Christmas Eve in the Western calendar came quietly in a goose feather snowfall. The heavy snowstorm that began in the middle of the night discouraged anyone from doing any activity in the open air. Along with the Christmas Eve celebrations, the street decorations that had been put up spontaneously by the European residents of the neighborhood for days ago were soaked in snow, and it seems that even tomorrow's Christmas will not stop the snow.

Whether it is the streets, squares, or the thick and spacious neighborhood apartment buildings surrounded by greenery, they are covered in fluttering snow white.

On a snow-covered street in the former Brooklyn industrial area, which has been renamed the Long Island New District of Manchester City, a sturdy man wrapped in a thick winter coat is holding a huge package, struggling through the snow to walk towards an apartment in the distance.

Rudolph, the former Rhine. An obscure mason in the countryside of Heidelberg, the Palatinate (a region of Germany), finally knocked on the door with a snowstorm. As soon as I entered the house, a warm wind and waves rushed in my face, and the snow residue on my beard, face, and clothes receded at a rapid speed.

The charcoal in the fireplace was red, the floor was covered with a blanket of the cheapest brown wool felt, and the walls were decorated with the beautiful pattern of smooth tiles except for a large moose skin used to decorate them.

"Dear Rudolph, I'm so worried about you! It's a long way to get to the store from here! ”

Bertha, the gentle wife, hurriedly closed the door from one side, blocking the wind and snow that had tried in every possible way to squeeze into the living room outside the door, and the sound of the wind and snow that had been screaming and whistling along the crack in the door came to an abrupt end.

"Daddy!"

The six children, the eldest of whom had been lying in front of the glass window and graffiti, also ran over and gathered around Rudolph, the eldest of whom was only fourteen years old, and the youngest who was just over two years old.

"Haha, kids, Christmas is coming, there's something for everyone!"

Rudolph placed the heavy package on the large table in the living room and unsealed it, revealing the dazzling household items inside.

"My beautiful Bertha, this is for you!" Rudolph took out a thick woolen scarf dyed in several colors and hung it around his wife's neck.

"Ahh This is Yang Wenwen's card! "Housewives who have been living in this area for more than four months can immediately see the scarf brand that their husband has bought.

As the city's leading luxury brand, Yang Wenwen's various home textiles named after her have formed a considerable influence among European immigrants. After absorbing several female garment workers from former private garment companies who were also traversers, the garment business of "Yang Wenwen Life Art Company" soon occupied a monopoly position.

Of course, the price and grade of the cheap model of this color material in front of you will certainly not be comparable to the more extravagant varieties sold in Europe, but it will sell for at least a silver dollar.

When his wife was still in a daze and did not come to her senses, Rudolph proudly took out a large cardboard box and handed it to the eldest daughter Suna: "Dear Suna, go and distribute the gifts to the sisters, each of them has one!" ”

The eldest daughter Suna, the second daughter Una, the third daughter Dona, and the three daughters ran into the bedroom like magpies, grabbing the edge of the big cardboard box with one hand.

After shoving a malt lollipop into the mouth of his youngest son, Heydrich, Rudolph summoned his eldest son, fourteen-year-old Aven, with a serious expression.

"Aven, come here." Patting his son on the shoulder, Rudolph took out a thick black coat from the package, and then kindly draped it on his son, and took a few steps back to look at it, "Well, yes, you can wear this when you go to school, my son should have a better image among his classmates!" ”…,

Embarrassed to touch the coat draped over his shoulders, the Germanic boy, who was attending a neighborhood school, nodded vigorously.

Clean-up dehaired chicken, smoked sausages, snow-white bread, golden bacon, pale yellow corn wine, and a few fresh fruits and vegetables that are not out of tune in winter using greenhouse technology. Every time the package was taken out, the housewife's eyes blinked.

"Rudolph, we should be frugal! Your salary is only 24 yuan a month...... We have to pay hundreds of dollars in resettlement fees, and we have so many more children than others...... "The children went back to their rooms and rejoiced, watching their husbands spread the entire table of goods shopping, and the housewife lowered her voice and pinched the corners of her clothes nervously.

"Haha, dear, my company has just won an order for a new dock in the shipyard, and the old man has sent a bounty, what are they called? Yes, Christmas benefits! Rudolph smiled and pulled out a crumpled paper envelope from his pocket, and poured out a string of shiny coins of various sizes, "A total of 10 yuan was issued!" It only cost $8 to buy these things. ”

Spend 8 yuan for one Christmas?! Holding the familiar coin in her hand with her husband's body temperature, the housewife stared blankly at the point of silence, and her heart trembled.

An hour later, dinner time finally arrived, and the whole family gathered around the table to feast.

In addition to the eldest son and eldest daughter, the housewife has to take care of the food of the four children at the same time. The youngest son, Heydrich, had a scarf sprinkled with soup and a small mouth covered with crumbs mixed with grease, which looked extremely sloppy and cute.

White bread, which used to be eaten only by aristocratic lords, has now become a luxury for the Rudolph family from time to time. At one point, in order to save money, Bertha once ran all over the shopping street, and was stunned to buy the kind of black bread that was hard enough to be used as a hammer weapon.

The daily expenses here are much more staggering than in the muddy Heidelberg countryside of Germany, but the husband's income is also much more staggering than when he dreamed of it. The monthly salary and various "bounties" add up to nearly five times the monthly income of the original tired and tiring masonry work.

Living in a simple, but more warm and comfortable house, looking at the stable appearance of a large family, Rudolph was a little in a trance.

After Frederick V, the former supreme lord, became King of Bohemia, Rudolf's hometown became a powder keg arena, and with the defeat of the war on the front, the Allied Church forces from other surrounding regions soon pounced on Heidelberg, and the war left his hometown in ruins.

In this way, the fathers and elders of a village were either forcibly conscripted into the army or were torn apart in the war, and in the end, only a few hundred old and weak women and children fled until they reached the territory of the Netherlands. But soon, the border war between the Netherlands and Spain broke out, and more refugees flocked to the country, and the fate of Rudolph's family of eight was soon in jeopardy, and then the forced eviction of refugees by the Dutch government led to the inexplicable forced delivery of Rudolph and his family to Porto Sangra.

What happened after that has kept Rudolph from beginning to mind for the rest of his life: a bowl of broth and two pieces of brown bread led to the signing of an indentured slave contract.

"Rudolph, there's a knock on the door!" While the husband was in a daze reminiscing, the voice of his wife Bertha reached his ears.

Seeing the scene outside the window of the wind and snow still raging in the night, Rudolph quickly tidied up his clothes, and while reassuring his wife and daughter not to be nervous, he took a deep breath and walked towards the door.

The door opened, and a snowstorm carried a man wearing a large-brimmed hat and a fur-collared police uniform coat into the house.

"Bad luck, this damn weather...... Oh, and it has nothing to do with the festival itself. After patting the snow on his shoulder, taking off his police hat and shaking it, and then putting it back on, he straightened up and said in a broken Mandarin, "Happy Christmas Eve, Mr. Rudolph!" ”…,

"You're happy too, Officer Anderson."

The police officer in charge of the neighborhood in front of him is a Dutchman, it is said that he immigrated to Manchester City nearly half a year before Rudolph himself, and now not only has the right to officially settle down, but also became the police officer in charge of the neighborhood a month ago, and is a veritable "master" level figure in this neighborhood. If he had known that the other party had originally landed on this land as a prisoner of war, he probably wouldn't have thought it that simple.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Rudolph, you already know how to greet in Mandarin." Officer Anderson cracked his mouth and smiled, shrugged his nose, and turned his gaze to the table where a large family was sitting, showing an envious expression, "Today's dinner is very rich!" I'll give you a better Christmas gift, though. ”

The silence and nervousness of the whole family, which had been silent from the time the police officer entered the house, eased at this time, and the housewife Bertha beckoned the eldest son and eldest daughter to bring the younger siblings into the bedroom, and then walked to her husband nervously.

Pulling out a piece of letterhead from his bosom, Officer Anderson raised his voice: "Rudolph. Mr. Wolfgang, this is a letter from the Immigration Department's Labor Administration to the neighborhood police station, and since your diligent labor form has been approved by the Immigration Department, you are now free in advance and can still have temporary settlement rights! After another three months, your family will automatically have the right to settle temporarily. ”

Illegal immigration, indentured servitude, temporary settlement, formal settlement, permanent settlement, and citizenship are the personal identity records of residents under the National Law of the United States of America.

Unlike free immigrants, who were granted the right of formal settlement as soon as they arrived, indentured slaves were granted temporary settlement rights at best. However, at the U.S. Consulate General in Angra Heromas, the status and visas of free immigrants are extremely difficult to obtain unless they are highly skilled workers, and most of them can only choose to sign an indentured slave contract first, and then obtain temporary settlement rights after the indentured servitude status is abolished.