Years later.

A Victorian villa in Montauk, Long Island, New York.

An old white man lay on a chaise longue in the garden, basking in the afternoon sun, while the maid and the family doctor watched, helping him adjust the angle of the parasol at any time to avoid too strong or too weak light.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, the old man's family looked sadly at the old man who was facing away from them and trying to talk and laugh with the guests who had come to visit.

"Ben, I remember that you were five years older than my dad Colin, I mean, you should consider my opinion and go to the Stanford Medical Research Center in California to open a room and live in a permanent room, the Stanford Medical Research Center branch in Newport, Rhode Island is also good, their research is progressing, at least my dad is very good under their care, he helped him get his liver replaced two years ago, because the donation can also enjoy the privileges of free ovation and selection of better organ sources." Tommy, who was wearing a beige fashion suit and whose hair color had been turned white and gold by time, and was now a sixty-year-old fellow, reached out next to him, gently patted Benjamin Benson's palm on the back of the chair, and asked in a gentle voice:

"Now he continues to drink every day, and then scolds me for being a scumbag, and the doctor says that he will change it a few more times, and it is not a big problem to live to be 100 years old. I think your lungs can also be, Africa is so big, there must be a lot of who donate their lungs to you voluntarily or involuntarily, anyway, they don't spread to the brain, and where there is a problem, replace it. ”

The old Benjamin Benson smiled and shook his head gently: "I know what my situation is, Tommy, I would rather stay at home in the last part of my life than live in those places, my whole life has been busy outside the home, business finance, charity, computers, the Internet, artificial intelligence, even weapons, banks, the Federal Reserve...... Now that I can finally stop, I have a lot of time to spend with my family every day, which is very good, I can see the grass on the lawn changing day by day, the flowers are slowly blooming, time is finally slowing down, slow like an old man like me, hehehehe...... By the way, I also tune in every week on time to watch your company's fantasy historical series ". In the ninth season of A", can you tell me whether the latest episode of the Confederate Bureau of Ethnographic Investigation of America has been infiltrated and seized power by white people sympathetic to black slaves...... And the black slave terrorists who are ready to wreak havoc at the Black Slave Olympus Games...... The Bureau of Ethnographic Investigation of America, the American Slave Olympics, really you, these racist state institutions, how did you come up with them? ”

"Ben, I didn't insist on taking you away, I just came to visit you, I tell you seriously, I always remember calling you old guy back then, but I want you to understand that I have always regarded you as my mentor, and I may not be able to do anything without you." When Tommy heard that Benjamin had rejected the offer to go to the medical center to recuperate, and tried to end the issue by changing the subject, he did not continue to insist, but accompanied the old man to talk about the past:

"Even if you have been retired for a long time and haven't talked to me for a long time, but I always feel that as long as you haven't really seen God, I have a hole card, and I can deal with it calmly when I encounter a desperate situation, because I know that there is an old guy, as long as I go to him, he will definitely be able to give me the most correct guidance, you feel that time has finally slowed down, and I feel that time is the fastest gun in the world, when every time you hear a gunshot, it means that there is an era around you that is over, of course it doesn't matter to the person who was shot, He was no longer afraid of the bullets of time, but for the friends of the man who was shot, it was a terrible feeling. ”

"Is there anyone who wouldn't be hit by the bullets of time, Tommy?" Benjamin turned his face sideways, smiled at Tommy, raised his palm, pressed Tommy's hand underneath and patted it gently: "Everything doesn't matter, life is a record, when the final note sounds, you should know that it is about to end, so it is better to enjoy the last song while the stylus is still working." ”

Tommy looked back at the old man and smiled: "You might as well use this time to contribute to Ted's newspapers, those emotional words just now, there should be many young people who eat this set." ”

"Thank you for coming to visit me before my stylus stopped working, this should be the last time we will see each other, I mean, the funeral will not be announced to friends outside of the family, just publish an obituary in the newspaper, and don't let us see you little ones who have been dealing with you for so many years, I'm not kidding." Benjamin was a little tired, shook Tommy's hand hard and tried to finish, then slowly closed his eyes and began to rest.

The health care doctor next to him immediately stepped forward to confirm his physical condition, and Tommy stood up, took out the sunglasses from his suit pocket and put them on his face, turned to look at Benjamin's family behind the floor-to-ceiling window, bowed slightly, and then walked directly through the garden to the outside.

A low-key black Chevrolet van parked outside Benjamin's house, saw Tommy walk out, the driver pulled the car door, Tommy sat in the back seat, and finally turned his face sideways to look at the mansion, then leaned his head back on the chair, closed his eyes, clenched his left hand into a fist and gently tapped his chest, and softly muttered what Benjamin said when he first met him:

"Tommy, whatever the business, when you feel that you have encountered temptation, remember what you wanted to achieve in the first place, because it must be more important to you than temptation, remember it, and let it guide your heart back to square one."

After saying that, Tommy exhaled softly, calmed down, and said to the driver, "Let's go." ”

After the driver started the car, he said to Tommy in the back seat: "Sir, while you were visiting a friend, a phone call came in, it was your son Hilbert, and he wanted to remind you that you must not forget to attend his eighteen-year-old coming-of-age party tonight, and if I remember correctly, Hilbert told me on the phone that his party was taking place tonight at six o'clock in Los Angeles, California, in the southwestern United States, and it was already four o'clock in the afternoon...... Seventeen minutes, we are still in New York, in the northeastern part of the United States. ”

Tommy put away some sad emotions, thought about it for a while, and then said to the driver a little sluggishly: "Shit~ Why is this stupid son always used to reminding his relatives on the same day, so he can't remind him a day in advance?" I knew that one day I would regret having children, because it was inevitable that some children would inherit Otiria's simple kindness, and apparently Hilbert was the unlucky one, he was as innocent as his mother was back then, and always felt that people should be as laid-back as he was. ”

"Three months ago, a month ago, a week ago, he called, and you perfunctorily promised that he would show up on time, and if the court was held, I would be willing to testify for Hilbert." The driver smiled at Tommy through the rearview mirror.

Tommy waved his hand impatiently: "I can't do it after listening to my own son talk for half an hour that I am drowsy, and after being interested in physics for him, remember if he reminded me in the middle of the party to remember to go to his party!" I'm not Einstein! I hate physics! Especially after Hilbert refused to enroll in Stanford and chose MIT! He should know how much he hates the Four-Eyed Professors from MIT! Those guys are greedy vampires! The money spent on digging them up for my work is enough to build another university! ”

"Sir, I think Hilbert is really very good, well-bred, gentleman, kind......" the driver said what he thought of Hilbert.

Tommy disgruntled reminded the driver, "John Page, do you know what the biggest difference between you and your grandfather is?" ”

"I'm guessing you're going to say again, little Peppa, your grandfather never talks much when he's a bodyguard for me, Mr. Tommy." The driver obviously didn't care about the dissatisfaction in Tommy's tone, and the laughter became louder: "By the way, I have asked your private jet to come to the nearest Long Island airport to pick you up as soon as possible, so that we can save time and board the plane directly from the local airport, the flight is five hours, but fortunately, there is a three-hour time difference between California and New York, we take off at 4:30 EST, and after five hours of flight, we will land at 6:30 EST, and then deduct the time to go to the Eagle's Nest, at most forty to seventy minutes late, You can be involved in most of the party, but you can't meet with the ex-wife who has managed to forgive you and consider remarrying you, Justice Otilia Farrell, because she can only show up for 30 minutes before the party and then rush back to Washington. ”

"Hey~ dear." Tommy called his ex-wife's number: "John just said to me that you can only spend thirty minutes tonight at the eighteen-year-old party, the most important party in your son's life?" That's less time than you give those defendants in court to make statements. ”

"Tommy, I just walked out of the Los Angeles airport, and John is right, I can only stay at the party for thirty minutes, but if you think it's more important to be with my son, I'll be happy to stay and be absent from another late-night meeting tonight about some informal internal discussions in the U.S. Supreme Court about certain military-industrial complexes," said Otilia, who was on the other end of the phone. ”

"You know, children don't need to work hard and do your work when they grow up, my dear, let everyone understand the importance of the military industry to the United States, we have been so low-key, developing all kinds of high-tech to defend this great country, why do they always think that the Pentagon and our contractors are actually wasting money? Without all the equipment we make, is it possible to let the warriors use their teeth against the enemy? When Tommy heard the reason for Otilia's absence from the party, he immediately chose to support his ex-wife's work, and his son's party was not worth mentioning at all.

"How long do you have to arrive, and there are some more important issues I think we can meet and talk about later."

"What's more important, and what could be more important than what you just said?"

"One of the conditions of our wedding, Tommy, is that you owe me a wedding."

Tommy immediately agreed: "Of course, the details of the wedding need to be discussed by the two of us alone, and it belongs to the romance of two people, and none of our three children have the right to participate." ”

Otilia hung up, and Tommy leaned back in his chair: "Can you believe it, such an important internal discussion, she even considered being absent because of a child's eighteen-year-old party, please, she could take the high salary that the taxpayers gave her!" also showed that her family was more important, without me, a taxpayer's money, and didn't help me, a taxpayer, solve the problem, what would her children take to the party! The most wrong thing I made was to marry her. ”

"Once, when you asked me to help Justice Farrell with some trivial matters, I happened to hear her complaining something similar to that of General Leon's wife, Lady Ashley." John said as he drove down the road.

"What did she say?" Tommy asked, looking out the window at the scenery of Long Island that kept sweeping backwards.

John said: "She said that the most wrong thing about her was that after divorcing you, she actually believed that you would bless her to start a new life. ”

"Regular Operations."

(End of chapter)