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Chapter 117: Chapter 117: Not very old, but quite pretentious
The Thorn Birds??
Hu Yun’s eyes lit up when she heard this.
The Thorn Birds is a personal brand founded two years ago by Mrs. Qiangwei, focusing on original clothing and jewelry lines.
Among them, the clothing is divided into affordable and high-end lines.
The affordable line is priced for the general public, with a set of clothes costing just a few hundred dollars; the high-end line is only available in top-end malls in Beijing and Jiang City, where clothes and jewelry can cost hundreds of thousands to millions, generally affordable only to wealthy families and celebrities.
Mrs. Qiangwei’s name is known to everyone in the domestic fashion circle.
Five years ago, she made a stunning debut in a world-class fashion design competition, where her "Born of Fire" themed clothing and jewelry scored overwhelmingly higher than the other contestants, making her the first independent designer from China to win the event.
However, Mrs. Qiangwei herself has always been very mysterious, whether it be presenting her competition pieces and concepts or giving her acceptance speech after winning; she always had her assistant handle it, which sparked global speculation and discussion about her.
After that competition, Mrs. Qiangwei continued to participate in the next two years. Shockingly, she managed to win the championship three consecutive years, making her world-famous.
In the fourth year, Mrs. Qiangwei did not participate again but returned to China to announce the establishment of The Thorn Birds brand.
This let the designers from other countries who came to compete breathe a sigh of relief; otherwise, the pressure would have been immense.
As the first time a designer of such high calibre appeared from China, Mrs. Qiangwei’s The Thorn Birds brand was immediately met with national fervor upon release.
The affordable line sold out as soon as it was launched, and the clothing and jewelry from the high-end line became the fiercely contested items amongst the ladies and misses of wealthy circles.
Since then, every new design released by Mrs. Qiangwei created a buzz in the circle.
Unfortunately, a year ago Mrs. Qiangwei announced her retreat, and many of her personally designed pieces from the high-end line of The Thorn Birds became limited editions, thus their prices soared.
Even so, many people bought them as collectables.
For example, the Deep Sea Mermaid dress which Gu Zhi once lent to Lu Sheng to wear to the Fu Family’s banquet was one of the limited designs by Mrs. Qiangwei that Gu Zhi purchased for eight million for his collection.
So, Hu Yun was thrilled when she heard Lu Qianrou say they were going to The Thorn Birds to find someone to design and urgently make waitress uniforms.
Although The Thorn Birds is now managed by Mrs. Qiangwei’s assistant, the brand value has not diminished. Bespoke clothing is particularly valuable, with a single uniform set costing at least hundreds of thousands.
She had never worn such expensive clothes before.
It seems that Lu Qianrou is really seeing this through, spending heavily in order to win first place in the school anniversary celebrations.
—
While Lu Qianrou and the others were discussing how to overtake Lu Sheng and his team in the classroom, Lu Sheng was casually shopping in Jiang City’s top-end mall with the girl she had rescued yesterday.
Initially, after school, Li Muchen wanted Chen An to pick her up for dinner, but since Lu Sheng had things to handle, she asked Li Muchen to come to the Lu Family’s place tonight.
Speaking of which, it’s been a while since Lu Sheng reincarnated into this body.
Aside from that day when Lu Youye took her shopping for clothes, she hadn’t really shopped for anything herself.
Today was a good opportunity to buy some regular clothes for the girl, and she was in a good mood, so the two started shopping around in the mall.
"Juanjuan, do you like any particular brand style?" Lu Sheng turned and asked.
The girl they had rescued couldn’t remember her name, so Lu Sheng suggested that since she had curly hair, they could simply call her Juanjuan for now.
The girl looked a bit younger than Lu Sheng, probably around fifteen or sixteen years old, so Lu Sheng let her call herself ’sister’.
Juanjuan had dark golden curly hair draped softly over her shoulders, her skin pale and delicate. With a small face and delicate features, she looked like a pretty doll at a glance.
Even though she was wearing a T-shirt and shorts that Lu Sheng randomly bought from a takeout app for a few dollars, she still looked very pretty.
Moreover, speaking softly and politely, she was really well-behaved and likable, making Lu Sheng feel very protective.
Who wouldn’t like such a doll-like cutie?
Hearing this, Juanjuan hesitated for a moment, a bit shyly said, "I..."
Lu Sheng could tell that Juanjuan was hesitating and immediately said, "Don’t worry, Juanjuan, sister has plenty of money."
"Feel free to mention whichever brand’s style you like; there’s no need to feel burdened."
She really was wealthy and bold.
Although she hadn’t used the money in Bai Qiang’s account yet because she was afraid that the Demon Hunter would track her down through her spending records, she still had several million in hand.
Besides, if she ever ran short of money, she could easily make some by selling a few pills.
In both her past and present life, she never worried about money.
"...Alright then," as if making up her mind, Juanjuan pointed and said, "Sister, I like the clothes in that store, I think they are very pretty."
Lu Sheng followed the direction Juanjuan was pointing to and saw it was The Thorn Birds.
It was just the budget line, where the clothes are around $300 and of medium quality.
Lu Sheng couldn’t help but chuckle.
Juanjuan really did have a good eye, and they got along well.
"Okay, then let’s pick out clothes from that brand," said Lu Sheng.
"However, the styles in this store are quite ordinary. Let’s go upstairs; that store has a wider and prettier selection of clothes."
"Mm! I’ll listen to sister," Juanjuan obediently nodded.
The store upstairs was the high-end line of The Thorn Birds.
From the outside, the store’s decor was extremely luxurious, exuding a subtle yet opulent atmosphere.
Ordinary people would be deterred just by the look of the store décor.
After all, from the outside, you can tell how expensive the items inside are, who would dare to browse casually.
The storefront was adorned with embedded glass showcases, displaying several exclusive gowns designed by Mrs. Qiangwei, serving as the store’s treasures.
Mrs. Qiangwei never stuck to one fixed style. Her designed gowns were as dazzling and elegant as the Deep Sea Mermaid or as fiery and splendid as roses blooming at night.
Each dress had a strong personal character—whether retro, elegant, or magnificent, but all stunning enough to take one’s breath away, no woman could resist.
So, Juanjuan couldn’t take her eyes off them.
"Wow... Sister, these dresses are so beautiful," Juanjuan couldn’t help but exclaim.
Lu Sheng chuckled, "Indeed, but these are evening dresses, not suitable for everyday wear, so it’s not practical to buy them."
"Yes," Juanjuan nodded.
Outside the shop, there were poles and ribbons making up a barrier, with two sales associates guarding the entrance.
This was mainly to ensure that no more than three customers were being served in the store at any time, as it would affect the shopping experience otherwise.
The display cabinet was not far from the door, so the sales associates heard everything Lu Sheng and Juanjuan were discussing just now.
Hearing this, the sales associates looked at their clothes, then rolled their eyes with a speechless expression.
They exchanged a look, giving each other a knowing glance.
These two young ladies, one in a tattered school uniform and the other in a set of shabby T-shirt and shorts that together wouldn’t total more than sixty bucks, were actually discussing clothes here.
Any dress in the showcase was priced over $300,000; their entire outfits probably didn’t even add up to $300.
Talking about "evening dresses not being practical for everyday wear, buying them is not practical"—they were young, but quite pretentious.
The sales associates thought Lu Sheng and her company were just bluffing, but to their surprise, after looking at the dresses, they started walking toward the store entrance.
One of the sales associates didn’t even think before stopping Lu Sheng, the contempt and disdain in her eyes not even masked: "Wait, you cannot go in!"
