Chapter 6 Chapter Six

After that, Jeff didn't get involved in anything other than making money.He is very good at this. Investing in stocks in the film industry can make money at will.In the mid-1960s, movies often drew huge audiences, with "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Cleopatra" first fetching multimillion-dollar prices when they were sold to television networks.Despite knowing that the value of small electronics companies often multiplies enormously, Jeff avoids these businesses simply because he can't remember the names of the winners.He spent a lot of money on conglomerates that he knew would flourish from investing in the electronics industry during the decade: Litton Industries, Seitai Electromechanical, Ling.Temco.Water Company.Almost all the stocks he selected have been profitable from the day he bought them, and he used most of the stock income to go back to buy more shares.

Well worth the deal. Although Jeff told Shala that Cassius should be arrested.Clay (Annotation: That is, the famous boxing champion Ali.), she stubbornly insisted on betting on Liston, Shala still enjoyed the game.But this evening, Jeff's reaction was a mix of emotions: not about the fight, but about the surroundings, and the crowd.Several gamblers and bookmakers in attendance recognized Jeff, whose fame had already spread throughout the gaming world for his record-setting World Series betting.Some of them even paid out big chunks of the multi-million dollar winnings, but gave Jeff a friendly smile and a thumbs up.He may have been cast out of the circle, but he became a legend among them, and was given the tribute due to the hero of the legend.

In a way, he thought, it was this that bothered him. The unabashed respect of the gamblers was a stark reminder that he had begun his new life out of a great and unfathomable deception, that he Deceived the people of the lower class of society in the United States.No matter how much he achieves in society in the future, perhaps he will remain in their memory forever in such a legendary way.He wanted to take a long, hot shower to get rid of the faint smell of cigars and dirty money. Something more concrete bothered him, and he was thinking about it as the limousine sped past the vulgar facades of a row of Miami Beach hotels on Collins Avenue.It was Shara, especially her.

She fits in well with the boxing crowd, and seems quite at home among other curvy, heavily made-up, gaudy young women.Glancing at the woman sitting next to him, he told himself, let's face it: she looked cheap.Expensive but cheap women, like Las Vegas, like Miami Beach.Anyone who asked to give a rough evaluation would immediately see that Sharra was straight-up saying that it was a sex machine.Nothing else.She was the kind of woman you couldn't bring home, and Jeff grimaced at the thought that he was doing just that.They stopped in Orlando as they drove south to Miami for the championship game.Jeff's sudden riches made the family overwhelmed, even terrified, and even so, they could not hide their contempt for Shala when they learned that Jeff was living with her.Anxiety and frustration were evident on his face.

She leaned forward, fingering the cigarette pack in her bag, and as she did so, the black satin bodice came loose, and Jeff could glimpse a large, greasy breast.Even now he wanted her, and he felt a familiar urgency to bury his face in her breasts, to pull her clothes back to reveal those flawless legs. Jeff had been with this woman for almost a year, and he shared everything with her except his thoughts and emotions.Suddenly the thought turned him off, her beauty a condemnation of his sentimentality.Why did he let this relationship last for so long?Her initial attraction is easy to understand; Shara is the goddess of a man's fantasy, an irresistible delicacy that accompanies his lost and regained youth.But it’s essentially an empty attraction, devoid of substance or complexity, like a bullfight poster on a college dorm wall, full of youthful innocence.

He watched her light her cigarette, her deceptively regal face bathed in the dim red light.When she found him staring at her, she raised her slender eyebrows, her expression suggesting sexual challenge and commitment.Jeff looked away, to the still, clear lights of Miami across the river. The next morning, Sara had been shopping on Lincoln Road, and when she returned, Jeff was waiting for her in a hotel suite in Dora.She put the big and small bags in the hallway, and rushed to the nearest mirror to touch up her makeup.Her short white sundress accentuated her beautiful brown skin, and her high-heeled sandals made her bare brown legs look longer and slender than they really were.Jeff's fingers ran over the sharp edge of the thick brown envelope in his hand, and he almost changed his mind.

what are you doing at homeShara asked, reaching behind her back to unzip the breathable cotton dress.Let's put on our bathing suits and get some sun. Jeff shook his head and motioned for her to sit in the chair opposite.Frowning, she zipped up her tan back and sat where he indicated. What happened to you?she asked.Why is it so strange? He wanted to speak, but he had decided hours before that the words were not appropriate.They never really talked, anyway; verbal communication didn't really have much to do with their exchange.He handed her an envelope. Shara pursed her lips when she took the envelope, tore it open, and stared at the six neat stacks of hundred-dollar bills for a while.

How much?She finally asked in a calm, controlled tone that did not show emotion. Two hundred thousand. She peered inside the envelope again and pulled out a one-way first-class ticket to Rio Panagua.This is the ticket for tomorrow morning, She checked while talking, what about my things in New York? I will help you send it to where you want to go. She nodded.I have to do some more shopping before I leave. You can do whatever you want, put it on the account of this room. Shara nodded again, put the money and air ticket back in the envelope and placed it on the table beside her.She stood up and unzipped her dress, then let it slide to the floor and pile up around her feet.

Hell, she said as she unhooked her bra, for two hundred thousand you deserve this last shot. Jeff returned to New York alone and returned to his investment career. He knew that women's skirts would get shorter and shorter in the next few years, and demand for patterned stockings and pantyhose would be huge.Jeff bought 30,000 shares of Hans Enterprises.Those bare thighs must have had consequences, so he's bought into the pharmaceutical companies that make birth control pills. A year and a half after moving into the Seagram Building, the book value of Future Enterprises' holdings has reached $37 million.Jeff returned the money to Frank in one lump sum, along with the final check and a long personal letter.But he never received a single word in response.

Of course, not everything went exactly to Jeff's plan.When Telesat went public, he wanted to buy most of the shares, but because the stock was so hot, he was limited to fifty shares per person.Amazingly, IBM's stock price remained stagnant until 1965, although it took off again the following year.Shares of fast-food chains (Jeff chose Denny's, KFC, and McDonald's) plummeted in 1967, rocketing off an average of 500 percent a year later. By 1968, his company's assets had exceeded 100 million, and he had approved the construction of a 60-story corporate headquarters designed by I.M. Pei, located near the intersection of Park Avenue and 53rd Street.Jeff also ordered the purchase of large tracts of land in Houston, Denver, Atlanta, and Los Angeles commercial and residential precincts.His firm even bought nearly half of the undeveloped real estate in Los Angeles' new Century City project for $5 a square foot.Jeff also bought a 300-acre property in Dutchess County, New York, for personal use, about two hours' drive north from Manhattan on the banks of the Hudson River.

He dated all kinds of women, slept with some of them, and hated the pointless process.Drinks, dinners, theatrical performances, concerts, and gallery openings He increasingly despised the rigid formality of the dating process and missed the ease and intimacy of simply being with people, the shared friendly silence, and the unrelenting openness laughing out loud.Besides, most of the women he met were either too frankly curious about his wealth or too unnaturally bored.Some even hated him because of his wealth and refused to date him.For many young people in the second half of the 1960s, great personal wealth was repulsive.And on more than one occasion Jeff is forced to feel directly responsible for the misery of the world, from slum famine to the creation of napalm. Jeff waited, putting all his energy into his work.June is coming, he kept reminding himself.In June, 1968, everything was about to change. More precisely, June twenty-fourth. Rob.Kennedy, who died less than three weeks ago, is now retiring his title in favor of Muhammad.Cassius, who was reborn under Ali's name.Clay is appealing his desertion charge.In Vietnam, rocket artillery from the north has been firing at Saigon since early spring. Jeff recalled that it was two or three o'clock on a Monday afternoon.He worked evenings and weekends at a commercial music station in West Palm Beach, playing The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Aretha.Franklin's music, and self-study to learn the production tips of radio news, he sells his interviews and stories to radio stations, and occasionally cooperates with UPI audio network on a piece-by-piece basis.He remembered that day because Monday and Tuesday were his weekend, and it was the first day of the weekend, and when he returned to work on Wednesday, he finally managed to arrange the first big visit of his career, and retired U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice EarlWarren engages in a lengthy and candid conversation.He never understood why Warren would agree to talk to a fledgling fledgling broadcaster from a small Florida radio station.But he managed to pull through the interview anyway, and the mogul's succinct reflections on his controversial tenure were summed up healthily by NBC.Less than a month later, Jeff was working as a full-time news producer at WIOD News Radio in Miami, and his career took off.Everything he's ever lived as an adult can be traced back to that week that summer. Jeff has no reason to choose Boca Raton and no reason not to.He sometimes drives north to Juno Beach on a Monday, and other times he may drive south to Dorey Beach or Beacon Point, a hundred interconnected beach towns along the Atlanta coast from Malibu to South Miami Beach. , any of which could be his destination.But on June 24, 1968, he took a blanket, a towel, and a cooler full of beer to the beach in Boca Raton, and now he's on the same sunny day again. Days, come to the same place. There she was, lying on her back in a jersey bikini, her head resting on an inflatable beach pillow, reading a hardcover copy of Airport.Jeff stopped ten feet away and stood looking at her young frame, the lemon locks in her thick brown hair.The hot sand scalded his feet, and the waves seemed to respond to his pounding heartbeat.For a moment he almost turned away, but he didn't. hi he said hello is it a good book She glanced at him through her clear, owl-like sunglasses, then shrugged.Kind of lame, but kind of fun.Maybe a movie would be better. There might be several films, Jeff thought.Have you seen "2001: A Space Odyssey"? I've seen it, but I don't quite understand what it wants to say, and it seems to be a bit dragging behind.I like "Where is Fang Fei" better, you know, there is Julie in that play.Christie. He nodded, trying to smile more naturally and easily.My name is Jeff.Mind if I sit next to you? Sit down, I'm Linda.Said the woman who had been his wife for eighteen years. He spread the blanket, opened the cooler, and handed her a bottle of beer.Is it summer vacation?he asked. She turned on one elbow and took the cold beer.I went to Florida Atlantic University, but my family lives in this town.And you? I grew up in Orlando and went to Emory for a while.But now I live in New York. Jeff tried to stay calm, but it wasn't easy.He couldn't take his eyes off her face, he longed for her to take off those damn sunglasses and let him see eyes he had never known before.In his head echoed his last memory of her voice, faint and distant, the voice on the other end of the phone: We need we need we need I just said, what are you doing there? Ah, sorry, I took a swig of cold beer and tried to clear his head.do business. What kind of business? invest. You mean, something like a stockbroker? Not really.I have my own company.We work with many brokers, stocks, real estate, mutual funds, whatever. She lowered her big round sunglasses and gave him a surprised look.He stared into those familiar brown eyes, so longing in his heart to tell her, this time it will be different, or please, let's try again, or even just tell her, I miss you so much, I forget how much you used to be cute.But he said nothing, just looked into her eyes in silent hope. Do you own an entire company?she asked, as if she couldn't believe it. Now it is, yes.Until a few years ago, it was a joint venture with others, but now it is mine alone. She put the beer in the sand and rubbed the can back and forth to make room for him to stand upright. Did you inherit a large inheritance, or what?I mean, most guys I know, they can't even get a job at a company like that in New York or they don't want to. No, I built the company on my own, from nothing.He laughed, starting to feel more relaxed with her, feeling confident and proud of his accomplishments for the first time in years. I won a lot of money betting on horse races and things like that, and I put it all into building companies. She looked at him suspiciously.How old are you anyway? Twenty-three.He paused for a beat before answering, thinking that he had said too much about himself and not expressed enough curiosity about her.There was no way she knew that Jeff already knew everything about her, and, at this point in her life, more than she knew about herself. and you?What are you reading? sociology.Did you major in business studies at Emory? History, but I dropped out of school.What grade are you in? Going to be a senior in the fall.So how big is your business?I mean, do a lot of people work for you?Do you have an office in Manhattan? An office building near Park Avenue and Fifty-third Street.Are you familiar with New York? You have an office building of your own, on Park Avenue.That's great. She didn't look at him again, just drew a swirling pattern of daisy petals in the sand around the beer can. Jeff thought back to the day a few months before their wedding, when she unexpectedly showed up at his door with a bouquet of daisies, the sun shining behind her hair, and her smile that could melt hearts. Well, I spent a lot of effort.He said, so, what do you plan to do after graduation? Oh, I think maybe I'll buy a few department stores.Don't play too big at first, you know.She folded the towels and began to pack the blankets into a large blue beach bag.Maybe you can make me a good deal at Saks Fifth Avenue? Hey, wait a minute, please don't go away.You think I'm fooling you, don't you? Just pretend I didn't say it.As she spoke, she stuffed the book into her bag and shook the sand off the blanket. No, listen, I'm serious, I'm not kidding.My company is called Future Enterprises, maybe you've even heard Thank you for the beer.Good luck. Hey, please, can we talk again?I feel as if I know you, as if we have a lot to share.Do you know that feeling?Like you once knew someone in a previous life, or I don't believe this nonsense.Throwing the folded towel over her arm, she started walking toward the road and the rows of parked cars. Listen, give me a chance, Jeff said, walking beside her, and one thing I know is that if we get to know each other better, we'll find a lot in common.we will She spun around on her bare feet, then glared at Jeff through her sunglasses.If you keep following me, I'm going to call the lifeguards.Dude, you go away now.Find someone else, understand? Hello? Is it Linda? I'm Jeff, Jeff.winston.We met at the beach this afternoon and I How the hell did you get my phone number?I didn't even tell you my last name! that's not important.Listen to me, I'll send you the latest issue of Business Week.There was an article about me with a photo on it, on page forty-eight.Then you'll know I'm not lying. So you have my home address too?What trick are you playing?What exactly do you want from me? I just want to know you and let you know me.There are many things we can do together, many wonderful possibilities, we can You are crazy!I mean, you are mentally ill! Linda, I know this is a bad start, but I just want you to give me a chance to explain.Give us a way to approach each other, in an open, honest way, and we'll find I don't want to know you, whoever you are.I don't care if you're rich or not, or if you're damn Paul.Getty (Annotation: American oil giant.) Get it?I just want you to stay away from me. I know this makes you uncomfortable.I know it seems weird to you If you call again, or if you show up at my house, I will call the police.Is that clear enough? Jeff heard the sound of her slamming the handset loudly when she hung up. He had a chance to live another half of his life, and now he used up his chance, in one day. There are many grape pickers working on the hillside in the southeast of San Jose in the Mirazo Vineyard: They carry huge buckets of fresh green grapes on their heads, and meander like worker ants towards the crusher outside the old wine cellar down the slope , Extrusion machine to go.The hills are covered with rows of spaced vine trellises like waves, and the oaks and elms scattered among the stone houses are covered with autumn colors. Diane was angry with him all day long, and the surrounding fields and the intricacies of winemaking did not help to soothe her emotions.Jeff shouldn't have taken her out this morning at all, he'd thought she'd be enamored with, or at least interested in, these two young talents, but he'd been wrong. Hippie, true hippie.The tall boy was a barefoot savage, my goodness, and the other one looked like a caveman. Their ideas have potential, and appearances don't matter. Well, someone should tell them that the sixties are over if they want to do something serious with that stupid idea.I can't believe you fell for it and gave them so much money back. That's my money, Diane.And I told you earlier that business matters are up to me. He couldn't seriously blame her for such a reaction, after all, this was a business with no foreseeable benefits.Two young men and a garage full of used electronic parts certainly don't look like they're a Fortune 500 favorite.But within five years, the Cupertino, California, garage will be famous, Steve.Jobs and Steve.Wozniak would prove to be the most profitable investment of 1976.Jeff had already spent half a million dollars on them, and he insisted that they follow the advice of a young retired marketing manager from Intel with whom they had only recently met.Jeff also told them they could do whatever they wanted as long as they kept calling that thing an apple.He also let them keep forty-nine percent of the new company. Who would want to have a computer at home?Anyway, how do you think those two rags-to-riches guys are going to be able to make one? Don't worry about it, okay? Diane started to hold back her temper again, and Jeff knew she wasn't really letting go, even if she never said anything about it from now on. He had married Diane a year earlier, shortly after he turned thirty, for no other reason than convenience.She was twenty-three years old, a socialite from Boston, heiress to one of the oldest and largest insurance companies in the United States.She has a delicacy of charisma and is at ease in any situation where participants' personal net worth exceeds seven figures.The two had little in common other than their familiarity with money, but she and Jeff got on pretty well.Now that Diane is seven months pregnant, Jeff hopes the baby will bring out the best in her and create a deeper connection for them. A young blonde woman in a fitted navy suit led them into the main building of the winery, to the tasting room in the front corner.Diamond-shaped wine racks stand in rows along the walls, separated by softly lit alcoves, and display vineyard photos, flowers, and bottles of wine from Mirazú. Jeff and Diane stand at the rosewood bar in the center of the room, sipping Chardonnay in a tasting ceremony. Since that disaster conversation on the beach seven years ago, Linda has clearly kept her word.All the letters he sent were returned unopened, and all the gifts he sent were rejected.After a few months, he finally stopped contacting her, but added her to the list of individuals/priorities tracked by his clipping service.From this he learned that Linda had married a Houston architect and widower of two children in May 1970.Although Jeff blesses her with happiness, he can't help feeling abandoned and abandoned by someone who, from her point of view, has never known him. Once again Jeff finds solace in work.His most recent success was selling his oil fields in Venezuela and Abu Dhabi at a huge profit, quickly buying up similar properties in Alaska and California to replace them, and acquiring a dozen offshore drilling rigs. contract.Of course, all deals were done before OPEC's sword fell. He seeks the company of women who, in many respects, share somewhat similar qualities.In Diane's case, she was attractive, caring, mastered in the finest social skills, well-bred, and, at times, quite passionate in bed.They were the daughters of tycoons who provided passports to America's high society.Know the rules of the game, and understand from birth the limitations and obligations that come with being the owner of great wealth.They were his kind now, and he had every reason to choose a mate from among them.Diane's selection was the result of an almost random selection that she met the appropriate criteria.If their union ended up producing something greater, that's fine. If not, at least he hadn't entered the relationship with unrealistically high expectations. Maybe after all, this kid will make all the difference.Things are unpredictable. The fat orange cat is comparable to O. J．Simpson's best tricks on the charge skitter across the hardwood floor.Its prey was a shiny yellow ribbon that was badly damaged, and if it continued its brutality it would soon be reduced to a rag. Ge Liqian!Jeff called.You know the force of the ball tore a yellow ribbon from you? It's okay, Daddy.His daughter answered from the far corner of the large living room, near the window overlooking the Hudson.Kenny is home and Ball and I are going to help celebrate. when did he go homeIsn't he still in the hospital in Germany? Oh no, Daddy.He told the doctor that he was not sick and that he had to go home immediately.So Barbie sent him a Concorde ticket, and he got home faster than anyone else, and once he got home, Barbie made six blueberry muffins and four hot dogs. Jeff laughed, and Gretchen managed to give him the most cringe-worthy look with her big eyes and five-year-old face *There are no hot dogs to eat in Iran, she explained, and no blueberry muffins either. I don't think so.said Jeff, taking care to maintain a composed expression.I think he must be missing American food now, right? Of course he would.Barbie knew how to make him happy. The cat galloped back from the other direction, flapping the tattered ribbon with its paws, and then lay down on a sunny place beside him, watching its captive contentedly, and occasionally surprised Two kicks with the back foot.Greeqian continues her game, immersing herself in the reality of the elaborate dollhouse that Jeff spent a year customizing and expanding for her.The miniature tree on the green felt in the dollhouse's front yard is now festooned with bright yellow ribbons, and for the past week she's been following news reports of the end of the hostage crisis with gusto that most kids will only be fascinated by on Saturday morning cartoons to this extent.At first Jeff was worried that she'd become too fanatical about events in Tehran, and wanted to protect her from the trauma of watching radical mobs on TV singing about dying to America, but he already knew that this episode of history would have a peaceful, upbeat tone. So he chose to respect his daughter's precocious understanding of the world and believe in her emotional resilience. He loved her beyond belief, and he found himself wanting to ward off all darkness for her and share all light with her.Gretchen's birth did nothing to hold his marriage to Diane together, and to her, if anything, it was resentment that the child represented a restrained life.In any case, Ge Liqian gave and carried all the deep emotions that Jeff could embrace or imagine. Jeff watched as she took another ribbon from the dollhouse tree and played with old fat Ball Power.The cat was tired and didn't want to continue playing, so she begged to put her soft paws on Ge Liqian's cheeks, and Ge Liqian buried her head in its golden-yellow furry belly and rubbed her nose, making the cat happy.Jeff could hear it purring and coquettishly from across the room, and occasionally heard his daughter's chuckle. Sunlight slanted in from higher up through the tall bay windows, casting bright streaks of beams on the waxed floor where Ge Liqian snuggled up to the cat.This house, this quiet wooden dwelling in Dutchess, was a good setting for her.The tranquility here soothes the soul, young or old, innocent or locked in sorrow. Jeff thought of his former roommate Martin.Bailey.He had called Martin shortly after Geliqian's birth, re-establishing a connection that had been lost for years in this life.Martin's marriage was destined to be a terrible disaster, which led to his final suicide.Jeff couldn't say these words when facing Martin, but he promised Martin that he would have a stable job in the company in the future and would provide him with excellent stock news from time to time.His old friend is getting another divorce, which is tragic, but at least he's alive and paying his bills. These days, Jeff rarely thinks of Linda, and rarely of his past life.Life for the first time is like a dream now, the emotional deadlock with Diane, the happiness and joy with her daughter Ge Liqian, and the pros and cons of growing wealth and power are the realities.Reality is knowledge, and all that comes with that knowledge, both good and bad. The images played on the screen were pure organic movement: the liquid was slowly rippling through the arcuate chamber, expanding and contracting alternately in an ideal, slow rhythm. As you can see, there is no significant blockage in either ventricle.And, of course, there's no evidence of tachycardia on the EKG during the 24 hours you've been monitored. So what exactly do these mean?Jeff asked. The cardiologist turned off the videocassette machine showing the ultrasound of Jeff's heart, and smiled. That means your heart is pretty healthy, close to what any 43-year-old American male could hope for.Your lungs are just as healthy, according to X-rays and lung function tests. then my life expectancy As long as you continue to maintain this posture, you can live a long life.You keep hitting the gym, am I guessing right? Three times a week.Jeff had predicted the fitness craze of the late 1970s, and he benefited from it in more ways than one.He not only owns the Adidas, Nautilus, Holiday Wellness & Spa chains, but has made the most of them for over a decade. Go on, then, said the doctor.I wish all my patients were as good at taking care of their health as you are. Jeff and the doctor continued talking for a few more minutes, but his mind was elsewhere.What he thought of was himself, at this age, at the same year as now, but that was more than twenty years ago.The desk-bound, overstressed, slightly overweight radio executive, the self who clutches his chest, lays face forward on his desk, and watches the world go blank. Not this time, this time he has good health. Jeff preferred the cozy room at the back of the dining room in Laguna, but even if it was just lunch, Diane treated it as a people-watching and being-watched occasion.So they always ate in the front room, even though it was always crowded and noisy. Jeff ate his poached salmon with terrine, basil, and slightly sour sauce, trying to ignore Diane's sullenness and the chatter from the adjacent tables.One couple is discussing marriage, another is discussing divorce; Jeff and Diane's lunch conversation is somewhere in between. You're going to let her go to Sarah.Lawrence College, right?Diane chewed a few mouthfuls of fresh scallops, and suddenly asked angrily. She's only thirteen, Jeff sighed, Sarah.Lawrence's admissions unit didn't care what kids that age were doing. I went to Concord College when I was eleven. That's because your parents didn't care what you were doing at that age. She put down her fork and glared at Jeff.My upbringing has nothing to do with you. But Ge Liqian's upbringing is related to me. Then you should want her to have the best education possible, from the start. One waiter took away their empty plates, and another came with a dessert cart.There are many mirrors installed in the dining room, and Jeff uses the interrupted space to immerse himself in the images in the mirrors: fir green walls, crimson chairs, which seem to have just been cut from a Cézanne landscape painting. Fresh flower bouquet. He knew that Diane's concern wasn't with Gretchen's education, but with being free from day-to-day responsibilities.Jeff thought Gretchen was young, and the thought of her living at a school two hundred miles away made him sick. Diane swallowed raspberry marmalade angrily.I think you see nothing wrong with continuing to associate her with naughty kids brought home from public school. For God's sake, her school was in Rhinebeck, not the South Bronx.I think it was a great environment to grow up in. So does Concord.I know from my own experience. Jeff took a big bite out of the peach pie, unable to tell what was really going on in his mind.He didn't want to see Ge Liqian grow up to be a copy of her mother: a worldly rejection of people thousands of miles away, a cynical attitude, a huge wealth as a birthright, as a matter of course, something to rely on generously.Jeff became rich in one fell swoop by virtue of extraordinary luck and willpower.Now he wanted to protect his daughter's mind from the corrupting potential of money, just as he wanted her to enjoy its benefits. We'll talk about that next time.he said to Diane. Let them know our decision by next Thursday. Then we'll discuss it on Wednesday. This drove Diane into a state of great unhappiness, which he knew she could only resolve with a frantic splurge at Bordeaux and Saks. He tapped his jacket pocket and pulled out two aluminum-foil tinctures of Gyres.His heart may be in top shape, but the life he's created for himself is pretty damaging to his digestive system. Ge Liqian's slender and young fingers are stroking the keys gracefully, and the bitter tune flowing out of her fingertips is Beethoven's "For Alice".The fat orange cat named Qiu Li is lying on the piano bench next to Ge Liqian. It is too old to play recklessly and indulgently like before. Staying beside her and enjoying the comfort of soft music will make you feel better. Let it be to its heart's content. Jeff looked at her daughter's face as she played the piano, pale skin framed by locks of black curly hair.Her expression was strained, but he knew it wasn't because she was concentrating on the notes or the beat of the music.Her innate musical talent makes it unnecessary for her to memorize or delve into the basic principles of a piece of music, as long as she plays it once, she will get started.Rather, the passion in her eyes is mixed with the melancholy melody of this charmingly simple piano piece. She hits the coda of the chords with pedal-to-the-pedal riffs and clever slurs, and when she's done, she sits quietly for a while to get herself out of the musical world and into reality.接著她開心地笑了，從眼神中可看出，那個愛嬉鬧的女孩又回來了。 這曲子是不是很美？葛麗倩無邪地問，她指的美是音樂本身的美。 是很美。Jeff said.就和彈鋼琴的女孩一樣美。 喔，爹地，別這樣說。她紅著臉從凳子上活潑地轉過身。我要去吃個三明治，你也來一個嗎？ 謝了，親愛的。我想我要等到晚餐時才吃。妳媽隨時可能從城裡回來，她回來時，告訴她我去河邊散個步，好嗎？ good.葛麗倩邊說邊蹦蹦跳跳地朝廚房走去。球力醒了，牠打個呵欠，慢條斯理地跟上去。 傑夫走出屋外，沿著林間小徑散步。現在是秋天，榆樹植成的林道彷彿被綿延半哩長的烈焰席捲。步出樹林，首先映入眼簾的是向下緩緩延伸至哈德遜河的寬闊牧草地，再過去是座懸崖，懸崖陡然直下一百碼後的左方，一連串由大小岩石構成的瀑布在秋寒中奔瀉。景色如此美麗，通往此地的震撼入口向來能讓傑夫深受震動，油然心生敬畏，並為自己擁有這片產業感到自豪。 現在，他站在綠色山坡的坡頂，凝視著眼前美景。遠方壯麗秋色下．兩艘小船正安靜地朝下游移動。三個年輕男孩沿著對岸河灣一邊漫步，一邊無所事事地朝著奔流的河水扔石子。他們上方的高地上座落著一棟宏偉的房子，比傑夫的小一點，但還是相當壯觀。 再過三個月，哈德遜河就會結冰，形成一條向南延伸至紐約、向北延伸至阿地隆戴斯山的巨大白色公路。樹葉將全部凋落，景色卻一點也不因此單調：雪將點綴樹木枝頭，在有些日子裡，甚至連最細小的樹枝也會結滿冰柱，在冬陽中閃爍出萬千光芒。 這塊土地、這個郡，被柯里爾和艾伍茲（譯註：Currier and Ives，美國著名石版畫家柯里爾和艾伍茲所成立的版畫複製公司，一九○七年結束營業。以紐約州冬季雪景為題材的作品最為收藏家搜求珍藏。）神話為美國文化典型之地，他們甚至素描過這幅景色。站在這裡，讓人很容易相信自己所做的一切都是值得的。只要能夠站在這裡，或是將葛麗倩摟進懷中，擁著他和琳達曾經渴望卻無緣得到的孩子，就會讓人相信。 不會，他不會把女兒送到康科德。這裡是她的家。在她大到可以自己做出決定前，她都屬於這地方。那一天來臨時，他會支持她的選擇，但在那之前 看不見的物體插入他的胸口，比他遇過的任何傷害還要疼痛、還要強勁除了那次以外。 他撐不住跪下，掙扎著在腦中記住這一天的日期和時刻。他瞪大的雙眼接收著這片秋日景致，片刻前，河谷還象徵著重拾的希望及無邊的可能。他接著側著身子倒下，面朝看不見河的方向。 Jeff.溫斯頓無助地凝視著火紅的榆樹隧道，這條引導他走向承諾與實現的牧草地小徑，然後死去。