Chapter 15: Chapter 14: The Highly Profitable Industry

    Hang City, a high-end residential area.

    Lin Lu was wearing pajamas with cartoon patterns, half-lying on the pillow with one leg slightly raised.

    After blowing her bangs with her lower lip, she questioned her friend like a police officer interrogating a suspect, "Shen Qingning, are you sure there''s nothing else you need to tell me?"

    "Huh? What are you talking about?" Shen Qingning was slightly puzzled.

    "Did you perhaps leave out some details, like how handsome your cousin''s friend is?" Lin Lu asked.

    "You''re sick." Shen Qingning bluntly said.

    "Then just tell me, do you think he''s handsome or not?"

    In Shen Qingning''s mind, Cheng Zhu''s somewhat rogue-handsome face appeared, and she immediately responded, "Definitely not my type."

    "Got it, he''s handsome," Lin Lu concluded.

    Shen Qingning: "......"

    Lin Lu knew her friend well; she was a person of cold temperament, usually serious and cool, seldom complimenting others.

    Some people, more euphemistic in their speech, might convert "ugly" into "not my type" as a high EQ response.

    Shen Qingning was not like that.

    Since she avoided answering the question directly, Lin Lu firmly believed— he must be handsome!

    "Why don''t you add me to the dinner?" Lin Lu whimsically suggested.

    To her, the dinner wouldn''t be awkward because she knew Shen Minglang and had met Jiang Wanzhou a few times; they were acquaintances, just not very close.

    The only stranger was the mysterious man who had made her earn more than ten thousand unwittingly.

    She really enjoyed watching that match because she loved seeing her dad''s dumbfounded expression.

    "I was initially saying to bet on 0:0, and he was reluctant to buy it!" Lin Lu thought to herself.

    Hearing this, Shen Qingning thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I''ll mention it in the group chat."

    "Group? You have a group with this Cheng Zhu?" Lin Lu became alert again.

    "What are you talking about? I meant my family group, I''ll just inform my brother and my cousin that you''ll come too," Shen Qingning sighed deeply. "Can you not be so suspicious all the time?"

    "Oh, okay, okay!" Lin Lu said playfully, "Hehe, I get to have dinner with a handsome younger guy!"

    "You''re only good with words," Shen Qingning mocked.

    "You haven''t even kissed me; how would you know, hmm?" The voice actress switched her tone to a sultry mature voice, the kind where the last tone of her sentence slightly dips while giving a hint of a pitch bend, making her last "hmm" sound particularly sexy.

    Shen Qingning couldn''t tolerate her, saying, "With that skill of yours and only using it on a woman like me, what great ability is that."

    "Hehe!" Lin Lu didn''t mind and even felt somewhat honored, saying, "That''s because I haven''t met someone I like yet. If I do, watch me flirt him to death!"

    ...

    ...

    Inside Yunlai Restaurant, Cheng Zhu and Jiang Wanzhou were watching another episode of "Balala the Fairies" with Little Youzi.

    During the commercial break, Cheng Zhu kept chatting on his phone.

    "Who are you chatting with, looking so happy?" Jiang Wanzhou asked, fearing it was Li Xinyue.

    The two had undergone numerous breakups and reconciliations, and Jiang Wanzhou had witnessed it all. So regardless of how definitively Cheng Zhu spoke, he remained skeptical.

    "I''m chatting with Ye Zi, the bartender at your cousin''s bar," Cheng Zhu candidly said.

    Indeed, Cheng Zhu had chosen QQ Underwear as his e-commerce niche.

    With the rapid growth of e-commerce, the competition among merchants was increasingly fierce.

    Now, it''s 2014, an era still booming.

    But, look at 2023: there were so many e-commerce operators complaining.

    However, even in 2023, if you knew how to operate, this path still held great prospects!

    This was because public perceptions were changing, and so were social norms.

    Cheng Zhu''s decision to venture into this was after careful consideration.

    "First, I know where to source the products."

    "Next, just by looking at the designs, you can tell they use less material, costing less, thus, higher profit."

    "If operated well, a 70% profit margin is quite standard."

    "Customers might scrutinize costs for other items. But with this, they never consider your cost; the less material you use, the happier they might actually be!"

    "Massive profits, just massive!"

    "Also, crucially, the return rate is extremely low!"

    Yes, this category had one of the lowest return rates in e-commerce.

    Returns are a tough issue in the e-commerce industry.

    "Also, there''s no off-season; there''s market demand throughout the year. Although it''s cool, well, there''s air-conditioning in winter,"

    "Furthermore, choosing this niche is also because it doesn''t require much capital."

    "It''s still 2014, and Guan Yun is in its development phase, nowhere near as exaggerated as in later years when the government directly allocated billions of dollars to support and create ''Clothing Town,'' where many factories have a mature system and process."

    "But even now, they should be able to handle ''dropshipping.''"

    This meant Cheng Zhu didn''t need to bear much capital costs and also saved effort.

    Note: In the garment industry, inventory is one of the biggest cost pressures.

    Factories supporting ''dropshipping'' could solve this problem.

    Moreover, most customers tended to shop online because many were embarrassed to visit physical stores to pick these items.

    It was still an era where sex was a taboo topic.

    "It seems once you step through that door, you''re branded a pervert."

    "Laughable, whether you step through that door or not, men will be perverts till death!" Cheng Zhu amused himself with the thought.

    Thus, in these times, people making millions annually through this weren''t few!

    And QQ Underwear was interesting for another reason.

    Women were users, and so were men.

    Therefore this industry might not seem dignified, but Cheng Zhu felt a sense of mission.

    "I''m improving people''s happiness index here."

    "It''s just that in the process, I''m making a tad bit of disgraceful money."

    In 2023, on Taobao, you couldn''t see buyer shows for these kinds of clothes, but now in 2014, you still could.

    This made girls like Ye Zi useful.

    Holding such a noble idea, Cheng Zhu continued to flirt with Ye Zi.