In Huifangli, the lanterns are first lit, in the Ningxiang Pavilion.
"Sister Yan, what's going on these days?" Bai Yulan sat at the desk, flipping through the account books in her hand. She frowned slightly as she saw that the business of Ningxiang Pavilion was getting worse and worse.
It is now the end of recent years, when consumption is at its peak, and Ningxiang Pavilion’s income and expenditure cannot make ends meet.
"There have been fewer customers in the past few days. Many of our regular customers have been dragged to the Grand View Garden and Qunfang Building. They have also launched promotions to provide benefits to customers without lowering the treatment of the girls. Our The customers have been attracted, and those who introduced us to new customers have brought them to the Grand View Garden or Qunfang Building, where the benefits are greater..."
"We are dealing with high-end customers. If they pull people over, it will have no impact on us, right?" Axiang interjected.
"Axiang, Bingcheng is so big, how can there be so many high-end guests. In fact, what we need most now are guests. Without guests, the Ningxiang Pavilion will close." Sister Yan glanced at Axiang, but still explained A sound.
Although Ningxiang Pavilion is the top fireworks place in Bingcheng, Bai Yulan has her own principles in doing things. For example, Ningxiang Pavilion does not provide smokers, and almost no one in other places does not sell it. Yes, most of the girls in Ningxiang Pavilion are affiliated and have been here for a long time. Bai Yulan treats them very well, but every man who visits the place of fireworks is not greedy for novelty. Compared with the other two companies, there will be one from time to time. Newcomers are naturally more attractive.
It would be good if the Ningxiang Pavilion can be maintained. In the past two years, Bai Yulan has been putting money into it. As for making money, forget about it.
She also wanted to close the Ningxiang Pavilion, but where should the women in the pavilion go? They may be able to find a better home and maintain it for a few more years, but what about a few years from now?
After old age and sexual decline, the rest of life will be miserable.
Regardless of whether it was Su Wenqing or Qin Qiye, what they only wanted was the sign of Ningxiang Pavilion and these dozens of poor women, including herself of course.
As for getting it, she would not consider their future at all, and no matter who she attached herself to, there would be no good results.
"How long can the money in our account last?"
"No more than a month at most." Sister Yan is the manager of Ningxiang Hall. From Bai Yulan down, Sister Yan is the eldest sister of all the girls in Ningxiang Hall.
There is no madam in Ningxiang Pavilion, and there is no deed of sale. There are two different contracts. One is that the past deed of sale is converted into a five-year or ten-year paid service contract. This is for those who were signed a deed of sale in the past in Ningxiang Pavilion. Girl.
This contract also gave them hope, at least a chance to be free. Therefore, after Bai Yulan took over the Ningxiang Pavilion, the business was extremely booming.
Another type is similar to the Buddhist monks' list, where a girl who works alone wants to find a shelter, and the treatment can be negotiated, and each one is different.
The former requires high compensation for breach of contract, while the latter requires almost no compensation and has great liquidity.
Naturally, this romantic place cannot always have a group of girls. That is to say, if there is a change of guard without a change of medicine, the guests will lose the freshness and naturally stop coming.
With these two contracts, Ningxiang Pavilion immediately became famous in Bingcheng, and Bai Yulan won the title of Queen of the Flower Kingdom because of this.
But success is also Xiao He, failure is also Xiao He.
The two contracts at that time helped Bai Yulan take control of the Ningxiang Pavilion and led her through a period of glory, but now, the situation is different from before.
Not only are there competitors who are powerful and powerful, but they also have no bottom line. They open a place for sex and engage in flesh and blood business. It is useless to be conscientious.
All kinds of dirty tricks are constantly being used. After all, Ningxiang Pavilion is run by a woman. Many times, she is a head lower in terms of aura. When it comes to dealing with it, she is naturally at a loss and always suffers from hidden disadvantages.
If it weren't for Bai Yulan's powerful skills and the good connections and management left behind by Lao Ma, I'm afraid the ordinary woman would have disappeared in Ice City long ago.
However, this time it was an all-round attack, whether it was Qin Qiye or Su Wenqing, one targeted the Ningxiang Pavilion, and the other targeted her other businesses.
Bai Yulan also has many other businesses, mainly dealing in cloth, silk materials, and a women's clothing factory. How can she survive if she doesn't have any financial resources.
But this time it was clear that he would not break her down and would not stop swallowing her.
And with the power and influence of Qin Qiye and Su Wenqing, almost no one in Bingcheng could help her.
Unless she begs the Japanese.
But the Japanese are more ruthless and greedy. They will eat her and Ningxiang Guan until they are even left with bones.
She now needs a working capital. Although she may not be able to survive it, as long as she has time, she can find a way to break the situation.
But now there are many banks in Bingcheng that are willing to give her loans, but she knows that once she gets a loan, she will fall into the other party's plan.
Therefore, she put forward the condition that the loan debt could not be transferred. Even if the interest rate was higher, it would be no problem. But once she heard the conditions she proposed, no bank would give her a loan.
Bai Yulan knew that once she signed a loan agreement with the bank, even if she got the money, the bank would resell her loan agreement to the person she wanted in the form of debt. At that time, even if she had the money to repay the loan, I'm afraid it's not an easy task.
Those people who were looking at her with eager eyes knew exactly what she wanted to do.
There is a ghost inside.
And it's still among her most trusted people. Although she doesn't want to doubt anyone, she has reached this point and she can no longer tolerate it.
"The Chinese New Year is coming soon. Since business is not good, let's just give everyone a break. Everyone has worked hard at the end of the year." Bai Yulan said slowly.
"Xiaolan, are you planning to go out of business?" Sister Yan was startled.
"Well, everyone's salary will still be paid. You have worked hard with me these years." Bai Yulan nodded.
"Xiao Lan, if you close the business, you will have a lot of daily expenses. Besides, when do you plan to close the business?" Sister Yan doesn't understand that the Spring Festival is the most profitable time, and the Ningxiang Pavilion is closed at this time.
Even if business is not going well, it would be a good thing to lose a little less.
"Tell them that if they are willing to leave, I will not stop them. If they are willing to share the difficulties with me, I will repay them in the future. That's it." Bai Yulan closed the account book. She didn't want to do the "Fengyue" business. But there is nothing we can do. This is Lao Ma's industry. We can't just close it after taking over it. The livelihood of so many people is at stake.
"Xiao Lan, you are going to close the Ningxiang Pavilion completely!" Sister Yan turned pale with fright. What will the hundreds of people in the Ningxiang Pavilion do in the future?
"Then if I keep it now, can I survive?"
"This..." Sister Yan was stunned. Bai Yulan was so courageous that she didn't even want the Ningxiang Pavilion, which she regarded as life.
"Axiang, put the sign up. Starting tomorrow, the Ningxiang Pavilion will be closed." Bai Yulan ordered Axiang, "Tell the public that the Ningxiang Pavilion will be renovated and reopened."
"Yes, Sister Lan."
Sister Yan was shocked and confused. She couldn't figure out which sentence Bai Yulan said was true and which sentence was false.
Sister Yan walked out, Bai Yulan raised her head slightly, glanced at the figure who had been following her for many years, and closed her eyes.
She really felt that she had failed. Even the people closest to her had betrayed her. She had tried so hard to help her and even made her the manager of the Ningxiang Pavilion.
Although she didn't deliberately arrange the incident between her and Zhou Sen that night, she played a key role in it.
However, she hasn't found out who is behind her yet, so she doesn't say anything.
"Sister Lan, actually Master Zhou can help you..." Axiang came over and poured another glass of water for Bai Yulan.
"I told you not to mention him again, do you think my words fell on deaf ears?" Bai Yulan glanced at Axiang and said.
Axiang lowered her head in fear and did not dare to speak.
That man had never caught her eye before. If it hadn't been for what happened that night, she wouldn't have wanted to get to know him.
A cowardly "doorstep" with the nickname "little bug", even if Bai Yulan was married and came from a lowly background, she was not something that just any man would like.
…
Ah sneeze!
Zhou Sen, who was reading the information under the lamp, suddenly felt an itch in his nose and sneezed. Strangely, he didn't catch a cold either?
Is it possible that someone talks about you behind your back without your ears getting hot?
When he gets to work tomorrow, he first goes to the morgue of the police station. Since he was responsible for investigating Serkin's case, he has never seen the victim's body once.
He, the self-appointed leader of the task force, is indeed a bit incompetent, and he really doesn't want to be too competent.
There is so little information that he can understand and master now. He has not even figured out what kind of organization the Russian Patriots Alliance that Anthony's father joined is.
I went through all the books in the family and the manuscripts left by my father, but found no relevant records. I don't know if Anthony's father joined this organization just for an identity, or if he deliberately hid a shocking secret.
Now it seems that it is obviously the latter.
But who should he ask?
Ivanovich, he is also one of the members, but now that the two have completely broken up, and he comes to visit, they probably won't tell him.
Lin Dakuan?
This guy seems to be involved in this case. Otherwise, find an opportunity to find it again?
The only one left is Akiyama Nosuke.
He wouldn't even say what secret mission Anthony's father was on, even if he did, he wouldn't tell him the truth.
The news is too limited. Even if we know the general trend in the future, if we don’t know what is happening outside, it’s useless.
There is a radio in the study room, which is a channel for understanding the outside world.
There was no electromagnetic shielding technology these days, so as long as you knew the broadcast frequency of an outside radio station, you could receive the outside broadcast.
Normally, what this original person listens to most is the gramophone, and he has a lot of vinyl records in his home. Father Anthony listens to this radio a lot, just listening to it with the door closed every time. Every time he comes in, It will be turned off soon.
Could it be that Anthony’s father also learned about the outside world through this radio?
Zhou Sen's heartbeat was a little swollen. If he could listen to the broadcast from Pagoda Mountain, he would know the situation of the war of resistance in the pass.
Radio stations generally do not work in the middle of the night, except for some special stations. This is basic common sense.
Zhou Sen checked the radio, turned the volume down to the lowest level, turned on the power button, and heard a rustling sound coming from the loudspeaker. He was happy, it worked.
Zhou Sen was so excited that he turned the FM button very lightly and softly. After a circle, there was nothing but a "rustling" sound.
Suddenly I slapped my forehead, why did I forget the antenna? There is no antenna, how can the radio receive the signal?
Find the antenna, connect it, and keep adjusting the angle...
Carefully, go to the frequency at the beginning.
