Volume 5: The Age of Storms Chapter 0615 Our Dance Hall
Mamadu’s dance hall opened, and its name was not “Seahorse”, but “We”, “We Dance Hall”.
As soon as you hear the name, you know that Wang Li is involved.
In fact, apart from Nan Yi, Wang Li is the largest shareholder of our dance hall.
The original goal was to raise 200,000 yuan, but the plan was not executed well. Later, Ma Modu went to Nan Yi again and took another 20,000 yuan from him. He barely raised 100,000 yuan and found a place next to Sanlitun Xingfu Village and started to renovate.
The only things worth mentioning about Sanlitun at this moment are the embassy district, the Zhaolong Hotel, and the first bar in Beijing that caters exclusively to the leisure consumption of people stationed in the embassy district. The rest is just an ordinary place.
"You get fifty thousand, I get eighteen thousand, and together we have thirty-two thousand."
In the dance hall, Wang Li said to Nan Yi who was studying where to spend the 100,000 yuan.
Nowadays, you can still find a shabby small courtyard house for a few thousand yuan, and it is easy to rebuild or add on to it. If you use 100,000 yuan to buy a small courtyard house and tear it down and rebuild it, you can definitely make a lot of money, which is much better than throwing it into the water.
Nan Yi was now 100% sure that his 50,000 yuan had been thrown into the water, and he just hoped that he would hear a sound.
"There are a lot of people here, many of whom I haven't seen before." Nan Yi said, rubbing his fingers on the draft beer cup in his hand.
There are only three kinds of liquor in our dance hall - beer, Erguotou and Lafeng red wine.
Erguotou is only for our own drinking and not sold to guests, for fear that the guests will get drunk too quickly and cause trouble.
It is inevitable that trouble will occur. The possibility of a fight arising from the first two disagreements over a few drinks is very high. As the operator, we can only hope that the guests will spend more before causing trouble, so our dance hall mainly promotes beer.
"Well, they are all acquaintances bringing acquaintances together. They have been brought out of the area for eight miles. Not to mention you, I don't even know most of the people here."
"Um."
Nan Yi responded and continued to look around our dance hall.
There are only seven or eight stages in the dance hall, and the tables and chairs were probably welded by a steel rolling mill. The tables are no less than two hundred kilograms, and the chairs are several dozen kilograms. If a fight really breaks out, the tables and chairs will not be damaged.
A medium-sized stage was built on the east side, with a nice set of speakers and some musical instruments. There was also a dance floor next to the stage, which could accommodate more than a dozen people dancing cheek to cheek. They could only dance cheek to cheek, and it was difficult to dance more than three or four steps, let alone ballroom dancing.
Against the west wall, there is an area with a wine counter and a cash register connected together, which can be simply called the cash register.
There is a door next to the cash register leading to a small warehouse at the back, which is filled with boxes of beer, three or five boxes of Erguotou, and seven or eight boxes of Lafeng red wine, as well as several coarse cotton bags filled with dried fruits such as melon seeds and peanuts.
Nan Yi still couldn't figure out where the money was spent, he could only guess that it was spent on the stage and rent.
"Where is my son? Where did you send him to?"
"Chengtuo went to the northeast. He should be in the Ice City now, eating sausage while enjoying the cold wind."
"Is it worth going all the way to Ice City just for a sausage?"
"There is also Zhengyang River, which is a well-known brand of oil. We in Asia must have it."
"I remember there is a kind of drink made from fermented bread in Bingcheng. What is it called? Why don't you think of bringing that thing here?" Wang Li said.
"Qiuling kvass, this stuff is water, it's really heavy. Do you know how much it costs to transport it from Ice City to Beijing? The profit is slim, and not many people like to drink it. By the way, it will offend the Arctic Ocean. It's not worth it."
Local protectionism has now begun to emerge. In addition to unified purchase and marketing, there is already a resistance to foreign brands of products produced locally.
We have to boycott. No matter how well these foreign brands sell, the local market won't benefit from them at all. Taxation, employment and political achievements have nothing to do with the local market. Instead, they will squeeze out local enterprises, and the local taxation, employment and political achievements will all be ruined.
When Asia was introducing commodities, Nan Yi was very careful to avoid this problem. Products from Beijing that did not have high sales were avoided, and those with high sales would be promoted mainly under the Beijing brand in the future, at least on the surface.
Among them, electrical appliances are an exception. There is no worry about sales at all. No matter whether Asia tries to avoid it or not, people will not remember this.
Electrical appliance companies are bound to go through a roller coaster-like thorny road from being the boss to being treated equally, then kneeling, reshuffled, and bankrupt. People in the electrical appliance industry will spend more time reminiscing about the past.
"Tsk, when I was in charge of dispatching in the factory, the drivers who came to pick up the goods had to give me cigarettes if they wanted to pick up the goods early. Not just one cigarette, not just one pack, I told you two packs or more..."
"There are quite a few little brats." Wang Lu suddenly said again.
Nan Yi glanced in the direction of the dance floor and found several boys and girls who were about sixteen or seventeen years old dancing there. The boys were smoking and pretending to be cool.
Frowning, Nan Yi turned to Wang Lu and said, "What are those intellectuals thinking? Why did they let this little brat in? He has very little money in his pocket and he doesn't know how to control himself when he starts a fight."
"Who brought him here? Among the people who came today, there are rock musicians, crosstalk singers, and veterans. It's a mixed crowd. You wouldn't want to move if you didn't see me." Wang Lu said lazily.
"oh."
Nan Yi leaned over and grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the table, and gave half of them to Gong Xue beside him.
Gong Xue was brought by Nan Yi, but it couldn't be said that he brought her here. After shooting a few commercials, Gong Xue naturally became familiar with the crew behind the commercials. They had dinner together twice, and friends brought friends. In this way, Gong Xue got to know most of the people in the film and television circles in Beijing.
Beijing is big and small. Although there are many people in the current literary and art circles, the relationships between people are not far apart. The four bonds of colleagues in the unit, former collaborations, childhood friends and classmates, and common friends can bring everyone in the circle together.
In addition to Gong Xue's status in the film industry, she was humble and courteous, and other people were also happy to get to know her.
The film and television industry in the 1980s was relatively pure. Everyone received a salary and the income levels were not much different. Although directors and leading actors had some privileges and higher incomes, their workload was also greater, so they did not make the supporting actors envious and jealous.
The interests today are not great enough to arouse the evil side of most people.
Only when the day comes when 2% of people eat up 98% of the benefits in the circle, Pandora's box will be opened, the relationship between people will become delicate, and the word "bottom line" will be infinitely close to the anus with the peristalsis of the appendix.
"Can you help me buy all of Qiong Yao's books?" Gong Xue took the melon seeds, leaned close to Nan Yi and said with her head tilted.
"Do you want to see it?" Nan Yi asked in surprise.
Gong Xue asked back, "Have you seen "Female College Student Dormitory"?"
“I have.”
"This movie was made by the Shanghai Film Studio. I know the director. She is going to make a TV series called "The Moon is Hazy, the Birds are Hazy." The original novel was written by Qiong Yao.
Also, Jiangsu Provincial TV Station is planning to film a movie called "By the Waterside", the original work is also a book by Qiong Yao. You asked me to pay attention to the copyright last time, so I want to read her book."
"I understand. I'll ask someone to buy the book for you. Don't worry too much about the copyright. Qiong Yao is not a easy woman to deal with." Nan Yi said with his head tilted.
"How do you know she's difficult to deal with?"
"Um?"
Gong Xue's question made Nan Yi ponder, "Yes, why do I feel that she is difficult to deal with? Do I know her? Where did this preconceived idea come from?"
After a while, Nan Yi figured out how his perception of Qiong Yao came about. It was not the result of his own self-identification, but public opinion implanted this image into his mind.
"Ignore what I said before. I'll ask someone to buy the book for you first. You can handle the copyright issue yourself. However, the book is in traditional Chinese. Can you handle it?"
Gong Xue said: "It's okay, it's just a little tiring to read, but if you consider the context and half guess and half recognize, you can still understand it."
"Well, how's your driving skills going?"
"That's good. My master told me that I can take the exam when the time comes." Gong Xue showed a hint of joy.
The formal process for getting a driver's license at this time is to find a unit to affiliate with first, and then find an experienced driver from the unit [with at least three years of formal driving experience] to be a master. First, learn about mechanical movement and structure, the principle of main engine transmission to vehicle operation, circuit lighting and motor starting main engine, the principle of power generation and charging, etc. This process basically takes three years.
If the relationship with the master is good and the master is not a problem, then the master will take the apprentice to the vehicle inspection office to get a registration form, fill it out, have the master (i.e. coach) sign it and then have the unit stamp it, hand the registration form back, get a few books to study at home, and only after half a year can you apply for the exam.
You cannot get a driver's license just by passing the test. You have to practice for another year and get a driver's license signed by your master before you can become a formal driver.
In this process, the "master" runs through it all the time, which is enough to show his importance. It can be said that whether a person can drive or not is up to the master. If the master thinks that the person cannot drive, it will not work even if he can drive.
Gong Xue skipped the maintenance course and started directly at steering wheel, but it would take her at least half a year to get the internship qualification and a year and a half to get a driver's license.
"Hasn't your master relaxed his requirements on you?"
"No, I'm driving very well." Gong Xue said angrily.
"Okay, whatever you say is fine."
Nan Yi said this and waved to a waiter next to the cash register.
"Is there any hot water?"
"have."
"Make two cups of tea."
"Hold on."
"Is the waiter from out of town?" Nan Yi turned to ask Wang Lu when he heard the waiter's accent.
"The one just now came from another place. Her name is very interesting. Guess what it is." Wang Li said with an amused and somewhat ambiguous look on his face.
Seeing the smirk on Wang Qi's face, Nan Yi knew which direction to guess. "The one just now looked like she was from the countryside. It's unlikely that she's called Manna. Is she Huang Yonghong?"
"Ha, Nan Batian, I knew you were just a hypocrite, awesome! I guessed it right at once."
"Why would you even bother to guess? Her name is written on your face. Do you have a manuscript hidden at home? If so, tell my buddy so I can tell Lei Zi. If Lei Zi is happy, he might even give me a banner."
"Bullshit, Lei Zi doesn't care about this now. It would be more effective if you told the teacher at school than tell Lei Zi." Wang Lu spat.
Nan Yi exclaimed, "Ah! When did this happen? Lei Zi doesn't care about it now?"
"I don't care anymore, it's just a small matter."
"That's such a pity. Back then, I was stopped by a thief who wanted to search my bag. I had the manuscript in my pocket at the time, so I didn't dare let him search. So, I suddenly had an idea and dived into the pool of water nearby. I dived into the water and pressed the manuscript under a rock at the bottom of the water. Alas, I almost drowned that time."
"Is that so? How come I didn't know about it?"
"Nonsense, don't you think about the relationship between you and me at that time? I remember that day was the day after I opened your mouth. I said to you, Wang the rogue, you didn't set me on fire, did you?"
"Bullshit, I'm not that kind of person. You've offended a lot of people, and who knows who pointed you out?" Wang Lu strongly denied.
"If it's not, then it's not. Why do you feel guilty?"
Nan Yi and Wang Lu were playing with each other, keeping the noise from the dance hall outside the small table.
On the stage, Lao Cui was singing "Careless Whisper" by Wham! with passion.
In April, the band Wham! held the concert "There's Always a Higher Ground - Wham! in China" at the Workers' Stadium. All the old rock stars in Beijing who could attend went. In their words, "We'll never forget that scene. The audience was stunned."
Nan Yi also went that day, with a ticket given by his company. How could he miss such a good opportunity?
You have to know that although the ticket price was five yuan at the time, which young person would not want to join in the fun of such a rare event? The ticket price was raised to forty yuan. Moreover, when listening to the concert, one could also receive a commemorative ticket and a cassette, with the original version of the song by Wham! on the front and the Chinese cover by Cheng Fangyuan on the back.
As soon as Weimeng came, a Weimeng style swept through the capital, and some old rock singers even started to have George Michael hair styles.
"Is Lao Cui performing here?"
"Well, Xiao Cui sang well and asked for a low price, so Lao Ma called him over. But there was one thing that was not right, he only sang foreign songs, not his own stuff."
“There is always a process. Once your understanding of music deepens, you will naturally be able to create your own works.”
Nan Yi remembered that "Nothing at All" should have been something that happened in the past one or two years. Rock music first became original, and then pop music gradually had its own works, no longer just copying others' works.
"Fuck, where are you from?"
"What do you care about me? Are you looking for trouble?"
Bang!
Suddenly, the two groups of people in the dance floor exchanged words, and before the second word came out, someone from one of the groups kicked someone from the other group, and then the two groups started to fight with each other.
Nan Yi turned his head and looked over. It was the group of teenagers he had noticed just now. As expected, the younger they were, the more reckless they were when fighting. If it were some old guys, this fight might not have ended.
"Fuck, ruin my buddy's place."
When Wang Lu saw the dance floor starting, he immediately became furious and felt a sense of responsibility as a major shareholder. He grabbed the beer bottle on the table and rushed to the dance floor.
"Come back. Look at your short legs. Don't let the brats get you in trouble. Tiger cub, just handle it and pull them away."
"yes."
