Restarting life in Siheyuan

Mr. Jin looked at the arrogant people and did not open the door. He shouted a warning through the wooden fence.

"This villa has been bought by my client. Mr. Ferriverse has left. It is now a private place. I warn you that if you harass us again, we will call the police."

The leading black man looked at the Asian man in front of him with surprise, his face full of disbelief.

"Damn it, you mean that old devil Ferrivus sold the villa? Where is he?"

"That's right. As for Mr. Ferrivus, whom you are looking for, we don't know where he is. I am a lawyer, and I think you should know what will happen if you trespass into a private place."

The black man turned around to discuss with a few people, then turned back with a fierce look on his face, "You almost fooled me. You said the old man sold the villa. Do you have any evidence? Show it to us, or let us go in and look for it. Damn old ghost, he must have asked you to fool us. Mike owes us money. Don't think you can cheat us with a little trick. You damn yellow monkey, open the door quickly."

Mr. Jin was very angry. He originally thought that his identity as a lawyer would make the others restrain themselves. After making things clear, they should go find the real victim. However, he did not expect them to be so arrogant and demand evidence. The transfer procedures for the villa had not been completed yet, so where would the evidence come from? He could only take out his lawyer's license from his pocket and show it.

"Look carefully, this is my ID. I guarantee as a lawyer that everything I say is true. If you insist on harassing us, we can only call the police."

"Haha, call the police. Did you hear that, friends? This yellow monkey is telling us a joke. Where are the police? The nearest town of York is more than ten kilometers away. There are only three policemen in the whole town. You are using them to scare us."

Mr. Jin was helpless as he watched several people unscrupulously tearing down the door. He had no way to deal with these unreasonable people. He didn't care about the label of racial discrimination on these people who always talked about yellow-skinned monkeys. Only those with a certain status and industry were quite afraid of them. These people were obviously hooligans and didn't care at all.

The noise here also attracted Jiang Fangzhuo and the Yang sisters who were cleaning up in the kitchen. Seeing the noisy situation outside the villa, Zhu Xuefeng sat in the front yard watching calmly, and did not seem to be in a hurry.

"Boss, is someone causing trouble? Maybe it's the group that's looking for Ferrivus? Why don't we call the police?"

There was a telephone in the villa, and as soon as Jiang Fangzhuo said he wanted to call the police, Yang Lei prepared to make the call.

"It should be them. Mr. Jin needs to communicate with them. Just wait and see. Don't worry."

Zhu Xuefeng still didn't get up. He slowly lay down, playing with a flying knife that was shining with cold light, and there was a piece of red silk behind the knife.

Yang Zhen pointed at the flying knife in Zhu Xuefeng's hand and whispered in Yang Lei's ear, "Sister, the young boss can throw a knife!"

"Shh." Yang Lei had no idea what to do about Yang Zhen's excitement. In her eyes, calling the police would be the most appropriate thing to do. If weapons were used, it would easily lead to an escalation of the conflict. The police would definitely not be polite to those who trespassed into private places without permission.

Mr. Jin here was also helpless. These people were unreasonable, so he had to change his approach.

"Are you from Black Heart Nick? Stop it now."

"Do you know Mr. Nick?" the leading black man asked cautiously.

"Of course. Go tell him that I'm Jin Wumin. Don't let anyone cause trouble for this villa again. The person you're looking for, Ferrifus, has indeed sold the villa."

"Lawyer Wumin Jin?" The black man seemed a little surprised and looked at Mr. Jin who was not afraid at all.

"Yes, it's me." Mr. Jin took a step forward and got closer to the fence so that the other party could see clearly. The black man hesitated for a moment and then signaled to the others to stop. These people looked at Mr. Jin in surprise. They didn't know who "Black Heart Nick" was or who Lawyer Jin was, but since the little leader asked them to stop, they had to stop. However, several of them were staring at Zhu Xuefeng and the other four not far away.

"John, look and see if those two girls are the same ones from the grocery store this morning."

"Yes, it was them. We let them slip away..."

The black man ignored his men's whispers and thought for a while before speaking to Mr. Jin.

"We're going back now. You'd better not lie to me... You should know the consequences of lying to us."

Watching a group of people climb onto the pickup truck and turn away while cursing unwillingly, Mr. Jin turned back with a calm expression.

"Mr. Jin, it seems that you are well-known. It is thanks to your face that I have avoided trouble today."

Although they were not close to each other, they still heard that Mr. Jin finally used his reputation to make the other party retreat.

"What's the point of saving face? We are all brothers in the Chinese community who work together. We went through some things and accidentally made a name for ourselves. I'm different from them. These people are not easy to mess with."

"Uncle Jin, tell me, who is that 'Black Heart Nick'? Are they very powerful? How come you were still scared away?" Yang Zhen took a chair and asked Mr. Jin to sit down, and served him carefully. He wanted to listen to these secrets. Yang Lei just smiled and said nothing about her sister's behavior. She didn't know what to do.

"Actually, when it comes to the matter of Ferry's eldest son, I guess it has something to do with this 'Black Heart Nick'. This guy is the biggest villain in this city. He sells drugs and white powder secretly, and he also manages the largest underground casino and nightclub here. He has many people under him and is very difficult to mess with." (Drug use was legalized in Bald Eagle after 1996)
"Oh, so that's how it is? Then why did they get scared away just by your few words?" Yang Zhen continued to ask questions, sitting on a small stool, holding his chin and looking at Mr. Jin.

"Actually, this happened a few years ago. At that time, York was just starting to gain power, and he wasn't as powerful as he is now. He wanted to sell drugs to our Chinese area, but was discovered by our people. Our ancestors suffered from this stuff, so how could they not know the harm of this stuff?"

Mr. Jin's face became a little serious when he said this, and he continued after a while. "We all hate this thing, and now they want to tease our young people. How can this be allowed? This is how conflicts arise."

"What happened next? What happened next?" Yang Zhen seemed to have a curiosity that did not belong to his age and continued to ask.

Seeing that they were all curious, Mr. Jin sighed and continued.

"Since there is a contradiction, there will be conflicts. There were several fights between the two sides and people died, but the police didn't care. Later, the noise became more and more serious, and almost all the Chinese people nearby were involved. Only then did officials come forward to coordinate." "Chinese people have no status here at all, and the police don't care even if people die." Jiang Fangzhou sighed quietly.

"Who says it's not true? Many Chinese here are descendants of former laborers. They say that the souls of their ancestors are all under the railroad tracks. If you ask me, as long as you leave home, no one will take you seriously. This is North America, not my hometown."

Seeing that everyone was lost in thought, Mr. Jin continued in a hoarse voice, "This is also the reason why we Chinese stick together here. If we don't stick together, we won't know how we died. If we want to survive, we can only rely on each other. That's why we have this Chinese community."

"What happened next? What was the outcome of the negotiations?" Zhu Xuefeng was also deeply shocked. He knew the hardships of leaving his hometown, but he did not expect that the workers were even more miserable than what he had seen from the information. Mr. Jin smiled bitterly and continued.

"Later, we sat together and negotiated, agreeing that he would not expand his influence into the Chinese area, and the Chinese would not be able to expand their influence into the city center..."

"Is that the end? Did these people die in vain?" Seeing that Mr. Jin looked a little lonely and seemed not to want to talk in detail, Zhu Xuefeng stopped asking questions, but Yang Zhen couldn't help asking.

"What can we do? We also killed several of them. The scene was chaotic and we couldn't find out who did it. The police can pretend that both sides didn't see it. That's enough for us. If we take it seriously, we will be arrested a lot."

"But Uncle Jin, they were the ones who rushed into the Chinese area to cause trouble. We were trying to protect ourselves. My sister always said that private places are sacred and inviolable. We fought back when they invaded. You are a lawyer, and we are clearly in the right. Can we die in vain?"

Yang Zhen widened his eyes, glanced at his sister, and questioned again in dissatisfaction.

"Your Uncle Jin wasn't a lawyer at the time. It was because of this incident that I made up my mind to take the bar exam."

Seeing Yang Zhen's unconvinced look, Mr. Jin felt relieved. This girl naturally stood on the Chinese side, unconsciously shouting "we". The blood of the Chinese in her bones was not shed in vain. Unlike the Chinese area, many people have lost their blood. When they saw the riots and people died, they moved away overnight. Of course, these people did not have a good end. After leaving the Chinese area, in the complicated environment at that time, their families were broken up and no one would care.

"These people should have someone protecting them in the city government."

"Of course, but they are not in the city, but in the military camp by the sea. Their leader is a retired military officer who found some trade routes in Southeast Asia. After he became wealthy, he hooked up with the local congressman and became more and more arrogant."

"That's right. The gangsters in that place were able to become so famous without anyone to protect them. When I was studying in Fuso, the local gangs were actually just thugs secretly raised by some congressmen and conglomerates."

Jiang Fangzhuo also sighed that when it comes to gangsters, Japan is the most rampant. Many violent groups have legal identities and are considered legal organizations.

Mr. Jin also spoke again in a gloomy voice, "How could a gangster like him develop so quickly without any backers? It is said that they now have hundreds of people. If they want to cause trouble for us again, we will not be able to stop them at all."

Yang Lei was thinking about something. All this was beyond her understanding and was completely different from what she had seen in class.

"There are less than 200 young and middle-aged people in our Chinese district. We can't continue to fight with them. There have been some disputes over the years, but the forces behind them don't show up and seem to suppress this group of people, so there haven't been any major conflicts like before. We can just get along peacefully."

"Uncle Jin, can you tell me how you managed to fend off the harassment from that group of people back then?" Yang Zhen was still very curious about what happened back then and wanted to know the story of the older generation of Chinese people's struggle, so he asked.

"Do you really want to listen?" Mr. Jin looked at the young people around him.

"Please tell us about it. We also want to know about the experience of our ancestors who left their hometowns and worked hard here."

Seeing that everyone seemed interested in this, Mr. Jin slowly recounted the story from many years ago. After listening to Mr. Jin's detailed account, everyone fell silent. A tragic experience made the scene solemn. Everyone felt extremely heavy-hearted, with an inexplicable fire burning in their eyes.

"I thought that only in the chaotic times of our hometown, human life was as cheap as a dog's. I didn't expect that the majestic bald eagle, known as the paradise of freedom, would be like this. Uncle Jin, thank you for teaching me a lesson."

Yang Zhen was the first to stand up. Today's story made her feel deeply moved. Their families spent a lot of money to come here, and they had to study hard. They had been here for three years and had been staying in school and the dormitory studying hard. This was the first time she understood the difficulties of the older generation of Chinese people.

"You're right. In the eyes of these white people, our lives and the lives of black people are worthless. They don't care no matter how many people die. The police at that time were worse than they are now. They didn't care at all. If it wasn't for the fact that the scale of the incident got bigger and bigger, and even white people were seriously injured, they wouldn't even do mediation. They would rather the two sides fight each other to death."

"This is the rule of law and democratic society they always talk about. I can't believe that the older generation in the Chinese community survived like this." Zhu Xuefeng also sighed.

Yang Lei was also deeply shocked by this passage. She has been studying law for three years and has always believed that law is a good thing. Although there are some unsatisfactory aspects here in Bald Eagle, the overall order is good, the law is complete, and everyone has a sense of law-abiding. It turns out that she only saw the superficial phenomenon, and she was robbed yesterday.

Mr. Jin glanced at Yang Lei. The two sisters had only been renting his house for less than two weeks, so he knew that they were students who had rarely left the campus.

"This society is far from what you think. If you look around more, you will find that all evil is hidden under a beautiful appearance. The Chinese have been bullied so much here that it is hard to describe. It is only in recent years, under the banner of anti-racial discrimination, that people have become more friendly on the surface."

"Mr. Jin is right. These white people were exiled from gangsters and criminals hundreds of years ago. How many of their ancestors were good people? You have to be careful when dealing with them. They look down on us Chinese." Jiang Fangzhuo has had many dealings with white people and is deeply touched by this.

"Manager Jiang is right. It seems that you are also speaking from your heart. You said that their ancestors were just like this. How can their descendants be any better? That's why it is so difficult for us Chinese here. Not only do these people look down on us, but the blacks are the same. They always think they are superior to us. I don't know where they get the confidence from."

Mr. Jin has been here for more than ten years and has a deeper understanding of these issues. Following Jiang Fangzhuo's words, he expressed his own feelings.

"Well, our company is promoting and developing the market here, and we have been dealing with them a lot. It's not uncommon to be discriminated against, and I'm used to it. I heard it was even worse in the past few years."

Yang Lei was obviously distracted. She was able to meet many classmates of various races in school. It seemed that this situation was much better. She didn't expect it to be like this in real life. She also had some feelings when she was working, but compared with what Mr. Jin said, it was much better.

(End of this chapter)