1928: The rise of giant merchants

October 6, the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928).

Just three days ago, the Central Conference of the Jinling National Government passed and announced the "Political Training Program". On the same day, the principal and other senior officials also formulated and passed the Five-Campus Government Organization Law.

The so-called five-camera system refers to the Jinling National Government consisting of five chambers: the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan, and the Supervisory Yuan.

The implementation of this system also means that the period of political training has truly arrived.

In addition, the graduate school system founded by Mr. Cai Yuanpei on October 1 last year has also completed a new handover. After more than a year of hard work, Cai Yuanpei was unable to achieve results due to factors such as strong opposition, excessive funding, and inconsistent powers. My husband had to resign as the dean today, and Jiang Menglin took over the post.

The so-called graduate school system is to imitate the French graduate school. Its ideal is to use graduate schools and university districts (the country is divided into several university districts) to abolish the Department of Education. Educational administration work.

To put it bluntly, this group of senior intellectuals and scholars believe that the Ministry of Education of the current National Government is extremely corrupt, and the people who coordinate education are incompetent themselves. They are just appointed by senior officials. In their eyes, they are typical lay leaders. expert.

Therefore, they proposed that universities should be split and merged to form a university district instead of an isolated university, and then the Ministry of Education should be abolished and replaced by a university.

Ye Luo felt that the ideas and original intentions of this group of literati were good, but unfortunately the system did not match the domestic situation and was destined to fail.

But at least such a move has indeed solved the corruption problem in the education sector to a certain extent.

For example, Qin Tongli's father, Qin Dunshi, was fired from the position of deputy minister of education because he was not a well-known scholar and no university district wanted him. He was even removed from the university and transferred to the agriculture and forestry department.

A large number of officials from the Ministry of Education were scattered, which also affected many wealthy families and caused certain turmoil in Shanghai's structure and business community.

Unfortunately, on October 24, the university was abolished, all reform systems were cancelled, and the Ministry of Education and the old education system were restored.

At this point, more than a year's reform of the graduate school has declared a complete failure.

But those Ministry of Education officials who were evacuated were unable to come back, which is a good thing.

Along with the drastic changes in the political situation, Shanghai's business community has also stirred up one wave after another.

At noon, Ye Luo listened to the news of the principal's appointment coming from the crystal radio. Before he could wash up, he heard Xiaoli's footsteps in a hurry.

Little Ah Qiao, who was dazed on the big bed, yawned and retracted her little head into the quilt. However, another exclamation came from the quilt. It was Bai Xiuzhu who came to play mahjong last night!

They played mahjong all night last night. Bai Xiuzhu got more and more angry the more she lost, and the more she became more and more angry, the more she wanted to play. The game lasted until three or four o'clock in the morning. Ye Qingqing couldn't bear it anymore, so she overturned the game and went back to her room to sleep.

After the poker game ended, Bai Xiuzhu realized that it was almost dawn. At this moment, she was too embarrassed to ask Ding Li and the others to send her back to Bai Mansion, so she slept with little Aqiao.

Ye Luo, who came back from No. 32 Xiafei Road to catch up on his sleep at six o'clock in the morning, was in a daze. He got into the bed and rubbed his hands for a long time. He always felt that he was a little smaller, but also a lot softer. Only then did he realize that it was Bai Bai who had also slept in a daze. Xiuzhu.

In this way, the confused trio didn't wake up until around 12 noon.

“Second Young Master, big things don’t happen!!!”

Xiaoli who rushed into the room was gagged by Ye Luo.

Ye Luo pointed to Xiao Aqiao and Bai Xiuzhu who were lying messily on the bed, and motioned for her to go out and speak in a low voice.

Xiaoli was greatly shocked, but she still exited the room obediently.

Ye Luo came outside the room, carefully closed the door, and glared at her angrily: "Tell me, every day is so chaotic, if you continue like this, I will give you away tomorrow!"

"I'm not leaving!" Xiaoli pouted, spread out the newspaper in her hand, and tiptoed to bring it to Ye Luo, "Look at the news, Second Young Master! Many people are scolding our dance hall!"

"Chen Zhengde? Why is this a first-level troll? Who else? Pan Shoulian, Yan Xiu, Wang Luyuan, good guys, our dance club business in Shanghai is in conflict, and their literati from the Beijing and Tianjin areas are also getting involved? Is this for fear that The world is not in chaos."

Ye Luo read the newspaper, angry and laughing.

Pan Shoulian and others are literary celebrities in the Beijing-Tianjin area. They recently learned that a Black Cat Dance Hall had opened in Shanghai, so they jointly sent a letter to the Public Affairs Bureau and the Ministry of Industry Bureau of the French Concession and the Public Concession, requesting them to transfer this Chinese-owned restaurant Dance halls were banned and the clean water on the beach was restored.

This group of people blasted Ye Luo's Black Cat Dance Hall in major newspapers across the country, saying that he would do whatever it takes to make money, turning a dance that was clearly used for socializing into a brothel-like dance hall!

". Men and women dancing together, with their faces hugging each other, their hands holding each other's legs, and their legs holding each other's legs, is really immoral! Ye Luo, the scum of the business world! In my opinion, this Ye Luo and Zhang Jingsheng, who advocates openness in sex, sing the song of Mao Yu Li Jinhui and Liu Haisu, who clamored to be naked, are all the same kind of people. They disregard everything for selfish desires and ignore morality and human ethics. This is really a shame for the Chinese business community."

"The east is a piece of meat, the west is also a piece of meat, here is a powdered arm, there is a powdered thigh! There are also blood-stained mouths one after another, and there is a strange smell of drunkenness. Smells. Dance halls and dance halls are nothing but a place where worldly mediocrity and delinquent women are entangled in their bodies and seek endless pleasure!"

Ye Luo read the article of the troll Chen Zhengde word by word. I have to say that this troll's writing skills are not bad. According to his previous behavior, he should have received small money from the conservatives and Manchu relics, and then started The rants continued, but he was the initiator, and he led countless literati and scholars behind him.

What’s interesting is that this group of people are obsessed with Ye Luo’s Black Cat Dance Hall, and their attack points are also on popularizing ballroom dancing to the public and recruiting a large number of Chinese women as dancers.

However, no one mentioned the Paramount, which opened at the same time, and now has very little business, and the huge ballroom is often empty.

The targets of these people's attacks are very clear and their purpose is very strong.

It just wants to attract the attention of public opinion in large quantities through newspapers, magazines and other media. If the matter gets bigger and bigger, then the National Government cannot sit idly by and ignore it. Once legislative interrogation or strict investigation is carried out, the dance hall business that has just started to gain momentum will It has plummeted and is unsustainable.

For this reason, they dedicated a large section in the Republic of China Daily to discuss the issue of dancing girls.

In these articles, dancers are called "good-waist girls" and "fairies on the volcano." The "good-waist girls" mean that they sell their slender waists for people to hug; and the so-called "volcano" refers to the fiery dance hall and the dancing girls. The meaning behind her words is self-evident.

In addition, they also collected a lot of messy cases, all related to the private lives of the dancers. And these private lives are often linked to suicide, love murder, theft, and family disputes, etc., which are intended to portray the dancer as an unseemly image!

"These guys not only want to cut off my wealth, but also cut off the livelihood of the girls." Ye Luo's smile became weaker and weaker as he looked at them, feeling that these literati really stood up and talked without pain.

In his Black Cat Ballroom, the main sources of dancers are:

1. The girls who changed careers in Fengming Tower.

Second, the waitress in the teahouse and restaurant.

3. Those who are frustrated in love or in the film industry.

Fourth, girls from poor families.

Five, a Japanese and Russian foreign woman living in Shanghai worrying about her livelihood.

If these dancers were not from poor families and lived in poverty, how could they be willing to work in such a sex industry?

I am already very unfortunate, but you still want to suppress, ridicule and despise me to death. You really take the moral high ground and start ruthless moral kidnapping.

"Even if you have no food to eat, you should ensure your innocence and chastity. You should not fall into a romantic place like the Black Cat Ballroom and sell your body in exchange for money and popularity." Ye Luo read Chen Zhengde's words word by word and smiled coldly. He crumpled the newspaper into a ball and threw it into the trash can.

"Xiao Li, go and arrange a car for me now. I have to go to the Consulate General of the French Concession to meet with Consul General Verdi immediately." Ye Luo glanced at the closed door of the room, and finally chose not to wake up Xiao Aqiao, but let Xiao Qiao Li took the opportunity to call Hua Mei and Nia's mother and daughter and asked them to follow them to the consulate.

Seeing a hint of anger on Ye Luo's face, Xiaoli didn't dare to neglect and hurriedly ran to the living room to make a phone call.

Bi Yunxia, ​​who was busy in the kitchen, saw that Ye Luo was about to go out in a hurry, so she quickly brought the prepared bread, sausages and a glass of milk: "Second Young Master, are you going out so soon? Let's eat something to cushion your stomach first."

"Mom, thank you!" Ye Luo's stomach growled with hunger, he grabbed the bread and stuffed it into his mouth.

Seeing him holding a briefcase in one hand and grabbing bread in the other, eating until his cheeks were bulging, Bi Yunxia pursed her lips and chuckled, quickly picked up the hot milk, stood on tiptoes and fed it to him.

"Eat slowly~ Be careful if you choke." Bi Yunxia finished feeding him and patted his back gently, with a worried look on her face, "Is it something about the dance hall?"

"Mom, do you also know?" Ye Luo was stunned for a moment, nodded slightly, and said seriously, "Yes, this matter is getting bigger and bigger. These literati are afraid that the world will not be in chaos, so I have to solve it quickly to avoid it really affecting the world." Business. By the way, how do you feel about the Ford V8 I asked Ali to give you?"

"How can I find such a good car? I don't go out much." Bi Yunxia's cheeks were slightly red, she shook her head and nodded again with a bright smile, "On the contrary, Old Qingqing said that I would give my sister a second-hand car. Buying a luxury car for my little mom is too partial!"

"Ignore that girl. If I buy her a new car, she will think it's not good enough. Anyway, you like it, mom. I'm going out first. I might not come back for dinner, so don't prepare my share."

Ye Luo wiped the milk from the corner of his mouth, waved to her, and walked out the door.

Bi Yunxia looked at his back, stunned.

In fact, she had never driven the brand-new Ford V8 once.

Not willing to open it, not willing to let Ye Qingqing touch it blindly.

I still remember that when Ye Luo was temporarily short of funds in order to convert more funds into U.S. dollars, she secretly sold the Chevrolet 490 she originally bought, and sent all her private money to Ye Luo for emergency relief.

Ye Luo always remembered it and promised to give her a new car when things got better.

Seeing that Ye Luo's business is getting bigger and bigger, including car dealerships, advertising companies, radio factories, illustrated newspapers, movie theaters, film companies, etc., I thought he had forgotten this matter long ago.

I didn't expect that he would always remember it.

Ye Luo left without knowing what was going on in Bi Yunxia's heart. He was now thinking about how to fight back against those idle literati, and by the way, punish the super troll Chen Zhengde.

Ding Li was going to report to the Nitrate Mine Management Bureau in the next few days, so he cherished the last days with the second young master and stayed by the car early in the morning.

Shi Jianqiao has become a lot more stable recently. He came out of the Jingwu Sports Club and followed them towards the Consulate General.

In the car, the three of them talked about the dance hall business again.

"Second Young Master, I have observed it. These reports were specially released today. They chose the day when the principal took office to cause trouble. They clearly want to kill us." Ding Li tightened his grip on the steering wheel and wanted to pull out his gun and kill the group. Shoot all the trolls to death, "Yongzhen also told me that the Songhu Police Department intends to rectify the dance hall business, and we cannot let the chaos in Shanghai affect the major events in Jinling in the past few months."

"What other big things will happen after taking office?" Shi Jianqiao couldn't help but ask.

Ye Luo glanced at her and said calmly: "The north has changed its flag. The Sixth Commander has just returned to the north. After taking office, the principal will definitely make frantic phone calls to urge us to complete the nominal unification this year. At this moment, you think that in society, if Do you think Jinling will sit idly by and ignore the turmoil in the dance hall that is happening every day?"

"The people in Paramount are too despicable! If you can't do business with us, why are you playing dirty tricks?" Ding Li couldn't help complaining, "I heard that Huo Tianhong went north alone a few days ago to meet friends in the Beijing and Tianjin areas for a party. I think the party is It’s fake, it’s disgusting to discuss, Second Young Master, you are real.”

"This is also part of the business." Ye Luo has calmed down.

Lu Yusheng, a fool like him, was cheated out of 4 million yuan to buy Dahua Hotel, and also attracted a large group of celebrities to invest in Paramount. If Paramount fails to recover, not only will these people lose blood, but Yongxing Company will also suffer huge losses.

Whether it is personal competitiveness or company interests, Lu Yusheng will not allow himself to fail.

However, this week's business conditions have already foreshadowed the outcome.

Paramount is worthy of being the number one music center in the Far East. It has achieved everything Lu Yusheng wanted.

It can be said that the money was not wasted.

However, the desires and spending power of the upper class are not as strong as he imagined.

In other words, Paramount’s per-capita dividend and bring-your-own-dance-partner models in order to quickly recover costs and profits completely ruined it.

Within a week, Paramount's business dropped off a cliff, and many of its customers secretly went to the Black Cat Dance Hall to spend money.

Today's sudden pressure from public opinion shows one thing -

Lu Yusheng was really anxious.

He would rather kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred to himself than make Ye Luo feel better.

Since you don’t want me to have an easy time, then you don’t want to have an easy time either. Ye Luo thought so and cast his gaze towards the French Consulate General in Shanghai not far away.