Xie Changning’s words made the people from Wang Shumei’s factory secretly sneer.

With her demanding such high prices, they thought, there was no way they’d ever successfully earn foreign currency.

Xie Changning could see that the people from Wang Shumei’s factory were unhappy with her. She glanced at the sky, getting ready to go out for a meal. "Sister, I’ll be going now," she said. "If you need anything later, just come find me at the guesthouse. Old Li knows which room I’m in."

"Okay! Sounds good!"

As soon as Xie Changning left, the others crowded around Wang Shumei, chattering away about their complaints against her.

Wang Shumei frowned. "That’s enough!"

Silenced by her sharp tone, they all stared at Wang Shumei in surprise.

"Before Director Xie came over, our booth didn’t have a single visitor. How dare you complain about our benefactor?!"

Scolded by Wang Shumei, the others opened their mouths to speak but then closed them, too ashamed to argue back.

Still, one of the men was too resentful to stay silent. "Even so, she can’t just come in and run the show for our factory! What right did she have to refuse to lower the price when someone was clearly interested in buying?!"

"Exactly!"

His comment was met with murmurs of agreement from the others.

Wang Shumei’s expression hardened. She looked at him coldly. "That was my decision. Do you have a problem with me?"

The man was left speechless by her question.

What problem could he have with her? He just felt it was humiliating that so many people had come by, yet not a single set had been sold!

All those visitors for nothing!

"Fine, you just keep listening to her! I’d like to see how you explain it to everyone back at the factory when you go home with zero sales!"

"Fine!" Wang Shumei retorted. "If you don’t want to listen, then take all this porcelain down and set it up just like it was before. Then I’ll have no problem explaining things to the director and everyone else when I get back."

Wang Shumei’s words left the man speechless once again.

’Since she had chosen to ask for help, she couldn’t afford to be picky about it.’

’Xie Changning had asked for her opinion at the very beginning. This was her own decision, and she would accept whatever the outcome might be!’

Seeing Wang Shumei’s unyielding attitude, and acknowledging that Xie Changning’s strategy had indeed attracted a lot of foreigners, the others could only stand aside and make cynical remarks under their breath.

"Let me give you all a fair warning," Wang Shumei said. "If we really do make our first sale tomorrow as Director Xie predicted, I will report the behavior of each and every one of you to the factory director when I get back. How you’ll be dealt with after that is not my business."

Wang Shumei wasn’t one to be pushed around.

The others had been planning to stop helping, but now that they heard Wang Shumei threatening to report them, they had no choice but to get moving and start tidying up.

Even if they were furious about it!

Seeing them comply, Wang Shumei smiled with satisfaction.

’Wouldn’t it have been better if they’d just done this from the start?’

But still—

Wang Shumei looked at her sales total—still a big, fat zero—and felt a pang of melancholy.

Despite the calm facade she maintained in front of her workers, she was actually panicking inside.

Earlier, some competitors had noticed the commotion at Wang Shumei’s booth. Seeing the dinnerware sets displayed with such simple utensils had given them a few ideas.

They had decided to keep an eye on Wang Shumei’s booth.

If her method proved successful, they would find a local manufacturer to custom-make a similar set for them overnight.

But when they saw that her booth was all thunder and no rain, they could only scoff.

’She tried to take the road less traveled,’ they thought, ’and ended up shooting herself in the foot.’

Everyone else was watching from the sidelines, waiting to see Wang Shumei make a fool of herself. Only the female director who had initially wanted to help her offered words of comfort. "Don’t worry, sister," she said. "Director Xie is a very capable person. She must have her reasons for telling you to do this."

"Besides, isn’t she herself the best example of success?"

She had been watching closely as Wang Shumei’s booth was set up and realized that Xie Changning knew a great deal. ’I’ve decided,’ she thought, ’after this Autumn Trade Fair is over, I’m going to invite Director Xie to be a technical consultant for our factory!’

This kind-hearted female director was from Shencheng City in Liao Province, which was only about a four-hour train ride from Chuncheng, making it very convenient.

Wang Shumei was unaware of the other director’s decision; she just offered her a stiff smile.

"I hope so."

No one knew just how much pressure she was under.

This was their factory’s first time being chosen to participate in the Guangzhou Trade Fair. Their ability to attend the next Autumn Trade Fair depended entirely on their performance this time.

’If it really ends in failure...’

Thinking about it was pointless. Wang Shumei decided to shift her focus. Success or failure, it was out of her hands now.

She had seen what was happening at the other booths.

Other factories were frantically slashing their prices to the absolute minimum. They were earning foreign currency, yes, but they were also losing money on the deals.

The tumultuous day ended. The next morning, Wang Shumei arrived at the booth with her dispirited workers to begin another day.

To her surprise, she had barely arrived when Yu Chunhe showed up with Xie Changning in tow.

Wang Shumei recognized Yu Chunhe.

"Director Yu, what brings you here?"

"Someone filed a complaint that Xiao Xie was giving irresponsible guidance. I’m here to see what’s going on."

’A complaint?’

Wang Shumei was stunned. She had never imagined someone would go directly to Yu Chunhe to report Xie Changning.

Xie Changning, however, was unfazed. After all, Wang Shumei, the one who had asked for her help, wasn’t the problem. The problem was with her subordinates.

’Those people must have reported her behind Wang Shumei’s back. She probably has no idea.’

’Otherwise, she wouldn’t have acted the way she did yesterday.’

Wang Shumei’s face instantly flushed red with shame. She turned to Xie Changning apologetically. "Sister Changning, I never thought my asking for help would cause you this much trouble. It’s my fault. I’ll reflect on my actions when I get back."

She didn’t mention how she would deal with the person who filed the complaint, since she still didn’t know who it was.

Yu Chunhe waved his hand. "I’ve already heard about it from Xiao Xie. Now I’m here to listen to your side of the story."

"One can’t just listen to one side."

The workers in the back were quiet as mice, acting as if they had nothing to do with the whole affair.

Wang Shumei recounted the entire series of events in front of the workers, without a shred of bias. After finishing, she turned to look at them. "I recall asking you yesterday to put the flowery dinnerware back out. Why did none of you agree?"

Wang Shumei’s expression was grim.

’She felt as though her authority as a deputy director had been completely trampled on by her own workers.’

"You said you were going to report us to the factory director. Of course we didn’t dare say anything," said the man who had spoken up the day before.

By opening his mouth, he was effectively admitting that they were the ones who had filed the complaint.

Wang Shumei nodded. "Of course. And I won’t just tell the director about yesterday. I’ll also tell her what you’ve done today. She has a right to know."

The man’s throat tightened.

"Go ahead and tell her. When the director finds out, she definitely won’t approve of what you’ve done."

"Hmph! And how do you know I haven’t already cleared this with the director?"

Wang Shumei sneered. ’This worker is a real thorn in my side,’ she thought, making a mental note to deal with him when they returned.

She gave the group a long, hard look.

Just as Wang Shumei was about to speak, the sound of tapping leather shoes approached from outside. They all looked up to see the very same man from France who had inquired before, now standing in front of their booth.

The man leading the group gave Xie Changning a long look before speaking. "How large is your factory, and what is your daily production capacity?"