"Josh, have you been waiting long?" In the early afternoon, a brand new car pulled up in front of Josh, and Margaret got out of the car and warmly hugged him.
"No, waiting for the most beautiful woman in the world is my honor!" Josh complimented.
"Oh, Josh, you're so charming." Margaret laughed at Josh's praise, then pointed to the driveway. "This is the car I prepared for you. What do you think? Do you like it?"
"It's a little flashy but very beautiful. I like it!" Josh looked at the car and raised an eyebrow.
Certainly, Margaret, the rich woman, had spared no expense on this car. Although it was inferior to the Cadillac V16, it was no less than Margaret's Packard.
It was a 1942 Lincoln Continental, the last car Lincoln released before the United States entered World War II.
Although it lost the European Continental-style arch wheel lines of the first generation 1939 model due to redesign, it was more in line with Josh's aesthetic senses.
The only downside was that Josh said that it was too flashy.
Well, it wasn't the car model that was flashy, but the color... the car was burgundy.
"Young people should be more lively and flashy. You, on the other hand, seem a bit too mature." Margaret said unconcernedly. "Come on, get in the car and drive yourself!"
When they went to see the house yesterday, Josh said he could drive, and Margaret didn't believe him. But after letting Josh try it, Margaret found that Josh's driving skills were better than hers, so she wasn't worried that Josh wouldn't be able to drive.
While speaking, Margaret also reached out to take the suitcase beside Josh.
There were two suitcases next to Josh, one large and one small.
The large one was a classic 28-inch leather suitcase of this era.
The other one looked like a seven or eight-inch leather suitcase.
Margaret didn't try to lift the large leather suitcase because it looked heavy.
So she decisively went to pick up the small one.
Then, she almost fell over just by picking it up.
Fortunately, Josh was quick to catch her.
If he had been a little slower, Margaret falling down would have been a minor issue. But if that suitcase had been damaged and its contents scattered, it would have been a big problem.
"Tommy, are they the new neighbors? It looks like we have neighbors now." The middle-aged man's wife asked as they enjoyed their afternoon tea in the yard, basking in the warm winter sun.
"No, we've always had neighbors. It's the girl next door, but it seems we'll have a new neighbor, a young man." Tommy, the middle-aged man, replied.
After Josh and Margaret left yesterday, he inquired a little. He discovered that the house next door was already occupied by a wealthy young girl who didn't live there. So when he saw the arrival of a young couple today, he immediately assumed they were the new neighbors.
"Well, should we invite them over for coffee? After all, we'll be neighbors." Tommy's wife suggested.
"Hehe, let's not bother the young folks. Look at that young man with his luggage; he must have just moved in today. Who knows, they might be in the middle of something right now." Tommy laughed and joked.
"Well, you're right." Tommy's wife nodded, slightly embarrassed by the memories of the reckless things they did when they were young.
In this era, such behavior might have been frowned upon in China. Still, in Europe and America, it was considered normal.
With that thought in mind, she couldn't help feeling a little flushed.
"What's wrong, Sarah?" Tommy noticed his wife's unusual behavior and couldn't help but become interested. He put his hand on her leg and pretended not to know, asking.
Despite being an old married couple, they had actually been separated from their family for four out of the past five years. It wasn't until they moved here last year that they finally reunited with their loved ones.
It is said that a short separation is better than a honeymoon. This four-year separation made their feelings even stronger.
Moreover, both of them are not old yet. Tommy is in his early forties, and his wife just turned 40, which is still a relatively energetic age.
"Go, go, don't mess around. You still have to pick up the kids later." Feeling her husband's dishonesty, Sarah rolled her eyes and pushed away his hand.
The school time for American students is very early, and even in the 21st century, the general school time is only around 3 pm. The school workload in the 1940s was far less heavy than in the future, and the time for school dismissal was basically the same, even a little earlier.
So it is indeed not the time to be intimate.
Realizing this, Tommy could only reluctantly retract his hand.
Meanwhile, in the adjacent house, Josh and Margaret were not engaging in a passionate affair as Tommy and Sarah had suspected.
After all, they had only known each other for two days. While Margaret held a great impression of Josh, she hadn't reached the point of falling in love with him so quickly. Besides, a hint of coyness was still in her heart, typical of a young lady.
If it were not for her own husband's change in attitude towards herself after marriage, spending most of his time outside, drinking, and fooling around, Margaret might not been attracted to Josh...this is something Margaret has not told Josh yet.
That is, Margaret had already discovered that her own husband had more than one lover outside, relying on his status as a star athlete and even using her money.
At this moment, Margaret's state is similar to Rose's in Titanic, eager to escape from the cage of her original life.
Margaret's advantage over Rose lies in the fact that Margaret's husband had an affair first, while Rose got engaged to the steel magnate Carl, only to cheat on him with Jack in no time.
Another difference is that Ruth is merely a bankrupt noblewoman, while Margaret, although not of noble birth, controls their finances.
Marriage laws in this era were not as well-established as they would be in the future. Moreover, the family's wealth came from Margaret's inheritance. If Margaret were to use her husband's affair to initiate a divorce, her tennis player husband wouldn't be entitled to a single penny.
Similarly, Josh is not Jack.
Jack was a genuinely poor guy, and even his third-class ticket for the bottom deck of the ship was won through gambling.
But Josh is not poor.
For example, when Josh opened that small box, and the total weight of the gold bars inside, almost 15 kilograms, was exposed, Margaret's head was stunned for a while.
Of course, this is not because Margaret has never seen money. After all, 500 ounces of gold, even at black market prices, is only just over $20,000. Margaret's wealth is several hundred times this number.
It's just that when Josh said he was rich before, she thought it was just his pride speaking. She didn't expect him to have so much money.
"This was left to me by my father. I had it tested, and the purity is only about 80%, so it's not in great condition," Josh pointed to the gold in the box and said, "But as long as I exchange this gold for US dollars at the bank, I can pay for this house."
"What? The bank? No, no, you can't exchange it at the bank," Margaret immediately objected when she heard Josh's words.
"Why not?" Josh pretended not to know and asked.
"It's not worth it. The exchange rate at the bank is just a means for the government to collect money. It's just to fool ordinary people. According to the current market, if it's a regular transaction, it's at least $50 per ounce," Margaret explained.
Although he was a rich boy, he was not good at managing money, but Josh was not the kind of silly boy who knew nothing. He knew some basic economic knowledge.
"Then where should I go to exchange it?" Josh asked.
"It's simple. Leave it to me. Uncle John needs a lot of gold, and he can easily take this amount," Margaret confidently took on the task.
"Uncle John?" Josh didn't understand.
"He's the one who took over my father's jewelry company. He is also my father's partner and had a good relationship with my father. After my father passed away because I'm not good at running the business, I sold most of the shares to him, keeping only a small part," Margaret explained.
"That's great, but wouldn't this be too much trouble for you?" Josh thanked her.
"It's not troublesome. This is a mutually beneficial thing. Don't be fooled by the fact that the bank charges $35 per ounce for the gold they collect. Although the price doesn't change when sold to companies that need it, the actual cost, including various fees and approval procedures, is not much lower than the price purchased from the black market. And there are limits on the amount they can sell. Uncle John has had a hard time doing business these years," Margaret shook her head and said.
Upon hearing Margaret's words, Josh nodded.
He was also aware of this.
The US government is an expert in harvesting the people's and world's wealth.
Although Roosevelt's New Deal seemed to have saved the US economy ten years ago, the government was heavily in debt and didn't have much money to implement the New Deal.
But the New Deal was implemented smoothly. The question is, where did the money come from?
The answer is to harvest the people's wealth.
The first bill of Roosevelt's New Deal was the Emergency Banking Act, which devalued the US dollar against gold and banned the export of gold.
Then, the people were ordered to turn in their gold at $20.67 per ounce, and US gold mine owners were ordered to sell their gold to the Treasury at the same price.
In just one year, the gold exchange rate was raised to $35 per ounce, which devalued the US dollar by 40%.
This meant that people's wealth immediately shrank by 40%.
The country became rich, but the people became poor.
The ability to harvest the people's wealth is amazing.
Now, think about the future where the US frequently devalues the dollar and gives money to the people when things happen.
Therefore, harvesting the people's wealth has become a traditional art of the US government.
"I helped you out again. Shouldn't you thank me?" Margaret teased after they had settled the matter.
"That's only natural. So I'm preparing to cook dinner and invite you over," Josh said with a slight smile.
"Oh? You can cook?" Margaret was surprised to hear that.
"Of course. Just wait and see. But first, we have to go buy some ingredients," Josh said.
"Oh, I'm already looking forward to it," Margaret said with a smile.
So they went out again and drove to the nearest farmer's market.
In the 1940s, supermarkets had already been established in America but mostly sold nationally branded goods. Fresh produce and the like were not available. Due to the fact that supermarkets were mostly built in the suburbs, which were far away, and refrigerators were not yet widely used at the beginning of the 1940s, residents' shopping needs did not match supermarkets' convenience.
So, buying fresh food during this period was still mainly done at small retail stores, roadside stalls, or farmer's markets similar to vegetable markets. Nearby farmers would sell their farm produce, such as fruits, vegetables, honey, and other agricultural products.
The two of them walked around the farmer's market, and Josh quickly bought some beef, a chicken, a salmon and ingredients such as lettuce, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots.
He didn't plan to make authentic Chinese food, not because he couldn't, but because he didn't have the necessary ingredients. He can't buy the seasonings for Chinese food, such as scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, or cooking wine in this place. Only Western seasonings such as rosemary, cinnamon, ketchup, and pepper were available. Chili peppers were available, of course, as the Americas were their origin.
In addition to ingredients, kitchen utensils were also a problem. There was no wok at home, only an oven, a frying pan, and a barbecue grill.
So he could only make some half-Chinese and half-Western dishes.
For example, beef could be stewed with tomatoes and potatoes.
Chicken can be cooked with tomato sauce and starch to create a dish that would become famous in the future United States, but the dish known as General Tso's Chicken is a source of confusion for people in China. It is just a simple dish of chicken cooked in a sweet and sour tomato sauce, prepared like sweet and sour pork. It was created by a well-known Taiwanese chef in the 1950s to impress the commander of the US Seventh Fleet during their visit to Taiwan.
The salmon was cooked using a standard Western roasting method, with a little lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and served with rosemary.
Finally, the vegetables were shredded lettuce, carrots, and mushrooms and stir-fried in a frying pan.
As for the main dish, of course, it was bread. Two freshly baked baguettes solved all the problems.
It can only be said that Chinese people would look down upon these dishes, but they were enough to fool foreigners.
If you really wanted to make authentic Chinese food, you would have to wait until you had time to go to Chinatown to buy the necessary seasonings and kitchen utensils.
"Wow, it's really sumptuous. This chicken is so delicious. Is it a specialty of Austria? What's it called?" Although this was just a basic dinner in Josh's eyes, most of the dishes had a slightly sweet and sour taste that was clearly to Margaret's liking, and she ate happily, especially the strange General Tso's Chicken.
"Well, yes, this is an Austrian dish called Ferdinand Chicken!" Josh looked deeply at General Tso's Chicken and refused to acknowledge that this was a Chinese dish.
And it was totally unreasonable for a person of Austrian descent to cook Chinese food.
So, it was an Austrian dish, Ferdinand Chicken, and there was no problem with that.
As for why it was called Ferdinand, mainly because, besides the failed art student, Josh could only think of the spark that ignited World War I at that time.
Therefore, amidst the inexplicable situation throughout Austria, a future popular Austrian dish in the United States, Chicken à la Ferdinand, was born.
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