1928: The rise of giant merchants

September 10, the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928).

French Concession, Gulangyu Road, formerly the Paris Hotel, is now the Black Cat Dance Hall of Yip's Dance Company.

The entire Paris Hotel has now been transformed into a modern building integrating a ballroom and an office building. The first and second floors are ballrooms, the third floor is the office area, and the fourth and top floors are where the dancers usually rest, eat and train.

Lu Xiaoman, who was all dressed up, twisted her waist, carried a small bag, stepped on a pair of black high heels, and walked to the third floor of the ballroom, where the Ye's Dance Company's office area is.

General Manager's Office.

Lu Xiaoman gently knocked on the door with his bare hands: "Aluo, I'm here to sign the contract~"

"Xiaoman? Please come in!"

Ye Luo's voice came from inside.

She pushed the door open and walked in. She saw that the office was very neat and clean. Ye Luo and Xiao Aqiao were whispering to each other, as if they were discussing something.

Seeing Lu Xiaoman coming, Ye Luo quickly stood up and said, "Please sit down, please sit down. Why don't you call me first? Then I can arrange for Ali to pick you up."

"Oh, how dare I bother such a busy person like you." Lu Xiaoman took the coffee from Xiao Aqiao and smiled sweetly, "Thank you, eldest sister."

"You're welcome, Sister Xiaoman~ We will be colleagues from now on, just call me Xiao Aqiao." Xiao Aqiao also smiled back.

"Let's stop being polite. After signing the contract for Xiaoman, we just happened to take her to see the dancers' training and our new dance uniforms." Ye Luo geared up and was eager to give it a try.

He is very concerned about the dance hall business. Others think that it is because Yongxing Company spent 4 million oceans to snatch the Dahua Hotel from him not long ago, which made him lose face, so Ye Luo must regain his reputation.

In fact, Ye Luo was looking forward to the end of the year and rushed to accumulate capital, hoping to make a fortune in the U.S. stock market through Ye's United Industries.

If the Chinese want to make money in the United States, they need social status, a large amount of capital, and strong enough protective power.

In order to cope with the economic crisis sweeping the world next year, it is time for Yeluo to start making preparations.

Of course, these are only detailed plans that exist in Ye Luo's mind and have not been disclosed to anyone.

Therefore, in the eyes of others, Ye Luo's recent sudden high-spirited and obsessed with business must have been stimulated by Lu Yusheng, and he was about to fight back.

Xiao Aqiao took out the contract that Ye Luo had already drawn up from the cabinet and laid it out in front of Lu Xiaoman.

Ye Luo explained everything to Lu Xiaoman one by one. If she had any questions, she would answer them on the spot without any ambiguity.

Lu Xiaoman listened with great interest and felt his sincerity. He felt that he had come to the right place.

In fact, when Xu Zhimo came home that day, he heard that he was going to be a promotional model for a dance club, and his face suddenly darkened and he became depressed.

Fortunately, it was Ye Luo who invited her, so Xu Zhimo didn't get angry.

The two discussed for a long time, but could not reach a conclusion, and finally broke up on bad terms.

Lu Xiaoman thought about it and found it difficult to let go of the tempting olive branch offered by Ye Luo, so he decided to sign the contract.

"Considering the subsequent development of the dance industry company, I have decided to increase your endorsement fee to 350 oceans per month. Tea will be free of charge. Clothing and other expenses will also be contracted by the company. The signing period will be within one year from now." Ye Luoxiao Look at her.

Although Lu Xiaoman's relationship between men and women is chaotic, she is really famous as a socialite from the "Southern Tang and Northern China". With her as a promotional model, the Black Cat Dance Hall instantly went up a notch, and the deal was worthwhile.

"Thank you, A Luo~" Lu Xiaoman pursed his lips and smiled softly, and wrote his name with a pen.

350 oceans is comparable to Xu Zhimo's salary as a university professor. With this income, Lu Xiaoman curled his lips and felt that he would no longer be qualified to care about himself in the future, saying that he was spending too much and spending too much.

"Oh, if I had a figure and appearance as good as Xiaoman's, I would also like to be a promotional model in a ballroom, but it's a pity that Brother Luo doesn't like me." Xiao A quietly glared at Ye Luo resentfully.

"Fool~ He just pities you and doesn't want you to show off in front of other men." Lu Xiaoman held Xiao Aqiao's arm and leaned closer and said, "You don't know how much I envy you~ How can being a model make you richer than being a boss? .”

The two women chatted and laughed and walked out of the office. Ye Luo collected the documents and led them towards the fourth floor.

At this time, the newly recruited Chinese dancers at the Black Cat Ballroom and a group of sisters left behind by Fengming Tower were learning dance from Nia and her daughter and the foreign dancers.

There are three huge dance practice rooms on the fourth floor, each of which can accommodate nearly fifty people. There are also dormitories, shower rooms, changing rooms and canteens in other places. Each dormitory can accommodate six people, and the conditions are better than many universities. good.

These dancers come from various religions and streams. The foreign dancers are already helpless, and most of the new Chinese dancers have fled.

At first, they thought that Ye's Dance Company was a brothel with skin-changing skins, and they joined with the idea of ​​selling themselves. Then they were shocked to find that this was a real dance company!

From the training mechanism to the employee code, everything is included, the system and rules are perfect, and the benefits are generous, which makes a group of Yingying Yanyan feel grateful and regard Ye Luo as the lover of their dreams!

"Three, two, three, four." Anna, who is tall and blond, shouted the beat while urging the newcomers to learn to dance. Since there were no men, the tall foreign girls temporarily acted as the men and danced with the Chinese dancers.

Arriving at the dance studio, Lu Xiaoman's eyes lit up: "They all have very good dancing skills. Ah Luo, where did you find so many women who can dance?"

She can understand foreign girls. After all, many dance halls in Shanghai are usually equipped with foreign dancers. But for Chinese women, only celebrities and upper-class people like her know how to dance ballroom.

Obviously, these women have nothing to do with either.

"They are all employees I recruited. From now on, they will be the black cat dancers responsible for dancing with single customers." Ye Luo said with a smile, "Although they look impressive now, they didn't understand anything a few days ago."

"Oh my god! Did you just learn it?" Lu Xiaoman pursed her lips and exclaimed, "Now I finally understand why you are in the dance hall business."

There are not many foreign dancers, and they only appear in high-end dance halls. Even if ordinary people want to learn to dance, without a dance partner and teacher, it is nothing.

Imagine that you see a new dance hall and come in out of curiosity. However, first, you have no dance partner, second, your tea wealth is very high and you cannot afford it, third, you have never been exposed to dance, and there is no one to teach you how to dance.

As a result, ballroom dancing has never been popularized.

But if these ordinary Chinese women have achieved academic success, as employees of the Black Cat Ballroom, their daily job is to accompany the dancers and dance with the guests who cannot dance, then the three major problems will be easily solved.

"The best thing about Brother Luo is that he found a group of foreign dancers to train Chinese dancers, and then took the basic plan from Fengming Tower." Xiao Aqiao hugged Ye Luo's arm and chuckled, "Sometimes, I They all suspect that he had already thought of this day when he was running Fengming Tower."

The seemingly insurmountable problem of opening a dance hall was not a big deal once it was in Ye Luo's hands.

"Mom, it's Ye here!" The young and beautiful Anna smiled and said hello to her mother Nia, then left a group of newcomers and ran over quickly.

When she saw little A Qiao holding Ye Luo on her arm, and the beautiful and elegant Chinese cheongsam girl beside her, she suddenly felt a sense of crisis rising.

"Hello, Anna." Ye Luo greeted her face to face, and Anna hugged him like a baby, holding his other hand like a child.

After the three of them played stacks of games together that day, Anna often pestered Ye Luo to go out together.

Although she is a white Russian girl who has experienced many wars, she has an innocent and energetic personality, and Ye Luo also likes to be with her.

Lu Xiaoman watched this scene with interest. Seeing that Xiao A'Qiao didn't mind at all, he couldn't help but think highly of Xiao A'Qiao.

"Anna, are the new dance clothes ready?" Ye Luo asked with a smile.

He designed a set of black cat dance costumes. Unfortunately, he had recently acquired the Kadoorie family's textile factory and had not yet opened it. These dance costumes were customized from the Sheng family's textile factory.

Today's textile industry is mainly controlled by Japanese companies. Their textile products are imported into the country and are subject to tariff policies with extremely low tax rates. They have suddenly occupied the domestic textile market.

The textile industry in the north, which could have competed with them, also failed to recover, let alone the south.

In the textile industry in Shanghai, there are Japanese factories, factories of the Sassoon family, and two giants, the Rong family and the Sheng family. This makes the positioning of the Kadoorie family's textile factory very awkward.

But now, after Ye's Textile Factory starts operations, Ye Luo will slowly reverse this situation.

"Here we are, let me put on the latest dance clothes to show you, okay?" Anna nodded.

Ye Luo smiled and patted her butt: "Go ahead and take this lady to change clothes immediately. She is our special promotional model."

Feeling the hostile gaze coming towards him, Lu Xiaoman straightened his back and looked at the White Russian girl with a smile, not feeling inferior at all.

"Okay." Anna flattened her mouth and hooked her hand towards Lu Xiaoman, "Please follow me, young lady."

"Okay, please excuse me." Lu Xiaoman can speak English, and as soon as he spoke, Anna was immediately impressed.

The two of them headed towards the fitting room, and the other dancers who were practicing also looked at her frequently, curious about this young and mysterious boss.