TRCT_11
Chapter 11: Opening — Jie Yuan's Merit -1
"There's actually nothing wrong with it," Under Master Yan's piercing gaze, Ji Qingzhou instinctively softened his words.
"However, if you'd like to make it even better, you could change the color of the trim and the frog buttons. The current orange-pink is lovely, but I think switching to mugwort green or a pale sage green for the trim would complement Auntie's complexion more."
Since there was no way to alter the sleeves, Ji Qingzhou had no choice but to work with other elements to adjust the balance of colors: "The frog buttons don't need to be too elaborate. A simple bar button or pipa button would look better."
Master Yan listened and gave a slight nod: "I thought having the trim match the fabric color would make it look more cohesive, but hearing you say that, it seems lighter and softer colors would be more suitable."
"Your choice isn't wrong either, it's just a matter of emphasis. Your color pairing is brighter and more lively, whereas I want it to feel understated and elegant."
Ji Qingzhou briefly shared his perspective, then turned to look at Shen Nanqi and said, "Auntie, why don't you try sitting down, lifting your arms, and turning your neck?"
"To check how it fits?" Shen Nanqi understood what he meant, and proceeded to raise her arms and move her shoulders and neck.
Then she pulled out a chair and sat down for a moment, before standing back up and saying: "It feels slightly tight when sitting, but everywhere else seems fine."
Master Yan took out a small notebook with a serious expression and noted down the alterations needed, saying: "Then I'll take it back and make some adjustments."
Shen Nanqi had originally felt that the qipao was perfectly fine, but after hearing the few points Ji Qingzhou raised, she too felt it would be better with some changes.
She went to the changing room and changed back into her previous Western-style dress, wrapped the qipao back in its kraft paper, and handed it to Yan Weiliang saying: "Thank you for your trouble, Master Yan."
"Not at all, coming here today has been most enlightening for me as well," Yan Weiliang smiled humbly, then raised his hand to bid farewell to Shen Nanqi and the others.
After Aunt Liang saw the guest out of the dining room, Shen Nanqi sat down at the dining table, poured herself a cup of hot tea, and watched the two of them eat breakfast while sipping her tea.
"I hear you've been preparing to open a ready-made clothing shop recently?" she asked in a casual, conversational tone.
"Yes," Ji Qingzhou picked up the last dumpling and took a bite, answering honestly: "The rent was paid in full yesterday, so I'm planning to open within the next couple of days."
"That quickly," Shen Nanqi said, somewhat surprised: "Where is the shop located? What will it mainly focus on?"
"Love Lane," Ji Qingzhou replied: "For now the main focus is women's custom clothing, both Chinese and Western styles."
"Have you hired a tailor yet? Are they reliable?"
"Not yet. For the time being I'm planning to do it myself," Ji Qingzhou smiled and explained: "In the past, besides performing in operas, I would often make my own clothes. My skills are decent enough."
Shen Nanqi was not entirely convinced by his self-assessment in the latter half of that sentence, but still nodded and said: "Then I'll come by sometime to take a look and help drum up some business for you."
"You are most welcome."
After saying that, Ji Qingzhou glanced at his watch, picked up his glass and finished his milk, wiped his mouth, and stood up saying: "It's getting late, I'll head to the shop first."
"Put your coat on. It's been raining all night and it's quite cold outside," Seeing that he was dressed lightly, Shen Nanqi reminded him.
"If you're in a hurry, I can have Xiao Li drive you."
"No need, I'll take the tram. It's only two stops away. I'm off!"
After saying that, Ji Qingzhou grabbed the coat hanging on the back of his chair, slipped his arms through the sleeves, and walked briskly toward the dining room door, disappearing from sight in no time.
"This child is quite the impatient one," Shen Nanqi curved her lips into a slight smile and sighed softly, then turned to look at her younger son, who was still unhurriedly drinking his congee, and said: "When you're done eating later, come with me to the Shen family home. Your grandfather hasn't seen you in a long time."
"I'm not going."
"Won't go here, won't go there, staying home all day long. Aren't you afraid of growing stale?" Shen Nanqi said with a note of reproach.
Without waiting for Jie Yu'an to respond, she proposed: "How about I give Qingzhou some extra money and call him back to keep you company? It would at least be a bit livelier with him around."
Jie Yu'an had just scooped up a spoonful of seafood congee when, upon hearing this, he set the spoon back down in the bowl and spoke in a calm tone:
"It seems it's true what he said about you being very generous with him. I never knew you to be such a magnanimous person."
"The reason I treat him well is for your sake, so that when I'm not home, he can take good care of you."
Shen Nanqi first offered this explanation, then tilted her head slightly, held her teacup, and leaned back in her chair saying: "But that child is indeed quite good. He is emotionally steady, witty in conversation, and has good taste. Although he comes from a humble background, his manner with people is naturally gracious and at ease."
Emotionally steady? Witty in conversation?
Jie Yu'an somewhat doubted whether his mother was describing the same Ji Qingzhou he knew.
"The key thing is, his appearance is especially neat and handsome. His eyes are bright, his brows are clear, his lips are red and his teeth are white, and his figure is good too. He looks great in anything he wears. Otherwise, why do you think I'd have the spare time to buy him so many clothes?
"Oh, but what a pity you can't see. When he puts on that snow-white dress shirt, cinched with his trousers and belt, that slender waist and perky behind..."
"Cough, cough," Jie Yu'an couldn't help but interrupt her.
"What are you coughing for? It's just the two of us, there's no one else here," Saying that, Shen Nanqi still glanced around anyway and let the topic drop.
And despite her describing it in such detail, Jie Yu'an found it difficult to picture the young man's actual appearance in his mind.
Instead, the image of a rabbit floated unbidden before him. White fur, long ears, sharp-tongued and quick-toothed, prone to bristling up at the slightest thing.
Shen Nanqi composed herself and took a sip of hot tea, saying: "If you ask me, if Qingzhou were a girl, he'd really be quite a match for you."
"I don't like keeping cicadas," Jie Yu'an suddenly said out of nowhere.
Shen Nanqi was momentarily taken aback upon hearing this, and after a few seconds finally realized he was calling the person noisy.
She couldn't help but extend her index finger and tap his forehead, scolding: "That mouth of yours, accumulate some virtue will you."
A few more minutes passed, and Jie Yu'an finished his breakfast, wiped his lips with a handkerchief, and stood up preparing to take a stroll in the garden.
Shen Nanqi waved her hand to beckon Huang Youshu, who had been waiting at the dining room door, while pressing him again: "Are you really not going to the Shen family home later?"
"Qiu Wenxin and the others are coming over today."
"Wenxin and Xiao Xuan? Are they coming for lunch or dinner?"
"Dinner."
"Alright then, you stay home and receive the guests," Shen Nanqi stood up and walked toward the door: "I'll go check if Linglong is up yet. She'll certainly be happy to go to the Shen family home to play..."
.
The morning rain had stopped, but even after several hours, the ground remained wet.
The sky was still blanketed in gloom, and the wind that blew carried a damp chill, as though a light drizzle could fall again at any moment.
After stepping off the tram, Ji Qingzhou did not head straight to the shop. Instead, he walked along the cobblestone path to a nearby bamboo, wood, and rattan goods shop called "Zhengxing Mei," bringing with him a mannequin model sketch he had drawn, annotated with specific measurements, to have a custom piece made by the craftsman there.
At that time, the concept of "fashion" had not yet taken hold in the country, let alone professional dress forms used for draping. Even the headless mannequins in department store windows were made from materials such as wire, leather, wood, and solid wax.
Although flat cutting could be used, Ji Qingzhou felt it was still very much necessary to have a dress form on hand.
So he spent half an hour in detailed discussion with the shop's craftsman about the materials and techniques for making the dress form, emphasizing that it had to be made strictly according to the measurements he had provided.
In that era, rattan weavers did not charge high labor fees, but because his requirements were so numerous, involving paper layering for shaping as well as cotton padding wrapped in burlap, this single expenditure still cost him three silver dollars.
Afterward, he moved on from the rattan goods shop to a general store that offered custom shop banners, where he purchased two curtain banners.
And at the price of three fen per character, he commissioned the elderly shopkeeper to inscribe the text on the banners.
"On this one, write in two parallel symmetrical columns from top to bottom, right to left: 'Men's and women's Western suits, qipaos and changshans, new styles made to order, all at three yuan.'"
"On this one, write five large characters from top to bottom: 'Shiji Clothing Shop.'"
The elderly shopkeeper held his calligraphy brush and, with an air of unhurried ease, put brush to banner and began writing according to the content Ji Qingzhou had given him.
When he reached the second banner, he dipped the brush in ink and asked: "A ready-made clothing shop, is it? Should I add 'Su Guang Cheng*' at the front?"
Ji Qingzhou asked puzzledly: "Why would you add Su Guang Cheng?"
"One look at you and I can tell you're new to the trade. 'Su Guang' is the hallmark of a ready-made clothing shop. It draws from the precision of Su-style tailors and the modishness of Guang-style tailors. With those characters on your sign, people will know at a glance that your craftsmanship is fine and skillful."
*t/n; Su Guang Cheng (苏广成) is a fascinating piece of Republican-era Shanghai trade culture. The character Su (苏, Sū) refers to Suzhou, representing a tailoring tradition renowned for its precise, refined, and intricate needlework, which is the hallmark of fine and skillful craftsmanship. Guang (广, Guǎng) refers to Guangzhou (Canton), representing a tailoring tradition renowned for keeping up with Western fashion trends, which is the hallmark of modish and stylish design. Cheng (成, Chéng) is short for Chengyi (成衣, ready-made clothing), indicating that the shop sells ready-made clothing rather than exclusively offering bespoke tailoring. Together, "Su Guang Cheng" essentially signals to customers: "This shop combines Suzhou craftsmanship and Cantonese fashion sensibility, and sells ready-made clothes".
Isn't this just like how, after one shop makes it big, others in the trade rush to imitate its signage?
Ji Qingzhou shook his head without hesitation: "No need to add it. Just write what I told you."
"Really not adding it?"
"Are you trying to earn a few extra characters' worth?"
The old man drew a light breath, his face flushing slightly as he shook his head and said: "Oh my, young man, you'll regret this."
With that, he slowly and deliberately wrote five steady, forceful ink characters on the banner, stroke by stroke—— Shiji Clothing Shop.
.
After having the shop banners made, Ji Qingzhou returned to the shop and immediately used the banner poles to hang the two curtain banners side by side at the entrance, one on the left and one on the right.
The owner of the barbershop next door happened to be free and, hearing the commotion, came out to watch.
After Ji Qingzhou had finished hanging the banners, the man clasped his hands behind his back, smiled amiably at Ji Qingzhou, and asked: "Opening for business?"
"Opening for business," Ji Qingzhou answered.
He turned and noticed the two iconic tricolor poles at the entrance of the barbershop, and could not help but smile knowingly. He thought for a moment and said: "I expect there'll be quite a few times I'll need your help in the future. I hope you'll look out for me."
"We're neighbors, no need for such polite talk," The barbershop owner, wearing a melon-skin cap and an apron tied around his waist, cupped his hands toward him and said: "Wishing you a prosperous business."
.
On the first day of the new shop's opening, there was essentially no business to speak of.
He sat in the shop for an entire afternoon, and aside from a rickshaw puller whose trousers had split open a large hole and who had no choice but to find the nearest place to have them mended, closing a deal worth two fen, virtually no one else came inquiring.
It wasn't that no one had glanced in from the doorway, but most took a few looks and left, leading Ji Qingzhou to wonder whether it was truly because he hadn't added "Su Guang Cheng" to the banner that customers didn't trust him.
But even if given another chance, Ji Qingzhou felt he would still firmly say "no" to the old man.
The "Shiji*" in his "Shiji Clothing Shop," beyond incorporating his surname, quietly concealed his true identity as someone from a century later, and also carried within it his hopes and wishes for a bright future.
*t/n; Shiji (世紀) means "century" in Chinese. Ji Qingzhou's surname is written with the character "Ji" (紀), which shares the same pronunciation as the "Ji" (紀) in "Shiji" (世紀).
He hoped his fashion shop, or rather this name and sign, would flourish and grow, enduring and carrying on for a century, or even longer.
The name was originally one that was easy to remember and pleasant to say, but if "Su Guang" were added, turning it into "Shiji Su Guang Clothing Shop," it would not only seem out of place but would also lose its distinctiveness.
It was much like a "such-and-such wholesale clothing shop," where all anyone sees is "wholesale clothing," and no one cares whose shop it actually is.
In any case, having chosen to make his own way in the world, Ji Qingzhou had already prepared himself for the cold bench of the first few days after opening.
When no customers came, he simply devoted himself wholeheartedly to sketching designs, drafting patterns, and making samples with the plain cloth in the shop.
He had expected to sit alone for an entire afternoon and achieve the milestone of a first-day revenue of two copper coins.
But just as the sky was beginning to darken and Ji Qingzhou was holding the banner pole, about to take down the curtain banners and hang them indoors, a voice came from behind him, a man asking in Mandarin with a southern accent.
"Boss, it says here custom Western suits, all at three yuan. Is that for real?"
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