In the United States, the size and prosperity of a city aren't actually measured by its land area or population.
This can be observed from watching NBA games. Take Phoenix, home of the Suns — it's the sixth-largest city in the United States by population, yet it's not considered a major city. Similarly, San Antonio, home of the Spurs, ranks ninth in population but is still viewed as a small city. In fact, San Antonio is one of the representative "small-market" cities in the NBA, alongside Detroit (ranked tenth), Indianapolis (twelfth), Seattle (twenty-first), and Denver (twenty-second). Despite their population size, these places aren't considered "big-market" cities.
In the U.S., a city's influence is determined more by its metropolitan area than by its actual city limits.
There are ten places in the U.S. classified as major metropolitan areas. The largest, naturally, is New York City. The New York metropolitan area includes not only the entire state of New York but also Long Island and northern New Jersey.
Next is the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area, centered around Los Angeles. Other major metropolitan areas include:
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy
When it comes to Boston, the actual city of Boston is quite small compared to its metropolitan area. In fact, it might be the smallest "big city" in terms of land area.
This isn't surprising, considering Boston was one of the earliest settlements established by European colonists in America.
From the perspective of early settlers, Boston was a well-planned city. But by today's standards, Boston's buildings are short and small, and its roads are narrow and often congested. Traffic jams are not uncommon in Boston, and sometimes the congestion rivals that of Beijing, which is rare in the U.S.
To give Boston more prestige, surrounding areas such as Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy are all considered part of Greater Boston.
Simply put, it's similar to how cities in China have districts. The actual urban area of Boston is just a small portion of the city center, while the surrounding areas were later incorporated as districts.
Winthrop, where Jiang Hai currently lives, is one of those places. You could say it's part of Boston, but strictly speaking, it's a separate town. Whether it's Boston or not depends on how you look at it — people have different opinions.
The next morning, Jiang Hai and his first (and currently only) employee, Robbins Garcia, spent the day exploring the manor.
They took inventory of what was usable and what needed to be replaced.
The manor had four all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) — essentially four-wheeled motorcycles. These vehicles had been purchased nearly ten years ago and were showing their age. They lacked any kind of protective covering, making them dangerous to ride. But surprisingly, they were still functioning, which was something of a miracle.
Jiang Hai knew that when he eventually bought a proper car, these ATVs would still come in handy.
He learned that a brand-new all-terrain vehicle would cost anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000. And of course, this was in U.S. dollars — there was no way he could spend Chinese yuan in America, right?
In addition to the ATVs, there was a hay-cutting machine. While it was still functional, it needed repairs and parts replacements. Jiang Hai thought it might be better to replace the whole thing instead of spending money on constant repairs.
The manor also had a large agricultural tractor, left behind by the previous wealthy owner. The tractor was used for leveling land and sowing seeds. The previous owner hadn't bought the manor purely for luxury; he'd planned to use the land for farming, planting wheat and vegetables if the beef market didn't work out. Unfortunately, the man had gone bankrupt before he could put those plans into action.
Luckily, the tractor was still in relatively good condition, despite being ten years old, so Jiang Hai decided to keep it for now.
The cowsheds and horse stables on the property had also been built with sturdy materials. During the recent renovation, Louis had instructed the workers to use leftover materials to reinforce the structures. Now, they only needed cleaning and minor repairs.
As for the fishery, Robbins didn't know much about that. So during the lunch break, Jiang Hai decided to go to the sea and check it out himself.
Thanks to his special abilities, Jiang Hai could breathe underwater freely, which gave him a significant advantage. However, he was still cautious not to venture too far.
After all, the ocean was full of dangers. Beyond sharks and killer whales, there were also poisonous jellyfish and sea snakes. Jiang Hai wasn't sure if his current tattoos could protect him from those creatures. But he knew one thing for sure — if he encountered a shark several meters long, he'd be in serious trouble.
Unless he could increase his strength, there was no way he could win against a shark in open water.
So, Jiang Hai stayed close to the shore, but what he saw underwater left him feeling relieved.
His fishery had been a private fishery for seven years under the management of the world's third-largest auction house. The auction house wasn't particularly famous for anything except having excellent lawyers and being extremely protective of its assets. As a result, the natural environment in Jiang Hai's fishery had been very well preserved.
Jiang Hai spotted coral reefs nearby. Although they weren't connected into a large coral belt, the sight was stunning. There was no need to plant new corals — he only needed to protect what was already there.
Among the coral reefs, there were schools of fish swimming back and forth. Jiang Hai recognized Atlantic cod, which Robbins often cooked for him. These cod were different from the ones he'd eaten back in China. Fish from the Atlantic Ocean tended to be larger than those from the Pacific.
In this protected area, there were thousands of Atlantic cod swimming in clusters. The largest cod he saw was nearly two meters long, an impressive sight.
In addition to cod, there were also herrings, a popular economic fish in Europe and the U.S.
Closer to the seabed, Jiang Hai spotted flounders (also known as flatfish), sea bass, and various types of rockfish.
But what really caught Jiang Hai's attention were the lobsters, sea cucumbers, and crabs crawling along the seabed.
Boston was famous for its lobsters, known as Boston lobsters or Maine lobsters. It was said they were the best lobsters in the world.
Just as Jiang Hai was about to grab a few lobsters to satisfy his curiosity, he suddenly froze.
A shark about three meters long swam into view.
Terrified, Jiang Hai quickly swam back to the surface. Although he returned to shore empty-handed, he was quite pleased. He knew his fishery would ensure he never went hungry.
After a relaxing walk around the villa, Jiang Hai hopped into Robbins's old pickup truck and headed to Winthrop.
In a small town like Winthrop, if you wanted to hire workers, it wasn't enough to post a notice. You had to go into town to find people.
As Robbins parked the truck in front of a bar called Cowboy Song, he turned to Jiang Hai with a grin.
"Alright, boss. Time to get off."
Jiang Hai nodded, stepping out of the truck and looking at the shabby wooden bar in front of him.