Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

night~

Wildfire Bar, 42nd Street, Manhattan.

Mengo, the steel-toothed dog, was sitting at a small table near the door of the bar. He tilted his head and glanced at the "coward" Bai Mike who was constantly "circling" around the bartender Erica. He showed an interesting smile at the corner of his mouth. asked the sweet-dimpled Martha who was walking by in the distance.

"Hey~ Where is that Carmen Hennig selling beef jerky?"

"Why didn't she come over tonight?"

"Cut~"

Sweet-dimpled Martha, feeling bored and helpless, walked to sit down opposite Menge, crossed her legs and glanced around the few tables of customers in the bar, shrugged.

"When I woke up in the afternoon, she was busy doing something in the kitchen..."

"So I knocked on the door out of curiosity and took a look. I found that she was actually in the kitchen, chopping meat with a large kitchen knife."

"I asked her: Can't you just buy some beef mince?"

"She replied: Black Mike likes to eat hand-made meat fillings and wrapped pies the most..."

"Hahaha~" Menge, the steel-toothed dog, laughed and shook his head.

"It seems that Black Mike will be tamed by women just like his brother White Mike!"

"Ok?"

Sweet-dimpled Martha fiddled with her short skirt with her hands, tilted her head and squinted at Menge the steel-toothed dog's shining front teeth, and asked with a precise accent.

"tame?"

"Are you jealous?"

"No, no, no!"

"how is this possible?"

"Haha~" Sweet Dimple Martha didn't believe his unbelievable "nonsense" and sighed to herself.

"I will never be able to be like Carmen in this life..."

"Hmmmm~"

Menge, the steel-toothed dog, picked up his wine glass, took a sip and said with a smile, "Your luck is not as good as Susan's."

"luck?"

The sweet-dimpled Martha seemed to be "stimulated" by this word, and her expression became a little lonely and she smiled bitterly.

"Did you know~ I once asked Susan why she chose to come to New York!?"

"She said: If she continues to stay in her hometown and live in a home that makes her feel scared and depressed all the time, she will definitely go crazy~"

"So, she made the right choice between continuing to live a life of resignation and surrender, or escaping from that cage of fear and coming to New York to try her luck!"

"Even if... she was attacked and died inexplicably on the streets of New York, or could only be a homeless person begging on the street, it still gives people a glimmer of hope far more than her mother's life~"

"..." Menge, the steel-toothed dog, knew something about what happened to Susan and her mother, Sarah.

He said with great emotion that Susan could now meet David and successfully change the fate of himself and his family.

"Actually, when Mike Bai and I were young and living in the Bronx, we were also puzzled by the helpless choices of many adults."

"It wasn't until we grew up that we gradually discovered that we were not hit by a truck driving crazy, shot by a group of crazy bank robbers, or knocked down in a dark alley by a drunkard in a bar with a knife. , has been the greatest luck in our growth..."

"By the way, I still don't know where you are from?"

Sweet-dimple Martha immediately picked up the tray warily: "Why do you ask this?"

"Forehead.."

Menge looked at her overreaction, raised his hands and smiled: "It's nothing, we are just chatting!"

"...Hmph! You don't need to know!"

"ok~ok!"

Menge looked at Martha holding the tray to her chest and suddenly uttered a sentence without thinking.

"Otherwise... how about you staying with me?"

"what?"

Martha immediately jumped up on the spot, frowned and stared at Menge for a while, then said with a strange expression.

"Tsk~ It's not impossible!"

"only.."

"Can you afford me?"

Menge subconsciously scratched his head and asked, "Okay... right!?"

"Hehe~"

Martha sat down again, looked at Menge with great interest, and raised three fingers: "3000 yuan a month for living expenses + buy me clothes, cosmetics and pocket money..."

"I want to have my own car, a second-hand Cadillac will do, it doesn't have to be too good~"

"The house... you can rent it in the apartment upstairs for the time being. There is no need to buy it again."

"correct!"

"I also want to go out for a big meal every weekend, preferably to a standard like the lobster set meal at Wildfire Restaurant~"

"and also.."

"Cough cough cough!!" Menge, the steel-toothed dog, quickly interrupted Martha's "whimsical thoughts" with a dry cough and pointed at the two drinkers who had just walked in.

"Well... we will talk about this later, you go and do your work first..."

"Hahahaha`~"

Seeing the embarrassment on Mengo's face, the sweet-dimpled Martha laughed and gave him a middle finger, stood up and left.

Menge sat where he was, feeling a little weak and sighing, and couldn't help but be amused by his "ridiculous" idea.

. . .

The night is getting darker.

The business of Wildfire Bar is still tepid.

Mengo went to the bathroom to solve the problem of draining the water. When he pulled up his pants and walked out, he found Far Pocchivino from the auxiliary police office lying on the bar asking Erica something.

He limped over curiously, said hello to him, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh~ hey, man!"

"How could I forget you!"

Farr smiled at Menge, who had a puzzled look on his face, picked up a piece of note paper, and explained: "Please help me take a look ~ Have you seen this pattern anywhere?"

"...?" Menge took the note paper, looked at the simple half pattern + the word "aptain" on it, and shook his head.

"What is this? Is it another new word?"

"no!"

Far waved his hand to Erica, took Menge to sit in a corner with five people, and briefly told him about today's action and the origin of the clues on this note.

After Menge listened, he picked up the note paper again and looked at it for a while, frowned and thought about it, and said with some uncertainty.

"I think I saw it in a nightclub over in Brooklyn..."

"What's the name of that nightclub?" Farr asked in surprise.

"It's called...um..."

Menge scratched his head vigorously, trying to find the key scene in his memory, and said hesitantly.

"It seems to be called Captain Black Hat Club..."

"Captain?" Farr asked, staring at Mengo.

"should be.."

"Hi~"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Farr said, feeling like an "idiot" as he smacked his leg repeatedly, lowered his head and thought about it for himself.

"It's Captain Black Hat, that's right!"

“I drove by there once at night and happened to see its shining sign~”

"That's why I always feel like I've seen it somewhere!"

"Hahaha~"

"Thanks, buddy!"

"I owe you one!"

Fall left these two words and ran out of the bar like a gust of wind without waiting for Mengo to reply.

"..." Menge dug his ears with his fingers a few times, although he slowly recalled more details about the Black Hat Captain's Club.

But when he saw that Farr had already run out of the bar, he didn't chase him out to tell him.

----

Manhattan.

Gold Coin Hotel, fourth floor.

The gardener opened the door and saw a tall white-haired old man standing quietly at the door, looking at him expressionlessly.

"Erebus!?" The gardener couldn't hide the surprise on his face and called out the other party's name.

"Long time no see, gardener!"

"Um... do you... want to come in?"

"Yes!"

"Please come in~"

. . .

The two of them came to the living room and sat down in silence. The gardener glanced at the briefcase that his old friend brought with him and said.

"Otis Parker, just left New York."

"I'm in charge of this for the time being."

"Ok, I know."

In the European intelligence community, an old man named after Erebus, the god of darkness in ancient Greek mythology, opened his briefcase, took out several heavy yellow file bags, and placed them neatly in front of the gardener.

"This is the mission information that Mr. Parker asked me to investigate."

"You can confirm it on his behalf."

The gardener frowned and stared at the "hot" information in front of him, then nodded slowly.

"I can only hand it over to it on your behalf."

"I won't touch them!"

"Ok!"

Erebus seemed very satisfied with the result. After collecting his belongings, he stood up and walked to the gardener, nodded slightly to him and said.

"Will we meet again?"

"I also hope to see you again."

"Haha~" Erebus used two fingers to gently take out a postcard from his coat pocket and handed it to the gardener.

"With it, you know how to find me, right?"

"Ah."

The gardener looked down at the postcard and watched Erebus leave.

. . .

After a moment.

The gardener frowned and sat on the sofa, staring at several pieces of intelligence information sent by Erebus. Although he knew that these things could not be touched, he still felt an inexplicable anxiety welling up in his heart that he could not calm down. .

"Whoo~"

The gardener took a few deep breaths, tried to calm down completely, and locked all the "devil's treasures" in the safe before relaxing.

----

South-central United States, Texas.

night~

At a Mexican restaurant in downtown Houston.

Odis Parker, the man regarded as a "devil" by the gardener, was sitting diagonally across from David with a smile on his face, chatting with Elena Mesa and Livlin about his time in the German aristocracy and The jaw-dropping secret gossips circulating in the French aristocratic circles~

David and Leslie sat together, whispering about the advice given to him by his mentor, Professor Bartley.

"The instructor said: The content classification I originally planned was too scattered, too advanced, and too idealistic."

"So I'd better refine the contents of the first edition of the book and simply divide it into five parts~"

"That is: Introduction, introducing currency and monetary systems."

"Financial Market Chapter, introduces the basic structure of the financial market and the financial derivatives that are likely to appear."

"Banking chapter introduces the business overview and daily operation and management of commercial banks."

"The macroeconomic chapter introduces the monetary policy adjustments made by the Federal Reserve Bank of America and central banks of various countries in recent years after the implementation of floating exchange rates, and outlines the basic knowledge about inflation and deflation."

“The last part is an overview of the future development system of the international open financial market~”

"It will introduce some content about foreign exchange and exchange rates, the floating exchange rate system in the international currency market, the meaning, composition and historical development of the international monetary system and the international financial institution system."

"Hmm..." Leslie listened carefully to David's explanation, thought for a moment, and then asked.

"Then you don't want all the content you originally prepared?"

"Of course!"

David waved the fork in his hand, showed a "treacherous" smile, and whispered.

"The content I deleted from the first edition can be placed in the second, third or nth edition as the main updated content!"

"So, as long as the first edition of my book can gain wide recognition, I won't have to work hard anymore in my life~"

"It's enough for me to eat for a lifetime!"

"Hahaha~"

"..." Leslie could only express her disdain by rolling her eyes at David's "promising" look.

Walker Pushk and his wife Laura W. Pushk, who were sitting at the same table with them, were silently eating the delicious and novel dishes while listening to the chats of several people.

After David and Leslie finished talking about book writing, they took the initiative to look at Walker and smiled.

"If the weather is fine tomorrow morning, we would like to find a safer road to play motorcycle laps on."

"Do you have time together?"

"..Yes, I have!"

Walker looked at Leslie with great interest and joked: "Are you willing to take out those treasured motorcycles?"

"Tsk~"

Leslie subconsciously glanced at his girlfriend Livlin, shrugged and said: "Even the most precious collection cannot stay there motionless."

"Hahaha~" Walker laughed and echoed.

"Then I happen to know a road about 6 miles long. Very few cars usually pass by~"

"Tomorrow, I will find a few friends to help look after the wind. It will be fine!"

"Okay! So that's it?"

"deal!"

"Hehe~"

David and Walker smiled at each other, turned to look at Odis Parker who was telling a "story", and asked.

"You just mentioned...Rolls Company?"

"Yes!"

Mr. Parker wiped his hands with a napkin and explained quickly.

"Rolls-Royce Plc is a famous British luxury car manufacturer and one of the world's largest aero-engine manufacturers."

“Its products include aero engines, ship engines and nuclear power units for nuclear-powered submarines, among which aero engines are its long-renowned flagship product. The various aero engines it develops are widely used in civilian and military aircraft around the world.”

"Rolls-Royce was founded in 1906 by Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce. Many people will refer to Rolls-Royce as Royce Plc) and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars."

"In fact, as early as 1971, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy due to consecutive years of losses and planned to split into two independent companies."

"In 73, it was fully carried out with the intervention of the British government, and the two car brands Rolls-Royce and Bentley were separated from Rolls-Royce."

"After that, Rolls and Company slowly came back to life..."

"Oh~"

After listening to his introduction, David had a general understanding of Rolls and the two major car brands that were separated. He glanced at Leslie and the others and asked again.

"Mr. Duke of Somerset you are talking about still holds shares in Rawls Company?"

"That's right!"

With a smile on his lips, Otis Parker glanced at the "transparent man" Toby Olga who was "eating fiercely" with his head down, and smiled.

"When Elena and the others met Mr. Duke of Somerset in London, he was there to deal with the equity interests of Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors."

"You mean... he wants to sell these shares?"

"Yes!"

"The output and annual sales of these two car brands are very low, and the prices are very high. Many people jokingly call them: the aristocracy of cars."

Mr. Parker deliberately spread his hands and said with a smile: "But the European aristocrats are gradually declining. The aristocrats in the car will definitely not have an easy life."

"Hahaha~" Everyone laughed at Mr. Parker's "joke".

Amid the laughter of everyone, David raised his glass and said, "Then you can find a way to help me contact Mr. Duke of Somerset~ Let's talk on the phone first."

"OK!" Mr. Parker nodded.

ps: About a thousand words have been deleted and revised in this chapter, and corresponding revisions will be made later.

Posted late, sorry!