Chapter 4 Don't Leave Me Here, I Will Invest in My Family

Throughout the 1960s, because of the Vietnam War, the United States focused its energy on South Asia, leaving no time to manage desert areas.

And where the rich countries would miss too many opportunities to make money, oil prices rose slowly throughout the 1960s.

Like a soft knife cutting flesh, the cost of industrial products in the United States rose, and the economy was naturally depressed. The last outbreak resulted in the four economic crises in the 1970s.

Moreover, the economic downturn makes it difficult for Americans to find jobs, and they have to face a large number of retired soldiers joining the ranks of job grabbing.

Thinking of this, I was lowering my head and worrying that I couldn't even find Li Changheng who was a Burger King waiter, who was overworked for only a month or two,

Seeing a few Chinese in front of him wearing kung fu uniforms with a black background and red borders, he suddenly raised his head and asked, "Are you disciples of the martial arts school in Chinatown?"

The leading young man nodded, and Li Changheng asked happily, "Then if I can help you introduce middle school students to learn martial arts, how much introduction fee can you give me?"

"This...", several Chinese martial arts disciples around looked at each other in surprise, and hesitant expressions appeared on their faces after a while.

There are not to mention dozens of martial arts gyms in Chinatown, but they can be officially opened to teach apprentices. There are ten formal martial arts gyms with a venue of one or two hundred square meters.

But the problem is that although everyone wants to earn money from foreigners, they don't want to teach foreigners real kung fu.

Let alone real kung fu, he doesn't even want to teach routines. He would rather live a tight life than spread Kung Fu outside.

Otherwise, Brother Xiaolong opened a martial arts gym in San Francisco, and he would not be scolded for accepting foreigners as apprentices.

Hearing the explanation from the leading martial arts disciple, I had already made up my mind. With my doubled physical fitness and memory, I would first learn a few moves or a complete set of routines from the martial arts master.

Then he performed a few times in school, hoping to attract those nerds who had been bullied by school bullies to learn boxing, Li Changheng couldn't help but cursed in his heart.

Let alone this era, it will be the same even decades later, and the more closed the more it will not be able to develop and keep up with the times.

That is to say, not to mention earning some introduction fees, he wanted to learn Kung Fu himself, but he couldn't find anyone to teach him.

With a heavy heart, Li Changheng turned his head and left without even entering Chinatown.

In the next two days, Li Changheng, who didn't intend to give up his student status, and also wanted to avoid the orphanage to drive him away, had no free food and accommodation, and couldn't work full-time, couldn't find a suitable job so quickly.

Even if there is, it is a bit unwise to give up the opportunity to go to college for 6 or 7 dollars a day.

After all, he will be able to prepare for university applications in February next year. After working hard for 7 months, he might be able to get into a good university.

Fortunately, Frank may be really kind, or he may be worried that the money he borrowed will be wasted.

After Frank's introduction, in the rich neighborhood where his family used to live, Li Changheng found various groups of people to tidy up the lawn, touch up the paint on the walls, and clean the swimming pool.

In the following week, I used the fragmented time after school in the afternoon to use the price of 8 dollars for a family, all-inclusive lawn + some other odd jobs, and actually earned 48 dollars.

Moreover, the place where he works is a real wealthy area. Even if someone is dissatisfied that he snatched the job at a price 15% lower than the market price, they dare not openly block him in the community.

As for outside the community, it is not difficult to use the night to avoid troublemakers.

After five hours of physical labor every day, I found that not only did I not feel too tired, but my physical fitness was still growing with the supplement of whole meat burgers.

The only trouble is that it is probably handsome, plus it is hot, and when working in a vest, there will always be aunts with blurred eyes, and even little girls who use the excuse of delivering water and drinks to say something strange talk.

If he hadn't just started making money and didn't want to cause trouble, he probably wouldn't have to go back to the orphanage to spend the night.

And the weekly salary of 48 US dollars and the monthly salary of 192 US dollars, according to the newspaper, can be regarded as low- and middle-income groups. After all, two Big Mac burgers, French fries, and Coke set meals are only between 1-2 US dollars.

The Americans' burgers are absolutely on top, and there are 2 to 3 burgers on the Tianchao side.

The per capita annual income in Los Angeles last year was 5,000 US dollars, and Li Changheng, whose monthly income was nearly 200 US dollars, was already able to support himself.

And as long as he can support himself, Li Changheng has the time and energy to study hard for university, read newspapers, chat with people who are willing to talk to him in rich areas, and think of other ways to make money.

During this period, he still kept his promise. After getting the first payment of 8 dollars,

Repaying Frank's money and taking him to eat a two-dollar Burger King meal, the relationship between the two suddenly improved a lot.

A month passed by little by little, and one day Frank suddenly found Li Changheng with an ugly face, hoping to do odd jobs with him.

It was only a few days later that Li Changheng found out that Frank's parents had signed a divorce agreement.

Frank, who couldn't accept the breakdown of his family for a while, ran away from home without even thinking about it. When he had nowhere to go, he thought of Li Changheng, his only friend.

Li Changheng was not annoyed at the matter of carrying a oil bottle.

After thinking about it, with Frank joining, my time will not be so tight. I can let Frank do the work in the morning and half afternoon, and I can take over after school.

And there are two people who can also take on those odd jobs with a heavier workload, and it seems that they earn more money.

After that, the figures of the two appeared from time to time in various wealthy areas of San Francisco.

The only problem is where to stay.

As for housing, Li Changheng instinctively wanted to live in a place with a lot of Chinese.

In the end, the two worked hard for a week. After they had more spare money, they rented a 36-square-meter two-bedroom apartment for at least 30 years for $80 a month in a dilapidated apartment building one street away from Chinatown. small apartment.

It is close to Chinatown, and you can also taste the food of Tianchao from time to time.

One day in early September, after helping a rich man build a small tree house for his daughter with templates made in a factory, the two received a check for $20.

Putting the check in his pocket, and on the bus back to his residence, Li Changheng couldn't help but look at Frank who was muttering about being too tired.

In the movie, the green-faced 16-year-old young man defrauded 1.2 million US dollars in the United States in less than a year with fake checks.

And to be able to swindle such a large amount of money, if I remember correctly, the root cause is that there are too many banks in the United States.

Not to mention transnational, there are hundreds of interstate banks, and there are a large number of private banks in local counties and cities.

As long as the checks of different banks have mutual settlement business, once the bank's window staff are cheated,

After the check is cashed, there will be no second check, but it will be shipped to the bank where the checkbook is held.

Even belonging to the same bank, a blank check issued by Morgan Stanley Bank in New York, after being cashed at Morgan Stanley Bank in San Francisco,

This check will also be shipped to New York, and when the mutual settlement is made, someone will check whether the check is genuine again.

And this return time is usually two weeks, or even more than 14 days.