The Rubik's Cube preliminaries began on June 1.

In an effort to attract more people to the competition, Girard applied for an additional amount of publicity, placing advertisements in several national newspapers and offering a prize of up to $1,000 for the winner.

The $1,000 is about three months' salary for an average worker.

At the same time, Girard made an agreement with the dealer to help promote and organize the local preliminaries.

Girard selected the top 99 cities in terms of sales to host the preliminaries. In order to ensure the fairness of the competition, Girard organized an official team to go to various places to organize the competition with dealers.

There are between three and ten places per event in each heat, which is proportional to the number of local populations, but only the first place winner will receive the prize money for the heats, regardless of the number of places.

The first city to hold the preliminaries is, of course, Sacramento, the capital of California, the home of the Magic Seven Corporation.

Of course, Sacramento's local Rubik's Cube sales are not in the top 100, so it is a special case to be included in the preliminary city, who let the headquarters of the Magic Seven Company be here!

With the addition of Sacramento, there are exactly a hundred cities where the preliminaries are held.

The preliminaries were held from west to east, and by the time the tournament in Chicago began, it was June 10th.

Jerry Slocum, a young man with a Rubik's Cube, got the news of the Rubik's Cube competition very early, and it was certainly impossible for him not to participate in this competition after earning a lot of fame and money by relying on the Rubik's Cube.

There are only two events in this Rubik's Cube competition, one is a speed race and the other is a blind twist.

Jerry was familiar with the Rubik's Cube in the Chicago area, so he knew he didn't stand a chance at it anyway.

Among the people he taught alone, there are people who can win against him, let alone others.

So, Jerry wasn't ready to take part in the sprint race.

When it comes to blind screwing, Jerry has a certain amount of confidence.

He felt that his memory was still good.

After a special training, Jerry got his ticket to New York.

……

June 17, Lower Manhattan, New York, near the Albert Hotel on University Square.

This is where Girard and the others settled in New York, and naturally Evan also stayed here last night.

The reason why I live here is because the New York office of Magic Seven is located in nearby Greenwich Village.

Because he didn't sleep well on the train, Evan didn't have a job scheduled yesterday, and when he arrived at the hotel, he went to bed early.

After a night's rest, Evan was finally refreshed.

Before half past seven in the morning, Evan and Girard and others had dinner together while exchanging today's work arrangements.

The preliminaries in New York have already been held at the Madison Square Garden Coliseum, which is also the venue for the finals.

Starting the day after the final, Girard will have to go to the stadium tomorrow to set up the venue.

There will also be a play-off on the day of the final to give those who missed the preliminaries a chance to make amends.

The finals have to be completed in one day, because the lease of the venue is on that day.

"Evan, don't you really ask a camera crew to record the finals? I think it's going to be a very meaningful act! And maybe the TV station will be interested......"

Speaking about the game, Girard brought up the proposal, which was rejected by Evan.

"There's meaning, but it costs more!" Evan again vetoed Girard's attempt, "It's enough to have pictures." ”

"As for the TV station, you think too much!"

After sending Girard away, Evan looked at Attorney Albert and asked, "Mr. Melvin Ickersham asked me to meet, is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

Melvin Wiksham, the chairman of CT Law Firm, wanted to see Evan, and Evan couldn't refuse.

Incidentally, the firm's name, CT, is an abbreviation of the surnames of the three partners, and the "" comes from the late father of the chairman.

Faced with Evan's question, Albert smiled and said, "Evan, you don't have to think too much, Mr. Wiksham is a very easy-going old gentleman. ”

"I hope so!" said Evan.

After breakfast, at half past eight, Evan and Albert got into a car bound for CT Law Firm.

The driver is Bob.

Lower Manhattan, 82 Broadway.

This is the address where CT Law Firm is located. They alone occupy the third floor of a five-story building as office space.

When Evan arrived at his destination, he got out of the car and looked around, and his cold hairs immediately stood on end.

The building faces the Hudson River to the west, and less than 200 meters to the south, and if Evan remembers correctly, it will be known as the World Trade Center.

Of course, the concept of the World Trade Center was only new at this time, and it would take more than a decade for construction to really begin.

"Evan, what's wrong?"

"It's okay!" Evan retracted his gaze to the south, steadied himself, and walked into the building.

Now that there is not even a building in sight, don't scare yourself.

A few minutes later, led by the staff of the firm, Evan and his party came to the chairman's office and met the chairman of Wiksham.

"Finally meet a real person, dear Evan Warren!"

The gray-haired Wiksham gave a warm welcome.

After exchanging pleasantries, both parties sat down on the couch.

Evan first thanked Wiksham, who had contributed a lot in the Rubik's Cube case, at least without them, the court's "temporary injunction" would not have been filed so quickly.

"It's nothing, little Warren. As a lawyer, it is natural to serve your employer wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly. ”

Wicksham looked Evan up and down with a smile, and he had been on this face since they met.

This made Evan feel extremely uncomfortable, but he endured it.

Anyway, he had already made up his mind to leave after saying a few words, and he didn't have to bother to find excuses, and he had to pick up Nina and his younger siblings at the train station later.

In the following period of time, the old and the young had in-depth exchanges on many topics, including the son of the Magic Seven Company case and Evan's entrepreneurial journey.

From start to finish, though, the focus of the conversation was in Wiksham's hands.

"Evan, the train is almost here!"

After an hour and a half of chatting, Albert reminded.

Evan took the opportunity to take his leave, but Wiksham did not stay.

Sending Evan and his party downstairs, Wicksham stood by the window and watched their car leave, and not long after, a young man walked into his office.

"Chairman, are you gone?"

The man seemed to be familiar with Wiksham, and as he asked, he took an apple from the low table.

Wixham turned around and sat down in his chair, he looked at the man and said, "Let's go!"

The man kept repeating the action of tossing the apple into the air and catching it, while asking, "How does it feel?"

Wiksham said: "He is still a little immature in terms of expression control, but those properties should really be made by him, and his father has done some escort work at most." ”

When the man heard this, the movements in his hand suddenly stopped, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "So it seems that Rick's side can let him develop in California?"

Wicksham said noncommittally, "Robert, this is a family affair for your Taft family, and it has nothing to do with me. ”