Chapter Ninety-Four: Flying Higher

Li Mu spent only a single day in Jinling before hastening back to Haizhou. The merchandise from the Metersbonwe headquarters had already arrived, and his aunt had, with remarkable speed, hired seven young women and three young men. In those days, a sales salary of five hundred yuan plus base pay was still fifty to one hundred yuan higher than what other brand-name stores offered, and it was highly appealing to young people.

His aunt soon displayed an uncommon talent for management and coordination. While leading the staff to stock the shelves as quickly as possible, she also trained them at the same time. The ten young employees were equally enthusiastic about the job. After all, Li Mu’s store was the most upscale clothing boutique in Haizhou, and simply working there was enough to put anyone in a better mood.

When Li Mu got home, he found that neither of his parents was there. It was already nine at night, well past the hour when they would normally be out for an evening walk. At first, he thought of calling to ask where they were, but an idea suddenly struck him. He put away his phone, wheeled out the mountain bike Chen Wan had given him from the storage room, and headed straight for the store.

When he rode up to the entrance, Li Mu looked through the huge glass window and saw that his aunt was still leading the staff in a rush to organize the stock. His parents were nearby, wanting to help, but his aunt stopped them, and they had no choice but to stand to the side and watch the young people work.

Li Mu stood at the entrance without rushing in. The store was brightly lit and brimming with goods; the mannequin in the window, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, looked almost real under the play of light and the surrounding atmosphere. Add to that the massive illuminated Metersbonwe logo above the storefront, which looked imposing enough to command attention, and through Li Mu’s eyes, this place looked high-end no matter where he looked.

Watching his store rise from nothing, Li Mu felt a great deal of emotion. He did not ask for this shop to earn him a fortune. He only hoped it would bring a springtime to his parents’ careers, sparing them the double blow of financial hardship and psychological strain that had come with unemployment in his previous life. He hoped they would find their own value in this business, and for nothing more he asked.

Afraid the bike might be stolen if left outside, Li Mu pushed it into the shop. His mother spotted him first and said happily, “Son, when did you get back?”

“I just got home and saw you weren’t there, so I came over.”

His father pointed at the half-finished rows of shelves inside and said to Li Mu, “See? Your aunt really is something. In just a day or two, she’s recruited enough people, and the store’s already starting to take shape.”

Hearing this, his aunt smiled. “Brother-in-law, don’t make fun of me. These methods were all taught during training at headquarters.”

The sales staff were all busy tidying up the merchandise. Several of the young women secretly glanced at Li Mu. He was about their age, and his tall, handsome looks made the girls feel a bit self-conscious; even their movements became somewhat restrained. Li Mu then asked his aunt, “Aunt, there are still three days until opening, right?”

His aunt nodded. “The schedule is still pretty tight. After the shelves are arranged, we still need to handle the mannequins and displays in the central sections.”

Then she walked over to Li Mu’s mother and said in a low voice, “Second sister, headquarters sent notice today. The season is changing soon, and they want to run a one-month promotion: spend 299 yuan and get a shoulder bag free. The shoulder bag has no printed tag price. The company’s price to us is fifteen yuan. Each store must order at least three hundred, and at most two thousand. How many should we order?”

Li Mu’s mother thought for a moment. “So if a customer spends 299 yuan, we give away a bag worth fifteen?”

His aunt nodded. “Pretty much.”

Li Mu’s father frowned. “We haven’t even opened yet, and we haven’t sold a single full-price item, but headquarters is already making money off us. Those bag stalls on the old street sell a decent backpack for only ten or twenty yuan.”

His mother curled her lip. “What did you learn in training, then? This is called stimulating consumption. What do you know? If we can give away several hundred bags in a month, we’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.”

His father still could not quite wrap his head around it, but Li Mu’s mother, who had worked in finance and accounting, immediately saw the business opportunity hidden inside it.

“If we order too many, can we return them?” she asked.

“No return,” came the answer. “But you can extend the promotion yourself until all of them are given away.”

After thinking for a moment, Li Mu’s mother said, “Then order two thousand.”

“Two thousand...” His father’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. By contrast, his aunt looked positively thrilled. “That was exactly what I was thinking too. I was even afraid you wouldn’t agree.”

His mother smiled. “For something like this, it’s always better to order more than less.”

Li Mu looked at his mother with new respect.

In his mind, she had always been frugal, careful with every penny. He had never seen her spend money so boldly before.

Still, Li Mu also believed that a promotion like this was exactly the sort of thing they should participate in wholeheartedly. Although the company also profited from promotional gifts, the effect on sales was enormous. He knew this from experience. Back in university, when a certain brand offered a gift for purchases over a set amount, the gift itself became wildly popular with consumers. For example, during his college days, Jack Jones once ran a promotion offering a wallet for spending 1,299 yuan. That wallet was not for sale, and if a guy in the class used one, the other boys would instantly understand one thing: he really had money to burn. Spending 1,299 yuan at Jack Jones was not something an ordinary person could casually afford.

And yet, precisely because of that youthful vanity, many of the boys in the class gradually ended up owning that wallet. It even sparked a bad fashion on campus. Still, the Jack Jones store in the mall near the university made a great deal of money from it.

Li Mu believed Metersbonwe had that same kind of magic in Haizhou.

And the fact that his mother, without any of the experience he had from his later years, could still make such a decision, made Li Mu think she might well become a shrewd businesswoman after all.

At that moment, his father counted on his fingers and said, “Two thousand bags means thirty thousand yuan. Honey, do you have that much money?”

“Nope,” his mother said with a shrug, her tone light as air. Then she looked at Li Mu with complete理所当然 and said, “My son has it, and that’s enough, isn’t it, son?”

“Yes,” Li Mu said at once. He nodded repeatedly and told his aunt, “Aunt, place the order with headquarters. I’ll transfer the money tomorrow.”

His aunt had already heard from Li Mu’s parents about how capable he was at making money, so she was not surprised at all when he casually promised thirty thousand yuan for the goods.

Just then, Li Mu remembered that the store was about to open and the rest of the relatives at home still knew nothing about it. His aunt asked Li Mu’s mother, “Second sister, before the opening, shouldn’t we let Dad and Mom, as well as Big Brother and Big Sister, know? Otherwise, if they hear about it from somewhere else, they might blame you.”

Li Mu’s mother thought about it and nodded. “Xiao Mu just received his admission notice too. I was already thinking we could invite everyone for both things together.”

Li Mu’s father added, “Invite them together, but don’t bring up the store until we’re all at the table.”

“That works too.” His mother also felt that if she called the relatives and told them that their son had not only been admitted to Renmin University, but she and her husband had also opened a clothing boutique, it would sound a little too showy. Even if she meant no boasting, others might still think she was flaunting it.

So she said, “Then let’s set it for the evening of August seventeenth. The store opens on the eighteenth.”

“Fine.”

Li Mu naturally had no objections. For someone as narrow-minded as he was, he was actually quite looking forward to the look on his uncle’s and aunt’s faces when they heard that their family had opened a Metersbonwe store. That aunt of his, who always spoke with barbs and looked down on people through the tip of her chin, had even worried before that his family was trying to imitate her by opening a children’s clothing shop. He wondered what expression she would wear when she saw such a large brand store.

Li Mu did not need her to feel ashamed or guilty. It would be enough if she understood the meaning of there being always someone better out there, and from then on behaved a little more modestly in front of his father, giving his brother-in-law the respect he deserved.

Just after the dinner invitation was settled, Li Mu’s phone rang.

Seeing that it was Zhang Kexuan calling, and considering that today was the fifteenth, Li Mu wondered if they had already finished the finals.

Hoping to hear good news, he walked to the entrance of the store and answered the call.

The moment the call connected, he was met with a roar of noise so loud it was as if he had been plunged into the middle of a concert hall with thousands of people, surrounded by screams and cheers from the audience. Just as he was still wondering what was happening, he heard a woman’s voice from the other end, amplified through a loudspeaker: “Wow! What happened? Why has our live audience suddenly become so enthusiastic? It must be for the next act, right?”

“Yes!” came the thunderous response of the crowd, like a tidal wave.

“All right, then let us welcome, with the warmest applause, the final competing band of the last round of the 2001 Ice Power Vanguard National Band Competition Finals—Simple Plan Band, shining onto the stage!”

The cheers grew even louder than before. Li Mu heard many people shouting the band’s name, and many others calling out Zhang Kexuan’s name. Then he heard a very clear rustling sound, like fabric rubbing together, and guessed that Zhang Kexuan had probably stuffed the phone into his pocket and was walking onstage.

Sure enough.

As the rustling gradually faded, the audience’s cheers seemed louder and louder to Li Mu. Finally, Zhang Kexuan shouted, “Friends in Yanjing, how are you doing?”

“Good!”

Even listening only through the phone, Li Mu could feel how wildly enthusiastic the crowd really was.

Zhang Kexuan said, “We are Simple Plan Band, and it is our honor to have the chance to stand on the stage of the final round. The song we are competing with tonight is one that all four members of our band created together. Its name is Fly Higher, and we also hope that on the road of your future lives, you too will fly higher!”

The cheers were so loud that Li Mu had to hold the phone farther from his ear.

Then the synthesized keyboard intro began, and Zhang Kexuan started to sing.

Li Mu held the phone and listened quietly through the entire song, and in his heart he gave it a single judgment: a performance beyond perfect.

That night, Huang Xiaoyun, the famous DJ of the hottest evening music program on China Music Radio, Radio Music Voice, said excitedly, “Tonight I was there at the finals and witnessed the entire process of Simple Plan winning the national championship with my own eyes. I can only say this: well deserved! Truly deserved! Absolutely deserved! After rushing back from the venue, I have been refreshing the YiTing website nonstop. I cannot wait to hear the official version of Fly Higher from Simple Plan. This song is bound to become one of this year’s top ten songs!”