Chapter 792
Are Domestic Products Really That Expensive?
This wasn't the first time Juan and Qianqian had tried to persuade Diao Chan like this. Almost every time they asked Diao Chan to go out, they would try to talk her out of it.
Diao Chan pretended not to hear and looked down at the LV store on the first floor from the escalator: "Qianqian, there seem to be a lot of people today."
Qianqian peeked out and exclaimed, "Oh dear, I forgot. I think there's a limited edition today!"
"Hmm? Limited edition, that's your style."
Hearing Diao Chan's teasing, Qianqian, who was always concerned about her image, didn't dare to boast. "That's not something I can afford. If I could afford that, in your words, would I still be working here?"
Diao Chan was unaware of what was going on until Qianqian explained.
Purchasing limited edition items requires meeting certain conditions; there's an invisible barrier. The basic requirement is an annual cumulative spending of 300 million+.
When Diao Chan first heard this, she was shocked: "300 million+? My God, how many people in the entire Jiangzhou could meet that requirement?"
After Qianqian and her companions got off the escalator, they saw that Diao Chan looked "naive and unsophisticated." Qianqian tried to appease her, saying that she had only heard these things from her "big client":
"Even with 300 million+, you can only buy entry-level limited editions. Haute couture/art pieces generally cost over 200 million per item. These thresholds require annual spending of 800 million+. Only then are you eligible to purchase. You have to go to the counter, find the SA, submit your customer file to headquarters for review, and then you can buy it!"
Diao Chan gasped in astonishment, "Poverty has limited my imagination!"
"I heard it from General Manager Liu. By the way, he said that General Manager Liang's annual spending here definitely exceeds 800 million!"
Diao Chan was speechless. These two couldn't stop talking about President Liang after just three sentences. Their intentions were obvious, and she found it very boring.
"Qianqian, you go inside and browse. I won't buy anything; I'll just walk around outside and wait for you."
"Let's go together, what's there to see outside?" Qianqian felt that her moment of buying LV shouldn't be missed without the witness of the company's number one beauty. Otherwise, how could she show that she had something that made her better than her?
Diao Chan casually pointed, "I'll go take a look over there—"
Qianqian and Sister Juan turned their heads to look. "Huh? A newly opened store. What brand is this? I've never seen it before."
Diao Chan chuckled: "That sign is so big, can't you see it? We may not be highly educated, but we're not illiterate. Doesn't it say—【Star Palace】?"
Qianqian quickly picked up her phone and searched it up, a disdainful smile on her face: "The decoration is so high-end, I thought it was some big brand, but it turns out it's a new domestic brand that came out this year."
He paused for a moment, then said, "I really don't understand how domestic brands can be grouped with brands like LV and Hermes. The price and target customer groups are worlds apart."
Diao Chan understood what she meant. In their minds, domestic brands were inferior. They felt that domestic brands were expensive if they sold for a few thousand yuan, while foreign brands were sought after even if they sold for tens of thousands.
While I don't agree with it, I know that although the vast majority of people have been demystified, there are still some who, perhaps because they've been kneeling for so long, can't stand up anymore.
She smiled and said, "I think this suits me best. You guys go look at the foreign brands, I'll go check out some domestic products. I'll come find you in a bit."
She wasn't really going to buy anything; she was just browsing around.
The decoration of 【Star Palace】is full of oriental aesthetic beauty. Judging from the display in the window, the design of the products is fashionable yet understated and reserved.
This is completely different from the Western luxury brands that like to use very exaggerated and large logos. Diao Chan liked it at first sight. On the contrary, those Western luxury brands always have an indescribable nouveau riche feel.
Entering the store, she headed towards the bags section and immediately spotted a very stylish tote bag. She quickly walked over and reached for it. Just then, another hand placed it on top of hers first.
Diao Chan paused and turned to look. Just then, the owner of the hand also saw her.
"It's you—"
"It's you—"
Diao Chan was surprised to run into Chen Xiao here. "What are you doing? Planning to buy your girlfriend a bag?"
Chen Xiao was not doing that. He asked Zhang Ziqian to go to LV to buy the limited edition bag for Zhao Xiangjun's cousin, while he came to the [Starry Night] store to take a look.
"What, you like this bag?" Chen Xiao was surprised that she had good taste, as they had both looked at the same item.
The sales assistant introduced, "You two have excellent taste. This is our newly launched classic style from [Starry Night] – Moon Shadow. The material is the reverse scale of a crocodile's belly (each crocodile yields 0.3 square meters of skin)."
"This tote bag takes 380 hours to make by hand (Hermes Birkin takes approximately 48 hours), and the distance between each stitch is strictly controlled to 0.8mm (exceeding Hermes' 1.0mm standard)."
Diao Chan listened very attentively; this was her first time learning about domestically produced luxury goods.
"How much is this bag?"
The saleswoman flashed a sweet smile: "Beautiful lady, this bag is also a limited edition, and the price is 8.6!"
ho-
Diao Chan was startled and instinctively took a step back. She was afraid that she might accidentally scratch the bag with her fingernail and wouldn't be able to afford to pay for it.
She watched as several groups of customers browsed the store, and others left with several shopping bags after paying at the cashier. She thought to herself, "I never knew domestically made bags could sell for such high prices and sell so well."
Chen Xiao pointed to the women's clothing section and said to her, "You can also take a look at those clothes. Clothing accounts for more than 70% of the sales at [Star Palace], and leather goods are not our main focus."
"You seem to know quite a lot?" Diao Chan replied with a hint of skepticism, her eyes following the direction Chen Xiao pointed. Indeed, the clothing display area far outnumbered the leather goods and bags. This was different from LV, where bags accounted for over 80% of sales.
The stylish and elegant designs immediately caught her eye. Knowing the price of the "Moon Shadow" bag, Diao Chan knew that the clothes inside were definitely beyond her reach. But out of curiosity about domestic luxury brands, she instinctively walked over.
Chen Xiao watched her from behind with a smile. Suddenly, a middle-aged man appeared in front of Diao Chan, blocking her way.
Frowning, Chen Xiao followed, just in time to hear the man say, "Beautiful lady, you're so pretty! Do you need someone to carry your bag?"
Diao Chan took a step back, shook her head, and remained silent. These kinds of people only get more enthusiastic the more you engage with them.
The middle-aged man pulled out a business card: "Beautiful lady, I'm the real owner of [Zhenfei Film and Television]. I think you have the potential to be a star. Interested in chatting?"
"You sound like a liar," Chen Xiao interjected casually.
Diao Chan glanced at him, then took a step back and stood beside him. For some reason, Chen Xiao, despite his young age, always exuded a sense of composure, and she felt very safe around him.
The middle-aged man seemed a little guilty, and upon discovering that Chen Xiao and Diao Chan knew each other, he left dejectedly.
After he left, Diao Chan joked, "Tch! You have no sense of propriety. Do you think I need someone to carry my bag?"
Chen Xiao smiled and was about to reply when Diao Chan said, "What I'm lacking is a bag, okay?"
Only then did he realize he had misunderstood; she was joking! While Diao Chan was looking at women's clothing, Chen Xiao instructed the sales assistant to wrap up the "Moon Shadow" tote bag she had just been looking at, and then left the store. He guessed that Zhang Ziqian should also be coming out of the LV section by now.
Inside the LV store, Qianqian and Sister Juan felt ashamed of themselves as soon as they entered.
Seeing the customers in the store, they couldn't hide their inner inferiority. They needed luxury goods to show off their status, but they found that the other customers in the store had an aura that luxury goods simply couldn't enhance.
"Sister Juan, look—"
Following the direction Qianqian was looking, Sister Juan exclaimed, "Wow, that girl is so beautiful! She's just as pretty as Diao Chan!"
Qianqian pursed her lips: "How can someone like us compare to a beauty like her?"
When she said "we," she was naturally referring to their profession.
"However, you're right. This beauty is pure, intelligent, gentle, and very spirited! Diao Chan is not only pretty, but also sexy. Let me tell you, her butt is so big and round, even I, a woman, can't help but stare at it!"
Sister Juan was amused by Qianqian's words, but she also nodded in agreement: "Indeed, Diao Chan's figure is too sexy!"
Just as she was about to look away, she suddenly seemed to see something terrifying. Her pupils widened, and her eyeballs almost popped out.
Qianqian gasped, "She bought so much?"
Several saleswomen were seen packing up about a dozen bags. Beside the beautiful woman stood several other women with short hair, ready to help her carry the bags.
"I'm so envious, what kind of strength is that?"
Sister Juan sighed, "I can only envy those who were born into a better family."
"Look, it seems she even bought a limited edition item—"
It's not surprising that someone could buy so many LV bags in one go, meaning their annual spending had reached the required threshold. But they were still interested in how much this beautiful woman had spent in one go.
People like them will never reach this beauty's level in their lifetime. But seeing her up close and bragging about it to the other technicians in the massage parlor is still quite enjoyable.
They had never met anyone as wealthy as the beautiful woman in front of them before.
Qianqian picked up a basic bag she had chosen, priced at just over ten thousand yuan. The sales assistant next to her explained that this bag was a new product and offered great value for money. In previous years, you couldn't even buy an LV bag for such a low price.
Normally, Qianqian would have found it jarring. However, this time, her attention was entirely focused on the beautiful woman paying at the cashier.
As she followed the saleswoman to the checkout counter, she said enviously to the saleswoman, "That beautiful lady is so amazing!"
The saleswoman glanced at Qianqian with disdain, then looked at the beautiful woman paying with awe, whispering, "That Mr. Zhang is a regular customer. He buys over a dozen bags each time, and only limited editions. His spending never falls below 500 million!"
hiss--
Qianqian and Sister Juan gasped again. Each time it was no less than 500 million?
They all shopped in the same store, yet their social classes seemed worlds apart.
"Aren't there conditions for purchasing your limited edition items? How can she buy so many at once?" Qianqian suddenly remembered that when other people buy limited edition items, they have to register and be approved, but this CEO Zhang is just buying fruit as if he's doing it himself! He can pick and buy whatever he wants!
The saleswoman shook her head: "I don't know. This Mr. Zhang's identity is extraordinary, and I'm not qualified to know. Only our store manager knows a little about it. Let me tell you, in Jiangzhou, only one person receives this kind of treatment!"
As the group approached the cashier, they overheard the cashier respectfully saying to Mr. Zhang, "Hello, this transaction totals 628 million!"
Qianqian's legs went weak, and she almost knelt down!
Hearing about it is one thing, seeing it with your own eyes is another.
628 million! I don't even have a fraction of that amount.
Even after "General Manager Zhang" left, Qianqian was still in a daze. It wasn't until the saleswoman called her several times that she finally snapped out of it, saying, "Oh, oh, checkout!"
Chen Xiao watched Zhang Ziqian emerge from the LV store and greeted her with a light laugh. Zhang Ziqian handed her handbag to the short-haired girl beside her and walked over with a smile: "Boss, are you going home now?"
As she spoke, she glanced at the shopping bag in Chen Xiao's hand: "Boss, you bought something too?"
Chen Xiaoyang waved the Moon Shadow tote bag in his hand, "I bought it as a gift. You get on the bus first, I'll ride back right away."
Zhang Ziqian turned to look at the mall entrance. "Boss, it's so sunny, aren't you afraid of getting sunburned? Put the car in the trunk and let's go home!"
"No need—", Chen Xiao waved his hand, indicating that it was alright.
He had an idea in mind: to test the effectiveness of his 126 constitution. When he arrived, the sun was blazing, and although he sweated a bit, his skin didn't show any signs of sunburn. Now that he was going back, the sun would be even stronger outside, so he could continue testing.
Qianqian paid the bill, swiping her card for 1.2 yuan. She was thinking to herself, "I need to find a big client to reimburse me!"
"My God, Qianqian, Qianqian—", Sister Juan tugged at her sleeve, pointing to the plaza outside through the LV store window—
"Holy crap!" Qianqian exclaimed.
"They all travel in Rolls-Royce Phantoms."
Sister Juan nodded vigorously, "By the way, look at her car, it seems to be an extended version."
They were no strangers to Rolls-Royces, because their new boss, Mr. Zhao, had also bought one and often parked it in the parking lot of Tianchi Hot Spring.
But the Rolls-Royce Phantom that Mr. Zhang was driving immediately outshone Mr. Zhao's car in terms of presence.
"Let's go. When we meet Diao Chan later, we'll talk to her about it. She missed out on a fortune by not coming here. That President Zhang... if she misses today, she'll probably never have another chance to see him."
Diao Chan browsed around the [Starry Night] store but didn't try anything on. Clothes at this price point weren't her cup of tea.
As soon as I came out of the store, I saw Chen Xiao standing outside.
"You haven't left yet?" she noticed that Chen Xiao was carrying a shopping bag from [Starry Night].
What did you buy?
Chen Xiao handed over the bag in his hand: "Here, this is for you!" He didn't have any other thoughts; he simply thought Diao Chan was a good person—not greedy for vanity, and although she worked in that kind of environment, she had a kind of purity that was rare.
"I don't want it! How can you be so reckless? Giving gifts to everyone you meet?"
Another rascal? Chen Xiao wanted to kick her to death! (End of Chapter)