Because of Xin Qing"s provocative remark, the gossip columns were once again filled with countless of articles the next day. Admittedly, Xin Qing had never really considered the consequences of her own words.
"You still have the nerve to laugh!" Zhang Mi stared at her. "Aren"t you afraid that Rong Siman will take extreme measures out of desperation?"
"My husband and I couldn"t even acknowledge each other because of her. She"s also the reason my children don"t have a father. Why should I go easy on her?" Xin Qing smirked. "Sure, she"ll get desperate, but that"s about as much as she"s capable of. She won"t be able to do anything. Before Xin Enterprises reverts to Ying Enterprises, she can"t do anything other than endure!"
Just then, a fuming Monica walked in.
"What"s the matter?" Zhang Mi winked at her. "Did Ah Nan make you angry again?"
"Ying Enterprises has refused to supply goods for us at the same price as before. Can you believe this? They said they will be using the market price in all our dealings from now on. Unless we set up landmark billboards at Caesar Academy to advertise their products, only then they will deal with us at the same price as before." Monica was slapping her palm on the desk"s surface at this point. "D*mn! It"s not like they"re the only goods" supplier in town."
Zhang Mi shrugged. "See? Extreme measures."
Monica did not get the reference. "What do we do now?" Monica asked Xin Qing, gritting her teeth. "Give them their d*mn billboards?"
All of a sudden, Xin Qing burst into peals of laughter. "Hahaha!" The sight of Xin Qing"s beautiful laugh crept Zhang Mi and Monica out so much that the two of them ended up hugging each other.
"Has she... gone insane?" Asked Monica.
Zhang Mi shook her head. "I think she must have thought of some kind of crazy idea."
The brand owned by Smith"s company was called Serene. Its products included personal care products for mothers and babies as well as bathroom products: shampoos, bodywashes, scented soaps, etc. It was one of the priciest brands in the international market, and it was also widely acclaimed as the pure organic personal care brand. A lot of international celebrities loved the brand, especially its baby products. Considering that Smith had already granted Serene"s dealership to Ying Qingcang, this sudden raise in price must have had something to do with Rong Siman; Xin Qing"s remark from the previous day must have provoked Rong Siman.
"Why don"t we try obtaining the goods from Smith directly?" Monica suggested once Xin Qing had stopped laughing.
Zhang Mi disagreed. "That will just make us look pathetic. We might as well just come out and say that we"re scared of them if we do that!"
"That"s true. But I"m worried it might affect the academy if we switch to another brand. What if the people from the academy"s HQ in France disagree?" Monica was aware that Serene was currently the most expensive product available in the international market. Caesar Academy had always embraced the "comfiest, safest, and priciest" philosophy. If they suddenly switch to another brand, they would have no way of explaining that choice to the parents and students.
Xin Qing took a sip of water. "I knew this day would come the moment I turned my back on Smith last time."
"You"ve got a plan?" Monica noted the confident and triumphant look on Xin Qing"s face. "For real?"
Xin Qing nodded and rose to her feet. "Change all of Caesar Academy"s bedding products to For You. As for things like towels, we can produce a special edition and then add some embroideries to it. I think a lot of people would want that."
"Hey, this plan sounds super workable!" Zhang Mi gave her a thumbs up. Monica nudged Zhang Mi harshly. "Don"t celebrate too early. What about soap, shampoo and other toiletries?"
Xin Qing thought for a moment. "How much longer can our current supply last for?"
Monica glanced down at the doc.u.ment she was holding. "Three months tops," she said.
"That will be enough," Xin Qing said with a nod. "Get ready. I"ll bring you guys to see some flowers."
In a state of muddled confusion, Zhang Mi and Monica hopped on a plane with Xin Qing the next day and flew to England. When they were leaving, Ah Nan had even grumbled about the fact that they had decided to exclude him from the trip. Safe to say that n.o.body knew what Xin Qing was up to this time...
Inside Ying Qingcang"s office, Rong Siman was staring at him with a smug look on her face.
"I bet you don"t have anything bad to say about me now," Rong Siman said as she sashayed towards Ying Qingcang, hoping to sit in his lap.
Ying Qingcang stood up with his poker face intact. "You mean the fact that you"ve acted on your own by raising the price offered to Caesar Academy? You think that I should, what, praise you?"
"Ah Cang!" Rong Siman stomped her foot petulantly, completely ignoring the fact that such behavior was unbecoming for a woman in her 30s. "This will deal considerable damage to Xin Enterprises. They have no other brands to use as a replacement. Their only option is to yield to our demands."
Ying Qingcang glanced her. "Xin Qing left S City today."
"Where did she go?" Something flashed in Rong Siman"s eyes, and she laughed. "I bet she"s trying to look for another brand to replace Serene with!"
Ying Qingcang sat down on the couch and arched his brows. "She went to England."
Rong Siman leaned herself towards Ying Qingcang once more. "The top brand in England is at least two times more expensive than Serene. Plus, n.o.body in the country even knows that the brand exists. Even if she disregards the costs, she wouldn"t be able bring the brand into the country"s market without at least three years." Rong Siman poked Ying Qingcang"s chest. "I don"t believe she will really go through with it!"
"Let"s just wait and see, then. I hope... you"ve made the right move this time." Ying Qingcang"s eyes flickered. Knowing that he was not angry, Rong Siman became even more daring. "Hey, Ah Cang, will you accompany me to an auction tomorrow night?"
In England, Monica and Zhang Mi were nearly driven out of their minds when they stared at the vast expanse of lavender which lay before them.
"Argh! Argh! Argh!" Zhang Mi held her head and spun herself around. "There are yellow ones! White ones! Even blue ones! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Monica appeared far more composed than Zhang Mi. "This is... yours?" Monica asked, gaping at Xin Qing.
Xin Qing was very satisfied with their reactions. She nodded and grinned at them. "Yeah!"
Zhang Mi tossed her hand bag away and charged right into the flower field. Monica reached out and held back Xin Qing, who was about to charge into the field as well. "You want to start your own brand?"
"It"s already in the works," Xin Qing said, dragging Monica along as they both leaped into the ocean of lavender. "Come on! You"ll get it once we cross the field!"
The seemingly borderless flower field was, in fact, pretty far to tread across. It took the three of them up to half an hour to reach the other side of the field on foot.
After a tour of the factory, Monica and Zhang Mi were both smiling from ear to ear. They drove back into town and enjoyed a hearty dinner. After that, Xin Qing took out several lavender products that she had brought back from the factory during the day.
"A lot of people had discovered this place ever since two years ago. Those people are interested in producing all-natural personal care products using the lavender here. But I"d always been so busy, and I didn"t want to make a profit out of Ah Cang"s gift for me, so I never agreed to any of the deals they offered."
Xin Qing uncapped a bottle of essential oil and sniffed. "I thought of this place last year after our contract with Smith ended. So I ordered someone to have a factory set up."
"This is good stuff!" Zhang Mi said, rubbing oil all over her body non-stop. "Hey, guys. Just smell it. Right now I smell so good!"
Monica gave her short curls a little flip. "This shampoo smells even better!"
"You guys have tried out the products," Xin Qing said. "These are all made from refined lavender. The quality is definitely in the same league as For You"s." Xin Qing was very satisfied with the anchor that she had laid to the windward.
Soon, the excitement pa.s.sed and everyone started to calm down.
"But n.o.body has used it before and it lacks the celebrity effect. There"s no publicity as well. We still have to start from the beginning!" Monica said, sounding a little worried. "I fear n.o.body would acknowledge it."
Xin Qing burst into peals of gleeful laughter. "Who told that it hasn"t been used?" Xin Qing booted up her laptop and accessed her email account.
Zhang Mi pointed her finger at the names shown on screen. "These people... Don"t tell me it"s them?"
"I gave the first batch of products to them for free. As a jewelry designer, I can vouch for the trustworthiness and credibility of these people. I trust them!" Xin Qing winked. "But here"s what I didn"t expect. After they used the products, they started making purchases straight from the factory, and by the end of last year, the factory had already redeemed the manufacturing costs. In fact, the factory is now self-sustaining and has recovered all its funds."
"These are all the key players in the fashion world," Monica said in a tone of disbelief. "If any one of them endorses our products, we could totally kick that Smith"s a.s.s in seconds!"
"We"ll discuss about that once we head back. We"ll figure out the most suitable candidate. In three months, I want the whole world to know the name of the brand known as "The You Of My Dreams"!"
Monica and Zhang Mi shared a look with each other, and then Zhang Mi chuckled. "You came up with that name on your own?" Zhang Mi asked.
"This is Ah Cang"s gift to me," Xin Qing said. All of a sudden, Xin Qing"s eyes became gla.s.sy and unfocused. It was like she was talking to herself. "In the middle of the night, I often dreamed about the time we had both spent here. I"m still the same person as I was in my dream. I haven"t changed. But the you in my dreams, when are you coming back..."
One particular day in May, while partic.i.p.ating in a Chinese TV show, a certain world-famous model inadvertently revealed the fact that The You Of My Dreams was her skincare product of choice. That revelation had caused people to start doing internet searches on the brand. Not a few days later, a product endorsed by another celebrity from Hollywood suddenly appeared on TV; that product was precisely The You Of My Dreams!
Soon, this product, which had utilized the concept of natural lavender, filled the shelves of various high-profile beauty shops all over the globe. At almost the same time, Caesar Academy released a statement announcing the replacement of Serene with The You Of My Dreams.
More and more celebrities were endorsing the brand on TV. They posted photos of themselves on Weibo to highlight the effects of the product when used right after sunbathing. A lot of their fans had begun jumping on the bandwagon after seeing those photos on social media. The only catch was that The You Of My Dreams was a high-end brand, which meant that the its products were in a price range comparable to those of For You"s.
"We"ve eased into the market successfully! Right now we just have to wait for the sales data for the first season. I"m guessing it will exceed our estimations!" Monica said, waving the reports excitedly. Ah Nan looked at Xin Qing in awe. "Young Miss," Ah Nan said, "you"ve really done it beautifully this time!"
Xin Qing smiled and closed the lid of her laptop. "You"ll have to thank your Young Master for this. He"s the one who gave me that piece of land."
Meanwhile, Ying Qingcang was watching a commercial on TV. The commercial featured a beautiful model exposing her skin amidst the sunset against a backdrop of a vast lavender field. With knitted brows, Ying Qingcang fixed his gaze upon the vast ocean of flowers.
The door opened with a bang. Rong Siman burst into the room. "Ah Cang, I can"t believe that woman actually started a new brand, and its already beginning to take over the market!"
"Weren"t you the one who said that she couldn"t have managed it this soon?" Ying Qingcang barely lifted his head as he kept looking at the TV.
Rong Siman frowned and sat across from him. "So what do we do now? Just watch Xin Enterprises expand their brand and monopolize our market?"
"That"s your own responsibility, isn"t it? Why are you asking me?" Ying Qingcang said, finally raising his head to level a cold stare at her. "I"m looking forward to how you"re going to pay the price for your own folly."
"Ah Cang..." Rong Siman panicked. "You can"t do this to me. I was wrong to have acted on my own. But now it isn"t the time to be mad at me. You can"t sit around and do nothing while that woman grows her brand. It will affect our partnership with Smith. Also, over half of our revenue comes from Serene. It will have a major impact on the company if things go south."