Ah Yong was quite capable; after the dance hall was renovated, he began to take care of the opening.
In mid-March, he gathered his local gangster friends together and officially opened his business.
The name of the dance hall was chosen by Jiang Rou; it was called Lido Dance Hall.
She became the head hostess, while Lin Tao, as the behind-the-scenes boss, maintained an air of mystery.
Two rows of flower baskets were placed at the entrance, and the sound of firecrackers was incessant. He arrived late, just as it was time for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
After the official opening, the young men and women who had been watching bought tickets at the ticket window at the entrance and went inside to dance.
Tickets cost eight yuan each, which isn't cheap, but for young people who have limited entertainment options, this is a place they really want to visit.
Lin Tao had A Yong recruit about ten hostesses, who were now dressed in glamorous outfits and posing provocatively on stage.
The dance hall wasn't luxuriously decorated, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the young people at all.
As soon as it got dark, the dance hall was packed with people.
There was an office on the second floor specifically prepared for Lin Tao. After the singing and dancing, he would entertain some of his underworld friends upstairs.
Soon, he became a well-known figure in the area, known as Boss Pi.
That day, Lin Chen was on his way home from get off work when he passed by the entrance of the nightclub and saw Jiang Rou soliciting customers at the door.
When he got home, he told Jiang Ning about it.
"My colleagues at work mentioned this today, and they even suggested we go out together. But when I heard that it was run by Jiang Rou and her husband, I immediately lost interest."
After Lucy was arrested, Pete disappeared for a while, but unexpectedly, he came back and opened a nightclub.
Jiang Ning chatted with him while folding clothes.
During dinner, Gao Baoliang, who rarely comes over for meals, brought up the matter and couldn't help but complain:
"Jiang Rou doesn't sell clothes anymore, she's started selling smiles now. I forgot to tell you, the shop next to ours has been rented out again, I think it's Jiang Rou's sister, Ma Huiwen."
"Brother Chen, you remember her, right? She's the woman who took me to the guesthouse last time, the one who's been pestering me relentlessly ever since."
Jiang Ning chuckled: "Not bad, you've got some luck with women, but this woman doesn't sound very good!"
As he kept repeating Ma Huiwen's name in his mind, he suddenly remembered that Jiang Rou had mentioned her in a letter to Lin Tao.
She exclaimed, "I remember now, could this Ma Huiwen be Ma Huijuan's sister?"
After thinking it over carefully, Gao Baoliang realized that the two really did look somewhat alike, and he slapped his thigh and exclaimed:
"No wonder I felt uncomfortable whenever she got close."
Lin Chen laughed out loud, recalling how Ma Huijuan had once pursued him.
"What a terrible fate you two have!"
Jiang Ning felt a little uneasy. Ma Huijuan's miscarriage in Chayuan Village and subsequent sweeping away by the flood were truly tragic.
If she finds out about their past grievances with Ma Huijuan, she'll probably cause all sorts of trouble.
"Baoliang, you'd better be careful," Jiang Ning reminded him.
Gao Baoliang's attitude was relaxed: "Let her do whatever she wants. Anyway, if she dares to ruin our business, I won't let her off easy."
After Meng Jiao, he no longer showed any tenderness or compassion towards women.
While the group was chatting, Jiao Jiao spotted someone standing at the gate of the courtyard.
She was wearing a light red plaid coat, her hair was loose and held back with a hair clip, and her expression was a little sad and uneasy.
“Uncle Baoliang, it’s Aunt Mengjiao,” Jiaojiao blurted out with a smile.
The child, unaware that they had broken up, excitedly jumped off the chair to bring Aunt Mengjiao in.
Gao Baoliang quickly stopped her:
"Jiaojiao, you eat well, I'm going out to see her."
He never expected that Meng Jiao would come looking for him a month later.
He used his strong willpower to accept the fact that she was already married and wished her a happy and fulfilling life in the future.
But seeing her sorrowful face, the dead memories still attacked him fiercely.
"Why are you here?" He led Meng Jiao to a corner.
Meng Jiao looked at him, her lips trembling uncontrollably, as if she was about to cry at any moment.
"Baoliang, I didn't mean it, I had no choice, can you forgive me?"
On the day of their date, her mother locked her in the house, and she couldn't go out at all.
When her mother returned, she told her that Gao Baoliang had accepted a job within the system and was forcing her to marry Li Jiabao.
Under double pressure, she was led by her mother to get a marriage certificate with Li Jiabao.
By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late.
On her wedding day, she saw Gao Baoliang completely drunk and finally realized how terribly wrong she had been.
That night, she refused to consummate her marriage with Li Jiabao, agreeing that it would only be a formal marriage.
Li Jiabao didn't say much, only telling her not to do anything out of line, and that he could consider divorce once he climbed the ranks.
Gao Baoliang, unaware of all this, simply sneered and said:
"What's the point of saying all this now? If you don't want to get married, no one is forcing you. Don't blame yourself too much; maybe we're just not meant to be."
He gave up his job as a criminal police officer and traveled thousands of miles to this place, hoping for a good ending.
Unexpectedly, he was still defeated by social class.
Her parents don't approve of them being together, and even if they get married in the future, it will be a mess.
“Go back and live a good life with Li Jiabao. Let’s forget the good old days we had. The older generation’s marriages were all arranged by their parents, and they lived their whole lives like that. We should all look forward…” Gao Baoliang advised her.
Meng Jiao's tears fell, and she wiped them away with her hand.
“Baoliang, I’m so happy to hear you say that. Tell me, why couldn’t we just say what was on our minds before!”
The reason they've ended up like this isn't just because their parents interfered; they also have many problems of their own.
However, it's too late to say all this.
When Meng Jiao left, she asked him:
"Can I come back to see you again in the future?"
Gao Baoliang forced a smile: "Of course, we're still friends."
Meng Jiao walked away gracefully.
After finishing his meal, Gao Baoliang returned to the courtyard house.
The renovation here is basically complete; we're just waiting for the time to move in.
He sat in the room, drinking bottle after bottle of alcohol until he was completely drunk and fell asleep on the bed.
The next day, when he arrived at the wholesale market, it was already past nine o'clock.
I thought the entrance would be packed with people waiting to buy goods, but it was empty.
When asked, the delivery and packing staff at the store all said they didn't know, and no one came to ask.
Throughout the day, he sold more than twenty sets of clothes in his shop, all to individual customers; not a single wholesaler came.
He thought it was because he was late that those people went to other shops to buy goods.
But for the next few days, the shop suddenly lost all its customers.
On the contrary, Ma Huiwen's shop is doing better and better.
He stood at the shop entrance, keeping a close eye on the shop next door, and finally caught a familiar face.
He dragged the man to his door and asked him why he hadn't come to the store to buy goods.
The man trembled violently: "Boss Gao, we dare not! Someone at the door warned us that if we buy goods from you, they'll break our legs."
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