1928: The rise of giant merchants

"We're recruiting, we're recruiting, Ye's Construction Company is looking for temporary construction workers! We only need young and middle-aged workers, with a monthly salary of 20 yuan, including food and accommodation! Those with work experience can earn up to 50 yuan a month!"

"Rong's Textile Factory is recruiting female workers. Please listen to me clearly. We only want female workers. They must not be over 18 years old. Those with good looks and outstanding figures will be hired first!"

"Sell newspapers, sell newspapers. Yesterday, the second young master donated all the profits from the Winter Emperor performance to the Yip Charity Foundation in the name of the Meng Family Troupe, to be used for disaster relief in Shandong Province, Henan Province and other places! The total amount is as high as Sixty-eight thousand oceans! To predict the details, you can get all the general information with just one "Declaration"!"

"Ye's Black Cat Dance Hall is officially recruiting. We are only looking for dancers. The age limit is 16-28 years old. Those with good looks and experience in ballroom dancing. Those who live in the north and live in Shanghai. Those who are financially poor and whose families are in urgent need of money will be given priority. !”

Outside the bustling train station, you can see rows of recruitment booths.

Countless refugees from the north, carrying their families and carrying suitcases, curiously looked at the largest city in the Far East and headed towards these recruitment booths.

Most of them are helpless and penniless in Shanghai, and they urgently need a job to support their families. Otherwise, they cannot afford to rent a "pavilion" in the suburbs, so they can only sleep in alleys in the dead of night, risking being raped. There was a risk of being arrested by the Shanghai Police Department police, guerrillas everywhere, and sleeping on the streets.

In the eyes of many Shanghai business bosses, these tens of thousands of disaster victims are cheap labor with extremely high cost performance.

If ordinary factories and enterprises hire a local Shanghainese, their personal safety must be guaranteed and they must not be overly exploited or abused. If an accident occurs, they must pay a pension.

But if they are migrant workers from other places, only the cheapest salary can buy their lives!

The monthly salary of local workers ranges from 15 to 30 yuan, while the monthly salary of non-local workers is only 1 to 5 yuan, without food, drink and housing.

There are also gray industries of some gangs that will be transformed into various small factories, recruiting only beautiful female workers, and then luring them to a suburban base to undergo various inhumane torture and abuse. After taming them, they will be resold or sent to brothels. Flesh business.

Many of these female workers come from other places and have no relatives or connections in Shanghai. They are unable to protect their rights after being cheated, and in the end they can only become profit-making tools in the hands of various gangs.

Most of the recruitment booths are like this, but the victims have no choice. They can only take one step at a time, hoping not to encounter a shady boss and risk their lives.

Among all the recruitment booths, only those under the banner of Ye's are rare and clear. The prices are clearly marked and reasonable. There are long queues in front of several booths, which shows its popularity.

If you don't know what kind of company Ye's is, just ask someone casually, and people from the north will know that the boss of Ye's Investment Company, the Second Young Master of Shanghai Beach, is the founder and current president of Ye's Charitable Foundation. , is a truly great virtuous man whose reputation spreads from north to south.

Ye's Black Cat Dance Hall is a newly added recruitment booth, and as soon as it arrived, it occupied the best position that originally belonged to Rong's Textile Factory.

When many victims heard that this was a dance hall recruiting dancers, they suddenly lost interest, and not many were willing to try it.

After all, in their eyes, dancers are equal to prostitutes, low-class people who engage in skin and flesh business, and are not even as good as the lower class.

This era has not yet reached the time when poverty is laughed at but not prostitution. Not to mention prostitutes, actors, singers and actors are not very popular.

Although I am an ignorant street kid, I can also despise you, a woman who sings and makes jokes.

That's it.

The recruitment manager of Ye's Black Cat Dance Hall is Hua Mei. She is wearing a beautiful cheongsam. She is fanning her small round fan gently. There are several young girls standing beside her. She has attracted the attention of many people, but there is no one. People dare to come and apply for jobs.

The few who came occasionally were rejected because their conditions were too bad.

"Oh, if this keeps up, we won't be able to recruit anyone again today." Hua Mei looked sad. Since Fengming Building was planning to switch careers to a dance hall, many of the little sisters in the building still chose to leave quietly. They didn't believe that being a dancer would be better than More profitable now.

Even if it's the second young master, that won't work.

Ye Luo is also very tolerant. Those who want to leave can leave after paying the ransom. They will not force them to stay, nor will they restrict their lives like those unscrupulous brothels.

For those who are willing to stay, Ye Luo's Ye's Dance Company can send dance teachers to teach them ballroom dancing for free. Those who pass the dance can get a certificate to work, and those who fail can also receive an "N+1" compensation. Leave and find another way to make a living.

In fact, there are nearly a hundred foreign dancers from the United States, Russia, Japan, etc. in Ye's Dance Company. There are quite a lot of them, so there is no shortage of people.

But Ye Luo is very dedicated to Chinese dancers, so he is still recruiting workers vigorously.

Hua Mei took on this responsibility with confidence, but she didn't expect that even with the Second Young Master's golden signature, there were still only a handful of applicants.

She looked up at the big calendar hanging outside the train station not far away, which read September 5th.

The second young master said that he would try to open the first Black Cat Dance Hall before the end of September, but now, the dance hall has not yet filled up the number of dancers.

At this moment, a beautiful face blocked Hua Mei's sight.

"Well, um... Excuse me, are we hiring dancers here?" The girl who spoke was timid, but her voice was smooth and pleasant, without any local accent at all.

Hua Mei's eyes lit up, and she looked up at her and found that there were three girls accompanying her. All of them were pretty, with curvy figures, and their bodies looked like they had a background in dancing.

"yes"

"Little sisters, it's so ugly to be a dancer and hug others. Come here, brother, we are female workers in Rong's Textile Factory. We have high wages and good treatment. This is a good way out." A man with a wretched appearance and a sinister face The man suddenly came over and interrupted Hua Mei's words.

He is the person in charge of confession at Rongshi Textile Factory.

Since Ye's Black Cat Dance Hall took over his stall, it has been significantly more difficult for him to recruit people, but no one is interested in the Black Cat Dance Hall. In his eyes, it is an act of occupying a manhole and not doing anything.

The man believed that he had the support of the Rong family, and as long as he could recruit female workers, someone would help him deal with any subsequent troubles. So when he saw a few pretty girls looking for jobs, he took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

"Huh, Rong's Textile Factory? I heard that you are now cooperating with the Eight-gut Party, recruiting young and beautiful girls to work, and then tricking them into smoking cigarettes to control them into doing the flesh business!" Hua Mei said without mercy! Expose their true identity.

The man suddenly became anxious: "That bitch, where did this bitch come from? The Rong's Textile Factory is the property of the second young master of the Rong's. How could it cooperate with the dirty Eight-legged Party? You slander us like this, be careful Songhu The police from the National Police Agency came to our door.”

"Second Young Master Rong?" Hua Mei stretched out her hand to grab the signboard of the Black Cat Dance Hall and patted the word "Ye" on it, "Does anyone else dare to call themselves Second Young Master in front of our Second Young Master?"

"Ha, it's great to have Ye's name on it. The second young master has so many properties under his name, I don't remember any bitches."

"Keep your mouth clean before you speak."

A black pipe was shoved into the man's mouth.

Ma Yongzhen, who was wearing a police uniform, happened to lead a patrol to the recruitment booth. When he caught a glimpse of this scene, he immediately rushed up to teach this fool a lesson.

The man was still not convinced, and before the curse words came out of his mouth, the dark barrel of the gun shoved them back!

"Uuuuuuuuuuuu" He quickly waved his hands and begged for mercy.

Many people from the stalls around came to watch the fun, and there was endless laughter.

"Where does this 'rigidity' come from? You are trying to show off your authority to Miss Hua Mei. You are seeking death."

"The Rong's Textile Factory heard that female workers always disappear for no apparent reason. Isn't it really that they are cooperating with the Eight-Party Party?"

"Whether it's true or not, report it to the Second Young Master's security company today, and see if their stall is still there tomorrow, won't it be clear?"

"That's right, there is so much business here at the train station, why don't we all rely on the second young master to take care of it? This little red guy is cutting off our money, report him to death!"

The girl named Du Aimei was stunned for a moment, feeling as if she had found some great big shot.

"Xia Xiannong, Brother Xiaoma~ I will bring my brothers to Fengming Tower to play often when I have time in the future~"

Hua Mei winked at Ma Yongzhen, pursed her lips and chuckled.

She knew that Ma Yongzhen was Ye Luo's confidant and the captain of the Songhu Police Department. With him coming to the rescue, these Rong family members would not be able to make any splash.

Ma Yongzhen nodded, led the team and escorted the man away.

He has become taciturn now, but is very capable and practical. This is why Ye Luo is assured that he will go to the Songhu Police Department for training.

The introverted and fierce Ma Yongzhen in the memory will slowly appear.

After a few people left, Hua Mei continued to smile at the girls and said, "Come on, little sisters, fill in your names. My sister will take you to the company later."