It was a slightly cool autumn night. Lin Jue was sitting at the desk under the long window wearing a long coat, and Lu Wu was standing beside her. Both of them were looking at a piece of paper about a foot square spread out on the table. There are densely written words on it, in small regular script, and there are red handprints on the bottom.
"Sir, are you saying that you have made a contract with Miss Xie and Aunt Xie to become one of the owners of the newly opened theater?" Lu Wu asked softly.
"Yes, Xie Danhong and Xie Yingying met with me yesterday at Chunlai Tea House. They agreed with my suggestion to turn Wangyue Tower into a grand theater. They asked me to write a storybook for them. In exchange, I became one of the shareholders .Xie Danhong invested in the real estate of Wangyue Tower, Xie Yingying invested in with her talent and fame, and I had nothing to offer, only the stories in my head. The three of us each held 30% of the shares, and the remaining 10% was used as a bonus, and the accounts were settled at the end of the year Divide it equally among everyone." Lin Jue smacked his lips and said.
"Master, have you agreed?"
"I have no reason to disagree. In fact, we are very short of money now. The more than three hundred taels of silver last time are almost gone."
Lu Wu frowned and said, "Yes, there are only eighty taels left. Sister Qiurong gave her dozens of taels when she left. Last time Miss Fang fell ill, she spent a lot on hiring the evil-hearted Doctor Zhao. Later, It cost me dozens of taels to buy some supplements to nourish her. You also spent dozens of taels to go to the academy. Xiaohu’s salary, we bought all kinds of things and miscellaneous things. We are really extravagant. More than three hundred taels of silver is enough for an ordinary family to spend for ten years. Alas!"
Lin Jue smiled and stretched out his hand to squeeze her hand and said: "But we are not ordinary people. I am not greedy for money, but we can't spend it if we don't have money. It's not enough to rely on the little money given by the house every month. If you want to study, you need to To take part in the imperial examination, you need to eat, wear clothes, make friends, and travel. All of these require money."
"I also want to marry a wife and have children." Lu Wu added with a wink.
Lin Jue laughed heartily, pulled Lu Wu over and sat on his lap, kissed her on the mouth and said, "Do you want to get married?"
Lu Wu blushed and twisted her body and said, "I don't know. Young men always want to marry. It's obvious that Miss Fang likes you very much. Her family background is good, she's well-educated and courteous, and she's good-natured." She is so beautiful. She is a good match for the young master. It is a pity that she is sick. It would be better if she could be cured."
Lin Jue smiled and said: "You are quite worried. But you are right, all of this costs money, and it is a large amount of money. Counting on the family owner is unreliable, so I have to find a way to earn money." Money makes the difference. I naturally have to agree to this matter now."
"But... Young Master is not afraid of losing his reputation? After all... after all... they are..." Lu Wu bit her lower lip and muttered.
Lin Jue smiled and said, "What's wrong with them? Aren't they human beings? The Lin family's family rules cannot keep up with the times, and they still restrict their children with the old age. The head of the family doesn't know what he thinks. Even the King of Liang opened two brothels outside. , To say that reputation is damaged, King Liang’s reputation is much greater than mine. He is not afraid of me but he cares about the damage to reputation? A gentleman loves money and gets it in a wise way. Wangyue Tower is not a brothel anymore. It’s all serious acting and selling money, so what’s there to be afraid of?”
"That's right. They don't open brothels anymore. That means they have become good. I don't know if this theater can make money. Do you think it can make money?" Lu Wu nodded and asked.
Lin Jue said: "Let me ask you, if you have spare money and are bored, would you like to spend a small amount of money to watch a play like Du Shiniang?"
"It depends on how much it costs. I won't be able to bear it if it's too much."
Lin Jue smiled and said, "If it were you, how much would you spend?"
Lu Wu thought about it seriously and said, "Maybe fifty cents. No, no, no... twenty cents, never more than thirty cents. Thirty cents can almost buy a bucket of rice."
Lin Jue chuckled and said: "A stingy person like you can only offer this price. Well, just as you said, it's 30 cents per person. After the Wangyue Building is renovated, the partition rooms can be opened, and four or five people can sit there."
Hundreds of people, right? Even if 70% of the seats are occupied, and there are 300 ordinary spectators in one session, that is an income of nine taels of silver."
"Nine taels of silver, that's not much."
"Listen to me and continue to tell you. Ordinary people are naturally only willing to pay a small amount of money to sit in ordinary seats, but rich people are not willing to sit in ordinary seats. They would rather spend more money and sit in the nearest place where no one will disturb them.
Enjoy specialized services. So, set up ten private rooms in the best location of the theater, and each private room costs five taels of silver per performance. How much is that?"
"Fifty taels!" Lu Wu's eyes widened.
"Okay, I haven't played it yet. Tea is free during the theater, but it costs money to eat good tea, snacks, crack melon seeds, and drink sugar water. You can sell these snacks in the theater.
Although the thing is inconspicuous, after one game, you still have to make a profit of three, five, seven or eight taels, right? Let’s calculate it in terms of five taels of silver. So, what is the total gross profit after one game? "
"Nine taels plus fifty taels plus five taels..." Lu Wu counted on her fingers.
"Sixty-four taels?" Lu Wu shouted.
Lin Jue smiled and said: "Sixty-four taels per game, how much is a month?"
Lu Wu performed some complicated calculations, and finally exclaimed: "One thousand nine hundred and twenty taels? That much?"
"What about one year?" Lin Jue smiled and asked.
"...Young Master, please spare Lu Wu. Lu Wu can't figure it out."
"Twelve months, that's twenty-three thousand and forty taels." Lin Jue said.
"Wow! So much, you can actually earn so much in a year." Lu Wu was shocked.
"Wrong, this is gross profit only. Labor and other expenses are included in it. Twenty people in Wangyue Tower have agreed to join the theater. How about ten taels of silver per person a month? Is this salary fair?"
"Ten taels? Of course that's fair. This couldn't be more fair. Usually three or four taels a month is pretty good." Lu Wu shouted.
"Okay, those ten taels should be enough. One person per year is one hundred and twenty taels, and twenty people are 2,400 taels. After manual excision, there are still more than 21,000 taels. After some props and costumes are removed,
The miscellaneous expenses such as food and clothing for the musicians and dancers are calculated as 5,000 taels, and the net profit is still 15,000 taels. Each of them takes 30%, and the shareholders can get 4,500 taels a year. In other words, we have at least 4,500 taels a year.
You can get this amount in return. Do you think it’s less or more?” Lin Jue said with a smile.
"Needless to say? This is a lot. Four thousand five hundred taels, my God. This is endless." Lu Wu stuck out her little tongue and exclaimed.
Lin Jue waved his hand and said: "Don't be busy, that's not all. I only said one scene a day, and one scene can last an hour at most. You can at least perform one in the afternoon and one in the evening a day. Hmm... the actors will be overwhelmed.
, then we need to recruit another group of people to build a team. In short, two games a day are the norm. In this case, the income will be doubled, which will be nine thousand taels a year."
Lu Wu was speechless. Nine thousand taels was money that she would never earn in her lifetime. The young master said it as if he was joking, which made Lu Wu feel a little excited and unbelievable.
"Also, the price is a bit low. It can be lower at the beginning. After all, it is necessary to attract them to come and form a habit. Later, the price can be increased, at least one hundred cents per ticket. There should also be more private seats, maybe on the second floor.
Open it up and build a ring-shaped box. If you calculate this, the number of orders can be doubled or tripled. In the future, when you become famous, you can open a semi-colon. Hangzhou, Jiangning, Suzhou, and Beijing can all have grand theaters. The benefits..."
Lin Juewu was talking to himself about future plans, and Lu Wu's mind was completely confused. The young master's three times and two times calculation, to Lu Wu's ears, it was like a mountain of white money.
The house is floating, and Green Dance is going crazy.
"Stop talking, sir, don't talk anymore, Lu Wu has fainted. Lu Wu no longer knows where he is." Lu Wu shouted, waving her delicate hands.
Lin Jue laughed loudly and said, "You're worthless, are you stupid?"
Lu Wu said: "Young master's brain is very useful. Have you told Miss Xie and the others about these things?"
Lin Jue smiled, took Lu Wu off his lap, and asked her to stand aside. He reached out and took out a stack of paper from the drawer under the desk.
"When I go to the academy tomorrow, you will send this plan to Miss Xie and the others for me. Tell them to follow what is written on it. I have written down everything such as private rooms, tea, snacks, campaigning, etc., and they will follow it.
Just do it. Oh, by the way, there is also the revision of the Newspeak version. Tell them that I will go find them when the college has a school break the day after tomorrow."
"When did Young Master write these? Why didn't I know? I didn't see you writing these when you came back from the academy." Lu Wu asked in surprise.
"Today Mr. Xue Manzi from the academy...well...Mr. Xue was not here. There were sheep grazing in the school, so I went to the small pavilion in the woods to write these. I know this delayed my studies a bit, but it's nothing. Remember tomorrow morning
It will definitely be delivered.”
…
For several days in a row, the girls from Wangyue Tower appeared in the bustling streets of Hangzhou City. They distributed leaflets written one after another, which indicated the opening time of Jiangnan Grand Theater and opening discounts and various VIP discounts.
, annual cards, monthly tickets, etc. were all written on that flyer. Originally, the oiran was not an oiran, but the matter of Wangyue Building being converted into a theater was already aroused, and now it is even more lively.
There are millions of people in Hangzhou, but only more than 100,000 people attended the Oiran Competition that night. And only more than 10,000 people were able to enjoy the performance of "Du Shiniang" up close. But the mouths of more than 10,000 people were enough
The excitement of the play that night was spread. What’s more, the re-enactment of "Du Shiniang" this time is said to have added an Easter egg at the end to explain the fate of the subsequent characters. It is said to be very satisfying, so everyone who has seen it but not yet will be moved.
