Recently, Li Yi and Liu Ruyi had become closer because they had never won a game of mahjong with only the two of them in the house.
Mahjong was originally created to relieve their boredom, but the more they played, the more depressed they became. It was not a big deal to lose money, but they had to regain their dignity. Miss.Liu was more competitive than him, and she would not allow herself to lose to others in any aspect. So recently, the game at home had not stopped.
Then, the two of them lost more and more.
Li Yi finally understood what was going on in a gambler's mind. It was no wonder that so many people had lost everything because of gambling since ancient times. This was a road of no return.
He thought he had the home advantage. Ruyi and the others had just started playing mahjong, and it would take them a long time to familiarize themselves with the game. However, the Goddess of Fortune only cared about Xiao Huan and Ruyi. He and Miss.Liu had never received the Goddess's blessing.
It was indeed a must-kill weapon for middle-aged and elderly women. Within two days, a second set of mahjong appeared in the house. After dinner, the women who were idle at home played mahjong for the whole afternoon.
Old Fang and the others were busy renovating the stoves for each family. After Mrs. Fang came to the kitchen to take a look, she no longer mentioned the matter of Old Fang smashing the stoves. She played mahjong with a few other women and estimated that they would be able to have dinner the next day. After cooking, the kang was warm and comfortable. This glutton finally did something reliable.
When Li Yi came back from outside, he saw a few women in front of the house from afar. The sounds of "eating" and "banging" were incessant. Two elderly women shook their heads and sighed at the degeneration of morals in the world. How did the originally diligent wives suddenly become lazy women? The children waved their arms and cried out that they were hungry, but the mothers only cared about grabbing the wooden blocks. When the children cried out that they were hungry, the mothers threw a few copper coins to the children to buy food …
In the past, such women would have been driven back to their parents' homes …
Living in this world was not just for food and clothing, but also for entertainment. The emergence of mahjong had undoubtedly opened the door to a new world for the women in the stronghold. They had found spiritual sustenance. As for whether or not they would become addicted to it, they did not have to worry too much.
It was just for the novelty of playing mahjong for a few days. After the novelty wore off, mahjong could only be reduced to an ornament in daily life. People who were used to living a hard life would not be idle all the time.
For example, Old Man Sun had become busier and busier recently.
Li Yi had just returned from the brothel. While Oldman Sun was not around, he and Ruoqing spent a long time talking about recruiting performers and expanding their business.
A medium-sized brothel had been rebuilt outside the city. According to Li Yi, it was more appropriate to call it a theater.
Building such a thing was different from building a house. It was the same as building a shack. The place that had been built in a few days was sturdy and sturdy, far better than other crudely built brothels. It would definitely not collapse under the weight of heavy snow again.
As for actors, since this model was still in the experimental stage, they had only recruited twenty of them for the time being. Li Yi and Wan Ruoqing had discussed it and decided that a medium-sized theater should have twenty actors. It would not only satisfy the performance requirements, but it would also be easier to manage.
Living at the bottom of society, it was common for them to not have enough to eat. No one could refuse a fixed monthly salary of 500 copper coins. At first, those performers thought that Oldman Sun was lying to them. After a short moment of shock, they seemed to be afraid that Oldman Sun would change his mind, so they immediately pressed their fingerprints on the contract.
In addition to the salary, the content of the contract also required them not to spread what they learned here. Everyone understood this. For people like them, this was something to eat. If others learned it, they would be the ones starving to death.
No one dared to violate the contract. Even if this was brought to the government, it would count. It was definitely a place that they could not afford to offend.
Stage plays were still very unfamiliar to those newly recruited performers. After listening to Li Yi's suggestion, Oldman Sun and the others pondered for a long time before they came up with it. These people had no experience, so they still needed to go through some training before they could officially take up the job.
Although "The Painted Skin" was still popular, it was obviously not as popular as before. The next one to be put on the big stage would be "A Chinese Ghost Story". Unlike the former, which relied on horror to attract people, stories like romance and the female ghost scholar would probably be more attractive to men in this era.
This was especially true for scholars. Every single one of them had fantasized about various romantic affairs, such as spending the spring night with a fox immortal or a beautiful female ghost. Eighty percent of the supernatural novels on the market had such a plot, and it was still the mainstream of the market.
It was a group of ancient losers who liked to fantasize. If their fantasies were fulfilled, they would not be afraid of not "generously" …
Oh right, I still have to find time to copy a few more stories. Why don't I take out the complete Liao Zhai novel and make it into a series …
…
…
Li Yi lay comfortably in the huge bathtub. Actually, the ancient people also knew how to enjoy themselves. If the bathtub was covered with a lid, could it be called a sauna?
In the middle of winter, there was nothing more comfortable than soaking in a warm room with a hot bath.
If there was, then there would be a pair of soft hands constantly massaging your shoulders while you were soaking in the bath. The tiredness of the day would be dispelled.
Xiao Huan's massage skills were becoming more and more skillful. Li Yi secretly condemned this kind of luxurious and decadent life in his heart. He was incomparably disgusted with feudal hedonism.
He opened his eyes and glanced at the door through the mist. Xiao Huan had gone out to get hot water. Why wasn't she back yet …
Creak …
The door was pushed open, and he could vaguely see a figure carrying a bucket of water in. Li Yi closed his eyes in satisfaction.
Footsteps came from behind him. Warm water was poured into the bathtub. Just as the servant girl was about to leave, Li Yi called out to her without opening his eyes.
"Wait a moment, help massage the young master's shoulders again."
The footsteps paused, and a moment later, a pair of soft hands were placed on his shoulders.
He felt that Xiao Huan's skills this time had improved quite a bit. He remembered that when he was shopping previously, the servant girl stared at a bracelet in Golden Jade Lane for a long time. He would buy it for her tomorrow …
As he massaged, Li Yi began to feel strange.
No matter how fast the servant girl's skills in massaging the shoulders improved, it was impossible for her to reach Ruyi's level in less than a quarter of an hour.
Moreover, the familiar chatter by his ear was gone, and there was no longer any pleading for him to continue telling her the story that she had not finished.
Just when he was about to turn his head to take a look, a familiar voice sounded.
"Husband, the water seems to be a little cold. Do you want to add some hot water?"
This was Ruyi's voice.
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