Chapter 396: The Generous Bonus Plan

Feixue Apparel became a sensation, and so did the Second Cotton Spinning Factory!

With so many people clamoring to buy the clothes, it attracted the attention and coverage of numerous media outlets, which only added fuel to the fire of the already booming Flying Snow brand.

By this point, Flying Snow Clothing had firmly entered the public eye.

With only a few days left until the Lunar New Year, many citizens wanted to wear these fashionable clothes during the festivities and show them off to their relatives and friends.

Consequently, every day before the Wangfujing and Dong’an stores even open, large crowds of people gather outside, creating a lively and bustling scene.

Meanwhile, the Second Cotton Spinning Factory—once notorious and virtually abandoned—suddenly became the hottest commodity.

The sales department, in particular, felt this shift most acutely.

Previously, to sell those fabrics, they had begged and pleaded with everyone under the sun; even when they slashed prices to rock-bottom levels, no one was willing to give them the time of day.

But now it was a different story. Every day, a large number of buyers from out-of-town supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores would camp outside the cotton mill. As soon as the doors opened, they would rush into the sales department and bombard Sun Feng and his colleagues with requests.

They all have one demand: stock!

It’s no wonder they’re so frantic. Fashion trends in Beijing look to Hong Kong and Taiwan, while trends in the surrounding areas—and indeed the entire country—look to Beijing.

Now, people in the major cities nearby all know that Beijing has introduced bell-bottom pants, wool coats, and blazers. The goods that distributors take back home take three or four days to sell out at the slowest, and can be sold out the very same day at the fastest.

More importantly, distributors received a 25% discount on the retail price. Even if they sold at Li Yi’s suggested retail price, they’d still make a 25% profit on the resale.

Moreover, the vast majority of distributors do not adhere to the “suggested retail price”; some even sell at double the factory price, so the profit margin is easy to imagine.

And don’t complain about the prices—with limited stock and no fabric ration tickets required, people were still flocking to buy!

Amid this frenzy, in less than twenty days, the over 100,000 pieces of various clothing Li Yi had stockpiled before opening—plus the garments produced by the factory working overtime during this period—were virtually sold out.

And by this point, there were only a day or two left until the Lunar New Year!

As the New Year approached, the store’s sales revenue dropped, and fewer people came to the purchasing department to place orders.

Li Yi knew that this year’s sales boom had come to an end.

Immediately, Li Yi had the store staff take inventory, prepared to review the work done over this period, and then sent the employees off for the New Year holiday.

………

February 3, evening, at the cotton mill’s administrative office building!

It was the same conference room, with the same people.

Since they’d been so busy these past few days—most people working late into the night—they hadn’t held a wrap-up meeting for a week.

Seeing each other again, everyone felt a deep sense of warmth.

Likewise, they could all see the exhaustion and a touch of weariness in one another’s faces.

From his seat at the head of the table, Li Yi cleared his throat and said, “Everyone’s here, so let’s get started!”

At his words, the room fell silent, and all eyes turned to Li Yi.

“Comrades, after nearly twenty days of hard work, Feixue Apparel has finally cleared out most of our previous inventory. Plus, since the Lunar New Year is tomorrow, everyone can take time off starting tomorrow and return to work on the eighth day of the new year. Use this opportunity to spend quality time with your families and get some much-needed rest!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the crowd in the conference room erupted into excited cheers.

For everyone, this period had been incredibly exhausting—something they had never experienced before.

Before this, everyone had been employees at state-owned enterprises, working standard 8-to-6 shifts with rock-solid job security—just going through the motions day by day.

But now, they were working over ten hours a day.

And with so many days in a row without a break, even the toughest of us can’t keep this up!

Signaling for quiet, Li Yi continued, “Before we take a break, let’s have each department report on their work. Let’s start with the production department!”

Hearing his name called, Director Tan immediately replied, “As of 6:00 p.m. today, our workshop has produced a total of 180,000 pieces of various garments. We’ve completely used up all the printed cotton and wool fabrics in the warehouse, and we only have a little over 11,000 yards of cotton fabric left.”

“If we’re going to continue production after the New Year, we’ll have to reorder the printed and wool fabrics from the factory!”

Li Yi nodded immediately and said, “We’ll deal with matters after the New Year when the time comes. Let’s leave it at that for this year!”

Next, Xu Taofang stood up and reported, “At our Dong’an store, which has been open for 20 days, we’ve sold over 16,000 garments of various types, with sales totaling 326,400 yuan.”

An Hong then stood up to report: “Our Wangfujing store has sold a total of 42,000 garments of various types during this period, with a turnover of 846,642 yuan.”

After the two women sat down, Sun Feng, the head of the Sales Department, also stood up to report: “Our Sales Department has sold over 118,000 pieces of clothing during this period, with a total revenue of 2,421,600 yuan. All funds have already been handed over to the finance department!”

After hearing the reports from the three, everyone in the room was stunned, especially Jiang Longcheng.

He had been involved in Li Yi’s business venture from start to finish. They had begun organizing this ready-to-wear operation in late December, and it had only been 40 days since then. They had spent a mere 500,000 yuan… no… actually, only 200,000 yuan; the remaining 200,000-odd yuan was still owed to the factory.

With just that amount of money, he had leveraged a business worth several million—his ability was truly staggering.

As if oblivious to the astonishment on everyone’s faces, Li Yi immediately stood up and said, “Everyone has worked hard during this time. I’ve said I won’t shortchange any of you, so now I’m announcing the salary bonus plan for all employees!”

Hearing this, everyone in the conference room grew excited.

They had worked so hard all these days, all for this very moment.

In an instant, everyone’s eyes turned intently toward Li Yi, waiting for his answer.

“First, regarding the production floor: in addition to the existing daily rate of 1.5 yuan, all employees will receive an extra month’s basic salary (36 yuan) as a bonus!”

Li Yi continued, “In addition to receiving one month’s basic salary, every team leader will also receive an extra 100 yuan bonus, and Director Tan will receive an additional 500 yuan!”

The moment he finished speaking, the conference room fell instantly silent—so quiet you could hear a pin drop!

After a brief moment of silence, a deafening roar of cheers erupted.

It was shocking—and incredibly generous!

Everyone had originally thought that Li Yi would be generous enough to give them an extra ten or twenty yuan in bonuses, but they never expected him to be this generous—even ordinary employees would receive double their wages.

As for the team leaders, in addition to double pay, they’d receive a 100-yuan bonus—equivalent to two months’ salary!

Director Tan was even more enviable—he received a 500-yuan bonus all at once. Wow, that’s more than an ordinary worker makes in a whole year.

Best of all, everyone had only worked for less than a month—it was truly easy money.

Li Yi motioned for everyone to quiet down again, then continued, “Now for the sales team’s rewards: the eighty members of the Sales Department, plus the twenty-plus salespeople from the two stores, will also receive double pay, plus an additional 100-yuan bonus each!”

“Managers An Hong, Xu Taofang, and Sun Feng, just like Director Tan, will each receive an additional 500-yuan bonus!”

After another round of enthusiastic applause, Li Yi added, “The colleagues in the finance team will also receive double pay, plus an extra 100 yuan bonus each.”

“All of the above funds will be distributed to every employee and manager by tomorrow morning, so everyone can have a prosperous New Year…”

Before he had even finished speaking, the conference room erupted in enthusiastic applause once more.

“Everyone, this year’s work is temporarily wrapped up. Let’s continue our efforts next year to build new glory together. The meeting is adjourned!”

“Clap, clap, clap…”

The conference room erupted once more in thunderous applause that seemed to go on forever!