Li Yaoyang watched the ups and downs of the Northern Love Casino, and finally felt a sense of sadness for the dead rabbit and the fox.

He thought of the 'Deep Blue Building' and the ambitious 'Cloud Casino', will it end up like the Northern Ireland Casino?

Everyone will have the emotion of gain and loss, and it will not be because you have money that this emotion will not come, but having money will make you face this emotion more calmly.

And Li Yaoyang's choice is to ignore it, for him, the only thing to do in this situation is to wait, and when the general environment improves, the money will naturally come back.

Before that, he was more focused on his career.

The Atlantic Theater Center has been presenting "The Sound of Music" twice a week, with sold-out performances, and on other days there are classics such as "The Phantom of the Opera."

For Atlantic City residents and visitors alike, the Atlantic Theater Center is a must-see, and a classic play in the gardens is an absolute treat.

On this day, after Li Yaoyang inspected the theater, he saw Xiao Er coming over with a Chinese with long braids.

The Chinese man was hunched up, looking flattering, and looking like a thief, which left a not very good first impression.

"Brother Yang~"

"Well, you're done with it over there?"

"I just sent a batch away, and the sales of 'Bison' are so good that the supply exceeds demand."

"After all, it's a new wine, and the taste is up to the appetite of the ugly people."

"Yes, by the way, Brother Yang, let me introduce to you, this is the coat of our relatives in the distant part of the capital, just call him Fugui'er."

Yo? Coating? Is this a living coating?

Li Yaoyang thought it was very interesting, he had only seen Baoyi on TV before, but he really hadn't seen anyone alive.

What is Baoyi, as the name suggests, Baoyi is a slave, one of the slaves of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty.

However, although they were slaves, they were also an important part of the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and there were many people who were born as officials and concubines in the Qing Dynasty, and their names went down in history.

Mr. Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of Red Mansions", has a family that is Baoyi; Emperor Jiaqing's biological mother, Empress Xiaoyichun, was also born in Baoyi, and after being favored, her family was raised and incorporated into the inner collar.

"Baoyi slave" is "family-born slave", and "family-born slave" is the translation of Manchu "Baoyi Ahha".

Translated into Chinese, "Aha" means "house slave", or "slave", hence the exclusive title of "clothed slave".

Just by looking at the word "minions", you can see that these people are not of high status, and the clothed minions only exist in the Manchurian Eight Banners system.

According to the system of the Qing Dynasty, "Baoyi" was not an independent part of the Eight Banners, but attached to the flag where his master was located.

Among them, the coats of the upper three banners are all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and are specially used to serve the royal family; The Lower Five Banners are the princes and nobles who belong to the Lower Five Banners.

The women of the Shangsanqi Baoyi family are going to participate in the palace maid draft, and they are also an important part of the palace maids of the Qing Dynasty.

Under normal circumstances, the male Baoyi will serve as the official of the mansion, and the female Baoyi will serve as the maid of the mansion, and they will not have the ups and downs and twists and turns that can change their fate in this life.

But if you are not careful, you will anger the prince or the nobles of the clan, and you will be charged with killing your head, and your life will be much more miserable than the clothes of the three banners.

There are generally three sources of coated minions:

First, in times of war, people who raided other tribes forced them to become their own slaves, and these slaves were used as trophies of war, which could be bought and sold and killed at will, and their status was very low;

The second is the "family child", the father or mother of the family is the slave of the flag family, after giving birth to the child, the child will also become the slave of the family, extending the inheritance, and being a slave from generation to generation;

The last type is that the common family is poor, to the point of selling children and daughters, and after the children are bought by others, they become clothed slaves.

Although these clothed minions had a very low status and were at the behest of their masters, they also had the advantage that they were closer to the powerful upper circles and could speak better.

Although with their masters, they are lowly minions.

But for people outside the circle, these well-mixed clothed minions are the object of competition among outsiders, and it is easier to earn a wealth than those with ordinary status.

After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, in order to strengthen the centralization of power and stabilize his rule, the emperor was more Manchu-centered when appointing officials.

At the same time, the clothed minions were deeply trusted by their masters, not only to have the household registration of the banner people, but also to have the opportunity to participate in politics, participate in the imperial examinations, and even become high-ranking officials.

In fact, it is not uncommon for nobles to be born as slaves, such as the corrupt official He Shen, the general Nian Qianyao, and even Emperor Yongzheng's mother, Concubine Wu Ya, is also an authentic cloth.

Of course, not all coated minions have such good opportunities, and most of them are still doing some servant or heavy and complicated work, just like ordinary subordinates.

It can be seen that the low status of the clothed minions is only relative, for the royal family and princely ministers, they may be just some minions, but for ordinary Han people, the baoyi minions are more than a little higher than them in terms of status because they have the household registration of the banner people.

Therefore, although the coated minions have the name of "minions", in terms of identity, they are not at the bottom.

Among the celebrities who came from Baoyi, the most famous should be Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of Red Mansions".

Although Cao Xueqin was born in Baoyi, some of his ancestors served as the emperor's attendants, and some of his fathers held official positions.

In addition, there is also Gao Bin, a bachelor who is deeply appreciated by Qianlong, Gao Bin was originally born in Shangsanqi, but he is extremely talented, so he was appreciated by Qianlong, and Gao Bin's daughter has become the most favored concubine.

In general, Bao Yi is a minion, but as long as the master's family is right, you can't treat people as slaves.

Of course, many large families follow the example of princes and nobles to raise clothes at home, which is actually a manifestation of elevating their status.

"Brother Yang, my name is Fugui'er, it's really a pleasure to meet you!" He clenched his fists and bowed to the end, his posture extremely low.

"You're welcome, have something to do with me?"

If it's okay, Xiao Er won't bring him to see him.

Fuguier didn't know whether to say it directly, so she had to look at Xiao Er for help.

"That's right, Brother Yang, my distant relative is a Peking Opera actor, he just finished the performance of the Neon Empire Theater last year, and he aims to promote the art of Peking Opera to the world. The second is to look at us who we haven't seen for a long time. ”

After a pause, Xiao Er said embarrassedly:

"But we don't know any of that, so we're here to ask you for help."

Li Yaoyang smiled:

"It's right to find me, I'll arrange it for you, but who is your distant relative?"

"Count it as my distant cousin, called Mei Lan."

Boast~ A bolt of lightning slashed in his head, Mei Lan? It can't be such a coincidence, right? Is it really Master Mei?

Could it be that his ugly country debut is going to be advanced?

"Your ancestors sang Peking Opera?"

Xiao Er nodded:

"That's right, there were ancestors of my family when Hui Ban'er entered Beijing."

"Okay~"

It should have been a real hammer, and then he became excited.

Every era has its own superstars, and in this era, Master Mei Lanmei is the greatest emperor superstar.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly said to Xiao Er:

"Please come and bring the performance team, and if there is a chance, I hope they can complete a wonderful performance in the ugly country."

"Huh? This..."

Originally, Mei Lan only planned to come to inspect by herself, and she didn't want to perform at all, but when Li Yaoyang said this, he obviously had the idea of funding.

Since this is the case, Xiao Er nodded slightly:

"Okay, let Fugui'er take the words back, but how to decide depends on my cousin's own meaning, he has a good idea, of course, the play is really good."

"Well, tell your master, I am willing to give out 20 gold bars, and invite him and his team to come to the ugly country, teach these ghosts who have never seen the world a good lesson, and tell them what real art is!"

Fugui'er didn't care about 3721, and agreed first, 20 gold bars are enough to catch up with twice the previous quotation.

"Thank you, thank you, Brother Yang."

"Thank you, I like Peking Opera very much, and I really want to see Peking Opera carried forward."

If Maestro May can make his debut at the Atlantic City Theater Center, he will definitely go down in history.

"Let's go, let's have some food and drink together." Li Yaoyang was in a good mood and sent out an invitation.

Fuguier was flattered and hurriedly agreed.

As soon as he entered the luxurious Pacific Hotel, he was completely blindsided, and he had never seen such a luxurious place.

That's all there is to the palace, right?

Of course, the imperial palaces in China are still very different from Western-style palaces.

Although I also like to use gold, it is not tacky.

The Western decorative style is suitable for the eye-catching appreciation, and it is easy to get tired of it in the long run, and it is easy to blind the eyes.

Entering the box, facing the scantily clad beautiful waitress, the rich and noble children all flowed out, which had never seen the world.

If he met outside, he was afraid that he would be able to misunderstand how poor these young ladies were, and their clothes were so economical in fabric.

During the meal, I talked about the story of Master Mei before he became famous.

There is an unwritten rule popular in the opera industry, that is, "one day is a teacher, and a lifetime is respected".

Whether it is a famous actor or a famous person, whenever he mentions his mentor, he is all respectful and deeply grateful.

Although they have a prominent position and a good reputation, even though their teachers have beaten them up in the past, treated them harshly, and even ridiculed and belittled them with mean words, they don't care about their past suspicions. And this fine inheritance has a lot to do with Master Mei.

When Master Mei was 8 years old, he was introduced to a Peking Opera predecessor surnamed Zhu and wanted to join his disciple to learn opera.

The young Mei Lan was a little disappointed because of her gray eyes and lack of luster, but because of the face of the introducer and the difficulty of shirking, she reluctantly accepted Mei Lan as an "apprentice".

The next day, Mr. Zhu made a few eye demonstrations for Mei Lan to follow, but Mei Lan's eyes were dull and dull, and she had no aura, so she concluded that this pair of "dead fish eyes" were incorrigible.

Mr. Zhu then taught him to sing with the Kunqu opera "Sifan", the first two sentences are not difficult, Mr. Zhu taught more than a dozen times, Mei Lanfen still sang absurdly out of tune, extremely unpleasant.

In the end, Mr. Zhu scolded him and asked him to go home, and asserted, "Master Zu didn't reward you with a job, you don't have the fate to eat this meal."

Due to family reasons, after returning home, Mei Lan continued to study drama under another gentleman surnamed Qiao.

Under the guidance of Qiao Shi, he studied hard and practiced hard, as if he had opened his mind, shouted at the altar every day, looked at the flying pigeon to practice his eyes, looked at the ancient paintings and learned the shape, sang songs on the wall, and finally practiced the art through some hard practice, and was famous in China.

One day after Master Mei became famous, that Teacher Zhu also came to see his play, and was taken aback by it, and went backstage to apologize to him in shame.

Mei Lan did not refrain from cutting, but fell to her knees on the ground and said:

"Master, you must not say that, if you hadn't scolded me at the beginning, maybe I wouldn't be where I am today!"

Then he asked Mr. Zhu's address, and the next day he came to visit with a gift.

For many years after that, he went to seek advice from his profession, and took care of and honored Mr. Zhu in many ways in life and economy until the old gentleman died.

Mei Lan learned drama at the age of 8, appeared on stage at the age of 10, and became famous at the age of 14.

His fame started with the wealthy businessman Niu Zihou. Niu Zihou loves Peking Opera, and has a lot of research on Peking Opera.

In 1901, Niu Zihou celebrated his mother's birthday and specially invited the "Four Happiness Class" in the capital to perform.

Niu Zihou talked with Ye Chunshan, a veteran of civil and military affairs, and proposed to set up an opera "class", and Mr. Ye Chunshan recruited apprentices in the capital and took turns acting in the capital and outside the Guan.

Ye Chunshan agreed very much, and after returning to Beijing, he set up a troupe, taking one word from each of Niu Zihou's three sons Xigui, Liangui, and Chenggui, and collectively named the troupe "Xiliancheng" class.

Ye Chunshan has superb acting skills and is a decent person, and he carefully cultivates his disciples, so that the "Xi Liancheng" troupe quickly became famous in Beijing.

The young Mei Lan was also learning drama in the troupe, and his name was Mei Xiqun at that time.

His grandfather Mei Qiao is one of the famous "Thirteen Uniques of Tongguang", Mei Lan has been influenced by art since childhood.

Mei Lan came to the famous "Xi Liancheng" class, humbly asked for advice, practiced hard, and won Ye Chunshan's love.

In 1908, Ye Chunshan led the "Xi Liancheng" class to perform outside the Guan, Niu Zihou noticed that Danjiao Meilan had a deep foundation and a lofty spirit, so he asked Ye Chunshan about Meilan's origin.

Knowing that he was born in a family of artists and brought art into the class, Niu Zihou instructed Ye Chunshan to cultivate more.

Ye Chunshan intentionally or unintentionally arranged for the 14-year-old Mei Lan to play the green snake in "The Legend of the White Snake" in the future.

Niu Zihou thought that Mei Xiqun's stage name was not bright enough, so he changed his name to "Mei Lan" and did a lot of publicity work, which made the name "Mei Lan" an instant hit and widely spread among fans.

On the way back to the capital from outside the Guan, Mei Lan was warmly welcomed, and people rushed to see the style of the popular celebrity.

When she returned to the capital, Mei Lanfang had become a smash hit Peking Opera celebrity.

In general, Master Mei's road to fame is not bumpy, geniuses always show their demeanor at a young age, and Master Mei is the same!

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.