Chapter 125 Legendary Figure

  After finishing the crab, Ju An wiped his hands and prepared to leave. At this time, the door opened and a sixty-year-old short Chinese old man walked in. As soon as he came in, he shouted loudly in Mandarin: "Quickly get two people out to help bring down the dishes!" He spoke in a northern accent.

  "Old Zhao, why are you so late today? It's almost time for the guests to arrive and I've been waiting for a long time!"

  The old man known as Old Zhao walked over to the table where Boss was sitting, sat down with a flourish, and patted Boss on the shoulder. "Good kid," he said, "you're always calling me Old Zhao, aren't you afraid of shortening my lifespan? Call me Uncle Zhao instead." He turned to Jianan beside him and said, "This young fellow looks unfamiliar, I'm seeing him for the first time."

  The boss hastily called the waiter to get Old Zhao a glass of water, and Old Zhao gulped down half a cup in one go. The boss then explained to Old Zhao: "This young man is my guest, he came to Los Angeles to see his girlfriend."

  "My surname is Ju, as in 'residing' or 'dwelling'. You can just call me Xiao Ju."

  The boss smiled and said to Ju An: "Old Zhao is a legendary figure among Chinese Americans in Los Angeles, that story you will definitely hear from someone if you live in Los Angeles for a long time."

  Lao Zhao glared at the boss, then smiled and said to Ju An: "Don't listen to his nonsense, it's all from several years ago, who still remembers? Don't mention it and let the young man laugh at us. My little matter is not worth mentioning, besides, the newspaper reported that a beggar occupied a large villa."

  Lao Zhao mentioned this, and it actually piqued Ju An's curiosity. He asked Lao Zhao: "Uncle Zhao, why don't you tell me about this legendary story? After hearing the boss mention it, I really want to hear it."

  The boss smiled and said to Ju An, "It's about Old Zhao occupying more than ten acres of land from the old beauty for nothing, it was quite sensational news at that time, TV stations even interviewed him, and Old Zhao also appeared on TV, looking mighty."

  "Then I'd like to hear more," said Ju An with a smile. "I myself have turned a piece of land into a pasture, and my interest in the land is even stronger."

  "I like this kid, she's so honest! Unlike my son, who thinks he's lost his mind when he's farming. Now I'm the one farming and supporting myself, no problem at all. My granddaughter wants to buy clothes or something, she directly asks her grandfather for it, she knows who loves her the most." Old Zhao said with a hearty laugh.

  The boss urged Old Zhao: "I'm telling you, Old Zhao, everyone knows how much you treasure your granddaughter. The young people are still waiting to hear your stories, why did you go off on a tangent again?"

  Old Zhao raised the cup in his hand, and the remaining water in the cup all went into Old Zhao's belly: "At that time, I had just followed my son here, unfamiliar with people and land, and couldn't understand what language was being spoken. I was cooped up at home every day, but it made me feel suffocated."

  "Old Zhao's son came to Los Angeles for further study over a decade ago, then joined the family business, doing stocks and whatnot, making quite a bit of money. He thought about bringing his father, Old Zhao from back home in the countryside, over here. Everyone in our Chinese community knows that Old Zhao's son is very filial." The boss explained.

  Old Zhao raised an eyebrow and said, "I know that kid has a filial heart, but he married a foreign woman who looks like a ghost. I don't understand what she's saying. When I scold my granddaughter slightly, she pulls my son over to say this and that, then my son pulls me over to explain things."

  The boss heard this and burst out laughing, saying to Ju An: "Old Zhao's son has been scolded by Old Zhao more than once. Usually it's 'I raised you like this, now I can't raise my granddaughter like this?' You're still my son no matter how much you fuss in front of others, and I'm still your father."

  Ting's residence was safe and sound, and he couldn't help but laugh. Old Zhao glanced at his boss: "I'm telling you, kid, stop interrupting me all the time, your mouth never knows when to be quiet. You say letting a teenage girl deliver pizzas is training her independent spirit? Our family doesn't have that kind of money to spare. My wife even said that after she dies, she won't leave much money for the kids, and I'm like, who are you leaving it for if not the kids? Can you take it with you in your coffin? I just don't believe it. In the end, my granddaughter delivered pizzas for a few months, and I was worried sick for a few months. Now she's doing better, working as a waitress at a restaurant and driving herself home."

  It turns out that the old man is a traditional Chinese person who belongs to the type of person who dotes on his grandson but not his son, and has a bad temper with his son but is extremely fond of his grandson.

  Old Zhao held the cup in his hand and gestured, and the boss went to the side to add a cup of water. Old Zhao continued: "When I first came here, I was really bored at home, so my son got me a bicycle, and I rode it around everywhere. When I rode to the foot of the mountain, I saw patches of wasteland that no one was taking care of, and my heart ached. I scolded those American bastards for letting such good land go to waste without anyone tending to it. It's because I'm used to farming in my hometown, and seeing the wasteland breaks my heart. The next day, I had my son take me to the tool store, where we bought some things and seeds. Every day, I ride my bicycle to that place and start cultivating the wasteland."

  "Are you allowed to open the land like this without anyone managing you?"

  Lao Zhao continued: "At first, no one was in charge. I opened a small piece of land and after several months, still no one came to manage it. Later, I saw that other people's farms were all fenced in, so I thought this land probably wasn't wanted by anyone else. My courage grew, and I opened up another large piece of land. Then, I started planting vegetables on the land. The land just kept getting bigger and bigger, still with no one in charge. It got to the point where I had opened up 20 or 30 mu of land, and for over a decade, I was growing vegetables there. Basically, half of the Chinese restaurants in this area were using my produce."

  Juw An couldn't help but admire the old man in front of him. With just his two hands, he had opened up twenty to thirty mu of land. It was really not easy. Let alone twenty to thirty mu, even Juw An himself, after working for two hours in his own greenhouse, started to feel a bit worn out. He gave Old Zhao a thumbs up and said: "Uncle Zhao, you're amazing! You can take care of twenty to thirty mu of land all by yourself with just a hoe, that's incredible!"

  Old Zhao proudly said to Ju An, "You young people nowadays are no good. In our time, we suffered all sorts of hardships. We were afraid of not having land, but once we had it, everything for the whole family came from it. After more than a decade without anyone managing it, I even learned how to operate a tractor. Then I thought about moving out from my son's place. Looking at that couple made me feel sorry for them, so I took the money I saved from selling vegetables and found a few young men to build a house for me. I was alone, guarding my vegetable field. Who knew that once this house was built, problems arose? A family of foreigners found me and said that the land I cultivated belonged to them. They asked me to pay a large sum of rent and compensation; otherwise, they would take me to court. At that time, when I saw the amount of rent, I was stunned - it was almost one million dollars! Just a few years ago, I hadn't even seen 100,000 yuan in my entire life."

  "Hey, this foreigner is not being reasonable," said Ju An, shaking his head. "One million US dollars for just over ten acres of land? That's only possible if there's oil underground. Why should he charge you one million dollars in rent?"

  Old Zhao nodded and said: "At that time, I was confused. This kind of person's land should be given to the court for a fee, but you can't charge so much. Originally, if he didn't say anything, let me return the land, I would have returned it. However, with so much money, even if you killed me, I couldn't afford it. So I was sued and received a letter from the court. I told my son about this, and then my son found a big lawyer to help me fight the lawsuit. At that time, I prayed in my heart, return the land, and at most, sell vegetables for a few years to pay back the money, just settle it like that. Who knew that my lawyer accepted the case and said that these dozens of acres of land belonged to me and supported me in fighting the lawsuit? In the end, the court ruled that the dozens of acres of land were indeed returned to me, which made me overjoyed. But later, I returned more than ten acres of land that had not been used for a full decade to my neighbors, and the rent determined by the court was also very reasonable. Finally, that foreigner didn't have any temper at all, it really relieved my hatred."

  "He nodded and said, 'I've heard of this before. If your land is idle for more than ten years and someone else cultivates or lives on it, then after ten years, the land belongs to the new owner, not the original one. This is a US law that ensures reasonable use of land. If you haven't used the land in ten years, it proves you don't need it, so it's only natural to redistribute it to those who do, avoiding waste and effectively reallocating resources.'"

  A vagrant in a wealthy area of the UK set up a shack on a plot of land over 30 meters in size. A nearby millionaire wanted to expand his estate and offered him ￡1 million to move out and sell the land, but the vagrant refused, telling reporters: "Do I look like someone who wears a tie and flies first class? I won't be moving, I get along well with my neighbors."

  The boss said: "After the verdict came out, Lao Zhao immediately went on Chinese TV and became a legendary figure. Everyone laughed that Lao Zhao was specially coming to America to rob the Americans' land."

  Old Zhao also smiled and said: "At that time, I didn't know, originally I planned to return the land and give a reasonable rent, just thinking that it's not reliable to fight a lawsuit with the foreigners, those Americans don't want to sue me all the time. After getting the land, I built a small house, found a Chinese wife, now two people take care of the vegetable field together, in recent years also learned how to drive, every few days will send them some fresh vegetables."

  "Looks like this old American thinks he can take advantage of you because you don't speak English, just arrived in the US, trying to scam some money off you, but ends up losing his rice instead."

  The boss said, "After a while, it was reported that a beggar saw a large villa with no one living in it, so he moved in and lived there for over ten years without anyone bothering him. In the end, he even applied to the court to have the house awarded to him, and surprisingly, the court really did award it to him."

  "Ah, the homeowner is really unlucky. Every year, they even help the beggar pay property taxes, and after ten years, they still lose their house."

  Old Zhao and the boss burst out laughing together.