From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 35 Opposition Narrative

Upon hearing this, the reporter paused for a moment, then asked, "Has the recent wave of factory closures affected you? Do you have any friends who lost their jobs in the process?"

Lu Zhaodi's face showed lingering fear: "Of course! I know several friends whose factories went bankrupt, and they didn't even get their wages. Now they've all gone to work in small factories, but the pay is worse, the work is harder than before, and they earn less. Those small factories are so stingy!"

"Was your factory unaffected?"

"I suffered a bit at first," Lu Zhaodi recalled. "Back then, seeing our factory manager looking so worried every day, I thought the factory was going to go bankrupt. I even thought that if things really got bad, I would work for the factory manager for free for a month to help the factory get through this."

The reporter astutely pressed further: "Young lady, why are you willing to work for the factory manager for free?"

"Because the factory manager is good to me!" Lu Zhaodi said sincerely. "When my parents came to the factory looking for me and wanted to take me back, it was the factory manager who told me to hide and lie to them that I had already left. Moreover, every time the factory manager went to a hotel to eat, he would pack up the leftover fish and shrimp and bring them back to us workers to eat."

The reporter joked, "Don't you think that's unhygienic?"

"Where is it unhygienic!" Lu Zhaodi retorted. "I just don't understand those rich people. They spend so much money to order a whole table of dishes, and then they only eat a few bites before stopping. What a waste!"

"So how did your factory manager manage to get through it?"

Lu Zhaodi answered truthfully: "I heard from the women in the factory that the factory manager has developed a new sales channel. It seems that he is selling new styles of socks on a website called Taobao."

"Sister, let me tell you, those new socks are so pretty, they sparkle!"

"I heard from my friends that a pair of these online sells for a really high price, but our production cost is very low. So I bought a pair from the factory manager at cost price. They look so good on my legs, like a fairy."

"Can I see those socks?"

"Sure!" Lu Zhaodi turned around and ran back to the workshop, quickly bringing out several pairs of socks to show the reporter some of the new products produced in the factory.

……

Wang Caihua never expected that right after that young woman in the factory was interviewed, the reporter would come after her. The management hadn't mentioned any interviews today! The fifty-something-year-old Wang Caihua hurriedly cast a pleading look at Factory Director Mao.

Factory Director Mao quickly came to the rescue: "It's alright, Sister Caihua, just answer whatever the reporter asks, just tell the truth."

The reporter asked, "Sister, you seem to know the factory manager quite well. How many years have you worked here?"

"Me?" Wang Caihua thought for a moment and replied, "I've been working here since Director Mao took over the factory. It's been about ten years now."

The reporter exclaimed, "Wow, ten years! You've been a long-time employee. Why have you worked at this factory for so long? Workers in the textile industry usually change factories quite frequently. Is there a special reason? Perhaps the salary and benefits are good, or the work environment is pleasant?"

Wang Caihua said with some surprise, "Going to work is just about doing tasks, there's no atmosphere to speak of. But there's one good thing about Director Mao, he doesn't find all sorts of reasons to deduct our wages."

"I used to work in another factory. They would deduct money for being late, for going to the toilet, and so on. It would add up to a lot of deductions every month."

"Director Mao is generous and doesn't care about these things. Working under him is worry-free. Plus, he gets a lot of orders, so we earn more. I'm a skilled worker, and recently Director Mao has gotten new orders with higher unit prices, so I can earn 2400 yuan a month now!"

"Wow, 2400 yuan is so high?" the reporter exclaimed in surprise.

Wang Caihua nodded: "Yes, this order is a huge hit. Many pretty young girls love wearing these stockings. There aren't any similar ones on the market, so the profit margin is quite high."

Factory Director Mao hurriedly called out from behind, "You can cut out the sentence 'relatively high gross profit margin'!"

The reporter chuckled twice and said, "It will be cut out later; it won't bring any competitors to the factory manager."

The reporter then asked Wang Caihua, "Sister, most women your age are at home taking care of their grandchildren and enjoying their retirement. Why are you still working? Is it because your family is struggling financially?"

Wang Caihua scratched her head and said, "Sister, what are you saying? Every family has its difficulties. It's just a matter of how difficult they are. Now that the country is developing well, as long as you're willing to work, you can find a job anywhere and won't go hungry."

"You ask me why I'm not enjoying my retirement at home? Because my wife passed away more than ten years ago. Oh, those were really tough times. The pillar of the family was gone, and I had to shoulder everything by myself."

The reporter asked, "So that's why you came out to look for work and ended up working for Director Mao?"

Wang Caihua nodded: "Yes."

She added, "Actually, given my family's situation, the government came to our door to ask if we wanted poverty alleviation subsidies, but I told them no. We'll earn money honestly, support ourselves through our own labor, and not waste government resources."

"I earned all the money for my daughter's college education with my own hands. My daughter is studying fashion design, and she will be able to become a designer and work in an office after graduation, instead of having to work as hard as her mother."

After interviewing Wang Caihua, the reporter turned to Factory Director Mao and asked, "Director, I just interviewed several employees, and they all mentioned that their living conditions have improved since the factory received a new order. Director, how did you come up with the idea to develop this new product?"

Factory Director Mao kept Lin Mu's instructions in mind and replied, "This is not my own idea. Our factory originally had a batch of export overstock that we couldn't sell. I heard that Taobao is quite popular recently, so I thought of selling the goods on Taobao to clear out the overstock and get some cash flow back."

"When I started selling online, a person from Taobao contacted me and said that the products I was selling were very interesting. They even discussed with me how to modify the original products to meet the market demand of modern urban women to 'please themselves' and launch a batch of unique stockings."

"Later, we came up with the new product, pearlescent stockings. We really have to thank the country's development for making the internet so widespread; we also have to thank Taobao, they really care about small and medium-sized sellers, which is completely different from the traditional channels; and we especially have to thank that Taobao shop assistant."

Afterwards, the reporter interviewed a few more people sporadically. Finally, he interviewed Yang Xiaofang, a Taobao shop owner.

The reporter asked, "Ms. Yang, why did you become a Taobao seller?"

Yang Xiaofan said, "My family is actually quite well-off; we run a wholesale business. But recently, the economy has been sluggish, and the wholesale market isn't doing well either. I saw my best friend wearing fluorescent stockings at a bar before, and I thought that this product would definitely be a hit if sold offline, so I asked my mom to recommend it and let her buy a batch to try it out."

"But my mom disagreed and didn't believe in my judgment. In a fit of anger, I opened my own online store and started selling directly from the manufacturers online."

"I didn't expect to be so lucky. It actually became a hit. I can sell more than a thousand orders a month and earn four or five thousand yuan."

"I showed my mom my grades and even bought her a ring with the money I earned. My mom was so happy that she immediately went to the manufacturer and bought a batch of goods, which are now selling quite well offline."

Yang Xiaofan added, "I really have to thank Taobao for giving ordinary people so many opportunities. I'm planning to persuade my mom to open a shop on Taobao too; maybe it can give her a second spring in her career."