I'm A Baller - Chapter 161
Chapter 161: A Very Expensive Quilt
Song Chen looked at Wang Yan with shining eyes.
As a child who had grown up in the shadow of his elder sister, half of his introversion came from his nature, and the other half was the result of the pressure he felt.
He was handsome, but his personality was dull, so he always had some female admirers who fell in love with him at first sight, but nothing came out of it.
Song Chen did not complain, but deep down, he yearned to become a “real man”.
Before this, he did not know what a “real man” should look like. The classic tough-guy image in movies and TV series always looked unreal.
It was not until he met Wang Yan that he started to develop a kind of worship for a real-world person.
This was what a dashing guy should look like!
His sister, who always had to manage everything for him but couldn’t teach him the things he wanted, now looked quite inadequate compared to Wang Yan…
Of course, my sister is the prettiest girl and that’s indisputable!
…
Meanwhile, Song Xi felt both surprised and envious and her impressions of Wang Yan became more and more contradictory.
A brat who was difficult to manage was the least cute!
However, the brat really had good tastes and knew how to enjoy life.
In comparison, the boys from the boys from science and technology sector looked so coarse!
…
Wang Yan finally found his destination, a small shop in the cloth crafts market.
Half of the row of inner shops had signs such as “Pure Handmade Mulberry Silk Quilts, High-end Four-piece Sets” and so on. The small shop pointed out by the woman selling towels was nestled in a corner, and its shop face was half smaller than the others.
Seeing it, the smile on Wang Yan’s face deepened.
Song Chen asked timidly, “Boss, is this information reliable?”
“I don’t know.” Wang Yan shook his head.
“But you’re still smiling.” Song Xi was shocked.
“The fragrance of wine sold in the depth of the alley will draw customers to its shop…”
Wang Yan had just started when he was met with Song Xi’s fierce ridicule. “Junior, now people say that the fragrance of wine sold in the alley can’t draw customers to its shop. All businesses need to advertise and do promotions.”
Wang Yan didn’t want to argue with a girl, so he smiled nonchalantly and strolled toward the shop that didn’t even have a name.
Song Xi curled her lips, feeling as if she had punched a wall of cotton like a punch on cotton, which was quite frustrating.
However, Song Chen couldn’t control his curiosity. He kept asking, “Boss, what’s going on? What were you going to say?”
Wang Yan had no choice but to explain to him in a gentle and casual manner.
“Those who need to advertise are in industries or shops that face fierce competition because they sell goods of the same quality.
“However, in any industry, there are a small portion that sells the most high-end products. Due to the limited production capacity, the supply does not always meet the demand, so there is no need for them to spend money on promotion.
“Quite a number of high-end luxury products do not advertise, such as the tailor shops that make high-order suits. When the customers reaches that level of consumption and actually has that kind of demand, they will naturally come looking for the tailors.
“In these fields, the effect of word-of-mouth is enough to digest the scarce production capacity. A piece of fabric can only be made into a few suits or a dozen suits, so they have to reason to advertise.
“Moreover, this kind of behavior can also establish a reputation, raise the brand premium and service premium. Even the customers will help the brand build its reputation.
“For example, the shop in front of us is located in a mall corner but operates normally, so there are only two possibilities.”
Dazzled by Wang Yan’s analysis, Song Chen asked, “What are they?”
“Either their products are very expensive and the profits of one deal can last them for one month, or they’re very good at what they do and only provide services to high-end customers.”
While they were chatting, Wang Yan pushed open the door of the shop and stepped to the side like a gentleman, letting the lady go in first.
Song Xi paused and then walked in quickly.
When she passed Wang Yan, she lowered her head in embarrassment and thanked him in a low voice.
Even Wang Yan was stunned.
Girl, why are you blushing?
I didn’t do anything to you… right?
Wang Yan didn’t understand the situation. Actually, Song Xi was a little embarrassed.
I’m going to die, how embarrassing!
I tried so hard to act mature in front of him, but in the end, he made me speechless with just a few words…
Song Xi, ah, Song Xi, now you know that there’s someone better than you, right?
Even after she entered the shop, Song Xi was still a little unsettled. She pretended to be curious and looked around, ignoring Wang Yan.
There was actually not much to look at in the small shop.
There was a sewing machine surrounded by all kinds of quilts. A dull-looking woman was sitting on the small bed behind the machine.
Seeing them, she hurriedly got up and gave them a simple and honest smile.
“Hi, what would you like to see?”
“Do you have 100% pure silk quilts?”
Hearing Wang Yan’s question, the woman smiled proudly. “Of course, our family specializes in this.”
“Can you guarantee that it’s authentic silk?” Song Xi was a little doubtful.
The woman did not explain. She turned around and pointed at the pile of quilts on the western shelf. She said to the two boys, “Boys, these are real silk quilts. You can take any one of them and check for yourselves.”
Wang Yan nodded to Song Chen, and the boy went over to take one of them from the shelf.
The woman took the quilt from him, took off the outer cover, and walked out of the back door with the filling.
“Come, girl, come with me.”
The back door of the shop led directly to the outside of the market. It was a small open space full of bicycles, motorcycles, and tricycles.
The woman asked Song Xi to help her unfold the quilt in the shade.
Under the natural light, the quilt looked snow-white.
“Okay! Now feel free to touch it.” The woman smiled proudly.
Song Xi touched it and found that it was very soft. She couldn’t feel any hardness, lumps, or pilling.
Wang Yan knew that this was the way to distinguish between mulberry silk and tussah silk. The color of mulberry silk was snow white, while tussah silk was yellow. Under the natural light, one could tell the difference at a glance.
“The materials in our shop are the best double cocoon long silk. The single silk is more than 1,000 meters long. My man personally purchased the silk from Tongxiang. You can search all over the market, but you won’t find another shop that uses materials of this level.”
The woman looked proud and even arrogant as she said such a long string of words.
“Boys, do you have a lighter?”
Song Chen and Song Xi did not understand why the woman wanted a lighter, and they looked at each other.
Wang Yan had his guess, but unfortunately, he did not smoke, so he did not have a lighter.
Seeing this, the woman took the quilt back to the shop, pulled open the filling cover, and carefully removed a small pinch of silk from the edge.
Then, she opened a bottle of disinfectant, poured some content into a small cup, and threw the pinch of silk into it.
Song Chen and his sister looked even more confused.
Wang Yan explained, “Real silk is animal protein, not plant fiber. The disinfectant contains a large amount of strong alkali, which will dissolve animal protein.”
As he spoke, the pinch of silk gradually disappeared, and finally completely dissolved in the disinfectant.
“Wow…”
The siblings exclaimed in surprise.
“So you’re saying that this shop uses real mulberry silk?”
“Yes.”
Wang Yan nodded. Although he appeared calm, he was actually not very sure.
It was definitely real mulberry silk, but he really couldn’t tell if it was double cocoon long silk or not…
Actually, it wasn’t a big problem. Just from the texture and color he had seen just now, he could tell that it was of a very high quality.
The materials were good, and the workmanship was adequate, which were the only two key elements that make a good quilt. It seemed that the shop met these two requirements.
“How much is it?” Song Chen could not wait to ask the price for Wang Yan.
“1,500 yuan per pound. No matter how many pounds you want for a quilt, I only charge 1,000 yuan for the workmanship fee.”
When the woman spoke, she was extremely calm. Song Chen and Song Xi almost couldn’t believe their ears.
Then, Wang Yan used an even calmer tone to reply, “Do you have any in stock?”
“I do, but there are only a few sizes to choose.”
“As long as you have it, I’m not picky.”
Wang Yan grinned.
It was not easy to find such a shop. He’d better hurry up and buy the quilts.
The school provided only one quilt for for both winter and summer. it was hot to use the same thick quilt in summer.
“A two-pound summer quilt and a four-pound winter quilt. Select a size that fits the dormitory single bed. Also, can you make a custom-made quilts?”
“Yes!”
“That’s fine. They are for king-sized bed. I want one summer quilt and one winter quilt. You can make them as heavy as you think they should be.”
“Oh, so big. Three pounds for the summer quilt and six pounds for the winter quilt!”
“It’s a total of 15 pounds. You’ll need at least eight sets of bed sheets and quilt covers… You want the best ones, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll round it down for you. A total of 28,000 yuan.”
The two siblings were stunned again when they heard the total price.
However, Wang Yan immediately swiped his card and paid the money without any hesitation.
“Come back in fifteen days to pick up the quilts. Open them and check them however you want. If you find one strand that is not a double cocoon long silk, I’ll refund you the money, and you can smash the sign of my shop.”
The woman made the list for Wang Yan quickly. She was in a good mood and spoke a little more than she usually did.
Wang Yan could not help but laugh. “Why would I smash your sign? As long as the items are good and comfortable to use, I will buy stuff from your shop every year.”
The woman was busy bagging the quilt and replied casually, “Sure.”
Obviously, she wasn’t worried about the selling of her goods because they were of great quality. So she didn’t care about people’s cheap promises.
After they went out of the shop with bags, Song Xi suddenly asked, “So, this shop is both super expensive but high quality?”
Wang Yan thought for a moment and shook his head.
“It’s not super expensive! The quilts of this quality would easily sell for five or ten times of the price in a big brand’s store. If you take away all the gimmicks of the big brand products, their comfort level is really not as high as the handmade silk quilts.”
Song Xi was struck by a new thought. “Looks like you’ve used such quilts before?”
Wang Yan recalled that the quilt provided by the president suite of Shangri-la Hotel seemed to be an Italian brand with Egyptian cotton as filling. It sounded grand but not very comfortable.
It was far less comfortable than the silk quilt that Dave got for him.
So he nodded and said cautiously, “Personally, I feel that silk quilt lighter and more breathable.”
Song Xi didn’t say anything else. No one knew what she was thinking.
Of course, Wang Yan didn’t dwell on her words.
“We’ve got so many bags with us. Little Chen, let’s go back to the dormitory and eat… Sister Song, why don’t you give me a chance to express my gratitude?”
“I’ll go back to school.”
Wang Yan wasn’t sincerity with this invitation since he was quite busy today. Song Xi could hear it, so she simply refused.
Song Chen didn’t try to persuade his sister. Obviously, he also knew that it wasn’t appropriate for his sister to have a meal with a bunch of boys.
The two schools were in opposite directions, so they didn’t share a taxi. Wang Yan hailed a taxi for Song Xi and handed the driver 50 yuan. Ignoring Song Xi’s protest, he waved his hand and went away.
After watching his sister leave, Song Chen carried the shopping bags and followed the big brother back to the school.
