Rebirth: The Ascent of a Socialite-Chapter 579 - 234: Qiao Chu’s Diary
Before leaving New York, Su Ziceng and Lin Ying went their separate ways for a while. Lin Ying said she was going to visit an old friend, while Su Ziceng took this opportunity to check out a few Espr stores.
Director Jim agreed to the invitation to Country Z, but he was clearly distrustful of the two of them, so he did not reveal the specific business situation of Espr. Su Ziceng had no clear idea either, so she found an Espr store in a bustling area of the New York Queens District. Judging from its location and interior decoration, it was much more upscale than ZARA, but most of the store’s staff were middle-aged, and unlike ZARA, which played light, brisk music, the atmosphere in the Espr store was dead, and the styles on the shelves were mostly outdated.
After chatting with a friendly-looking Chinese sales advisor in the store, Su Ziceng found out that their salaries were more than half less than ZARA’s, and their salaries were not linked to sales. Staff turnover at Espr was high, with few young people staying long; every other month, the staff would be replaced. Everyone was ignorant about the history and characteristics of Espr’s clothing. Given the prime location rent plus such a staff team and the old styles on the racks, it was no wonder the clothes were hard to sell.
After learning the general situation, Su Ziceng was about to leave when the Chinese sales advisor stopped him, "You are... Ziceng, right?" Su Ziceng was startled to hear his name called by a stranger in a foreign land. The sales advisor he had casually chatted with was in his forties, with a typical Eastern face, brown eyes, and a slightly flat nose. Su Ziceng had little impression of his face.
"I am Qiao Zhizhi, you should call me Aunt," Qiao Zhizhi was Su Ziceng’s cousin’s aunt, Qiao Chu’s cousin, "I really didn’t expect you to have grown up so much."
Su Ziceng and Qiao Chu looked very similar, especially their smiles. Previously, when Qiao Zhizhi was chatted up by Su Ziceng, she felt that her behavior and contours were very similar to Qiao Chu’s. When she was about to leave, she thanked and said goodbye friendly, and her smiling expression made Qiao Zhizhi sure that she was Su Ziceng.
"Aunt?" Su Ziceng never thought that by randomly entering an Espr store on the streets of New York, she would run into Qiao Family who had immigrated to North America. Holding her hand, an excited Qiao Zhizhi gave Su Ziceng an indescribable feeling. After sending off Red Love, she thought she would never have the chance to interact with anyone related to Qiao Chu again.
Qiao Zhizhi quickly took leave and took Su Ziceng to her residence in the Queens District, talking all the way about the fun stories she and Qiao Chu had as children, "I can give you some of Cousin Qiao’s photos, and some things she left behind." Qiao Zhizhi lived with Qiao Chu until she was sixteen, and they were only two or three years apart, so they were close friends. When she was sixteen, Qiao Zhizhi’s family immigrated abroad, but she kept in contact with Qiao Chu through letters.
"Cousin Aunt, do you know where Uncle Zhi’an is?" The last time Qiao Zhi’an left Mo City without explanation, he said he had immigrated to North America, and if possible, Su Ziceng would like to see him too.
"Big Brother... he has passed away," Qiao Zhizhi said with a sad smile; the meeting with Su Ziceng brought her great joy, but the decline of the Qiao Family over the years and the death of her long-unseen eldest brother had grayed this worldly woman’s temples prematurely.
The Qiao Family’s immigration was funded by the limited savings of Qiao Zhizhi’s father. After arriving in the United States, the Qiao Family still maintained the old-fashioned scholarly style, avoiding hard work, and when Qiao Zhizhi’s father passed away, their savings were almost depleted. Qiao Zhi’an, the eldest son of the Qiao Family, always refused to come to the United States, and the few children in the family just split the last bit of the family property at random.
More than a decade later, by the time Qiao Zhi’an was forced to come to the United States, the Qiao Family was already depleted.
Just hearing about it, Su Ziceng could not fully understand the dramatic changes in the life of the Qiao Family over the years. When Su Ziceng arrived at Qiao Zhizhi’s residence in Chinatown and saw the dilapidated bungalow, and in January, due to the inability to pay the electric bill, the house with no heating, she already understood the dire situation of the Qiao Family’s life in America.
