Torrance, Los Angeles County, USA.

"Sir, do you have any new magazine recommendations today?" After Thompson got out of the car, he limped into the newsstand on the street with his crippled right leg in tow.

The owner of the newsstand was a white old man, who was holding a copy of the New York Times and reading it with relish, when he heard the guest speak, he put down the newspaper in his hand and looked up at Thompson, and said in a brisk tone: "The new issue of "Gentleman" and "New Era" just arrived, if you need "Gentleman", I'm sorry, it was robbed early in the morning." ”

In addition to the content, another part of the popularity of Gentleman Magazine comes from the color ink cartoons it printed on the title page, and the content of the cartoons is mostly sexy bedside girls.

It is worth mentioning that the owner of this magazine has publicly stated more than once a few years ago that he wants to cancel the ink illustration of the bedside girl, but every time he cancels it, he will face a sharp drop in sales, and after a while he has to continue to add comic girls to the title page, and the cycle goes on for several years, so that most of the male readers who come to the newsstand to buy this magazine will first check whether there is a color picture on the title page after getting the new issue of Gentleman Magazine, and then they will consider whether to buy it.

Obviously, today's new issue of Gentleman has added the ink color page of the bedside girl, otherwise it would not have been sold out so early.

"Nothing else? For example, the latest magazine? Thompson pulled back his half-length hair and looked down through the neatly arranged magazines.

The old white man frowned and thought about it, and shrugged his shoulders: "You can look for it, I don't remember that there were new magazines on the shelves today, and I was napping in the sun when the people at the post office packed the newspapers and magazines and sent them over." ”

Thompson glanced at the old man's old rocking chair, smiled, and continued to flip through the various magazines on the newsstand.

"And voila! I've never seen this magazine before. In the midst of the layers of magazines, Thompson finally found what he was looking for, picked up the magazine with a photo of Marilyn Monroe on the cover, and raised his hand to the old white man, "Playboy, have you heard of this name before?" ”、

The old white man repeated the name Playboy in his mouth, took the magazine and looked at the pricing, and shook his head slightly: "It sounds strange, maybe it's a new magazine, but I haven't read it yet, I'm sorry I can't give you more details." But in terms of materials, the magazine is priced at 60 cents and is not too expensive, do you need to buy a copy? ”

"Not for now, thank you." Thompson was talking to the old white man as he sorted through the magazines he had messed up with.

The old white man didn't notice that after Thompson left, the magazine stalls of the entire newsstand, the playboys that had been piled up at the bottom, had been neatly placed on the first floor, and the next readers and guests could see the brand new magazine at a glance.

"Whew-" limping back into the car, Thompson let out a long breath as he turned on the car radio.

Since the morning, he has been driving around the downtown area of Torrance, stopping at a newsstand for a few minutes, chatting enthusiastically with the newsstand owner, and then quietly putting the playboy in the most prominent position.

The old white man's newsstand was the sixteenth he visited today.

This was the first issue of Playboy magazines to be distributed in the United States, and a full 100,000 copies were distributed, except for Iowa and a few other undeveloped areas where agriculture was fundamental, and Playboy magazines were more or less available at newspaper outlets in the remaining states.

Admittedly, the photo of Monroe in the magazine's Sweet Baby column has accompanied Thompson through many lonely and difficult nights, but it is still unknown whether this sexy, high-end taste magazine will be able to capture American male readers.

Today, as the middleman of Playboy Company in the United States, Thompson receives a coveted reward from Huifeng to Hong Kong every month, his dilapidated Chevrolet has just been replaced with a new Jaguar, and there is an extra sparkling diamond and gold watch on his originally empty wrist, and even his ears are marked with diamond stud earrings that symbolize the rebellious side of American youth, showing wealth from top to bottom.

What's more, now his family doesn't have to worry about his job, and before that, as a disabled journalist who had retired from the battlefield and lived on a pitiful amount of government handouts, it was difficult to find a good job.

So, compared with the Playboy owner Su Jingxian in Hong Kong, Thompson is now more nervous about the magazine's sales in the United States.

If the playboy gets cold, there is no doubt that the remittance of the remuneration in Hong Kong will be terminated immediately, and then he will have to limp to various newspaper offices, cheekily begging someone to requisition him.

Thompson, who was sitting in the car, couldn't help but shiver when he thought of this, touching the well-made vest shirt on his body, and smelling the cologne perfume that had penetrated into the brand new car accessories.

After about ten minutes in the car, Thompson looked at the time, it was already half past ten in the morning, abandoned his plans to continue to the next newsstand, and drove to a Western-style fast-food restaurant in the center of the city.

Fast food restaurants are a modern catering industry that has just emerged in the United States, because of the superiority in speed and efficiency, coupled with the popularity of automobiles and the increase in population mobility, fast food restaurants have risen to compete with traditional restaurants in just a few years, and are sought after by the public.

Entering the restaurant, Thompson saw at a glance that a young American of his age was sitting in the corner, grabbing a piece of boneless fried chicken wings and sending it to his mouth.

"Alex, eat less greasy stuff, I feel like you've gained a hundred pounds in the past two years than you did on the battlefield." Thompson beckoned his friend sitting in the corner, and then said to the waiter who greeted him, "A fruit salad, less cheese, thank you." ”

"It's not that exaggerated, eighty pounds at most." Alex, a young American student, squirted out food residues as he spoke, "But seriously, there is still a big gap between fast food in California and Kentucky, and there is a new fried chicken restaurant in Salt Lake City, and I will take you to try it if I have a chance." ”

Thompson smiled and shook his head: "I'm not interested in eating, let's get straight to the topic, do you know the reason why I asked you out this time?" ”

"Isn't it an old friend catching up?" Alex looked up, his squinted eyes squeezed by fat meeting Thompson's blazing gaze.

"Of course, but the old days are only part of the story." Thompson blinked, "I know your father has a large cotton field in Iowa, and I asked you out this time just to talk to you about the cotton business." ”

Alex was stunned for a moment when he heard this, swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped the sweat on his forehead with a tissue, and looked at Thompson with some curiosity.

He tried to show his doubts with his eyes, but unfortunately his eyes were too small, as if they were not opened.

Giving up on using his gaze to convey emotions, Alex took a sip of a Coke and burped: "Cotton? Have you been in the textile business or import-export recently? ”

Thompson moved his body in the chair, stretched out his injured leg, and said calmly: "My current boss is more interested in this, if I can talk, I will arrange a call for you to communicate?" ”