sinovels Chapter 18 Are there still humans?
Chapter 18 Are there still humans?
After Lin Mu left, Director Mao pondered for a long time.
Actually, after so many years in business, although the factory is not doing well now, she still has savings. Moreover, she can sell these equipment at a discount for some money. As long as she withdraws now, she can still live a comfortable life, neither rich nor poor.
If she follows Lin Mu's advice to develop new products and explore new markets, and succeeds, everyone will be happy; but if she fails, she may not even be able to live a normal life.
Factory Director Mao's original idea was to have Lin Mu help her clear out the current backlog of goods and, like he helped Li Zhi, help her create a best-selling C-end store. Now, Lin Mu has offered another option, which is truly putting her in a difficult position.
What made Factory Director Mao even more uneasy was that Lin Mu actually refused to accept any benefits. Having been in the business world for many years, Factory Director Mao did not believe that there were any moral saints in the world who would help others for free.
If Lin Mu were willing to accept her benefits, or even a share of the profits, she wouldn't be so conflicted now. What if she listened to Lin Mu and devoted herself to developing the new product, but things didn't go well, and Lin Mu just walked away? What would she do then?
Just as Factory Director Mao was hesitating, she received a phone call. On the other end was her daughter's gentle voice: "Mom, let's not make my coming-of-age ceremony too grand next month. Things aren't easy for our family right now, what's the point of such a big celebration? You can keep the money you save, Mom, and don't work too hard."
Factory Director Mao's heart softened. Unlike her own fiery and carefree nature, her daughter had been raised to be gentle and tender, like a flower grown in a greenhouse. Her thoughts raced: she could forgive not spending much time with her daughter as she grew up, but in the end, couldn't she even provide her with a comfortable life?
At the same time, she thought of her ex-husband—that scumbag. If she fell on hard times, he would definitely look down on her, and she absolutely could not tolerate that happening.
Factory Director Mao made up her mind: Then let's keep gambling! Ten years ago, when I was just a young girl, I could win. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to win now that I've grown so much.
The first step was to investigate the market. She wanted to personally visit nightclubs and bars to see if there really was such an undiscovered niche market.
Secondly, she wanted to drag Lin Mu into her scheme. Why would Lin Mu go to such lengths for her if there were no benefits to be gained?
……
Alibaba headquarters.
Lin Mu sat at his workstation, rubbing his temples in excruciating pain, feeling as if he had suffered considerable trauma. Since becoming famous, many businesses had come seeking to work under his wing, which led him to encounter quite a few eccentric merchants.
such as……
Merchant A: "Shopkeeper, I'm getting so few orders. Do you have any channels for boosting sales?"
Lin Mu: "Hello, you can't fake orders. If your store's business isn't good, I suggest using traffic analysis tools to check customer retention and refine your product main images and titles; or I suggest you combine paid advertising and keyword bidding to get traffic."
a few days later.
Merchant A: "Why was my shop shut down?!"
Lin Mu: "Dear customer, our detection department has detected abnormal data in your store, indicating fraudulent order-brushing behavior. We are now banning your store for 15 days and deducting credit points."
Merchant A: "Why is it that everyone else gets away with it, but I get into trouble? Did I not give you a kickback? You should have said so earlier if you wanted a kickback."
Outside the screen, Lin Mu gasped. This shop owner sold clothes and had opened several accounts, placing hundreds of orders in just a few days without even changing the IP address. It would be outrageous if he wasn't banned.
Merchant A: "(Link) Link Link"
Merchant A sent a long list of links: "If you're going to ban someone, don't just ban me. All these shops have done the same thing. Ban them all, or I'll report you."
Lin Mu's forehead twitched, and he rubbed his temples. The links the other party had sent were all from top retailers in the clothing category. Good heavens, this mad dog is starting to bite indiscriminately.
Next was Merchant B.
Merchant B: "Shopkeeper, why can't I find my shop on Taobao?"
Lin Mu: "Okay, I'll check it for you."
Lin Mu: "Dear customer, your product image was stolen from someone else's product and has been banned. Please modify the product image and then relist it."
Merchant B: "Huh? You didn't say we can't directly use other people's product images. It's just a product image, why are you being so stingy? Okay, can you provide me with a product image? Aren't you shop assistants here to help us merchants solve our problems?"
Lin Mu had a migraine. He looked it up and found that the store sold garbage bags.
Lin Mu thought for a moment and casually gave him an idea, telling him to shape the main product image in a way that makes it spacious, stretchable, and not easily broken.
Merchant B: "Hey waiter, can't you understand human language? What's the point of all your nagging? I don't know how to create a main image. Didn't Jack Ma say he wanted to make it easy to do business anywhere? Is this how you serve people, making things difficult for them? Your lousy company will go bankrupt sooner or later!"
Lin Mu took a deep breath and told himself: Don't get angry, don't get angry.
Then there's Merchant C, who sells counterfeit money; Merchant D, who demands customer information and wants to settle disputes offline; there's someone who openly sells counterfeit goods and is reported by users but refuses to admit it; there's someone who sells cockroaches online as an act of revenge against society; and then there's…
Lin Mu was truly speechless: Are there any normal people left in this world?
Just then, he received a call from Director Mao.
Factory Director Mao said, "President Lin, when would you be free to come over? I've already developed the rhinestone stockings."
Lin Mu breathed a sigh of relief: Great, a normal person has arrived. He needs to go, to clear his head.
……
Inside the factory.
Factory Director Mao has been conducting market research these past few days. She visited bars and nightclubs and discovered that entertainment venues in this era are vastly different from those of her generation.
In the era of nightclubs, although people would hug and kiss as soon as the lights went out, their clothing was still relatively conservative. Young people in the new era are much more open-minded. Director Mao saw many girls in nightclubs wearing super short shorts, exposing half their buttocks—something unimaginable before.
She had also observed the stockings worn by young girls and found that they generally fell into three categories: ordinary black stockings, flesh-colored stockings, and fishnet stockings. Under dim lighting, these three types of stockings did indeed appear rather ordinary. If a particular type of stocking could truly stand out in such an occasion, it would certainly become the center of attention.
Factory Director Mao conducted a more in-depth investigation. She had a niece who frequented nightclubs and bars, and she asked her niece to ask her friends: how would they accept stockings with rhinestones or a slight shimmer?
The answer Director Mao received was: Although it felt strange, they were willing to give it a try.