Chapter 24
After the name of the flower shop was determined, many things became more convenient.
For example, the design of the flower bouquet wrapping paper and the addition of the shop logo to the small decorations in the store.
In less than a month, the project had progressed to seventy percent.
The renovation team that Dong Assistant helped contact was very reliable. According to Sheng Mumu's requirements, they designed the outer glass greenhouse of the store into a rare streamlined design with many curved elements.
From the outside, it had a strong artistic atmosphere. When the sunlight shone on it, it reflected a small pool of vibrant light and shadows on the ground, which looked particularly beautiful.
After seeing that the store renovation and suppliers were settled, Sheng Mumu started recruiting the first batch of customers.
Auntie Song who lived next door was her undisputed choice.
Auntie Song had just finished breakfast when she received a message from Sheng Mumu.
[Listen, Ran, I'm coming over to see you this afternoon.]
Seeing her name on the screen, Auntie Song was slightly moved.
Since marrying her current husband, very few people still called her by her original name.
The last time she told Sheng Mumu her name, the other party exclaimed:
"Su Tingran, Su Tingran, doesn't it sound so nice! Such a beautiful name, if it were me, I would hate for people not to call me by name every day. I've decided from now on I'll call you Tingran, not Auntie Song."
Of course she agreed.
Su Tingran was three years older than Sheng Mumu. After graduating, she married her current husband.
Her husband did foreign trade business and was rarely in the country.
Since moving to Xiyu Yue Court, she had been managing everything big and small in the home alone.
Perhaps it was her lively and outgoing personality, or perhaps it was because she pitied her for always being home alone, the villa area’s madams always invited her along when going shopping or playing mahjong.
But she knew that even the few madams who chatted in the WeChat group every day probably didn’t remember what her original name was.
Calling her by her husband's surname had become almost habitual.
Until Sheng Mumu appeared.
She was the first to remember her name and offered to call her by her given name.
Su Tingran vaguely felt that Sheng Mumu was very different from the other madams in the villa area.
She was never keen on gossiping about other people's families, nor was she thinking about how to be a little thinner and more beautiful every day to attract her husband's full attention.
She lived like a little sun, shining bright by herself continuously.
In the afternoon, when Sheng Mumu told her about opening a flower shop, Su Tingran's thoughts were further confirmed.
"You mean that colorful glass greenhouse is yours?"
Sheng Mumu nodded proudly, "It's called Yue Ji Flower Shop, it mainly provides flower delivery services."
Su Tingran didn't stint on praise: "I've passed by there many times, and have always been particularly curious about it, attracted by the exterior and couldn't help but take several more glances."
"Flower delivery is great, I want to support your shop’s business. How can I buy it, by season or by year?"
"Auntie Qi, I really didn't expect you to have a flair for business..."
Sheng Mumu was a little embarrassed by the praise, and giggled.
"No, no."
Speaking, she took out the prepared mobile phone promotional page and handed it to Su Tingran to see.
According to the different types and color schemes of the flowers, Sheng Mumu set up the flower delivery service into four themes:
Luxury, National Style, Hidden Charm, Vibrant.
The prices were 388, 588, 788 and 988 per bouquet respectively.
It was a bit expensive, but one look at the packaging and you could tell a lot of thought had been put into it.
The color scheme was elegant and artistic, the materials were superior, and just the ribbon selection alone, she had visited several handmade silk shops before achieving results she was very satisfied with.
Ding-
A payment notification popped up above the phone.
[360,620.00 yuan has been received in your bank account ending in ****]
Without a second thought, Su Tingran directly chose the most expensive "Vibrant" theme package and very generously bought an annual package.
Sheng Mumu was extremely excited inside but forced herself to remain calm on the surface, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from rising.
"Tingran...you...you are too kind."
Su Tingran: "No kindness at all. My family originally orders flowers every day anyway, your shop’s flowers are so beautiful, who else would I order from if not you? I was afraid if I didn't preorder early, after the other madams found out there was such a flower shop at their doorstep, they'd buy everything out if they wanted to."
Sheng Mumu smiled even more brilliantly, "Don't worry, I'll definitely keep some for you."
Hearing Su Tingran's words, Sheng Mumu had already imagined the scene of incoming payment notifications sounding continuously.
Before Sheng Mumu could continue daydreaming, Su Tingran's tone suddenly changed:
"By the way, what does Qi think about you opening a flower shop? Does he have any objections?"
Almost all the madams in the villa area were unemployed.
The few who did work were in idle positions at their husbands' companies, mostly to keep an eye on their husbands and prevent them from finding other women outside.
It seemed like an unwritten rule - if it was known that a madam was starting a business or working outside, it would inevitably raise speculation whether she was preparing for a divorce settlement.
Sheng Mumu returned to her senses, stunned for a moment, "Him? No objections."
Su Tingran's expression was a little tense, wondering if she had touched on a topic she shouldn't have, and was just about to comfort her a few words and not mention it again, when she heard Sheng Mumu say:
"He gave me a lot of very practical suggestions. If not for him, the store wouldn't have opened so smoothly."
Su Tingran: "..."
Her mouth was slightly open. It was a long time before she murmured incredulously:
"Chief Qi is really great."
He actually had no objections to his wife going out to start a business and even provided help.
It really surprised her.
When she first moved into the villa area, she had also suggested to her husband that she wanted to find a leisurely place to work part time to pass the time.
But her husband sternly rejected it: "No! You married me but still want to go out and work, what will people say? The prestigious Madam Song working a job? No, you stay home obediently, keep the house in order, spend my money however you want."
At the time, Su Tingran thought her husband's words were quite sweet, as if he was trying to protect her image.
But now when she thought back, there was an indescribable discomfort, all kinds of unpleasant feelings.
Just as she was thinking, she saw Sheng Mumu nod seriously and answer her words.
"Yeah, he's still not bad, apart from being busy with work, no complaints."
Su Tingran: "..."
"Pffft-" The word "complaints" was so amusing, Su Tingran couldn't help laughing out loud: "Does Chief Qi know you're praising him like this outside?"
Sheng Mumu lazily shrugged her shoulders and shamelessly said: "How could he know, he'd be too arrogant."
After she finished speaking, Su Tingran laughed even more, almost laughing until tears came out.
In fact, Sheng Mumu's words were somewhat exaggerated.
After all, they were in a contractual marriage, they had to put on an intimate and affectionate appearance in front of others.
But she didn't know that such expressions of affection, to a traditional elite madam like Su Tingran, seemed very novel and surprising.
During the day, one shouldn't speak ill of others behind their backs.
At that time.
In a commercial building in Beijing.
Two clear sneezes could be heard from the top floor.
"Achoo! Achoo!"
Hearing the sounds coming from the CEO's office, Dong Assistant knocked twice on the door before pushing it open.
"Chief Qi, do you need me to contact your family doctor?"
The man with a cold and imposing demeanor sitting at the desk glanced up and calmly said, "No need."
After he finished speaking, his phone on the desk lit up.
He received a message from Sheng Mumu.
Sheng Mumu: "First order secured, 10% of the repayment progress done, cool right?"
The light in the eyes of the man with chiseled features softened as he looked at the screen, inadvertently curving his lips.
His well-proportioned fingers lightly tapped the screen to reply: "Mm."
After thinking for a moment, he deleted the message.
He retyped and sent:
"Cool."