Chapter 43

On Monday noon, Joshua once again came to the Hunter family's house, taking John away under the pretext of attending a friend's gathering. After nearly half an hour in a carriage, they stopped in front of a restaurant.

"I've already reserved a table; here's the reservation card."

Handing the card to John, Joshua hesitated for a moment and asked with some trepidation, "John, are you sure you don't need me to accompany you?"

"Of course not."

After taking the reservation card, John waved his hand and smiled, "I just need to meet my tutor, not do anything else. Besides, you know Miss Philip has a strong sense of pride; it would be very inconvenient if you were there!"

"But..."

After much thought, Joshua was still a bit uneasy. Just as he was about to say something, John had already jumped out of the carriage and turned to smile, "Alright, alright, hurry up and go... Don't forget to have Fett pick up Miss Philip and come back for me at four o'clock!"

"...Okay."

Seeing John's firm attitude, Joshua had no choice but to nod and call Fett to leave.

"Phew..."

After the carriage had driven far away, John let out a long sigh, looked up at the scorching midday sun, and walked into the hotel. This was a relatively good restaurant in the area, but when John entered, he still couldn't help but frown, as it was quite different from the places he usually went with Old Hunter and Joshua.

But then, John thought to himself and laughed. This life had been quite lucky, landing him in the role of a rich second-generation. Most of his friends were in similar situations, and in just a few months, he had become quite picky.

Led by a waiter, John came to a window seat and patiently waited for Miss Philip to arrive. The restaurant wasn't far from where she lived, and John had seen the name of this place when he came here before. So, he had written a note to Miss Philip, asking her to meet him here today. In fact, if Joshua hadn't forbidden him from entering that slum, John would have preferred to visit her home, but now he could only meet her at the restaurant.

"Will she accept my gift?"

While waiting for his tutor, John pondered to himself.

John wasn't particularly curious about what had happened in Miss Philip's family. He generally had little interest in others, but that didn't stop him from being determined to help Miss Philip. If he were a poor person, or even a middle-class one, he wouldn't have given a few hundred dollars to help someone, but now that he was a promising young factory owner with several thousand dollars, helping a teacher he admired was only natural.

However, thinking about Miss Philip's personality, John found it hard to be sure she would accept his kindness. That woman was too proud; if it weren't for an emergency, she probably wouldn't have borrowed that hundred dollars last time, let alone the three hundred John was offering now...

He ordered a cup of coffee and waited anxiously.

But about twenty minutes later, Joshua's coachman rushed into the restaurant and came to John's table, whispering, "Sir, when I went there just now, I found that the lady left yesterday..."

"What?!"

Hearing this news, John let out a cry and stood up abruptly.

...

In New York in 1880, summer wasn't particularly unbearable.

Although there were no air conditioners or electric fans, the city wasn't as large then, and there weren't all sorts of pollutants, so the summer passed without much notice.

Time slowly approached the season when John had first arrived in New York.

Life was peaceful and quiet. Miss Philip had completely disappeared from John's sight, and the new tutor Old Hunter found for him was excellent, especially in painting, which was John's strength. The only downside was that the new tutor was from a common family, lacking the aristocratic air and the many interesting stories about European high society that John used to enjoy.

As the year drew to a close, the "Pigeon" brand bicycle finally went on sale.

With the introduction of a specially designed machine, the cost of the bicycle was quickly reduced to around twenty-eight dollars, and with future improvements in production technology and scale, it could potentially be reduced to around twenty dollars!

The timing for the launch was finally right.

On December 25th, Christmas Day, four bicycle specialty stores opened in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Only one model of the Pigeon bicycle was introduced to the public, and the high price of fifty-eight dollars made many people gasp.

However, the high price couldn't dampen people's enthusiasm!

For more than half a year, ten bicycles had been traveling through the streets and alleys of Manhattan and Brooklyn every day, and Central Park on weekends was their best showcase. This continuous display had long shown people the bicycle's excellent qualities. Compared to cumbersome carriages, it was light, convenient, and required no preparation, making it very suitable for medium-distance travel. For the truly wealthy, bicycles might not be as status-enhancing as carriages, but for the middle class, this new mode of transportation was far more convenient and cost-effective than hired carriages.

John's strategy was a huge success. By January 1, 1881, in just one week, two hundred bicycles were sold in Manhattan alone, and nearly a hundred in Brooklyn!

Sales amounted to nearly twenty thousand dollars!

This figure not only excited the shareholders but also surprised John. He had originally thought that with Americans' current income levels, they might find the price too high, but he had severely underestimated the people's desire for convenient transportation!

Regardless, it was a good start.

Although the high price of the bicycle limited its target customers, as more people rode bicycles on the streets, more would see their advantages. Moreover, Joshua and his associates, with the help of their fathers, were already actively expanding the market across the United States and Europe!

Along with the bicycle, John's designs for a Swiss Army knife and a razor with replaceable blades were also launched. As Old Hunter had predicted, the Swiss Army knife, priced at less than three dollars, sold a few dozen, but the razor, priced at less than two dollars, sold only two in a whole week!

"Indeed, even a time traveler isn't omnipotent!"

Hearing these numbers, John sighed to himself.

Each era has its own unique needs, and blindly launching products one thinks are viable is a sure path to failure. John had already accepted this lesson from his failure...

...

The great success of the bicycle gave Old Hunter a busy and happy New Year.

On one hand, he was helping the factory expand its production capacity, and on the other, he was taking advantage of this momentum to expand his business. Together with the Stone family, they had taken over the production and sales of bicycles, ensuring that all the profits stayed within the family.

John was also busy.

After Christmas, Old Hunter gave the tutors a two-week holiday. On December 31st, in the presence of Mr. Stone, another friend, and a lawyer, Old Hunter formally wrote his will, stipulating that his only descendant, John Hunter, would inherit all his property in the future!

At that time, the average life expectancy for white Americans was only in their forties, and city dwellers lived much shorter lives than those in the countryside. At sixty-three, Old Hunter had to think about the future.

After writing the will, Old Hunter prepared to introduce John to his world.

John began attending various banquets with his grandfather, especially the popular dances in New York, and met all kinds of people. Gradually, many German New Yorkers became aware of John's existence...

At the same time, Old Hunter formally showed his grandson the extent of his wealth.

The result was a great surprise to John!

John had first learned from Mr. Slack that his grandfather was very wealthy, with an annual income of several thousand dollars, but later he realized it was probably much more, possibly exceeding ten thousand dollars.

But now, John realized he had underestimated his grandfather!

Starting with wealth brought from Europe, twenty years of hard work had allowed Old Hunter to amass a fortune that shocked John. However, because the old man lived alone and was low-key, few people knew about it. In reality, the three trading companies Old Hunter owned brought in over thirty thousand dollars in net income each year, and he had nearly one hundred thousand dollars in cash in several New York banks!

Even without the highly profitable bicycle factory, he was a solid rich second-generation!

So, on that night, John was up until the early hours of the morning...

...