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Volume 1 New York Story Chapter 15 Existence is reasonable

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    Update time: 2012-06-07

    At a hot dog stand near Fifth Avenue in New York's Central Park, all the remaining hot dogs and sausages together cost less than six dollars. The homeless people around were each holding a hot dog and two sausages, and they were impatient.  A few of them who were very hungry were squatting on the steps and munching happily. Some of them were obviously reluctant to eat, so they wrapped hot dogs and a sausage in newspapers. They didn't know whether to take them back to their companions or save them for breakfast tomorrow.

    There are still a dozen hot dogs left to be packaged. When Wang Geng handed over a twenty-dollar bill, the stall owner was in trouble. Tonight, he met a do-gooder like Wang Geng, the old man from the hot dog stall and  These old guys around here are so lucky, but how can they find twenty dollars?

    Twenty dollars is almost a week's salary for a white-collar employee of a large company in New York. The Mexican stall owner Silvis sells hot dogs for a day, and his turnover is only nearly ten dollars. After deducting costs, he can make seventy-seven or eighty-eight dollars a day.  One to two dollars is an incredible gain.

    In fact, these twenty dollars are really the salary that Charles Edison just paid this week. Although he is the boss's son, at this time he is still only getting a salary as a trainee engineer at General Electric Company.

    Silvis collected all the change he had collected during the day's business, which was only a little over five dollars. Wang Geng nodded, took the five dollars, mainly change, from the old man's trembling hand, and put his hand on it.  He stuffed the twenty dollar note inside and said with a smile,

    ¡°Your hot dog tastes good. If you don¡¯t have enough change, just save it and eat it next time I pass by!¡±

    Someone among the homeless people munching on hot dogs whistled, "Old Xi, you can meet kind-hearted people today. I have never touched a twenty-dollar bill in my life!"

    A smile finally broke out on Silvis's wrinkled face. While carefully putting the twenty-dollar bill into his arms and putting it away, he clasped his hands in front of Wang Geng and muttered something in Mexican dialect.  , and then found a piece of furoshiki and a few newspapers from under the stall.

    The old Mexican man carefully wrapped a dozen hot dogs in oil paper, wrapped them in several layers of newspapers, and tied them into a bundle with cloth. The knot was very delicate and beautiful.

    Wang Geng¡¯s inner plan was to use these hot dogs as midnight snacks for the nurses in the sanatorium. In his previous life, when he was on a business trip and staying at the guest house of the Northern Military Region, he often used these hot dogs to win the hearts of the waiters.

    Steaming hot dogs and sausages are small things, but they can be used as late-night snacks. They can also bring a little warmth to people on cold New York winter nights, right?

    Nodding to the old stall owner, Wang Geng stood on the street with his baggage and looked around. The few taxis that passed by were full of people, and there was not an empty taxi in sight. This guy was full of energy after eating.  Then, he waved to the old man who was cleaning up the stall and a few homeless people around him who were still joking about the old man, and walked back in big strides.

    Before he had walked a few steps, he heard the roar of a motorcycle and the screeching sound of tires scraping the ground during sudden braking. He turned around and saw two guys who were obviously New York street gangsters riding together in a dilapidated car.  The motorcycle stopped in front of the hot dog stand.

    "Hey! Old guy! You haven't paid today's money yet! You thought we couldn't come over tonight, right? You're still wasting two dollars! Get it for us brothers quickly! Make four more hot dogs and grill six pieces of meat -  Intestine! Hurry! The boss is still waiting!"

    The curly-haired gangster sitting in the back seat was chewing gum and yelling at Silvis!

    The guy yelled at the homeless people around the stall, "What are you looking at? Get out of here!"

    The few homeless people over there were so frightened that they scattered away, leaving only the hot dog stand and the old man at the huge door!

    Upon hearing this, Wang Geng knew that this matter was not that simple. These two gangsters were obviously here to collect protection money. To say that this was an objective fact of the lower class society in New York, Wang Geng had no intention of becoming a knight-errant Batman. If  The Mexican stall owner had the two dollars in change, so of course there was no problem. The gangsters just collected the protection money, took the hot dogs and sausages and left.

    The problem is that the hot dogs and intestines of the Mexican stall owner are all in the bag in his hand, and the old man only has a twenty-dollar bill next to him. I am afraid that this matter will not be resolved. Wang Geng stopped.

    Old man Silvis spread his hands with a sad look on his face and spoke a series of broken English with a heavy Mexican accent, but he could tell that the meaning was "The hot dogs are sold out and there is no change around. I hope you can be lenient and wait until you have change tomorrow to pay."  !¡±

    The gangster on the back seat of the motorcycle was obviously slow-minded. After listening to the old man¡¯s words, he shouted to the gangster driving the motorcycle,

    "Second brother, what should I do? The hot dogs are all sold out. Now the boss is going to curse when I go back. This old man has no money around today. How about we come back tomorrow?!  This wind blows people so cold!  "

    The gangster driving in front of him turned around and yelled at the gangster behind him while slamming the accelerator of the motorcycle, making a loud noise.

    "Third brother, what kind of pig brain do you have? Will you have no money after the hot dogs are sold out? He should have a lot of money in his pocket after the hot dogs are sold out! Why are you so stupid!"

    "You old guy! You're tired of life, aren't you? How can you have no money after the hot dogs are sold out! Are you kidding me?"

    The curly-haired gangster riding on the back seat of the motorcycle came to his senses after being scolded by his own brother, and he couldn't help but became furious. The guy jumped out of the back seat, rushed to the Mexican old man with force, and kicked him  He hit the charcoal basket on the side and rolled all over the floor.

    The old man murmured something that he didn't know what he was saying. Apparently he wanted him to hand over the brand new twenty-dollar bill that Wang Geng gave him. The old man must have been unwilling to do so. He set up a stall all night on a cold day, okay?  It is easy to meet a big customer like Wang Geng. For the old man, these twenty dollars are more than just money.

    In fact, the old man had already thought about how to surprise his granddaughter and his wife on the hospital bed when he went back. If his wife hadn't been sick and anxiously waiting for money, the Mexican old man Silvis would not have been out at the stall until so late.

    "Two dollars, right? I'll give it to him! Don't embarrass him." Wang Geng appeared beside the two gangsters at some point, holding a package in one hand and two crumpled one-dollar bills in the other.  !

    The sudden appearance of Wang Geng startled the two gangsters who were focused on making trouble against the old man. The reason why Wang Geng settled the matter was because it was an unspoken rule of this era for the New York underworld to collect protection fees. If the old man wanted to live here, he had to pay for protection.  fee.

    Wang Geng has no idea of ??meddling in things that the New York City government cannot control. It¡¯s just two dollars. If it can make the old man go home happily, I¡¯ll pay for it!

    Old Silvis¡¯s lips were trembling and he hesitated to speak. He looked at Wang Geng with eyes full of shame and gratitude.

    Although the two gangsters were surprised, no one would refuse the US dollars handed to them. The second man on the bicycle grabbed the two US dollars from Wang Geng's hand with one hand, and each of them looked at the dim light to identify the authenticity.

    While the two gangsters were studying the authenticity, Wang Geng signaled to the old Mexican man to pack up his stall and go home.

    "Oh! He's very impressive. Why are you giving him money? Central Park is our buddy's territory. It's only natural to charge him protection money. Where did you come from, a heroic hero like you? Yohe  , or a yellow-skinned monkey!¡±

    The curly-haired gangster Lao San stuffed a dollar into the old man on the bike. The two of them winked. The lao San swaggered up to Wang Geng with his chest puffed out. He obviously set his sights on this guy wearing a windbreaker.  The guy holding the package had two dollars on his body and just gave them away. He must be a rich fool!  If he doesn't eat, who will?  !

    Wang Geng shook his head and said, "It's reasonable to say that it exists. You want to collect protection money. I happened to be passing by and was willing to pay it for him, so you can't embarrass him anymore. I'm not doing justice, I just don't want to ruin the good mood tonight.  That¡¯s all!¡±

    This guy just swindled a $50,000 check from Edison and General Electric, ate a steaming hot dog from a Mexican stall owner in the cold wind, nibbled on a few grilled sausages that were fragrant and oily, and did another good deed to help.  It is natural for a homeless man to be in a good mood.

    Over there, old man Silvis had already packed up the stall. Although he was worried about Wang Geng facing two gangsters alone, Wang Geng waved his hand and told him to leave quickly. The old man hesitated for a moment, and finally pushed  His car disappeared around the corner.
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