Mediterranean hegemon

"Brother Calais, why are you always busy with endless work? Are you so busy even when you go to the United States for vacation?" At night, 14-year-old Ada stood on the deck and looked at the night view, tightening her face and protesting unhappily. .

"Well..." Contini said sheepishly, "Mainly we have had many business discussions this year, and then there are a lot of emergencies, such as the Adolf incident, and the Socialist Party incident... so we are so busy. "

"I've heard all these things, and it's spread among my classmates. Everyone says you're a good friend, and some say you're really good at the Socialist Party..." Ada's eyes shone with a strange light, "There are so many The female classmates admire you, and some say in the dormitory that I won’t marry you unless I do it, so I don’t dare to go on vacation with you for fear of being beaten by them.”

Contini shook his head and was speechless: the women around him were too busy to care about female fans. Then he said casually: "You are still young...you don't understand this. Things are much more complicated than you think...Forget it, let's go watch a movie..."

"Don't go!" Ada pouted in protest, "The last time I watched a movie, it lasted 40 minutes. You walked out three times, each time for at least five minutes, and then you didn't even think about watching it - let me ask you about the content. And the plot is completely wrong! You didn’t pay attention to the movie at all.”

Contini shrugged and smiled helplessly: How could Contini, who was accustomed to watching blockbusters in the 21st century, be attracted to the primitive black and white talkies of the mid-1920s? This really doesn’t mean that I don’t pay attention to Ada, I really can’t interest her in her.

"These movies are not good-looking..." Contini said, "The techniques are old and the performances are old-fashioned. What's worse is that the technical level is still so bad. United Group is now building new cinemas in China and using new technology-color , all the real sounds can be accommodated. If you are interested, I will take you to see it. If you don’t want to watch a movie, let’s go play snooker.”

Speaking of snooker, Ada's little mouth pursed even more vigorously: she is not as tall as the club, and her skills are even worse - Contini's skills are not very good, but he hits his own ball well. It was all gone, and Ada scored a pitiful goal.

"Or bridge?"

"I can't count you."

"What about chess?"

"Neither will I..."

"Going to dance?"

"I always step on your toes."

Contini sighed: These things are indeed a bit difficult for a 14-year-old girl. Although Ada looks like a mature girl on the outside, she is actually still a child.

"Then you can only go to the pinball room...it doesn't depend on skill there, it depends on luck! But let's make a deal first, no matter how much you lose later, you are not allowed to cry."

"Brother Jialai, you are so playful...Are you always so carefree?"

Contini was speechless. How could he know this? Poti told him that when it came to having fun, Poti was the number one player in the Youth League. The other nine in the top ten combined could not compare to Poti. season. But how can I say this now? I just said vaguely: "Combining work and rest, combining work and rest. Leisure is for relaxation. I am only 21 years old..."

"You also know that you are only 21 years old. I think you are busier than your father. In his eyes, you don't look like you are 21 years old, but like an out-and-out minister?"

Contini thought to himself: I am busier than the minister now. If nothing else, the Minister of Transport is not as busy as himself!

"Go away, go away! We've reserved these machines." Before Contini and Ada arrived, the guards had already started clearing the place in advance. The other tourists were so interested in having fun that they couldn't bear to leave, so they immediately started shouting with dissatisfaction.

"Stop arguing, each person will be compensated 1,000 lire... you can play whatever you like, don't make trouble here!"

Upon hearing that there was a 1,000 lira compensation, the tourists immediately dispersed. When Ada appeared, the entire pinball room was empty. Although there were a few people playing, they were all pretended to be guards!

Contini was wrong in one estimation. Although the pinball machine is said to depend on luck, skill is also important: except for the first bet, Ada lost everything else, and she lost the 1,000 lira chip without much effort. , and then lost another 1,000, and in less than half an hour, he lost 4,000 lire.

Looking at Ada who was biting her lip tightly and looking unhappy, Contini frowned and winked at Enzo behind him. The latter understood and immediately went to negotiate with the manager of the recreation department.

“Which machine can you control the outcome of?”

"No...no...we can't control it!"

Enzo threw out 2,000 U.S. dollars: "You heard clearly, the president is playing marbles with Miss Ada. No matter how you play, you must ensure that she wins 10,000 lire... If you do it, the 2,000 U.S. dollars will be yours! If you can't do it, , Hehe... you understand."

Is there such a magical operation? Throw out 40,000 lire just to get back 10,000? The recreation department manager immediately put away the $2,000 and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Okay, okay, I'll do it right away!"

It's obviously not possible to do it on the spot, but no fool can be a manager. He immediately asked the workers to increase the odds of a machine by 5 times as quickly as possible. Except for one empty channel, all the others were rewarded. As for this empty channel, The workers found a way to bury a bump on it, making it difficult for the marbles to roll in - it's troublesome to make you lose money, but isn't it easy to make you win money? .

Soon the manager of the recreation department had someone push the new machine out and said flatteringly: "Your Excellency, President, Your Highness... This is a new machine that has arrived on this ship. It is more interesting and fun. Do you want to try it?"

When she heard someone calling her His Highness, Ada was stunned, and then giggled: "I'm not a noble, just call me Ada."

With the "new" machine, Ada became "brave" and won money again and again. At this time, losing money was much more difficult than winning. A bunch of marbles would roll out of any lane.

I quickly got back the 5,000 liras I lost just now, and made thousands of liras back and forth...

Such a strong contrast made everyone dumbfounded, but everyone soon understood. They saw Ada happily stuffing the marbles in, bouncing them off and winning a "wow", and then saw Contini shaking his head helplessly. ’s back, holding back a smile—probably for the CEO, making Ada happy is more difficult than dealing with the Socialist Party.

Seeing that the winnings were almost 10,000 lire, Enzo stepped forward and said, "President, Miss, it's almost time. The ship will dock at the pier tomorrow afternoon... Go get some rest early."

Ada won 10,000 lire, and naturally left happily. When they left, the guards patted the manager of the recreation department on the shoulder and winked at him - meaning that you are smart and have a bright future!

After everyone left, the manager of the recreation department shouted: "Quickly, hide this machine. It cannot be put out without my order! Write a note on it - the pinball machine used by President Ciano and Miss Ada ! Maybe it can be sold at a good price by then.”

After returning to the room, looking at the excited Ada, Monica smiled and said, "Did you have a lot of fun today?"

"Brother Calais took me to play pachinko today and won 10,000 lire. He said he would give it to me as pocket money in New York..."

"That's awesome...I didn't know you were so lucky."

"Fake!" Ada burst out laughing. "They must have rigged the machine! Because I always lost at the beginning, how could I win later?"

"Um..." Monica didn't know how to respond to this sentence, "Are you too worried... maybe something happened?"

"I'm 14 years old, not a 4-year-old child. I can't tell if there's any manipulation? The fat man rolled out a new machine in a sly way, and brother Calais kept encouraging me to play with it... Isn't it obvious?"

"Are you angry?" Monica thought to herself: Oops, the CEO is usually such a meticulous person, why is it so easy for Ada to see his flaws now?

"No, I'm not angry, I'm happy." Ada smiled, "I'm not happy because I made the 10,000 lire, but because he can think of all kinds of ways to make me happy - just like the above It’s like bragging that he will build me the best blue ribbon cruise ship. I know it’s unrealistic, but it’s good that he has this intention. I’m really happy!”

Well, plus the banknotes thrown out earlier to drive people away, the overbearing president finally did not throw away the 100,000 lire in vain. He invested 100,000 and recovered 10,000 - this rate of return is really amazing!