With all the overtime work put in, Wu Xiuyue's storefront finished remodeling in just 20 days. Chen Fei had ordered all sofas and lightings, etc. for her in advance and they had all arrived. 

Shu Yan was able to hook her up with the factories for the racks and dummies and they were cheap and of high quality. None of those cost too much and most of the money was still spent on merchandizes.

Wu Xiuyue had never had 10,000 yuan on her in her entire life. She could feel her heart almost throbbing out of her chest when she got out of the car, worried that she would be robbed.

"The more you act that act, the more the others could tell you have a lot of money on you. Just relax." Shu Yan didn't know what else to say. Perhaps 10,000 yuan wasn't that much to her so she really wasn't that nervous back then.

"I'll do my best," said Wu Xiuyue through her worries.

Shu Yan quickly dragged her to the motel with her before they really attracted attention. Public safety was not great in this era and there were a lot of pickpockets.

Worried that the motel wasn't safe enough, Wu Xiuyue locked the door hind them before dragging a table over to block it. She even suggested to take turn staying awake just in case.

"Okay, you do that. I am going to catch some sleep." She had been to City Han countless times and had heard many stories of people's money being stolen. Most of them were newbies and they attracted attention to themselves because they looked like they were carrying a lot of money with them.

When Shu Yan woke up, she found Wu Xiuyue dozing her while holding onto her money. She was speechless for a little while. She let her sleep for half an hour before she packed up and got ready to go.

"I am so nervous. What am I going to do?" said Wu Xiuyue while holding onto Shu Yan's hand.

"Your shop hasn't even opened up yet. We are just here for merchandizing. What are you so nervous about?"

"I am still nervous. I worry that I don't pick well. What if I am not able to sell what I have picked out? I would lose my money. How much would that cost me?" Wu Xiuyue couldn't help but regretted why she wanted to go into business when she didn't have to.

Shu Yan gave her a look. "What's there to worry about? Just get what I get. I have been selling clothes for a while now and have an idea what will sell. Our stores are far away enough that we can sell the same clothes."

This was the best that she could do. There was not much more that she could help with if Wu Xiuyue's business was still poor. Shu Yan had warned her that there were risks in business, win some and lose some. But she was every fixated on going into business at the time. It was way too late to regret by now.

Wu Xiuyue felt much better after Shu Yan's reassurance. Wu Xiuyue had, once again, demonstrated her amazing ability during merchandizing. She was able to get most of what Shu Yan said was good.

"Too bad we missed out on those two dresses," sighed Wu Xiuyue when she was organizing their clothes with Shu Yan.

Shu Yan, "... ..."

It was okay to leave a little bit of something to someone else. Had she no idea how mighty she was earlier?

When they were buying wholesales, Shu Yan instructed her on which ones sell fast and which ones to not get and how to choose colors. For example, definitely stock up on the mainstream colors. Then she would need to know the popular colors of the year.

 That was very simple as well. Just take a look at the most commonly seen colors on the market. In addition, her store was close to the university city so she could go for something geared toward the younger crowd.

They were only carrying a portion back with them with the rest being shipped over. Wu Xiuyue already had the date picked and Xiuxiu had taken a day of specifically to help her organize her merchandizes.

When Zhang Huaxiu came in to work the next day, Shu Yan asked her, "How are things over at your sister-in-law's? If there wasn't enough time, you can take another day off to help her out."

"It's fine. We were more or less done and I have already given her the pointers. She can always ask me more questions after I am home from work. I will, however, go over to help her on her opening day." 

Zhang Huaxiu was an experienced worker at Shu Yan's shop and knew very well how to mix and match and set pricings, including promotional activities. She was well versed in all of those.

Wu Xiuyue wasn't generous enough to give away a television; they didn't even have one at home. She bought a bicycle as the grand prize and a radio as first prize. All in all, it did not come close to what Shu Yan had.

That being said, it was still the first on Fujian Street and those who saw the flyers would come over and check it out. Regardless of whether she was doing a lot of business, it looked very bustling.

Shu Yan sent a pair of flower baskets and, seeing that Wu Xiuyue and Zhang Huaxiu were running around back and forth, asked Zhang Huaxiu, "Didn't you guys hire any workers?"

That made Xiuxiu angry. "My sister-in-law said she won't be needing any help other than herself and she'd have my mother come and help out when push comes to shove. My mother worked in a factory her entire life; what did she know about selling clothes? Besides, why would you have an old lady sell clothes? But she wouldn't listen to me at all. She felt that hiring a salesperson is much money."

Her mentality was too conservative. Wu Xiuyue's personality might not make her a good business person. Having a small shop of her own might not be a big problem but anything beyond that were not likely.

That wasn't something that Shu Yan could bring up to her. They might be close, but she wasn't family.

Lin Hui came over today as well and also brought with her a pair of flower baskets. She even bought a couple sets of clothes from Wu Xiuyue's stores to help her kickstart her stop. Shu Yan was going to buy a couple of sets as well but Wu Xiuyue stopped her.

"You have helped me enough. Lin Hui can use the clothes so I didn't stop her. You have your own shop; it doesn't make sense for you to buy from me."

Shu Yan looked around and Wu Xiuyue's business was not bad. This was a Sunday and school was out. Many students had free time and were wandering around this area. When they saw the red banner, balloons, and flower baskets, most of them would take a look at the flyers and came inside.

As more and more people arrived, Wu Xiuyue had no time to chat with Shu Yan and the others. She had some experiences selling clothes over at Shu Yan's store and had an idea what to say.

 Other than being somewhat nervous and wasn't too articulate at the beginning, she became bolder and talked smoother and smoother as the day went on and clothes started being sold one by one.

When the first batch of customers were gone, Wu Xiuyue did some mathematics and she had already made 500 yuan. Subtracting out rent and utilities, she would still have 200 yuan of profit remaining. How long had it been? Over 200 yuan in just one morning. 

She just might be able to make over 1,000 yuan today. That was more than what her husband made in a month.

That realization brought a big smile to Wu Xiuyue and she felt pumped.

Shu Yan wanted to remind her that she had promotional activities today and it was a Sunday. It was only normal that business was good. She might not be able to bring in half of this in the future. 

Then, considering that it was her grand opening, it was probably unlucky to say something like that. She decided to have Zhang Huaxiu analyze that for her on a later date.

They had lunch over at Wu Xiuyue's place. Mother Zhang came over specifically to invite them over. There were chicken, duck, fish, and other meats.

After dinner, Shu Yan and Lin Hui left together. Lin Hui was particularly quiet today.

"Should I open up a shop too?" asked Lin Hui out of the blue.

Shu Yan was taken aback a little. The fabric factory that Lin Hui was working at was doing well and there were no words that they were laying off. Lin Hui was not a front-line worker so, with the exception of the beginning and end of the month, her job was quite cozy. Why did she want to go into business all of a sudden?

Seeing Shu Yan's confusion, Lin Hui gave an awkward smile. "I am watching you and Xiuyue having your own businesses and making what I making in a month or two in a day. That's why I thought perhaps I should do the same as well."

To put it bluntly, she felt that she was being left behind.

When it was just Shu Yan, she felt that Shu Yan had the ability to run a business. Now that Wu Xiuyue, who was worse than her, had opened up her own shop making 400 yuan in just one morning and more than what she makes in a month in just one day, that did not make her very happy.

"Well, it's not the same. Neither Xiuyue and I had jobs and we had to start our own business. You have seen how nervous we were before we launch our businesses. Look at Xiuyue, she had lost a lot of sleep and hair over her business. Why? Because there are risks in doing business. If she loses, she loses it all. 

Today is her grand opening; she will not be making so much money going forward. Every field had their own downsides, you didn't see us merchandizing in the middle of the night."

That was how people always was. They only see others' outcome but never the efforts that they had put in. Wu Xiuyue lost over 10 pounds in a month. That ought to show the stress that came with doing business.

It had always been said that businesses were easy in the 90s but there were still those who had lost money. Nobody could guarantee that one would always make money. Lin Hui had a secured job. If she talked her into starting her own business and she ended up losing money, she would blame her for it.

"I know. I am just a little jealous."

In the past, their entire family was factory workers and it was glamourous whenever they walked out. But now? Those who had their own businesses could make their monthly salary in a day, sometimes their annual salary even. 

Their entire had to save for years to have enough to buy a house. If one's business is doing well, they could earn enough to buy a house in a month. Just looking around her and taking Shu Yan as an example. If her clothing shop wasn't doing well, how would she be able to hire a nanny?

 And just look at her day-to-day. She didn't need to take care of her children. All she needed to do was to take a trip to her shop everyday and money came rolling in. There was nobody above her and probably not even life in heaven could beat this.

"The world has been changing and becoming more and more confusing. Truth is, I worry a lot. I felt that I am being left behind." Lin Hui finally shared what was bothering her the most.

And she wasn't alone in thinking that. Many other factory workers felt the same way as her.

More and more factory workers had bowed out. Wasn't this the iron bowl? How were they still the owner of the country when those in business could easily make what they make in a life time?

Time was changing too fast and, some were able to change with it while others were left behind.

In this era, as long as one had the courage, one would be able to seize the moment and be the first batch who became rich. Even the conservative ones who hang onto what was in the past would be able to live out their life peacefully. Nevertheless, people are always greedy and want more.

Lin Hui did let that bother her for too long. She was overreacting to Wu Xiuyue's income earlier. It was not practical for her to quit her job and start her own business. Nevermind that she had no idea what to do, her family would never agree to it. 

Just like Zhang Huaxiu, her parents would never had left her bought her position out had her factory not be on the brink of going out. In most of the public's eyes, an iron bowl was still better than having one's own business.

Once she had arrived home, Shu Yan didn't rest for too long before she headed back out for her driving lesson. She wasn't busy lately and she planned to earn her driver's license.

"Would you like me to teach you first?" Feng Zeyu was the one who came to pick her up.

He had called her the night before and asked her her plans today. When he found out that she was going to take driving lessons, he volunteered to take her to the driving school.

"No need. I have learned some from the driver." Shu Yan learned that manual drive wasn't that difficult. She should be able to figure it out if she could have some hands-on experience.

Looking at how confident she was, Feng Zeyu's lips curved upward. "Okay, hope you can make it in one shot then."

"Thank you."