Chapter 220 Beyond Hope
Chen Yang’s fingers flipped through the materials, page by page. The photographs showed truly beautiful fabrics.
Some were blue, bluer than the sky.
Some were golden yellow, exuding an aura of opulence with just a glance.
Of course, these were just the dyed colors. Further on were introductions to various fabrics, such as brocade, silk gauze, Shu embroidery, Zhuang brocade, and many other types.
There were even fabrics made from pure medicinal plant fibers, capable of repelling mosquitoes and venomous snakes. Humans could sleep peacefully, breathing in their pleasant fragrance, while insects would shy away.
Chen Yang chuckled after reading this, finding himself somewhat intrigued.
Meanwhile, Liu Ran had already called Su Ya and Liu Xiaomei to join them for dinner.
At noon, Chen Yang and the other three had lunch with Zheng Yanqiu. During the meal, they discussed the situation of the garment factory. After eating, they immediately drove to Zheng Yanqiu’s family’s garment factory.
Zheng Yanqiu was Wu Guanghui’s eldest daughter-in-law, and the entire Qianyi Manufacturing Plant belonged to the Wu family.
However, after marrying into the family, Zheng Yanqiu, as the eldest daughter-in-law, had been groomed from a young age to be the manager of the entire family's affairs. In ancient times, the eldest daughter-in-law of a large family held significant authority.
Clearly, although the Wu family had fallen into decline and was heavily in debt, their family rules remained very strict.
The Qianyi Garment Factory was about two and a half hours away from Qingzhou City. Around 3 PM, Chen Yang and his party arrived at Qianyi Garment Factory on the outskirts of Wuxi City.
The factory was quite large. Upon entering, they saw numerous workers lounging or sitting around, some even playing cards in groups of four.
It was working hours, yet the workers appeared idle. Many machines were present, but they were all silent.
Zheng Yanqiu did not make any deliberate attempt to conceal anything. She accompanied Liu Ran, Chen Yang, and the others on a brief tour of the factory. Then, Zheng Yanqiu pointed to the left and said, "The area we just visited is the textile mill. Further to the left is the garment factory we built in recent years, primarily dealing in Hanfu.
"However, due to extremely poor sales, we couldn't afford to keep so many workers, so the garment factory employees have all been sent home on holiday. The design department staff are also not coming to work."
Liu Ran turned to Zheng Yanqiu and said, "Manager Zheng, we have already seen the textile mill and the garment factory, but there is nothing particularly remarkable about them.
"You mentioned that your fabrics have been passed down for hundreds of years, dating back to the Song Dynasty, but I haven't found anything different about the materials themselves?"
Zheng Yanqiu gave a wry smile upon hearing this and pointed ahead, saying, "The truly core fabrics are in the courtyard ahead. Please follow me, everyone."
Zheng Yanqiu then led the four of them through the large gate ahead. The moment the door opened, everyone froze.
Before them lay a vast piece of blue linen, fifty meters long and ten meters wide. The fabric was immense and perfectly flat. Most importantly, the blue color on the fabric was like the sky after rain, like the deep sea before nightfall, like the most wistful grassland. At a glance, it was breathtakingly beautiful, drawing people in and making them lose themselves in that purest of colors.
Liu Ran, who was studying design, with a significant portion of it dedicated to fashion design, was quite knowledgeable about clothing.
Upon seeing such a vibrant blue fabric, she couldn't help but gasp in admiration.
Zheng Yanqiu gestured behind her and said, "Please continue to follow me. Because the dyeing process involves some secret formulas, the workers in this back courtyard are all members of our own family.
"After dyeing, these fabrics will be cut and sent to the front courtyard for further processing."
Zheng Yanqiu led them forward to a piece of golden yellow silk. This fabric, standing by itself, exuded an air of extreme wealth. At this moment, Chen Yang understood why ancient emperors favored this color to symbolize imperial power.
Indeed, the oppressive aura of this color was overwhelming, akin to the brilliance of Buddha's light, inspiring awe and reverence in people.
Chen Yang nodded. It seemed Zheng Yanqiu's factory was indeed a textile mill with a thousand-year legacy. After generations of refinement, the colors they now dyed were truly magnificent. It was no wonder foreigners were willing to pay one hundred million US dollars for these formulas!
Behind this were more dyed fabrics in various colors, as well as various fabrics that were hand-made.
After their tour, they entered a large hall in the back courtyard. At the entrance of the hall, an old man, over seventy years old, with a hunched back, was just walking out.
Zheng Yanqiu saw the old man and immediately bowed respectfully, calling out, "Greetings, Father-in-law."
The old man glanced at Zheng Yanqiu, then at Chen Yang and the others. He merely nodded simply and then, without another word, turned and went into his room in the back courtyard.
Seeing this, Zheng Yanqiu felt a mixture of amusement and exasperation. She quickly apologized to Liu Ran and the others, saying, "I'm so sorry, Manager Liu. My father-in-law is still a bit proud. Now that the factory is in this state, he feels both guilty and a little bit indignant.
"He knows you've come to cooperate with us and help with promotion, but he's too proud to admit it. That's why he reacted that way just now. Please forgive him."
Liu Ran couldn't help but laugh at this. She replied, "It's alright. I understand your father-in-law is a stubborn person. Well, let's sit down and discuss this.
The group sat on the sofa.
At this point, Su Ya, with a frown, spoke up first, saying, "Manager Zheng, Junior Sister Liu Ran, before we begin our discussion, I would like to express my views first.
"To be honest, I sympathize with the current predicament of your Qianyi Manufacturing Plant, and I understand your situation. However, your factory is fundamentally incompatible with our Yangyangyang Brand Design Company. The main reason is that your factory has too many manual laborers.
"Too many manual laborers means increased costs and, more importantly, an inability to stabilize production volume.
"If sales are good, you won't be able to keep up with overtime. If sales are poor, you also can't stop, as workers still need to be paid, and you can't just dismiss them at will.
"Therefore, your company's current difficulties are quite significant. In my opinion, perhaps bankruptcy and restructuring, shedding some non-core businesses and retaining only the absolute core operations, running a niche business and aiming for an annual profit of several hundred thousand to a million yuan, might be the best way forward."
After speaking, Su Ya apologized and nodded to Zheng Yanqiu. She spoke first because she was afraid Liu Ran might impulsively agree to sign a contract with Qianyi Garment Factory.
After all, in Su Ya's view, Qianyi Garment Factory was no longer viable.
Even if the Yangyangyang Brand Design Company exhausted all its efforts and poured in capital, it would ultimately be unable to save the factory and would instead drag Liu Ran's company into a quagmire.