Chapter 24: Changing Allegiances

“Hurry, hurry, the fabric has arrived!”

After a flurry of activity, the machines in the tailor shop once again erupted in a thunderous clamor. Over thirty tailors, now working at full capacity, toiled in a blaze of fervor. Production reached its peak—one hundred and fifty garments a day!

In these past two days, Chai Yanfan’s sales had soared. Not only did she sell out the first batch of three hundred pieces, but even the latest garments hot off the machines were quickly snatched up. Her profits swelled, and Wu Ya’s fortunes reversed overnight—he recouped all his investments and even had a surplus.

But Wu Ya was far from happy. His face was clouded, weighed down by worry. The reason? Sales were too good—demand had outstripped supply. Chai Yanfan was already running out of stock, and he had only sixty new pieces in inventory. At this rate, there was no way for Chai Yanfan to help him break into the wholesale market, let alone guarantee her enough for retail. This was not the outcome he wanted.

“It seems I still need to expand production,” he muttered, frowning despite having over twenty thousand yuan in his pocket. At first, limited by funds, he’d known the market would boom but lacked the means to expand further. What he hadn’t expected was Chai Yanfan’s boldness—though merely a small businesswoman, she’d shown remarkable resolve. Their agreed-upon distribution partnership had collapsed in the face of surging demand—instead, she’d handed over all her sales revenue to him, even offering her own meager savings to support his production.

It was, for all intents and purposes, an advance payment. Yet even this couldn’t solve the underlying problem. His tailor shop was only so big, and he’d already started hiring night-shift workers for round-the-clock production. But even with such efforts, he feared he still couldn’t keep up with Chai Yanfan’s rapidly growing sales.

In just two days, she’d reached an impressive two hundred sales a day. And as her sales exploded, the entire market was swept up in the frenzy. Some people traveled to other towns for goods; others sought out Chai Yanfan, hoping to become her retail distributors.

Seeing his business channels tightening and market share at risk, Wu Ya was burning with anxiety.

“We must act immediately—there can be no further delay! Only large-scale production offers lasting growth.”

Planning for the future, Wu Ya realized that with all these factors converging so quickly, what he’d thought would be a distant issue was now urgent. It was a problem he had to solve immediately.

“Liu Qian, could you please deliver these clothes to Sister Chai for me? I have something especially important to take care of.”

His mind made up, Wu Ya quickly instructed Liu Qian and, without waiting for a reply, hopped on his big black bicycle and sped off into the distance.

“So impulsive! I can’t imagine what could be more urgent than keeping up with market demand when sales are this hot,” Liu Qian grumbled with annoyance as she watched him go. Was he getting carried away?

Even she could see that the tailor shop couldn’t keep pace with sales. Instead of hiring more workers and buying more machines to ramp up production, Wu Ya dashed off on some mysterious errand, claiming it was something of utmost importance. What could be more pressing than the looming crisis of not meeting demand?

If this went on, even Sister Chai might have to source some stock from elsewhere to make up for their production shortfall. After all, she was a businesswoman—she couldn’t just let a fortune slip through her fingers.

“I’d better deliver these clothes first, then have a good talk with him. This can’t go on,” Liu Qian decided. Wu Ya needed a sharp wake-up call. Business, like life, was about doing things solidly step by step. Only by handling the present well could one hope for a smooth future. That was what her parents always taught her. Just because business had improved and there was money in his pocket didn’t mean it was time to get distracted—especially not by irrelevant matters.

Meanwhile, Wu Ya was already hurrying toward the outskirts of town.

“Director Pei, you’ve worked so hard these past few days.”

At Morning Star Textile Factory, Wu Ya sat in Director Pei’s office with a smile. Ten bolts of fabric a day, all delivered on time—no small feat for a collective enterprise used to a slow pace. Pei had truly put his heart into it.

“Haha, Boss Wu, you’ve given us a lifeline—we wouldn’t dare be anything but diligent! We’ve all lived through the agony of shutdowns and layoffs, so we appreciate this chance more than anyone.”

Director Pei’s words were warm and full of gratitude. Without Wu Ya, they’d still be on standby, the factory idle. Even now, with four hundred workers split into two shifts and each group working every other day, it was better than nothing. At least now, salaries—once uncertain for more than half the staff—were something they could count on.

“So, what brings you here today?” Pei asked.

Wu Ya’s sudden visit was unexpected. Last time he’d said that as long as output was steady, he wouldn’t come by needlessly—he trusted Pei to handle things. But only a few days had passed, and now he was back.

“I want to expand production further.”

“Expand production?” The smile faded from Director Pei’s face, replaced by worried surprise. Wu Ya’s clothing sales were already famous in the region. If he wanted to expand so soon, what did that mean? It meant the factory might not be able to keep up. It meant Wu Ya might be considering switching partners.

After all, Morning Star’s capacity had become a bottleneck for Wu Ya’s clothing business. If he wanted to change suppliers, it was understandable. When they signed the contract, Pei had been in no position to demand exclusivity—Wu Ya could leave at any time.

“Boss Wu, our whole factory has been giving its all. You can’t just stop now! How are our workers supposed to accept that? Besides, we haven’t even reached full capacity—we’re only using half our resources!”

Director Pei grew more anxious, his oily round face glistening with sweat. As factory director, he understood better than anyone the misery of halted production: hundreds of people to feed and employ, their demands ringing in his ears daily. And that was nothing compared to the pressure from above, demanding he solve the employment crisis—he was always on the grill.

Finally, the factory had started to recover, and now Wu Ya was going to pull out? That would be the death of him!

Seeing his distress, Wu Ya couldn’t help but smile.

“Heh heh…”