Fast forward to late April, and a spring rain fell on New York City.

The rain fell unhurriedly from the gloomy sky, and before summer, the rain was not so irritable, with a hint of tenderness. Pedestrians on the streets of New York City have some colorful umbrellas, while others have no umbrellas at all, allowing the rain to wet their hair and hats.

The night was covered in layers, but the darkness did not fall completely. The neon lights on both sides of the roads in Little Italy are lit up, and the rain that falls creates small puddles on the ground, reflecting the neon lights and making themselves colorful through the light. Tomorrow, as soon as the rain stops and the sun shines, they will disappear without a trace, leaving only a patch of mud.

Luciano's restaurant is open until nine o'clock in the evening, and by eight o'clock the restaurant has very few customers. Arthur sat at a small round table in front of the dining room in a greasy chef's suit, smoking. He still remembers his first day here a month ago, which was a gloomy and rainy day. The rain was heavier and more intense than it is today.

Time flies and slows, and in a month Arthur has done a lot of things, but he feels like he has done nothing. He continued to work as a cook at Luciano's restaurant, where he was already cooking. The main content of daily life is to work in a restaurant, fool around with his little girlfriend after work, and occasionally go to a bar or casino to play a few games, and live out of a prodigal young man with no ambitions.

But at the same time, he is secretly controlling a huge underground force through Russell, Montolo and Abramo, directing them in a direction that has never been going. But where exactly this force is going, Arthur himself does not know. As for the four new cards, not a single suspicious target has been found so far.

At half past eight, the store manager Schmidt came out of the store and said to Arthur in a kind voice: "Arthur, clean up the umbrellas, tables and chairs at the door, we will close in half an hour." You didn't leave early today, so I'm sorry for you... Of course, you can smoke first, and I'll clean up with you when you're done. ”

Schmidt spoke cautiously, the wound on his forehead had healed, leaving a less noticeable pink scar.

Arthur's smash broke his head and bleed, and the glass shards pierced into the wound, and he went to the hospital for a while and stitches. Schmidt angrily called Montolo, thinking that he could get Arthur done, but he didn't expect to be scolded by Montolo. Montolo personally went to Schmidt's house in the evening, on the one hand to comfort Schmidt, and on the other hand to warn Schmidt, "If you trouble Arthur again, I will not let you see the sun tomorrow." ”

Schmidt, who was warned, understood thoroughly that Arthur was someone he couldn't afford to mess with, and that it had nothing to do with Tony's absence. From then on, Schmidt was very respectful to Arthur, paid all his wages and bonuses, worked when he wanted to, and asked for leave when he wanted to.

Hearing Schmidt's respectful call, Arthur took the last puff of his cigarette and threw the end into the puddle. There was a ripple in the puddle, and then there was a "zila" sound, and the cigarette butt went out. When he had almost cleaned up the dining table and umbrellas outside, a Cadillac slowly stopped at the door of the restaurant.

It was a new '93 Cadillac Fleetwood, and it was parked right in front of Arthur, with the rear window down, and a man with glasses staring at Arthur. He held out his finger at Arthur and motioned for Arthur to come over. Arthur stepped forward, and the man asked, "Is there fire?" ”

Arthur nodded, pulling out a disposable lighter from his greasy jacket pocket, and the man with glasses pulled a thick cigar from his arms and held it in his mouth. Arthur noticed that his right front tooth was missing and looked a little ridiculous.

"Smack!"

Arthur lit the fire, and the flames were directed at the cigarette of the cigarette that the man with glasses came out of the window, and the man with glasses took a few puffs, and the repeated green smoke floated out of the missing front tooth. The cigar was lit, and the man with glasses closed his eyes and took a deep breath, an expression of enjoyment on his face. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Arthur, and said, "Thank you, I forgot to bring the fire, and I was suffocated along the way." ”

After another puff, the man with glasses got out of the car, wearing a light blue shirt, brown trousers, and fancy black and white leather shoes on his feet. He is not tall, has short hair, and has an ordinary appearance, but he has a terrifying temperament. Standing next to Arthur, he took off his glasses and put them in the pocket of his jacket, and asked Arthur, "Is the Luciano family here?" ”

Arthur didn't know the man, but he heard Russell say that several families were going to meet in the dining room today. Arthur had met Gigandy and Massino, and if nothing else, this person should be the leader of the Gandolfil family, Jackie Gandolfel.

"No, Montolo said he would be there after nine." Arthur replied, hunched over like a pony.

The man who came with glasses was indeed Jackie Gandolfel, and after listening to Arthur's answer, he gave Arthur a meaningful look and said, "You have to be early at all times, and being late is the most intolerable." Also, you lied to me, the Luciano family has always been there, haven't they? ”

With that, Jackie put the cigar in his mouth and bit it, and pushed the door open into the dining room with a "jingle bell".

Arthur looked at his back as he entered, slowly straightened his waist, and spat on the ground, thinking that he knew who I was, and he wouldn't pretend if he knew it.

……

An hour later, Luciano closed its doors and the chef, hostess, and manager all went home from work. The curtains of the glass windows were pulled down and the lights were extinguished. At the round table in the corner, six people sat in a circle, and the leaders of the five major families of the New York mafia gathered here. Jackie, Massino, Gigandi, Montolo, and the old man of the Fernando family, Nino Fernando. And the sixth person is the current boss of Jersey, Luca Abramo.

Arguably, the most powerful Italian gang in the New York area gathered here, and it was none other than Jackie Gandolfer who brought everyone here. He sat down at the table, carefully slicing the veal steak in front of him, cutting the beef into neat pieces, drizzling with delicious mushroom juice and a little rosemary, carefully forking it into his mouth. For every few pieces, he would drink a little burgundy wine, so that the aroma of wine and meat would be thoroughly mixed and diffused in his mouth.

"The beef is great, is there any sausage? I'd like to have some sausages too. Jackie wiped his mouth with a napkin, and could tell he was happy with the supper.

Montolo waved his fork and said, "The kitchen is still cooking, and it will be served soon... Arthur! Arthur! Are sausages good? He shouted a few times to the back kitchen, it wasn't Carson who was cooking tonight, it was Arthur. Compared with the past, his cooking skills have improved a lot, after all, he used to be a middle-aged man who washed and cooked at home, and his cooking level was guaranteed, and he learned things quickly.

After a while, Arthur brought a plate of hot Italian sausage to the table and divided two sticks for each of the six bigwigs. Abramo wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, he pretended not to know Arthur the whole time, and just lowered his head and ate silently. Gigandi and Massinoe looked at Arthur with strange eyes, they were here a month ago, they thought that Arthur was going to kill Abramo, and he himself would not end well in the end.

A month later, Arthur was alive and well, but Tony was nowhere to be found, and the position of the boss was robbed.

Jackie was a little impatient to cut the sausages on the plate, like beef, carefully cut into small slices, forked into his mouth and tasted it, and said to Arthur: "Yes, very, very good, there is a very special taste...... What did you add to it? ”

Arthur said, "Add basil and parsley, and a little Chinese peppercorns." ”

The usual toppings for Italian sausages are basil, parsley and pepper, but Arthur got some Chinese peppercorns from Chinatown, and the sausage has a bit of numbness, and the flavor is very unique. Jackie was clearly pleased with the particular taste and quickly finished the two sausages on his plate.

After eating the sausage, Jackie wiped his mouth again, raised the wine glass in his hand, got up and said, "In the past few months, my friends in Manhattan have had some conflicts with friends in New Jersey. They did what our gang should do for each other's dignity, and everyone was not wrong, but everyone also came back at the price. We need peace, we need to let our families live in a safe, peaceful environment, and that's what we've been fighting for. Drink this glass of wine, the previous things, write off, we want to together, let the glory of the Italians continue to shine, all the glory to Rome! Salute！ ”

The other five also raised their glasses, clinked glasses to the sound of "Salute", and drank the wine from the glasses. Arthur watched from the sidelines, thinking that some of the cultural customs of the Italians were indeed very similar to those of China, such as gathering at a round table to eat and talk about things at the dinner table. Anglo-American people of Anglo-Saxon origin prefer drinking parties and balls.

When they were done, Arthur opened another bottle of red wine and added them to each other, and when he reached Jackie, Jackie covered the mouth of the wine glass with his hand and asked Arthur, "Hey, do you like to gamble?" ”

Arthur nodded, he had been to the casino several times this month, and to be honest, it was quite exciting.

"Do you like to watch basketball?"

Arthur nodded again, some time ago he paid for tickets to Madison Square Garden, and went to the scene to experience a muscle collision in the NBA in the 90s.

"Do you have a favorite team?"

"Yes, New York Knicks."

In fact, Arthur's favorite NBA team is the Los Angeles Lakers, but since he is in New York, of course, he has to disguise the fans in New York.

"OK, tomorrow there's a game between the Knicks and the Nets, Game 1 of the playoffs. Take a gamble, who will win? ”

At the end of April, the NBA regular season is over and the playoffs are underway. In the 1994 NBA playoffs, without the domination of Michael Jordan, every powerhouse had a chance to win the championship, and it was bound to be extremely intense.

"I bet the Knicks will win." Arthur knew that in 1994 the Knicks made it all the way to the Finals, beating the Nets 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs. As a veteran basketball fan, he often has nothing to do to read novels, and he still has an impression of this little knowledge in his mind.

"How many points? Within 10 points, or above 10 points? Jackie asked again.

"Uh... 10… Over 10 points, the Knicks will win by more than 10 points. ”

Of course, Arthur doesn't remember the specific score, but according to his experience, the probability of a strong team beating a weak team in the first game of the playoffs at his home stadium is very high. So he bet the Knicks would win by more than 10 points.

Jackie nodded in satisfaction and removed his hand for Arthur to pour himself a drink.

"I'll bet for you, $5,000, win, including the $5,000 is yours. Lost, go to my house and help me cook. Jackie Gandolfeld pulled his glasses out of his jacket pocket and put them on, saying in a voice that could not be denied. Jackie is short-sighted, but he doesn't usually like to wear glasses, only when he kills, because then he can see what people look like when they die.