Jay Gatsby's mind was running rapidly, and he quickly screened the troubles he might have encountered recently and the people he might have offended.
For the sake of the beloved woman in his heart, he has delayed many important business and events for too long.
He even suspected that his partner Meyer Wolfsheim, the gang leader who could do anything, wanted to burn bridges.
But when he was driven by this group of extremely professional and swift people into a new luxury car that he had never seen before, and arrived at a hidden manor in East Egg, Mr. Gatsby, who had always been alert, was completely confused.
He looked at this large-scale, but not luxurious, simple-style manor, and tried his best to remember which rich man the H-shaped emblem was.
Until he entered the living room and saw a very tall and handsome young man sitting in front of him, he had no idea why.
"This gentleman, I don't think we know each other, I am--"
"Jay Gatsby, whose real name is James Kaz, was originally a poor farmer's boy from North Dakota. He served as a lieutenant in a military training camp, and then participated in the war and performed outstandingly. Because of the special training for meritorious officers, he studied Oxford for five months."
James said as he walked over, he sat down, lit a cigar and continued.
"Having a close relationship with the gang leader Meyer Wolfsheim, they collaborated to illegally sell bootleg liquor in pharmacies, secretly manipulate stocks illegally, and made a lot of wealth in just a few years. They held parties in their mansion for five consecutive years, just to attract people."
James didn't say anything clearly in the end. He stopped and looked at this man who was originally full of confidence and calmness from his hair to his heels, and gradually became dumbfounded.
Gatsby's face turned red. He took two deep breaths and asked James with a confident smile, "What do you want?"
James nodded, blew out the smoke, and said with some satisfaction, "You are quite smart without a woman."
"I want you to do something for me. Before it is completed, your personal safety will be guaranteed by me. After it is completed, I will give you a future that no matter how rich you are ten times more than you can afford."
Gatsby suddenly smiled. His smile was very contagious, even if it was a bit sarcastic, it was not annoying at all.
"I don't know what personal safety issues I have, this unknown gentleman." Gatsby said quietly.
"Recently, your illegal liquor has been on fire everywhere. You must have been hiding from Meyer Wolfsheim for a long time. There are more and more tricks in the stock market. How many people are watching you? Do you want to continue talking about it?"
"What do you want me to do?"
James handed him a cigar and said easily, "Buy a piece of land."
After Jay Gatsby left, Azazel suddenly flashed out. He landed on the sofa and asked in confusion, "Dad, this is the first time I see you working so hard on an ordinary person. Is it necessary?"
James glanced at Azazel and said seriously, "My shadow cannot appear in this matter, and there cannot be any information related to the Howlett Family. When I turn over the card table in the future, there will be no voice that can challenge me."
On October 29, 1929, crowds gathered in New York Wall Street. The stock market plummeted that day, and desperate people fell from the rooftops of the Wall Street stock exchange in twos and threes one after another.
Stock market prices hit rock bottom, and a worldwide economic depression ensued, which was unprecedented in intensity and duration.
Because many countries paid war debts and money continued to flow into the United States, the United States' gold reserves reached half of the world's total gold reserves in ten years.
However, there is an imbalance in domestic and foreign investment, workers' wages lag behind rising productivity, and many independent banks lack sufficient financial resources to overcome the financial crisis. After a bank fails, depositors from all over the country withdraw money one after another, forming a chain reaction that destroys the entire financial structure.
By the end of 1933, the effects of the Great Depression finally showed signs of reversal, but homeless vagrants and street gangs with unkind faces who stared at people's bodies could still be seen everywhere.
In the alley next to Brooklyn, Hell's Kitchen, a short and thin white boy walked out with a paper shopping bag in his arms. He took a shortcut today and planned to go home through the back door of "Secret Factory".
Secret Factory is what the residents of the Brooklyn district call Howlett Advanced Technology Institute. Most people don't understand the so-called research institute, but this factory, which occupies the largest area in the entire Brooklyn, has strict security personnel patrolling it at all times.
Large container vehicles and military vehicles often come in and out. Some people who work in the factory will only say that the job pay is good and the salary is sufficient, but they will not say a word about what they saw inside, so they are called Secret Factory.
"What did you get?"
Several young boys wearing baggy shirts suddenly came out and blocked the thin young man.
"It's just some food." The young man spoke as calmly as possible, but his steps stepped back unconsciously.
"We're hungry too, take it out."
The boy's footsteps suddenly stopped, and he said seriously, "This is for my mother. She is sick."
The tall and lanky boy in the lead laughed, and said strangely, "The patient is the one who can't eat the most. I don't think she will mind, so bring it."
The boy hugged the bag on his chest tighter, and bang! He was kicked and fell to the ground, and the bread and some fruits that didn't look too fresh tumbled out of the bag.
Several young people came up to pick up the food inside, but the young man did not intend to just hand it over to them.
"Hey! I see you are quite stubborn, little chicken!"
He was too skinny and was knocked to the ground by two punches from the tall and skinny boy. He also knocked over the trash can on the street corner.
The young man picked up the lid of the trash can and held it in front of him. He wiped his nose, looked at the blood that was flowing out, took a breath, and shouted loudly, "I can spend a whole day with you like this!"
Bang!
The lid of the trash can was kicked off, and several boys surrounded the skinny boy, punched and kicked him, then cursed and walked away with the food.
The skinny boy slowly propped himself up, sat up, rubbed his back, and leaned on the fence of a step. He arranged his dirty and ill-fitting jacket, and looked lonely at the torn shopping bag.
"What do you think, you have to keep resisting such conditions?"
A tall man with half-long hair sat on the steps. He happened to have light behind him, so the boy could not see his face clearly.
"My mother said that people like me who are easily bullied must not retreat. If you do it even once, you will never get up in this life."
The young man's words seemed to be explaining, but more like encouraging himself. He rubbed his cheek, which was throbbing with pain.
"It sounds like she is a courageous person. She often thinks like this and her life is not easy. Let's go--"
The man patted his pants, stood up, and said to the boy.
"Who, me? Go, where?"
He finally saw the man's face clearly. He was handsome and handsome. He didn't look very old. The four slightly pointed and long canine teeth exposed when he smiled were particularly eye-catching.
"Of course, let your mother see her heroic image as a son who never backs down."
The foreshadowing chapter is coming to an end. In order to make the story and the characters appearing in this volume more realistic and unobtrusive, I did some background research and completed some content.