In her words, she has lived on horseback since she was a child. Her ancestors immigrated from Germany and planted flags on the land to own this huge ranch.
She simply and naively worships the glory of her ancestors during their pioneering and expansion period, just like most young Americans, unaware of the blood and soil hidden in the darkness during the period of primitive accumulation.
Zhou Li'an doesn't know anything about the teachings of the Holy Mother.
Everything comes and goes.
In this time and space, your ancestors invaded the New World; in that time and space, I may attack from the New World to the Old World, each other.
The equestrian class was at nine o'clock in the morning and was originally supposed to be a public class.
However, due to external factors of Zhou Li'an's appearance, Mathil gave him one-on-one small lessons, and the tuition remained unchanged.
This probably involved her brother Andy's coaching tuition, so while Andy was teaching other students, he looked resentfully at the laughter between his sister and Zhou Li'an.
At noon, Zhou Li'an would go to the town to collect news. In fact, it was an excuse to go to the hotel to find a new room and travel through time.
When I return in the evening, I casually buy some local "handicrafts" in the town as a cover-up. The enthusiastic sales lady will tell you how good the local products are. Turn the other side -
made in prc.
That's okay.
In addition, I will buy two bottles of red wine and food to take back.
After all, it is a one-on-one class, and Zhou Li'an's dinner has been arranged at Stone's house this week, so it is difficult to refuse such hospitality.
He didn't say much to Martina, he just hoped to have a good time with this girl during her short summer vacation.
Ranch villa.
After the meal, Ben Stone drank the red wine Zhou Li'an brought and praised him: "Zhou, your riding skills have improved very quickly. You can try running tomorrow, and next week you can let Martina take you to the mountains."
There was horse racing and a walk on the other side.”
"Listen to me, there is a cabin built by her mother and I..."
"Oh, by the way, Andy and his ex-girlfriend were there too."
Zhou Li'an can understand what this family is thinking.
Compared to other American young people, Martina is an introvert and a freshman in college who has not yet been in a relationship. They are worried that their children will miss a necessary life experience.
As long as you take protective measures, what can you do if you have fun?
When it comes to men and women, no one is ever at a disadvantage; everyone enjoys it.
Martina blushed with embarrassment, lowered her head and said nothing.
Andy smiled evilly and said another thing: "Hey, Zhou, how about going out for a walk with our family tomorrow?"
"Get out?" Zhou Li'an looked over in confusion.
Mrs. Stone smiled: "It's a family banquet."
Zhou Li'an was stunned.
Is it too early to meet the seventh aunt and the eighth aunt?
His eyes were blank, and Martina immediately knew that he would be wrong. She blushed even more with embarrassment and immediately explained: "It's not what you think. It's just a monthly gathering where several ranchers from around will go there to get together."
.”
Andy danced happily and said: "My father's brother runs an aristocratic thoroughbred horse farm. His 'Goddess Jenny' just won the first place in the state's 'Equestrian Competition' and will leave for Texas next month to compete in the national competition."
Grand Prix.”
"The first place prize is 2 million US dollars!"
Speaking of which.
Visibly to the naked eye, Ben Stone looked a little lonely, probably the kind of expression his own brothers were doing better than he was.
Logically speaking, shouldn't this kind of thing be considered honorable?
During this week at Stone Ranch, Zhou Li'an has deeply felt the enthusiasm of Americans for horse racing.
And Stone's brother can train a "star horse", which is like someone's family producing a TV star.
Even if there is jealousy in the heart, it will not show on the surface.
"Is it convenient for me to go? Ben." Zhou Li'an looked at the expression of the head of the family.
"Ah? What?" Ben Stone finally came back to his senses: "No problem, of course it's convenient. You are our guest."
…
The next day.
Zhou Li'an came back from town and got into Andy's pickup truck. Martina sat between the two of them and introduced the advantages of the uncle's horse farm in advance.
And Andy was bragging while driving, seemingly unaware of the loneliness and loneliness in their father's heart.
After driving for forty minutes, a significantly more modern horse farm appeared in front of us.
There is a racecourse sign and warning outside the gate——
Private property, no entry allowed.
Below the warning is a prohibited image of two crossed shotguns.
When the two cars arrived, there were many vehicles parked outside the house. The house was brightly lit and people gathered with glasses of wine in their hands, chatting and laughing.
After getting off the car, Andy ran in the door first.
Ben Stone got off another car, walked beside Zhou Li'an, and whispered: "Zhou, you have to be more polite when you get in... Although I shouldn't say this, my brother is not easy to get along with."
Hahaha.
Here comes the story.
Zhou Li'an nodded: "Don't worry, I won't be rude, but I think Andy and Martina both like it here?"
Ben smiled bitterly: "My brother is pretty good to his family, but he is very repulsive when it comes to things that he doesn't like. He is a member of the local pro-democracy group. You know the pro-democracy group, right? It has a bit of a white supremacy atmosphere."
Then what the hell did you ask me to do?
Mrs. Stone said with a smile: "Don't worry, you are our guest, it's not as exaggerated as Ben said."
However, just after Zhou Li'an entered the room, the eyes of more than a dozen people in the room focused on him.
I can't say that he looked unkind, but everyone looked at him like he was a rare animal in the zoo.
Zhou Li'an said nothing.
Burns Channel: "This is Zhou, our guest. He plans to open a racetrack in Oregon. He is here to buy horses."
Hearing that he was a customer, everyone calmed down their eyes and greeted him in a nonchalant manner.
Only the bearded man at the head, who looked very similar to Ben, still looked unhappy.
Soon, when the meal was served, everyone was complimenting the host, Lauryn Stone, and bragging about his performance on the field.
Zhou Li'an was like a little transparent person who only ate and drank without interrupting. Fortunately, Martina was by his side to chat and laugh with him from time to time.
After three rounds of drinking, the style of painting gradually changed.
Laurieen said: "My dear brother, I have already told you that you should sell most of the land back then and start a thoroughbred racecourse like me."
"If that were the case, you wouldn't be in the situation you are in today, being called upon by the bank, being in trouble by the Environmental Protection Agency, and all the wild horses caught all day long are falsely accused of running away from your horse farm."
"5,000 horses? Those are obviously your burden, and they don't even belong to you. Eighty percent are bank assets."
"Just imagine, if an epidemic breaks out one day, how will you explain it to the bank? Don't expect me to help you then, I have warned you a long time ago."
"Of course." Laurian looked at his nephew, "Andy can come work for me and become the best cowboy, right, Andy?"
Andy chuckled: "Of course I am willing."
Ben's face turned completely dark.
Mrs. Stone just sighed helplessly.
And Zhou Li'an obviously understood why the relationship between the two brothers was so bad.
Lauryn has been puaing his younger brother for many years, suppressing and ridiculing him in various ways. No one will feel better.
Looking at the reactions of the people at the table to this scene, I have long been accustomed to it.
Zhou Li'an patted Ben's arm under the table: "Relax, Ben."
"Haha, I made you laugh, maybe we shouldn't have come here."
"Then just eat and leave. I don't like it here either. Those who don't respect others don't deserve respect either."
My eyes are actually a little red. For so many years, there is only one person who understands him, and he is still just an outsider.
Even his wife and children didn't seem to notice anything was wrong with all this. This is probably the sadness of a middle-aged man.
The dinner was finally over, Ben said: "Laurien, it's time for us to go back."
Lauryn drank too much and staggered over to him, grabbed him and said, "Let's go? What time is it? It's hard for me to see my nephews and nieces, and you haven't gone to see 'Goddess Jane' yet, right?"
?”
"I'm tired!" Ben insisted.
"I said, don't leave! My brother, are you not going to listen to me?"
The surroundings are quiet.
Lauryn's wife came over and said, "Laurien, be polite. You've drunk too much."
"Damn woman, this is a man's place to speak. How can you open your mouth? Get out of here!"
He pushed his wife down, and then stared at Ben with scarlet eyes: "Tell me, are you still going to leave? Just because you think I am better than you?"
In this situation, no one can stop me.
Mrs. Stone just helped her sister-in-law and whispered comfort.
Andy frowned and didn't even say anything. It seemed that in his eyes, his father was weak and far inferior to his uncle.
Martina cried anxiously, and her tears kept falling.
Ben was trembling.
Zhou Li'an found that his fists were clenched.
But in the end, he relaxed and forced a smile: "Then let's have a few more drinks, haha, it's up to you."
Zhou Li'an watched all this silently.
I already have a clear understanding of the situation between this family.
Ben's ranch is large in scale, but the debt ratio is extremely high. Most of the 5,000 horses come from bank loans. The horses are sold every year and the horse meat is sold. It may be difficult to repay it as soon as possible, which ultimately leads to a vicious cycle.
His brother's family was rich and powerful and had been suppressing him for a long time. It wasn't that he didn't dare to resist. He wanted to punch him for a long time, but he held back.
There are probably two reasons for patience.
The maintenance of family ties, as Laurian said, once their family has financial problems, he needs to come to them for help.
the last point……
Zhou Li'an did not see Lauryn's children, including the couple at home, only the couple.
Let’s look at his attitude towards his wife.
If you can't give birth to a child, it's normal to be angry with your wife.
So, if their brother passes away one day, Andy and Martina may inherit their inheritance.
This is why Andy respects his uncle far more than he does his father.
What a deformity!
But this is also the helplessness of real life.
If you really want to be rich, why should you accept others' anger?
A group of people walked out of the room, and under the leadership of the drunken Laurian, they first visited his newly purchased RV and horse trailer.
The RV is very luxurious, and the trailer for the horses also has an air conditioning cooling system.
"I paid for these two cars in full, costing me more than 300,000 dollars, hahaha." Laurian laughed, enjoying the flattery of the people around him.
Zhou Li'an followed silently.
Then we came to the stables. There were more than thirty stables on both sides.
There is no dust in the corridor, and the air is not like the smell of horse manure wafting in Stone Ranch. Instead, it exudes the fragrance of pasture.
This is simply a palace for horses.
Lauryn introduced the horses one after another. Although the people who followed him knew his pets well, no one would deny him face at this time.
"Tornado Boy, after the last barrel race, his worth exceeded 210,000. Someone made an offer to buy it, but I didn't agree."
"Haha, my Melissa, the cub she gave birth to last month was directly spotted by a wealthy equestrian club and auctioned off for a high price of 63,000 US dollars."
"..."
They were introduced one after another, and finally came to the highlight.
The three stables were expanded into one, and it was still a bit cool in Montana in July. The horses were still wearing warm clothes, and their exposed fur was a light golden color, and their hair was shiny.
The horsehair on the neck is combed as if it had just been styled at the hair salon.
Lauryn said proudly: "Everyone, look at 'Goddess Annie', the darling of thousands of fans in Montana. After the Grand Prix next month, she will even be famous in the United States!!"
Someone asked: "How much is Goddess Anne worth now?"
Laurian proudly held out two fingers: "Two million US dollars. You know, I spent 1.04 million to buy her back. This is a pure-blooded Akhal Tekin horse!"
Zhou Li'an gasped after hearing this.
Is this a bloody BMW?
It’s now worth 2 million, and it’s in US dollars?
He looked at the fur and felt full of love in his heart. If a unicorn was added to the horse's head, it would probably be the unicorn in the mythical story.
While he was lost in thought, the crowd was already preparing to leave the stable.
Laurian was about to hold the door, but when he saw Zhou Li'an lying on the fence in a daze, he immediately let out an angry shout——
"Hey! Damn Asian monkeys, have you seen enough? Get out of here! Don't tarnish my goddess Anne!"
"Damn it, Ben, don't bring this kind of messy people to my house in the future. I hate these low-class people who are as yellow-skinned as Indians!"
Everyone's expressions changed slightly.
But Ben Stone couldn't bear it anymore: "Fake, Zhou is my guest, friend, you have gone too far, Lauryn!"
"What, you want to fight me because of an Asian?!"
Zhou Li'an turned his head and looked at this scene coldly.
Damn Asian monkey?
Low class people?
hehe.
He scanned the stables and found no cameras. There were only surveillance equipment at the entrances and exits.
"system!"
【I am here!】
"Recharge me! Recharge 9999 US dollars."
[Ding, recharge successful!]
At this moment, Zhou Li'an reached out and touched 'Goddess Anne'——
Whoosh.
The horses in the stable disappeared.
Zhou Li'an turned around and walked out calmly.
He came to Lauryn: "Say what you just said again?"
"Haha, do you want to fight with me? Come on, come on! Damn yellow skin..."
boom!
Zhou Li'an took action instantly and punched the side of his face.
The drunken middle-aged man collapsed to the ground and could not recover for a long time.
Everyone was stunned by such a scene.
Andy hugged Zhou Li'an belatedly: "Hey, Zhou, he drank too much, don't argue with a drunkard!"
Ben sighed and looked at everyone: "You all saw that it was Lauryn who provoked him first. It's not Zhou's fault."
Zhou Li'an broke away from Andy's restraints: "Okay, that's enough. I'm fine. Now I just want to leave this damn place."
Lauryn finally got up with the help of several people.
He was blinded, with stars in his eyes, and it wasn't until Zhou Li'an and others got in the car and left that he roared——
"Asshole! Come again, come again!! I want to duel with him!!"