[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981":3,"chapter-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-202":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","That Year, the Flowers Bloomed in 1981",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2294620,4489,"Chapter 202: First, Aim to Be Second-Rate!","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-202",202,"\u003Cp>Li Ye and Pei Wencong partnered to establish a new company, and merely handling the related procedures took two days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a major commercial and trading hub in the Far East, Hong Kong has a comprehensive and highly rigorous business management system—though somewhat cumbersome, it thoroughly protects merchants’ interests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout the process, Li Ye remained silent, merely reviewing contracts and signing them; he only offered his opinion when Pei Wencong asked what to name the new company.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Call it Seres.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Hong Kong, many companies use transliterated foreign names—keeping it low-key is no problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing this, Pei Wencong smiled and said, “Seres? Mr. Li is borrowing the historical term foreigners used for the Flower Empire?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye replied, “In a sense. I hope our nation will one day again inspire worldwide awe and longing, as it did back then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong paused, then nodded silently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A thousand years ago, because of silk, nations from around the world came to the Flower Empire; after witnessing its power, they spread tales of its wealth and might far and wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that former glory has faded, the name Seres has long been forgotten by the world; Li Ye borrowing it is a quiet wish—a borrowing of national fortune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing all company formalities, Li Ye spent two days on “real work.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He visited many famous scenic spots in Hong Kong for photos, and through Pei Wencong’s introduction, engaged in friendly cultural exchanges with two ideologically aligned literary authors—thus fulfilling his “cultural exchange” mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, when he returned to Jingcheng and Ke Laoshi and Wen Leyu asked, “What did you do on your first cultural exchange trip to Hong Kong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What would he answer?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I toured a night club called Da Fuhao? And had a superstitious interaction with a master?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That would be far too unprofessional.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the second-to-last day before leaving Hong Kong, Li Ye and the others went to the small street specializing in custom tailoring to pick up their ordered clothes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After custom clothing is made, it’s best to try it on first—if any part doesn’t fit well, minor adjustments can be made to perfect the cut and measurements, making it far more fitted than ready-made garments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the price is higher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the time, ordinary ready-made clothes cost only dozens or hundreds, but the outfits Li Ye and the others had made cost several thousand Hong Kong dollars each, leaving Jin Peng and Hao Jian visibly pained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A single suit cost nearly half a 212 Jeep—you tell me if that shouldn’t hurt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet once Jin Peng and Hao Jian put them on, the pain faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hao Jian, the shortest and least good-looking among them, was usually the most attentive to his appearance; now, dressed in his new clothes, he actually felt he had a touch of “Pan An’s beauty.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Peng, after seeing himself in the mirror, was already imagining showing off the outfit to his future bride and receiving full praise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, even together, the two of them couldn’t match Li Ye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Designer Ling personally helped Li Ye adjust his clothes, then couldn’t help saying, “Mr. Li, though it may be inappropriate to say this, I still urge you to try Hong Kong’s entertainment industry—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just a short time, you could be the next Xu Wenqiang!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, thank you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye declined with a light laugh— even the Kung Fu Emperor barely made it; he was no fool to enter Hong Kong’s murky waters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Li Ye had no interest, Ling sighed and gave up; but as Li Ye prepared to pay, she made another request.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mr. Li, I’d like to take these designs to Tokyo for a fashion show. Since they include so much of your creativity, I won’t charge you the final balance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sorry—if you were going to Paris, I’d gladly donate my designs. But Tokyo? No.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye saw the embarrassment on Ling’s face—she had clearly been torn about asking for his creativity, and now that he’d refused outright, she was even more flustered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every designer has her pride, but pride crumbles easily under the weight of reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ling could easily have skipped telling Li Ye and simply submitted the designs for the show; given 1980s patent relations between Hong Kong and the mainland, it would have been ignored entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet she still asked him—and even offered to pay a substantial sum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Li Ye paused, then asked, “Can you even afford the exhibition fees right now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ling smiled faintly and shook her head—more at peace than Li Ye expected, more accepting of reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then talk to my friend. He needs a fashion designer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye waved Hao Jian over, whispered a few words, then walked out and left it to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hao Jian glanced back at Li Ye, then turned around with the face of a “successful businessman.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hello, I’m the factory director of Pengcheng Factory Seven. We currently have thirty thousand contracted employees and are recruiting outstanding fashion designers worldwide.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pengcheng Factory Seven’s direct staff had only just surpassed two thousand before Spring Festival, but Li Ye’s original outsourcing plan had exploded—establishing solid processing agreements with over thirty clothing factories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you counted all those thirty-plus factories’ workers as his own, it would total twenty to thirty thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Hao Jian was using a big name, but not entirely fabricating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ling, staring at Hao Jian with confusion, eventually had to drag Pei Wencong over to verify whether he was a con artist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More than an hour later, Hao Jian emerged from the tailor shop and found Li Ye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Little Ye, we’ve met a smart one—Fan Xiuling is willing to join Pengcheng Factory Seven, but she’ll work from Hong Kong, visiting Pengcheng occasionally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She also wants patent rights to these designs and to join as a partner, taking a sales commission on these pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plus, she wants to use a Hong Kong trading intermediary to handle our clothing exports, and demands an absurdly low factory price.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Li Ye, with all his experience, was stunned for a few seconds before breaking into a wry smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This tactic was exactly like how he’d once taken “Shu Feng Fei Yang” to Pei Wencong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Li Ye’s wry expression, Hao Jian grumbled, “Why are all Hong Kong people such shrewd businessmen? This delicate little woman, once money’s involved, is sharper than a monkey.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hong Kong’s decades of commercial growth had made the entire society profit from the economy, creating path dependency—a mindset now ingrained in its culture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like later on the mainland, when people saw “profiteers” making money and developed the idea of “eight hundred million profiteers among a billion people,” everyone thought they could get rich just by flipping goods, ignoring the real source: manufacturing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye smiled. “Learned something? Hong Kong’s commercial atmosphere is beyond us. You should communicate more here, learn more here—or you’ll never outplay those foreigners.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine. For our future, I’ll let her get away with this once. But someday, she’ll learn Hao Jian isn’t easy to take advantage of.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hao Jian had long absorbed Li Ye’s “go out, earn foreign currency” mindset; he didn’t strongly object—since Li Ye said yes, it was fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That evening, Pei Wencong booked a private room to host Li Ye, as a farewell dinner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Li Ye entered the room, he saw Fan Xiuling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today she wasn’t wearing business attire but a long dress—she truly carried the aura of a wealthy daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon seeing Li Ye, Fan Xiuling immediately stood and bowed slightly—clearly recognizing him as the “number one” among the three.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And her attitude toward Li Ye suggested Pei Wencong might have revealed some other secret to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hello, Mr. Li. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Though family reasons prevent me from working full-time in Pengcheng, I will never slack off—I will do my part well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Please sit,” Li Ye gestured for her to sit, then smiled. “Do you truly understand what your job entails?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fan Xiuling froze, wary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is this some kind of Red spy assignment?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Ye’s next words sent her heart racing with boundless imagination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ms. Fan, whether you work in Pengcheng or not is irrelevant. I’ll have someone regularly send you market data for all designs, and do my best to provide details on mainland body types.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your job isn’t simply designing a few garments—it’s leading a style, one suited to the mainland’s physique and mindset.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If done successfully, the entire mainland market becomes your runway, and one billion people become your models.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fan Xiuling swallowed hard. “This... job is extremely difficult and challenging.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye said directly: “We can help you establish a fashion design studio—you recruit assistants. But since we’ve supported you, you must quickly release a line suited to the mainland and help us build a truly fashionable brand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Branding was Li Ye’s ultimate goal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pengcheng Factory Seven was a nominal affiliation; once the Flower Empire allowed private enterprises in over a year, there would be a transition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if Pengcheng Factory Seven was built entirely by Li Ye from nothing, could he fully claim its assets at that point?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Li Ye had connections with Ke Laoshi, some things can’t rely entirely on others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Li Ye had prepared in advance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Starting this year, Pengcheng Factory Seven’s sales channels would gradually promote one single brand—until people knew only the brand, not Pengcheng Factory Seven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this brand would belong to a Hong Kong company.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the public-private handover came, even if disputes arose over factories, equipment, or funds, the channels were built by Hao Jian and Jin Peng, the brand was Hong Kong’s—just rebuild the stage, and the show could continue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Top-tier companies set standards; second-tier companies build brands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, aim to become second-tier!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thank you to the book friend who tipped 500 coins, thank you, brother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1643,"2026-06-20T05:05:01.382Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e4fc34a5054f1135af50abd7ca1b86228b202cc84b7e1e059e2c1c704b112705","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-203","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-201",884,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthat-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-cover.jpg"]