No Performance on Rainy Days
"Mister, our business is getting better!!"
Kong Baosheng spoke excitedly, the frustration of being blocked by the two Door Gods for the past few days swept away in an instant.
On the stairs opposite, Li Qingshan, who had just been woken up, also walked downstairs blankly, completely unaware of what had happened. After hearing Kong Baosheng's description, his eyes also lit up.
"Brother Lin, this is a good thing!"
"...Perhaps."
Chen Ling's expression was incredibly strange.
In Chen Ling's original plan, performing on Stage at the birthday banquet was to clear his identity as "Lin Yan". Appearing simultaneously with [Six of Hearts] would make him absolutely unsuspected, and it would also leave a deep impression on the upper echelons of the Red Dust Domain. This would make it convenient to continue completing other tasks with the identity of a Thespian in the future, such as using an invited Performance as an opportunity to secretly infiltrate a certain consortium or the government...
But he seemed to have underestimated the entertainment media of the Red Dust Domain, and also underestimated the Red Dust Main City residents' fanatical pursuit of entertainment. Overnight, he was inexplicably pushed to the cusp of the entire Red Dust Main City, becoming a red-hot Famous Actor.
"Actually, it's not necessarily a bad thing..." Chen Ling pondered, comforting himself.
As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place. Now that he had become a Famous Actor under the spotlight of the masses, and had just completed clearing his name, absolutely no one would suspect or pay attention to him in the short term. After possessing status and identity, doing many things would be much more convenient.
Moreover, although the Police Officers around the Casino had all been withdrawn now, they had left behind suspicions after all. To be safe, it was best to change the stronghold for the Dusk Society people... And now that he had become a star, carrying massive traffic, Jinghong Theater could completely replace the Casino and become a better alternative stronghold.
As a popular Famous Actor, it would be quite reasonable for him to have a "professional" management team, right?
But the problem now was, how to transfer the Dusk Society's stronghold over without arousing suspicion? And meet up with Jian Changsheng and the others?
"What bad thing?" Kong Baosheng asked, puzzled, "Isn't it a good thing that our Theater House has more customers? Are you worried that there will be too many customers and the Theater House won't be able to seat them all?"
Li Qingshan looked thoughtful, "This problem is actually easy to solve. We just need to control the number of seats released every day so it's not too many. It's best to use an appointment system, or an invitation system... Anyway, in my opinion, the Audience's viewing experience is the most important. At least the Theater House can't be too fully packed."
"Invitation system..."
Hearing these three words, Chen Ling's eyes lit up slightly.
"How about this." Chen Ling pondered for a moment, "Today is our Theater House's first day of business. Baosheng, make a few Invitation Cards and deliver them to the other shops on the street, inviting them to come to Jinghong Theater to listen to a play tonight... As for these customers outside, give them numbers in order. Seat as many as we can tonight."
"Inviting the neighbors for the opening... I think this is a good proposal." Li Qingshan nodded, "As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a near neighbor. If it's our first day Singing, the scene indeed has to be lively. Since we'll all be so close in the future, we can also look out for each other more."
"Understood! I'll go prepare the Invitation Cards right now! And deliver them to their hands one by one."
Kong Baosheng nodded heavily, turning his head and preparing to leave.
"Wait."
Kong Baosheng turned to look at Chen Ling in confusion. He saw the latter looking at the tightly closed Theater House main door, thinking for a long time, before speaking again,
"From now on, Jinghong Theater needs to set a rule."
"What rule?"
"Jinghong Theater won't have plays to listen to every day. If it rains, we will not be open to the public."
"No Performance on Rainy Days?" Kong Baosheng scratched his head, "Although understandable, wouldn't that be too willful for us? It rains every other day here."
Chen Ling smiled helplessly, "Did you forget that the canopy of the Theater House is broken? If it's windy and raining, even if customers sit here, they'll get wet. Since that's the case, it's better not to perform... We'll talk about performing on rainy days after I earn back the money to repair the roof."
Only then did Kong Baosheng remember this matter. Although No Performance on Rainy Days would cause them to lose a lot of performance revenue, there was indeed nothing they could do. After nodding, he went to arrange these things.
The leaking roof was naturally just Chen Ling's excuse.
Although Jinghong Theater's unexpected popularity had become a foregone conclusion, it was impossible for Chen Ling to be here Singing every day. There would always be Dusk Society matters to attend to. Frequently closing the doors and not performing would not only cause conflict with the masses, but if someone with ulterior motives linked the times the doors were closed with the major events happening recently, it would easily arouse unnecessary suspicion.
But if he set this rule of "No Performance on Rainy Days" in advance using the dilapidated roof as an excuse, then even if he frequently closed the doors in the future, it wouldn't arouse suspicion.
In the end, whether it rained or not, wasn't that just a matter of Director Chen writing The Script?
"So we're starting the Performance tonight... Then I need to prepare well." Li Qingshan's brow was full of seriousness, "By the way, Brother Lin, what play are we Singing today?"
Chen Ling thought about it, and still said:
"We'll just Sing... The Butterfly Lovers."
...
Casino.
Jian Changsheng, who hadn't seen the light of day for a long time, finally pulled open the curtains and opened the window. The moment he was bathed in sunlight again, he was so moved he almost shed tears.
"How long has it been since I breathed the air of freedom..." Jian Changsheng couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "Tonight, I can finally get a good night's sleep."
10 of Diamonds also looked down at the Casino main door from the window and asked in confusion:
"Is it because those plainclothes officers all withdrew? Why do I feel like there are exceptionally few customers in the Casino today..."
"It has indeed decreased a lot. Logically speaking, with that cabaret shut down, our foot traffic should have increased instead." 9 of Hearts looked thoughtful, "Where did all these people go?"
"Hey, why are there so many people over there?"
Jian Changsheng saw a huge crowd of figures gathered together on the street not far away, seemingly lining up to receive something, blocking more than half the road.
"I don't know... I remember that used to be an abandoned Theater House, it must have reopened."
"No wonder..."
As the crowd was talking, a knock on the door came from outside. Jian Changsheng's expression froze. He exchanged a glance with the other three Dusk Society members and quietly moved to the door.
"What is it?"
"Supervisor, there's a child downstairs who says he's from the newly opened Theater House across the street."
"A child?" Jian Changsheng was stunned, "What is he here for?"
"He says their Theater House officially opens today, and he's inviting the neighbors on the street to go listen to a play together... He even delivered an Invitation Card." As he spoke, the figure outside the door slipped a piece of paper through the crack.
Jian Changsheng took it and found that it was indeed an Invitation Card, just that the material was very rough. It should be something made in a hurry.
"...Jinghong Theater?" Jian Changsheng murmured out loud upon seeing the signature on the Invitation Card.