What changed the majority of Americans who wanted to live a simple life at the beginning can only be the power of capital. The power of capital is changing not only the United States, but the world.

After eating Nevada beef noodles for breakfast (wheat flour and beef are both produced in Nevada, how to look at it is also Nevada beef noodles), Zhang Cheng drove and took the Emma Emily sisters, who did not have a driver's license, to apply for a credit card, which was not usually used at home (as a Chinese family, there has always been a lot of cash at home, and Zhang Cheng also swiped the card when it was needed) This credit card was used to send money to their father Andre Tongguò who was serving a prison sentence.

There are also shops in the prison where you can shop, although the prices are a little expensive, and the goods are not so complete. However, this is a prison, and it's good to have a place to buy things.

As for Zhang Cheng himself, the two most hated people are racists and - and Emma Emily's father Andre happens to be the former. Zhang Chengcheng didn't want to have any contact with this kind of person, even if it was financial, of course, the other party's young and beautiful daughter was automatically ignored.

As for discrimination against blacks, well, Zhang Cheng is indeed discriminating against blacks. But what are the behaviors of black people that are respectable, and black people in the United States are synonymous with crime, poverty, lack of responsibility, joy, death, and anti-society.

Zhang Cheng's favorite sentence is that if you are backward, you will be beaten, and now the social status of black people is made by themselves, and they should naturally be fully responsible for this.

Of course, Zhang Cheng is not stupid enough to go to the street and point at a black man and call him a - the general strategy for dealing with Zhang Cheng is: I can't see you, I can't see you, I can't see you. For the black people who took the initiative to provoke, Zhang Cheng certainly didn't mind moving his muscles.

After getting the credit card, Zhang Chengyi was asked to send the amount of money the two sisters sent to their father, and Emma prepared $5 to remit to his father in prison. As an older sister, Emily has prepared a huge sum of $8......

There is no shortage of cash in Zhang's house, and a cupboard in the living room is full of millions of dollars in public pocket money that Zhang Cheng keeps at home to pay for things like takeaway tips or tips for housekeeping hourly workers, and everyone has developed the habit of taking a few dollar bills from it to defend themselves before going out. Emily Emma and the two sisters when opening a credit card account. Zhang Cheng also habitually deposited $10,000 each.

In fact, compared to the decoration and various cultural relics and antiques in Zhang Cheng's home, this money is really nothing. It's really just pocket money - it's more than hundreds of thousands of dollars to drop the plate of the Northern Song Dynasty official kiln. Although the ingredients at home are all produced by their own farms, ranches, wineries, etc., they can be accounted for, but even if they are billed, the family will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every month.

But in Zhang Cheng's view, this kind of life is already very simple, if the old society, at least dozens of servants should be hired at home - American laborers are the most expensive, and certified professional housekeepers are even more high-paying occupations.

Speaking of housekeepers, Zhang Cheng didn't think about hiring a professional British housekeeper. If you want a pure London accent, a short beard, a straight black suit, flat glasses and a silver pocket watch, and a red-headed Ah San will be a doorman at the door. can think of the British, Zhang Cheng always has a faint pain in his heart or has complicated feelings.

Since the British opened the Chinese market with strong ships and guns, they have also brought ancient China into modern times and colonies. It can be said that without the brutality of the British back then, China's modernization process would probably have to lag behind - Baguwen would not be able to build a nuclear bomb for another 500 years of research, which is much farther than going the other way, after all, the earth is basically round, and it is feasible to travel around the world.

This psychology is a bit like the Japanese are grateful to the American Perry. However, the pains of more than a hundred years in the middle, one unequal treaty after another, can be explained in one or two sentences.

Far from it, according to the consumption level of three or four dollars for a beef burger in the United States. A few dollars is a small amount of money — a dollar or two burger is neither made of wheat flour nor beef, and it's not impossible to say it's a burger. Anyway, Zhang Cheng doesn't eat it. But according to the Chinese point of view, since you have sent money, you have to send an integer of 50 or 100.

So Zhang Cheng asked: "Is this money enough to spend in prison?" ”

Emma: "I asked, my father's prison where bananas cost 25 cents a piece, apples cost $1, and $5 buys four bananas and four apples." ”

Emily: "I've figured out that the $8 for my dad will buy two packs of cigarettes and a couple of stamps." ”

Zhang Cheng thought about it, yes, this American prison is in charge of food and housing. The only place where you can spend money is to buy snacks and cigarettes.

Alcohol is absolutely not sold in American prisons, if you really want to drink in prison and you happen to be rich and powerful (e.g. mafia). You can consider bribing the American prison guards to bring you alcohol or even women and drugs. Product.

As the most commercialized country in the United States, it is natural that there will be prison guards who take risks and violate the law for the sake of money. It's not a big deal in the U.S. either. There are bad cops in the United States, and for a long time in the 20th century, everyone knew that the police chief of New York would spend $50,000 to buy this position.

Zhang Cheng didn't think that anyone would spend $50,000 to punish evil and promote righteousness, but it was more likely that they would make a fortune and make a black umbrella - and in fact they did so, which also led to the fact that the big cities of the United States in the twentieth century were rampant with gangsters and moonshine.

The situation did not improve until the end of the 20th century when the United States enacted the Anti-Black Coalition Law. According to the federal anti-gang law, anyone who is a member of a gang (those who have participated in the criminal activities of a gang are also considered gang members), regardless of the severity of the crime, are arrested and sentenced to more than 25 years in prison.

There is also a reason why the conviction is so heavy, after catching a gang member in this way, the lawyer sues him, you kid has committed a big crime, according to federal law, at least 25 years in prison, you will be 50 years old when you come out of 25 this year.

What, I don't want to be an old man and come out again, it's good, let's do a judicial deal, you confess a gang member to give you a few years minus. If you confess ten or eight, you can be a tainted witness, not only do you not have to go to prison and change your name and surname to live in a different place and become a new person. Talk about righteousness, don't recruit, it's easy to say, wait for the prison to sit through.

How many 25 years does a person have in his life? Facts have proved that there are very few gangsters in the United States who are angry, and they often catch one by one and pull them out one by one, and for a time the gangsters in American prisons are overcrowded.

Zhang Cheng remembered that Lao Chen Tou said before the introduction of the anti-gang law in the United States. The gangsters are afraid that people won't know that they are gangsters - they often open their mouths and say that I am from such and such gang. After the introduction of the anti-gang law, no one dared to claim to be a gang member in public - now the gangs in the United States are either whitewashed or engaged in underground activities, and they can no longer be arrogant.

Since it came out once. Zhang Cheng always has to do a few more things, and another reason for coming out this time is to participate in the governor's private card game.

This time, there were not many participants, because the location was in Reno, and except for the governor who came from Carson City, the other three participants were all native to Reno, except for Zhang Cheng, the mayor of Reno, Bobby, and White, the owner of a casino in Reno, both of whom were white middle-aged and elderly men in Zhang's view.

Because there were only four people, everyone chose the international standard mahjong as the way to play this game - it just so happened that everyone would play mahjong. As for the two girls brought by Zhang Cheng, they were ignored by everyone. Such chicks can drive a sports car on Reno Street and come back with a reinforcement group for a day – provided your sports car fits.

And equality between men and women has always been just a slogan in the United States, and in the case of Reno, the average salary of men is one-fifth higher than the average salary of women (women can not work in all industries, but the United States can still achieve equal pay for equal work). It's still an average number, just like for blacks, and if there's an economic disparity, there's no equality — no matter how much law is made.

The game is never about playing cards, and at the table, the governor said, "Reno has been doing really well over the last few years." The number of tourists hits a new high every year. ”

Lino Mayor Bobbi laughed and played a card while saying: "This is called based on local characteristics and developing advantageous industries." ”

Zhang Cheng glanced at Potter in surprise, thinking that this guy had studied in the Celestial Empire or at the Beibang Propaganda Academy - the officialdom Baguwen came as soon as he opened his mouth.

Actually, it started in the late sixties. Reno has made quite a few economic sacrifices in order to grow Las Vegas, as can be seen from the flights, the number of domestic flights to Las Vegas and Reno is several notches apart. Of course, this was not Voluntary.

The casinos in Reno, the earliest casino in the United States, were either closed or struggling to support themselves, or simply opened a branch in Las Vegas. Over the years, Reno has relied on a variety of events to boost the tourism industry, such as concerts, golf tournaments, bowling tournaments, ski races, motor racing and car shows.

Reno can still do this even when the number of flights is sharply too low, also because the United States is a car kingdom, and many people have the habit of traveling by car. Driving for a few days to play somewhere is a traditional American culture for Americans. (In fact, in Zhang Cheng's view, it is nothing more than that Las Vegas can't legally stand on the street, while Reno can—small cities are better than small cities.) ）

Mayor Reno continued: "We are preparing to hold an International Mahjong Grand Prix in the near future. with international standards. In this way, you can get rid of the American Mahjong Association's group of guys who make money by selling rules. ”

As a native of Reno, Zhang Cheng asked, "Who will pay for this Grand Prix?" ”

In fact, Zhang Cheng can be sure that this money is not from the local treasury, otherwise he would not want to be the mayor - this is the case abroad. People love events and big events, but you don't want them to know that their taxes are going to pay for them, or something will happen.

Mayor Potter glanced at the hotel's owner, White, and said, "Let Mr. White tell me, Mr. White is one of the initiators of this event." ”

White looked at his cards and said: "The cost of this national standard mahjong grand prix will be won by the donation of each hotel, the first place in the donation will get the final venue, the second place will get the semi-final venue of eight into four, and the third place will get the competition venue of sixteen into eight." All three matches were broadcast live. All participating hotels will receive a venue for the preliminary and preliminary rounds. ”

After chatting with White for a while, I realized that Reno's hotel industry is very hard. According to the population, Reno is also a medium-sized county in China, but there are many hotel thieves. Tourist city, but a small city hotel more than 60 of them, more than 20 three-star hotels are enough to see.

Accommodation, that's very cheap, a star hotel is only a few dozen dollars a night - this is still a pure hotel. For example, the general hotel run by Wright, which is a casino, and gamblers who book to gamble here (the kind that have to provide at least four figures in the account) are free of charge, even if some of the comprehensive hotels are not free. There are also a variety of coupons to attract customers.

It can be said that almost all the customer attraction schemes that humans can think of have been used by them, and in this way, some hotels in Pinreno have to lose money in the off-season.

The eight-round round is over. Zhang Cheng feels that if it's a game, he should give a hint of +1 friendliness or something. Unfortunately not. In the game, Zhang Cheng put half of his body and mind on Sister Emily, and finally lost a few hundred yuan in the final liquidation points.

Half of the holiday was over, and after the game, Zhang Cheng took Sister Emily to play in Truckee River Park.

As for Zhang Cheng and Emily sisters, they saw a couple of women kneeling at the feet of the man in the woods of the park, it was definitely because the man was peeing in the woods and was bitten by a poisonous snake and his girlfriend was taking drugs to heal him. Well, it must be like that.

Leaving the park, the three went to church. According to Sister Emily, it's been a long time since I've been to church to pray. It is not difficult to see the decline of Christianity from this statement - in the dark ages of Europe, everyone had to go to church every week.

Zhang Cheng walked around the church as if no one was around, and finally his eyes fell on a Chinese homeless man about fifty or sixty years old who was about fifty or sixty years old and dressed in old clothes.

The Chinese homeless man also glanced at Zhang Cheng, took two cans and turned around to leave, but was stopped by Zhang Cheng, Zhang Cheng opened his mouth and shouted: "Uncle Daqing! ”

The Chinese homeless man was shocked when he heard this, and turned to look at Zhang Cheng for a while before asking, "Which one are you?" How do you recognize me? Now my name is James. ”

James saw that the people nearby were looking at them, and said to Zhang Cheng: "This is not the place to talk, go out and talk." ”

After leaving the church, the two of them found a bench to sit down, and Zhang Cheng said, "I am a son." My dad Zhang**, grandpa Zhang**, of the winery. Do you remember when you were a child? Our hometown is a village...... I went to your house every year when I was a kid. ”

As Zhang Cheng spoke, Zhang Daqing or James ate a few bites of canned food, and suddenly said: "I remember, the grandson of Lao Zhang of the winery, Xiao Zhang's son, I treated you when you were young." In the past, your family always sent liquor during the Chinese New Year and festivals, but in fact, I have said many times that I don't drink......"

Zhang Cheng also began to recall the incident of Uncle Daqing in the past, Zhang Daqing was the best mix among the people in the village, graduated from medical school with a master's degree, and later became a doctor and was also an associate professor of medical school.

Everyone understands the situation in the Celestial Empire. It's a great thing to know acquaintances in the hospital. Uncle Daqing is an acquaintance that Zhang Cheng and his hometown village collectively met in the city hospital, and every time Uncle Daqing returns to his hometown. It was a row of patients from the village who went to line up to seek medical treatment.

Even if I went to the hospital in case of an emergency, I also looked for Uncle Daqing first. Uncle Daqing's own temper and medical skills are very good. Those who come to the clinic do not refuse, and the drug can be used with cheap penicillin, so there is no need to pioneer. A few cents of domestic medicine can cure the disease, but there is no need for dozens of yuan of imported medicine.

Even the villagers in the same village lived in the city hospital, and Uncle Daqing also opened the door of convenience within his ability - the hospital internal staff should not go through the back door to make a bed + expert consultation. In short, Uncle Daqing is a capable person and has a good reputation.

About ten years ago, Uncle Daqing was invited to a university in Los Angeles to be a visiting scholar.

Uncle Daqing never came back when he went to the United States, and he still didn't hear from him, at that time, he was just in time to go abroad, and he was a little more bold to go to Russia to sell down jackets. Those who went farther away went to developed countries such as South Korea, Japan, and the United States to wash dishes and make money - at that time, developed countries did get more salaries for washing dishes than domestic associate professors.

After waiting for half a year to visit Uncle Daqing and not returning for more than a year, everyone guessed that Uncle Daqing had gone to the United States to make a fortune - at that time, there were people in magazines touting that the moon in the United States was roath.

Later, there were all kinds of gossip, and some said that Uncle Daqing made a fortune in the United States and married a foreign girl and did not come back. Some say that Uncle Daqing married a rich American woman and gave birth to a son, and he didn't want a wife and a pair of twin daughters in his hometown. Some say that Uncle Daqing didn't make any money in the United States and came back without face.

However, since Uncle Daqing's wife worked hard to support the two daughters to go to school, the third possibility is more likely.

Now Zhang Cheng has also confirmed this with his own eyes, since he came to the church to receive relief food, it shows that Uncle Daqing is indeed not very good.

Zhang Cheng asked, "Uncle Daqing, why haven't you called home all these years?" ”

Uncle Daqing looked at the can and said, "No face, your Uncle Daqing is like this, how can you have the face to call home." Don't let them die for me. ”

Zhang Cheng: "Uncle Daqing, how did you come over all these years?" ”

Uncle Daqing: "How else can I come over?" Back then, I was unwilling to go back and earn those hundreds of dollars in wages. I want to make a lot of money in the United States, drive a car and live in a bungalow. But I couldn't get a green card, and I couldn't find a job in a hospital or school without a green card.

At that time, I couldn't get a green card, and your Uncle Daqing was about to run out of water, so he took the last few dozen dollars on his body and took a ride from Los Angeles to the casino here. Then he started winning above 21 and won a few thousand dollars in two days and one night.

When you have money, the casino will entertain you with free accommodation when you are the uncle, for fear that you will run away. ”

Zhang Cheng: "What happened later?" ”

Uncle Daqing: "Later, I lost later." People's casinos are thick. If you lose it all, the casino will throw you out. ”

Zhang Cheng: "How did you come here after so many years?" ”

Uncle Daqing: "How else can I come over, do odd jobs, make money and go to the casino to turn over, and continue to do odd jobs if I lose." Someday, I'm going to win it back. ”

The casino likes gamblers like you who regularly send money Okay, Zhang Cheng complained in his heart, remembering that his family had been taken care of by Uncle Daqing for three generations, so it was a little unreasonable to see him fall like mud until he died like all homeless people. If you have the ability, you still have to pull a hand.

However, the current situation is to give Uncle Daqing money to send him back to China, it is estimated that Uncle Daqing's deep gambling addiction is enough to make Uncle Daqing bankrupt again - there are still domestic lotteries, and there are many people who play to bankrupt their families, not to mention that they can also go to Lisboa to gamble.

Thinking of this, Zhang Cheng stood up and took out a few steps to take out the phone, dialed a number that had just been entered not long ago, and said, "Hey, Mr. White, ah, it's me." There's something I'd like to ask you as a professional, um, I'd like to ask, is there a transfer of the current comprehensive hotel in Reno, yes, is there a three-star hotel with a casino? Okay, thank you very much. There is time to play cards together. ”

After making this call, Zhang Cheng made another call to his lawyer, Johnny. Finally, Zhang Cheng checked the balance of available funds in the bank account - although the numbers on it are usually very reassuring, they are about to shrink sharply today.

Zhang Cheng's idea was to buy a comprehensive hotel in Linuo and let Uncle Daqing be the general manager of the hotel - if you like gambling so much, it would be nice to play in your own casino.

As for the business of this hotel, it can be done by the executive deputy general manager. (To be continued)