Shen Moxi put her designs into the workshop, then selected the fabric and sizes she needed, choosing five pieces of every style in each color. She would test the waters on the first day and see how these designs did.
Finally, she selected the confirm button and saw the progress bar show that production was underway. She exited the page and went to the shop to pick out leggings and men's and women's leather shoes.
She chose twenty pairs each of black and skin-tone leggings, all thin styles without fleece lining. For the women's leather shoes, she selected ankle-high styles and low-cut heels; for the men, she chose the most common style of leather shoes. They were all genuine leather. There were no fakes in the system, so she placed the order without any worries.
A little over ten minutes later, Shen Moxi heard a ding notifying her that the clothes were ready.
Shen Moxi tapped collect, and the clothes instantly appeared before her, even folded into neat piles. Wasn't this system just so considerate?
Song Qi looked at the clothes that had appeared, picked them up to examine them, and frowned. "How are these clothes worn? The clothing here is exceedingly revealing."
Shen Moxi smiled and shook her head. "You think even these are revealing? In another twenty or thirty years, everyone will wear shorts and short sleeves in summer, and the beaches will be full of people in bikinis. Women's bikinis only cover those two spots on top and one down below. Men just wear a little pair of shorts, like your underdrawers, with nothing on top."
Song Qi's eyes widened in shock. "How improper! You mustn't dress like that in the future. It would be unseemly."
"You'll be fine once you get used to it. Back in my time, I usually wore long dresses or long trousers made of that ice-silk fabric in summer. When I wore shorts, the sun made my legs hurt."
Shen Moxi gathered all the clothes together and sorted them out, then asked Xiao Tao to get him a large cardboard box. She put all the clothes and shoes into it.
She also went to the shop and bought a folding clothes rack three meters long and two meters tall, two mannequins-one male and one female-a large standing mirror, and a bag for collecting money.
With all the equipment ready, she had Song Qi put everything into his space. "All right, everything's ready. Tomorrow morning, we'll get up and go make money!"
"All right, it's late. Hurry up and get some rest, or you might not be able to get up tomorrow," Song Qi said with a nod.
"Why wouldn't I be able to get up? I'll just get an alarm clock and set it." Shen Moxi bought an alarm clock from the shop and set it for four. Cycling to town would take about an hour, so they would arrive at five, just right while it wasn't fully light yet.
Song Qi stared at the alarm clock in fascination, picking it up and examining it over and over. "This thing is truly amazing. What is this alarm clock?"
"This is an alarm clock. Whatever time you want to get up, you set it to that time, and you don't have to worry about oversleeping. These are the markings that show the time." Shen Moxi pointed at the markings as she explained. "This is one, two, three... twelve. This long one is the minute hand, and the short one is the hour hand. When the minute hand reaches one, five minutes have passed. When it reaches two, ten minutes have passed. The gap between each number counts as five minutes..."
After she explained for ages, he finally understood how to use the alarm clock and tell the time, and even adjusted it himself.
They slept on opposite sides of the kang, and both slept well all night.
The next morning, the moment the alarm rang, they both opened their eyes.
Shen Moxi was excited, while Song Qi was filled with wonder and shock. He hadn't expected this alarm clock to be so incredible and miraculous. It really did ring at whatever time they wanted to get up. This was so much more convenient than things back where he came from.
Shen Moxi got up first to wash and make breakfast, asking Song Qi to straighten up the bedding. She made a simple meal of tomato and egg noodles, then bought a bag of crunchy baby cucumbers and two cartons of plain milk from the shop. This breakfast was certainly nutritious.
After washing up, Song Qi came to the kitchen, and the two sat there to eat. He found the tomato and egg noodles very satisfying, and the little pickles were tasty and whetted the appetite too. Once they had eaten their fill, they each took a carton of plain milk and finished it.
Shen Moxi cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and washed them, put the milk cartons into the garbage processor, and only then went to wheel out the bicycle.
"Come on, I'll give you a ride. You don't know how to ride this yet." Shen Moxi patted the back seat.
"This bicycle is very convenient. Teach me when you have time. Won't people laugh at me for having a young woman give me a ride?" Song Qi climbed on, feeling rather awkward.
"No problem. Once we've made money, we'll buy a jeep. That'll be even faster and save both time and effort." Shen Moxi pushed hard on the pedals and set the bicycle moving forward.
They chatted along the way and arrived in town before they knew it. Shen Moxi pushed the bicycle as she looked at the scenery around them. It was still somewhat dark, so Song Qi took out an even larger luminous pearl to light the way.
Shen Moxi silently looked at the luminous pearl, as big as the mouth of a bowl, while inwardly thinking, Holy fucking shit. What a thick golden thigh.
According to the original owner's memories, there was a rubber factory relatively close by in this town, with many workers. They all drew state salaries and spent readily. They came from families with standing and cared about looking respectable and dressing well. The group owner probably couldn't go wrong going there.
The two arrived near the rubber factory and found an intersection where they stopped.
"Take everything out. Let's hurry and get set up while there's no one here yet." Shen Moxi parked the bicycle and secured it with a large lock.
Song Qi nodded and looked around. With a wave of his hand, everything appeared on the ground.
They set up the rack and placed the two mannequins to one side. First, they put together outfits and dressed the mannequins, then hung all the clothes on the rack one piece at a time, with men's and women's clothing on separate sides.
She went to the shop again and bought two stools, then two bread rolls, and they began eating one each. They had already burned through those few noodles.
"What are you planning to do about prices? How much would be suitable for each piece of clothing?" Song Qi asked after taking a large bite of bread.
"Twenty yuan for a women's dress, fifty for a thin trench coat, thirty for leather shoes, and eight for leggings. We'll sell the men's clothes as sets: twenty-five yuan for a shirt and trousers, fifty for a trench coat too, and thirty for leather shoes. We don't have a storefront, so we'll sell a little cheaper to bring in some repeat customers. I'll write a few signs in a moment and put them on the rack."
"I don't know how much they should sell for either, so you decide. I've learned everything you taught me these past few days about recognizing the denominations of this money. I'll collect the money for you, and you can look after the clothes and such." Song Qi took the little money bag.
"Sure, that works. I'll write the signs. You sit here." Shen Moxi quickly finished her bread, bought large adhesive cards and a marker from the shop, wrote the corresponding prices on them, and stuck them to the rack.
By the time she finished, it was light, and more and more pedestrians began appearing on the road. Shen Moxi waited with excitement, wondering how much they could sell today.
The styles she had designed were very fashionable for this era. She wondered how many people would recognize their worth.
Feeling terribly uncertain, she paced back and forth nearby. When Song Qi saw this, he reassured her, "Don't be nervous. Look how nervous you are."
"It's my first time running a stall, after all, and in an era this conservative, too. I'm feeling a little unsure." Shen Moxi sighed and made herself settle down.