NABC Chapter 183 Opening
Chapter 183 Opening
"Are you crazy?"
Lu Yuan was startled by this sudden bluntness and gasped. He reflexively took two steps back, trying to create a safe distance from this woman who did not play by the rules.
To be honest, he was kicking himself right now; he really shouldn't have come to Xia Anqi for help.
This woman is like a blind box that could explode at any moment; who knows what shocking thing she'll do next.
"Is this difficult for you?" Xia Anqi tilted her head slightly, a hint of inquiry flashing in her clear eyes.
The emotions in her eyes were complex: three parts disappointment, three parts displeasure, and four parts slyness after achieving her goal.
Clearly, she was quite pleased to have successfully frightened Lu Yuan like this.
"What do you think?" Lu Yuan took a deep breath to calm his wildly beating heart and said speechlessly, "Xia Anqi, no matter what, you're supposed to be a lady from a respectable family, right? Being so casual is unbecoming of your manners."
Xia Anqi remained unperturbed, lazily shrugging her shoulders: "You old-fashioned Qing Dynasty pedant. This is the 21st century, where freedom of love is valued. You act like you've suffered some great loss just because I let you kiss me."
"This isn't about who loses out," Lu Yuan explained seriously. "If I were someone without principles or boundaries, when you made this request, regardless of whether you were joking or not, I would definitely kiss you without hesitation. After all, kissing a beauty of your caliber is a win-win situation for me."
"Oh?" Xia Anqi raised an eyebrow with interest, staring intently at him. "So you're trying to tell me that you're a person of principle, with a bottom line, and that you would never kiss me, right?"
"Yes." Lu Yuan nodded solemnly.
"So, it's your principles and bottom line that prevented you from kissing me, not because you don't like me? So, you actually like me?"
"No!" Lu Yuan suddenly realized he had fallen into a linguistic trap and quickly retorted, "Let me put it another way. In this life, it's impossible to only meet one person who makes your heart flutter, that's normal. But the important thing is that when facing newcomers, you must have the determination to stay true to your original intentions and the courage to refuse them."
He paused, his tone becoming more serious than ever before: "Xia Anqi, I admit you're outstanding, and I can't guarantee I won't fall for you someday. But I already have Ye Yixian, and I really like her. In my relationship with her, you'll always be the newcomer. Therefore, I will never do anything to you that crosses the line of friendship."
"..."
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
Xia Anqi's smile gradually faded, and she fell into a long silence.
Her eyes dimmed slightly; clearly, Lu Yuan's impeccable words had not truly convinced her.
Lu Yuan felt a little uneasy and tentatively asked, "So, you understand what I'm saying, right? Or... you can help me, right?"
Xia Anqi pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up, her face instantly turning icy. She coldly uttered a few words: "Dream on! You want my help without giving anything in return? No way."
After saying that, she turned and left without even glancing at him again.
Lu Yuan quickly caught up: "Then can you name a condition that I can meet?"
"Break up with Ye Yixian, immediately, right now, and then be with me."
"Why...why are you doing this?" Lu Yuan smiled bitterly.
"If you can't do it, then leave me alone. You're such a nuisance!"
Xia Anqi was completely enraged. She shook off Lu Yuan's hand and disappeared into the end of the corridor without looking back.
Lu Yuan stopped where he was, knowing that there was no point in chasing any further.
If she doesn't want to help, she simply doesn't want to; there's no point in saying more.
Lu Yuan scratched his head in frustration, wanting to curse her behind her back for being "unreasonable," but then he thought that he really couldn't give her the reward she wanted, so what right did he have to accuse others of standing by and doing nothing?
Left with no other choice, Lu Yuan had to settle for second best and go to Zhang Xueling.
Zhang Xueling was happy to help, but his network of connections was not as extensive as Xia Anqi's, and his appeal was not on the same level, so the effect would probably be less than ideal.
……
Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.
Flyers for "Yuanxian Wardrobe" began to appear everywhere in the small town, highlighting the wide variety of styles and affordable prices, with eye-catching signs advertising fashionable women's clothing as low as 19.9 yuan.
Although the flyers were distributed, the response was lukewarm and they did not cause much of a stir.
What's even more troublesome is that several established clothing stores in the same shopping mall have launched extremely aggressive promotional activities in the past few days in order to counter them.
This was also within Lu Yuan's expectations.
How could our competitors just stand by and watch you steal their business?
They are all long-established stores with a stable customer base. As long as they hold onto Yuanxian Wardrobe for three or four months, once their cash flow is cut off, Yuanxian Wardrobe will naturally close down.
Then they'll stop the promotions and continue making money effortlessly.
On the opening day, Ye Yixian specially asked Lu's parents for leave and brought Wang Qingyu along to support Lu Yuan.
She had long been curious about this store, but every time she asked, Lu Yuan would mysteriously say, "You'll know on the opening day."
This made her even more puzzled: how come she, as the official girlfriend, couldn't even find out the truth about him?
It wasn't until she stood in front of the store that she suddenly realized what was going on.
The signboard prominently displays four large characters: Yuanxian Wardrobe.
Anyone with eyes can see that this was pieced together using her and Lu Yuan's names.
"Lu Yuan, this is so romantic!" Wang Qingyu couldn't help but exclaim. "He's starting his own business and he still remembers to include you. Yixian, you're so lucky."
Ye Yixian's cheeks instantly flushed red. She quickly found Lu Yuan and asked in a low voice, "Lu Yuan, this clothing store has nothing to do with me, right? Why did you name it like that?"
"You noticed?" Lu Yuan looked at her with a smile in his eyes.
"Even a fool could see that!" Ye Yixian glared at him reproachfully.
"That's good. I was just afraid some fools wouldn't realize it." Lu Yuan affectionately reached out and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry, Sister Ya and Lin Kai both agreed. I was thinking that if things get going and they can't manage it all, they'll have to bring you on board, otherwise I definitely won't be able to handle it all by myself."
"Me?" Ye Yixian was flattered. Of course she was willing to help Lu Yuan, but she felt that she didn't know anything right now and couldn't help at all.
"Here's what we'll do: you and Qingyu each pick out a few clothes you like, and then post them on social media later," Lu Yuan said with a smile.
Although Ye Yixian doesn't have that many connections, she will definitely do her best since Lu Yuan needs her.
So the two girls linked arms and happily went to pick out clothes.
As it turned out, Lu Yuan's choice was correct; providing more fitting rooms could maximize the retention of customers.
Anyway, Ye Yixian and Wang Qingyu were happy to try on several more items.
After the store opened, acquaintances came to support it one after another. Not only were there Lu Yuan's friends, but also Gao Ya and Lin Kai's circle.
Several of Lin Kai's friends even came from afar, purely out of respect for him.
However, these people are all rich and powerful, and they look down on affordable clothes. Even if they buy them, they would probably just throw them in the closet to collect dust.
They were all wondering privately why Lin Kai had come to such a small county to sell cheap clothes, and they didn't think much of the project.
Although he didn't say it explicitly, he had a pessimistic look on his face.
On the first day, apart from acquaintances who came to support the business, the store was almost deserted and business was dismal.
It was all bark and no bite.
This disappointed Gao Ya and Lin Kai.
I thought that after all the publicity we did beforehand, even if it was bad, it shouldn't be this deserted.
When the store closed, Lu Yuan lay on a lounge chair in the store looking at his phone, looking relaxed.
Gao Ya couldn't hold back any longer and walked over to ask, "Lu Yuan, are you even prepared? Business is really bad today! We only had about twenty customers, and only three or five actually bought anything. We gave away more clothes to try on than we sold!"
"Sister Ya, don't worry." Lu Yuan remained calm and composed.
"How can I not be anxious?" Gao Ya sat down next to him, her face full of worry. "We've put so much effort into this. Your strategy is to attract a large number of customers, then test-market a few popular styles, increase inventory, and make money off the hype. But now there are so few people, how are we going to select the best-selling items?"
"Isn't this attracting people?"
Lu Yuan stared at his phone screen, muttering to himself.
Gao Ya leaned closer, puzzled, and found Lu Yuan browsing Weibo and QQ Space.
It turns out that Xu Lingjing, Jiang Yiqing, Zhang Xueling and others have already posted updates, and the number of likes and discussions is climbing at an astonishing rate.
Xu Lingjing, in particular, is undeniably a very beautiful and attractive woman.
Many girls follow her to learn her makeup and fashion sense.
Now that she's actively sharing her clothing store, she's immediately attracted the attention of a large number of girls.
Actually, when Xu Lingjing learned that Lu Yuan named the shop "Yuanxian", she felt a little uncomfortable and even had the thought of not helping him.
But she quickly realized that a store name didn't mean anything. In this matter, Xu Lingjing was far more valuable than Ye Yixian, completely outshining him.
In addition, Gao Zhe, Wang Qingyu, and Zheng Jiarui also helped post updates, and the number of likes was quite considerable.
The only pity is the absence of Xia Anqi, a "traffic bomb." If she had been willing to step in, the discussion surrounding Yuanxian Wardrobe would have increased several times over.
As Lu Yuan watched the constantly changing data on the screen, a confident smile appeared on his lips.
"Sister Ya, the real show is just beginning."