Pei Youwei was at work as usual on Saturday, in the office above the factory floor.
The factory was still in its setting-up stage. Pei Youwei had provisionally set the working day from half past eight to half past five with one day off a week — and yet she herself was arriving before eight every morning.
She had come in first thing after the video call with Xu Ye the night before. Her office was plainly furnished: besides the usual desk and chair and a sofa, there was a large table in the middle of the room, three meters by one meter twenty, covered with design books and drafting paper.
At that moment Pei Youwei was standing beside it with a pencil, working through her rough sketches and revising them against everything Xu Ye had said the day before.
She finished the sketches in the morning, and in the afternoon she drew them up on the computer in the CAD software the garment trade uses.
And it had to be said.
With his suggestions worked in, these sets of lingerie really were a good deal more… indecent.
Until now it had honestly never occurred to Pei Youwei that Xu Ye might have a gift for this sort of thing.
She was still adjusting details on the drawings when there was a knock at the office door. Without looking up she called, “Come in~”
Zhang Xiaonuan came in. “Boss, those fabric mills have sent samples over. Do you want to look at them now?”
“Bring them here.”
Zhang Xiaonuan came over and set the samples down in front of her, and then her eyes went to the screen without meaning to.
She had known for some time that Pei Youwei was going to make lingerie, but seeing the drawings on the screen still left her awkward, self-conscious and embarrassed.
More revealing than yesterday’s.
And more indecent than yesterday’s.
Zhang Xiaonuan’s cheeks colored. She asked quietly, “Boss, weren’t the drawings all finished yesterday? Why have they changed today?”
“Xu Ye, that little menace, said they needed changing. What do you think — are today’s better, or yesterday’s?”
“I don’t know. But today’s are more… that.”
Pei Youwei teased her deliberately. “I was thinking of having you try one on once the first batch is made.”
“I certainly will not!”
“Ha.”
Pei Youwei picked up the fabric samples and looked them over carefully. The quality of this batch really was quite ordinary, but the price was correspondingly cheap. She knew nothing about the lingerie trade and had never bought any herself. So she had decided to do as Xu Ye said: the best fabric she could get for anything that sat against the skin, and ordinary fabric for the outer garment.
At first she hadn’t understood why he would say that some clothes are for wearing and some are for tearing. It was only after watching a few films on that website with all the flashing ads — films with nobody in them but the male and female leads — that she understood what he had meant.
“The samples look all right. Show them to Factory Manager Cao when he comes in tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
Pei Youwei went back to the computer, took screenshots of the finished drawings one by one, and sent them to Xu Ye.
…
At that same moment.
On the grass near the Binjiang Green Space.
Xu Ye was standing beside one of those simple barbecue grills, concentrating on the cooking, turning the skewers and brushing them with oil.
Chen Qingqing was playing Fight the Landlord with Zhang Ruowei and the others. They had played a few times before, so she knew the rules by now, and although she was terrible at it, she was new enough to be enthusiastic.
Ding~
Xu Ye’s phone, lying on the blanket, chimed, and the screen lit up.
While Zhang Ruowei was shuffling, Chen Qingqing glanced down at it and patted his leg. “Someone’s messaged you.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have a look for me. I’ve got oil on my hands.”
Xu Ye’s passcode was a simple one: the first three digits were Chen Qingqing’s birthday and the last three his own. He had never told her, but she had watched him unlock it often enough to have known for a long time.
Her own passcode was now exactly the same as his.
Chen Qingqing picked up the phone, unlocked it, tapped into WeChat and saw the messages from Pei Youwei. She opened the conversation, and several lingerie designs appeared on the screen — the kind to redden the ears and set the heart going.
It caught her completely off guard, and her face went red in an instant.
“Who is it?” Xu Ye asked.
Chen Qingqing gave no sign of having heard. She was still standing frozen where she was, holding the phone.
He glanced back, then crouched down and put his head next to hers, and seeing the pictures Pei Youwei had sent, he said with a smile, “Tell the boss I’m busy at the moment and I’ll message her back in about ten minutes.”
Chen Qingqing threw the phone aside at once. “If you want to reply, reply yourself. I’m not doing it.”
She had no intention of getting mixed up in anything that indecent.
Xu Ye had to wipe his hands on a tissue and pick the phone up to answer the boss himself.
Shen Xinyi asked, curious, “Who’s the boss?”
“She runs a little bar back home. Xu Ye worked there over the summer last year.”
“Last summer?”
Zhang Ruowei laughed. “And you’re still in touch after all this time?”
Chen Qingqing explained on his behalf while she picked up her cards. “She’s a good person, actually. But the bar isn’t doing well any more, so Xu Ye’s gone into business with her.”
“Doing what?”
“Uh…” Chen Qingqing couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Xu Ye was entirely unabashed. “Lingerie.”
At that one word, Zhang Ruowei, Shen Xinyi and Jiang Yu were all dumbstruck. They sat staring at him, and it was a long moment before Zhang Ruowei started clicking her tongue. “Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!”
Xu Ye was exasperated. “Why are you all looking at me like that? You’re university students. Could you be a bit more open-minded? I’m doing it to make money. Money. Do you understand money?”
“All right. We’ve known you were a menace for ages, so please stop explaining.”
“+1.”
“+1.”
Xu Ye rolled his eyes, caught the smell of the barbecue and waved a hand. “I can’t be bothered with any of you.”
It took him another ten minutes or so to finish that batch, and then he carried it over to them. Seeing them start on it happily, he sat down at last and looked at the pictures Pei Youwei had sent.
She had indeed revised everything to his suggestions.
Seen like this, the effect was immediately much better.
He typed back quickly. “Boss, I think that’s about there. The factory can take on workers and start production. Try to get the first batch of samples out by the end of the month, then find a model, take plenty of photos, put them up on Taobao, and we can start burning money on Zhitongche.” [TL: 直通车 is Taobao’s pay-per-click advertising system, which puts a listing at the top of the search results.]
Pei Youwei answered by voice message. “Mm. I’ll settle the fabric samples in the next couple of days. And I’ve taken on a factory manager who used to work in underwear — surname Cao. He’s been in the trade nearly forty years, so with him working alongside me it should go smoothly.”
“We’ll keep in touch about anything that comes up.”
“Mm.”
Xu Ye put the phone down and leaned in. “How is it?”
“Very nice.”
“We won’t need dinner tonight.”
Xu Ye had eaten well at lunch and had a lot of snacks since, so he wasn’t hungry. He sat down beside Chen Qingqing, and watching her eat in small mouthfuls left him feeling entirely content.
She turned her head. “Why aren’t you eating?”
“You eat first. I’m not hungry.”
He pulled out two tissues as he said it and wiped her mouth for her. She had meant to take them and do it herself, but he got there first, so all she could do was tuck her hair back behind her ear…
And Xu Ye was lost looking at her.
The evening light lay across her pale face as though somebody had put a filter on it, sweet and lovely. Her long hair moved in the spring wind, and her eyes seemed to have autumn water over them, glinting faintly. Every look she gave, smiling or not, was ravishing.
Chen Qingqing waved a small hand at him. “Why do you keep looking at me?”
Xu Ye felt as though he were standing in a spring breeze. He smiled. “Because you’re lovely.”
(End of Chapter 216)