The mule cart arrived outside Sanlihe Suji's clothing store on South Street. The clothing store was quite large, with three main rooms. It was spacious and bright inside, with a row of large wooden tables about seven or eight feet wide in the middle. There were many tailors standing on both sides.
, scissors and rulers were flying in his hands, and he was very busy. Behind each person stood a little boy to help.
Shopkeeper Zhao Da, who is tall and thin, is not idle either. There is a separate table a little further inside. The shopkeeper has a measuring tape hanging on his neck. He is stretching his long and thin neck to look here and there on a piece of paper.
A white scratch pad draws dots on a piece of fabric.
Xiao Zhuer parked the mule cart at the door, and Su Jin jumped out of the car and walked inside. No one of the thirty or forty people in the store paid any attention to Su Jin. However, a young boy who knew his customers and was very knowledgeable noticed Su Jin first.
He came forward and saluted and said, "This guest, are you here to make some clothes?"
Su Jin said to shopkeeper Zhao Da, who was working with his head down, "I have something to do with him."
The young man apologized and said with a smile: "Sir, it's not that the shop is neglecting you. Our shopkeeper has given instructions that we will not see customers during business hours. Unless you are an old clothes maker, we have a special master to measure your body."
Su Jin smiled and said: "Oh? Why is that? Are your store rules so strict?"
The boy said: "Shopkeeper Zhao is always like this. Once the work in hand is done, it's a different matter. It's just that our young master, Su Ji, has the ability. He took over hundreds of sets of clothes at once, so he is very busy now."
Su Jin laughed loudly and said to the young man: "Go and tell him. If he doesn't want to see me, I will leave immediately without disturbing you."
The young boy said helplessly: "Okay, then I will go and inform you, please wait a moment, sir."
Su Jin stood on the open space outside the store and looked at the scenery calmly. The boy quickly walked around the cutting table and ran towards the shopkeeper Zhao Da. In a panic, he kicked over a small round stool and hit the shopkeeper Zhao Da's foot.
Shopkeeper Zhao gritted his teeth in pain, but had no time to pay attention. He stamped his feet and started cutting clothes again.
The young man stuck out his tongue and whispered in Shopkeeper Zhao's ear: "Shopkeeper, there is a small official outside who wants to see you. I saw that you were busy so I told him that he was not free, but he insisted on me coming to inform him.
.”
Shopkeeper Zhao Da didn't even raise his eyelids and said: "There will be no customers during business hours. I made it clear. Go tell him and come back at noon."
The boy scratched his head and said, "You should take a look. Maybe it's an acquaintance of yours who comes to you with something urgent."
Shopkeeper Zhao Da looked up and looked out the door. Standing under the eaves was Su Jin in a blue shirt and satin robe. He panicked and almost cut off his finger.
He slapped his hand and cursed: "You don't even know the young master, and you blocked him out of the store. I think you are going back more and more."
Before he finished speaking, Shopkeeper Zhao had already hurried out and loudly confessed: "Young Master's family is here, you deserve to die for being a neglectful person."
The little boy was dumbfounded, scratching his head in a daze. When the masters and apprentices in the store heard that the young master was coming, they all put down their work and turned around to look.
Shopkeeper Zhao Da bowed his hands and saluted Su Jin and invited Su Jin into the store. All the chefs saluted one after another. Su Jin returned the salute with a smile. The little boy who knew his customers huddled in a corner and did not dare to say anything. Su Jin pointed at him and said to shopkeeper Zhao Da: "He is very good."
Yes, he treats guests politely and is not pedantic, so don't scold him."
Shopkeeper Zhao Da smiled and said: "He is my nephew. Unfortunately, his parents died early. He lived with me for the rest of his life. I saw that he was clever, so I took him as an apprentice in the shop. My wife knows this."
Su Jin smiled and said: "Shopkeeper Zhao, don't worry. Since you are the shopkeeper of the clothing store, it is up to you to decide who to hire. I will not interfere in it. I hope there are more clever little brothers like this."
.”
Shopkeeper Zhao Da smiled and said: "Don't praise the young master so much that he has his tail raised to the sky. This boy is very impatient. He should officially learn the craft next month. There is no free time this month."
Su Jin said: "Big shopkeeper, I am here to talk to you about this matter. When it comes to craftsmanship, I have absolutely nothing to say about the clothes produced by the big shopkeeper. But you also saw it yesterday. There were a lot of orders and the business was quite strong.
Ah, there are currently only about twenty masters in the ready-to-wear shop who can tailor a set of clothes, and I'm worried that there are not enough manpower."
Shopkeeper Zhao frowned. It was obvious that Su Jin's words had reached his heart. After a while, he counted on his fingers: "There are only twenty-five people who can do it alone. Even if we hurry up, it will take four or five days to get one set of clothes."
It takes four days to complete, which is only two hundred sets of clothes a month. This does not include the effort spent on later accessories. It is indeed difficult to complete such a large batch of clothes; and we must not rush the work too much, in case something goes wrong while busy.
On the contrary, it puts more effort into it.”
Su Jin was shocked when he heard this. According to his idea, a piece of clothing could be finished in two days at most. In later clothing factories, a piece of clothing could be made in a few minutes. Here he did not hold out such hope, but even though it had been
I tried to magnify and consider the factors of the machine and the high efficiency of the assembly line according to my imagination, but I didn't expect that it was still very different.
Su Jin couldn't help but ask: "Master, does it take four or five days to complete a piece of clothing? Why does it take so long?"
Shopkeeper Zhao knew that the young master had just left the study and he definitely didn’t know much about tailoring, so he didn’t feel dissatisfied. He patiently explained: “The making of a piece of clothing requires measuring, cutting, sewing, ironing, and testing.
The various processes such as these need to be completed by a master craftsman, which our industry calls "one-hand delivery", so that the clothes that come out will reflect the level of the master craftsman; in these processes, the measurement step has been omitted, and each piece
The size of the clothes order has already been measured, but in fact the last four steps require the most effort, so even though the first step is saved, the effort is not actually saved much."
Su Jin asked strangely: "Cutting and sewing must be done by the master himself. I can understand this. Why does the subsequent ironing and sampling need to be done by the master himself? Aren't these apprentices good at it?"
Shopkeeper Zhao said: "It's not impossible. Young Master, you don't understand the rules of our industry. Clothes made by 'one hand' can best reflect the skills of a master tailor. If they are made by human hands, will the clothes be good or bad?"
I can’t tell clearly, if it’s done inappropriately, it will ruin the reputation of the masters.”
Su Jin understood that it turned out that these master tailors were struggling with the issue of personal brand image, so even if they were exhausted, they did not want apprentices to get involved. In this way, the effort required doubled, so the speed was out of the question.
Su Jin thought for a moment and asked: "Master, if we let the boys do the last two processes, how long will it take to make a piece of clothing?"
"Two and a half days at most, maybe two days to complete."
"So, wouldn't it be possible to make more than four hundred sets of clothes in a month?" Su Jin was excited.
"It should be possible, but..." Shopkeeper Zhang Da hesitated.
Su Jin thought to himself, "Aren't you just clinging to the rules and refusing to change? This is imminent. I don't care if you are happy or not. Although you think so, the truth still needs to be reasonable, otherwise you will have to worry about it when you work."
Pimples are not what Su Jin wants either.
Su Jin took the big shopkeeper's hand and walked to a big willow tree not far from the shop, and respectfully straightened his clothes and bowed.
Shopkeeper Zhao hurriedly stretched out his hand to live in the house, his thin face flushed and said: "Young master, why is this? There is no need to break the old age."
Su Jin said solemnly: "You deserve this gift. My mother and I have talked about you. When you were thirteen years old, you joined me as an apprentice in Suji. You followed my ancestors and worked hard to build such a big family business. You worked hard and never complained. You listened.
Thank you so much for your respect. Now I, Su Ji, have reached a critical moment. I won’t shy away from saying something to you. If Su Ji’s cloth shop and clothing store cannot be revitalized this time, I, Su Ji, will decline. This is definitely not what you want to see.
of."
Shopkeeper Zhao solemnly said: "Young master, if you have anything to say, please say it. I and your two old masters never talk in roundabout ways. Although I have done some things to help the Su family, the Su family did not treat me badly. In the past, I was very good."
I was so hungry that I was skin and bones at the age of three. I was lying on the street with no one asking me or caring about me. It was my boss who saved me and later arranged my marriage. I could not repay my kindness even if I worked as a cow or a horse. Su Ji is me.
This year, the business was not good, so I asked to resign as the shopkeeper several times. However, my father-in-law was so kind that he not only refused, but also asked me not to lay off the idle master chef in the store.
I don’t have such a good boss, so if my young boss has something to say, it doesn’t matter.”
After hearing Shopkeeper Zhao's true confession, Su Jin felt a stone fall in her heart. It turned out that these people had received so many favors from the Su family, so they would agree to this even if they didn't agree.
"Big shopkeeper, do you know how much money I spent on this matter?" Before shopkeeper Zhao could ask, Su Jin gave the answer himself: "It's close to fifteen thousand yuan. If something goes wrong in this matter,
, my Su family is in danger."
Shopkeeper Zhao was startled and said, "Why are there so many?"
Su Jin calculated the accounts for him one by one. When he said that tomorrow shopkeeper Zhang would go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to purchase three thousand pieces of high-quality cloth, shopkeeper Zhao opened his eyes wide. He finally understood the appetite of the young man in front of him.
He wanted to swallow up the entire Luzhou City's share of high-quality clothing. At the same time, he also thought of the risks involved. If this failed, the loss would be worse. Su Ji's reputation would be ruined. Just imagine
Thousands of people who had ordered clothes could not get the clothes to wear when the time came, and they crowded and shouted at the door of Suji. It was such a terrifying scene.
"Young master, if you don't say anything, just give me your orders and do whatever you say."
Su Jin was waiting for this sentence: "First, according to what I said, the irrelevant processes should be handed over to the apprentices. Speed up the process and do not allow other cloth shops to have the opportunity to cause trouble. We must deliver the goods as soon as possible, and
Quality assurance."
"Okay, I will convince them to follow the young master's request." Shopkeeper Zhao did not hesitate.
"Pay attention to the way you speak and don't press hard. Just convey my words and tell them at the same time that their honor and disgrace are connected with Su Ji. The quality of their clothes is not their personal matter. It is Su Ji's face.
No one will be ashamed if they forget about it, no matter how beautiful the clothes are, they will be criticized by others; also tell them that everyone’s wages will be doubled this month, and Su Ji will never treat them badly."
"Don't worry, Young Master, they are all old men Su Ji and they will definitely understand this."
Su Jin nodded and said with a smile: "That's the best. The second thing is that you have to quickly hire a dozen more masters. The cloth shop will open a semicolon for you next door and find some skilled craftsmen.
If you are willing to endure hardship and are honest and responsible, you can open the shop there in less than ten days. By then you will be the general manager of the shops on both sides. With more people under you, you will no longer have to worry about being overwhelmed."
Shopkeeper Zhao’s beard was trembling, and he slapped the hat of general shopkeeper on his head, which almost prevented him from having a brain hemorrhage due to excitement. In Su Ji’s more than ten shops, there has not been a big shopkeeper who can become a semi-colon and become a general shopkeeper.
His face suddenly showed up.
"Young master, I'll leave it to the old man. There are a lot of unemployed tailors in the city. Su Ji wants to hire them. I'm afraid they will run away here. I want to pick some with good craftsmanship."
Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "The general manager has a wide range of connections and knows many people. If I did it by myself, I would be worried to death."
Su Jin silently handed over top hats one after another and poured down bowls of soup. Shopkeeper Zhao was originally an honest man, how could he endure this? After a few back and forth, he completely obeyed Su Jinyan's advice.
Su Jin also asked some questions about whether the style pictures of the clothes could be seen clearly and whether there were any difficulties in making them. Su Ji's tailor shop was full of tailoring talents. They could restore the clothes just by looking at a painting. What's more?
What Su Jin handed them was a detailed sample drawing. This was a masterpiece that the sisters Rou Niang and Huan Niang had spent more than ten days without leaving the study room, so it was obvious at a glance.
Having said this, Su Jin left behind a dozen scrolls without further disturbance and left.
Shopkeeper Zhao returned to the store to talk about it. Although some people were holding their necks and saying strange things, when shopkeeper Zhao said that he would double the wages, they collectively lost their voices. Do you want money or face? The answer is self-evident.dd