Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Randy first had his eyes wide opened in surprise before showing his usual expression and said, “You mean, that part of sandy land where the fountains are spewing now belongs to you, bro? Oh this is not surprising. Now I won’t find it shocking any more even if you suddenly told me that President Rand intended to appoint you as the Vice President of the United States and then resigned so that he could hand over the heavy burden of leading the United States to you. What is there that can’t happen to you, anyway?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Randy, so thank you, bro,” Zhang Lisheng looked at Lavin family’s second son’s face and shrugged with a smile. The instant his words left his mouth, Riley, who was behind him, looked at the distance lost in her thought and blurted out, “Lisheng, looking at these fountains, I believe anchor Julie would like to invite you to come again for an exclusive interview.”
“Wait until the ranch is built, Riley. I promise to accept the exclusive interview with NBC, but let’s not talk about work since it’s a holiday now, shall we?” The young man was stunned and said with a frown.
“Oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to force you to accept an interview with NBC…” Riley hurriedly explained. However, when she saw that Zhang Lisheng smiled faintly and put a finger over his lips to say ‘shhh,’ her words got lodged in her throat. More than ten seconds later, she finally replied in a low voice, “Okay, Lisheng, I’ll not talk about work during the Christmas holidays. I’ve been to new New York C once before. It’s a great city! It houses Noah’s largest man-made ski resort, and the winter landscape right there is exactly similar to that of the Earth…”
Amid the girl’s narrative that was gradually filled with longing, the speeding car finally drove into a huge city built on an oasis.
Because of the lack of historical precipitation in the oasis city of the Noah World, coupled with the fact the federation had always maintained a pragmatic attitude since the beginning of the foreign world’s development, it caused everywhere to follow the same indistinctive pattern of modern ‘steel jungle.’ Thus, even an insignificant characteristic would be able to attract people’s attention.
Looking at the streets full of skyscrapers outside the window of the car, Riley stood up in the back seat excitedly and pointed a finger forward as she said, “Lisheng, we’ve arrived at new New York C. Look there! Can you see the snow peak? That is the artificial snow mountain of the one and only Noah’s ‘Winter Fantasy Ski Resort.’ It’s also the landmark of this city.”
The young man looked in the direction of the girl’s fingers absent-mindedly, and sure enough, a snow-white mountain towering into the clouds entered his sight.
However, unlike Riley, who had been stuck in the city for a long time, Zhang Lisheng naturally would not be moved by small artificial snow peaks. Shrugging in bafflement, he said, “Looks like this so-called ‘Winter Fantasy Ski Resort’ is quite creative, but that’s only all to it. That’s enough to excite you already, Riley?”
“This is a snow-capped mountain in the desert, Lisheng! Isn’t this amazing or worthy enough of my excitement…” The eldest daughter of the Lavin family was shocked. Then, upon remembering the distinctive identity of the black-haired young man in front of her, she changed the topic and smiled, “Well, of course, even though the Winter Fantasy Ski Resort in new New York C is great, it’s still inferior to the Ocean Empire Building that is the landmark of our new Washington A city. Since I can only see it a few times a year at most, I find it to be very novel.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a while; he turned his head to look at the girl and said, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, “What are you talking about, Riley? Am I such a petty person in your mind…”
The conversation between young people was always dull and superficial. The Wizard Li god, who had long been accustomed to living like a chameleon, chatted leisurely with the Lavin family’s siblings and circled half of the city from the south to the north along the highway. Finally, they drove to a courtyard surrounded by a beautifully carved iron fence.
When Zhang Lisheng saw the leading car driven by his mother parked in front of the fence gate and stepped out of the car to ring the communication device on the iron door wrapped in bright copper, Zhang Lisheng was surprised, “This is my grandpa’s house? Isn’t he a judge? Why is he living in a house more exaggerated than the federal president’s private home!”
“It seems that you really don’t know anything about the judiciary, my brother,” Randy managed to catch the opportunity to lecture the young man, so he said in exaggeration. “The federal chief judge’s is almost the same as that of senior executives of multinational companies. On top of that, many chief judges are already very successful and well-known lawyers before they take office, so they already have long earned enough money to enjoy their entire lifetime. It’s a matter of course that they are richer than an American president. Grandpa Carmen Li is said to have been one of the top ten law firm partners in New York. Not only that, but Noah World was also still in its peacetime when he first came, so the land price in the oasis city was not as outrageous as it is now. What’s so strange about having a mansion with a courtyard for him then?”
As the Lavin family’s second son was speaking, Lili seemed to have contacted the people in the courtyard. She walked back to the car, and the iron door slowly opened.
“Well, after listening to your explanation, this is indeed a normal thing.” The car drove into the courtyard, and Zhang Lisheng watched the verdant green hidden in the steel forest through the window. He nodded and sat up to straighten his clothes, ready to meet his grandfather, who seemed to be prejudiced against him due to his unusually cruel father.
The stone path in the forest looked deep and serene, but the winding road was only slightly more than 100 meters in the distance. After passing by a fountain with the statues of fat children, the car parked in front of a Western-style classic square house that was built with stone-imitating cement blocks.
It was nearing noon. The sun had risen to the center of the sky, and it was the hottest time of the day.
Under this scorching sun, not many went up to welcome the arrival of the Lavin family. Only a white woman so old that her wrinkles had dropped down while wearing an American classic maid uniform of a black dress and white headgear waited for them in the shadow of the eaves.
Lili got out of the parked car when she saw the maid from afar. She ran up to the maid and hugged her before asking enthusiastically, “Angela, I’m back, Angela! How’re my parents?”
“Welcome back, dear Lili. The judge and madam are in very good health. They even played double tennis with Master Joey and his wife yesterday and won three games in a row.” The maid stroked Lili’s hair and said softly before nodding towards Lavin, “Good afternoon, Mr. Lavin.”
“Oh, good afternoon, Miss Angela.” The police officer responded with a polite and unnatural wave. When Zhang Lisheng, who had already got off the car, heard this conversation, he remembered the etiquette of the servants in the old prominent business families in Manhattan and could not help but burst into a chuckle.
As the young man chuckled, Lili said in surprise, “Angela, has Joey arrived earlier than we did? That’s great! I haven’t seen him for more than one year, no? Did he come with his family?”
Upon hearing this question, the maid unconsciously glanced in a complex expression at the black-haired and black-eyed Zhang Lisheng, who stood out particularly prominent among the Lavin family who had variegated, high nose bridge, and blue or light blue eyes. She did not say anything unnecessary and secretly took a deep breath before saying to Lili, “Lili, Sir Judge, and madam are playing cards in the study room with Judge Rubeck, Judge Pan, and Commissioner Steve. He has given his permission for you to go see them directly when you reach.”
“Uncle Rubeck and Uncle Pan as well? Oh what a coincidence! What are we waiting for then, Angela? Let’s go to the study room now!” Lili cheered. She seemed to have gotten rid of her housewife identity of the Lavin family and turned into a happy girl now that she was back in her parents’ house.
Upon seeing his mother like that, Zhang Lisheng found it strange and awkward, but he could only follow behind Lili and walked into the mansion.
Unlike the extraordinary look and atmosphere created by the clever use of the illusion art of the architecture in the exterior, the space in the house was not very spacious when one entered inside. Of course, it was still much more extensive than ordinary people’s homes.
Since the concrete blocks used to build the house were unusually thick, the hot sunlight could not penetrate it, so the house was relaxed and comfortable.
The crowds walked across the living room’s brown-red solid wood floor with a clear ‘da-da…’ sound and followed the stairs to go straight up to the second floor. Finally, they came to a room covered by a simple old-fashioned thick wooden door. The maid knocked on the unlocked door and gently pushed it open before saying in a voice that was neither loud nor faint, “Sir Judge, madam, Miss Lili’s family has arrived.”
At this moment, in the room with an area of about 100 square meters with dark golden wallpapers on the walls and a long red wooden table in the middle of the room next to a row of comfortable sofas, eight to nine elite people of both men and women from the New York’s legal world were sitting around the table chatting while playing a card game with interest.
Judging from the face value of most of the chips on the gambling table that was mostly one to two dollars, with very few ten dollars chips, the stakes of the game were not significant. However, to a New York’s legal person, being able to be included in such a gambling game would mean a kind of dream-come-true. There might not be any harvest on the surface, but there were countless hidden benefits.
For example, in an ambiguous situation where a search warrant could be issued or could not be issued due to some specific reason, one would always be able to successfully get a search warrant issued by a judge at this moment.
Or when there was a fierce confrontation between the prosecution and the defense in the court, your own party’s speech would be able to become smoother while the other party’s statement would always be interrupted and so on. No matter how strict the legal procedure was, every aspect couldn’t possibly be covered.
More importantly, the information exchange in the game could sometimes bring unexpectedly high gains. Therefore, after hearing the servant’s words, the owner who seemed to have received a hand of good cards did not even have the intention to give up this round. He merely raised his head to look at his daughter, who just walked in and said with a smile, “Oh my sweetheart Lili, you’ve arrived. Lavin, welcome to New York C. Do you wanna join in the game?”
“No, Mr. Carmen, you know I don’t really know how to play cards,” Lavin said cautiously.
“We’re playing ‘Texas hold ’em.’ It’s a straightforward game, I can teach you if you are interested, but of course, you must pay the ‘tuition fee’ yourself,” Carmen did not seem to pause his sight when he glanced at Zhang Lisheng and continued to speak with a smile.
