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

Zhou Qiwen took it, and the difference became clear when he compared the two hands. The genuine cotton-padded jacket was well-padded, tightly packed, with even stitches and straight lines.

The neckline, cuffs, and hem were all neatly finished. The white dress was the same; the genuine one was made of smooth, slippery fabric, felt substantial in the hand, and the hem draped naturally. The fake one on the table, on the other hand, was wrinkled and couldn't be straightened out when picked up.

"Just look at the design, it's wrong." Zhang Yunxia pointed to a spot and said, "Our waist is here, but theirs is pulled up at least two inches, it will definitely be too tight." She then touched the fabric, "Ours is chiffon, it feels soft, but this feels stiff, it's probably an old synthetic fiber material that was phased out years ago."

Director Huang and Section Chief Chen also came over, picked up the fake cotton-padded jacket and looked at it from all angles, then touched the real one, and exchanged a glance.

Ye Wenxi didn't need to explain further; everyone could see that something was wrong with this.

Zhou Xuchen stood to the side, his gaze falling on the unopened packages on the table: "Should we open these and take a look too?"

"Okay." Ye Wenxi went to get the scissors and handed one to Zhang Yunxia.

The two began to unpack the packages one by one. They tore open the kraft paper and took out each item. Sure enough, they were similar to what they had opened before, with only a few different styles.

Almost every item contained a note, some written in pencil, some in ballpoint pen. Unsurprisingly, the notes were all complaints about the product quality, and some were even quite harsh.

One of the packages Ye Wenxi opened contained this note:

"This is supposed to be uniforms from a factory jointly operated by the military and civilian regions? Is this how your military region makes uniforms?! I trusted the military region so much, give me a refund right now!"

Ye Wenxi subtly pushed the note to Zhou Xuchen's side. Zhou Xuchen had been watching Ye Wenxi's movements closely and looked down at the note.

He picked it up, glanced at it quickly, and then sighed heavily, saying, "It seems there's been a rather big misunderstanding."

Hearing the sound, Director Chen of the Logistics Department turned around, and Zhou Xuchen handed him the note. Director Chen took it and glanced at it, his face darkening. After reading it, he handed it to Director Huang, who took it, glanced at it, and his face immediately turned grim.

"Let me see," Zhou Qiwen said.

Director Huang handed it over. Zhou Qiwen glanced at it, said nothing, then turned the note over to look at the back, making sure there was nothing there, before putting it down.

He then flipped through the other slips of paper on the table one by one. Some said, "The quality is too poor, refund is needed," some said, "I will never buy your stuff again," and two mentioned the words "military region," their words filled with disappointment.

"These were sent in the last two weeks or so," Ye Wenxi added from the side, "but in the last week alone, the number has more than doubled compared to before."

"More than double in the last week?" Zhou Xuchen stood by the table and asked, feigning surprise.

He hesitated for a moment, as if pondering, before speaking:

"I'm afraid their goal isn't to sell products."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qiwen, Director Huang, and Director Chen all turned to look at Zhou Xuchen, their eyes filled with vigilance.

Zhou Xuchen stood in front of the blackboard, the chalk still in his hand, but his tone softened:

"Your clothing company's prices are a bit higher than the market average, but the quality is definitely worth the price. For them to imitate this well, the technical threshold is probably too high, and their design level can't keep up. To imitate it well, the cost would have to increase several times over."

He paused, tossed the chalk back into the chalk tray, and dusted off his hands.

"So, they don't actually want to sell clothes. They just want to use your name to do something shady."

Zhou Xuchen's words were cleverly worded; at least those who sell counterfeit clothes are legitimate clothing manufacturers. However, in the ears of Director Huang and Zhou Qiwen, the meaning of these words was distorted.

Ye Wenxi then turned to Zhou Xuchen, softening her tone: "Director Zhou, you are an intellectual, more cultured than us. I would like to ask, at this rate, what stage will it reach in six months?"

Zhou Xuchen glanced at her, said nothing, turned around and walked to the blackboard next to him, picked up the chalk and started writing.

"Let me calculate it based on a few variables," he said as he walked to the blackboard and picked up the chalk.

What are your approximate monthly sales figures?

"On average, around 150 pieces," Ye Wenxi replied.

Zhou Xuchen wrote on the blackboard: Monthly sales ≈ 150.

"I'll calculate the quantity of counterfeit products based on market penetration. Currently, counterfeit products on the market account for about one-tenth of your sales." He wrote a number next to it: Counterfeits ≈ 15.

He turned around and tapped the blackboard with chalk:

"But this is not one plus one equals two. Counterfeit products have low costs, low barriers to entry, and high profits. Once someone tastes the sweetness of success, the number of people following suit will increase exponentially."

He drew a steep upward curve on the blackboard and marked several nodes next to it: doubled in half a month.

Zhou Xuchen's chalk scratched on the blackboard, continuously writing down some shocking numbers.

"The monthly production of counterfeit products is no less than 800 pieces, and the annual sales of these counterfeit products... are probably over 10,000 pieces."

Zhou Xuchen put down the chalk and turned around:

"This is based on your current sales volume. If your advertising and sales channels expand, this number could increase several times over."

He put down the chalk, turned around, looked at Zhou Qiwen and Director Huang, and softened his tone:

"But that's just the number of units sold. The real damage isn't there."

He circled the sales figure and then drew many radiating lines on top of it.

"Generally speaking, negative news about an authoritative institution or well-known brand spreads dozens of times faster than positive news." He paused, lightly tapping his finger on the dense lines. "This is a study from overseas communication studies, and its conclusions apply here as well."

Zhou Xuchen didn't say anything more, but the people here knew what he was implying.

Sales figures are just the beginning; the real negative impact they bring is enough to affect hundreds of thousands or even millions of consumers.

The meeting room was quiet for a while.

"By the way, Director Huang, what did you want to see me about earlier?" Ye Wenxi suddenly asked.

Director Huang was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "Oh, so you wanted to come and learn about the work done with the public and how your work is progressing."

Director Huang wasn't telling the truth.

The political department did receive letters from the public reflecting that the garment company's products were of poor quality and that the prices were unreasonably high, but he didn't mention that just now.

Ye Wenxi could once again sense their caution from Director Huang's words.

From the day the garment company was established, the military region's attitude has been "to pay close attention, but not to express an opinion easily, and to provide support only at critical moments."

After the on-site unpacking and Zhou Xuchen's calculations, the situation had become quite telling, but the military region wouldn't speak up easily; they needed to consider and observe further.

Because once the military region intervenes in this kind of matter, it will not only solve the immediate problem.

The weight and influence of the military region's authority are self-evident. Once they take action, it's tantamount to handing Ye Wenxi a "sword of Damocles."

Therefore, we must be extremely cautious. This sword should not be wielded lightly. We must consider whether the person to whom it is given is worthy, where it will be used, and whether it will be used as a precedent and brought up by others in the future.