Chapter 20

(Listen (Thank you to classmate 'Xiao Li Fei Dao 1000 Hao' for the tip, thank you!))

Recently, among the entire Hong Kong press, the Urban Entertainment News has been the most prominent.

Even the major newspapers like Ming Pao, Oriental Daily, and Sing Tao Daily have been forced to follow suit and revamp. However, since the Urban Entertainment News was the first to take the plunge, despite this, its sales have not declined.

Moreover, many readers have gradually been attracted to "Return to Ming," including a number of female readers. Gradually, people began to discuss topics such as how many wives the protagonist has, or what level of official he will become in the end...

Of course, those who raised this question were eventually laughed at. Haven't you seen the title is "Becoming a Prince"? Of course, he will definitely be a 'Prince' in the end!

More male readers were concerned about how many wives the protagonist has, while female readers had a wide variety of interests. Some even inquired about who the author of "Return to Ming," Wu Cheng, really is. From the writing, it seems he should be an uncle, otherwise, how could he be so knowledgeable about Ming history? Some people even thought this uncle should be quite romantic.

Some even wrote letters to the newspaper, asking the newspaper to disclose Wu Cheng's information, inquiring about whether the author of "Return to Ming" is handsome, which is a rather unreliable matter.

However, all of this was rejected by the newspaper. Wu Cheng is still too young, and if people knew he wrote "Return to Ming," there would certainly be a lot of skepticism.

Wu Cheng doesn't want such trouble, even if it might make him more famous. After all, he is not a celebrity and doesn't need exposure to increase his popularity. Now, he just needs to steadily continue writing, without causing any trouble, and fame is a sure thing.

However, in recent days, the front page of the Urban Entertainment News has been entirely red, with only a few words in the center, the most prominent being "What is Fashion?"

As the content was published daily, the page became increasingly rich, until one day, the words "Entertainment Fashion Biweekly" appeared on the page, and everyone finally understood that the Urban Entertainment News was planning to launch a supplement!

However, its high-profile manner, coupled with the "fashion" angle, attracted the attention of many merchants. Such a biweekly publication should be good for advertising, right?

However, many of the merchants' suggestions were rejected by the Urban Entertainment News because some products were too outdated and did not meet the fashion requirements. Wu Cheng's idea was that it's better to have a shortage than to have poor quality.

As long as the reputation of this biweekly publication is established, there's no need to worry about sales. As long as there are sales, there's no need to worry about advertising, so one must not lose the big picture for small gains.

Everything is ready, only the wind is missing!

Wu Cheng also accelerated his cooperation with Mr. Zhong. After Wu Cheng's persuasion and the cooperation of the Urban Entertainment News, Mr. Zhong was finally convinced.

Because he had indeed heard many people around him discussing the topic of "fashion" recently, he gradually acknowledged that Wu Cheng's approach seemed to have some potential.

However, he couldn't come up with much savings, and even after scraping together, he only had a little over 50,000.

Wu Cheng directly took out 200,000, of which 100,000 was borrowed from Wu Shulan, making a total of 250,000. However, with only 250,000, they could acquire a small clothing factory, but if they added production materials, it would be insufficient, especially since "Red Lady" clothing aimed for the mid-to-high-end market.

Therefore, after discussion, they decided to place an order with a large factory and use the "Red Lady" brand to produce a series of mature urban women's and young women's styles.

As for the evening gowns, Wu Cheng asked Mr. Zhong to make them by hand.

The "Red Lady" brand was personally designed by Wu Cheng. It was actually very simple, using Zhong Chuhong as the prototype, but the mature "Red Lady" of the future, not the current youthful version.

The overall design was red, just a silhouette of a person, actually quite simple.

After discussion, with Wu Shulan's help, Wu Cheng directly placed an order with the Wu family's own clothing factory for two series, several styles, and various colors of women's clothing, totaling 100,000 pieces. With Wu Shulan's guarantee, 250,000 was paid as a deposit, with the remainder to be paid three months later.

Of course, the person who appeared on behalf of the company was Mr. Zhong, as Wu Cheng didn't want to be too prominent. Moreover, the clothing factory was still the Wu family's own, and if Wu Cheng appeared, it wouldn't look good.

Of course, if Wu Cheng knew the Wu family had their own clothing factory, he wouldn't have been willing to cooperate with them, because if he did, he would definitely earn less.

Ten days later, the Urban Entertainment Fashion Biweekly began publication and went on sale. In the first day, less than one morning, 10,000 copies were sold out, and the newspaper quickly increased the print run by 20,000 copies.

The Urban Entertainment News once again became a sensation.

The cover of the Entertainment Fashion Biweekly featured Zhao Yachi in a floor-length evening gown, her hair slightly up, her shoulders slightly exposed, her right hand lightly holding a glass of red wine, her left hand supporting her right elbow, and a smile as she turned her head, captivating countless men.

In the entire Hong Kong, seven out of ten men who bought this biweekly were there for the cover. No one had ever seen a woman who could be so beautiful.

Inside the biweekly, there were many photos of Zhao Yachi and Zhong Chuhong, as well as introductions to the accompanying clothing and brands.

In these introductions, each piece of clothing had a different style and meaning, some elegant, some professional, and some cute and lively...

Especially when some bosses saw Zhao Yachi in an office suit, their eyes gleamed, thinking about whether they should also buy a set for their secretaries.

Indeed, after the biweekly appeared, in the entire Hong Kong, the majority of secretaries in companies changed to such professional suits.

The Urban Entertainment News also spared no effort in promoting this biweekly, and some small newspapers, to increase their sales, published the photo of Zhao Yachi in an evening gown, holding a glass of wine and smiling, on their own newspapers, causing the biweekly's sales to soar.

If Wu Cheng hadn't stopped Wu Shulan from printing more, Wu Shulan wouldn't have been satisfied with the current 50,000 copies. For a biweekly publication, this sales volume had already broken industry records. It was even close to the sales of the newspaper itself, which was almost unbelievable.

Many people benefited from the entire event, with the Urban Entertainment News benefiting the most. Not only did it solidify its position in the industry, but it also firmly established the status of the Urban Entertainment News. Next were Zhao Yachi and Zhong Chuhong, who could be said to have become famous overnight, though their fame couldn't be measured in money.

After that, it was Wu Cheng and Mr. Zhong. Due to this biweekly, the "Red Lady" brand gained recognition, and the 100,000 pieces of clothing were sold out in just half a month.

Of course, a large part of this sales volume came from other clothing stores, as well as Taiwanese and Southeast Asian merchants who collectively purchased the clothing.

With an average factory price of 100 yuan, an average wholesale price of 150 yuan, and an average retail price of over 200 yuan, Wu Cheng and Mr. Zhong directly earned over 3 million yuan in net profit.

This speed of earning money directly shocked the Zhong family!

However, Wu Cheng remained calm. If it weren't for the lack of funds, the earnings this time would definitely not have been just this much. Moreover, the Ye family's clothing factory also benefited.

He also knew that it would be difficult to achieve such heights again in the future. Even if he introduced more clothing styles, once people had a certain level of acceptance, even with the cooperation of the Entertainment Fashion Biweekly, it would be impossible to achieve such crazy sales.

Moreover, other clothing stores also began to copy these styles, and "Red Lady" would have a long way to go to compete with them.

"Cheng, you are truly amazing!"

Zhong Chuhong, who was involved in the accounting, knew better than anyone how much money "Red Lady" clothing had earned. She was one of the accountants involved in the statistics, and the other accountants were from an accounting firm.

Zhong Chuhong, who was involved throughout, knew very clearly how much money they had earned this time. Even after deducting the various taxes, they still had over 3.5 million yuan left.

"Unfortunately, we took the mid-to-high-end route, otherwise, we could have produced more," Zhong Chuhong sighed regretfully.

Wu Cheng smiled and said, "If we took the low-end route, the 'Red Lady' brand would really be everywhere, and you wouldn't want your brand to become a street stall, right?" After a pause, Wu Cheng continued, "Besides, taking the mid-to-high-end route doesn't mean we earned less."

"Cheng, what do you plan to do next?"

This question was asked by Mr. Zhong. The current Mr. Zhong no longer saw Wu Cheng as a child. If it weren't for Wu Cheng's persuasion, he wouldn't have made this profit.

With only a small investment of 250,000, they earned ten times the profit, which was much better than working hard to make clothes.

After all, their family of six relied on this women's clothing store for a living, with four children to support, and the pressure was not small, especially in the high-consumption area of Hong Kong. Therefore, Zhong Chuhong had to start helping the family at a young age.

At this moment, Mrs. Zhong looked at Wu Cheng with increasing satisfaction, especially when she heard that Wu Cheng was also 15 years old, two months older than Zhong Chuhong, which made her even more satisfied.

Wu Cheng smiled and said, "This money will be divided according to our previous investment ratio. I get 2.8 million, and you get 700,000. As for the unsold items, we will divide them later."

"Additionally, I will take out 2 million, and the remaining 800,000 will be reinvested in the 'Red Lady' clothing company. You can take 200,000, and the remaining 500,000 will be invested in the company. Then, we will acquire a clothing factory and start producing other styles of 'Red Lady' clothing as soon as possible. I will handle the design. I will own 51% of the company, and you will own 49%. What do you think, Mr. Zhong?"

Zhong Chuhong and her mother, upon hearing this distribution, knew that Wu Cheng was taking a big loss and were very grateful to him. Mr. Zhong, however, shook his head and said, "This distribution is unfair to you! This time, I made a lot of money by riding your coattails, and I already feel guilty. In fact, you could easily find a manufacturer to produce the clothing even without my cooperation..."