Chapter 269: Public Affair and Personal Relations
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After taking the ticket from Tony, Zhang Lisheng’s complicated feelings that were caused by his supervisor’s maniacal behavior gradually calmed down. Suddenly, he asked, “Tony, do you know that South Africa was successfully invaded by the steam civilization?”
“You mean the Karlado people?” The meat shop’s manager replied with a tone as though he was speaking of some interesting anecdote. “Hadn’t these people already made an overture for peace with the South African government? They’re renting Cape Town at the cost of paying enough food supply and supplying quality free medical care for all South African civilians. It’s said that these foreign world’s people can even use steam treatment to treat AIDS! I think this is an offer those poor South Africans are unable to refuse!”
Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment. Then, breaking out into a chuckle, he shook his head. “Looks like it’s not only us Earthlings who are smart. Alright, Tony! Go back to the shop and I’ll board the ship!”
Then, he walked to the end of the queueing crowd and slowly boarded the ferry.
Not long after, a sudden roar burst out of the ship’s engine. Under the escort of a small warship, it slowly moved out of the port and sailed deep into the sea.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Lisheng, who was standing at the bow of the ship facing the sea breeze throughout the entire journey, could finally see the huge and thrilling silhouette of the new New York port.
When he disembarked from the ship, it was still filled with the same big billboards that attracted people’s attention everywhere, with bustling crowds of people with various skin colors and the deafening sounds of the broadcast from the cruise ships and cargo ships arriving at the port. After feeling the familiar modern civilization aura, the young man walked out of the new port together with the flow of people.
When he was about to stop a taxi, a mysterious man wearing a black robe who covered his face with the cloak suddenly blocked his way. “Sir, the end is coming. For God so loved the world!”
Then, he stuffed a bright-colored flyer into his hands and turned around to walk away without saying anything more.
Zhang Lisheng was dumbstruck. He looked at the paper in his hand and saw a drawing of a bunch of distorted Earthlings who were brandishing their hands in pain as they struggled with distorted faces in a large black steam engine that was emitting rolling steam. The title above was written in bright red handwriting of a striking yet short sentence — ‘The end is coming.’
On the back of the flyer was a wonderful view of the Garden of Eden that was filled with all sorts of things like lush trees, fresh fruit, barbecue, and wine. A group of happy people was walking around with a few words above their heads, ‘For God so loved the world.’
Needless to say, this was a newly sprung up religious sect that took advantage of the doomsday public opinion after Karlado people had succeeded in invading South Africa. When the foreign world had just appeared, there were hundreds of such sects that sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain but now, only a few still remained active.
After looking around and discovering that there were a lot of cloaked black-robed men giving out flyers, Zhang Lisheng shook his head as he chuckled and crumpled the paper in his hand into a ball, before throwing it into the trash bin and stopping a taxi to enter it.
Before he could even say his destination, the Indian taxi driver with brown skin and a big nose said with a heavy accent, “Sir, your action of blaspheming God’s kindness is not good! You’ll receive terrible retribution on Judgement Day!”
“Is that so? Thank you for your reminder, Mr. Driver. Please drive me to the nearby LS factory please.” Zhang Lisheng ignored him and just waved his hand as he replied.
“Okay, sir!” The philistine Indian driver that had a faint smell of curry did not refuse to serve him despite having a different religious opinion from the young man. However, when he saw how Zhang Lisheng did not give a damn to this matter, he kept annoyingly mumbling about the greatness of the Doomsday Enlightenment Sect.
The originally short distance seemed to have been stretched several times longer. Finally, Zhang Lisheng returned to his office at the LS slaughterhouse and sat on the large office chair. Rubbing his wrinkled forehead, he dialed Charlie’s phone and said in a straightforward manner, “I’ve returned to New York, Charlie. Arrange a flight for me! I’ll start having my US trip tomorrow and we will start the operation of all of the factories of LS.”
“Oh, boss! God bless you! It’s so good hearing your voice! I was so anxious these past few days! We’ve already hired the employees so if the factory is not operating, we’ll lose a lot of money every day! No problem, I’ll call the airport right away to arrange a charter flight for you. It’s Monday tomorrow so the flights should not be too busy tomorrow! Where should I pick you up tomorrow morning?” When the tormented LS Group’s general manager heard the big boss’ voice, he exclaimed in excitement.
“It’s Sunday today? Oh, I’ve lost track of time staying on Shrimp B1 Island! I’m sorry for bothering your rest, Charlie. Just come pick me up at the factory early in the morning! Since it’s only for a night, I won’t go back home tonight.”
“Sure, boss! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“See you tomorrow, Charlie.”
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Lisheng immediately dialed Tina’s number. When the phone was picked up, the girl appeared to be very excited as she said, “You finally called me, Lisheng! You finally called! I’ve been worried to death this one whole month!”
“Haven’t I already said before that I can handle it and that you don’t have to worry about it?” Compared to his girlfriend’s voice that was filled with emotions, the young man said calmly. “Is everything good at your school?”
“Other than being worried about you the entire time like what I’ve said just now, everything is good!” the girl said quietly.
“Oh.” Zhang Lisheng pondered for a moment. “Well, the group’s factories in the eight metropolitan areas of the US have been completed so I’m going to start touring the US in a circle starting tomorrow. If you’re interested in accompanying me, I’ll go to Boston to pick you up first.”
“Hey, Lisheng! Summer vacation is coming so the sophomore year is very busy!” Tina became silent for a moment before answering in a boring-first-and-cheerful-later tone. “However, since I’m so smart, it should be okay for me to go out for a short break for a few days. You don’t have to go to all the trouble to pick me up in Boston, I’ll book a flight back to New York right now…”
“Book a flight right now? There’s no need to be so troublesome, Tina! Wouldn’t it be easier for me to pick you up in my chartered plane tomorrow? It’s already one o’clock in the afternoon right now.”
“But I can’t wait to see you baby! I want to see you as early as possible, even if it’s one second early!” Tina whispered on the other side of the phone.
Upon sensing the girl’s tenderness, Zhang Lisheng’s voice became softer too as he said tenderly, “Then, I’ll pick you up at the airport later. See you tonight!”
“See you tonight, baby!” Tina said before hanging up on the phone.
When Zhang Lisheng heard the “dudu…” sound resonating from the phone, he immediately made a third call. This time, it was none other than his mother. Due to the reason that he felt that he would talk for the longest time with her, he kept the call at the very last.
“Baby, is that you?” The phone rang for a while before being picked up. Lily’s voice seemed to be hasty and surprised.
“Of course it’s me, mom!” When Zhang Lisheng heard the loud sound in the background on the phone, he said with a smile, “Are you attending a party?”
“Yes, family gatherings between neighbors. How about you, baby? Where are you right now?”
“Oh, I’m at Stanford. The military helicopter has just sent us directly back to university. After verifying several important experimental parameters, I’ll return to Shrimp B1 Island.” Zhang Lisheng lied. “However, I’ll be able to return to New York in about two to three weeks and have a week or so of vacation. By that time, I can accompany you already.”
“There’s no need for that, baby! You should accompany your girlfriend during your holiday, not your mom. The mothers in the US don’t stick to their sons so much!” Lily said with a joke, but her tone sounded to be choked with sobs.
“But I am Chinese, mom,” Zhang Lisheng said with a smile after a moment of silence. “Oh yeah, how’s your party? Is it fun?”
“Not bad! All the mothers here are bragging about the good kids that they have but they don’t know that a true good son is the one who can be famous all over the country without the need of bragging. As the ‘vulture’s mom’, I know about this very well.”
“Oh, I’m sorry mom for letting those sort of things disturb you…”
“Don’t worry, son! Your grandfather is a judge of the New York State Court of Appeal. Unless I take the initiative to, no reporter will dare bother me.” The mother told her son with an air of arrogance.
It would be hard for anyone to imagine the awe of the law enforcers if you don’t live in the US for a period of time. For example, the only reason why a beautiful junior high school girl was unable to get a boyfriend here was that her dad was a famous policeman. There was only one more profession that was even more awe-inspiring than a policeman, and that is a judge.
In the history of this young country that was only over 200 years old, the voice of the judge in the court had always been pursued by all US civilians like the voice of God, except for one time that was not actively implemented and had thus triggered the American Civil War.
In such a country, perhaps the media would report things on the borderline of legality when they made a report about the politicians or super-rich people to disturb the peace of their families but they would always pay enough respect to a ‘judge family’.
After all, if they had offended such a family, it would be a very unreliable thing to hope that the ‘judicial avoidance system’ will help lift their bad luck.
It was just like when there was any policeman who was hurt on the US streets, all of the policemen in the city would go for a manhunt in a maniacal way because of the ridiculous reason of ‘there is no dignity when wearing a badge while walking on the street’. If one dared to create news on the daughter of the court judge’s, one would be able to elicit extreme dislike from other judges as well.
This kind of loathing in the civil lawsuit case would often mean a huge fine or even a shut down of a company.
Zhang Lisheng, who had lived in the US for three to four years, had gradually understood that the law would at least dominate the bright side in this country. After hearing his mother’s words, he became touched and said pensively, “Mom, I always hear you mentioning grandfather but I’ve never seen him before. Looks like it’s time for me to meet him already.”
“Let’s wait till Christmas, child. A judge is very busy before he retires…” When Lili heard his son’s words, she answered in a vague manner.
After that, the mother and the child continued to chat for a while. When the neighbors began to laugh and shout loudly, “Lili, it’s your turn to go to the kitchen to make fried meat steak already! Hurry up and go, darling! Let us have a taste of your art!” His mother finally hung up the phone reluctantly.
After the end of his third call, Zhang Lisheng, who became free after settling his private and business affairs, commanded the few wizard gus in the underground trenches of the factory with his thought to turn invisible and appear in front of him.
Despite a few months of feeding, the changes of the wizard gus were not obvious due to the fact that all of the blood food was being divided when they were fed.
The young man shook his head in dissatisfaction and commanded the wizard gus back to the trench before turning on the computer.
