32: Chapter 32 A manor similar to Gone with the Wind!

Allen and Tom had just walked out of the shop and happened to witness the scene where Browning was shamelessly begging to become an apprentice.

The two men exchanged a look.

To be perfectly honest, these two burly men dreamed of learning the "Chinese Kung Fu" their boss kept talking about.

But whenever they thought of the Analects, which seemed like a book from heaven, their brains would ache.

The dense blocks of characters were even more headache-inducing than a real-life gang shootout.

"Young Master, are you hurt?"

Jiang Meier hurried over to Lin Tian's side, looking him up and down with deep concern.

Lin Tian shook his head and lifted his chin slightly to indicate he was perfectly fine.

Jiang Meier followed his gaze and saw the fat man, Buck, lying on the street covered in broken glass, looking quite miserable.

"Young Master, he won't die, will he?"

Jiang Meier didn't feel afraid.

She was born in the USA and had been struggling at the bottom of society since she was a child, so she had long seen how dark the world could be.

She didn't care at all if a thug or two died.

The only thing she worried about was the white police coming to arrest her Young Master.

Lin Tian understood her concerns perfectly and smiled to reassure her: "Don't worry, Sister Meier. This guy is thick-skinned; he won't die!"

Although Lin Tian's strength was comparable to a biochemical monster thanks to the serum enhancement.

He had set his path to become a legitimate inventor and business tycoon.

He would absolutely not do something as stupid as killing someone in public.

This was also the real reason he had been hesitant to get involved with criminal gangs.

Hearing the assurance, Jiang Meier finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Tian turned his head, looked at the expectant Browning, and set the rule: "If you want to learn Chinese Kung Fu, that's no problem, but first get a copy of the Analects. As long as you can recognize and understand all the characters in the book, I will teach you!"

Browning had absolutely no idea what kind of book the Analects was.

But he was full of confidence in his own brain, thinking that if he could master even the most complex Latin, how hard could a mere foreign book be?

He nodded heavily and said decisively: "It's a deal! Can I call you Boss now?"

"Of course you can, future factory manager of the Lin-Browning Arms Company, Mr. John Browning!"

Lin Tian had even thought of the new company's sign in advance.

Upon hearing these words, Browning was deeply moved.

Even though he hadn't even seen a shadow of the new company, just the fact that his surname was added to the company sign was enough to make him willing to risk his life for it.

What he valued was the respect Lin Tian showed him, which was more precious than mountains of gold and silver.

The onlookers nearby had often been bullied by the mafia.

Today, seeing a Chinese youth beat the arrogant Buck into a dead dog with their own eyes, everyone was stunned.

The words "Chinese Kung Fu" were spoken in the crowd for the first time.

Many people were calculating in their minds that if they learned this magical fighting technique, would they not have to fear these thugs anymore in the future?

After the crowd dispersed, everyone went home and embellished the story of what they had seen on the street to their relatives and friends.

Unknowingly, the concept of Kung Fu that Lin Tian had casually thrown out began to spread like wildfire from the western wilderness to the big cities in the East.

After finishing his business, Lin Tian was in no hurry to leave and took his people to stay in Weber County for a few more days.

They happened to catch a big local event: the land run.

The West was vast and sparsely populated, so the government offered generous conditions to attract people.

As long as you were willing to settle in Utah, you could get 100 acres of land for free.

Irish, Italians, and French were all attracted to come.

The land plots varied in quality, all depending on luck and speed.

The officials had marked the land plots in advance and planted flags.

Once the event started, the immigrants took flags with their own names on them; whoever pulled out the official flag first and planted their own, the land belonged to them.

Among the crowd grabbing land, Lin Tian saw several fellow Chinese who had traveled from San Francisco.

These people had worked hard to save money and traveled a long way just to own a piece of farmland of their own.

At the moment, the Chinese Exclusion Act had not yet been officially stamped, so they could be considered a lucky batch, and in the end, they all managed to grab their land deeds as they wished.

But Lin Tian felt heavy-hearted.

The good days were numbered; there was still a lot to do to help his compatriots truly stand tall.

They spent a few days touring the area.

Lawyer Paul quickly drafted a detailed commercial contract.

Lin Tian paid $100,000 on the spot and fully acquired the gun workshop.

The contract was written in black and white: the Browning brothers would henceforth exclusively make guns for Lin Tian, and they would have naming rights for the firearms and a 5% share of the net profits.

If they regretted it and quit in the future, they were strictly forbidden from touching any gun design or manufacturing business for ten years.

Faced with the non-compete clause, the brothers didn't hesitate and signed their names readily.

From the moment they put pen to paper, these genius brothers who would change the history of firearms became Lin Tian's top generals.

"Boss, my brother is staying behind to handle the shop; it will probably take half a month to sell off the property. Once he's done, he'll head to California to meet up with us!" Browning reported proactively.

This was the strategy they had discussed in advance.

The brothers would move to California with Lin Tian.

After all, Utah was just too poor, and San Francisco on the West Coast was a hundred times better than this backwater in terms of both capital and market.

The brothers were clear-headed; although they were reluctant to leave the old house passed down by their father, they had to grit their teeth and leave their hometown to accomplish great things.

After settling the trivial matters, Browning picked up his simple luggage and followed Lin Tian and his group onto the steam train bound for California.

...

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

On the outskirts of San Francisco, a three-story pure white western-style building rose from the ground.

Five kilometers behind the building was a wide, flat coastline.

Inside the manor gate, two rows of thick, old oak trees were lined up neatly, their branches intertwined at the top.

It was springtime, and the branches were full of emerald green leaves, with a few birds chirping incessantly.

Feeling the sea breeze and looking at the white house surrounded by a sea of trees made one feel comfortable from the bottom of their heart.

Walking into the house, everywhere exuded the luxury of money being thrown around.

The floor was covered with handmade Turkish carpets, Italian crystal chandeliers hung overhead, a Vienna piano stood in the corner, and a full set of classical European furniture was complete.

At this moment, on the flat lawn outside the manor, everyone was holding a barbecue party around a large grill.

In just half a month, Lin Tian's height had shot up significantly again.

He had broken through 1.6 meters and was heading straight for 1.7 meters.

He was taking a large handful of raw meat skewers from a white maid and turning them over on the charcoal fire.

"Helen, go to the kitchen and get some more vegetable skewers!" Lin Tian ordered.

"Yes, Young Master!"

The maid named Helen agreed readily and turned to hurry off to do it.

On a wooden table not far from the grill, there was already a pile of meat skewers dripping with grease.

The little fatty, Harvey, who had just returned from the backwater, was grabbing meat skewers with both hands and devouring them, his mouth oily, shouting:

"God bless! This is what real food is! Bruce, hurry up and add ten more beef skewers!"

Mrs. Schroeder, sitting nearby, looked heartbroken, reached out to touch Harvey's chubby cheeks, and complained: "My poor son! Smith is such a heartless bastard for making you go to the countryside to suffer. Look, you've almost starved to the bone! I will absolutely not forgive him!"

Hearing this, the people at the table rolled their eyes in unison and pretended not to hear.

Harvey had indeed lost a little weight, but the thick fat on his body was obvious; he was nowhere near being starved to the bone!

On the other side of the lawn, Lin Shi and Old Smith were smoking Cuban cigars, chatting casually about business.

The newly joined Browning was chatting enthusiastically with the white bodyguards, Allen and Tom.

These foreigners had become obsessed with learning Chinese, occasionally spouting a few broken "The Master said" phrases.

Lawyer Paul, Factory Manager Press, Fu Man Lou Restaurant manager Situ Meitang, plus Lin Shi's personal secretary Bai Ye, were all gathered together, chatting and laughing.

Today's big party was specifically held to celebrate the Lin family's move to their new home.

When Lin Tian went to Utah to recruit people, Lin Shi didn't even blink, directly shelling out $300,000 to buy this top-tier villa covering 3,000 square meters.

It had fifteen bedrooms and eleven bathrooms alone.

It was said that the previous owner was a big boss who mined gold.

To build this garden, he insisted on using train cars to transport these century-old oak trees from South Carolina.

The garden was also filled with precious roses and wisteria.

He poured over $500,000 into it from start to finish.

In the end, because his capital chain broke, he had to painfully sell it at a deep discount.

It just happened to benefit the Lin father and son.

When Lin Tian first came to see the house, he took a fancy to this place at first glance.

This house was exactly the same as the Twelve Oaks Manor in the movie Gone with the Wind from his memories of later generations.

He didn't stand on ceremony and made the decision immediately, renaming the manor Twelve Oaks Manor.

Anyway, the original novel hadn't been written yet, so he even saved on the naming fee.

The house was too big, and maintaining it was a hassle.

The previous gold mine owner had hired dozens of black people to work.

Lin Shi thought they were lazy and shirked their duties, so he fired them all.

He spent a high price to rehire a dozen diligent Chinese workers, plus a dozen white servants.

Helen, who was blonde, blue-eyed, and had a hot figure, was the newly promoted head maid.