Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!-Chapter 44 - 43: The Greatly Shocked Boss Shen

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: The Greatly Shocked Boss Shen

After about two minutes, Cheng Zhu’s grandma brought in a plate of sliced oranges from the kitchen.

Xu Yun glanced at her parents and told them she needed to talk with them about something. The three of them went into a room together, while Cheng Zhu and Little Youzi watched TV in the living room.

This made Cheng Zhu more certain than ever that his mom must really be there to borrow money.

At that moment, “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf” was playing on TV.

Thus, Cheng Zhu kept Little Youzi company watching TV for about ten minutes, his main focus on the later very popular Boiling Sheep character.

Boiling Sheep was all over Mei Sheep, but Mei Sheep, even when Grey Wolf wanted to cook them, despised the thought of being in the same pot as Boiling Sheep.

...

Just then, the door to the room opened and he glanced back to see his mother’s eyes were slightly red, and his maternal grandfather, Xu Chenglin, was gently patting her shoulder.

Cheng Zhu knew his mother’s tear ducts were shallow and she cried easily.

He guessed his maternal grandparents had said something personal, and she couldn’t help but let her emotions show.

“It reminds me,” Cheng Zhu thought, “that Mom still receives a red envelope every year for New Year. Our grandparents give her one.”

“Every time she refuses it, Grandpa will glare at her, saying, ‘Who says that when a daughter is married off, her father can’t give her money to spend?'”

The family sat in the grandparents’ home for another half-hour before leaving.

During that time, everyone was watching cartoons with Little Youzi.

It wasn’t until they were in the car that Xu Yun mentioned to Cheng Zhu, “Remember that small supermarket you brought up last time that was up for transfer? Your dad and I went to take a look and decided to take over it to open a fresh produce store.”

“Really?” Cheng Zhu instantly showed a surprised expression. He thought he could be a candidate for an acting textbook for the Beijing Film Academy.

Xu Yun didn’t notice anything amiss and nodded, saying, “Your dad and I figured while we’re still able to work, we should do more, because when we’re older, we might have the desire but not the strength.”

Cheng Zhu returned to his usual jesting demeanor and said, “Don’t work too hard either. Your son is destined to achieve great things in the future.”

“Your nature!” Xu Yun laughed, but she didn’t continue the subject, merely adding, “Then I’ll look forward to it a little.”

Cheng Zhu’s parents weren’t like some parents who prefer to use a form of ‘destructive’ education.

They wouldn’t undermine their child’s self-confidence.

In Cheng’s view, a man without ambition couldn’t accomplish great things.

He indeed couldn’t earn much money, not enough to be a strong backing for his son. But the least he could do was to not always negate his child and stoke his sense of insecurity.

After arriving home, Xu Yun asked Cheng Zhu to take Little You upstairs to wash up, as she still needed to go to the restaurant and discuss matters with Cheng.

Cheng Zhu nodded, taking Little You by her small hand to go upstairs.

During the gaps when Little You was brushing her teeth and bathing, Cheng Zhu turned on the computer and checked the back-end of his online store.

These days had gotten busier for Cheng Zhu because he had been trying to create a hit product for his store, “Persistent Visit.”

This was a fairly common operational approach.

The product Cheng was now mainly pushing was the “stepmother skirt.”

This skirt looked normal at the front, but the focus was really on the back and the side slits.

Cheng Zhu had a simple reason for promoting this skirt. The name “stepmother skirt” had become popular only recently, coined by mischievous netizens in a wave of random naming.

He had to admit, the mere three words carried a sense of taboo that hit people right in the face.

So, in the year 2014, such a name was indeed quite novel and eye-catching, and it might even spark a fashion trend.

At the same time, this style that accentuated “femininity” differed significantly from some of the current mainstream QQ products; it was taking a different path.

Currently, many products were taking the most straightforward approach — being flamboyant.

They aimed for the most direct visual impact.

On the other hand, products that concealed a surprise like this were relatively scarce in the marketplace.

Cheng Zhu remembered that later on, there was a grey sweater dress with an open back that went viral across the internet for a while.

He planned to have the factory make that style as well.

“Of course, relying on innovation alone doesn’t work in China. Soon, there will be a horde of copycats trying to take a piece of your pie,” Cheng Zhu mused, very sure of this aspect.

The sale of his “stepmother skirt” had been exploding day by day.

It wouldn’t be long before many other stores also released similar styles and used the same name.

But that was not a big deal, Cheng Zhu had a few more cards up his sleeve.

He had plenty of moves yet to make!

“No rush, let’s first ensure we get our share of the cake,” Cheng Zhu muttered to himself.

…

…

After telling Princess Little Youzi her bedtime story and tucking her in for the night, Cheng Zhu returned to his own room.

He turned off the silent mode on his phone and saw several new WeChat messages.

To his surprise, they were from Shen Minglang.

He and this nominal cousin mostly chatted in groups; they hardly ever had private conversations.

Shen Minglang was asking what the name of his e-commerce store was.

He had been getting along pretty well with the internet celebrity Sun Yue from the birthday party recently; they were inseparable and living what could be called an ‘everyday life’ together.

This internet celebrity was not a bad delivery rider, quite skilled with her waist-to-hip moves.

Which made Boss Shen quite willing to spend money on her.

And today, he had taken her shopping.

During shopping, it suddenly occurred to him: “Right! My cousin Cheng Zhu is also selling women’s clothing, isn’t he?”

“What style did he say last time? Oh right! Sporty women’s fashion!”

Shen Minglang thought he should support his cousin’s business. Sportswear, well, let Sun Yue wear it when she works out.

Reading the WeChat message, Cheng Zhu felt amused.

He had always believed that someone like Shen Minglang was definitely one of the high spenders within his customer base.

After some thought, he replied, “Cousin, I’ll tell you the store’s name, but you have to keep it a secret for me.”

“Why?” Shen Minglang was puzzled.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Cheng Zhu played mysterious.

People hate riddlers, but they can’t help but take the bait.

“Fine, I won’t tell anyone the store name. You’re not selling something dirty, are you? Ha ha ha!” Shen Minglang joked.

Cheng Zhu knew that although Shen Minglang was cynical in nature, he was someone who took his promises seriously. So, he sent the link to the store.

And then, good heavens, Shen Minglang didn’t reply to his WeChat messages for a full fifteen minutes.

“Is it that interesting?” Cheng Zhu wondered.

Then he checked the back-end and saw Shen Minglang frantically placing orders.

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“Buying everything?” Cheng Zhu was slightly startled, “Generous indeed!”

That little internet celeb was going to be busy; tough days lay ahead.

Meanwhile, within a certain villa in Hang City, Shen Minglang was genuinely cheerfully opening his wallet.

He was stunned upon entering the store.

“What the hell, this is like a miraculous shop!”

“Good job, Cheng Zhu! Is this the sporty style you’re talking about?” Shen Minglang exclaimed in surprise.

And sure enough, because of Cheng Zhu’s superb Photoshop skills, and the fact that the QQ model’s seller show generally made the real person’s photos look sort of like virtual characters, somewhere in-between virtual and real, even Shen Minglang did not recognize the model was Ye Zi.

He first checked out the store’s best-selling style.

“Not bad at all, hasn’t been that long and this one’s monthly sales have already broken a thousand?”

“Wow wow wow, this style is cool, looks full of charm, then, dammit! The back is entirely full of fun and games, very playful!” Shen Minglang was undoubtedly a connoisseur.

But when he saw the name of the style, he was drinking water and almost sprayed it out.

“Stepmother skirt?!”

“Unbelievable! Damn brilliant!”

“Where did the naming genius come from? How did they come up with this?” Shen Minglang was dumbfounded.

Though he was cynical, he was still influenced by his family.

Shen Minglang knew very well that a good product name could aid in subsequent promotion and marketing.

Initially, he had regarded Cheng Zhu as a reliable “bad influence,” full of little tricks, entertaining talk, and someone who was fun and uninhibited.

But now, he realized that his cousin was no ordinary person.

“What kind of 18-year-old high school graduate is like this?”

When he graduated from high school, what sort of person was he, what were his classmates like – was he not aware?

Back then, with the red envelope his family gave him upon graduation, he impulsively spent tens of thousands of yuan on “Dream West Journey,” and when he quit the game, he even made a bit of profit, thinking himself incredibly cool!

Now compared to that, it really was a case of ‘goods should be thrown out when better ones are found, people should give up when someone better is found.’

Dare to bet on a 0:0 in the World Cup, able to think of selling this thing on e-commerce, and also able to cook up so many little tricks and little gimmicks…

“My cousin, geez, he’s a bit wild!” Shen Minglang was eye-opened.

After being shocked to the core, a thought that seemed both ridiculous yet not so funny struck Shen Minglang:

“He couldn’t actually be a business prodigy, could he?”

He heard his own father mention such people, saying how they have their own way of doing things at a young age and have limitless potential for the future.

“When you encounter such a hidden dragon, even a simple guy like you could afford to flatter them a bit.” Those were his father’s exact words.