I am a local in North America

Chapter 52 Finally, let's set off!
After returning home.

Jerry Su spends most of his time practicing the ultimate form of the American Dream—a professional "couch potato."

In short, it means doing nothing, lying down scrolling through your phone, watching TV, or playing computer games.

Occasionally, I would chat with my sister and go shopping, and in the evening, I would have dinner and drinks with my friends, talking about countless random topics, from "Why are McDonald's ice cream machines always broken?" to "If I suddenly inherited a fortune of hundreds of millions, should I quit my job immediately?" The atmosphere was always exceptionally lively.

Life after returning home was wonderful, with all sorts of familiar delicacies to eat, but Su Jierui still felt like each day was an eternity because he had a big matter on his mind that made him constantly anxious.

at last.

The calendar has turned to a new page!
On the morning of January 5th, before 7 a.m., Su Jierui jumped out of bed, hastily washed up, grabbed his clothes, went to the opposite bedroom, banged on his sister's door, and loudly urged her through the door:
"Hurry up and get ready! It's a two-hour drive from here to the beaver ranch, and we're meeting the real estate agent at 10 o'clock. If there's traffic, we'll be in trouble!"

After a while, they heard movement coming from inside the house, and Arou slowly responded:

"Okay! Coming right away!"

Women's definition of "immediately" seems to be a little different from men's.

Su Jierui paced anxiously in the living room, waiting impatiently. To distract himself, he even glanced at yesterday's YouTube "revenue estimate," only to be shocked to find that yesterday's advertising revenue had soared to $1872!

Compared to hardcore footage of rescuing stranded crab fishermen at sea, YouTube viewers seem to be more interested in content about opening "blind boxes" in shipping containers.

尤其当他们发现里面竟然放着一辆G63-6×6和一辆崭新迈凯伦P1的时候，评论区里简直炸开了锅，数量超过了2000条！
In just three days, the new video raked in over $7800, with a single-day profit of $3100 on January 2nd!

Su Jierui was overjoyed. This wave of traffic was definitely a case of "Man vs. Wild" meeting "God of Unboxing"!
The number of comments in the comment section continues to increase.

A netizen with the username "@CarLover42" left a comment—

"When my friend showed me the video and I saw that G63 6x6 come out, I immediately let out a groundhog scream on the sofa!"

Another Black guy, "@MovieBuff99," also wrote—

"Bro!!! Is this real?! After seeing this in Arizona, I now want to go to the beach and collect shipping containers. This is more reliable than buying lottery tickets!"

Another netizen, "@SarahK," wrote—

"You're as calm as if you're unpacking an Amazon package! I would have fainted from excitement!!! So what happened to these cars in the end? What did the lawyer say? Next episode coming soon!"

Another fan, "@AnnaBanana," commented—

"Seriously, your mom's cooking looks amazing! Can she start her own mukbang channel?"

"..."

The comments section under the video was unusually lively, and Su Jierui was quite excited after watching it, mainly because everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.

He figured that if he could successfully acquire the ranch soon, his "ranch gold mine" or "ranch transformation" video series might attract a new wave of traffic and increase his income to repay the loan for purchasing a larger ranch later.

The events of the past few days made him realize that there is indeed an opportunity to make money by shooting videos of opening containers and warehouses, and he should no longer limit himself to the niche track of "fishing at sea".

Just as he was basking in the excitement brought by the data, at 7:15, a new pop-up message appeared on his phone, with the message prominently labeled: "Recommended for you!"
YouTube will send notifications to users saying "A video you might really be interested in has been uploaded," but videos made by Su Jerry are generally only shown to his followers.

This time is different.

When his phone rang softly, Su Jierui's face lit up with surprise after reading the message.

The notice read—

Icon: YouTube App icon + Jerry Su's channel avatar
Title: Su Jerry by the Sea

Content: "Crab fishing in the Bering Sea turns into treasure hunting? Inside the missing container lies… (Part 2)"

Small print: Recommended for you…

This is different from the push notifications he received after posting videos previously.

The reappearance of this notification indicates that the video's performance is excellent, and YouTube's algorithm has identified it as "popular content," beginning to recommend it to a wider audience in North America!
at this time.

Ah-rou, who had just finished dressing up and was wearing a scarf, went out and saw her brother grinning at his phone like a temporary worker on the set of "Joker." Confused, she asked:
"Bro...you've been watching those videos of pretty girls dancing again? And you've been grinning like an idiot since this early in the morning?"

Suppressing his excitement, Su Jierui shoved the phone in front of her face and said smugly:
"I'm going to make a fortune! At 7:15 a.m., it's the prime time for users on the West Coast of the United States to get up. I bet a lot of people will be watching my video while they're in the bathroom or eating breakfast."

"I'm not sure how wide the reach is, but if it's across the entire US, or even the whole English-speaking world including Canada, Australia, and the UK, that would be amazing!" "Just this one YouTube push notification could earn me tens of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue! And people might even subscribe to my personal YouTube channel, which would make even more money..."

Arou didn't understand everything, but she was genuinely happy for her brother, and said with delight:

"So many?! That's great! When I get back to school, I can tell my friends that my brother has really become a huge internet celebrity!"

Su Jierui was so happy he couldn't stop smiling, and waved his hand, saying:

"With only a few hundred thousand followers, he's still a minor internet celebrity."

"Athletes and singers make money. Kim Kardashian's husband, Kanye West, reportedly made hundreds of millions of dollars from Yeezy shoes. Fans gifted him millions of dollars worth of virtual gifts during one of his live streams!"

"When I face the camera, I don't know what to talk about with my fans. I only tried live streaming once last summer before giving up. Some people are just better at talking; they have a natural advantage in that area. I can't even play guitar or sing..."

After posting videos on YouTube for so long, it seems that he has finally made a name for himself and gained the platform's attention, which makes Su Jierui extremely happy.

After getting in the car and contacting real estate agent Ariel Connor, Su Jerry set up the navigation and set off quickly, humming a song along the way, singing last year's hit "Sweet But Psycho".

When traveling from Seattle to the vicinity of Port Angelis, the navigation system recommended two routes. One route was via Tacoma, which involved driving the entire way and took more than 3 hours in total.

Another option is to take a ferry via Bainbridge or Edmunds, which could reduce the total journey to about 2 hours and 10 minutes, but this is uncertain if there are storms or ferry delays.

Today the sun was shining brightly and there were no waves at sea, so Su Jierui chose to take the ferry.

He went directly to the Seattle downtown ferry terminal, paid the $30 fee for both himself and the car, and drove his old Mustang onto the ferry.

Afterwards, Su Jierui took Arou off the car. They could rest for about half an hour on the ferry. Sitting in the car was too boring. Since neither of them had eaten breakfast yet, they went to buy two cups of coffee and two hot dogs.

Looking at his car through the glass window, Su Jierui said dejectedly:

"Online, Mustangs are divided into several tiers. The best one is the 'Viper,' which has a cobra emblem on the front. Next is the high-performance Mustang, and then my model... I didn't feel anything before, but ever since I made a fortune by starving and freezing, I've become more and more annoyed with it the more I look at it when I get home this time."

His sister, Arou, took a small bite of her hot dog, glanced at him, and said calmly but incisively:

"Many men and women, after achieving success, go home to see their partners, which is probably how you feel right now."

"...These are not the same thing at all."

Su Jierui was taken aback by the analogy, then chuckled and shook his head, realizing his sister was right.

Ever since he opened that shipping container, his mind has indeed wandered a bit.

As the ferry sailed smoothly, some events from the past few days resurfaced in his mind.

Yesterday, in the Aleutian Islands, lawyer Layton Verick had someone help him assess the container, and $1000 had been deducted from his bank account.

The good news is that although the two luxury cars were severely damaged, they were both very new, and some parts were not completely corroded by seawater, so they can be repaired and reused.

Moreover, many original parts that were previously removed from the G63-6x6 that was modified for weight reduction were also found in the container, including doors, seats, hoods, etc., which are also worth a lot of money.

The bad news is that they were all flooded, and the appraiser, based on the price of the whole vehicle, gave an assessment result of only $17.5.

However, according to the appraiser, if a suitable buyer is found, the usable parts can be sold separately, which could fetch a lot more money, possibly even doubling the price. However, the sales cycle may take several years.

After all, both the McLaren P1 and the G63-6x6 are extremely rare worldwide, and most people don't need these parts at all.

The production team of "Living Alone in the Wilderness" called Su Jierui as soon as they resumed work yesterday after the holiday. After registering his bank card and personal information, they told him that it usually takes one to two weeks to complete all the procedures.

The money transfer process is slower than that of the sloth in Zootopia, but Su Jerry originally had more than $1, and earned another $6 in bounty on the crab fishing boat. This bounty is not yet due for taxation, so he can use it for now.

If he decides to buy today, he can try to negotiate with the seller to pay a $5 deposit first and agree on a separate payment date.

In addition, the production team also mentioned that the online streaming rights for this season's show in most parts of the world have been successfully sold to several video websites, and it may be broadcast as early as February. Instead of waiting for all the editing to be completed before airing, it will be edited as it airs, just like American dramas.

Su Jierui checked it online afterwards.

The program's official news revealed that its partners included not only Disney's "Discovery+" and "Hulu+", but also "YouTube TV" and Amazon's "Amazon Prime Video", among others.

While creating your own videos did increase your followers, the marketing effect was nowhere near the global audience of "Living Alone in the Wild"...

(End of this chapter)