Quite a crowd had gathered at the entrance of Joy Grand Theater, all peering at the job posting that was displayed. They engaged in lively discussions with each other, remarking on the notice.
"Yixiang Courtyard is hiring? And they’re open to men and women of all ages? That’s quite amusing, haha."
"What Yixiang Courtyard? Haven’t you read the sign? Yixiang Courtyard has been renamed to Joy Grand Theater and will officially open on the first of next month."
"Why would they hire men and women of all ages, though? I can understand men and women for manual labor and maid duties, but what use would the elderly and children have? Haha."
"Just come to the opening and see for yourself."
Despite the large turnout, not a single applicant came forward; after all, the Joy Grand Theater was formerly a brothel, and people would rather work in restaurants or similar places than in an establishment associated with pleasure and romance.
Inside the Joy Grand Theater, the madam entered the room with a dejected look, "Madam boss."
"No one has come forward to apply."
...Xiaoxiao frowned, even she had not anticipated difficulties in this area, guessing that people probably didn’t trust the change.
Then, she broke into a smile, remembering how she alone managed to support the venue in the previous days. And now with so many others, although she knew some of the credit was due to selling ’first nights’, she said, "Then let’s not recruit."
"But..." The madam was puzzled.
"It’s okay, we have plenty of people here, don’t worry."
With that, the madam stopped questioning. Surely the boss lady had a plan.
"By the way, what’s your surname?" she inquired.
The madam, though taken aback by the question, answered with her surname, "Tian."
"Well, everyone will call you Manager Tian from now on. Let’s drop the title ’madam’, as this is no longer a brothel. Right, you’ve changed the girls’ names too, right? Let’s all make a fresh start."
"Thank you, Madam boss." The madam was moved and expressed her gratitude. The girls would surely be thrilled to hear the news.
In fact, the girls from Yixiang Courtyard weren’t lacking in skills; they could all sing and dance, and each could play a few tunes on the zither, for they had to rely on these talents to charm the guests. Therefore, Xiaoxiao didn’t need to teach them much as they were quick learners. Xiaoxiao would just sing modern songs, and some of the more talented among them would be able to write their own music or choreograph dances.
Hence, Xiaoxiao wasn’t worried about the performances in this aspect at all. The intent to hire was mainly to find people who could tell jokes or perform skits and male actors for duet singing.
Since they couldn’t find anyone to hire, these acts could be delayed to a later time. However, after Xiaoxiao explained the situation to everyone, to her complete surprise, the male servants volunteered eagerly to participate in the performances, and even the maids wanted to try singing.
"Madam boss, do you think we could do it?"
Xiaoxiao’s eyes suddenly gleamed with excitement. She had forgotten about these people, focusing only on the girls. It seemed anyone could be a hidden talent, "Yes, absolutely. Let’s work together and get the Grand Theater up and running."
Over the following days, Xiaoxiao took rehearsals seriously with everyone. Actually, Xiaoxiao wasn’t skilled in everything, with just a superficial understanding. She could sing some songs, perform a couple duets, dance a few social dances, and had watched several classic comedy skits. As for how well they could perform, that was something Xiaoxiao couldn’t predict and would depend on everyone’s intuition.
Xiaoxiao had already decided that, if all else failed, they would just perform songs, dances, and large choruses.
But to her surprise, everyone turned out to be quite perceptive and even developed a style distinct from the modern one, which brought relief to Xiaoxiao. At the very least, the Grand Theater could open as planned.