For the next five days, the two of them got up early every day to run their stall, right up until the day before the shop renovations were finished.
The shop renovations were finished today. Hong Jin'an had already let Shen Moxi know yesterday afternoon that she could come over at noon the next day to inspect the work.
That morning, Shen Moxi got Song Qi to sleep in with her. They woke up naturally, took their time over breakfast, and only then rode their bicycles into town.
When they arrived at the shop, they found the brothers Shen Tao and Shen Yuan waiting there.
"Little sister, you're finally here! Come and look at the shop. My goodness, it's absolutely gorgeous! I guarantee there's nothing else like it in all of Hua'an Town," Shen Tao said excitedly, grabbing Shen Moxi's arm.
Shen Moxi looked inside from outside. All the lights were on, and through the mirrored wall, the interior looked truly upscale. She believed that once all the clothes were hung up, they would instantly look a good deal more high-end.
They walked inside, where Hong Jin'an was leading his workers through another careful inspection, checking for anything they had missed or done poorly.
Seeing Shen Moxi come in, he greeted her with a hearty laugh. "You're here, little sister! Have a look and tell me if there's anything you're not happy with. We'll change it for you."
Shen Moxi smiled and nodded. "Thank you and your crew for all your hard work lately, Brother Hong. I'll take a look first."
"All right, check both floors. I'll take the men through another inspection too." Hong Jin'an nodded and led several of the others off to check another part of the shop.
Shen Moxi took Song Qi upstairs first. After a careful inspection, they found no problems. She planned to use the second floor as living quarters, so moving in later would save them having to rent somewhere and cut down on rental expenses.
Once everyone else had left, the two of them would first buy some supplies and bedding through the system and get the second floor set up.
The second floor had four bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and two storage rooms. They were probably where the restaurant's employees had lived before.
Fortunately, she had chosen this shop. It was spacious and had two floors, so her brothers would have somewhere to stay when they came and wouldn't need to travel back and forth. It would save so much trouble.
The two of them went downstairs. The lights and other fixtures had all been installed according to Shen Moxi's drawings, as had the fitting rooms. Everything had been done very well, and there was a large full-length mirror beside each fitting room.
Shen Moxi had requested wooden flooring. She had originally considered tiles, but rain and snow would make them slippery and unsafe, and once there were more customers, they would be difficult to clean and wouldn't look nice either. After thinking it over, she had decided wooden flooring would be better.
Once they had checked everything, they told Hong Jin'an there were no problems, and the group sat down to calculate the total cost.
Since they had agreed that Shen Tao and Shen Yuan would invest in the business, and the two had saved some money during this time, Shen Moxi ended up paying half the renovation costs, while Shen Tao and Shen Yuan split the other half, each paying a smaller share.
Since Shen Moxi planned to use the system's money to have the clothes made at the workshop later, no investment was needed for that. Only their contributions toward the renovations counted toward their shares. Besides their agreed wages, each would receive twenty percent of the profits.
This gave Shen Tao and Shen Yuan such a good deal that they kept insisting it wouldn't do, and ten percent would be more than enough. Clothing was hugely profitable, after all, and even ten percent would earn them plenty, especially since their sister wasn't asking them to contribute toward buying stock.
"Little sister, all the two of us did was put a little money toward the renovations. That isn't even the biggest expense. Buying clothes for stock later is where the real money goes, and you won't let me or our second brother pay for that. You're giving us far too much." Shen Tao kept shaking his head.
"Enough. Just listen to me. No more arguments, or I'll get angry." Shen Moxi deliberately put on a stern face.
"Enough, big brother. We'll just do more work for our little sister from now on. We're family, so don't stand on ceremony." Seeing that his little sister was about to lose her temper, Shen Yuan immediately grabbed Shen Tao, who had been about to speak again.
"All right, I'll listen to you. Once the shop opens, I'll have your sister-in-law come help too. Consider it the share for all three of us." Shen Tao nodded helplessly.
"Good, that's settled. Big brother, second brother, you've worked hard all these days too. I'll treat you to a big meal, and then you can go home, wash up, and rest for a couple of days. Tomorrow, Brother Song and I will go pick up stock from a friend. Once we're back and have everything arranged, I'll tell you when we're opening," Shen Moxi said with a smile.
"That's right. Everyone's worked hard for so long. Now that it's finished, we should celebrate. It's lunchtime anyway, so let's all go together," Song Qi said, nodding too.
"Come on, Brother Hong. Let's all have a meal together. You've all worked hard these past few days." Shen Moxi looked at Hong Jin'an.
"All right, thank you, little sister. We've never met such a generous boss before." With that, Hong Jin'an turned to the group of men behind him. "Brothers, we've met a good boss! Come on, let's go celebrate together."
The younger men behind him were beside themselves with excitement, calling out over and over that their boss was beautiful, kindhearted, and generous.
Shen Tao knew the area better, so Shen Moxi had him find a larger restaurant, and the whole group headed over in a great procession.
When ordering, Shen Moxi didn't begrudge the expense at all and chose mostly meat dishes. They were all men who loved their meat, especially in an era like the eighties, when people wished they could make a single mouthful of meat last a month.
When everyone saw the dishes, they were so moved that tears streamed down their faces. Some whose families were less well-off secretly tucked away a few pieces of meat to take home for their children.
Shen Moxi saw this and said nothing, but she greatly admired people like that. Who said a father's love wasn't great?
A good father was no less than a mother. Wherever he was, when he had something good, he would think of his children at home, saving whatever mouthful he could to bring them one more bite.
The group ate and drank, finishing their lunch.
Before they left, Shen Moxi also told them to bring their wives and children to buy clothes once the shop opened. She would give them a special discount, the biggest she could offer.
After everyone dispersed, Shen Tao and Shen Yuan went home too. They had both been on leave these past few days and would have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow to resign. After all, they had worked there for so many years.
Once the two brothers had left, Shen Moxi and Song Qi returned to the shop, opened the door, locked it from the inside, and went upstairs.
For each bedroom, they bought a bed, a mattress, a quilt, a padded underquilt, and pillows through the system, all in vintage colors typical of the eighties. The beds were wooden, and they chose the softest mattresses.
They also added a large wooden wardrobe and a dressing table, placed a small shoe rack behind the door, and set a wooden table and a chair near the doorway.
All four bedrooms were furnished the same way, so people could choose whichever room they liked when they arrived. The curtains were a simple sky blue with a few white clouds drifting across them, looking very understated and clean.
The only drawback to the bathroom was that they couldn't bathe there. However, there was a large public bathhouse nearby with individual bathing rooms, which spared them any embarrassment. Bathing there was still acceptable.
Since the kitchen had both electricity and gas available, Shen Moxi bought pots, bowls, ladles, and pans, along with wooden cupboards, and put all the utensils inside.
She bought all the seasonings needed for cooking, as well as rice and flour, and put them away.
At that thought, another problem occurred to her: there was no refrigerator. Without one, any meat they bought would be difficult to store, and vegetables wouldn't keep, especially in summer.
Should she buy a refrigerator through the system and say that her friend who wholesaled clothes had given her a purchase coupon, and that she had then used connections to buy it?
Shen Moxi rubbed her chin and nodded. Yes, that's a good excuse. That's what I'll do.
She bought a refrigerator from this era through the system, then worked with Song Qi to move it into the far corner near the power outlet and plug it in.
Although keeping it plugged in every day would use a lot of electricity, that was nothing to her.
Then she thought of the livestock she was raising, which had long since been ready to bring out. With a refrigerator, there would finally be somewhere to store the meat.