I am a local in North America

Chapter 49 Old Master Su's Proposal
The crab fishing boat that my parents were on, the Junlin, wouldn't be back from the Aleutian Islands for several more days, and they were already on their way back.

Su Jierui first had a hearty meal at home, then spent a long time chatting with the two elderly people, as well as his sister and younger sister.

Eat and drink enough.

When his grandfather asked about the return journey route, he opened an app on his phone to check the location of the crab fishing boat and discovered that the Junlin was heading northeast towards Alaska.

As expected of an old fisherman who had spent half his life fishing, Grandpa Su smiled with satisfaction after looking at the navigation map, saying:

“That’s right. We’ll head north first, then south along the Alaskan coast. There are plenty of sheltered spots along the way. It’s a good thing we didn’t take a shortcut to save fuel and drive all the way back from the deep sea, or I would have definitely called and given your dad a good scolding.”

“Before your dad went out this year, he was out drinking with friends and missed some business. Everyone else had finished fishing and returned, but our crab fishing boat hadn’t even started fishing yet. The wind and waves can come suddenly this season, so it’s safest to let the boat slowly move forward along the coastline and find a safe harbor to take shelter from the storm at any time.”

"If we were to try to save fuel and time by sailing in an arc from the Aleutian Islands to Seattle, we wouldn't even have a chance to avoid rough seas. Crab boats aren't large ocean-going fishing vessels; a few super-large waves could easily capsize them..."

My family has been fishermen for generations.

It wasn't until a few years ago, when he decided to retire and hand over his fishing boat to Su Jierui's father, that Grandpa Su gradually faded out of the fishing industry and began to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

However, with his son and daughter-in-law working on fishing boats and crab fishing boats year-round, Grandpa Su still found it hard to feel completely at ease, especially when it came to the dangerous Bering Sea, as he was all too aware of the risks involved.

At this moment, while resting on the sofa, Grandpa Su pointed to the app on his phone and said to Su Jerry:

"Can you see all three boats at home on the app? Download it for me too, so your dad won't suddenly get confused one day and I can keep an eye on them for him."

Su Jierui was both amused and exasperated, and helped explain:
"It's not that bad. My dad has been a fisherman for 20 years. He's always been very careful and cautious. You know his personality. He won't go out to sea if the weather is even slightly gloomy."

“We have satellite positioning installed on all three of our boats, but the administrator privileges are on my mom’s phone. We need her approval to see the location. Let’s wait until they come back. I’ll install another one for you next time. It’s a little troublesome.”

“My parents, Uncle Feng, and Brother Wang take turns sailing the boat in two shifts. Even if we stop ashore to rest in between, it will take us at most ten days to get back. Satellite cloud images also show that there haven’t been any major storms lately…”

After listening, Old Master Su breathed a sigh of relief, sneezed, rubbed his nose, and remarked:

“The management system is much stricter now. When I first went to Alaska, any old fishing boat would go out to sea to catch king crabs. There was no way to accurately predict the weather for the next few days. Sometimes we were unlucky and encountered big storms. There were several people on a boat, and none of them came back alive.”

"Some people got their feet tangled in the ropes of crab traps and were dragged 200 to 300 meters underwater. When they were rescued, they were barely alive and had to stay on the boat for several days before returning to the dock."

"I heard that he didn't have insurance and was only willing to pay $2. His son turned around, went home, grabbed a gun, and fired two shots into the air at the dock, scaring everyone into hiding."

"His son demanded an explanation from the ship owner. I know that ship owner; we played cards together twice. He ended up losing everything because of this incident and I heard he later went to work in a mine in Canada..."

Su Jerry continued:
“There are risks now, but as long as you are careful and don’t risk your life for money, it’s okay. However, some crab fishing boat workers even drink alcohol. When they are drunk, they can’t even walk steadily. They are just playing with their lives, so it’s inevitable that some people will suspect that they are committing insurance fraud.”

His grandfather nodded, picked up the remote control, turned on the TV, and suddenly asked:
“Arui, although you are 23 years old, you have been studying in school all your life and are not very worldly.”

“You won a million dollars filming a show, that’s a huge sum of money… What are your plans? You wouldn’t have dared to dream of this before, you’ve really hit the jackpot.”

“Your great-aunt’s daughter works at Wells Fargo. I heard that bank deposit interest rates seem to be quite high recently. Why don’t you just deposit the money there?”

"Don't mess around with stocks, business, gambling, and those zombie-like drug addicts on the streets. You know better than me what happens once you get involved. The news says American universities are pretty chaotic right now, and quite a few small-time drug lords have been caught..."

"..."

Su Jierui became increasingly confused as he listened.

His family members were all doing well, and no one coveted his bonus.

It's simply because they think he's young and inexperienced, and they worry that he'll go astray after getting rich, or that he'll become extravagant and wasteful, turning a good thing into a bad thing and ultimately making a mess of his life.

Su Jierui only replied with:
“The dollar has depreciated too quickly in the past few years. My mom spends one or two hundred dollars on a single trip to the supermarket. She suggested that I buy a house to keep for my future marriage or to rent it out and collect rent... I’ll see when the time comes.”

Grandpa Su waved his hands repeatedly: "Aren't all these houses enough for us to live in?"

Then he looked around.

Seeing that Su Jierui's older and younger sisters had gone to play with the children, Grandpa Su lowered his voice and leaned forward, whispering:

"Or, why don't you just renovate and rebuild the house that your grandma and I live in? We can use it for your wedding in the future, and if you'd like, you can come and live with us regularly."

“The old house is cold in winter and hot in summer. I’ve wanted to tear it down and rebuild it for a long time. When we get old and our legs become weak and we can’t climb the stairs anymore, we’ll rent a small apartment with an elevator in the city center. It will be more convenient to buy groceries and take walks.”

“Your grandmother and I are getting old, and we always feel that our health is deteriorating day by day, so we need to make some preparations in advance. I gave your parents the fishing boat and king crab fishing quota in advance, but I want to leave this piece of land in Bellevue to you.”

“Don’t worry, your grandma and I left some money for Ah Xin and Ah Rou. Your parents’ money will also be divided among them. You can give them a subsidy yourself, as a way to compensate them in advance and put my mind at ease.” “Several friends I know passed away one after another, and their siblings fell apart and had terrible fights.”

“Your sister married well, and your younger sister is a good student. Compared to them, I’m actually more worried about you. You’ve always been a good child, and now you suddenly have such a large sum of money… There are some things we should talk about beforehand, while we’re still here…”

The old house, located in the northwest corner of Bellevue, a wealthy neighborhood in Seattle, was purchased at a low price by Jerry Su's great-grandfather in the 70s, and the elderly couple still live in that old house.

When I first bought the house, the surrounding area was quite desolate, but it gradually became one of Seattle's most famous affluent neighborhoods.

Since Bill Gates built a house two or three miles away from his old home, it has attracted a large number of Microsoft executives to move to the vicinity with their families.

The old house itself was dilapidated, but the location of the lakeside plot was too good, and it was even slightly more expensive than Su Jierui's house in Fisherman's Wharf.

The older generation tends to have more traditional ideas. When I was a child, I accompanied my grandfather to visit our ancestral home in Huaxia to pay respects to our relatives. He said that he wanted to leave the ancestral home to himself when he came to live there in the future.

Hearing his grandfather's words, which sounded almost like a entrustment, Su Jierui felt that it was inappropriate and worried that it would leave a grudge in the hearts of his older and younger sisters.

However, his grandparents are both under 70 years old and in excellent health, so it seems a bit too early to be thinking about these things now.

So Su Jierui just listened, thinking there was no need to get upset about it so early, and made up an excuse:
"I haven't graduated yet, let's talk about the future later. What if I have to move to another place?"

"Besides, we need to discuss this with my sisters. It's really too early to talk about this now. I think you will definitely live to be a hundred years old."

"My friends have been asking me to go out and meet them. I'm probably going to get ripped off tonight..."

The idea of ​​living to be a hundred years old wasn't just about pleasing Grandpa.

From childhood to adulthood, Su Jierui had visited the elderly couple's home many times and found that their life expectancy was indeed over 85 years old.

Although not entirely accurate, it represents a theoretical lifespan and may be subject to unexpected events that could affect the predictions of the mysterious system.

But this number is enough to prove that my grandparents are in good health and have no major health problems.

Just let Su Jierui know, and that was enough. Old Master Su didn't bring it up again. He'd been young once too, and after hearing this, he laughed and pointed to the wine cabinet in the restaurant, saying:

"Just take two bottles of wine from your dad; buying wine outside is too expensive."

"Back then, I bought a large boat that was over 40 meters long and treated my friends to dinner. One meal cost me more than $600 or $700. I also bought a very expensive bottle of tequila."

"In the end, not many people drank it. It was all because they were making a fuss and blaming me for making a little money in Alaska..."

Su Jierui is going out to meet a friend.

His sister, Su Yaxin, also left with her child and grandparents, each driving home.

I originally wanted to invite my sister, Arou, to come along, but my friends started acting out of line after a few drinks, vying to be Su Jierui's brother-in-law. Plus, Arou just wanted to stay home and rest, so I decided against it.

After a few days of digestion, including his good friend Tang Jie, as well as several other old classmates and close neighbors, they have accepted the fact that "Su Jierui suddenly became rich," a thing that they both envied and felt heartbroken about.

That night, we just went to a bar to sit for a while, each of us ordered a few cocktails that we wouldn't normally be willing to drink, and chatted about our recent situations.

Now Su Jierui has so much to talk about when he's drunk.

They talked about their experiences during the filming of "Living Alone in the Wilderness," and then about accompanying their parents to the Bering Sea to catch king crabs, where they rescued five people and even retrieved a shipping container.

When Tang Jie heard that there were actually two luxury cars inside the container, he immediately gritted his teeth and took a deep breath.

Clutching his chest, with a pained expression, he slowly slid off the bar stool and slumped into the booth, muttering:

"Brothers, this luck... I can't take it anymore! I really can't keep up!"

Another friend, Ji Haofeng, immigrated from Malaysia with his parents when he was a few years old and is also Chinese.

Before Su Jierui could finish speaking, Ji Haofeng suddenly sat up straight, put his arm around his Thai girlfriend, and pointed towards the bar, shouting:
"30-year-old Chivas Regal!"

"Richard! I want to try that 30-year-old Chivas Regal that costs $1000!"

"I was so happy when I got my sales commission and bonus before the holiday after working a whole year, but now it's all ruined. You're going to do survival in the wilderness, while I'm really struggling to survive in the city. Rui, you need to go buy some alcohol and comfort me..."

(End of this chapter)