Chapter 15: Win-Win Usually Means Winning Twice
Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Win-Win Usually Means Winning Twice
The handsome older manager had his own considerations. Besides having absolute confidence in his skills, aesthetics, and understanding of trends, he was also a very meticulous person.
The young man before him was wearing a bracelet worth over a hundred thousand yuan and was dressed head-to-toe in designer brands. He most likely wasn’t some lowlife looking for trouble or trying to cut and dash. Besides, even if he really had encountered a rare weirdo, it would just be a waste of a little time. Compared to a tenfold return, this was a deal worth making.
The handsome manager mentally reviewed all the information regarding Zhang Yan’s head shape and hair texture one last time before asking confidently, "Tell me what you’re thinking."
"Make it handsome."
"You got it."
Although he agreed readily, the manager didn’t start immediately. Instead, he struck up a conversation with Zhang Yan.
"Are you a college student, young man?"
"Just graduated."
"Looking for a job? I hear it’s quite tough for college graduates to find employment these days."
"I was going to interviews, but my family suddenly told me that I’m actually a super-rich heir. Now that I’ve inherited the family fortune, I spend every day figuring out how to spend my three million yuan allowance."
PFFT.
From Fu Hang’s direction came a barely suppressed snort of laughter. He made a token effort to cover it up. "Stylist Mr. Yifei, you tell great jokes."
The stylist named Yifei had also been struggling to hold back his laughter. He played along with a chuckle, "I just have a humorous way of speaking."
It was no wonder the two of them thought Zhang Yan had watched too many internet comedy sketches and was just reciting a meme. There was a famous internet rumor about a notorious billionaire’s son who didn’t know his family was rich until he was sixteen, only finding out he was a second-generation tycoon after running to ask his father. That meme had swept the internet ever since and never really died down.
The biggest daily dream for generation after generation of young people was for their parents to run over one day and say, "Son, I’m sorry for keeping it from you for so long, but our family is actually worth billions!" Coupled with Zhang Yan’s claim of figuring out how to spend his three million yuan allowance, it practically confirmed that he was just joking around. Three million yuan as pocket money, and he *had* to spend it? What kind of family was that? Did he think he was the heir to the richest man in Meng City?
Behind Zhang Yan, the handsome manager thought this young man was quite interesting. Having read countless people, he could still tell whether a statement was a joke or not. The confidence and nonchalance in his tone were not something an ordinary recent college graduate could possess.
"Alright, I’ll start cutting now."
Chatting with customers was never a futile effort. First, it relieved the customer’s nervousness, improved their comfort, and built rapport to retain them as regular clients. Second, and most importantly, it quickly formed a profile of the customer. What was their personality, status, profession, environment, and daily lifestyle?
This was especially true for customers with vague requests. They often just said, "Whatever," "Do what looks best," or "Free style it," but a hairstylist had to consider much more. The quickly formed profile became crucial at that moment. Relying on it, the stylist could choose the most suitable haircut for the present. A college student facing frequent job interviews, an already employed graduate, a college student currently in a relationship... for every status and every phase of life, the hairstyle that suited them best was different.
The ability to accurately integrate these seemingly abstract concepts into one’s work was the insurmountable gap between a master and an ordinary stylist. And this handsome manager was clearly on the master’s side of that gap.
SNIP SNIP SNIP.
Strands of hair fell away. Before this, to find a job, Zhang Yan hadn’t dared to get a trendy haircut and had let his hair grow out for a long time without cutting it. He had figured that if a company required a more formal look, he would have room to work with it. Now, however, this actually worked in the handsome manager’s favor. The manager rarely used electric clippers, relying almost entirely on a pair of scissors from start to finish. His cutting technique was effortlessly elegant, fully displaying his master-class craftsmanship.
Over on Fu Hang’s side, he was just getting a trim, so he finished very quickly. Seeing that Zhang Yan wouldn’t be done anytime soon, he rejoiced, thinking this was the perfect time to pull a fast one. He would let Zhang Yan waste his energy trying to scam a free master-class haircut while he took the opportunity to go outside and have a nice, long chat with Chi Xinyue.
Zhang Yan naturally saw Fu Hang rushing outside, but he didn’t panic in the slightest. He figured that if Chi Xinyue was the kind of girl who was easily swayed, then there was no need to invest too much effort into her anyway. Although the saying went "don’t miss out on the bad girls," there were different ways to pursue a bad girl, and his approach would have to be completely different if that were the case.
SNIP SNIP SNIP.
Zhang Yan’s new hairstyle soon took shape. Often, many barbers weren’t incapable of being fast; they just wanted the customer to feel they were getting their money’s worth, forcibly dragging a fifteen-minute job out to thirty minutes. However, this was understandable. In reality, many people judged a service by how long it took rather than the final result.
The most obvious example was everyday videos of locksmiths. When a master picked a lock in mere seconds, people would feel that the money was earned too easily. As a result, they would find all sorts of faults, underpay, or haggle over the price, making it incredibly annoying. Therefore, stalling was just a necessary survival tactic.
But the handsome manager had clearly long passed the stage of worrying about such nonsense. His skills were already recognized, allowing him the freedom to live according to his own will, within reason. Thus, in less than twenty minutes, Zhang Yan’s 1,888-yuan haircut was finished.
"I’ll just give you a temporary styling for now. A permanent perm is a time-consuming technical job. If you’re interested later, you can just find anyone in the shop to do it for you. Of course, that’ll cost extra."
Zhang Yan looked at his hairstyle in the mirror and was very satisfied. Overall, it was parted on the side with a three-to-seven ratio, but the layered texture was cut exceptionally well. Even without a perm, it looked incredibly stylish—much like a model on a magazine cover.
"Your hair texture is pretty good, and it has great elasticity. In fact, you can just casually style it yourself every day and it’ll hold up well. Young man, see if you’re satisfied with it."
"It’s great. I’m very satisfied."
Zhang Yan agreed readily because Brother Tongzi had already given an evaluation that perfectly matched his own perception.
[Appearance Score (90/100): Earned Progress Rate 36%]
[Aura Score (71/100): Earned Progress Rate 28.4%]
And the final progress of his task had now reached 99.6%! Not only that, according to Brother Tongzi’s rules, his expenses for this haircut could be reimbursed at 200%!
The manager was certainly making a huge profit, earning 18,880 yuan just for cutting hair. But after deducting expenses, Zhang Yan also earned 18,880 yuan, and he got a highly satisfactory haircut to boot. Therefore, Zhang Yan was the ultimate win-win player—he was winning twice!
Furthermore, as long as Zhang Yan improved any of the three categories by just one more point, he could complete this branch of the main quest and receive the reward promised by Brother Tongzi.
So, of course Zhang Yan was incredibly satisfied with this haircut. He stood up and gave the handsome manager a friendly smile.
"Let’s go pay. Ten times the price, as agreed. Your skills are well worth this amount."