America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 270 Thanksgiving is Good Friday

Atlanta, Northville neighborhood.

In the small courtyard, Martin dragged out the barbecue grill, his feet went weak, and he almost fell into the mud pit. He shouted to the tool room: "Hall, you idiot, what else can you do besides Fake Earth? Can you improve a little bit!"

Hall popped his head out of the tool shed and was about to say that it was Lily who did it when he saw the young lady standing at the door, staring at him coldly.

As a younger brother who had been bullied by his two sisters for many years, Hall wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

The main reason was that the younger sister had been practicing carving, and her hands were particularly strong. When she hit her head with her fist, it hurt much more than when the older sister hit her head.

Martin was cleaning the barbecue grill and yelled, "Don't just stand there, idiot. Drag the charcoal out to dry."

Hall had a thousand swear words in his heart, but he didn't dare to say them out loud. He could only drag out a large bag of charcoal and put it where the sun could shine directly.

Just after finishing, before she could catch her breath, Lily shouted, "Hall, go to the kitchen and cut the meat."

Hall lowered his head, washed his hands again, and went into the kitchen to work.

While others celebrate Thanksgiving, he celebrates Good Friday.

Martin set up the barbecue grill, and Lily came over and said, "I carved a lot of things with the materials you mailed. Do you want to come to my room and take a look?"

"What?" Martin asked.

Lily pulled on his rolled-up sleeves: "You'll know when you see it."

Martin followed her into the house and went straight up to the second floor.

Lily opened the door and invited, "Come in."

When Martin entered the room, the most eye-catching thing in Lily's room was the workbench. The table was wrinkled and had countless shelves erected on it, and the shelves were densely covered with various carvings.

Mainly made of horns, stones and wood carvings, there are also clowns, insects and various handicrafts.

Martin even saw a miniature kettle.

Lily took out an exquisite wooden carved box as if presenting a treasure. When she opened it, she saw five little figures standing inside with a house as the background.

Martin could tell from their appearance that they were Elena, Harris, Lily, Hall, and him.

Lily pushed it in front of Martin and said happily: "This is our family, do you think it looks like one?"

Downstairs, at the gate of the yard, a black BMW 7 was parked on the side of the road. Elena, who had bought a roast turkey, got out of the car and found that there was no one in the yard.

When she entered the house, she saw Hall chopping meat with gnashing teeth and asked, "Where are Lily and Martin?"

Hall pointed the tip of his knife upwards, pointed at the roof, and said deliberately: "Go upstairs, Lily said she has something good to show Martin."

As soon as she said this, Elena put down the packaged turkey and ran upstairs, her boots landing on the wooden stairs with a rapid clattering sound.

"Fuck! Two bastards!" She cursed inwardly, rushed to the second floor, turned the corner, and found that Lily's door was open. Her heart was immediately relieved.

Elena walked to the door and saw Martin standing in the middle of the house like a model. Lily was sitting at the workbench with a carving knife, carving quickly with oil clay.

Lily heard the hurried footsteps, turned around, and smiled sweetly at her sister: "I will help Martin make a realistic statue."

Elena came to the door, leaned against the door frame with her arms folded across her chest, and said, "Hurry up, you two idiots, I got the turkey back."

Lily said, "Harris hasn't come back yet, don't worry."

Martin pointed downstairs and shouted, "Hall, the meat has been cut. Marinate it with the sauce I prepared."

Hall was angry: "Am I the only one working in this family? It's not fair!"

Elena shouted, "Just do the work quickly and stop talking nonsense!"

In the kitchen downstairs, the sound of chopping meat could be heard.

Elena had no intention of leaving. She waited until Lily finished carving the prototype before calling Martin to go downstairs together.

The two prepared Thanksgiving dinner in the evening.

Lily didn't move, and patiently refined the carving in her hands.

When the footsteps completely disappeared from the stairs, she put down the carving knife and took out a book containing an introduction to the California Institute of the Arts.

As long as she wanted to go, that idiot Martin could get her a letter of recommendation, and even her grades weren't important.

When Harris lived in the Clayton community, it was very difficult for him to get into college.

Lily glanced across the independent, newly decorated room, then looked through the window at the grassy courtyard and knew something was different.

She also knew very well where all these changes came from.

There was another sound of a car door closing outside, and Harris rushed back from the university.

Upstairs, Lily continued to carve.

Downstairs, Elena unpacked and further processed the semi-finished turkey.

Harris and Hall were in charge of threading the meat, while Martin placed the skewers on the grill and brushed them with oil and seasoning.

When it got dark, meals such as turkey, barbecue, fruit salad and cold vegetables were placed on the table.

Martin, Elena and four other people sat around the dining table and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner together.

As usual, Elena picked up the knife and fork and cut the turkey for everyone.

Lily brought over a box of Coke and placed a bottle in front of each person. Harris opened the bottle first and said to Martin, "Tonight, let's toast to the leader first."

Elena was the first to pick it up and clinked glasses with Martin.

Martin clinked glasses with the four people one by one and said, "I wish us better and better."

Elena chimed in: "It's getting better!"

The five of them drank Coke and started eating together. They ate and talked, but they all had a tacit understanding. They didn't talk about Hollywood or work, but only talked about the happy things that happened in the Clayton community in the past.

Martin was concerned about the youngest child in the family and asked, "How are Hall's grades?"

Elena was worried: "It's just average. It seems difficult to get into a good university."

Martin thought for a moment and said, "Let's hire a strict tutor for him."

Hall wanted to cry. He put down his knife and fork, drank half a can of Coke in one breath, and said in a sullen voice: "Today is Thanksgiving. Can't you be nicer to me?"

Lily clenched her fists: "This is the love that your brothers and sisters have for you, can't you feel it?"

Martin joked: "Don't worry, I'll find you a beautiful female tutor."

"That's fine!" Hall raised his hands in approval: "Martin, we have agreed on a beautiful and sexy female tutor!"

Elena looked at Martin and Hall and said, "Do you want someone to go to jail?"

Her cell phone rang, she wiped her hands with a napkin and answered the phone: "Scott, what's up? Today is Thanksgiving, if you want to come over, I'll allow it."

Scott on the other side said: "At a dinner party? Knowing that you are doing well is enough. I won't go there."

Elena said, "May God bless you with everlasting abundance."

"I'm living the life of a rich man now," Scott said with a smile.

The two didn't say much and quickly hung up the phone.

Lily immediately asked, "Is it him?"

Elena nodded slightly: “Don’t worry, he is much better than before and won’t bother us.”

Harris replied: "He is more reliable than Emma."

Martin knew they were talking about Scott. Perhaps Sophia's training was effective. He had heard from Hart and others that Scott had quit drinking and almost stopped taking drugs.

What is this? Some weird power of love?
Lily thought of her mother and said, "I wonder how Emma is doing."

Elena reminded: "I told you not to mention her again." She had already given up: "First, we don't want to know how she is! Second, I don't want her to know how we are doing!"

Lily shut her mouth.

Elena warned solemnly: "If you don't want our lives to be messed up, even if you see Emma, ​​pretend you don't know her."

It’s not that she is heartless, but the last time she heard about Emma’s situation, she was hanging out with a group of black people in South City.

Those old blacks represent endless trouble.

The Northville community that Martin chose has a responsible community committee, a complete neighborhood defense alliance, and extremely frequent APD patrols. The custody of the house and her younger siblings are all in Elena's name, so there is no need to worry about those troubles.

Not to mention anything else, those black men with unfamiliar faces who appear in the community will be immediately checked by the patrolling APD. If they dare to make any unnecessary movements, it is not uncommon for their magazines to be emptied.

After dinner, Martin and Elena made an appointment with Robert to go to a bar near the community for a drink.

Maybe because it was Thanksgiving, there were not many people in the bar.

The three of them found a place to sit down and ordered some beer to drink slowly.

Robert was a little fatter than before, and his hair was neatly combed back, making his head look bigger.

He clinked glasses with Martin and Elena and said, "More and more Hollywood crews are coming to Atlanta to shoot. The company's business has grown much bigger than before. It is now the largest entertainment agency in Atlanta."

Martin asked casually, "Does Jerome intend to expand outward?"

"Neither he nor I have any plans to expand outside for the time being." Robert is not very ambitious: "According to the head of the group, we are the local bosses in Atlanta. Even if CAA and WMA come, they have to give us some face. The crews of the six major companies also treat us politely. If we leave Atlanta, these will no longer exist."

Elena said: "It's similar to me. We live freely in Atlanta. Once we leave, we will encounter too many difficulties."

Robert agreed and admired Martin: "Not everyone is like you, willing to leave their familiar hometown and go to such a far place to make a living."

Maybe too many things are left in Atlanta. Martin took a sip of beer and said, "When I get old and lose the motivation to keep working hard, I will return to Atlanta to settle down. It's actually quite nice here."

Elena glanced at Martin. She had long since lost track of the other person's thoughts and was too lazy to guess.

The happy education that she received since childhood has always influenced Elena. She can't see too far, nor does she think too far ahead. She is very satisfied with her current life.

Robert added: "I have a large collection of the first commemorative Cokes of the Religion. If you need any, just give me a call and I can send them to Los Angeles at any time."

Martin pointed at Old Bu at the door of the bar, then looked at Elena and Robert, and said, "Master, Great Protector, Saint, and High Priest, today is also a big gathering of the top leaders of the Coke Cult."

Robert was very serious: "Now we are also a relatively loose large organization."

Elena continued: "The leader's appeal is particularly strong."

This is also a boost outside of the film industry.

(End of this chapter)