Chapter 284: Xiao Xiao

“Simple construction we can discuss, but forget about the interior work—I’ve already got someone lined up for that,” Chen Mo said, taking a light sip of tea.

If the construction company could guarantee quality, then he had no problem with it. But when it came to interior design? No thanks—especially not if they were expecting to give him a discount.

For renovations, he’d rather stick with Wang Yang.

He’d done his homework on Wang Yang’s company, Chenglin Decoration. Their headquarters were in Jiang City, with five branch offices. The company had a solid reputation in Jiang City.

At one point, Chen Mo had even considered acquiring the company. But after looking into it, he decided against it.

First of all, Chenglin Decoration was no small operation. Buying it would require a hefty investment.

More importantly, the company was already profitable.

If he bought it, he’d just be making money for himself—which didn’t sit right with him.

Besides, if he owned the renovation company, the cost of future projects would go down significantly.

That would indirectly reduce the consumption of System Funds.

So in the end, it made more sense to just let Wang Yang handle all the renovation work and let him earn a bit more.

During holidays and festivals, he could send Wang Yang a red envelope or two. Not a bad deal.

After all, those red envelopes came out of his personal account.

“That works,” Li Maode nodded.

“Jiang Cheng will take point on this. Coordinate with him,” Chen Mo said, assigning the task directly to Jiang Cheng.

“Alright, if there’s anything else to discuss, you guys handle it. I’m heading out for a bit.”

With that, Chen Mo stood up and walked out of the office. He’d come today to oversee the park’s reconstruction, and now that everything was arranged, there wasn’t much else for him to do.

He headed to the cafeteria.

There, he leashed Kui Kui and Qian Qian and took them out for a walk.

It had been a while since he’d walked them, but the dogs clearly hadn’t forgotten him. They greeted him warmly, tails wagging.

So, with the two dogs in tow, he strolled around the park.

He also stopped by the workshop to take a look. The workers there hadn’t slacked off just because he’d moved out of the Clothing Factory.

The demotivational banners on the workshop walls? A complete waste of effort.

But Chen Mo didn’t mind. After all, the factory’s clothes weren’t selling well due to lack of brand recognition.

The employees were working hard, sure—but all they were doing was producing more clothes that ended up piling up in storage.

The more they produced, the more inventory they had, and the more raw materials they consumed.

Looked at that way, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

After walking the dogs around the park, it was nearly time for the employees to clock out, so he left.

……

In the Clothing Factory office,

Having just wrapped up the discussion on workshop reconstruction, Li Maode had already departed.

Jiang Cheng sat at his desk, reviewing a report.

It was the total sales report for the factory’s retail stores over the past two weeks.

The numbers were shocking—barely over 100,000 yuan in sales.

Seventy-plus stores, and only 100,000 yuan in half a month?

That averaged out to less than 2,000 yuan per store.

Roughly three pieces of clothing sold per store in two weeks.

At the current production rate, this level of sales was practically nonexistent.

But how to fix the sales problem? Jiang Cheng had no clue.

Lost in thought, he didn’t realize it was already time to clock out.

After a quick dinner, he returned to his dorm.

“What’s wrong? You look like something’s weighing on your mind again,” his wife, Wang Juan, asked as she entered.

“It’s nothing,” Jiang Cheng replied, shaking his head.

“Come on, don’t give me that. Tell me what’s going on—two heads are better than one.”

As she spoke, Wang Juan took his clothes and tossed them into the washing machine in the bathroom.

Jiang Cheng hesitated, then sighed when he saw her watching him expectantly.

“It’s the Clothing Factory’s sales. In the past two weeks, seventy-plus stores only managed to pull in around 100,000 yuan. That’s an average of three items sold per store.”

“I’m worried that if this keeps up, I won’t be able to explain myself to President Chen.”

“The factory’s expanding, but if we can’t sell the clothes, what’s the point?”

He rubbed his head in frustration. This issue had been bothering him for a while. A few days ago, he’d asked for a report on total sales, only to find the numbers were even worse than expected.

Wang Juan frowned at his words.

The factory’s ongoing losses weren’t good—especially now that her husband was the general manager. If he couldn’t turn things around, it would be a betrayal of President Chen’s trust.

But how to fix it? The brand had no recognition, and the prices were on par with—or even higher than—other established brands. No wonder the clothes weren’t selling.

And the prices were set by President Chen. A price cut was out of the question.

She thought for a moment, then looked at her husband.

“Did you break down the sales by store?”

“No, I just had them tally up the total,” Jiang Cheng replied, shaking his head.

“That’s not going to work. You need to look at the sales figures for each individual store. Just looking at the total tells you nothing.”

“If we still managed to sell over 100,000 yuan worth, then some stores must be doing better than others.”

“We should talk to the managers of those stores, find out what they’re doing right. Maybe we can learn something and apply it elsewhere.”

Jiang Cheng nodded in agreement.

“Alright, I’ll have someone compile that data tomorrow.”

……

Beijing,

Stray Cat and Dog Rescue Station.

A young woman walked and talked into her phone simultaneously.

“Hey guys, I’m at this place on the outskirts of Beijing—it’s a rescue station for stray cats and dogs.”

“Today I bought 100,000 yuan worth of dog food to donate to the rescue.”

“Here’s the dog food. The staff at the rescue station are already moving it into storage.”

As she spoke, she turned her phone camera toward the stacks of dog food in the distance.

In the livestream chat, the moment viewers heard what she said, the comments exploded.

“Xiao Xiao, you’re too kind!”

“Xiao Xiao, you’ve got such a big heart!”

“Wifey, I’m in love with you!”

“Heh, such a big-time streamer and only donated 100,000 yuan worth of dog food? What a cheapskate.”

“Where did this troll come from? Xiaoxiao’s donated dog food more times than I can count. She’s also donated money to kids in impoverished mountain areas.”

“Seriously, some people just talk nonsense the moment they open their mouths.”

“……”

Du Xiaoxiao glanced at the barrage of comments flooding the livestream and smiled faintly.

As for the trolls, she didn’t bother responding. She’d seen plenty of people like that—there were always a few every day. She was long used to it.

No matter what she did, it was always wrong in their eyes.

When she first started donating dog food, people said she’d rather help animals than poor children in remote areas—disgusting.

Then, when she donated money to those children, they accused her of using charity for clout.

Or, like just now, they said she didn’t donate enough… and the list goes on.

These people probably hadn’t donated a single cent themselves, yet they sat on their moral high horses online, pointing fingers at everyone else.

There was no reasoning with people like that. All she could do was ignore them.

Du Xiaoxiao adjusted her phone’s position and was about to head into the Rescue Station when the distant roar of engines caught her attention. A few small trucks slowly rolled in from afar.

They were heading straight for the Rescue Station.

Could they be here to donate supplies? Du Xiaoxiao wondered, deciding to stick around and see.

If these trucks were carrying donations, it had to be a sizable amount.

After all, her own 100,000 yuan worth of dog food had only filled one small truck.