Chapter 73 The Fifth Great Way

  At a little past eleven, Ju An and Wang Fan arrived in New York. They chose to stay at the same hotel next to Central Park that Ju An had stayed at before, but this time they got a room for two people instead. A twenty-dollar bill and a "thank you" were enough to send off the black porter who delivered their luggage, and then Ju An closed the door behind him.

  Wang Fan took off his coat and stood by the large floor-to-ceiling window, leaning against the glass and looking out at Central Park, which was full of greenery. "Central Park looks much better than in pictures," he said. "The high-rise buildings around it look like giant walls on all sides."

  Ju An took out two bottles of beer from the refrigerator and walked to Wang Fan's side, twisted open the cap, handed one bottle to Wang Fan, then sat on his own bed, took a sip of beer, and said to Wang Fan: "Wait till tonight, it will be more beautiful with colorful lights, did we eat at the hotel or go out for a walk this afternoon?"

  Wang Fan took a sip of beer and said without turning his head, "You've been to New York before, so today I'll follow your lead. Let's just start walking around, and when we're hungry, we can grab something to eat. In such a big place, surely there are street food vendors somewhere?"

  "I myself have only been there once, just sitting in the car and taking a glance at Rockefeller Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. Patrick's Cathedral and so on, but I haven't actually visited any of them," Yu An said with embarrassment.

  "Why are you still alive, wasting food..." Wang Fan pointed to Ju An with disdain and said: "First go buy a SLR camera, stroll around the street, then take a look at the sky. If it's early, we'll go to the Metropolitan Museum to cultivate our sentiments."

  "By the way, I thought for a moment and said: 'Let's take a stroll to Apple's flagship store. As a trendy guy like my brother, how can he not go and have some fun?'"

  "Look at your outfit, that floral shirt you've been wearing for years, do you think you're a trendy person? You're more like a relic of the past. If you wore that on the streets of Japan, people would think you're an adult video actor."

  "I'm the kind of person who leads the trend of the times, you'll never understand. If my brother were alive in America, he would be the kind of guy who's both a hipster and a conformist." Wang Fan stroked his short hair on his forehead, saying with relish.

  "Your sun, Mark Zuckerberg's mouth became a mobile small bench, still can't die, Old Joe has sacrificed, you want to go underground. If Wang Fan wasn't a bit far away from the residence, he might have been given a big shoe print on his butt: "Then let's wander around Fifth Avenue, when we're tired of walking, we'll come back and rest, tomorrow we'll continue to walk, anyway, this time brother is willing to die for you."

  Wang Fan turned around, leaning against the glass window, and said to Ju An, who was already lying on the bed: "Alright, let's go buy a camera first. Which brand are you going to buy, Canon or Nikon?"

  "Japanese brands are out of consideration, I'm planning to buy either a German Leica or a Hasselblad, or a Rolleiflex."

  "You're a photography idiot and you use Leica, Hasselblad, or Rolleiflex?" Wang Fan shook his head and said: "Just buy some random Lenovo or whatever to play with."

  "People can be unprofessional, but machines in hand must be professional. I just want to hold it and make you guys who hold those small Japanese goods ashamed. When brothers take out what's Canon or Nikon, put it away first and don't show off with me," Ju An said: "Later, brother wears a T-shirt and prints a camera logo on his chest, making people like you squat in the corner and draw circles. Besides, if brother is interested in learning from Guan Xi Ge later, this machine will also be handy."

  Wang Fan pointed at Ju An and said: "Damn it, you bastard, you should learn from Guan Xi Ge. When the photos come out, first mosaic your whole body, or I'll be blinded by my golden dog eyes and come after you to settle accounts. But today I'll take a look too, if it's cheap, I'll buy one for Brother and sell my domestic Nikon."

  He sprang up from the bed: "Alright, let's get going, we'll be back soon." Then he went over and snatched the beer bottle out of Wang Fan's hand.

  Wang Fan hastily hid the wine bottle behind him and said: "It's yours, brother hasn't finished drinking yet, don't waste it, there's still half a bottle left."

  Ju An simply put his bottle on the table and said to Wang Fan, "Then you prepare to go down Ma Shan, I'll first make a call to my friends Mike and Nian in New York."

  Jū ān arrived in New York and called two people to let them know he had arrived, to say hello. Niēn told Jū ān if there was anything he needed help with to give him a call. Maì kè invited Jū ān to bring some friends to go drinking at the bar later that night.

  After two phone calls, Wang Fan had already packed up and the two of them left the door.

  Two people walked out of the hotel and didn't go far before arriving at 58th Street, where the famous Apple flagship store is located. As soon as they entered, they saw a crowd of people inside, with all sorts of skin tones, some inquiring, others experiencing. After circling around once, Wang Fan decided to buy an iPad. He asked the sales staff and only then found out that there were no 16GB ones left, only 64GB. Then he went to line up to make a purchase while Ju An watched. Ju An observed that many people were buying several at a time, with some people spending money as if it was worthless.

  "Come on, it's just like buying and storing cabbage in winter back in my hometown, is it really necessary?"

  Wang Fan smiled and said: "Fashion, the phone you're holding is almost an antique, why not change it this time too."

  "Love is almost a street machine in the country, you have some personality, don't you? Everyone casually pulls a few people together, one of whom uses love madness, and you still call yourself a trendy person, following the tail of the trend."

  Wang Fan glanced at Ju An, then continued to the party. Ju An stood for a while and saw that everyone else was sitting in the middle circle resting, so she also moved over and found an empty seat to sit down.

  Waiting for Wang Fan to pay the bill. The iPad was in hand, and he directly killed his way to Times Square. When he arrived, he found that there were even more people here, with huge commercial advertisements everywhere, and the LCD screens on the buildings played all kinds of advertisements. It seemed as if the entire city's population had gathered here, and the air was filled with a sense of dynamism, wildly expressing Manhattan's desires and restlessness.

  In a camera equipment store, Ju An purchased a Leica M9 for the price of a car. Wang Fan saw it and added up the total to be nearly 60,000 RMB, but still several tens of thousands cheaper than in China. So he also bought one, with Ju An choosing the steel gray version and Wang Fan opting for the titanium edition.

  As they came out of the equipment store, looking at the crowded street, Wang Fan said to Ju An: "Why don't we go to the Metropolitan Museum first and come back here to buy things when it's time?"

  "Are you still going to buy something? Didn't we already get everything?" After saying that, he pulled Wang Fan towards the Metropolitan Museum.

  Wang Fan replied: "I'll buy a famous brand children's clothing for my little nephew, it only costs tens of dollars here, but at home it would be thousands. The child's birthday is coming up soon, I'll just consider it a birthday gift."

  Two people sneaked into KFC to eat something, then walked to the Metropolitan Museum. When they arrived at the entrance, they found that the ticket was not cheap, twenty dollars per person. The two were about to pay honestly when a young man in front of them handed over two dollars and got a ticket.

  When it was An's turn, An asked: "Why did the person in front only spend two dollars, wasn't it twenty dollars?"

  After listening to the explanation, I realized that you can give whatever amount you want based on your own situation, it's not mandatory. Damn, my brother almost got ripped off, he directly gave two dollars and asked for two tickets, then took Wang Fan into the museum.

  When they went in, Wang Fan said to Ju An: "Too petty, just giving it away like that, might as well waive the ticket fee". Ju An nodded and said: "Luckily I'm clever, asked about it, otherwise would have been cheated".

  As soon as they entered the museum, they found that it was not only big on the outside but also looked even bigger inside. Ju An and Wang Fan first visited the Egyptian Museum, where a small temple was actually placed, which was donated by the Egyptian government and moved from Egypt in its original form. There were also stone sphinxes and various other Egyptian artifacts. After viewing part of it and taking some photos, because flash photography is not allowed in the museum, the two took turns snapping pictures of the beautiful golden ornaments with their hands.

  When the two of them went to see European oil paintings, they happened to see a group of painters copying, and coincidentally, Ju An also found that his own "Human Beast" was on display here, with an old man in front of him who was also copying.

  Standing not far away, Ju An pointed at the painting and said in a complacent tone to Wang Fan: "This painting is my brother's."

  Wang Fan took a look at the painting, shook his head and said: "I've long heard that you sold several paintings to make a fortune, so they were all bought by you and brought here. Hmm, selling this one was a bit of a pity, it would be great in the bedroom."

  "Putting it here for exhibition, this one didn't sell. Putting it here for exhibition, last time it was Mike who suggested that I agree to hand it over to them for exhibition, so I don't have to spend money on maintenance. The other two, one is a painting of a ballet dancer, and the other is an old Russian painter, painting a little girl, several appraisers said it's the painter's daughter."

  "No wonder you kept this one, it's the one with the least emotional attachment!" Wang Fan looked at Ju An with a sudden realization and said: "Despicable! Extremely despicable!"

  "Cut the crap, when those old men appraised it at that time, this one was the most valuable, so I sold two of them to exchange for some cash to spend. Who knew that rich Russian tycoon would pay a price several times higher than the appraisal? Maybe this painting isn't even as valuable as that little girl's."