Back to the prime of life

Chapter 197 Sweep
"Judging by the commotion you're making, even an ordinary graduation will attract a lot of attention in the future, and many eyes will be watching your graduation thesis." Dean You Bin was taken aback by the question he had asked in the auditorium earlier that day.

Not everyone in the crowd was convinced of Lu Changge's achievements; there were also some wicked people who were jealous.

However, Lu Changge wasn't too worried. "I will take the thesis issue seriously. If I really can't figure it out, I can consult Professor Liu more often. In the end, it will meet the graduation requirements for an undergraduate. But being noticed isn't a scary thing, and criticism is perfectly normal."

"That's good. If Liu Wen is busy, just come to me. I can revise it for you. In the end, it has to be reviewed and approved by us before it can be shown to the public. You're our school's darling now."

Hey, it's a community of shared interests, that's all there is to it.

It boils down to the 'protection of officials' in this field. If Lu Changge's papers are exposed as being of poor quality or that he completely disregards school rules, it will not only damage Lu Changge's reputation, but also create a public opinion crisis for Jiangzhou University of Science and Technology.

This is actually the downside of being famous.

Of course, the benefits are also obvious.

Lu Changge now reads various news articles on portal websites, including financial, social, and even entertainment news, and his name is mentioned there. As a result, the Lu Mang brand has also gained wider recognition.

This is reflected in the explosive growth in sales over the past few days.

What Lu Changge didn't know was that 2008 to 2010 was a period of rapid growth for e-commerce, with a large number of new internet users. Simply put, even without doing anything, the company was naturally propelled forward, let alone with such precise marketing as it does now.

On April 14, 2009, the provincial TV station's financial news channel began broadcasting news about the recent rapid increase in sales of the clothing brand "Lu Mang," reaching 4 units sold per day.

Meanwhile, on the internet, portal websites such as NetEase and Sina began publishing various articles to analyze the success of Lumang.

Lu Changge himself, with the title of expanding his entrepreneurial empire in the United States, has begun to become an idol for a generation of young people.

On April 20, Jiangzhou's official media released news of city leaders inspecting Lumang Company.

The phrase "clothing exports are hampered, but domestic sales are booming" has appeared in the news, especially in the technology development zone that was the first to cooperate with Lumang Company. More than 50 suppliers in the zone have lined up to renew their cooperation agreements with Lumang Company.

On April 24th, Lumang Company launched a major optimization of its store interface and immediately released a wave of super promotional offers. The discounted products include 12 items such as shirts, canvas shoes, and jeans. In particular, canvas shoes, a style of shoe that is currently very popular, were originally a star product.

This time, the price was reduced by 10 yuan to 49 yuan per pair, and the promotional activity received 4600 orders within an hour.

Lu Changge became the god of wealth for the garment factories in those towns and villages of Jiangzhou!

Two days later, Lu Changge was in Xu Weiguo's office when he told him that the municipal government had issued a confidential document requiring all localities to make preparations because CCTV News was preparing to come to Jiangzhou for an interview.

"Interview me?" He seemed a little incredulous.

"This isn't an interview with you, it's an interview with all the participants in the industry. You've really done something amazing this time. The financial crisis is profoundly impacting our country's economy, with tens of millions of people losing their jobs in the southeast coastal areas. But the Jiangzhou garment industry has shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity, standing out from the crowd. So they're here to interview all the participants in the entire industry chain to make a special program showcasing the resilience of the Chinese economy!"

Lu Changge is a man with a keen political sense. He knew that the "Lu Mang + local suppliers" model was particularly suitable for a time like 2009, but he didn't expect it to reach the level of CCTV, or rather, it didn't happen so quickly.

Seeing that he seemed to have foreseen this, Xu Weiguo asked curiously, "Aren't you surprised or excited?" "No, no. I was just thinking, it shouldn't be that fast. It's not even May yet, it should be at least in the second half of the year, after it's really effective, before we come back for more, right?"

Xu Weiguo laughed and said, not taking it too seriously, "You're quite politically conscious, you even realized this. Here's the thing, in order to combat this financial crisis, public opinion is also an important part, so the higher-ups issued a notice earlier, on the one hand requiring all localities to investigate the local impact, and on the other hand requiring all localities to exercise their autonomy and implement a city-specific policy to deal with this crisis. If there are good practices, of course, they should be reported."

Jiangzhou has grown to where it is today through township enterprises, and it has been severely impacted, with the garment processing industry being the least affected. Therefore, leveraging e-commerce has been a long-standing proposal. Lumang has also been under scrutiny for a while; this is simply a natural consequence of your successful marketing.

But it wasn't scheduled to air in May; it was pre-arranged, and CCTV would only broadcast it once Jiangzhou had truly recovered.

Lu Changge realized that the pace was a bit too fast. Official media usually wait until things have settled down before making a statement, but they didn't expect them to shoot first.

"Then I want one too?"

"I want both of you!" Xu Weiguo was beaming with joy.

As the official who provided the strongest support to Lu Changge and creatively utilized e-commerce to expand sales channels internally, Xu Weiguo was bound to steal the spotlight.

The key point is that the city leaders appreciated him and specifically sent him to the newly established economic development zone to tackle the tough challenges.

I didn't expect him to perform so well again this time!
Lu Changge was the kind of person who understood things immediately, never half-understood. "Uncle Xu, should I congratulate you in advance?"

Xu Weiguo grinned from ear to ear, but still waved his hand and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? It's all baseless. Let me give you a piece of advice: there are many hidden talents out there. Don't be arrogant and complacent just because we've achieved a little success. The last leg of a journey is the hardest. Especially at times like these, we need to stay calm and do our job well!"

"Yes, yes, I'll wait for the good news and then come to congratulate you!"

"Go away, stop it. Hurry up and come with me to see your suppliers. One of the purposes of Lumang Company is to solve the local demand for unsold clothing. You've made a name for yourself, so you have to see it through. I'll go with you to be a waiter."

Lu Changge was also helpless. When had he ever forgotten his propaganda slogan? He would never curse as soon as he put down his bowl. But this Director Xu, who was about to gain fame and fortune, happened to be interviewed and then remembered the role of a government service worker.

However, this was just a joke; in any case, it's a good thing.

When it came time to meet with dozens of local suppliers, Lu Changge began a different story: "...I see everyone is in a good mood, and the reason is simple: Lu Mang Company is more famous and has higher sales, so you won't have to worry about selling your goods anymore. I'm happy too; this is a great thing. But we Chinese are a wise people. As the saying goes, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise, and a blessing may be a misfortune in disguise. Becoming famous and having higher sales means that products from Jiangzhou will have to be tested by more people."

Furthermore, it's widely known that Lumang Company and local garment factories in Jiangzhou are inextricably linked, even practically inseparable. Therefore, I believe everyone needs to be aware that we cannot ruin the "Jiangzhou Garment" brand. We can't let consumers say, "Damn, I bought a cheap garment made in Jiangzhou!" This is our foundation. To put it bluntly, if outsiders try to slander Jiangzhou garments, we'll fight them to the death. We certainly can't do anything that would dig our own grave!
Our Director Xu is here today. The development zone has achieved great success and gained a good reputation, but if it damages the reputation of Jiangzhou Garments, he'll likely have a hard time explaining it to the city leaders. So we need to consider Director Xu's situation."

Xu Weiguo: "..."

No wonder this kid's business is so good, he's really 'cunning', all the pressure is on him! You could have just said that Lumang's quality control requirements would be stricter, but you had to drag him into it. He has to supervise so many small factories one by one, that consumes administrative resources, you know.

But there was nothing he could do. Lu Changge's words were his Achilles' heel. Even if he were to rise in rank in the future, if the Jiangzhou clothing was damaged by him, there would be plenty of people causing him trouble.

(End of this chapter)