New York City, USA, 1979.

At a fast-food restaurant in Brooklyn's Italian neighborhood, seven or eight unusually agitated men are yelling around a table.

"Come on, buffalo, swallow it."

"The pig next to me has eaten twenty-five!"

"Don't add toppings, just stuff it in your mouth, buffalo."

Bill Ferrari, known as the "buffalo", swallowed the protests from his stomach and stuffed the hot dog and bread in his mouth, then chewed and swallowed.

In the process, Bill felt that every piece of tissue in his esophagus was trying to resist, but for the fifty dollars that the winner would get, the buffalo did not hesitate to ignore the dissatisfaction and protests of his stomach and esophagus.

It was the twenty-sixth piece of hot dog he swallowed in half an hour.

Victory seemed in sight, but the 250-pound (113.4-kilogram) Winter didn't give up and picked up his twenty-sixth hot dog.

How could you win, Bill immediately picked up the twenty-seventh hot dog, without adding ingredients, directly wrapped it in bread, and stuffed it into his mouth.

He almost glared at his opponent and swallowed it.

Naturally, this move piqued the enthusiasm of those who bet on Bill's side, who waved Italian chicken paw gestures and cheered loudly for the buffalo to swallow.

"Great, that's it."

"This is the buffalo I know, and I never admit defeat!"

Nicknamed "Baby Elephant", Winter was startled by Bill's frantic swallowing, and then he put down the hot dog in his hand, which he had barely had time to wrap in bread, raised his right hand and waved it lightly, signaling that he had failed in the challenge.

Bill also swallowed the last bite with difficulty, and then stood up on the ground, the strong body of 1.88 or 99 kilograms gave a lot of pressure to the people around him, and several people hurriedly retreated, for fear that the buffalo's fist would hit him.

The loser Winter was also stunned by Bill's stop, but he was relieved to see Bill raise his right hand in front of his eyes, and then gently rub his index finger and thumb.

"Buffalo, you scared me. Rest assured, how could I not keep my promises? ”

Two people bet on who can eat better, and the bet is fifty dollars.

Winter's fat face trembled, and after a long exhale, he took out his wallet from behind his waist, counted out two twenty-dollar bills and a ten-dollar bill, and handed them to Buffalo Bill.

Twenty and ten denominations are the most common, and residents of New York City can tell if they are counterfeit by rubbing their hands together.

Bill, who had crossed over, naturally inherited this skill from the original owner, and after he confirmed that the money was okay, he patted his opponent Winter on the cheek and turned to leave.

It's not that he doesn't pay for the overlord meal, but Winter, as a loser, bears all the material costs of this competition, and of course, the tip to the waiter is also Winter.

A person suddenly rushed out of the crowd around and walked quickly to Bill, who was about to walk out of the fast food restaurant, "Hey, Buffalo, you made me eighty dollars, why don't you take a sip?" ”

The man shook the four twenty-dollar knives in his hand.

It's not just Winter and Bill who are betting, but also those who are watching the excitement in the neighborhood are also betting on the opening, just like a football game, and the shouts of the fans are not only the love of football, but also the reluctance to bet.

Bill stretched out his left hand and looked at the time displayed by the Casio F-91W on his left wrist, seven past five, which seemed to be a little late.

"I'm going to a family reunion, I'll let you go tonight, tomorrow night. Drink together tomorrow night and you pay the bills. ”

The purchasing power of dollars in the late '70s was still considerable, and twenty dollars was enough for two people to get drunk, and Bill made this man eighty dollars, and there was no reason not to have a drink.

The man nodded, and after a few more pleasantries, Bill walked towards his uncle's house with a big belly.

Two weeks earlier, he had traveled from Xia to New York in 1979 to become a poor young Italian Bill Ferrari.

His Ferrari has little to do with the Italian sports car brand, Ferrari means blacksmith, and is the third most common surname in Italy.

The original owner was a very unlucky man, and his father was a master of public relations, commonly known as thugs, who worked in New York's major pubs, nightclubs, and underground gambling establishments. My mother was a cashier at a convenience store, and her salary was not high but better than nothing.

On a Saturday that wasn't a holiday, the parents of the original owner wanted to live a two-person world, so they entrusted their three children to their father-in-law's family and rented a car to travel to New Jersey west of New York City.

Unfortunately, in a car accident, a nigger (nigger) who bought zero dollars (there was no such a fashionable name at the time) stole someone else's car on the way to escape, stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and crashed into the oncoming parents of the original owner.

So both of them were killed, the original owner's father was an only child, no brothers and sisters, and his grandfather died early. Fortunately, Italians attach great importance to family, especially immigrants from the south, so Bill's grandfather and uncle began to raise three children.

As the most developed agricultural country in the world, the price of food in the United States is naturally very low, and the three brothers and sisters do not have to worry about eating and drinking at their uncle's house.

After all, there was no one to urge him to study hard.

Bill's grandfather's family was originally illiterate, and it is said that the family's great-great-great-great-grandfather helped Leonardo da Vinci paint the sixteenth church, earning him the title of literary family in New York's Italian community.

But in fact, judging from the fact that the entire family has never had a college student, or even a community college graduate, Grandpa Conti's family should have no relationship with the literary family.

Growing up in such a family, naturally they didn't pay much attention to education, so after studying in a public high school for two weeks, the original owner decided to get rid of the misery of studying and dropped out of school to do odd jobs.

said that he was doing odd jobs, but in fact he inherited his father's profession of public relations, mainly working as a thug and security guard in the gray area.

Counting on the fingers, Bill, now 18 years old, has dropped out of school for two years, and his 17-year-old sister has also reached the stage of applying for college.

Today's family gathering was naturally a discussion about the future academic arrangements of Bill's sister, Dorothy Ferrari.

In addition to his sister going to school, Bill himself has a little idea.

His previous life was a very typical small-town problem-solver, his parents were basically free-range, and with his natural ability to do questions, he was admitted to a western 985, came into contact with the world of the Internet, played painstakingly for three years, and then took the postgraduate examination for four months.

In four months, I had to review high mathematics, linear algebra, probability theory, English, politics, and four professional courses, which was not difficult, but in his previous life, he was full of problem-solving skills, and he was stunned to review all aspects in four months, even if he took a master's degree in mathematics and English, he also got a good score of 360 plus.

After that, he joined the research group of a newly hired young researcher (with a senior title, at the same level as a professor) in a college.

His mentor is not very old, so he is naturally ambitious, and he aims in four directions alone, and steadily produces several results every year. During these three years of graduate school, he also successfully learned all the good qualities that Xia Guoren could possess from his mentor.

For example, boldness.

"Boss, the data is edited by me from the literature, and the gap between it and the actual situation may be a bit big, and the defense experts may make it difficult."

"I'm afraid of wool, and they don't understand it."

Such as honesty.

You don't have to do what you have said, but you have to say what you have done. If you do something that is zero, you should say that it is five points, and if you do something that is five points, you will say that it is ten points.

Another example is to get close to the elders.

"Boss, I did this experiment, but there is a discrepancy with the results of a certain big guy, do you want to do it again......

"No, your master has also done this, let's have a meal with him and let him polish the experimental data."

……

Bill still has feelings for learning, and wants to continue studying and get himself a bachelor's degree.

After all, a high degree of education is a stepping stone for the people at the bottom to leap up.

PS: New books for newcomers, ask for collections, recommend tickets, ask for monthly passes, and seek investment.