Manhattan Reborn 1978

On the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii.

At dawn~

398 Corudilla Avenue, Honolulu Island.

"Um..?"

David, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly felt someone gently pat his arm several times.

He squinted his eyes hard, opened a gap and looked towards the bed, and saw the maid Chasida squatting not far away and waving her hands gently.

"I have a phone number for you..."

"Oh...who called?"

"Zina!"

"Well, okay."

David rubbed his cheeks a few times, got up from the bed in a daze, held Chasida's outstretched arm, and walked out of the bedroom.

ten minutes later.

in the study.

David, who was completely awake, took the phone and thought for a moment before trying to make a call.

"Hello~"

"Dad, it's me ~ David!"

"Well...it's just dawn here~"

"Yes~ I also received a call from Paris and wanted to discuss it with you."

. . .

After David hung up the phone, he rubbed his still dry eyes a few times with his hands, found an envelope from the drawer, walked to the sofa next to him, lay down, closed his eyes and thought.

After Zina and Elena fled Italy with David Romano, they actually "encountered" Cannes in Paris?

Phil, what role did he play in this?

Kanes wanted to sell off a batch of collections, but instead of going to the well-known auction houses in Europe, he took the initiative to find Zina?

After old Malkin learned about this, he didn't seem to be too surprised. Instead, he happily decided to eat it in one bite?

"Whoo~"

David frowned, lowered his head, and let out a sigh of relief~

He opened the envelope in his hand and pulled out a brief letter written by Peter F. Wallenberg Jr.

He just received this letter last night. .

In the letter, little Peter did not have too much politeness or pleasantries. He only wrote that he had purchased a large amount of gold spot from the City of London and the Zurich Gold Trading Center as planned.

Currently, he has very little money left.

In the next step, he will temporarily keep this small amount of funds as a risk reserve.

Emm. .

Little Peter!

The two of them met only a handful of times. .

But this seemingly gentle and courteous alternative heir to the Wallenberg family allowed David to see his decisiveness and gambling temperament from this brief letter. .

The first heir to the title of Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, has remained silent until now. .

However, David now understands very well. .Jellal’s Difficulties~

He was not the Karnes who chose to escape the family's control.

He is not even the little Peter who voluntarily gave up the fight for the family heir.

He is the future Duke of Westminster!

If he makes one wrong move, he will become a joke among the British aristocracy for decades. .

Therefore, David never took the initiative to ask Jellal how the plan was being implemented. .

"Clang clang clang~"

A gentle knock on the door "awoke" David~

"Yingying!?"

"Why did you get up?"

Cui Yingying, wearing a pajamas, walked to David and squatted down with a smile, and explained.

"Tilda just fell asleep, I'm not asleep yet."

"Forehead.."

David recalled the scene where Tilda Swinton, who was drunk last night, suddenly "badged" Cui Yingying and asked her to sleep with her, and couldn't help laughing.

"What are you all talking about?"

"It's already dawn~"

There was no trace of tiredness on Cui Yingying's face. She sat directly on the carpet with her legs turned, rested her head on David's chest, looked at him from an upward angle, and said softly.

"Brotney Mejia, booked a flight for us to fly to San Francisco at noon today."

"today?"

"Isn't today the weekend?"

"Professor Conkers..." David asked in surprise as he gently stroked her long hair and shoulders with his hands.

"Yes~"

"However, Mecia said that Professor Conkes only has half the morning free this weekend."

"So we'd better get to his medical laboratory before nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

"...Okay~"

David patted Cui Yingying twice, sat up slowly, held her cheeks with both hands, kissed her forehead a few times, and laughed in a low and powerful voice.

"Don't worry ~ it's dawn!"

"It's all over!"

"There is still a lot of time left for us..."

"Well!" Cui Yingying slowly sat up straight and looked at herself in David's eyes at close range. Two blushes quickly rose on her face, and a playful smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"We still have a few hours until our flight to San Francisco..."

"Hahahaha~ OK!" David leaned down and picked her up, and quickly walked into the bedroom.

. . .

At the top of the stairs not far from the study.

Chasida, the maid who was sitting against the wall, quietly looked at the few rays of faint morning light coming in from the window, and a happy smile that she had not seen for a long time gradually appeared at the corner of her mouth.

The other end of the corridor.

At this moment, Tilda Swinton, who was supposed to be sleeping, was also sitting against the wall behind the door, her arms around her knees, and she turned her head to look at the window blocked by the curtains. There was a little water in her eyes, but the corners of her mouth were filled with tears. I couldn't help but laugh~

Its daybreak!

----

Europe, France.

West of Paris, on the banks of the Seine.

In a hotel across the river from the Eiffel Tower.

Bill Guseland walked out of the elevator on the tenth floor and smiled at Zina and Elena behind him: "In front of you is your room~"

"Okay." Zina took the initiative and took two quick steps, followed Bill to the door of a room, and said with a smile.

"Although this is not my first time in Paris, this is my first time to see the beautiful scenery of Paris after snow..."

"Do you have an appointment tonight?"

"I know a great restaurant with a chef who specializes in..."

"Okay~" Bill accepted Xina's dinner invitation with a smile.

Then, as if he suddenly remembered something important, he took out a business card holder from his pocket, pulled out two business cards and handed them to Zina and Elena.

"If you want to contact me, you can call this number anytime."

"I will try to call you back as soon as possible!"

"Ok."

Zina glanced at the business card in her hand, her eyes flickered a few times, and she smiled.

"Art trading company?"

"Hehe~"

Bill put away his business card holder and explained: "More than ten years ago, when Carnes was studying in school, he had already begun investing in and collecting works by well-known European artists."

"He opened this art trading company entirely to save an additional transaction fee."

"Oh~"

Zina, who already had a relatively in-depth understanding of some of the internal details of the art trading market, nodded with a relieved expression and smiled.

"If I encounter some artwork that I don't understand, I'd like to ask for your help~"

"Haha~ No problem."

"Oh, right!"

"The private plane you came to Paris on, Mr. David Romano wants to buy it and put it in your name."

"However, considering Mr. Romano's current status and situation, I may cause you some unnecessary trouble."

"So, I took it upon myself to tell Feier, find another friend to buy it, and then give you a medium-sized private jet that can travel between the two sides of the Atlantic, with four years of use rights."

"what do you think?"

Zina tried hard to keep the smile on her face, opened her eyes wide, and smiled with joy: "Thank you, Bill!"

"You are so sweet!"

"You're welcome!"

Bill "naturally" accepted Zina's "thank you", turned to look at Elena, and smiled.

"congratulations!"

"This time, you made the right choice again!"

Elena nodded gracefully, as if she had ignored the "intimacy" between Bill and Zina just now, and chuckled.

"You too, Bill!"

"Hahaha~"

. . .

Bill Gutherland, gone.

Zina pulled Elena to open the door to the room, quickly looked around the room, then walked to the sofa and sat down to relax.

Elena turned sideways, looked at Zina who was frowning, thought quietly for a while, and asked.

"When are you going back to New York?"

After Zina was silent for a moment, she took a few deep breaths and said with a helpless smile: "I can't wait to get on the plane and rush back now..."

"No!"

"Escape back..."

"..Haha~"

Elena casually took off her coat, leaned on the sofa next to Zina, held her hand, and whispered.

"This feeling of being unable to control yourself is indeed very bad..."

"But if we really...escape back now, you will definitely regret it!"

"..I know!"

Xina leaned her shoulders tightly against Elena, trying to calm down the various emotions surging in her heart, and sighed.

"These relationships and businesses seemed so easy to handle when we were around David."

“When it was our turn to deal with it ourselves, we truly felt his hardship and helplessness~”

"Tell me, how did he do it?"

Elena felt a little funny and asked: "Odis Parker, you often mentioned to me that you are in the New York social circle..."

"Hey~ This is different!"

When Zina heard her ridicule, she felt even more helpless and sighed: "It's just like...the driver is the same as the passenger."

"We, the passengers, just need to relax and enjoy the scenery outside the car~"

"Where's the driver?"

"He not only has to ensure that he is driving safely, but he also has to pay attention to whether the route is correct at all times, as well as the driving conditions of the vehicles ahead, left, and right, etc."

"What he has to do is far less easy than it seems to us onlookers and passengers~"

After listening to this, Elena felt that her metaphor seemed very appropriate and smiled.

"But as far as I know... David doesn't seem to have a driver's license yet, right?"

"...Hahahaha~ That's right!"

"He's an American kid who can't drive!"

"Hahaha~"

. . .

The laughter of the two of them echoed in the room for a long time before slowly stopping.

Xina opened her arms, held Elena in her arms, and said with a smile that was mixed with relief and joy.

"Thank you!"

"No!"

"We are all family, you don't have to say thank you!"

"A family?"

"Correct!"

"We are all family..."

Zina silently repeated it several times in her mind. This word made her feel a little unfamiliar. She suddenly remembered what Elena said upstairs and asked funnyly.

"That's all what you said to Kanes upstairs..."

"That's right!"

"Those are all things that suddenly came out of my heart automatically...the words from my heart~"

"Um..." Xina was speechless for a few seconds, recalling a few fragments she had heard, and asked with a strange expression.

"What did David tell you?"

"Can you tell me about it?"

"Okay~"

This time, it was Elena's turn to start talking to Xina, smiling amusingly.

"However, you must agree to one condition!"

"condition?"

"Tell me~"

Elena pretended to be mysterious and leaned into Zina's ear. After whispering a few words, she saw Zina's face turn red instantly and asked with a smile.

"How about it?"

"..."

Zina suppressed the sense of absurdity in her heart and stared at Elena for a long time before gritting her teeth and nodding.

"make a deal!"

"Hahahaha~ok!"

Elena put her legs on Zina's body, put her right hand around her neck, found a very comfortable position for herself, shook her head and smiled.

"Psychological expectation, we can also call it expectation value~"

"As long as we can appropriately adjust our expectations according to various situations, we will reduce our disappointment and amplify our happiness and sense of accomplishment~"

"So, if we can persist in doing this, we will find that those people who always maintain an optimistic attitude around us in life and work, live so simply and happily~"

"is that so?"

Zina, who was hugged by Elena's neck and forced to drink a bowl of "poisonous chicken soup", nodded and murmured as if she had some understanding.

"The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment..."

"The lower the expectations..."

"That's right!"

"That's it!"

“However, this method is not suitable for everyone~”

"But it is very effective in dealing with various complex emotional issues that individuals encounter."

"Appropriately lowering one's expectations can make it easier for people to accept the shortcomings of the other half, tolerate and understand the other party."

"The more we understand each other, the fewer conflicts we have."

"The intimate relationship between two people can naturally be preserved for a longer time~"

"..."

Before Xina could think about it for a while, Elena showed a smirk on her lips.

"I'm going to take a shower."

"Aren't you coming together?"

"...Rogue!" Zina gritted her teeth and deliberately scolded. .

"Hahahaha~"

David's face with a "charming" smile suddenly flashed before Zina's eyes, and her body relaxed unconsciously.

Elena was keenly aware of her "relaxation", and immediately pulled her towards the spacious bathroom, closed the door heavily, and locked it. .

after a while~

Outside the bathroom window, large swaths of crystal snowflakes melted "one after another" on the mist-filled glass.

The stunning scenery composed of the silver-covered Paris dusk and the Eiffel Tower standing in the cold wind seems to bring a simple and rare happiness to those who are admiring it ~