Manhattan Reborn 1978

Southwest United States, California.

In the morning, the sky is getting brighter ~

San Francisco (San Francisco) International Airport.

When David got off the private plane, he saw that Mr. Tianniu, who had arrived earlier, had arranged two cars and was waiting for him. He smiled and walked up to thank him.

Twenty minutes later, on the road.

David turned his head and glanced at the car behind him, and asked the driver, Mr. Tianniu.

"Bob and I made an appointment yesterday to come back separately today to visit his grandfather, Louis Rockefeller."

"Has he arrived already?"

"Yes." "He took a red-eye flight and came over an hour earlier than you. He is resting in the hotel and waiting for you."

"Oh.."

David rubbed his swollen eyes with his hands, shook his head and smiled: "No matter what I said, that kid was unwilling to come with me on a private plane. He insisted on using the money he earned to buy a ticket and fly back."

Mr. Tianniu looked at David in the rearview mirror and said, "Your face looks very bad. Do you need help changing your itinerary?"

"No!" David said vaguely as he picked up the breakfast bag he brought from the plane, took out a few pieces of chocolate and put it into his mouth.

"Susan's unexpected pregnancy was indeed a bit beyond my expectation..."

"But I have already made plans for it. First, we must make everyone accept it as soon as possible!"

"You mean...?"

"Yes, I made an impromptu decision to go to Hawaii with Susan just to explain this matter clearly in advance."

Mr. Tianniu lifted his right foot from stepping on the accelerator, glanced at the rearview mirror, hesitated for a few seconds and said: "Actually, when you took your family to Hawaii for vacation last time, Odis Parker arranged for someone to go there. Already..."

David swallowed the chocolate in his mouth and said with a smile, "Really?"

"That guy can always guess some of my thoughts."

Seeing that David didn't seem to be disgusted, the beetle took a deep breath and continued.

"The gardener and I both tried to persuade him, but he always said you wouldn't mind doing this..."

"Haha~" David put down the breakfast bag in his hand, found a comfortable position for himself, leaned back in the seat, and smiled with his eyes closed.

"Have you noticed?"

"Otis Parker, there's been more and more nonsense lately!"

"Um... is that so?" Longhorn was stunned for a few seconds, recalling that Otis Parker did behave differently after returning from Europe, and nodded slowly.

"When I knew him before, he rarely joked with others, and seldom chatted with others while drinking."

"Oh?"

"Has he never drank and chatted with his friends before?"

"Haha~" This time it was the beetle's turn to laugh.

He slowly tightened his hands on the steering wheel and whispered with a very complicated expression: "The word friend seems very unreal and has no value to people like us!"

David closed his eyes and yawned, waved to the longhorned beetle and said, "I definitely won't do it again~"

"Last time, you asked me in the stairwell of the Blue Crystal Hotel, do you still remember?"

"Remember!"

"ok~"

"Actually, I said that others cannot copy my success. The fundamental reason is not that I understand economics better than them, nor is it just that I am better at luck and eloquence."

"You know, I really like studying history~"

“But is the history we know now real or illusory?”

"No one has a 100% correct answer."

"Perhaps what we see is not the real history."

"Perhaps we will never know the truth that is buried in the dust of history."

"Even if we find the so-called correct answer, it may have been modified, whitewashed, or deliberately spread by some people."

"Because of some controversies and mysteries in history, the correct answers will not be found until hundreds of years later."

“That was true in the past, it is true now and it will be true in the future.”

"The French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace used his research to reveal to us a scientific hypothesis that cannot be cracked so far~"

"Laplace believed that as long as we can accurately know what has happened in the past, we can use Laplace's formula to calculate what will happen in the future."

"That is to say, what happened in the past and the future, including how we came into this world, how we met true love and lived through this life, and how we will die in the end, were all at the moment of the Big Bang tens of billions of years ago. Everything has been arranged..."

"You might as well imagine that there is such a book called My Life. You think you are writing your own life now, but in fact it has been written long ago."

"The process you are going through now is just that you are vividly interpreting it according to its content and details."

"And we all know that there is an inseparable causal relationship between the natural and human worlds."

"Everything happening now is determined by important historical events that happened in the past."

"Our future can also be predicted with some vague predictions based on the current situation."

"This is determinism."

"Although it sounds very absurd and unscientific, this view is supported by many scientists, including Einstein."

"Einstein also wrote in a letter that the world is like a complex clock, running according to strict objective laws. Every cause must have its effect, and it can also be extended from this."

"The so-called unpredictable fate and the fact that the world has no rules is what people generally believe in. This is what makes these top scientists feel most powerless and confused...the truth!"

"So Einstein became obsessed with theology in his later years, hoping to find the truth and answers that he had been searching for all his life~"

"..." Mr. Tianniu heard David's voice getting lower and lower, looked at him in the rearview mirror, suppressed the countless questions and thoughts in his mind, and simply asked.

"If you can already find accurate reference information from history, can you rely on the theory proposed by Laplace to ignore most causal laws or determinism and see into the future?"

"No~"

"Only when the historical clues are established and countless buried truths have been confirmed, can I try to draw a general direction for the future development trend, then refer to it bit by bit to determine the present, and finally determine a more accurate future.."

"But even so, I can't guarantee that some people will use various means to try to cover up, conceal, and tamper with what has happened, and create a so-called truth that is more confusing, making the future more unpredictable. Even in a state of chaos..."

"But it is never God who writes history, but contradictory and unpredictable human nature!"

"Complicated human nature is like a snake of thorns that constantly whips people forward..."

"Every time it tastes blood, it will definitely lead someone to the end of their destiny."

After listening to David's rather "philosophical" remarks, the beetle sighed with a smile.

"Perhaps if you join the Xandarian Cult, the number of its followers will be much larger than it is now."

"Haha~"

David scratched his nose with his hand and said with a smile: "I didn't know anything before. I could only bluff in front of others and pretend to be ridiculous like I knew everything."

"Now I see, listen and understand more, but I have to pretend to be ignorant, even a fool..."

"But I respect everyone, whether they really understand me or not..."

"I'm tired. Let's take a nap first. Can you call me when you get there?"

"Yes." Tianniu glanced at David who looked tired in the rearview mirror, put away his relaxed state, and his eyes gradually became serious.

----

The other side of the Pacific.

Island country.

night~

Shizuoka Prefecture, in a hot spring hotel at the foot of Mount Fuji.

Marat Poyezhnev, wearing a traditional kimono for men from the island country, picked up a wine glass from the small table in front of him and smiled at Todd Covian, who was sitting opposite.

"Let's have one last drink~"

"Tomorrow I have to go to Toyama County to complete the agreed deal."

"Okay!" Todd also raised his glass, looked at Yuri Orlov and Kihara Nobunari, and said with a smile.

“I wish our cooperation success!”

"cheers!"

"Cheers~"

After a glass of wine.

Marat and Kihara Nobunari are gone.

Yuri Orlov lay relaxed on the tatami, waved to a waitress passing by the door, pointed at Todd and smiled.

"Give me this friend and find two beautiful female companions~"

"Hi..." The waitress in traditional kimono bowed deeply to the two of them. After making sure that Yuri had no other requests, she closed the door and walked away with small steps.

Todd, who came to the island country for the first time, couldn't help but smile and asked when he saw Yuri acting like a familiar "veteran driver".

"Do they still have female companions here who can accompany them to drinks?"

"Yeah~"

Yuri picked up the wine glass and smiled: "I didn't know about the services here before. One time when Kihara Nobunari was chatting with me, he accidentally mentioned it..."

“Kneepillows, have you heard of them?”

"Uh... no." Todd smiled and shook his head, indicating that he had little knowledge.

After Yuri took a sip of his drink, he smiled with an expression that every man would understand and explained.

"Lap pillow refers to the act of lying on one's lap."

“One person kneels or sits cross-legged to provide the thighs, and the other person’s head lies on their laps.”

"Oh, that's right..." Todd nodded with great interest, feeling a little bit of anticipation for the knee pillow he was going to experience later.

Yuri put down his glass, saw Todd's "understanding" smile, and suddenly remembered what Marat once said.

"The easiest way to close the distance between men is to go find women together!"

. . .

In the parking lot outside the hot spring hotel.

Kihara Nobunari, who had not drank at all tonight, sat in the driver's seat. After starting the car, he tilted his head and looked at Marat sitting in the back seat and asked.

"Shall we go directly to Toyama City?"

"No~"

"Let's go back to Tokyo first and go to the embassy to find Jeffrey Rand. He is still waiting for us in the office."

"Okay." Kihara Nobunari drove the car out of the parking lot.

Ten minutes later.

Kihara Nobunari, who had been driving silently, saw Marat looking intently out of the window in the rearview mirror and asked in a low voice.

"Do you have no intention at all...to accept the Yasuda family's cooperation proposal?"

"Of course!"

A sneer appeared on the corner of Marat's mouth, he looked at Kihara Nobunari sideways in the rearview mirror and said.

"After the Federal Reserve announced another interest rate hike last month, the international gold price slowed down its upward trend, and the international crude oil price also experienced a wave of violent fluctuations. All the rice dollar investors in the island countries are ready to escape."

"So, Fuji Bank wants us to obtain a huge loan from it and increase the volume and frequency of crude oil transactions with the Nakhodka commercial port. It also wants to make a lot of money from us and the fluctuating international exchange rate."

"Because the crude oil in our hands now is the hard currency that travels around the world!"

Kihara Nobunari nodded silently, slowed down the car, opened the window, waved to the car following behind, and said.

"I hired a new subordinate. His name is Takimoto Kawaichi. He used to work at Fuji Bank."

Marat looked out of the car in surprise. In the car that was catching up from behind, Takimotokawa turned on the ceiling lights in the car and smiled and nodded to Marat.

"Oh...it's him, not bad."

"Are you sure his background is clean?"

"No." Kihara Nobunari exerted his strength on his feet, waved his hand to Takimotogawa, and explained as he watched the car he drove return to the road behind.

"Although I am a native of the island, I was just an ordinary student before I went to study in New York."

"Takimoto Kawaichi, was he sent here intentionally by the Yasuda family to be placed next to me... I can't be sure at all."

"So? You keep him by your side because you want...?" Marat raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Yes!"

Kihara Nobunari reached out and took out a cigarette from his briefcase, lit one, and exhaled the smoke.

"It may be difficult for you to understand if you live and grow in a big bear country. In this land, if ordinary people like me want to be recognized and realize their dreams just by working hard, it is tantamount to wishful thinking!"

"Everything I have now is given by my boss."

"If I lose the trust of my boss, I will be useless!"

"So, when I saw Takimoto Kawaichi, it was like I was seeing me for a few months..."

"I can't mistake that look in his eyes!"

Marat looked at Kihara Nobunari silently through the rearview mirror, took out his cigarette case and lit one for himself, blowing out the smoke and laughing.

"I still prefer the mixed aroma of American cigarettes. The cigarettes here have a very strange smell."

"Haha~" Kihara Nobunari understood what he meant and said with a slightly self-deprecating smile.

"When I didn't go to college, I couldn't tell the difference between them..."

“But after I finished my undergrad here and then went to New York for my graduate studies in sociology, I got it!”

“When I was a kid, I often saw that many people over forty still achieve nothing. It’s not because they are lazy or don’t work hard enough, or because they don’t have opportunities, but because their families and growing environment have brought them too much narrowness. , low self-esteem, rigidity, ignorance, and timidity, making them completely ignorant of the unspoken rules of how society operates."

"So much so that when they reach the age of forty, they will suddenly realize that they have been living in a state of confusion for the first half of their lives..."

Kihara Nobunari took a long drag on his cigarette and looked forward with extremely bright eyes: "I was born in a small village. The life creed that my parents instilled in me is hard work!"

"I have to keep working hard and work harder to get out of the small mountain village!"

"But apart from knowing that I must keep working hard, my parents don't understand the unspoken rules of how this society operates, the importance of worldly relationships, the underlying logic of exchange of interests, the changing colors of human nature, and more. I don’t understand what is the regular cycle that governs the constant change of things.”

"So, countless young people like me will be exhausted and exhausted physically and mentally after entering the society."

"Even if they open their eyes and are lucky enough to seize the opportunity, they may not be able to escape the imprint of family and life engraved in their bones."

"Follow the rules and never dare to cross them easily!"

"Because if they make a mistake or choose the wrong thing, they will pay a huge price... They can't afford it!"

Marat slowly rolled up the window and threw out the cigarette butt in his hand.

The cold night wind blew away all his sleepiness, and he whispered: "Jeffrey Rand, his father is a senator in Congress, and his mother's family is a big landowner."

"He and Mag Ludwig have been friends for many years and are key people we need to be especially close to."

"I went to see him this time just to get acquainted with the newly appointed senior management of the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office through him."

"Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office?!" Kihara Nobunari heard the name and immediately figured out what Marat was going to do.

He frowned at him in the rearview mirror and asked, "Do you think... we will be in danger?"

"Yeah~" Marat sneered as he fiddled with the lighter in his hand, his whole body showing a chill in the flickering flames.

"In Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, you can buy a life for only one thousand dollars."

“As middlemen, we make at least a million dollars in profit from each transaction!”

"Tell me, how much are the lives of the three of us worth?"

"..." Kihara Nobunari, who was not fully aware of the danger, suddenly stepped on the brakes, held the steering wheel with both hands and looked forward, and slowly exhaled.

Marat is right.

In the face of huge interests, they are just insignificant dust.

However, after one Kihara Nobunari dies, more Kihara Nobunari who are not afraid of death will emerge. .

This has been the case in the past, is the case now and will be in the future.

So after thinking about this, he turned to look at Marat and asked seriously: "What can I do?"

"Haha~"

Marat pointed to the back helplessly, shook his head and said: "You just need to continue to do your job, and find out his low interest rates by the way~"

"Leave the rest to me and Yuri!"

"Ok!"

Kihara Nobunari nodded in agreement, glanced at Takimoto Kawaichi who "jumped out" from the car behind, and drove the car again towards Tokyo.