"When are you planning to go back?" Li Jingyue asked. Next to him, Lu Yan heard this question and his face remained calm, but his ears perked up high.

  An An and Xu Cheng Cheng exchanged a glance, hesitated for a moment, "In a few days, after the shop here opens, I plan to go back."

  "That time is a bit rushed."

  "Right! So I was thinking, let this shop open as soon as possible! When I leave, I can also put one thing at ease!"

  "I'll be busy over here, so you don't go to the sales department for the next few days either. Just follow Cheng and have a good time going out together."

  An An thought for a moment and also felt that way. Although they had been here for several days, except for the first night when Lu Yan took her to stroll along the Bund, they had been busy with things all the time.

  The shop side has already come to an end, the remaining work was handed over to Aunt Li, and An'an left directly. Coincidentally, when they returned to the Li's house, the carpenter delivered a batch of goods.

  That's the clothes rack, there are two kinds of hanging and standing on the ground, counted a few numbers, not many. After using a batch at the door market, their own store can also leave a batch, estimated to be just enough, not much more.

  Afternoon An'an didn't go out, locked in the house, drew a lot of simple clothing styles, actually she didn't dare to draw those too advanced ones, after all it's not easy for everyone to accept that kind of avant-garde.

  So her draft comes from the style of clothes she wore in the past few days, but with some slight changes on the basis of the original.

  On the third day, the personnel of the shop were basically in place. Li Jingyue also brought several second-hand sewing machines and placed them in the back room of the shop. The old tailor was also waiting inside the shop as a master craftsman.

  In addition, five more younger sisters were found. The back room of the shop was not large and was originally a temporary resting place for people, but it was converted into a small temporary factory by Anan and others.

  This old tailor has been making clothes for a lifetime, and An'an didn't have too much to worry about. On the other hand, among the five younger sisters-in-law, four of them were laid off by the garment factory, temporarily losing their jobs, and the children at home had just weaned not long ago.

  There was only one who was a young widow, and everyone called her Xiao Widow. After her husband had an accident in the early years, she did not remarry and supported two children by making matchboxes at home. Occasionally, she would also receive some needlework that neighbors were unwilling to do, and they would all give Xiao Widow some help within their power.

  When Anan stood in front of the five people, everyone was obviously surprised that Anan turned out to be the boss. Anan's purpose was simple: "You all introduce yourselves." Before coming, she had naturally looked through the information of these few people.

  Let them introduce themselves, but I just want to see their eloquence and who is suitable to be a temporary group leader.

  There were three younger sisters who were a bit shy, subconsciously taking a step back, giving the opportunity to Xiao Widow and Zhang Fenhong, who had previously been a team leader at the garment factory. An's expression didn't change, as if she hadn't seen them take a step back, calmly saying, "Which one of you two will go first?"

  "My name is Zhang Fenhong. I used to work in a garment factory for six years, but after giving birth to my child, the factory kicked me out. Since then, I've been staying at home taking care of my kid."

  Compared to Zhang Fenhong's experience working in a garment factory, Xiao Widow is at a disadvantage. "I'm good with needlework, but I haven't worked for over 10 years, let alone in a textile factory." This is Xiao Widow's weakness. Since her husband left, she has been staying at home taking care of the children and only occasionally takes on some small, scattered jobs to barely make ends meet.

  An nodded, and the other three beside her also finished introducing themselves in a low voice. Although it was only over ten minutes, An basically had an idea of these people in front of her. "I believe you all know why I've called you here," she said. "After the tailor makes the prototype, your task will be to make identical clothes according to the sample. Your salary will also be calculated based on the quantity each person produces per day. The more you produce, the higher your salary; the less you produce, the lower your salary at the end of the month."

  When An said this, several younger sisters looked at each other in dismay. Except for Xiao's widow, they had all worked in garment factories, where the wages were paid in full, but in reality, not much work was done, and the money could be taken home without missing a single cent. This is quite different from what An said about hard work and high pay.

  Even Li Jingyue next to her was shocked when she heard it, and it was clear that Anan's new wage plan was difficult to digest. However, after thinking about it carefully, he found that this plan was better than the garment factory's. In the garment factory, everyone received the same salary, and during work hours, people would rely on each other and slack off whenever possible, never taking the initiative to do anything extra. But Anan's "do more, earn more" approach was like throwing a handful of money in front of these women, making them realize that if they wanted to make money, they had to work hard to make clothes.

  Those four little sisters who used to work in the garment factory found it difficult to accept this plan, they were all used to eating big pot rice, and suddenly came up with such a thing, which was obviously unacceptable.

  It turned out that Xiao's widow had figured it out after passing the checkpoints inside, and her eyes were getting brighter. In fact, this was the same principle as making matchboxes at home: the more overtime you put in, the more money you made; the less you worked, the less money you earned.

  She suppressed the excitement in her heart and asked, "How about this piece of clothing?"

  "In the summer, clothes are one yuan per piece." It's not that Ahn Ahn is being dishonest and giving a low price, but rather that summer clothes are relatively simple and easy to make. If you're skilled with your hands and familiar with the sewing machine, making seven or eight pieces in a day, or even over ten pieces, isn't a problem at all."

  When you think about it, their monthly salary isn't low at all!

  If you are a little faster with your hands and become more skilled later on, even the wages you earn may be higher than those in garment factories.

  Those little sisters were all carefully pondering the meaning of An's words, and after figuring it out later on, their eyes became brighter and brighter, gone was their previous hesitation, instead they seemed eager to give it a try.

  An An guessed what everyone was thinking and said slowly, "Give you half a day to consider, if you feel that this method is unacceptable, then leave early! If you can accept it, you can make clothes with Zhang tailor in the afternoon."

  After finishing speaking, Anan directly went out and left the remaining time for several younger sisters-in-law to think by themselves.

  As soon as they went out, Li Jing jumped with surprise and looked at An An, "What's in that little brain of yours? How can you have so many ideas?"

  An'an smiled, "This is just a way to mobilize their enthusiasm. If it were you, little uncle, you would definitely be able to think of it too." This was the truth, and the principle wasn't difficult. Later generations' factories basically all followed this piecework wage system, where more work meant more pay, and compared to the big pot meal system, this was actually fairer.

  In the afternoon, the latest batch of fabrics arrived. As for those five little sisters, they finally decided to stay and try it out for a while to see how things go. An An wasn't surprised at all; after all, she had offered them a good price.

  Now that everything is ready, the small workshop behind has been led by the tailor in front and can be considered officially started. An'an and others are in front, hanging up the batch of clothes racks they ordered before.

  The shop has taken shape, and An'an also breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of rushing to open for business, she had the tailor and the young women spend the first three days in a trial phase. At first, everyone was a bit unfamiliar with each other, so making clothes was a bit slow.

  By the second day, she had basically gotten the hang of it. From three or four pieces of clothing per day to six or seven pieces, by the third day, Xiao was the fastest among them all. Except for eating and sleeping, she spent all her remaining time in the small workshop behind the house. On the third day alone, she made thirteen pieces of clothing, while the others made around ten.

  An An was still very satisfied with this, after all, she was a seasoned pro. After basically one or two days of getting familiar with the environment, she immediately got to work. What surprised her most was Xiao Widow, she didn't expect her hand speed to be so fast, and this was only the third day. If they were allowed to thoroughly get familiarized, then producing twenty pieces a day wouldn't be a problem.

  There were a few young widows leading in front, and the several younger sisters-in-law behind did not fall behind either, all of them chasing after each other.

  In just a few days, they accumulated over 100 pieces of clothing. Anan directly hung these clothes on the racks in the store, and compared to the previous pile of clothes, these hanging clothes were much brighter and more visible at a glance, making it easy to see what style they were and whether they looked good or not!

  On the opening day, Anan, who had been expressionless and tense all along, finally relaxed a bit and showed a hint of a smile. Lu Yan also breathed a sigh of relief as he had been following her around for days, watching her perfect the systems, draw out one clothing design after another, and try out every single piece of clothing and every clothes rack countless times before finally settling on their positions.

  This is the scene in front of the shop.

  Lu Yan was truly heartbroken, but seeing An An's face though tired, her eyes were shining brightly, so he couldn't bear to disturb her and could only silently assist by her side.

  Lu Yan was so proud of himself in the back, this is his Ahn Ahn!

  Li Jingyue, who has been struggling in the clothing factory for many years, was also amazed when she saw the large and small shelves inside. If the clothes on the sales side were piled up randomly.

  The new shop's clothes were neatly hung on the rack, especially the few pieces at the front door, which were ironed and smooth, without a single wrinkle. As soon as the shop opened, almost every piece was like a signboard, clearly visible to passersby.

  Their family's clothing styles are more novel than those in the department store, and the prices are much more affordable. An chose to set up his shop at this intersection on Old Street precisely because he valued its prosperity, and the foot traffic on Old Street is even twice that of prosperous Nanjing Road.