1928: The rise of giant merchants

That afternoon, Ye Luo and Xiao Aqiao continued preparations for the opening day of the Black Cat Ballroom.

Xiao Aqiao originally thought that running a dance hall was not much different from Fengming Tower. It wasn't until she worked as Ye Luo's secretary for a few days that she realized that things were far from as simple as she imagined.

It is said to be a dance hall, but it feels like Ye Luo is running a brand new business.

After buying the Paris Hotel, Ye Luo first asked Zhang Yuanbei's construction team to renovate it. Each floor and even the top floor had its own purpose.

Later, Nia and her daughter were asked to lead a group of foreign dancers who were good at singing and dancing to teach Chinese women how to dance. They arranged food and accommodation for them, work certificates, and also set up rules and regulations for their work.

She looks more like a company employee than a dancer.

After the dance company's internal arrangements were in place, Ye Luo started the publicity work.

After Lu Xiaoman signed the contract today, Ye Luo inspected the practice of the dancers, and then led the two of them to the headquarters of Liangyou Pictorial without stopping.

Ma Guoliang, a professional photographer, had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Ye Luo and the others coming to the studio, he immediately started arranging filming work for Lu Xiaoman, who was wearing a black cat dance costume.

Under Ye Luo's guidance, the future photography master gradually learned various foreign photography techniques and became extremely proficient in following the photos of promotional models.

Lu Xiaoman was a little reluctant to let go at first, but soon, under Ye Luo's soft comfort, she gradually became bolder and started to make sexy and sultry movements. With her elegant dance clothes and lazy posture, Ma Guoliang couldn't help nodding.

"Xiao Man, you change into that black cheongsam and take another set of photos. Then Guoliang, you choose a few of the best ones and put them on the cover of the next issue of "Liangyou Pictorial". By the way, the front page advertising space will also be given to Black Cat Dance Hall." Ye Luo sat on a recliner and supervised their work.

Little Ah Qiao was dumbfounded. She felt that she still had a lot to learn. She felt frustrated and relieved at the same time.

"Second Young Master, we have chosen Miss Xuan Jinglin as the cover girl for the next issue of "Liangyou Pictorial". This..." Ma Guoliang looked embarrassed.

"Assign Xuan Jinglin to the next issue. Lu Xiaoman's photos will be included in the next issue, and a few more photos should be included in the pictorial content." Ye Luo adjusted the schedule directly with a wave of his hand.

Lu Xiaoman, who happened to take a break, was greatly shocked.

Nowadays, "Liangyou Pictorial" and "Beiyang Pictorial" are considered the two largest pictorial giants in China. The position of cover girl is generally reserved for popular movie stars and famous actresses. Xuan Jinglin played the cult witch queen in "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" She has become popular and has been in several movies recently. It is at the time when she is very popular that "Good Friends Pictorial" chose her as the cover girl. It makes sense.

It is impossible to get such an advertising space without spending thousands of dollars.

And with just one word, Ye Luo easily moved the position that originally belonged to Xuan Jinglin to Lu Xiaoman.

"I understand, Second Young Master, I'll talk to Boss Wu later." Seeing him speaking, Ma Guoliang dared not say no.

What makes him more embarrassed is that this position was obtained by the screenwriter Zheng Zhengqiu of Yip's Film Company. The senior management of Liangyou agreed to the matter. Now that there is a temporary replacement, everyone must be unhappy.

Of course, this group of people would never dare to take their anger out on Ye Luo. All the way down, he was the only one who was unlucky as a photographer.

Seeing Ma Guoliang's hesitation, Ye Luo asked curiously: "What's wrong, Guoliang, you don't have any friendship with Xuan Jinglin, do you?"

"How could it be!" Ma Guoliang waved his hand quickly, "Miss Xuan and I have only met a few times at work, just..."

"What is it?" Ye Luo asked.

Ma Guoliang told the truth about Xuan Jinglin.

Ye Luo smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay. If you ask me when the time comes, you will just say it was my intention. If anyone dares to vent his anger on you, just ask him to come to me."

Ma Guoliang is obsessed with photography and doesn't socialize much with other people. If such a lonely technical talent is not taken care of, it is easy for him to become frustrated in the company and leave sadly.

Ye Luo, who had witnessed several similar incidents in his previous life, was particularly concerned about this and winked at Xiao A'Qian, who understood.

The shooting lasted for two hours. It was the first time for Lu Xiaoman to take so many photos. I didn’t expect that just posing for photos would be so tiring!

She had a sore back and was panting to rest. Ye Luo came over with a smile and handed her a glass of water: "Xiaoman, how are your stomach problems and asthma?"

"Oh, don't mention it. Since I came to Shanghai, I always have relapses. It hurts me so much." Lu Xiaoman gets a headache when she mentions this. She is already frail and sick. After coming to Shanghai, she often stays up late to have fun. She doesn't pay attention to her health and work schedule, and her condition becomes worse. It's getting serious.

At this time, she had not had much contact with Weng Ruiwu and was looking for remedies to treat these diseases.

"I just acquired a pharmaceutical company. I'll help you find some good doctors in the future." Ye Luo looked at her with a smile, "You, it's still caused by irregular work and rest, please change this problem, otherwise you This body can’t afford my job.”

"Okay, okay, now I am a poor bonded worker, and you are the evil slave owner. I will do everything you want." Lu Xiaoman heard what he said would affect his work, and he immediately took it seriously.

Walking with Ye Luo today, she has fully seen the financial resources and strength of the second young master.

Based on their friendship, as long as Ye Luo doesn't change people, she can continue to work. This is a steady stream of high salary income.

"By the way, when did you acquire the pharmaceutical company? I haven't seen you for a few days, but you have changed again." Lu Xiaoman's eyes were full of envy and curiosity.

Ye Luo casually mentioned that the acquisition of a company might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This was money she could earn without eating or drinking for several years!

The same goes for her husband Xu Zhimo.

Although Xu Zhimo was already considered a rare high-income person during the Republic of China, he was dwarfed by Ye Luo.

"Let's talk while we walk. Let's go to the advertising company and customize some billboards for you." Ye Luo stood up and was about to take them to work at Ye's Advertising Company.

The three of them said goodbye to Ma Guoliang, and Ding Li drove the car without stopping to the Ye's Advertising Company in the county town.

In order to promote the Black Cat Dance Hall, Ye Luo had already asked Lin Zhenbin and Lu Meiseng to produce a large number of various dance hall advertisements. Glass window advertisements were placed in the four major department stores, and banners, street signs and other advertisements were erected in various free public parks. Inside.

The most important thing was the production of the first batch of dance tickets.

Ye Luo arranged for Lu Xiaoman to follow Lin Zhenbin to shoot the negatives needed for the billboard. At the same time, he asked Lu Meiseng to bring a large stack of printed dance tickets to review.

"Brother Luo, these dance tickets have anti-counterfeiting watermarks according to your wishes. This technology is not easy to master. Fortunately, we learned it in the United States. There should be very few people who can imitate it." Lu Meisheng cut off two pieces and handed them to Ye Luo and Xiao Aqiao looked proud, "Speaking of which, what is this thing used for?"

"Mei Monk, have you ever danced?" Ye Luo asked instead without answering directly.

Lu Meiseng scratched his head shyly: "I've only been there once or twice. It was Brother Lin who took me to see the world. Brother Luo, you also know that in the ballrooms of those big hotels, a dance costs three or four cents. You have to pay extra for tea and dance partners, so most people can’t afford it.”

"Yes, I've asked. Dancing for an hour at the Dahua Hotel will probably cost you two or three yuan." Ye Luo nodded, "How much is your monthly salary?"

"Now it's 120 yuan." Lu Meiseng looked satisfied when he mentioned the salary.

Without this income, he wouldn't even look at a dance hall.

"Two or three yuan is the most basic consumption. If you want to drink wine, invite good dancers, and give various tips. If you want to take it out, you even need to buy a 'walk-out clock.' If you want to have a good time, you have to spend the whole package. "Twenty or thirty oceans are not enough." Lu Meiseng added.

Seeing the familiar look on his face, Ye Luo knew that he must have been there frequently.

The words "I've been there once or twice" were probably because I was a little embarrassed and made an excuse because little Ah Qiao was there.

"At Thirty Ocean, you can buy a single annual ticket at Yip's World and watch the entire set of "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" at the best location in Yip's Guangming Cinema except for the box." Ye Luo said with a smile.

"You can also order a good red card girl at Fengming Tower and let her be willing to accompany you for a night." Xiao A pursed his lips and smiled, "Who would use it to find a dancer to dance with."

"Yes. So we all don't understand Brother Luo's idea of ​​starting a dance hall." Lu Meiseng said honestly.

This kind of entertainment for rich people has little to do with ordinary people.

"Look, the dance tickets I asked you to print are five or three in a book. The most expensive orange book costs five yuan a book, and the cheapest white book costs five cents a book." Ye Luo held it in his hand. It’s a blue book, it’s five cents a book, and there are three dance tickets, the denominations are two cents, two cents, and one cent respectively. “Look at this book in my hand. When the time comes, as long as the guest holds the dance ticket, he can invite us to the dance hall.” The dancers dance. Before each dance starts, the guests and the dancers agree on how many dance tickets to give, and the dancers come to the company every month to redeem cash with the dance tickets in their hands."

"When the Black Cat Dance Hall opens, guests only need to purchase dance tickets from our dance company to invite the company's dancers to dance, and tea costs will be 10 cents per person."

This rule is simple and easy to understand.

If you think about it carefully, you will soon feel the cleverness inside.

"In this way, the common phenomenon of arbitrary charging in dance halls will disappear." Lu Meiseng, a veteran driver, immediately clapped his hands and applauded.

All dance halls now have a system where guests buy bells and music in restaurants.

Or buy a clock directly. If the customer likes a certain dancer, he buys out a certain period of time and invites her to sit on the stage, chat or dance.

If a customer likes a certain dancer and wants to take her to other places for entertainment, he has to buy a "walk-out clock".

You can either buy songs directly. How much is a song? You can buy as many songs as you want, but after you enter the venue, you are not sure who you will dance with. Even if you don’t like the dancer opposite, you can’t get a refund.

The hotel's lavish packages resulted in a poor guest experience and extremely low income for the dancers.

In order to have a better experience, guests often can only spend expensive money to buy clocks. No matter how much they spend, how much the dancers can share depends on the face of the hotel manager.

This resulted in the customers spending too much, but the dancers' motivation was always low, and it became a chaos of private charges and separate transactions.

As soon as Ye Luo's dance tickets came out, these problems were solved.

Which dancer you like, just use the dance tickets in your hand to negotiate with her, and the dancers also use the dance tickets earned in their hands to share the accounts with the company, clearly.

As for the street clock, the system of buying a clock is still maintained, but compared with dance tickets, it is not as universal, and only individual guests will do this.

"For a small amount of tea money, the worst dancer may be able to dance with you for a one cent dance ticket! In this way, if you learn ballroom dancing, you don't have to worry about not being able to dance at all!"

Lu Meiseng instantly understood Ye Luo's true intention.

He wants to make money from the general public just like selling Chevrolet 490!

Dancing, in the eyes of the public, has always been a form of entertainment for the upper class.

Everyone is curious and eager to try it, but they just lack a platform and opportunity.

Now, Ye Luo has organized dance halls, dancers, and training sessions. It can be said that everything is ready and all he needs is the east wind!

"If you like this dancer very much, you can also buy her a dance with a copy. Flexible prices will naturally promote the growth of consumption." Ye Luo smiled faintly, "Of course, in order to prevent dancers from racking their brains to make money from customers, To obtain more dance tickets, we will also impose restrictions on our dancers. Top dancers, red dancers and ordinary dancers will be marked with costumes and nameplates to prevent them from taking advantage of troubled waters and deceiving customers."

"Orange, purple, blue, and white correspond to the four levels of the dance hall's top dancer, red dancer, senior dancer, and ordinary dancer."

"Brother Luo, you are really good at business!" Lu Meiseng gave a thumbs up, "I was thinking when I was making the billboard that you didn't seem to want to make the existing kind of dance hall this time. From the weird advertisements, Looking at these dance tickets and the complicated rules and regulations documents, I can vaguely see something, but I can't see it clearly. Now that you explain it, I understand! You need to popularize ballroom dancing!"

"Well, it's good if you can tell." Ye Luo nodded with a smile and looked at little Aqiao, "Baby, check these dance tickets. If there are no problems, take them all to the Ministry of Industry and Public Affairs Bureau and let them The Minister of Finance will stamp it and send it back, and then you can stamp it with the official seal of Ye's Dance Company and you can pre-sell the dance tickets."

Blessed by the official seals of the three major forces, plus an anti-counterfeiting watermark.

If there are still people who dare to take the risk to forge, Ye Luo doesn't mind inviting such a bold guy to the Huangpu River to drink everyone's foot-washing water.

"Yeah!" Xiao Aqiao nodded vigorously.

She had a premonition that once the dance ticket system was introduced, the Black Cat Dance Hall would sweep across Shanghai in an instant, destroying all the old dance halls.

"Mei Seng, you are also a veteran of the dance hall. Remember to promote me more when the time comes." Ye Luo patted Lu Meiseng on the shoulder and smiled at him.

Lu Meisheng waved his hands quickly and nodded: "Brother Luo, please don't ruin my reputation. I'm not a dance floor veteran! But don't worry, the publicity work will be in place!"

Seeing how his expression changed while talking about dancing, Ye Luo suddenly thought that dancing in dance halls for young men and women during this period would worsen their social reputation. It might even be better to go to a brothel, at least people would say you are not secretive.

"We have to find someone to solve this problem." Ye Luo thought thoughtfully.