1994: I Became a Literary Master in America

Chapter 169 Neighbors (Part 1)

The following day was the Great Cold.

When Xu Shengjie woke up, Theron was no longer by his side.

Let's check the time, it's nine o'clock in the morning.

He rubbed his eyes, got out of bed, took a shower in the bathroom, then got dressed and drew back the curtains.

The snow has stopped.

Outside the window, everything was covered in white snow, and the sunlight was very bright.

Even through the window, you can still feel the biting cold outside.

It's not cold when it snows, but it's cold when the snow melts; the ancients were right!

It was during the coldest days of 1995.

Last night's weather forecast said that the temperature would remain around -15°C for the next few days, making it the coldest winter in New York since the 1990s.

Charlize Theron has signed up for a training course!

However, she made breakfast before leaving the house.

Warm milk, keeping it warm, toast, and bacon—a simple and unremarkable breakfast.

Xu Shengjie ate it all up.

That's it—I wasn't full!

He simply grabbed his thick leather jacket, picked up his backpack, opened the door, and went outside.

The rent for this apartment building on Beach Street is quite high, and the property management fees are also not cheap.

Xu Shengjie's apartment costs $3,600 a year. For this reason, the apartment building is fully equipped and has excellent heating.

Of course, safety is the most important thing.

He walked to the elevator entrance and waited for it to arrive.

But after waiting for a full three minutes, the elevator didn't move at all.

Xu Shengjie was getting impatient and was about to call the building manager downstairs.

It was at this moment that the elevator started moving.

Soon, the elevator arrived at the floor, and the elevator doors opened. A tall woman carrying a stack of cardboard boxes walked out.

Xu Shengjie quickly dodged, instinctively saying, "Be careful."

"Excuse me, excuse me, I'm a new resident, could you please move aside?"

Behind her, there were several porters and stacks of cardboard boxes in the elevator.

Xu Shengjie glanced at them and saw that there were as many as thirty or forty, filling the elevator to the brim.

"So, the elevator is out of service right now, right?"

"It may take you ten minutes, but I will have the workers bring your luggage out as soon as possible."

She turned sideways and walked inside, apologizing as she went.

Xu Shengjie's profile is visible, but it's a very beautiful profile with soft facial features.

"Never mind, I'll take the stairs."

Xu Shengjie shook his head and walked into the stairwell.

"terribly sorry!"

"It's okay! But you'd better hurry, the other residents on the other floors of this apartment building might not be as easy to talk to as I am."

Xu Shengjie didn't take it to heart and simply pushed open the door to the stairwell.

The Chrysler was driven away by Theron!

Her old car broke down and is still under repair.

Xu Shengjie had no choice but to ride his Harley-Davidson out. But as soon as he stepped out of the parking lot, a chill hit him, making him shiver involuntarily.

I feel like she's become spoiled!

Xu Shengjie chuckled to himself, twisted the accelerator, and sped forward.

The ice and snow on the main road have melted, but there is still some snow left on both sides of the road.

In the deep, dimly lit alley, thick steam billows from under the manhole covers, providing a place for the homeless to stay.

However, there aren't many homeless people in Tribeca.

After all, this is a newly emerging affluent area, and police cars from the Fifth Precinct frequently appear, occasionally driving away homeless people.

Xu Shengjie did not pay attention to the homeless people in the dark alley.

He rode his motorcycle to the internet cafe on Canal Street.

Business is good here today. There are customers in front of all the computers, either ordering a cup of coffee to surf the internet or ordering breakfast to eat while surfing the internet.

"Business is good!"

"Yeah, Brother Jie—it's so cold outside, a lot of people choose to spend their time here."

By the way, Justin hasn't arrived yet. If you need to find him urgently, you can call him.

"No need, I'm just going online."

Xu Shengjie glanced at the computers in the internet cafe, but none of them were empty.

In 95, most people still used telephone lines to access the internet, and internet access fees were extremely expensive.

The internet cafe uses a dedicated line, so the internet speed is fast and the cost is cheap. Therefore, many people who need to use a computer but cannot afford the internet fee choose to come to the internet cafe. Moreover, it is indeed cold today, and the internet cafe is warm, so it is naturally crowded.

"Brother Jie, you can use my computer."

The shop assistant was also a student at the Wu Family Martial Arts School and a member of the Ghost Shadow Gang, so he was naturally familiar with Xu Shengjie.

He got up and came out from behind the counter.

Xu Shengjie didn't stand on ceremony and went inside on his own.

"Please call Mok's Roast Meat for me and order a roast goose rice, an extra goose leg, and a bowl of soup."

"good!"

The younger brother smiled and agreed, then went to the coffee counter to make a phone call.

Xu Shengjie then opened Yahoo! Search and browsed.

Last year, Jerry Yang and David Filo founded Yahoo!, which is still not fully developed.

However, you can still find a lot of information through the website.

For example, the New York Times' portal website, and the official website of the American Booksellers Association.

Kate said the best way to find information about books is to check the National Booksellers Association's database. However, she couldn't guarantee the database's completeness. After all, in 95, many websites were still in their infancy.

There is still no information related to the name Megan Lindholm.

Xu Shengjie is basically certain that the world has likely erased Robin Hobb from existence—it just needs further confirmation from Kate and Robert, which will take some time.

He can wait!

So I went online for a while and browsed some information.

Overall, in 95, the internet was not yet exploding with information, and people knew more about many things than even the thugs in Chinatown.

After a while, Zhang Ping'an and Tommy arrived.

Xu Shengjie gave up his computer, took a boxed lunch, and went into Zhang Ping'an's office, wolfing it down.

"The Wang family gang is finished!"

"what?"

"Last night, the Fifth Precinct, in conjunction with the Ninth Precinct, cleared Bloom Street."

Wang Shang's men were all wiped out—Wang Shang himself was riddled with bullets, and now Bloom Street is finally completely peaceful.

"So fast?"

Kenny said that James is a very cunning guy.

Yesterday morning, they notified him, Uncle Jimmy, and Ah Po to negotiate with Wang Shang, but they took action that evening, catching Wang Shang completely off guard.

"Isn't Uncle Kenny planning to take Bloom Street back?"

Zhang Ping'an shook his head and said softly, "I don't have that capability! Mr. Yin plans to transfer another thirty people from Mote Street to Yangtou Bay after the New Year. I heard that development in Yangtou Bay isn't going very smoothly, and it seems the Russians have their eyes on it too!"

"Isn't Mr. Yin collaborating with Italians?"

"The Italians said they couldn't intervene, but they could help contact the Russians so everyone could sit down and talk."

"Over here on Namote Street—"

"Kenny didn't care. He said that if Mr. Yin took all the people away, he would hand over Mott Street to Uncle Jimmy in East Ann."

"Would Mr. Yin agree?"

"It's hard to say, but his mind is now focused on Yangtou Bay."

It feels like Kenny is increasingly resembling Serprano from "The Sopranos".

Yes, I need to finish writing this script as soon as possible.

"If Kenny really quits, what are your plans?"

"I don't have any plans. Anyway, if Kenny really hands over Mott Street, I won't starve. With this internet cafe and the money I made from betting on soccer last year, if all else fails, I'll just buy a building on Mott Street and become a landlord who lives a life of leisure."

"Why not go back to China? China is developing rapidly now, and housing prices and the cost of living are incredibly low."

Your amount of money might not be much in the US, but it's a significant sum in China. There's a huge demand for US dollars domestically. Wouldn't it be better to take your money back and buy a few buildings than to be a landlord in Chinatown? And you'd be guaranteed to make a profit!

"Yeah?"

Zhang Ping'an was somewhat tempted.

"But I don't know anyone in China."

"Ask Sister Gong or Vivian for information. They're from China, and Sister Gong is a native of Shanghai."

"If that's the case, then there really is a way."

Zhang Ping'an's eyes lit up immediately!

After chatting with Zhang Ping'an for a while, Xu Shengjie went to the martial arts school again.

After confirming that Manny would be coming over after the New Year, I mentioned to Woodward the matter of having Theron learn martial arts at the martial arts school.

Woodward readily agreed.

Before leaving, he even had a friendly sparring session with Xu Shengjie.

"You've become lazy!"

Woodward was a little unhappy, thinking that Xu Shengjie had regressed somewhat.

"Once I'm done with this busy period, I'll definitely start practicing again."

"You said it, then I'll tell you that, Grandpa."

"Don't worry, I definitely won't lose this skill—"

"Speaking of which, have you ever thought about making our Choy Li Fut famous? Bruce Lee made Wing Chun famous all over the world, but back then, Wing Chun was beaten so badly by our Choy Li Fut that it couldn't even lift its head. Just because Ip Man taught Bruce Lee, now Wing Chun is suppressing our Choy Li Fut so much that it can't even lift its head—this is almost becoming a worry for the old man!"

You have no idea, on New Year's Day, my dad was having tea with Liang Zhaohong and the others, and that old man and Huang Jinming made him so ashamed he couldn't even lift his head.

Xu Shengjie's brow twitched.

Leung Siu-hung is a successor of the Wing Chun martial arts school on Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn.

While Wong Kam-ming is said to be a Jeet Kune Do successor, he actually mainly teaches Wing Chun.

It's not that these people have any deep-seated hatred for each other, but martial arts practitioners are, after all, proud and arrogant.

People often say that in literature there is no first place, but in martial arts there is no second.

During the Republic of China era, Cai Li Fo Kung Fu had a much larger following than Wing Chun, but now it has been overshadowed by Wing Chun.

It's because Ip Man taught Bruce Lee.

This also made Mr. Wu Xuanzhu feel a little upset.

Xu Shengjie thought for a moment and said, "I'll think about it and see how to make Cai Li Fo famous."

"But we'll have to find an opportunity. Senior brother, please tell Master later that I will definitely keep this matter in mind."

Upon hearing this, Woodward smiled.

It was getting dark, and then it started snowing again.

Xu Shengjie rode his motorcycle back to the apartment and took the elevator home.

Upon opening the door, one could hear conversations and a woman's laughter.

"Sally, do we have guests?"

Xu Shengjie took off his shoes in the entryway, put on slippers, and went inside.

In the living room, Theron and a tall woman got up from the sofa at the same time.

The woman was slightly shorter than Theron, but she was at least 170cm tall.

Keep in mind that Theron is about 177 centimeters tall, and the woman looked only slightly shorter than Theron.

"Jeff, why are you only just getting back?"

Let me introduce you to our new neighbors—"

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