Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 453: Gold and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of the people
The words "First Prize" were clearly written on the small card. The curly-haired woman was stunned for a moment, then she was overjoyed and eagerly showed the card in her hand to the staff.

"Look, look! I won a color TV! I won a color TV!"

Her voice became unusually loud because of the sudden good fortune, attracting the attention of many guests around her.

China Color TV?
For ordinary people who have not yet experienced the baptism of welfare lottery and sports lottery, winning a color TV worth more than one thousand yuan, the joy of getting something for nothing is no less than winning a lottery of five million in later generations.

Crowds of people flocked to see if the curly-haired woman had really won the colored TV.

The staff took the card and checked it carefully. After confirming it, they said to the curly-haired woman, "Madam, you have indeed won the first prize, a 16-inch Yanjing brand color TV."

After hearing the staff's confirmation, the crowd around was in an uproar.

I really won the prize! This is more than a thousand yuan, it's like I found it for free.

The crowd wished they were the winner. While they were surprised and envious, the curly-haired woman was so overwhelmed by the joy that she was speechless.

She was a little confused and followed the staff's instructions to leave her personal information and sign to confirm.

"Ma'am, the TV is too heavy. Would you like to pick it up today, or should we deliver it to your home in two days?"

Deliver to home?

The curly-haired woman came to her senses and thought, is there such a good thing?

Then she felt something was wrong. She said she would send it in two days. What if he changed his mind? What if the one he sent was bad?
"No, I'll take it myself."

The curly-haired woman picked up the TV, which weighed nearly 30 kilograms including the packaging. It seemed light in her hands. She said hello to the staff and left the clothing store in a hurry.

In just a short while, the news that she had won a color TV had spread to most of the mall. As she walked out of the mall, hundreds of sales clerks and customers cast envious glances at her.

After walking out of Xidan Shopping Mall, the curly-haired woman couldn't help but look back at the mall, and her eyes deeply engraved the location of Asia-Europe Clothing City in her mind.

From now on, I will go to Asia-Europe Clothing City to buy clothes!
After the curly-haired woman left, the Asia-Europe Clothing City fell into a frenzy atmosphere.

Many customers who were originally looking at clothes came to the lottery area to watch the fun because of the grand prize of a color TV. Some customers who were originally shopping in the mall were also attracted to the clothing city.

Unfortunately, the space where the color TV was originally placed at the lottery draw was now empty, disappointing many customers who came to watch the fun.

Without the biggest prize, a color TV, everyone’s excitement about the lottery dimmed.

Seeing this, Du Feng decisively asked his men to bring another color TV from the mall, and also replaced the electric fans and gold-thread quilts that had been taken away.

Then, in front of hundreds of onlookers, lottery cards of equal proportions were placed into the lottery box.

He stood up again and gave a speech, with the key words being "enough prizes", "giving back to customers", and "opening rewards".

The delighted customers watching the event burst into warm applause and cheers, feeling that the lottery was free, and the atmosphere gradually became fanatical.

Many customers who had not originally planned to buy anything or go to the clothing store began to get excited at this time.

After satisfying his addiction to being a "big boss" in front of everyone, Du Feng was still not satisfied. His face was full of aftertaste, and he could hardly close his mouth while looking at the clothing city that was bustling with people.

"The opening was a success. Now it depends on whether we can maintain this momentum," said Tao Yushu.

Du Feng was full of confidence at this time, "It will definitely be no problem."

Lin Chaoyang poured cold water on him, "The quality and pricing of the clothing city are higher than those of department stores and clothing companies outside. It will be good if the grand opening can last for a few days. After that, it will slowly decline. That will be the real test for you."

The celebration of the opening of the Asia-Europe Clothing City lasted for three days. Today was the first day. After Liu Xiaoqing and others took the stage, there was also a performance by the art troupe.

Tomorrow movie stars from the Shanghai Film Studio will be present, and the day after tomorrow Zhu Shimao, Chen Peisi, Tang Guoqiang and others will also be there.

Three consecutive days of celebrations are enough to set off a wave of public opinion in Yanjing City, and there is hope that the brand image of the Asia-Europe Clothing City will be consolidated. What will happen next depends on the consumption capacity of the people of Yanjing.

"In recent years, there are more and more wealthy people in Yanjing. It shouldn't be a problem to support a relatively high-end clothing store." Du Feng said.

"I just asked them to calculate it. In just over an hour, our turnover is almost 2 yuan." When Du Feng said this, the smile on his face became even bigger.

The clothing mall is very busy right now and it is impossible to keep count of the accounts. A simple way is to count the number of draws.

The staff have registration information, and a lottery is held for every 20 yuan spent, so the actual sales volume is only more or less.

When Du Feng thought about today's sales, he couldn't suppress his smile.

After boasting for a while, Du Feng said to Lin Chaoyang and his wife, "Sister, brother-in-law, I'll go greet those reporters."

"Go."

Today is the opening day of the clothing city, and the publicity work cannot be relaxed. We have invited reporters from many media outlets including Yanjing Television, Yanjing Daily, Evening News and Youth Daily, in order to make the reputation of the Asia-Europe Clothing City known.

Whenever a Yanjing citizen wants to buy clothes, the first thing that comes to their mind is the Asia-Europe Clothing City.

Du Feng left happily. After watching the excitement for a while, Lin Chaoyang and his wife also decided to leave.

When they arrived at the entrance of the mall, the couple found that there were still many people pouring into the mall. Today's Xidan Mall was much busier than usual.

After returning home, Tao Yushu completely relaxed. Now that the Asia-Europe Clothing City has opened, the rest of the matter can be left to Du Feng.

They enjoyed a rare half-day of parent-child time. At around ten o'clock in the evening, after finally coaxing both children to sleep, the couple lay down and prepared to go to sleep.

Just after I closed my eyes, I heard an urgent knock on the door.

Lin Chaoyang got up to open the door, only to see that Du Feng's face was filled with joy but also a bit of fatigue.

"Why are you here making trouble in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?" Lin Chaoyang said unhappily.

Du Feng looked excited, "Brother-in-law, I can't sleep!"

Without waiting for Lin Chaoyang to speak, he ran into the yard. After entering the house, he boasted to Lin Chaoyang and his wife about the clothing store's performance today.

"10! It sold for a total of 8!"

"Thanks to our sufficient stock, otherwise we wouldn't have enough to sell for a week."

"In just one day, the gross profit is 7 yuan. It's faster than robbing money!"

"If we can maintain this level for the next three days, we will have paid for most of the rent for half a year."

Because he was extremely excited, Du Feng started talking nonstop as soon as he entered the room, with no intention of stopping at all.

Compared with the money he earned from his previous business, the little money he made from the Asia-Europe Garment City was nothing. There was no comparison at all.

Earning tens of thousands of yuan a day was something he had never dared to imagine before.

"Okay, don't be too happy too soon. Your brother-in-law has already said that such a hot opening scene is not normal.

The gross profit is 7 yuan. After allocating the miscellaneous expenses such as advertising, marketing, labor, venue, water and electricity, taxes, depreciation, and logistics, it would be good if one-third can be left. "

In the clothing industry, gross profit margins are already high, and the Asia-Europe Clothing City takes a relatively high-end route, so it is not surprising that the gross profit margin reaches more than 60%.

Du Feng felt a little dissatisfied when listening to his sister's words. One third of 70,000 yuan is more than 20,000 yuan. More than 20,000 yuan a day is several million yuan a year.

Even if the business of the clothing mall cannot be like this every day, if you cut it in half and then in half again, you can still make one or two million a year. Why does it become so insignificant in my sister's mouth?

Then he thought of the information that Tao Yumo had mentioned casually when they were chatting before.

According to Tao Yumo, her brother-in-law now receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties each time he settles his royalties.

When I think about it this way, this money really doesn’t seem to mean much to my sister’s family.

Du Feng then thought about how he had worked hard for more than half a year, overcoming all difficulties and difficulties to build such a big business, hiring dozens of people and finding twenty or thirty partners, but in the end, he might not be able to make money by sitting at home and writing novels like his brother-in-law.

When he thought of this, the pride and complacency in his heart disappeared completely in an instant, and he even felt a little bored.

"We had a good start on the first day, which is a good thing after all. We must continue to work hard and strive to make the Asia-Europe Clothing City gain a firm foothold in Yanjing City."

Seeing that Du Feng was hit by Tao Yushu's words, Lin Chaoyang said a few words to comfort him.

"Brother-in-law, you're right. It's only the first day of business, and there's still a long way to go."

After calming down, Du Feng cheered up again. He chatted with the couple for a while before leaving.

The next day, the news of the opening of the Asia-Europe Clothing City was reported on the pages of several media outlets in Yanjing. In the evening, the news was also reported on Yanjing TV.

Although "Yanjing Daily" and "Yanjing Evening News" are not national media, due to geographical reasons, the content of their reports is mainly local news in Yanjing.

On the contrary, they have an influence in the daily lives of Yanjing people that exceeds that of some authoritative media.

Such localized influence has greatly promoted the publicity of the Asia-Europe Garment City and further enhanced the reputation of the garment city.

On the second day of the opening of the Asia-Europe Clothing City, there were still movie stars making appearances, and with the help of the news media, the city was even more popular than on the opening day.

Shopping at the Asia-Europe Clothing City seems to be becoming a fashion trend in Yanjing City this spring. Even if many people think the things there are expensive, it does not stop them from going to watch the fun.

By the way, experience the highly acclaimed service attitude of Asia-Europe Clothing City.

From a macro perspective, China's economic development in 1986 had already shown signs of overheating.

There are certainly many problems involved, but it is undeniable that some lucky people did make their first pot of gold through the policy relaxation.

If someone stands on Chang'an Avenue for half a day and counts them, they will find that the number of private cars on the street has more than doubled or even tripled compared to the early days of reform and opening up.

China is a big country with a large population, but Yanjing is the capital. Among the small group of people who have become rich, the proportion of Yanjing people is not the highest, but it is definitely at the forefront.

Some of the wealthy people need a window for consumption. Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all industries with great potential, and the Asia-Europe Garment City just caught the opportunity.

Within three days of opening, the Asia-Europe Garment City's cumulative turnover reached 36.5 yuan, with a gross profit of nearly 65%. The final estimated net profit was about 8.7 yuan, which was definitely a good start.

In the following days, just as Lin Chaoyang said, after the excitement of the opening, the turnover of Asia-Europe Clothing City continued to decline, from 12 at its peak to 10, 9, and 8...

For a week in a row, Du Feng was upset by the decline in sales. Although he was mentally prepared, he still felt a huge gap.

Fortunately, after several consecutive days of declining sales, the clothing city's business finally stabilized in early April, with daily sales remaining constant at around 3.5 yuan.

This figure is certainly not comparable to when it first opened, but at least it has stabilized. According to this figure, it is not a problem for the clothing city to make a net profit of one or two million a year.

But at this time Du Feng began to worry again, because he found that if the clothing city continued to operate at this turnover, it would probably not meet the sales amount and profit and tax requirements of Xidan Shopping Mall.

As one of the most famous department stores in the country, the counters and sales floors of Xidan Department Store can be rented by more than just having money. The department store values ​​more than just economic benefits.

This situation made Du Feng scratch his head. He wanted to organize some more promotional activities, but he felt it was not possible.

The opening event was just held less than half a month ago, how can we hold another event so soon!
But without activities, popularity was not high enough and sales could not increase. Du Feng felt that he was stuck in a vicious circle.

Ten days ago, he was full of energy and felt like the whole world was at his feet. Ten days later, he couldn't sleep well and his hair fell out in clumps. It had started off well and he made a lot of money, so how could it turn out like this?

Du Feng couldn't understand it. He was more afraid that his clothing store would face the bleak fate of being taken back by the shopping mall after only being open for a year.

After several days of inner torment, he finally couldn't help but run to Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

When he arrived, Lin Chaoyang was entertaining Li Tuo, Zheng Wanlong and others.

It is already early April. At this time of year in previous years, the National Excellent Short Story Awards would have been presented and the cultural salons would be in full swing.

But the situation is different this year, because the National Excellent Short Story Award has changed its award mechanism from once a year to once every two years.

This is not because the Writers Association is targeting cultural salons. The main reason is that the domestic literary environment has quietly changed in the past two years.

The most critical factor, of course, is the change in social atmosphere.

First of all, the reason why the literary wave in the late 1970s and early 1980s could easily cause a sensation among the nation was largely due to the outbreak of suppressed demand in the previous decade.

But after so many years, the spiritual and cultural needs of the people are constantly being met by various forms of entertainment.

The impact that literary works bring to people is far from what it was in the past.

Secondly, with the tide of reform and opening up, the trend of "looking at money and making a lot of money" is spreading to the entire society, and the focus of the entire society is also changing.

Not only are readers' focuses changing, but so are writers'.

One of the most obvious changes is that the short story industry, which experienced a boom three to five years ago, has seen a serious decline in both quantity and quality in the past two years.

This is also the main reason why the National Excellent Short Story Award was changed from once a year to once every two years.

Finally, another influencing factor is that starting from the year before last, the state issued the "Notice on the Implementation of Self-Financing for Journal Publishing".

In the past few years, due to the booming literary journal market, almost every prefecture-level city across the country has its own literary journal, and many places even have ones at the county level.

However, this type of magazine usually does not have the ability to generate its own revenue and relies on financial transfusions. The state requires them to be responsible for their own profits and losses, and directly sends these small magazines to the morgue. The better ones are also struggling to survive in the ICU.

In the past few years, Lin Chaoyang's novels have been illegally reprinted, and it was basically done by these local magazines.

A large number of local magazines collapsed. The good thing was that some magazines that tried to take advantage of the situation were exposed, but the bad thing was also obvious, which was that many amateur literary creators had their channels for publication blocked.

Perhaps not many of these people will become famous or successful, but they are the foundation that supports the entire literary journal market.

In short, by the mid-to-late 1980s, the literary world, which had been booming, had begun to show signs of decline.

Li Tuo and his friends have always loved to make trouble. Since this year's salon failed to take place, they came up with a new idea and wanted to organize an award ceremony privately.

"Come on. Let's put aside the Cultural Association for the sake of the Cultural Salon. They're already furious. We're also going to hold awards. Do you plan to make the Cultural Association fight us to the death?"

Lin Chaoyang flatly denied the ideas of Li Tuo and others, which made them very disappointed.

Although Lin Chaoyang usually doesn't get involved in things, his words are still very effective. After all, he is the financial sponsor.

"I understand now that whether it is once a year or once every two years, we have to follow the pace of the Cultural Association when organizing the salon."

Li Tuo's words made sense and won the approval of several people present. Lin Chaoyang asked, "So what you mean is that we should leave it to the Cultural Association for the awards? Or hold a salon separately?"

Li Tuo nodded, this was the best way.

Chen Jiangong said: "I'm afraid that without the reason to present the awards, no one will want to come!"

“You really underestimate the influence of our salon. It has been running for so many years.

Not to mention writers from other places, even many writers from Yenching University flock to the salon.

It’s just that there has always been a threshold for winning the award, so many people can only watch helplessly.” Li Tuo said.

Zheng Wanlong pondered, "Then there is another problem here. In the past, there was a threshold of winning awards, so we had a basis for who to invite and who not to invite. Now if we put aside the awards, how do we invite guests? Who should we invite? What is the reason for inviting them? Why do they come?"

His series of questions left everyone silent.

Chen Jiangong sighed, "This is not easy!"

Li Tuo said, "It has to be done even if it's difficult. The salon has been held for so many years and it's not easy to have such a big influence in the literary world. It would be a pity if it stopped."

"Why would it stop? It just changed from one year to every two years."

"What if the Literature Association doesn't hold this award anymore?"

Everyone fell silent again. The salon had been held for so many years, and everyone had already developed feelings for it. It would be a pity if it really turned out like that.

Seeing that everyone was in low spirits, Lin Chaoyang consoled them, "It's just a dinner invitation, you don't have to take it too seriously. Besides, the Literary Association is not going to cancel the event, we can wait until the day they cancel it, don't worry too much."

Even if the Writers Association no longer awards awards, so what?
It’s not like we don’t know which works are influential in the literary world after they are published each year, and it’s not like we can’t contact the authors, so we can just send them an invitation.

You mentioned the invitation criteria. Isn’t the reader’s reputation the standard? Isn’t the aesthetic taste of us writers the standard?
As for whether they are willing to come, not all award-winning writers came during previous salons!

It's voluntary, this is a platform for communication.

No matter what you do, just remember your original intention and you will succeed. "

Lin Chaoyang's words were open-minded and made everyone feel cheerful.

"Only by keeping your original aspiration in mind can you achieve your goal. Chaoyang said it very well!" Everyone praised.

Yes, in the future we can just send out the invitations ourselves. The most important thing about a cultural salon is to provide a platform for exchange and communication. If we place too much emphasis on form, wouldn’t that become formalism and bureaucracy?
A consensus was reached on the future development plan of Xunweizhai Cultural Salon. Everyone was very happy, and some even hoped that the Cultural Association would stop awarding awards as soon as possible so that they would not have to follow their pace.

After everyone left Lin Chaoyang's house, Du Feng, who had been waiting for half a day, finally had a chance to speak.

He told Lin Chaoyang about the situation in the clothing city these days and asked, "Brother-in-law, do you think the business of this clothing city will not be so half-dead in the future?"

Lin Chaoyang teased him, "Weren't you so confident a few days ago? How come you have lost your confidence after just a few days?"

Du Feng's face was filled with sorrow. "Brother-in-law, please stop making fun of me. I understand now. I was blindly confident before. I am now afraid that if we cannot complete the task of the mall this year, we will have to clear the market next year!"

Lin Chaoyang said calmly, "It's only been open for a few days. Is it useful for you to worry about next year now?"

"How can I not worry? This is a business worth one or two million a year!"

It is true that Du Feng has been doing business for several years, but the stalls and video halls he opened before were just small businesses compared to the clothing city.

Having never experienced any major storms, it was difficult for him to maintain his composure as firm as a rock.

Listening to his brother-in-law's worries, Lin Chaoyang had no choice but to say, "Doing business is not a one-time deal. You have to be patient."

Du Feng was originally dejected, but after hearing what he said, he raised his head and said, "Brother-in-law, I have patience, but I am afraid that I will be patient for a year and end up with a miserable ending."

"So what if it's miserable? Didn't you make money?"

Lin Chaoyang's question left Du Feng speechless.

Indeed, even if the shopping mall really doesn't allow the clothing store to continue operating, hasn't the money been made?
But people are like this, they are never satisfied and never get enough.

Du Feng hesitated to speak.

Lin Chaoyang went on to say: "Instead of worrying about this and that now, you should think about how to improve the quality of your products and service level. Gold and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of the people."

After hearing this, Du Feng felt that Lin Chaoyang was just talking without any concern, but he definitely couldn't say this.

"Brother-in-law, even if you have a good reputation, you have to be able to survive!"

"With such a good reputation, are you still afraid of not being able to survive?"

At this point, the situation seemed to be turning into a forward play, so Du Feng fell silent.

Lin Chaoyang did not continue to say anything to him. With Du Feng's mentality, no matter what others say now, it will be useless. Only after he has experienced all the ups and downs, his mentality will be calm.

Without getting a satisfactory answer from Lin Chaoyang, Du Feng left in a depressed mood.

The next morning, Du Feng inspected the store, racking his brains to come up with a good idea to save the clothing store from the dire situation.

"Didn't you say before that I could exchange it? I only bought this dress a few days ago, and look at the stitching, this part is torn, why can't I exchange it?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, you bought this dress on the 19th of last month, and it's out of our warranty period."

"I don't care about the warranty period. You said it could be replaced. Look at the thread coming apart. It's obvious that there's something wrong with the product you sold."

"Ma'am, I'm so sorry..."

Du Feng followed the sound to the service desk and saw a woman in her thirties arguing with the salesperson at the desk.

The Asia-Europe Clothing City has set up a service desk on the second floor, which is specifically used to handle customer complaints, suggestions and answer questions.

After listening to a few sentences, Du Feng understood the whole story. The clothes the female comrade bought had a torn thread, so she went back to exchange the clothes, but the salesperson thought that the clothes were out of warranty and didn't want to exchange them for her.

When giving business training to these salesmen, Du Feng emphasized that service attitude must be the first priority. The salesmen's tone was very gentle, but they also acted in accordance with rules and regulations.

Du Feng felt that there was nothing wrong with the way his salesperson handled the matter, and he had no intention of intervening.

But at this time, the female comrade may have seen that the salesperson kept talking about the same things and refused to deal with the problem, so she became a little agitated, and her voice became louder and louder, attracting the attention of several customers shopping in the clothing city.

Du Feng was afraid of disturbing the guests, so he walked up and said, "Big sister, can you let me see this dress?"

"Mr. Du!" the salesperson called out.

The female comrade glanced at Du Feng and knew from the salesperson's address that he must be a manager, so she threw the clothes in her hand to him.

"Just take a look! Am I trying to blackmail you, or is there something wrong with your stuff?"

The lesbian bought a Hong Kong version of a white unisex women's shirt. Du Feng took the clothes and turned them over to the open line.

The location is on the inside of the left forearm, close to the wrist, and the opening line should be at least ten centimeters.

Although Du Feng was not a tailor by training, he had practiced tailoring for several years.

It is easy to tell from the holes in the thread that it is most likely caused by the lack of backstitching during sewing, and it has nothing to do with how the customer wears the clothes.

He made a judgment in his mind, and pretended to glance casually at the guests who were paying attention to the situation not far away. For some reason, the words that Lin Chaoyang said flashed through his mind.

Gold and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of the people.

(End of this chapter)