Chapter 490 Keeping One's Word

"What's so insurmountable about it?"

Lin Xian pointed to the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance, turning back to look at her.

"To put it simply, it's just a bridge, a physical bridge. As long as we have feet, we can walk across it from Brooklyn, it'll just be a little slower... Is there any reason we can't reach Manhattan?"

"Heh."

She chuckled dismissively.

"What's the point of you trying to act tough? You don't belong there in the first place. Why force yourself to go? We're not even qualified to go to Manhattan."

"Why not?" Lin Xian asked.

"Isn't it obvious enough?"

She jumped off the old wooden crate, spread her arms, and showed off the [Vagrant's Outfit] she was wearing, then pointed to Lin Xian's newly updated [Church Outfit].

"Get it? No one in Manhattan wears clothes like ours, no one dresses like us."

"Everyone there, young and old, male and female, dresses beautifully and neatly. The men are either in suits or woolen coats, with ties and top hats. The women are dressed in bright, sparkling clothes, their long skirts flowing and beautiful, their gowns high-end and elegant."

"Look at what we're wearing. That's the difference, Lin Xian. We only belong in Brooklyn. Manhattan... isn't our world."

...

Lin Xian watched in silence.

The more she said, the more he could sense her longing and desire for Manhattan.

Speaking of which, the first Millennium Stake was probably the one Lin Xian knew with the worst living conditions.

Zhang Yuqian and Chu Anqing were both born into wealthy families, leading Lin Xian to once believe that the reincarnation of Millennium Stakes was protected by the law of causality, only occurring in wealthy families.

He didn't know much about Na Bian's family situation, but he'd heard that she at least had both parents and had lived a relatively carefree life since childhood.

But looking at the first Millennium Stake in front of him...

Her life was truly too miserable.

First, she was abandoned by her biological parents after birth, then the orphanage that adopted her closed down, and she became a lone wanderer on the streets again.

And now, she was standing in dilapidated Brooklyn, looking up at Manhattan, her eyes full of longing for flowing long skirts.

"Do you want to wear a dress too?"

Lin Xian asked with a smile.

He had just noticed that her eyes lit up when she talked about the long skirts worn by the women of Manhattan.

"Of course, what girl doesn't want to wear a pretty dress?"

She pursed her lips and said softly, "I especially want to wear a white dress, with light gauze and lace, something light and floaty."

?

Lin Xian, sitting on the old wooden crate, tilted his head. "Why does it have to be a white dress? The upper-class ladies who got off the ship this morning were all wearing all sorts of colors, like chameleons, afraid others wouldn't notice them."

"And based on your description... a white dress, light gauze and lace, and floaty... doesn't it sound a bit like a wedding dress?"

She waved her hand. "Oh, I'm just describing it casually. I've never worn a white dress before, how could I describe it so accurately?"

"The reason I want to wear white is because I've never worn white clothes before. In our orphanage, the younger children always wore the older children's clothes, one piece of clothing like a family heirloom, passed down from one person to another... until it was worn out, beyond repair."

...

"Given that, Grandma wouldn't buy white clothes. Because white is too easy to get dirty, it becomes unwashable after wearing it only a couple of times, it's too wasteful."

"The clothes I've worn since I was a child have all been dark colors, black, brown, blue, purple... I've never had any light-colored clothes."

"I'm also a teenage girl, of course I want to dress beautifully, wearing a floaty white dress and twirling on the beach. Like... like... like Marilyn Monroe."

She giggled, her eyes curved into beautiful crescents, and looked back at Lin Xian. "Savage Caveman, do you know Marilyn Monroe?"

Lin Xian smiled slightly upon hearing this nickname. "Of course I know."

Marilyn Monroe could be said to be one of the most famous actresses in US history.

Especially now, in 1952, it could be said to be the era when Monroe was at her peak, enjoying unparalleled fame.

With such a comparison, Lin Xian roughly knew what her "floaty white dress" looked like.

Alas.

Recalling Chu Anqing, the little princess of Donghai City, Lin Xian still felt sorry for the Brooklyn girl.

Just a white dress.

It wasn't a luxury or a distant dream.

But for her... it was like an unattainable star.

Habitually, Lin Xian put his right hand into the pocket of his cotton coat, wanting to pull out his mobile phone, credit card, or wallet.

But.

It was emptier than his face.

He was no longer the domineering CEO who once held billions, in fact... he was even poorer than she was now.

He was unable to help.

"If I get the chance, I'll buy you a white dress."

Lin Xian started drawing a pie. "Just consider it... a thank you gift for taking care of me during this time."

"Tch!"

She scoffed dismissively, glancing at Lin Xian with disdain. "Stop bragging. If you really have spare money, you should quickly stand on your own two feet, stop following me around like a pest, and stop causing me trouble. That's how you can thank me."

"Hey, I'm serious."

Lin Xian smiled with his hands in his pockets.

"Just because I don't have money now doesn't mean I won't have money in the future. Don't worry, I'll definitely keep my word."

"Speaking of..."

He turned his head and looked up again at the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

"Since you like Manhattan so much, why don't you go to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and take a look?"

"The Heights Promenade is an excellent place to view the Manhattan skyline, the entire Manhattan will be laid out in front of you across the river, it's much more comfortable to admire it there than here at the pier."

"Hmph."

She snorted softly, folding her arms.

"You're really talking without thinking. Brooklyn Heights is a rich area, it's very far from here, do you think we can just go whenever we want?"

"I'm begging you, Lin Xian, stop bragging. You don't even have money for food... and you're thinking about taking the bus to Brooklyn Heights? Save it. If you really earn some money, the first thing you should do is fulfill your promise and return the money for the stolen newspaper to that little black kid."

Lin Xian nodded.

"You're right. Now that we've filled our stomachs, it's time to find a way to make some money, let me see..."

...

He looked around, searching for opportunities to make money.

After all, he was a time traveler from 2234, he couldn't possibly be unable to earn even some pocket money in this backward era of 1952, right?

Hmm...

Aha!

Soon, Lin Xian found a stall in the commercial area of the pier below where he could dig up his first pot of gold—

[Balloon Darts Stall]

This kind of stall, where you shoot balloons to win prizes, could be seen everywhere in parks and squares in Dragon Country, he never expected to encounter it in the US in 1952.

It could only be said that... this was truly the US, the shooting consciousness was far ahead of its time.

"Let's go, come with me."

Lin Xian grabbed her arm, led her to the long staircase, down to the pier below, and to the area where vendors gathered.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

She was very puzzled, looking at Lin Xian.

"We don't have any money, why are you bringing me to these stalls?"

"It's okay, just watch."

Lin Xian and she arrived at the balloon darts stall and observed from afar.

At this time, a family of three who had just disembarked from a ship were playing at the stall.

Judging by their clothing, they were definitely wealthy people.

The man was wearing a long black woolen coat and a wool hat, the woman was also wearing gorgeous clothes, and even the little girl who was jumping around next to them was carefully dressed, wearing beautiful clothes and a sun hat on her head, like a little princess.

"Daddy, I want that one!"

The little girl pointed to a box at the top of the prize shelf, which contained a model doll similar to a Barbie doll.

Lin Xian squinted his eyes and carefully looked at the English on the box.

"Alice in Wonderland... so the doll inside isn't a Barbie doll, but Alice from Alice in Wonderland."

In 1952, Disney's animation was already beginning to exert its force, from the earliest Mickey Mouse to the later Peter Pan and Cinderella... all were well-known famous works.

"Alice in Wonderland seems to be an animated film released in the 50s."

Lin Xian, who liked movies, was naturally very familiar with some historical classic films. After sorting out the timeline in his mind, Cinderella seemed to have been released in 1950, so Alice in Wonderland should be in theaters now, in 1952.

He turned his head and looked at her.

"Are Disney's animated films, Alice in Wonderland, currently playing in theaters?"

"I don't know."

She shook her head blankly.

"How could I know these things, I've never been to the cinema and never watched a movie."

"Oh, I see."

Lin Xian didn't say anything more.

He always forgot that the first Millennium Stake was a poor wandering girl, and in this era where movies were still a luxury, she definitely didn't have the means to watch them.

Pa... pa... pa...

As the father kept shooting with the air gun, the balloons were blown up one after another by the plastic bullets, and the little girl became more and more excited.

But in the end, with 10 bullets, the father only hit 6, and didn't win any gifts; let alone win the grand prize that required all 10 shots to hit—the Alice doll from Alice in Wonderland.

The little girl started to cry.

"Daddy, Daddy! I want Alice! I want Alice!!"

...

The father smiled slightly, looking at the stall owner.

"Another round."

"No problem, sir."

The owner was respectful.

"Please play as much as you like, you can pay at the end."

Lin Xian took this information.

Very good.

This stall allowed payment after playing, which provided Lin Xian, who was penniless, with an opportunity to freeload.

Pa... pa... pa...

The little girl's father continued to play a few rounds, the best result being hitting 8 balloons, winning a low-quality lollipop for the little girl, the remaining results were terrible, far from the Alice doll.

"Waaaaah!"

The little girl stomped her feet and cried.

"I want Alice! I want Alice!" The little girl's mother frowned.

"Honey, this doll can be bought at any supermarket, it only costs a few cents, Mom will buy you one when we get back to the city."

The father next to her also nodded.

"It's too difficult to hit 10 out of 10, Daddy has tried his best, let's go to the supermarket and buy one directly."

Very good.

Lin Xian gained the second piece of information about the price, this doll was worth about a few cents.

He thought that the little girl would just give up and obediently follow her parents away... after all, they had promised to buy one directly from the supermarket. And if they went to the supermarket, they could inevitably get some snacks, which was a very cost-effective deal.

However.

The unreasonableness of spoiled children was the same in any era.

Especially in the US, where spanking, brooms, and feather dusters were not allowed... spoiled children were even more unscrupulous, invulnerable to swords and spears.

"No, no! I want Alice now! I want it now!"

The little girl used her passive skill, throwing a tantrum, and yelling loudly.

The little girl's father was also helpless, he directly discussed with the stall owner, wanting to buy the Alice doll directly.

The stall owner was a shrewd man, knowing that the longer it dragged on, the more he would earn, so he refused to sell it no matter what.

"Perfect."

Lin Xian had grasped the entire situation, rubbing his hands together.

"It's my turn to appear."

After saying that, he strode towards the stall.

"What are you doing!"

She quickly grabbed him.

"You're crazy! You don't have any money to pay! The stall owners here are all in cahoots... if you dare to skip out on the bill, they will definitely beat you to death!"

"Besides, it's just a children's game, why are you joining in the fun, can you shoot out bread by shooting balloons?"

Lin Xian chuckled.

"I definitely can't shoot out bread, but..."

He removed the hand holding his wrist, looking at her.

"I can win you... a ticket to Brooklyn Heights."

She widened her eyes.

"What?"

This person was crazy!

In the blink of an eye, Lin Xian had already walked to the front of the stall. Biting her lip, she didn't know whether to get closer or leave... putting her in a very difficult position, she could only frown and maintain a safe distance, and act according to the situation.

Inside the balloon darts stall.

The little girl's father and the owner were still arguing.

The owner said that they could either continue to play, or take the doll for 5 dollars, the prizes at the stall definitely couldn't be the same price as in the supermarket;

The little girl's father said that he understood, but 5 dollars was too outrageous, he was willing to pay at most 2 dollars, which was already a lot, after all, playing a round of the balloon darts game only cost 10 cents.

...

Click.

Lin Xian picked up the toy air gun, cocked it, and said to the owner in English.

"Owner, one round."

The owner glanced at Lin Xian while bargaining.

"Play, 10 cents a round, 10 bullets, pay after playing."

Then he immediately turned his head to look at the little girl's father, pointing at the little girl who was crying and stomping her feet.

"5 dollars! Not a penny less!"

Pa! Click.

Pa! Click.

Pa! Click.

...

Next to them, there was a very rhythmic sound of shooting and cocking the gun, every time the gun was cocked, a balloon would inevitably explode in response.

The little girl's father and the owner stopped arguing for a moment, turning their heads to stare in disbelief at the composed Lin Xian.

They saw.

This young man with an Asian face, held the air gun as easily as holding chopsticks, he didn't even need to aim... cock and shoot! Cock and shoot! The 10 balloons arranged together exploded one after another from right to left, without any deviation, perfectly accurate!

Pa!

As the last balloon exploded, a round of the game ended, 10 out of 10, all 10 balloons exploded.

Lin Xian beckoned at the Alice doll at the top of the prize shelf.

"Bring it here."

The owner gritted his teeth, his face turned red and green, but in the end, he accepted his loss and took down the doll's large box, handing it to Lin Xian.

Lin Xian squatted down, smiling at the wailing child... no, the little angel.

"Little angel, do you want it?"

"Hic!"

When the little girl heard that it was going to be given to her, she immediately put on a show of changing her face, the crying stopped instantly, and she nodded frantically.

When the little girl's parents saw that the spoiled child had finally been coaxed, they hurriedly looked at Lin Xian.

"Sir, would you... be willing to give us the prize?"

Lin Xian stuffed the box into the little girl's hands.

Then he stood up, extended his hand to the little girl's father.

"2 dollars, thank you."

The gentleman didn't hesitate at all, taking out two 1-dollar coins and placing them in Lin Xian's hand, thanking him as he left.

Heh heh.

Lin Xian laughed inwardly.

What was it called holding the emperor to command the nobles... sure enough, children's money was the easiest to earn.

Then he took out a coin and handed it to the balloon darts stall owner.

"I'm not playing anymore, give me the change."

...

She watched Lin Xian's series of actions, dumbfounded.

Lin Xian hummed a little tune, walking cheerfully towards her, he wasn't this happy even when he made billions at Rhine Corporation.

"Here, look."

He opened his palm, inside lay 6 coins of different sizes.

1 dollar, 25 cents x2, 10 cents x4.

"Oh my god..."

She blinked incredulously.

She really didn't expect that the unremarkable Dragon Country man in front of her... would actually make 2 dollars like magic in just a few minutes!

She couldn't rob money this quickly!

2 dollars... this was a huge sum of money!

She raised her head, looking at Lin Xian.

"Lin Xian, you're rich! This 2 dollars is enough for you to live for a long time!"

Lin Xian smiled slightly.

"The issue of livelihood is indeed very important, but it can be temporarily put aside, let's use this money to take the bus... to Brooklyn Heights!"

She took a deep breath.

"You..."

She finally understood what Lin Xian meant when he said he was going to win her a ticket to Brooklyn Heights.

...

He wasn't joking.

But...

She still shook her head.

"Forget it, Lin Xian, you should keep this money for yourself to buy bread, to buy food."

"Whether it's the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, or Manhattan across the river, they're there, they'll be there for decades, for centuries... it's not like they'll run away if we don't go now."

"You have to understand, Lin Xian, just because you were lucky enough to earn this money today doesn't mean you'll have such luck in the future. So... don't waste the money on something meaningless, save it to fill your stomach later."

"No, this isn't meaningless."

Lin Xian said seriously.

"Trying our best to fulfill every promise, to honor every vow, is the greatest meaning."

He raised his head, looking into her eyes, looking at her face, the wheel of time shifted, and overlapped with Chu Anqing's smiling face.

"I promised you a lot of things, but I didn't do them."

He remembered.

After returning to the country from the World Hacker Competition in the US, at the airport he and Chu Anqing had agreed to go to the British Museum to see the exhibited "Sad Einstein" and collect clues; at that time, Chu Anqing had volunteered to be his guide, looking forward to the trip.

He didn't do it.

At the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Chu Anqing made him a sweet cake on his birthday, he had promised to prepare a surprise gift for Chu Anqing on her 20th birthday.

He didn't do it.

On the aerospace plane at an altitude of 20,000 meters, Chu Anqing wrote him a small note at the last moment of her life, telling him to be sure to open it in his dream.

He didn't do it.

He had promised Chu Shanhe to protect Anqing, to bring back his precious daughter.

He still didn't do it.

Alas...

Lin Xian felt a little emotional inside.

Therefore.

Don't draw any more pies for the first Millennium Stake.

Eating a little less bread won't starve him to death, at worst he could go to the church to sing hymns and get food.

He didn't know on what day the first Millennium Stake would turn into blue stardust and disappear, therefore, cherish every second of the present, and quickly fulfill the pies he drew for her.

"Huh?"

She was a little surprised.

"You didn't promise me anything... we've only just met..."

"Okay, let's hurry up and go."

Lin Xian interrupted her, grabbed her wrist, and ran towards the top of the pier.

"Ah, before we take the bus, we have to go back to the street where we started, to return the money for the newspaper to that little black kid."

Pfft—

Running behind him, she was amused.

"It seems that you really are a person who keeps his word."

"Of course."

Lin Xian climbed the long staircase, looking into the distance, recalling the short, hunched little black kid.

"I hope... he hasn't gone back to get beaten yet."

(End of this chapter)