Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

Night falls~

Wildfire Bar, 42nd Street, Manhattan.

The dynamic jazz music makes people who are enjoying a moment of quiet in the bar gradually become more relaxed.

At this time, amid people's laughter and chatter, David's "four bodyguards" White Mike, Black Mike, Lavis and Giovanni, each carrying a cloth bag in their hands, walked into the bar one after another.

After a while~

Giovanni's wife, Jin Ji, took her husband and quietly went into the wine cellar behind the bar. With trembling hands, she opened four cloth bags and saw the neatly stacked hundred-dollar bills inside. She couldn't help but pause for two seconds and asked in a low voice.

"These are..."

"Hmm!" There was not much happiness or excitement on Giovanni's face. Instead, he walked to the side and sat down with a worried look on his face. He lit a cigarette for himself and spoke in a muffled voice while puffing out the smoke.

"It turns out that we were all working for Polly's company and getting paid. At the beginning of the New Year, David asked us to register with DA Security Company and start getting paid from there."

"So, this is the severance pay for the four of you?"

"Ah."

"One hundred thousand per person?"

"Ah."

Jin Ji tightly grasped the bag of cash belonging to her husband Giovanni with both hands, stared at her feet with lifeless eyes, and her lips trembled seven or eight times before she calmed down and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"..." Giovanni took a deep puff of his cigarette, shook his head and said nothing.

"What about the three of them? Did they say what they were going to do with the money?"

"They...want to wait until the boss comes back and hand over the money."

"Whose idea was this? It couldn't be you, could it?"

"No, it's Lavis."

"What about you? What did you tell them?"

"I...I didn't say anything."

"Oh!" Jin Ji had guessed his thoughts from his hesitant answer, and sighed with both happiness and helplessness.

"If all three of them want to hand over the money, there's no way we can keep it."

"This money can indeed help us solve the problem of buying a house, but because of David's care we all have jobs and stable incomes, and we can earn 100,000 yuan in less than three years."

"If we insist on keeping it now, it will definitely do us more harm than good, and it will also make everyone think that we are greedy!"

"..Okay! I'll do as you say." Giovanni threw away his cigarette butt, let out a long breath, and looked at his wife with a look full of relief and satisfaction.

Jin Ji's hands were still tightly holding the bag full of cash. She chose to ignore her husband's reaction. She used almost all her strength to restrain the greed in her heart and slowly calmed down.

. . .

Meanwhile, in the bar.

Black Mike sat alone in the corner of the bar, watching with a smile on his face as White Mike was "interrogated" by the bartender's girlfriend Erica, grabbing his ears.

At the other end of the bar, Lavis, the second brother of the "Three Brothers with Similar Faces", was surrounded by Martha with Dimples, Menge the Steel-Toothed Dog, brother Zack, and bartender Bruce Willis, all chattering and laughing.

Especially Martha with the dimples, she was the loudest in protesting that Lavis was going to give all the money to David. She slammed her hands on the bar, stared at Lavis with a red face and shouted, "David doesn't care about this little money at all. If you don't want it, you can give it to me. I want it!"

"Pfft~" Everyone around was amused by Martha's idiotic remarks.

The smaller Zach, the younger of the Zach brothers, raised his eyebrows at Menge the Steel-toothed Dog and said jokingly, "See, she's regretting not getting David before Susan."

"Hahaha~" Steel-toothed dog Menge and the people around him laughed again.

"Ah! Bastard!" Martha was completely enraged by these heart-wrenching words. She rolled up her sleeves, grabbed the collar of the little Zack, and swung her little fist up instantly.

"Oh~ Help! Why don't you stop her?" The little guy Zach yelled in an exaggerated manner, causing the people around him to step back in tacit agreement.

At this time ~

Old Red, who was happily watching the show nearby, glanced past the bar door and saw the former bar waitress Madonna L. Signy running in with excitement on her face and shouting to everyone.

"Hey Bruce Willis, what are you doing here? Why can't I get through to the phone here?"

"Um... the telephone company said this morning at noon that they were doing maintenance and it should be ready soon." The bartender Bruce explained to Madonna who was approaching with a grin.

"Oh, so that's how it is."

"Then go out and find a phone number to call Zina. She's planning on arranging for us to go to Houston to attend the Independent Film Festival."

Madonna put a piece of paper with a phone number on it on the bar, then turned around and found Black Mike again. She leaned over and whispered, "Zina also asked me to tell you to go to Houston with us."

"Me? Going to the film festival too?" Black Mike blinked in confusion and asked.

"Of course not~" Madonna's expression changed, and she shook her head with envy and jealousy in her eyes.

"She said that David bought a new house and a new farm for his parents and wanted you to go over and help. And by the way, pick out a room decoration style that you like."

"And David's mother, Sera, has asked Zina to bring a message to you."

"She said there will always be a room for you in the house, come on."

"..Okay, I got it." After a few seconds of silence, Black Mike pursed his lips and nodded vigorously to express his gratitude to Madonna.

Inside the bar, old Red, who had been listening to their conversation with his ears perked up, observed their expressions carefully with some surprise. The smiling face that David often showed immediately emerged in his mind, and the arc of his mouth gradually widened.

. . .

More than two hours later.

Above the Wildfire Bar, in the penthouse.

Polly Sidrich dragged her tired body into the living room, kicked off her high heels casually, collapsed on the sofa, waved to Black Mike who brought her back, and smiled.

"I'm very busy today. Sera's mother called my secretary and asked me to tell you to come over as soon as possible."

"She said that the family really wants you to bring your girlfriend back with you, choose a favorite spot on the farm, and build a house..."

"Oh, right!"

"I just wrote a list in the car. You can go to the department store to buy it and bring it over before you get on the plane tomorrow at noon. Thank you very much!"

"Ok."

"There's still this money. I want to buy a lot of things. I can't let you spend all of it."

"I have money."

"No, Mike. This is different."

Polly "climbed" up from the sofa, stuffed a wad of money into Black Mike's hand, and smiled gently: "Home was once the castle where I gave up all my dreams and was willing to live an ordinary life."

"But I've come out now, and David is just as busy as I am. You are the most suitable person to continue to guard this castle for us."

"Mike, I know you will! Right?"

"Yeah!" Black Mike subconsciously clenched the money in his hand, pursed his lips and nodded.

Polly was very happy to see this, she turned around and waved, saying: "Okay, you go back first, I also need to rest."

"Chasida, where are you?"

"..." Chasida, the maid who had been sitting quietly in the corner of the dining room reading a book, heard Polly calling her name, and quietly put down the book and walked into the living room.

After hearing her footsteps, Polly continued to walk towards the bedroom and said in a helpless tone: "David is staying in Boston tonight and won't be back."

"Come on, let's go take a shower!"

"When he comes back, we won't be able to rest well again."

"..." Chasida forced a smile and nodded as he passed by Black Mike.

Black Mike stood there and watched them walk into the bedroom one after another. He blinked, lowered his head silently, smiled silently, turned around and went downstairs.

New home?

It really makes people look forward to it!

----

South central United States, Texas.

More than 30 kilometers southeast of downtown Houston, in the petrochemical zone north of Texas City.

Before 1910, Texas City and its surrounding areas were just spontaneous market trading areas for fishermen and ranchers, and had not developed into large-scale commercial residential areas, industrial areas, or commercial port areas.

It was not until after 1911 that the city of Houston began to dredge rivers and develop maritime transportation. Texas City, with its superior geographical location, took advantage of the times and became the most important maritime and commercial port in southern Texas in just years.

Especially during World War II, the port's annual shipping throughput broke historical records, attracting a large number of workers from all over the country and abroad, who chose to settle here.

Now, it is the third largest city in Galveston County, with a permanent population of about 4.5 and dozens of oil refining, petrochemical, oil machinery and other enterprises.

Therefore, as an important industrial port city in Texas, Texas City has gradually become famous for its developed oil industry and powerful port functions.

. . .

Sunset

Outside Texas, at BP's super-large refinery, workers who were preparing to punch out changed out of their work clothes and walked into the parking lot in twos and threes, chatting and laughing.

suddenly~

"Boom~!!!"

Not far behind them, a ball of fire rose up that was too bright to look directly at. The huge explosion and flame shock wave quickly swept across the entire nearby refinery area.

After the first explosion, more than a dozen accident alarms placed throughout the factory immediately sounded shrill screams.

The continuous shrill alarms made the people working in the surrounding warehouse and oil tank areas immediately realize that something big had happened!

"FXXX!"

"SHXX! I'm hurt, help me!"

"Run, everyone hide first..."

"No, call quickly~report quickly!" The sudden accident caused the workers within a hundred meters to panic, and everyone completely forgot the emergency response plan they had learned many times.

About 200 meters away from the center of the explosion~

Tok Cabane, the warehousing manager for the entire factory area, was sitting in the office area between the warehouse area and the oil tank area.

When the shock wave of the explosion hit him, he instinctively covered his mouth and nose with his hands and crawled under the desk, avoiding some of the damage caused by the shock wave mixed with broken glass, but the hot air waves brought by the shock wave messed up his hair.

Fortunately, the shock wave came and went quickly.

Tok covered his face with his hands. When he felt the high temperature in the air around him quickly recede, he immediately crawled out from under the desk, found the emergency fire prevention tool box hanging on the wall, put the new gas mask inside on his face properly, and then he dared to take a quick, deep breath, his eyes looking towards the center of the accident where explosions were still occurring in the distance.

“…!!”

In the center of the accident area, flames shot up into the sky!

The flames, which were dozens of meters high, completely eliminated the last bit of hope in Tok's heart.

The light in his eyes hidden behind the lenses of the gas mask flickered several times, and he quickly found the work walkie-talkie that was blown to the ground and shattered by the shock wave. From the appearance, it should have been completely damaged.