's room. When Zhang Chen was alone, he would sit there every morning and evening, wipe the urn with a towel, and talk to Xiao Zhao about what he was going to do today. things, or things you did today.

When He Hongmei came back, she would immediately go to Xiaofang's room to sit there and shut Zhang Chen out. She would talk to Xiao Zhao inside alone. When she left, she would always go to Xiao Fang's room to sit there. Say goodbye, come out with red eyes.

The two people had made an appointment and formed a tacit understanding, that is, they would never sit there together and talk to Xiao Zhao. Talking to Xiao Zhao has become their most secret inner monologue. Many of their worries can only be solved by talking to Xiao Zhao. Only Xiao Zhao can say.

Especially in Zhang Chen, he felt that those thoughts that could expose his weakness could not be said to He Hongmei, or even to all real people. On the one hand, he was worried that the other party would be worried, and on the other hand, it was also subconscious self-esteem. Just like people will subconsciously hide the scars on their bodies even in front of the people closest to them, instead of exposing them openly.

This kind of subconsciousness does not make any sense when you look into it, but people do it. Parents will not show their weakness in front of their children. Even if their children have just cried a lot, they pick up the phone and talk to their parents far away. , will also say, Dad, Mom, I am fine here.

Zhang Chen would sit there and tell Xiao Zhao worriedly that what he was most afraid of going to was the distribution center every day. What he was most afraid of was looking at the reports from various places. The sales of specialty stores in every place were declining. Now the clothing business, Xiao Zhao Zhao, it's not as easy as before.

Not only their brand, the ranking in major shopping malls has not declined, but the performance has declined, which shows that fewer and fewer people go to major shopping malls to buy clothes, including Zhang Chen who went to the ESPRIT store to look at it. When he arrived in Shanghai, he went Looking at Paris Printemps and Huating Isetan, there are not as many customers as before.

In just a few years, Shanghai 100, once the leader in China's department store industry, has already become old, outdated, and shabby. Yaohan in Pudong can no longer operate. Yaohan headquarters in Japan also suffered a crisis during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Then it went bankrupt.

Ai Jing's "My 1997" is still singing: "Hurry up and 1997 will come/How are Babaihan's clothes..." Unexpectedly, in 1997, Yaohan had already bowed.

The more difficult it is for the mall to operate, the more aggressive their discounts will be, and the more aggressive they will exploit the vendors. At first, it was 20% off for the whole store, then it was buy 300 and get 100 free, and now it is buy 200 and get 80% off. The shopping malls will not bear the discounts given to customers and will all pass them on to the manufacturers.

There are also more and more charging items. It used to be only admission fees and monthly deductions. Now, in addition to these, there are expenses for store celebrations, advertising expenses, New Year's Day, May Day, National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Wednesday. The cost of eight sessions and so on.

These expenses are getting higher year by year. Xiao Zhao, we are now running a shopping mall. I have calculated that we almost don’t make much money anymore. We just support people and earn some fame. But if fame cannot be exchanged for money in the end, this fame will What's the use?

Zhang Chen would not say these words to He Hongmei, but sitting here, he would say them to Xiao Zhao.

He also told Xiao Zhao about the dream he had, which was to do a fashion show a year, all over the country and at home and abroad, going to the Great Wall, Sanya, Macau, Taipei...

Zhang Chen started laughing as he spoke. Now that I think about it, Xiao Zhao, that was so childish and ridiculous, don’t you think? We spent so much money and energy, but we just blew a bubble, and now it seems that this bubble has brought nothing.

Zhang Chen also told Xiao Zhao the rumor that Xiaomi told him. Although it was a rumor, I thought about it carefully. Xiao Zhao, this will definitely happen eventually. That is Shanghai, Huaihai Road, Huaihai Road in Shanghai, why? It is possible that such a large area of ​​low-rise houses will always be allowed to exist. It will be a matter of time before they are demolished and converted into high-rise buildings.

Zhang Chen does this every day, sitting with Xiao Zhao for a while. These words seem to be said to Xiao Zhao, but also to himself. After talking to himself for a while, he feels calm.

Sometimes Zhang Chen would wonder, if Xiao Zhao was still alive here, would he truly show his vulnerability in front of her like this?

Maybe, maybe not.

He and Xiao Zhao started when they were at their lowest, and there was nothing to hide. If he didn't tell her, Zhang Chen felt that the most likely reason was because he was afraid that she would worry, rather than because he was afraid that she would laugh at him or look down on him.

If you want to be rich and noble, why would you kill the person you cheated with back then? It's because you will expose his glorious image. A poor and humble couple can last for a long time. That's because you don't need to pretend. When you return home, you are still a real person.

When Zhu Yuanzhang went to court, he was a majestic emperor. After he retired from the court and returned to Queen Ma, he was still Zhu Chongba.

When Zhang Chen and He Hongmei are together, everyone takes it for granted and is urging them to ask when they will get married. But the strange thing is that when the two of them are together, they never seem to bring up this topic, and sometimes they even carefully avoid it. this problem.

Zhang Chen's mother said to Zhang Chen very sternly, "You are irresponsible to Hongmei. You are married and have children. Hongmei does not. She is now in her thirties. Do you want to delay her?" When will it be delayed until she can't even have a child?

Zhang Chen felt that what his mother said made sense, and it was indeed unfair to He Hongmei to delay it like this. However, when he tried to talk to He Hongmei about this, He Hongmei changed the topic and asked instead: "Why, I am in your heart , not your other half?"

Zhang Chen quickly said of course, but he knew in his heart that she was not ready yet.

He Hongmei giggled: "Without that piece of paper, you would have never escaped from my clutches."

Wenwen and Qianqian followed He Hongmei back to Hangzhou, but they did not go home immediately. They all said that there was no point in going home at this time. The two got into Zhang Chen's e-commerce department, Wenwen and Li Wei said , use your computers, she and Qianqian continue to sell clothes here.

Wenwen and Zhang Chen said that their "Red Plum Blossoms" are now selling well online. She and Qianqian can already support themselves by selling clothes. Being an agent is my part-time job and my main business now. It's selling clothes.

"Is it that exaggerated?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Of course, our workers spend one-third of their time doing 'Red Plum Blossoms'." Qianqian said, "Isn't it the same here?"

Zhang Chen and his current e-commerce department can sell fifty or sixty pieces of clothing a day. Compared with before, the growth is indeed very fast, but compared with their output of more than 10,000 sets a day, it is not even a fraction.

Wenwen and Qianqian were very interested when they heard Zhong Peijun and Li Wei talking about Gong Xue. Wenwen said I'll come, I'll come, I'll tease her, and they must grab the rope and pull the cow out.

But she was digging out treasures and shouting "kiss" for several days. People said that they ignored her, but they continued to buy clothes. She seemed to prove her existence by buying clothes and used this behavior. , in response to Wenwen, get lost and don’t harass me again.

"I'm so angry!" Wenwen walked into Zhang Chen's office and shouted at Zhang Chen and He Hongmei: "I want to go to Shanghai, to Jinmao Tower, to her door."

Zhang Chen smiled and said, "You come to the door, but they still ignore you, block you out, or call the security guard and throw you downstairs. What should you do?"

"Throw me downstairs? How dare she? I'm in Beijing and there's no building I can't enter. Why should they throw me downstairs?" Wenwen shouted.

"Then why did you come to the door?" Zhang Chen asked, "Who said that I have to talk to you when buying clothes? I only know that the salesperson must have a bad attitude towards the customer. I have never heard that the customer must have a good attitude towards the salesperson. Besides, , people just ignored you and didn’t scold you, it doesn’t even count as having a bad attitude, right?”

Wenwen was speechless. After holding it for a long time, she said, "I'm just curious and want to see who it is."

"Can't people not see you? Who are you? People will welcome you when you go?" Zhang Chen asked.

Wenwen opened her mouth and had nothing to say. He Hongmei smiled and said: "Forget it, don't break this brother's fantasy."

"What fantasy?" Wenwen and Qianqian asked at the same time.

He Hongmei said: "We judge that this Gong Xue must be someone that this brother knows, and maybe he admires him very much. What if you go and find out that this Gong Xue is an old lady in her sixties?"

Wenwen and Qianqian laughed, and Wenwen said: "Gong Xue, Duo Bingqing Yujie's name, what if she turns out to have a waist, legs and arms thicker than those of the weightlifting team, right, Mr. Zhang?"

"These are pretty good. What if we find out that Gong Xue is a transvestite, actually a man, and has chest hair?" Qianqian said.

The three people sat there, watching Zhang Chen laugh. Zhang Chen looked at them and shook his head helplessly. He picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said, "Come here."

After a while, Liu Ligan walked in sleepily and asked, "Why did you call me so early in the morning?"

Zhang Chen pointed at Wenwen and Qianqian and said, "Take your pair of Meng Liang and Jiao Zan away."

"Why, are they disturbing you and the Sichuan girl?" Liu Ligan asked, "Come on, we are a family that loves each other."

As Liu Ligan said this, he reached out to pull Wenwen and Qianqian. Wenwen cursed: "Get away, I haven't even wiped the shit out of my eyes!"

"It still smells like smoke." Qianqian also shouted.

Thank you for the reward at around 3 o'clock in the middle of the night. Two fishes were placed one above the other, and the third one from top to bottom! Thank you to Book Friends 120421012323923, Guandian Electromechanical, Nagging Lao Dao, Xifeng, Daosheng 123, and Book Friends 20180906223204934 for your monthly votes! Thanks for all the votes and reading! I wish you all good health!