New York, Port District, Seven Axes Pub.
A young Chinese man is carefully wiping a wine glass.
"Hey, Sean, you can take a break now. At this time, there won't be any more customers coming in, you can go."
Sean Knight puts the glass in place and then comes to the counter. Hesitating for a moment, he says:
"John, I won't be coming in tomorrow."
"Made up your mind?" The white boss John is not surprised at all. "Since you've decided, go ahead and do it, kid, I'm rooting for you!"
"Thank you, John." Sean sincerely thanks the other party. If it weren't for him, Sean would probably be food for the fish by now.
"No, no, no, I'm investing." John laughs, "You're a good guy, and I believe you'll definitely be successful in the future!"
As he speaks, he takes out a stack of money from the counter and hands it to Sean:
"Sean, take it! Betting on containers requires keen eyesight. In this past month or so, you've shown me extraordinary observation and memory skills.
But, relying solely on observation is not enough, you also need enough money to back it up. I don't want to see you fail on your first attempt and not even get a single container..."
Sean looks at John and honestly, even though he has saved up some money this past month, it isn't quite enough.
"Take it. Don't look at me like that. I'm afraid Joanna, the little rich girl, will see and have someone come to teach me a lesson..."
John jokes, and Sean simply accepts the money.
"Then I'll consider this loaned, and when I have the money, I'll double it back to you!"
"No, no, no," John shakes his head while wagging his fingers, laughing, "No need. This is my investment - oh, by the way, as long as you've got something good, just bring it here to sell!"
"For sure!" Sean expresses his gratitude once more.
He knows that John has a very powerful network and sales channels, an arrangement that would be mutually beneficial for both parties.
Of course, John's goodwill toward him is sincere as well.
"Alright, no need to keep me company, old man. Go enjoy your life with Joanna when you have time. Young man, you should act like a young person. If I were your age, I would have run away by now..."
John jokes as he walks out from behind the counter, ready to close up.
Sean smiles but doesn't respond.
Joanna's father is a major freight yard owner in the port, with a net worth of tens of millions, so Joanna is considered a little rich lady.
About half a month ago, Joanna came to the bar for entertainment and laid eyes on Sean.
Sean didn't accept.
It's not that Joanna wasn't pretty, on the contrary, Joanna was very beautiful!
Mainly, Sean caught Joanna's fancy due to being her knight in shining armor - Joanna had gotten drunk for some reason and then someone tried to harass her, only to be dealt with by Sean, which John had allowed.
Running a bar here, John would never allow any trouble, harassment of women, or fighting in the pub. His powerful connections and the double-barreled shotgun under the counter ensured his authority was respected.
Leaving the bar and arriving at the employee dormitory provided by John - a row of houses converted from containers - Sean turns on the gas stove, makes himself a simple meal, then closes the container door and starts counting his savings.
A month ago, Sean was "picked up" by John, who treated his wounds and took him in to work at the bar.
In this month, besides room and board, John gave Sean a salary of 2,000 US dollars.
Sean received an additional 350 dollars in tips during this time. Having spent some already, he now has 2,100 dollars left.
Just now, the stack of money John gave him added up to 1,000 dollars, so he now has 3,100 dollars. Getting a container shouldn't be a problem.
Looking at the money in his hands, Sean gives a bitter smile.
A month and a half ago, he would never have imagined that coming to America to inherit his uncle's estate would have ended up like this!
Almost like an illegal immigrant!
Sean's Uncle came to America in the 1980s, married a wealthy local woman, but had no children.
At the beginning of this century, Sean's Uncle returned to China for a visit and explicitly stated that he would give his billions of dollars in assets to Sean.
At that time, Sean's parents, brother, and even Sean himself thought that their Uncle was just joking.
However, one and a half months ago, someone called Sean, saying that according to his Uncle's will, Sean would inherit the assets in America.
The other party faxed Sean's Uncle's will, which didn't look fake.
Sean's father then let Sean go, whether he inherited the wealth or not, at least he could bring back his Uncle's ashes.
This was also one of Sean's Uncle's last wishes.
Sean graduated from university and later worked for a foreign company for two years, so he could communicate in English. He then prepared the necessary documents and came here.
However, the negotiations started well, but the lawyer insisted that Sean hand over his ancestral jade pendant from the Knight Family.
The pattern on the jade pendant was a Tai Chi diagram in the shape of Yin and Yang fish. The white jade pendant was in his father's possession, while his Uncle had the Black Jade Pendant.
Sean, being cautious, requested that the other party also show the Black Jade Pendant.
As a result, they exposed their true intentions and started chasing Sean.
Fortunately, Sean was prepared and escaped, but he was seriously injured.
Sean's passport and other things were with him, but he left his belongings at the hotel where the negotiations took place, so he had no money on him.
If it wasn't for John "finding" him, he would have been fish food by now.
Although Sean stayed here for a month with peace of mind, he did not come away empty-handed—he gained the Sky Eye!
Taking out the white jade pendant from his neck, the jade pendant looked ordinary, but who would know, that this pendant, after being stained with Sean's blood, would actually enable Sean to open the Sky Eye!
Staring intently at the side of the container, Sean could actually see through the container!
A truck slowly drove by, and the driver looked normal, but who would know that his hand had already reached into his crotch?
Sean withdrew his gaze, feeling a slight dizziness.
To activate the Sky Eye, which is similar to seeing through things, one needs a certain amount of mental power.
The way to train mental power and extend the duration of the Sky Eye is on the Black Jade Pendant.
This is also one of the reasons why Sean must stay!
He must figure out what happened to his Uncle and get the Black Jade Pendant back!
In the bar, Sean came into contact with all kinds of people.
Other than sailors and truck drivers, the largest group was the container treasure hunters!
At the New York Port, there are many unclaimed containers every day, or containers auctioned off because the cargo owner can't pay the rent on time.
Sean heard many legends of overnight riches from these people's mouths.
He also heard about the seemingly insignificant things hidden in the containers that can be worth a lot of money.
What he didn't expect was that the bar owner John was an expert in this field—many treasure hunters would hand over their finds to John for processing—
Of course, John wouldn't bother with ordinary items.
Seeing Sean's interest, John would take him along when collecting items, which greatly broadened Sean's horizons and taught him a lot about appraising the value of second-hand goods.
This made him think about trying his luck in betting on a container to accumulate initial funds.
If he was back in his home country, would betting on stones also work?
Forget it, he should stay put here!
Tomorrow, he would bet on a container!