1928: The rise of giant merchants

"Extra number! Extra number!"

"The second young master of the Ye family spent a lot of money to buy 2,000 American cars!"

"Songhu Police Department is investigating illegally parked rickshaws and pulling people away illegally!"

Early in the morning, little newsboys are jumping around the streets selling the latest newspapers.

A certain teahouse, a private room on the second floor.

With a Chinese character face and a long scar running down his face, the burly middle-aged man drank tea in a muffled voice and looked up at the other two people sitting across from him.

"Brother Lu, Brother Zhang, I can't bear to take this breath!"

He pressed the tea cup heavily on the table, his voice was cold and stern,

"In ten days, the Ye family wiped out six of my businesses! Yesterday, people from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau came and asked me to pay back the 100,000 yuan in dues I owed for six years! In addition, my brothers at the Labor Federation basically They were all cleaned up by that little red guy Ye Luo."

"Lao Yu." Lu Yusheng took a sip of tea.

"Brother Lu San! What do you think, please give me a confirmation now!" Yu Likui slammed the table, "I can say anything else, but there must be no problem with the rickshaw business! In the past few days, for some reason, the Songhu Police Department "My people are like a cat seeing a fish, staring at my people."

"Director Chen was killed by Lu Yongxiang and Ye Yuqiao. I don't have to tell you where Wang Hu's ass is now." Zhang Wanlin snorted coldly. Since Wang Hu became the director, his gray industry business Also greatly affected.

But what can be done?

Lu Yongxiang is still on the beach in Shanghai, with thousands of guns placed on your neck. Do you dare to try to move?

"Here in the French Concession, the people I sent to the Times Department Store were also beaten. I heard that Feng Jingyao specially invited that little red guy to dinner some time ago." Yu Likui became more and more angry as he thought about it. He had been working for the Ye family for so many years, just to give him money. Get some food for yourself, but in the end you are targeted like this!

"This is not going to give us a way to live, Third Brother!" Zhang Wanlin was so angry that he looked around, lowered his voice, and pulled hard on his neck with his right hand, "If you ask me, just find someone Just get rid of that little red guy!"

"Second brother! Have you forgotten the last time you made your own decision and asked He Hui to handle the matter of getting approval from Cayeluo?" Lu Yusheng shook his head quickly, "What's the result? I didn't expect that there is a British guy behind this little red guy. This business is uncertain. It was also paid for by the British. He has caused a big fuss now. If you kill him at this time, do you think the British are worth two hundred and fifty?"

"Then what should we do! The little red guy is sitting on our heads and pooping and peeing! If we don't move, how will we go out in the future?" Zhang Wanlin was full of anger. He had never been so depressed before, being pressed down and beaten by a junior. .

"Wait for the big brother to come back and deal with it." Lu Yusheng hesitated and continued, "Lao Yu, how are you doing with Butterfly and Ruan Lingyu?"

"Brother Lu San, those two bitches moved to Xiafei Road. Now the Songhu Police Department is cracking down on rickshaws. Our people won't dare to harass them in the near future." Yu Likui looked embarrassed. Of course, he really wanted to deal with these two actresses. , no difficulty.

But he, Yu Likui, works for the three tycoons, so they should give feedback.

Why should he try his best to do something that has no money and no benefit?

"Okay, let's wait until brother comes back." All Lu Yusheng could do was to calm these two hot-tempered guys first.

"When will Brother Huo return to Shanghai?" Yu Likui asked in a low voice. He knew that Huo Tianhong was going to Jinling to meet important people.

"tomorrow!"

Shanghai County District, Liangyou Pictorial Headquarters.

The boss and editor-in-chief, Wu Liande, who is only 28 years old, is worrying about a group of modern girls.

After the first issue of "Liangyou Pictorial" was released on February 15, 1926, the new newspaper and magazine he founded, which placed images at the core of the magazine and text became an auxiliary, became extremely popular.

The overall design of books and periodicals is proactive and has completely changed the reading habits of Chinese people.

In particular, the cover character of the first issue of the pictorial was Hu Die, who was just an ordinary student at Shanghai Zhonghua Film School at the time. The first issue sold 7,000 copies and was a hit in Shanghai!

But success is also a butterfly, failure is also a butterfly.

In two years, Hu Die rose from an ordinary female student to a top female movie star in Shanghai, and then suddenly retired not long ago.

Wu Liande has been unable to find new modern girls to drive the already tired sales. In the past two years, due to the Civil War, other branches of Liangyou Pictorial outside Shanghai have closed down, and now they only rely on the sales in Shanghai.

Several girls sitting in front of him were posing and trying to attract his attention, but their temperament was so bad that Wu Liande was very dissatisfied.

This year's sixteenth issue of Liangyou Pictorial is about to be released. Everything is ready, but the cover girl has yet to be decided.

If the sales of this issue decline again, he will consider accepting the acquisition of Xinxin Pictorial.

Wu Liande's favorite candidate is Ruan Lingyu, the popular actress in Half the Sky at the moment, but her appearance fee is too high, and she can only be the cover character for one issue. The cost is too expensive, so she can't be hired.

"Editor-in-chief, there is someone visiting outside." There was a knock on the door, and deputy editor-in-chief Ma Guoliang poked his head in.

"Who is it? I don't remember anyone making an appointment today." Wu Liande looked confused.

"Ye Luo, the second young master of the Ye family." Ma Guoliang lowered his voice.

Second young master!

Wu Liande was shocked. Why did this giant Buddha suddenly come to him?

He quickly waved the group of modern girls out, packed up their clothes, and ran to the bookcase to get some tea.

"Editor-in-chief Wu, I'm here unexpectedly, so I won't disturb you." Ye Luo walked over with a smile. He saw a group of modern girls leaving the office, and immediately understood that Wu Liande was worrying about the choice of cover girl.

Ye Luo had told Tan Si ten days ago to create car coupons and bundle them with Liangyou Pictorial.

But why hasn't he taken any action?

Because he has been waiting.

After Liangyou Pictorial was founded, it became popular due to Hu Die and its original nature of the pictorial. However, as competing products increased and various tycoons intervened, sales declined year by year, and it was even almost acquired by Xinxin Pictorial, a subsidiary of Xinxin Company.

The issue that made Liangyou Pictorial turn around was the issue that will be released soon. Starting from this issue, Liangyou Pictorial abandoned the traditional image of thin and reserved women and adopted a bold, open and sexy image of women in the new era.

Starting from this issue, the cover girls are mainly new-age women, with actors, celebrities, athletes, artists and female students from the new-age group taking turns to appear.

Sales immediately exploded!

"The second young master is joking, you are so welcome to come!" Wu Liande hurriedly welcomed Ye Luo into the office, but his eyes were attracted by the modern girl holding his arm, "This lady is ?”

"This is Miss Huang Liushuang, a Chinese-American actress." Ye Luo introduced with a smile, "I heard that Editor-in-Chief Wu was worried about finding a suitable cover girl, so I tried to invite Miss Huang."

"Chinese-American? Is Ms. Huang making movies in Hollywood?" After seeing her appearance and figure, Wu Liande was already impressed and wanted to invite her to be the cover girl of the sixteenth issue.

But when I turned around and heard that she was actually Chinese-American, she was an actress working at DreamWorks World Movies! Can you afford it yourself?

"It makes Chief Editor Wu laugh. I can no longer survive in Hollywood. If it weren't for the Second Young Master's investment, there would be no more movies to make." Huang Liushuang hugged Ye Luo's arm, her eyes flashing with gratitude.

In 1960, she became the first Chinese to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also became one of the "Hollywood Silver Ladies" along with Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Dandridge, Mae West and Marilyn Monroe. "Taiwan" statue figures.

But in the early stages of her film and television career, she did not have a smooth life.

Because of her Chinese identity, the roles she has played so far all have strong stereotypes——

Mistresses, Mongolian slaves, Chinese prostitutes, singing and dancing girls, etc.

The role positioning is locked, and the upper limit of development is very low.

The helpless Huang Liushuang was introduced by someone and returned to China to meet Ye Luo, who had studied abroad at Harvard University.

Ye Luo had long been interested in contacting her. A few days ago when Huang Liushuang arrived in Shanghai, Ye Luo proposed the idea of ​​investing, and the two hit it off.

Wong hopes to develop again in China with Yip Luo's resources. She considers herself to be no worse than the popular movie star Ruan Lingyu, or she can restart her Hollywood journey and use her resources to switch roles.

Unexpectedly, my first stop would be to be a pictorial cover girl?

Huang Liushuang was a little unhappy.

But the man on his arm is the most powerful second-generation rich man in Shanghai at the moment, so he can't afford to offend him.

Moreover, the two had just signed a contract, and Huang Liushuang had "sold" herself to this man for ten years!

"Okay, stop complaining, I will help you arrange your future film shooting schedule." Ye Luo smiled and gently squeezed Huang Liushuang's fleshy waist, "Today, let's see if Chief Editor Wu is willing Let you be the cover girl.”

"Of course I am willing!" Wu Liande rubbed his hands and said, "It's the second young master, this appearance fee."

"That's what I think, Editor-in-Chief Wu. I've been reading Liangyou Pictorial, and I understand your situation." Ye Luo sat down, and Huang Liushuang quickly helped him pour tea and light cigarettes.

"If the sales of this issue continue to decline and you don't accept Xinxin Pictorial's 10,000 yuan acquisition offer, you may not be able to repay the bank loan."

"Yes." Wu Liande knew about the Ye family's intelligence capabilities and was not surprised.

"Chief Editor Wu must also know about my car dealership purchase. Instead of selling a good friend to a rival, it's better to join my investment company. It's the same as Xiangsheng Automobile Dealer, but I will be the boss. Of course, I will not interfere with Wu It’s your job to be the editor-in-chief.”

Ye Luo blew out a smoke ring,

"I will invest NT$30,000 in shares. I will make Liu Shuang the cover girl for this issue. In addition, this issue of Good Friends Pictorial will come with a car coupon issued by our car dealership."

30,000 oceans!

Wu Liande's eyelids twitched. He had heard that this second young master was very wealthy, but when he opened his mouth, he quoted three times the price. No wonder the people from the Chinese Automobile Dealers couldn't refuse.

As for the investment he was talking about, Wu Liande didn't quite understand.

But it doesn't matter.

30,000 yuan is enough for Liangyou Pictorial to tide over the difficulties. He is still the editor-in-chief, but Ye Luo has to pay dividends.

As for that car coupon?

As soon as Ye Luo explained, Wu Liande understood.

It's a fortune ticket.

It was something that the Qing government and the warlords played badly in the past.

Ye Luo wants to include car coupons in Liangyou Pictorial, which means that he is also optimistic about the sales of this issue.

Compared with money, Wu Liande was more pleased with the other party's attitude of affirming his own strength.

This is not like the arch-rival Sing Sing Company, which simply wants to eat up its own foundation.

For 10,000 yuan to buy Liangyou Pictorial, Wu Liande would take the money and get out.

"Okay! I do!" Wu Liande did not hesitate.

"Okay, Chief Editor Wu is quick to talk, so I won't waste my time." Ye Luo patted Huang Liushuang's buttocks and asked her to change into the clothes she had prepared, "I will not interfere with the content of this issue, but in Feel free to express your opinions here.”

"Please tell me."

“Have Editor-in-Chief Wu ever thought about why Liangyou’s sales have been declining in recent years?”

"Alas, after we became popular, other companies followed suit. They had more funds and couldn't compete."

"That's one thing, and a little bit more."

"Appreciate further details."

Ye Luo took out a Liangyou Pictorial from the bookcase and clicked on the cover.

"We use women as the cover, but we still adhere to the subtle and thin style of the old era. Editor-in-chief Wu, last year the 'Tian Breasts Movement' and women's liberation made a huge fuss. Now women themselves are pursuing liberation, and you are still stuck in your ways. How can this sell well?”

"Second Young Master, I've changed!"

Huang Liushuang walked in from outside and walked around with an excited look on her face.

"How's it going? Does it look good?"

Wu Liande's eyes widened!

This style and clothing are too bold!

It is estimated that only Chinese women who live overseas all year round can accept this kind of standard.

Wu Liande felt that if he took this outfit to a brothel, he probably wouldn't be able to hire a young lady to take photos.

"How are you, Editor-in-Chief Wu?" Ye Luo looked at him with a smile.

His reaction represents the common reaction of Chinese men today.

"Second Young Master! What an enlightenment! This issue will definitely be a hit!" Wu Liande admired sincerely.

His thoughts and Ye Luobi were still too restrained.

The times are developing, and people are pursuing fashion and innovation.

He should do it based on this, rather than being limited to his own old thinking.

At this moment, Wu Liande felt that being invested by Ye Luo was a great blessing.