Zhou Bin Snatched the Store Investigation Job, but the Snow Boots Were Bought Out!

At 9:30 Monday morning, during the 3C Group's weekly meeting, Zheng Haifeng closed the notebook in his hands after the routine data review. He didn't adjourn the meeting.

"One more thing, something assigned by the department."

"You all remember that dark horse store from last week's review meeting, right? The department's thinking is that we can't just discuss it and leave it at that. It's Double Eleven's first year, and we're short on examples like this that we can put on display. We need to figure out who's behind the operation. If it's really a big fish, bringing them in to endorse the major promotion would be our department's biggest prize this year."

His gaze swept around the conference table.

"Our group stole the show at the review meeting, so this job's been assigned to us too. Who wants it?"

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Bin raised his hand.

"Supervisor, I'll take it."

"I put my word on the line at that meeting. I signed a guarantee that this store wouldn't survive until the New Year. Perfect—I can verify it face-to-face once I've gotten to the bottom of it." He leaned back in his chair. "Besides, I've got plenty of merchant connections. Following the trail will be faster than having some youngster run around blindly."

"Fine." Zheng Haifeng nodded. "Give me something by the end of the month. Don't start strong and fizzle out."

"Just watch me."

As the meeting broke up and everyone headed out, Zhou Bin detoured to Lin Fan's desk and tapped the tabletop with a finger.

"Xiao Lin, pull together that store's public data for me every week from now on. Use the same format as last time."

"Got it, Brother Bin."

Lin Fan answered crisply, then sat down and ran through the whole matter from start to finish.

The company had officially opened an investigation. Starting today, looking into that store was no longer someone's personal interest—it was legitimate group business. A searchlight passing overhead and one fixed above your head were two entirely different things.

But if they were talking about candidates, they couldn't have picked a more suitable person.

Zhou Bin was investigating with a conclusion already in hand: a top seller's alternate account, bound to die before the New Year. He'd wagered those eight words in front of the entire department. From here on, everything he found would have to make way for those eight words. Anything that matched was evidence; anything that didn't was noise. Investigating like that, he'd still be going in circles at the doorstep by New Year's.

Better yet, the data work had fallen back into Lin Fan's hands. Whatever Zhou Bin saw had to pass through him first. Every move the other side made would be laid out for him in advance. He'd pull the numbers honestly—there was nothing to hide in public information. What mattered had never been the numbers, but where the person reading them let their mind go.

The real opening wasn't here, either. The store fell under women's apparel. Su Qing's position gave her direct access to the store's and campaign's review records. That was the blade pressed against the flesh. Fortunately, the assignment had gone to 3C this time, so she couldn't make a big show of things on her end.

When he laid it all out like that, the person actually handling the investigation happened to be the one person in the entire company least capable of finding anything.

When he got home at seven that evening, Ma Le was sitting on the living room floor as soon as he opened the door, with two opened cardboard boxes spread out beside his feet.

"Your boots are here. Both suppliers' samples arrived." He was bending one in his hands. "I'm telling you, this one's no good. It reeks of glue—hits you right in the nose."

Lin Fan set down his bag and crouched beside him. With the two pairs of samples placed together, the difference was obvious.

The pair he'd dug up online had stiff leather, fur so thin it barely covered the lining, and felt dead heavy in the hand. Up close, the glue smell practically slammed into his forehead.

The pair from the Wenzhou factory connected through the freight forwarder was light when lifted. The fur around the opening was thick, and the pile lay smooth. Round-toed, short-shafted, dowdy as hell—a chubby little lump.

This was it. This exact lump had been on the feet of girls all over the streets in his previous life.

Ma Le snatched the better boot and tried to pull it onto his foot, only to get stuck at the instep, unable to force it on or take it off.

"Women's style. Largest size."

"So stingy." Ma Le yanked the boot off. "But this thing's really soft and warm. The pairs for my cousin and her dormmates—should we order this one?"

"This one."

Lin Fan took out his phone and found the Wenzhou factory owner's number. They'd spoken when the samples were sent last week. His surname was Wu.

The call wasn't answered until the fourth ring.

"Boss Wu, this is Xiao Ma from Hangzhou. I received the samples. The product's good, and I want to place an order. Five hundred pairs for the first batch. Give me your best price."

The other end went quiet for a moment, followed by an awkward cough.

"Ah, Boss Ma, I'm really sorry, but you're a step too late."

"Too late?"

"Last week, a major client came over from Hangzhou and bought out our factory's production capacity through Spring Festival." Boss Wu lowered his voice, sounding both proud and apologetic. "They put down a real cash deposit. We can't spare a single pair. Honestly, it's not just you—an old client from Guangzhou wanted two thousand pairs yesterday, and I had to turn them down too."

"Bought it all out? Not leaving a single pair?"

"The contract spells it out. Exclusive supply." Boss Wu sighed. "Boss Ma, let me give you the inside story. There are only five or six factories around here that make decent snow boots with fur trim. I heard this same group swept them all, factory by factory. Cash plus deposits—nobody could hold out."

"Can I ask what kind of client has that kind of money to throw around?"

"A big boot seller from Hangzhou named Lei. He started with a market stall and has always been a major customer of ours. Don't know what got into him this year—he came down to buy up stock at the beginning of October. Any factory he saw, he booked."

"I understand. Thanks, Boss Wu. We'll work together if there's another chance."

"I'm sorry, truly. Keep an eye out—if we can squeeze out any extra quantity by mid-November, you'll be the first person I call."

After the call ended, the living room fell silent for several seconds.

Surname Lei. Hangzhou. Sold boots.

Looking back through the accounts of his previous life, those three details could only point to one name: Lei Xiangdong.

It had been this winter in his previous life too. Snow boots had gone wild online for an entire season, and the man who swallowed that entire wave was him. In one winter, he'd gone from a stall owner to one of the category's major players. For years afterward, nobody in the boot business dared speak disrespectfully of Lei.

Back then, Lin Fan had only heard the excitement of that success story from the merchant side. Today, he finally touched the bones beneath the excitement.

What rising trend? The man had locked down the entire production region in October. Once the weather turned cold in November, sellers across the internet would catch the scent and rush in. Then they'd look up and find every last item sitting in one man's warehouse. What price it sold for and who got stock—he had the final say. Others fought for orders. He'd taken away the scales themselves.

There was only one part he couldn't figure out. Had Lei moved this early in his previous life too, or had the commotion over leggings been so loud that it sharpened the old hands' instincts?

If he couldn't figure it out, he wouldn't dwell on it. He only remembered the broad trends. These detailed accounts tied to specific people had never reached his ears in his previous life. Racking his brains over them now would be pointless. The wall had already been built in front of him. The name of the man who built it was secondary.

"Hey." Ma Le leaned closer. "You don't look so good. No stock?"

"Someone bought out all the source stock."

"Bought it all out?" Ma Le's eyes widened. "All five or six factories? Isn't that like booking out an entire vegetable market? How's anyone else supposed to cook?"

"That's exactly what he wants. No vegetables left for anyone else to cook."

Ma Le clicked his tongue, then remembered something. "Then isn't your thirty thousand-plus tied up? How am I supposed to explain this to my cousin?"

"What's the rush?"

Lin Fan picked up the boot and weighed it in his hand again.

Once he broke down the situation, there was only one piece of bad news: the source production capacity was gone. But there was a string of good news. The demand was real. The market was real. The weather was getting colder every day. He had thirty-three thousand in working cash, a store firmly positioned near the front, over five thousand reviews, and nearly a thousand returning customers. The only thing he lacked was inventory.

The question had changed from what to sell to where to get it.

Even if the main road was blocked, there were side roads. Foreign trade had been rough these past two years. Cancelled and slashed orders were everywhere. Who knew how many export shoe factories had warehouses full of ready stock foreigners no longer wanted? Fur-trimmed boots like these might be gathering dust in someone's warehouse. That kind of inventory might not even cost wholesale price.

There was no use sitting in Hangzhou and thinking about whether that road would work. He had to measure it with his own feet.

"Keep your cousin steady for now." He stuffed the boots back into the cardboard box. "There'll be boots. We'll just have to wait a little longer."

"Where are you going to conjure them from?"

"This weekend." Lin Fan closed the box lid. "Wenzhou."

Ma Le let out a miserable wail. "Another weekend? Bro, do Sundays even exist in your life?"

"They do." Lin Fan stacked the box against the wall. "I'll owe them for now this winter."