"I didn't expect me to be alive..."Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, Yan Guang smiled bitterly.

Yan Guang didn't know whether his luck was good or bad, not to mention that he was drowned because of bad luck in his previous life, and he was almost drowned in the owner of the current body.

However, it is estimated that the owner of this body is not very lucky, and he can sink because of a storm when he comes to the United States on a good ship, but if it weren't for this, it is estimated that he would not have been reincarnated in his body. At that time, I was floating alone on the sea with a wooden plank, and I really thought that I was going to be reincarnated again.

Just as Yan Guang was lying on the hospital bed shaking his head and smiling bitterly, there was a knock on the door of the ward.

"Please come in." Speaking broken English, a white doctor and nurse walked through the door.

The doctor examined it and nodded. "You don't have any problems with your body anymore, congratulations."

Yan Guang propped himself up and smiled bitterly. "yes, but my wallet is half deflated."

A smile appeared on the doctor's face. "You should thank God for His mercy, Yan, that boatload of people was released back to the world alone."

"That's because heaven doesn't take in yellow people." Yan Guang half-jokingly.

Maybe I really have to thank God, although I don't know what the owner of this body came to the United States for, but at least he has all the documents on him, so Yan Guang was not regarded as a smuggler after being rescued, but was sent to the hospital for treatment.

After completing the discharge procedures, wearing the clothes that the doctor helped buy from outside, Yan Guang walked out of the hospital neatly dressed.

All he carries with him now is a document to prove his identity and a half-deflated money bag, and Yan Guang, who is plagued by food problems, is not even in the mood to look at the scenery around him that can only be seen in nostalgic movies in the past.

The deflated money bag brought Yan Guang a deep sense of crisis, because he had no idea what the original owner of his body was doing here, let alone what he was going to live on after arriving in the United States. He only knew that if he didn't think of a way, then the contents of his money bag might not be able to support him for long.

But what can he do in this world? In his previous life, the teachers in the school had not taught him how to survive in the United States in the early twentieth century.

That's right, in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century, if you want to be precise, it was January 1908, these are all things he learned from the doctors and nurses in the hospital, and his current location is the first choice of Chinese to come to the United States, San Francisco, which is called San Francisco.

With a rudimentary identity, broken English, and a fairly strong body, if he hadn't thought of a way before the money bag was completely deflated, Yan Guang could only consider whether to go to Chinatown to beg for food or go to work as a coolie. But before that, Yan Guang decided to think of a way first.

"At least find a place to stay and then have something to eat." Considering the problem of the money bag, Yan Guang chose a hotel that was a little small, but it looked pretty good.

Although it was in San Francisco, which has the largest number of Chinese in the United States, the white boss standing at the front desk was stunned when he saw a yellow man like Yan Guang walk in, he had never seen such a tall yellow person.

"Please give me a single room, well, cheap..."Thinking about the wallet, Yan Guang smiled bitterly.

"Understood!" The boss nodded, and after Yan Guang finished filling out the registration form, he gave him a key. "Room 302, rest assured, our charges here are not very expensive, but the service is absolutely good." Speaking of this, the foreman also showed a smile that all men understand. "Do you need any special night service?" It doesn't seem to be despised just because Yan Guang is a yellow race.

A little excited, but thinking about the wallet, Yan Guang still shook his head. "No need..."Grabbing the key, Yan Guang thanked him, and then walked towards the stairs.

……

"What should I do next..."Lying on his back on the bed, looking at the unfamiliar ceiling again, Yan Guang didn't know what he could do.

"Coolies?" Think about yourself as a big man of more than 1.8 meters, if you go to work as a coolie, you might be able to earn two dollars...

In fact, the only way out that Yan Guang can think of for himself is coolie, although he did learn a lot of things in his previous life, but after so many years, he has already returned it to the teacher, not to mention that in this world, I am afraid that there is no skill that works with a high degree of education.

At this time, Yan Guang felt that it would be good if he could have a cigarette at hand, although he didn't know how to smoke...

"Would you like to go to Chinatown? It's all Chinese, maybe they can take some pictures of each other, but I don't know traditional characters, although it's okay, but if I accidentally write out simplified characters, those old Chinese won't tear me down, right? "Thinking of the legend that those old Chinese abroad are conservative horrors, in case they see the simplified characters they wrote...

Although the simplified Chinese characters were made during the Republic of China, they are still in the late Qing Dynasty, and the Republic of China is at least twenty years later...

"Forget it, one step at a time, the money in hand can be used for a while, if there is really no way, you can only see where there is a shortage of coolies..."

In the following days, Yan Guang kept running around outside, hoping to find a suitable job, but I don't know if it was a bad year, and no place was willing to accept Yan Guang...

"Is it really the death of the heavens?"

Just as Yan Guang was sitting in the lobby of the hotel and his head was downcast, Jim, the owner of the hotel, called him.

"Yan, come here and do me a favor."

After a few days of contact, although Yan Guang and the white boss were not friends, they finally got to know each other, so he walked over after hearing that Jim was looking for him.

"What's the matter?"

"Your compatriots, but it seems that they don't know English, so I want you to register for me." As he spoke, Jim gestured to a Chinese couple next to the front desk.

"Understood."

He took the registration form and pen from Jim's hand, and after talking to the Chinese couple for a few words, he began to fill in the registration form, but Yan Guang always felt that the pen was a little uncomfortable when filling it out, so he said to Jim.

"Jim, do you have a ballpoint pen?"

I remember when I was in school, Yan Guang's favorite thing to use was the ballpoint pen, because the ballpoint pen is not like a fountain pen to be filled with ink every day, and if you are not careful, it will cause various cup incidents, in elementary school, because the teacher did not allow the use of ballpoint pens, Yan Guang even thought that the teacher and the pen factory were together...

"Ballpoint pen? What is a ballpoint pen? Jim, who was drinking water on the side, asked a little strangely.

The pen, which was still filling out the form, stopped. "Don't you know ballpoint pens?" Yan Guang looked at Jim with wide eyes.

Jim shrugged. "I don't know what kind of high-end product you're talking about, anyway, I've never heard of ballpoint pens."

"I don't have a ballpoint pen yet...", unable to stop the smile on his face, Yan Guang rushed out of the hotel after quickly filling out the form.

After running down the street, Yan Guang rushed towards a store. "If I didn't have a ballpoint pen now, wouldn't I be able to register it as a patent and sell it for money?"

After learning from the store that there were only pens and pencils, but indeed no ballpoint pens, Yan Guang returned to the hotel with a snickering smile.

"Thanks, Jim!" He patted Jim on the shoulder hard, and without saying why, Yan Guang ran back to his room, leaving Jim looking at him stunned at the front desk.

"That guy was depressed a few days ago, what's wrong with today?" Shaking his head, Jim moved on to the next couple of guests.

……

The next day, Yan Guang came back from buying a bunch of things outside, and Jim thought he was going to do experiments in the room.

"Jim, how about trying this pen on here?" On the fourth day, Yan Guang walked up to Jim with a round metal pipe.

The metal tube looked rudimentary, and it was twenty centimeters long and as wide as two pens, which looked strange.

"What is this?" After taking the metal pipe, Jim asked curiously.

Yan Guang rubbed his hands with a smile on his face. "This is my new invention, you can try it first to see if it works."

“…… The question is how to use it. ”

"It's like a regular fountain pen, so let's try it first." As he spoke, he took a piece of paper and placed it in front of Jim.

After a moment's hesitation, Jim still took the metal tube and scratched it a few times on the paper.

“…… The writing is very smooth...", Jim looked surprised after writing a number of letters in a row with a metal tube.

The most famous thing about fountain pens is that they can easily scratch the paper, and the nib is also fragile, and it needs to be filled with ink almost every day, and these are precisely the strengths of ballpoint pens. Of course, the current ballpoint pen still has to be filled with ink, and the earliest ballpoint pen in history still has the problem of oil leakage, but these strict lights have been solved.

"Did you really invent this?" Jim felt that he really needed to get acquainted with the Chinese man in front of him.

"What do you think? I'm going to register a patent in a while, and the rest of my living expenses will depend on this pen! Snatching the ballpoint pen back from Jim's hand, Yan Guang clenched his fists in a decisive gesture.

"It's really easy to use, now you don't have to worry about living expenses anymore." Jim naturally knew why Yan Guang was worried these days, so he was sincerely happy for him.

"yes, I've been so sad these days." Thinking that a few days ago he had thought about whether to go to Chinatown to beg, Yan Guang sighed deeply, in fact, in order to get this ballpoint pen, he didn't have much silver in his money bag, if he couldn't sell the ballpoint pen as soon as possible, he would go to Chinatown to beg this week...

After leaving the hotel, Yan Guang spent two hours registering a patent for a ballpoint pen, of course, the registered name was ballpoint pen, after all, Yan Guang's poor brain couldn't think of any other name. Later, Yan Guang spent several hours all over the city asking how many stationery companies there were in San Francisco, and which ones were the most powerful.

As long as the patent of the ballpoint pen is sold, Yan Guang can move on to the next step.