Red Dead Redemption: The Great Philanthropist of the West

At six o'clock in the afternoon, as the city lights began to twinkle, Henry stepped into the Blackwater Bar.

The bar was brightly lit and bustling with activity. The space, spanning over a hundred square meters, was packed with people. Many workers and cowboys had nowhere to sit and could only stand to the side, drinking sherry.

Blackwater Bar's popularity stems not only from its signature Shrews and Lafite wines, but also from Henry's recent introduction of a new dish by a Chinese chef: sweet and sour pork ribs. This traditional Chinese dish, made primarily with pork ribs, undergoes multiple processes including frying, boiling, and braising. The ribs are a vibrant red color and have a delicious sweet and sour flavor, perfectly catering to American tastes.

People who are tired of barbecued meat are full of novelty towards this sweet and sour Chinese dish, and they all praise it after tasting it.

Of course, safety was paramount. To better attract customers and gather intelligence, Henry proclaimed his ambition to create the safest bar ever. While in the bar, you wouldn't have to worry about theft, robbery, or harassment while drunk. As long as you had money and gave instructions before getting drunk, someone would escort you to your room upstairs. However, due to the sheer number of drunks, rooms were often in short supply. To address this, Henry also bought a house next to the bar and converted it into a hotel.

Of course, if you don't have money, you can only lie in a corner, or you might even be kicked out.

Here, as long as you don't deliberately cause trouble, even if you're a wanted criminal, the police won't come in to arrest you. They'll only make the arrest after you've left the bar. As for petty theft, they won't bother with it unless it happens inside the bar.

Of course, there were always those who got drunk and caused trouble, but as soon as they started, the police would invite them to a free meal. For minor offenses, it might be a three-day trip; for serious offenses, it depended on the police officer's mood and Henry's attitude. You see, because Henry provided each officer with a daily allowance of two free drinks, as long as the pub was open, there would almost always be police officers coming in for a drink from time to time.

Henry came today because Paul sent someone to inform him of an important piece of news: the person Henry had previously instructed him to keep an eye on had appeared in Blackwater.

After being wanted and pursued for months following the robbery of a cotton tycoon and the resulting fire in New Mexico, the Van der Linde gang arrived in Blackwater. They had traveled north to North Grizzly and then down to the western foothills to hide. So far, only Hosea and Arthur have been spotted near the North Bank yesterday, and Micah and Jenny were seen at the tavern today.

Jenny had only joined the Fan gang a few months prior. She and her father were exploring North Grizzly when they were robbed by bandits. Her father fought to the death, taking the enemy with him, leaving her alone and lost in the mountains. After wandering for several days, exhausted and heartbroken, she collapsed by the roadside. Fortunately, she was found by members of the Fan gang who happened to be passing by and received treatment.

Her father's departure left her all alone with nowhere to go, so she naturally joined the Fan gang.

Within the gang, Arthur was her favorite, and she constantly pestered him to teach her marksmanship. Although Arthur had a foul mouth, especially when drunk—in the camp he would sing incessantly and mock everyone he met, even Hosea and Dutch—she still loved him. Arthur was like an older brother or father figure to her, tough on the outside but soft on the inside. Whatever it was, if you begged him a few times, he would always agree. For example, he might teach her marksmanship or take her to town.

Jenny had originally planned to come to Blackwater with Arthur to gather information. With her adorable little girl image, she was usually very effective at gathering intelligence. However, Arthur needed to accompany Hosea; he'd heard they'd discovered a potential money-making opportunity yesterday and were on their way to verify it, so it wasn't convenient for him to bring her along.

So she could only follow Micah, a large rat who was sent by Dutch to gather intelligence and always looked at her with lustful eyes. He was also a member of the Van Gang, who had joined later than her. No one in the camp liked him, except Dutch. She didn't know why Dutch trusted him so much.

As Jenny slowly savored the fragrant Lafite wine, eavesdropping on the conversations around her, trying to glean useful information, she suddenly felt a hand caress her thigh. She was about to push it away in alarm when Micah forcefully pressed her down.

“Don’t move. If you move again, I’ll kill you. You know Dutch won’t lose me, his powerful henchman, for you. In his eyes, you’re just tools for our amusement, like Abigail before. If you don’t want to be violated, you have to find a powerful backer, like me.” Micah threatened in a low voice, ignoring Jenny’s struggles.

"No, Arthur won't let you do that. If you dare to do anything reckless, I'll tell Arthur."

"Oh, what's the use of telling him? Can he protect you for life? He has to listen to Dutch too. The worst outcome is just getting beaten up by him. I'm not at a loss. Come on, little cutie." With that, Micah was about to continue.

Before he could even touch Jenny, Henry grabbed him from behind and knocked him unconscious. He gestured for Li Yi to come over and whispered, "Find a quiet place, cripple his third leg, make it look like an accident, and then throw him in the police station for a few days."

After Li Yi expressed his understanding and carried Micah out, Henry looked at Jenny, who was still in shock, her bright eyes still glistening with tears.

"It's alright, little girl, don't be afraid. No one in this tavern can hurt you. What's your name?"

"Jenny Kirk, you can just call me Jenny. Thank you for earlier." She sized up the handsome man before her; he looked to be about her age, but possessed a calm and reliable air about him. After she calmed down, she spoke softly.

“My name is Henry Allen, and I’m the owner here. You can call me Henry. It was our duty to help you out of that trouble. Our pub is known as the safest bar in town. But was that guy your friend? You don’t mind if I knocked him out and threw him out, do you?”

“Of course I don’t mind. He’s not my friend. We know each other; we’re in the same team, but not close. I hate him; he always stares at women with a lecherous look. But I’m worried you’ll get into trouble. Our boss is very powerful. He’s quite famous even in the entire West. I’m afraid he’ll favor Micah and come after you. He values ​​him a lot. Micah is that guy’s name.” For confidentiality or some other reason, Jenny didn’t say she was a gang member, but instead used the term “team” to refer to her.

She didn't actually like being in a gang; her father had been killed by gang members. But in that situation, she had no choice, and she was grateful to Arthur and Dutch for saving her. Within the gang, because she was constantly on the run, the atmosphere wasn't exactly pleasant. She only knew a few people: her elder Hosea, her older brother Arthur, the annoying Lenny, her close friend Marybeth, the boss Karen, and the head steward Susan.

“Don’t worry, in Blackwater, I don’t believe anyone can do anything to me. By the way, that guy Micah from earlier, I’ll have him locked up in the police station for a few days. You don’t need to worry about him causing you trouble during these days. Perhaps Jenny could tell me your boss’s name so I can be prepared.” Although Henry knew Dutch, he couldn’t say.

“I’m sorry, Henry, the boss instructed us not to tell anyone his name. However, I can introduce you to another important figure in the team. As long as he’s around, our boss won’t do anything to you.”

"Okay, maybe you can invite him over tomorrow. I'll treat you to a drink and let you try some of our local specialties. I guarantee you'll love them."

"Really? I'll definitely try to get him to come and try it tomorrow." Actually, Jenny had her eye on the tempting sweet and sour pork ribs a while ago, but she didn't have much income in the gang and was short of money, so she couldn't afford it.

Seeing the light in Jenny's eyes when she heard about the specialty food, Henry beckoned to Paul and asked him to bring over two servings of sweet and sour pork ribs.

"So, are we friends now, Jenny? Since it's our first meeting, I'll treat you to a meal so you can introduce me to your friends, right?"

"Of course, I'm happy to be your friend, Henry. You're so kind of you, not only did you help me get rid of that jerk, but you also treated me to such delicious food. I'll definitely treat you to even better food in the future."

Seeing the little girl eagerly devouring the ribs, Henry ordered two more bowls of soup and said:

"Eat slowly, no one will compete with you."

After finally eating and drinking her fill, Jenny remembered the purpose of her visit.

......

Aside:

In the game, in Chapter 4, when Arthur and Micah are doing a robbery side quest, Micah says that he and Jenny had sex at Blackwater Camp and he's furious. He can't let him get away with it, so he decides to cripple him first instead of killing him now.

I'm experiencing a bit of writer's block, and I'm struggling to express the characters and their relationships as I intend to portray. Updates may be a bit slower recently.