A whirlwind marriage with a high-ranking official: Lights out, don't force me to take the initi

"Starting tomorrow, you won't just be doing cleaning anymore," Ye Wenxi said with a smile.

"Just learn from the technicians and practice on those sewing machines. You don't need to pay tuition."

Wang Yingxue was stunned and stood up abruptly.

"What?! How can this be? I can't let all that learning go to waste!"

"Who said you studied in vain? I need your help," Ye Wenxi said.

"Huh? Then... what do you need me to do?" Wang Yingxue asked earnestly, both nervous and expectant.

Ye Wenxi blinked, keeping everyone in suspense:

You'll find out then.

"Yingxue, please take the packages that were returned a few days ago and have already been opened to the conference table."

"Please also invite Sister Yunxia, ​​Teacher Li, and Xiaolan."

"Okay, I'll go find them right now," Wang Yingxue replied readily.

About half an hour later, everyone had arrived.

Li Yanyu, Sun Xiaolan, Zhang Yunxia, ​​and Ye Wenxi, the main backbone of the garment company, all gathered around the conference table.

Wang Yingxue carried the last twenty-odd packages to the table one by one, then turned to leave.

"Yingxue," Ye Wenxi called out to her.

Wang Yingxue turned around.

"Stay and listen in."

Wang Yingxue was taken aback.

She knew how important the matter Ye Wenxi was dealing with was; the recent wave of returned orders had thrown the entire clothing company into a state of panic. The fact that Ye Wenxi's first task upon returning was to address this showed the gravity of the situation.

Those attending the meeting were all core members of the garment company.

She...can she stay?

Ye Wenxi looked at her, gave her an affirming look, and nodded.

"Please sit down."

Ye Wenxi picked up several already opened packages and shook out the clothes inside.

In 21st-century internet slang, it would be: obviously fake.

The fabric and workmanship are far inferior, and some of the essential design details are simply not reproduced.

Six items of clothing: two cotton-padded jackets, two dresses, and two women's shirts. Three of them did not have a return address written on them, and the other three came from different senders.

That cotton-padded jacket would normally sell for over a hundred yuan, making it one of the more expensive styles in the clothing store.

But this fake is so poorly made that even the cotton filling is uneven, with patches here and there. The design is even more absurd, as if it was copied from a photo but turned out to be a mess. Not to mention the details.

The clothes from the ready-made clothing company may look simple, but the essence lies entirely in the tailoring: the angle of the shoulder line, the cinching or loosening of the waist, and the proportion of the garment length.

A plain-colored shirt is exceptionally flattering and makes a person look tall and elegant.

What about these two fakes? From a distance, they look like their shirts, but they're obviously fake once you get a couple of steps closer. You don't even need to put them on; just look at the cuffs and the collar, and you can tell they're fake.

If these clothes were made even slightly more realistically, customers probably wouldn't have asked for a refund.

How dare they sell this kind of stuff under their clothing company's name?

She clutched the cotton-padded coat, growing angrier the more she looked at it.

"I checked. The batch without a return address was all sent within a week. After that, no more were sent," Sun Xiaolan said.

"Hmph." Ye Wenxi sneered.

"After all, counterfeit goods also have costs. I guess they realized that if we ignored them and wouldn't refund their money, they would give up and give up," Ye Wenxi said incisively.

"Wenxi, who do you think should be complaining about us?" Zhang Yunxia asked. "Could it be that shady workshop complaining that we're not giving a refund?"

"No. They wouldn't be stupid enough to jump right in front of us, let alone to the Political Department." Ye Wenxi shook his head.

"Who could it be? What's the content?" Sun Xiaolan asked, frowning.

Ye Wenxi tapped his fingers lightly on the table, frowning in thought:

"I suspect it's a genuine customer complaint. But they've been deceived, and it's possible that it's not just one person complaining, nor just one issue."

She paused, her tone turning serious:

"What is now certain is that someone is counterfeiting and selling our products. That's the first point."

"Secondly, their selling prices might be different from ours. But we don't know where they're advertising or what their sales channels are. If the price difference is too large..."

Her gaze sharpened:

"Once this gets out in the market, it's bound to cause consumer dissatisfaction. Imagine, someone pays a high price for something, and then hears that someone else bought it for half the price—who wouldn't complain?"

"Oh, right! Now that you mention it, I remember!" Sun Xiaolan suddenly slapped her thigh.

Ye Wenxi looked at her.

"I received a phone call from someone asking how much a dress cost, and why the price kept fluctuating," Sun Xiaolan recalled. "I explained to her that the price had always been the same. Just then, Director Huang came over, so I didn't continue the conversation."

"I was so busy that I forgot about this." After saying that, Sun Xiaolan looked at Ye Wenxi anxiously.

"It's alright, Xiaolan. You've worked hard these past few days, and it's taken a lot of your energy. Don't worry, you'll continue to be paid according to your usual daily wage."

"Well... there are still many things I haven't done very well," Sun Xiaolan said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Listen to me," Ye Wenxi patted her hand, not letting her refuse.

"Aunt Li, how is it?" Ye Wenxi turned to look at Li Yanyu.

Li Yanyu was holding a magnifying glass and reading glasses, carefully studying the stitching and cutting of these clothes under the table lamp.

"It's certain, they came from the same family." She put down the clothes, her tone certain.

Sun Xiaolan added from the side:

"But... for these returned packages, some people filled in the shipping address, and some didn't."

"It seems this illegal workshop is involved in quite a wide range of businesses," Ye Wenxi said with a sneer.

She paused for a moment, then voiced her speculation:

"I estimate that this illegal workshop only focuses on a few types of clothing. Among them, the cotton-padded jackets have the highest selling price and the largest profit margin, while the remaining styles are simple to produce and also have high profit margins."

She looked at the group:

"They probably made money through two channels."

"First, they use the name of a garment company to dump inferior goods at low prices."

"Secondly, they directly return counterfeit goods to us, thus defrauding us of the refund."

"If they succeed, they'll make a fortune; if they fail, they'll only lose the cost of a few counterfeit goods."

Li Yanyu took off her reading glasses and rubbed her temples: "These people are really shrewd."

Zhang Yunxia was so angry that she slammed her hand on the table.

"So, they're not losing out no matter what, are they? Our clothing company has become their sucker?"

Sun Xiaolan also became anxious: "Then what do we do? We can't stay passive like this forever, can we?"

The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly became tense.

"Reputation is something that can be destroyed quickly but is hard to build up," Li Yanyu sighed.

"Yes! We need to speed things up." Ye Wenxi nodded, his gaze calm.

"Wenxi, I have a question," Wang Yingxue suddenly mustered up her courage and spoke.

Ye Wenxi looked at her: "You speak."

Wang Yingxue unconsciously twisted her clothes. These past few days, looking at those fake returned items and the constant stream of fraudulent letters, her heart felt increasingly heavy.

Every time she went to pick up her package and saw these things, her heart sank.

Seeing them piled up there on the shelf, left untouched, she grew anxious, but knew she shouldn't say anything.

Ye Wenxi invited her to attend the meeting today.

She finally couldn't help but ask that question:

"If we report this to the police now, they should be able to open a case, right? Will someone step in to help us?"

Wang Yingxue paused, her voice trailing off, somewhat embarrassed:

"Why did you endure it and wait until now?"