America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 265 The Man Who Jumped into the Sea

Huang Qingyun looked at the guns and bullets in front of him, a little dazed.

"What if the police want to search?"

Chen Jianqiu smiled.

"That's because you didn't have a gun, so they searched. If you really have a gun, you can see whether he will search it."

He took a bullet out of the box and put it in the sun.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, the copper casing of the bullet gleamed.

"Unless the U.S. Army wants to trouble you, or the police, unless you burn down the San Francisco City Hall, otherwise, they don't want to appear in Chinatown."

"In their eyes, their lives are much more valuable than ours."

Chen Jianqiu looked at Huang Qingyun: "And, Uncle Huang, don't forget what we were doing before we came to America."

He pointed in the direction of Chinatown: "Those people still have a way out. At worst, they can go back to the messy Qing Dynasty. We don't have it."

Huang Qingyun was like enlightenment.

He suddenly felt his blood welling up, and scenes of his past emerged before his eyes.

He seems to have returned to his youth, and his whole body is full of vitality again.

Under Chen Jianqiu's arrangement, Hanif and Downey took the carriage gun and went to the pier.

"Sifu, tell the others, pack up and get ready to go, we will gather outside the city at 8 o'clock in the evening." Chen Jianqiu turned his head and told Li Sifu.

The twenty or so people in full armor were too eye-catching, so after last night, Chen Jianqiu did not let the people from Long Xiang's group go back to the city, but found a place outside the city to stay.

"Take a watch." Chen Jianqiu took out his pocket watch.

Li Sifu adjusted the pointer of his pocket watch to match that of his boss, got on his horse and left the yard, heading out of the city.

He knew that in all likelihood, his boss would wander around the city alone for a while again.

Chen Jianqiu planned to take another tour of the city before leaving San Francisco. Later, he wanted to visit the "relics" of the dock workers' union.

He rode on the black radish and headed towards the pier.

The union is now burned to the ground, just like the abandoned buildings in Chinatown, a pile of dark ruins.

San Francisco police have drawn a line around it, so it looks more like a "relic".

The surrounding crowd had dispersed.

The citizens are quite willing to believe Carney's version. Conspiracy, kidnapping, and arson sound interesting.

Therefore, in their minds, at least for now, the case is temporarily closed.

After looking at the ruins for a while, Chen Jianqiu got on his horse again and continued along the coastline.

Night fell.

Darkness filled the city's coast again, and the wind from the Pacific Ocean blew from the sea, blowing over Chen Jianqiu's face.

Not far away, a little light appeared.

It was a fishing port pier.

Thirty years ago, a timber merchant built a wharf of about 30 square meters there in order to facilitate his own timber business.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the wharf was built, many laborers were attracted, cheap restaurants and bars were also built, and the business was booming.

Active there are some of the first Italian immigrants who came to San Francisco.

With their good fishing skills, they turned Fisherman's Wharf into a distribution center for aquatic products in San Francisco.

So this place is also called "Fisherman's Wharf".

Huang Qingyun told him all this, and he told Chen Jianqiu that if you want to taste the freshest seafood, you can go there and have a look.

Do not miss passing through.

You know, since the crossing, he has been traveling inland, and later he got into the great desert of New Mexico.

It had been a long time since he had seen what seafood looked like.

The lights of the pubs and restaurants on the pier were on, and laughter and laughter came from the windows.

It's very lively inside.

Chen Jianqiu had no intention of disturbing these Italian immigrants.

He walked into one of the restaurants and ordered grilled sea bass from the proprietor with a thick Italian accent.

Chen Jianqiu found an open-air table and tasted his dinner alone while listening to the sound of the waves.

On the sea in the distance, the sound of steam turbines of ships can be heard from time to time, and the lighthouse on the coast is also guiding the direction of returning to the port for the ships on the sea.

The sea bass on the plate soon had only one head left.

Chen Jianqiu wiped his mouth, stood up, and was about to turn around and leave.

However, at this time, a middle-aged man on the trestle not far away caught his attention.

Holding a bottle of wine in his hand, the middle-aged man leaned over the fence of the trestle bridge, facing the dark sea.

The light from the gas lamp by the trestle bridge could only illuminate his back, but could not see his face.

Suddenly, the middle-aged man raised his legs, ready to step over the fence and jump into the sea.

Chen Jianqiu took three steps at a time, rushed to the side of the middle-aged man in the blink of an eye, stretched out his hand, and pulled him off the railing.

The middle-aged man, who failed to beg for death, leaned against the fence and sat down on the ground.

A gust of sea breeze blew, and he sobered up a bit, and at the same time, he could clearly see Chen Jianqiu in front of him.

He lay limp on the ground, tilted his head, with a look of lovelessness on his face.

Tears slid down his cheeks.

The collapse of middle-aged people is often more desperate than that of young people.

If the wailing of young people is like spring rain rushing through the soil, the traces will soon disappear and they will regroup;

The silent tears of the middle-aged man were like the autumn rain that crippled the leaves, perhaps inadvertently, making people no longer have illusions about this world.

But it's better to cry than not to cry.

Chen Jianqiu thinks so.

"Hey, friend, what can't you think about?" He squatted down and patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder.

"I failed, completely failed." The middle-aged man said calmly, "That bastard ruined me."

"Uh, who ruined you?" Chen Jianqiu was at a loss.

"Thomas Edison."

Chen Jianqiu is very familiar with this name.

The first Americans he knew before crossing was Franklin and Edison.

These two people both appeared in his elementary school textbooks before he crossed over. One flew a kite to attract thunder in a thunderstorm, and the other used a mirror to reflect light to perform surgery on his mother.

After crossing, he asked Holmes and others to verify the authenticity of this matter.

The answer is only two words, oh no, one word: "Bullshit!"

"Uh, what did he do to you?" The middle-aged man's words aroused Chen Jianqiu's curiosity, and he continued to ask.

"I am a businessman who runs a gas lighting company in New York, and I am also an inventor. I have improved gas lamps and have many inventions at the same time," said the middle-aged man.

"However, Edison beat me in the U.S. municipal lighting bidding two years ago by using every dirty and despicable means you can think of."

"He also used all his connections to force me to sell my company and make me bankrupt." The middle-aged man took a sip of his wine.

"Then why are you here?" Chen Jianqiu was a little puzzled.

According to this guy's description, he should be active on the east coast. Why did he cross the entire United States and come to the west coast?

"Because I thought that when I got here, I could avoid that bastard and make a comeback." The middle-aged man muttered, "But I failed, and no one is willing to give me a chance."

"Well, you should go to Europe to find opportunities." Chen Jianqiu interjected.

"I already have nothing, and I owe a whole lot of debt." The middle-aged man said calmly, "If I die, maybe my family can be exempted from debt."

"So, you borrowed usury?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

The middle-aged man nodded.

As a veteran in this industry, Chen Jianqiu wanted to tell him a cruel reality.

In the west, there is no such thing as a loan shark’s death. His death has no other purpose except to make his family suffer more.

For this matter, Chen Jianqiu was helpless, he couldn't persuade a person who wanted to die.

"My friend, I suggest you stay strong and live on, maybe everything will be fine." Chen Jianqiu patted him on the shoulder.

He was just about to turn around and go back when he suddenly remembered something.

Chen Jianqiu turned his head: "By the way, what's your name?"

The middle-aged man raised his head and sighed:

"Hyram Maxim"

　One more, two more later
　　
　
(End of this chapter)