America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 553 36 York Avenue

Theodore Roosevelt was not hard to find.

The Roosevelt family itself is a well-known business family in New York. His father is a banker and he has four brothers and sisters. They can be considered prosperous.

The area around Oyster Bay on Long Island is full of their mansions.

So, after McKinley and Hanna arrived in New York, they quickly paid a visit to the former NYPD Commissioner.

Roosevelt was very calm about the arrival of the two Republican Party bosses.

After all, although both parties are members of the Republican Party, they still have slightly different political views.

In the conservative-dominated Republican Party, Roosevelt was considered an enterprising young man with a sharp edge.

He never expected the two men to choose him as a member of his electoral caucus because members of the conservative core have always considered him "unreliable."

"Mr. Roosevelt, I cordially invite you to join our campaign, and if we are successful, I hope you will serve in my cabinet administration."

After some exchanges, McKinley extended an invitation to the host.

Roosevelt could tell that McKinley's invitation was not duplicitous, but at least partly sincere.

Forty percent, no more.

He also knows what the other sixty percent is.

So Roosevelt waited quietly, waiting for the other party to say it.

Sure enough, the two of them did not forget their most important mission this time.

McKinley glanced at Hanna.

Hanna raised her butt and adjusted her shirt:

"Mr. Roosevelt, I heard that you have a good personal relationship with Mr. Chen from New Mexico, is that true?"

Roosevelt adjusted his glasses:

"It's a personal relationship, sort of. When I was running a farm in North Dakota, he visited me as a guest and we hunted together. In addition, he saved my life more than once."

McKinley and Hanna were immediately interested.

If one person is willing to save another person's life over and over again, the relationship between the two people must be extraordinary.

McKinley sat up straight again and said solemnly:

"Mr. Roosevelt, can you help us make an appointment with Mr. Chen? We hope to get his help. As far as I know, his influence in the West, especially among the Chinese, is very important."

When Roosevelt heard this, his expression suddenly became very strange:
"What you said is true. His influence is indeed great, but as far as I know, he is not very interested in politics, otherwise he would have joined the Democratic Party or the Republican Party."

Hanna waved his hand:

"This is not a problem. The Chinese are not very interested in politics. You just need to introduce them to us and leave this matter to us."

Not interested in politics?

Are there any big businessmen in the United States these days who have no interest in politics?
He is also a businessman himself and knows that in this era of rampant monopoly capital, business and politics have become inseparable.

Businessmen have the ability and need to let the political machine exercise their will to sway the country in order to make their business empire indestructible.

Who could say no to a potential president and Republican voice?

Roosevelt thought for a while:

"He lives at 36 York Avenue in Manhattan. He happens to be in New York recently. You can go to him directly,"

This time it was Hanna and McKinley's turn to look strange:

"Don't you need to help us make an appointment with him? Wouldn't that be better?" McKinley asked.

"Reservation? No, no, no, Chen is very weird. He basically doesn't accept reservations. In his own words, it depends on 'fate'. This is a term from his ancient country. It's wonderful."

Hanna and McKinley seemed to understand.

These Chinese people are always so mysterious. In this case, let's go and meet them according to Roosevelt's words.

Early the next morning, Hanna and McKinley appeared on York Avenue.

This was originally a wealthy area, and Hanna had a house nearby, but he was busy with the election recently and didn't live there much.

The maple leaves on both sides of the avenue turned red, and they looked really beautiful under the sunlight.

McKinley couldn't help but stop and watch, while Hanna stood behind him with his hands behind his back.

At this time, a patrol policeman came over.

"Ah, Mr. Hanna! When did you come back?" He greeted the old man warmly.

Of course he knew the famous Mr. Hanna, because he was also one of the residents here.

"Oh, yesterday, I came back to take a look." Hanna also smiled and waved to the patrolman, like a kindly rich man.

In New York, the relationship between police and citizens in wealthy areas has always been so harmonious.

Hanna suddenly remembered something and stopped the patrolman who was about to leave:
"By the way, officer, do you know the resident of No. 36?"

"Oh, you are talking about Mr. Chen. Of course I know. He is the only Chinese living here. Hey, he is completely different from other Chinese I have met. He is very friendly and helpful. He..." the patrolman gushed. Jedi spoke.

"Um, did you see him this morning?" Hanna couldn't help but interrupt the patrolman.

"Oh, he went out early in the morning." The patrolman said with a smile, "It was still dark at that time. Although he has not lived here as long as you, I know he is as busy as you. Mention this Mr. Chen, I want to say that his wife is actually a legend, she..."

"Let's go take a look." McKinley, who was unwilling to give up, couldn't stand it anymore and looked away from the maple leaves.

After the two said goodbye to the chatty patrolman, they arrived at the house at No. 36 York Avenue.

As expected, the door was closed and the curtains in the room were drawn.

Hannah walked up the steps to the door and knocked gently.

No one responded.

"There aren't even servants? How strange." Hanna muttered and knocked on the door again.

There was still no movement in the house.

"It seems that they haven't seen any servants recently. Mrs. Chen must have gone to send her children to school, so there is no one at home."

A familiar voice came from behind. Hannah and McKinley turned their heads and saw that it was the talkative patrolman again.

"Although you didn't say you were visiting Mr. Chen, I guessed it. I was afraid that you might miss the point, so I thought about it and came back." The patrolman shrugged.

Hanna's face was a little dark.

The patrolman's "enthusiasm" made him a little bit dumbfounded.

"Then do you know when he will come back?" the old man asked with an "affable" look on his face.

"Usually at night. I saw Mr. Chen and Mrs. Chen coming back with their children when I was working the evening shift. It was around five or six in the afternoon." The patrolman thought for a moment and replied.

Then his chatterbox relapsed: "Hey, when it comes to their son, I'll tell you."

McKinley smiled throughout.

He was willing to listen to everything the patrolman said in this manner.

This is a must-learn lesson for a president: listen to the voice of an ordinary person, even if you have no interest in it at all.

But Hannah couldn't help it.

He patted McKinley on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Let's come back in the evening."

Then, Hannah raised her head, gestured to the patrolman who was talking excitedly, and left decisively.

Only the patrolman was left, still unsatisfied:

"I'm not actually finished yet."

Time soon came to night.

After being turned down by Chen Jianqiu, McKinley met with several Wall Street bankers in the morning as arranged by Hanna, and visited the New York Chamber of Commerce in the afternoon.

After having a simple breakfast and dinner at Hannah's mansion, the two of them rushed to Chen Jianqiu's home without stopping.

The sun was setting.

When the two came to the door of Chen Jianqiu's house again, they were stunned.

The gate was still closed, and except for the fact that the sun had changed from the east to the west, there seemed to be no difference from the morning.

McKinley decided to take a tour around the area with Hanna.

Just think of it as digesting the dinner you just had.

They walked around for more than an hour, through several blocks, and finally returned here.

It was completely dark at this time, and the street lights on New York Road were already on.

However, when they turned the corner and saw Chen Jianqiu's mansion, their hearts sank again.

The house was pitch dark.

Even if the curtains are drawn, there is still some light that cannot be emitted.

McKinley pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at it in the light of the street lamp.

It’s only half past six.

It gets dark really early in New York in the fall.

Just as the two were discussing and preparing to leave again, suddenly, a carriage stopped at the door of Chen Jianqiu's house with a ding-dong sound.

An extremely beautiful lady came down from the carriage with a little boy.

The woman was wearing a dark red dress, which looked somewhat unusual under the street lights at night, while the little boy was jumping around and arrived at the door of the house before his mother.

This woman is naturally Chen Jianqiu’s wife Camilla, and the little boy is his son Xiaopengkun.

Just as Camilla took out the key from her handbag and prepared to open the door, a voice came from behind her:
"Mrs. Chen, we are here to visit Mr. Chen. Is he here?"

Camilla turned around and saw two people standing under the street light at the door.

"My name is Marcus Hanna, a Republican, and this guy's name is William McKinley, the governor of Ohio."

The old man politely introduced himself and McKinley to Camilla, while McKinley maintained his usual smile.

"Come in! Come in! Jianqiu hasn't come back yet, but he should be back soon. Please go in and wait for a while." Camilla waved to the two of them enthusiastically.

Hanna and McKinley were both somewhat embarrassed.

Doesn't Mrs. Chen Jianqiu have any sense of self-protection at all?
In the middle of the night, a woman and a child dared to let two strange men in like this?
While the two were still hesitating, the child actually waved at them:
"Uncle, grandpa, please come in quickly! It might be very cold outside if we stay here any later!"

The two thought about it and decided to go in.

Since you have been walking for more than an hour, just go inside and wait for a while.

Anyway, I've already waited a little longer, so it doesn't matter if I wait a little longer.

At this time, Camilla had turned on all the lights in the living room.

The hall suddenly became bright.

"You two, please sit down for a while." Camilla pointed to the mahogany sofa in the living room, "Excuse me, have you had dinner?"

This is not the classic Chinese greeting, but I really want to know if the two of them have eaten.

"Oh, no, we've already eaten, thank you." Hannah and McKinley sat down on the wooden sofa respectively.

"Okay, I'll go boil some water and make some tea for you." Camilla turned to the running little Kunpeng and said, "Kunpeng, go and keep the two guests company."

When Xiao Pengkun heard this, he immediately ran to the living room, climbed onto a mahogany chair, and looked at the two Republican bigwigs opposite him with a smile.

"Are you really not scared?" Hannah was a little bored and started to tease Xiao Pengkun. "It's late at night, what if we are bad guys?"

Unexpectedly, Xiaopeng Kun was not afraid at all, but was extremely excited.

His next move made the hairs on the backs of the two Republican leaders stand up.

"The bad guys came, but they were all beaten to death!" Xiao Pengkun said with a smile.

"I killed one, and my mother killed five!" He pointed to the staircase not far behind the two people.

"He died right there! He bled a lot."

(End of this chapter)