Chapter 272 - 269: Grand Opening
On the way home, Lin Lan asked Li Xiangyang, "Is the situation with Yang Dingbang and Xie Tian resolved?"
"I heard from Ding Bang that after we left, Xie Tian’s parents came to East Market. They promised Ding Bang that Xie Tian wouldn’t bother them anymore. Xie Tian asked to see Dandan once every two weeks."
"Ding Bang said he wouldn’t stop Dandan from seeing her, but if Dandan doesn’t want to, he won’t force her to meet with Xie Tian."
"Oh! The other day, I heard from Little Douzi that Dandan said she doesn’t like Xie Tian and doesn’t want to see her. She also said Xie Tian made her great-grandma cry. I was planning to visit her, but I got busy and completely forgot."
The two of them returned to Lexing. Lin Lan asked Qiaohui and Lin Yuezhen to come help at the shop tomorrow. She then took out a notebook and drew a grid in it to make recording things easier the next day.
That night, the four of them finished making all the pastries needed for the next day. The following morning, after sending out the deliveries and taking Little Douzi to school, Old Li and Li Xiangyang arrived.
Everyone was dressed in new clothes. Wu Shufang was wearing the silk jacket Lin Lan had brought back for her, Old Li had on a woolen overcoat, Li Xiangyang was in a navy blue Zhongshan suit, and Lin Lan wore a deep purple woolen coat over a cream-colored wool sweater. They all looked at each other and started laughing.
Lin Lan said with a laugh, "It’s just like celebrating the New Year, isn’t it!"
Old Li nodded, pointed to the firecrackers tucked into his satchel, and said cheerfully, "Six rolls of ten-thousand-shot ’Earth Red’ firecrackers. After setting them off, everything will go smoothly and be auspicious..."
Wu Shufen smiled and nodded. "Old Li is right. Everything will go smoothly."
Li Xiangyang looked at Lin Lan. "Shall we head to the shop, then?"
Lin Lan nodded, and the group set off for the shop, carrying the firecrackers.
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang went next door to Zhou Xiaohong’s place and gave her two rolls of firecrackers, congratulating her, "Sister Zhou, congratulations on your grand opening! May your wealth roll in!"
"Same to you! May both our businesses be prosperous and booming." Zhou Xiaohong accepted the firecrackers with a joyful expression and gave them two rolls in return. Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang then said their goodbyes and returned to their own shop.
Lin Lan said to Little Xue, Little Mei, He Li, Qiaohui, and Lin Yuezhen, "We’ll probably have a lot of customers looking around today.
Everyone, make sure you remember: if you take out any watches for a customer to see, you must remember to get them back. Also, keep an eye out for pickpockets trying to cause trouble in the shop.
Sister Yuezhen, Little Xue, and Little Mei, go to the clothing store side. He Li and Qiaohui will help out over here."
"Okay!" the five of them replied, and went to their positions.
Old Li said to Lin Lan, "I won’t go fishing for the next couple of days. I’ll stay here and help you watch the shop."
Lin Lan said with a smile, "Thank you, Uncle Li."
Old Li laughed and waved his hand. "We’re family, no need for thanks!"
"Exactly, no need to be so formal with family." Li Xiangyang paused, then added, "Later, I’ll go down to the newly opened restaurant and book two tables. We’ll treat everyone to a meal there."
Lin Lan thought about Xu Mingxuan’s business and realized they probably wouldn’t have time to go home and cook today, so she nodded in agreement.
Li Xiangyang and Lin Lan opened the doors to both shops and placed the "Grand Opening Sale" promotional posters by the entrance.
Yang Liqun, Zhao Dehai, Liu Da, and others began to arrive one after another.
Xu Ming also had Dongzi and Yang Dingbang bring over four potted kumquat trees, their branches laden with gleaming golden fruit. "My brother is away studying, so he asked us to deliver these kumquat trees. He wishes you a grand opening and a prosperous business!"
"Thank you!" Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang said in unison. They placed two of the vibrant kumquat trees at the entrance of the shop, one on each side, and put the other two in front of the clothing store across the way.
"These two kumquat trees are great. Placing them at the entrance is auspicious and they look good." Liu Da looked at Old Li. "With such a capable son and a wonderful daughter-in-law, you can just sit back and enjoy a comfortable life from now on!"
Old Li nodded, his face beaming with a smile. "Young people these days really have drive. I never dreamed the two of them would act so decisively. It didn’t take them long at all to get the shops up and running."
Li Xiangyang, Yang Dingbang, and the others carried the kumquat trees across the way and laid out the unrolled firecrackers in front of the shop.
Over at the department store, they also unrolled the firecrackers and arranged them at the entrance. Old Li lit a stick of incense and handed it to Lin Lan. "Little Lan, you do the honors and light the firecrackers."
"Okay!" Lin Lan took the incense. Across the way, Li Xiangyang, also holding an incense stick, waved to her. They both bent down and lit the firecrackers, which immediately began to CRACKLE AND POP.
Amidst the festive sound of the firecrackers, everyone poured out auspicious sayings as if they were free: "May your business boom! May you rake in money hand over fist! May wealth flow from all directions..."
Pedestrians on both sides of the street were drawn by the sound of the firecrackers. They looked over curiously, and some gathered at the shop entrance, asking if the goods inside required ration tickets.
Li Xiangyang shouted loudly, "Friends, everyone! For our grand opening sale, today and tomorrow everything in the store is ten percent off! No ration tickets or industrial coupons required for any items!"
The crowd of onlookers swarmed inside. Once they entered the shop, they discovered that all the clothes were hung up for sale, each piece ironed perfectly straight, and the styles were exceptionally beautiful.
Seeing the customers flooding in, Li Xiangyang hurried over to have Lin Lan switch to the clothing store while he stayed to help at the department store.
Yang Dingbang, Dongzi, and the other men saw how busy the shop was and took their leave.
Wu Shufen saw that the clothing store was crowded, so she quickly went over with Lin Lan to help Lin Yuezhen watch the shop and guard against pickpockets.
After dealing with a wave of customers, Lin Lan went to help Little Xue persuade a woman standing in front of the fitting mirror. "Ma’am, you have fair skin and a great figure. This suit looks truly wonderful on you. With the grand opening sale today and tomorrow, you’ll save over ten yuan on the set."
The fitting mirror was 2.5 meters tall and 60 centimeters wide. It was a floor mirror, placed at a 20-degree angle to the ground.
This was a trick Lin Lan had learned before. She had noticed that clothing stores often positioned their fitting mirrors this way, and she found that it made customers appear taller and slimmer when they looked in the mirror, making the clothes look even better on them.
The woman also felt she looked better in this outfit. Most importantly, she didn’t need any ration tickets. She nodded. "Alright, I’ll take this set."
Lin Lan wrote up a receipt and said to her, "After the discount, your clothes come to a total of 85.60 yuan. You earn one point for every yuan spent.
Once you accumulate 500 points, our shop will give you a free silk scarf. If you accumulate 1,000 points, you’ll receive a permanent 5% discount."
The woman’s eyes lit up when she heard this. "If someone else comes to buy things, can the points still be added to my name?"
Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "Yes, as long as the points are recorded under your account, that’s fine."
The woman asked again, "So if someone else uses my account to buy something, can they also get the discount?"
Lin Lan said with a smile, "That’s also possible."
"Great!" the woman said with a praise-filled smile. "It really is better to shop for clothes here. Not only do you have fitting rooms for us to try things on, but you can also earn points for gifts. I’ll definitely be back."
"Thank you!" Lin Lan led her to the cash register, recorded her information, added the points to her account, and after seeing her out, went to help another customer pick out clothes.
Over on their side, Little Xue and Little Mei were also busy finding sizes for customers. They were a bit flustered at first, but after handling a couple of sales, they got the hang of it and became much more composed.