Chapter 6

The collection is growing so slowly, everyone give me some recommendation tickets!

**************************************************

When Jin Muchen first came to this white castle fast food restaurant, he could hardly believe his eyes.

Just looking at the inside of the store, it had nothing to do with a castle. The interior decoration was more like the fortifications in domestic anti-Japanese war dramas.

After entering the main door, there was only a small recessed foyer, surrounded entirely by bulletproof glass. To order food, one could see the menu and the payment and pick-up windows through the bulletproof glass, which easily reminded people of the ticket windows of the state-owned railway in China.

The small store had no dining area and only sold takeout. Moreover, it only delivered at night, not during the day.

If it weren't for the English sign outside and the neon lights of Flushing in the distance, Jin Muchen would have even suspected that he had arrived in a war zone in the Middle East.

However, when he thought about it, the store was located in Queens, one of the worst areas in terms of public safety in New York, and even in the worst area of Queens, the Sinclair district, he felt more at ease.

If you saw that 100% of the customers of this store were black people from the nearby Sinclair community, you would understand why they had such an interior design.

Jin Muchen worked at the distribution center for a week, and after receiving his salary, he spent 500 dollars on eBay to buy a 2000 Toyota. Then he started looking for his second job, which was delivering for this Shen's Fast Food.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen, the owners of Shen's Fast Food, of course, welcomed Jin Muchen with open arms.

The location of the Shen's Fast Food was carefully chosen. Although it wasn't in places like Flushing or Chinatown in Manhattan, it was still very profitable.

A quick tour around would show that the Sinclair community, formed by five horizontal and five vertical streets, was a notorious violent area in Queens, a typical black neighborhood.

Drugs, gangs, and violence were rampant. Because of these issues, no one was willing to do business here. There wasn't even a decent convenience store in this area, let alone a decent restaurant. In this large community, only the Shens' restaurant was in operation, and it was a famous Chinese restaurant!

When the Shens took over this restaurant, they saw the potential in this area. The key was that they had experience working in similar neighborhoods in Detroit, so they had enough experience to deal with these black people.

The restaurant was designed like a fortress, with no dining area inside. Customers had to take their food to go and pay first. After buying, they had to leave immediately.

Almost 100% of the customers here were black people from the Sinclair community. These people were typical examples of living for the moment, spending all their money on entertainment and never cooking at home. With only one restaurant in the entire community, making money wasn't difficult.

Even the local gangs had reached a consensus: to keep the Shens here to serve everyone, no one would collect protection money from the only restaurant in the community.

Recently, the Shens planned to expand their business, so they created a delivery position. The pay was three to five dollars per delivery, or even more, depending on the distance.

The black people in this community were generally lazy, and most of them didn't have cars. When they were hungry at night and didn't want to go out, they liked to order takeout and didn't mind the one or two dollars for delivery.

This delivery job paid better than other restaurants' delivery jobs. Even compared to delivery jobs at places like Pizza Hut or Domino's, it wasn't low.

After all, this was the most dangerous area in Queens, the Sinclair community, where thieves, robbers, drug dealers, and gangs were rampant. After 9 PM, the streets were deserted. Even though the Shens raised the delivery fee to five dollars, few people applied for the job.

But compared to the hundreds of dollars they could earn in a night, more people valued their lives, even illegal immigrants were unwilling to do this job.

New York's permanent population is about nine million, but in recent years, with the unclear immigration policies of President Obama, and the bankruptcy of blue-collar cities like Detroit and Chicago, more and more black people and immigrants have flooded into New York, causing the population to surge. The latest statistics show that New York's population has reached 19 million, approaching 20 million.

Many people say that New York is a melting pot, where people from all over the world come, undergo a cultural transformation, and eventually become the foundation of America.

More accurately, this melting pot is Queens, New York.

Bankrupt black people from the north and immigrants from all over the world, after landing in New York, prefer to live in Queens, as it is the area with the lowest social strata and the cheapest cost of living.

Asians are concentrated in Flushing, which has the best public safety in Queens. The rest of the areas are dominated by black people and Hispanics, and these areas are often the most dangerous, with shootings happening frequently even during the day, let alone at night.

These areas, however, are precisely where the police presence is the weakest. Most of the police are concentrated in Long Island and Manhattan to protect the rich, and they don't care about the lives of black people and Hispanics in these areas.

So, it was understandable that despite the Shens' repeated increases in pay, no one applied for the job.

When Jin Muchen walked into the store and said he wanted to apply, the Shens didn't even think about it and immediately agreed. Mr. Shen even agreed to raise the delivery fee to six and a half dollars.

After all, the money was coming from the black people, and he didn't mind. Moreover, having dealt with black people for many years, he knew that they were like passing gods of wealth, and if they didn't spend their money, they wouldn't feel at ease.

The Shens' assessment of these people was correct: lazy, greedy, and face-conscious. Even if they didn't have enough money for tomorrow's meal, they would still pretend to be rich. The concept of "working hard and steadily" was unheard of by most uneducated black people.

Thus, Jin Muchen began delivering for the Shens' fortress-like restaurant.

He knew the dangers of this job. In the past, he would never have dared to deliver in this area, but after his strange experience, he had a mysterious confidence. Moreover, a few minutes of delivery could earn him six and a half dollars, and the income was not slower than at the distribution center, while the workload was much lighter.

He had also picked up the Bak Mei Kung Fu he learned from his grandfather when he was young. With his now abnormal physical condition, he quickly became proficient. It was because of his Kung Fu skills that Jin Muchen had the confidence to deliver in this area.

He believed that as long as he didn't encounter a crazy person with a gun, he could handle it.

"Xiao Jin, 30 Church Street. Two beef fried rice, two fried fish, two hot dogs, a large portion of French fries, and a large bucket of cola. That's 35 dollars. This is the last delivery of the day. Be careful and come back early. I've prepared the midnight snack!"

Mr. Shen handed the prepared takeout to Jin Muchen and carefully instructed him. He liked this young man, who was brave, hardworking, and a great help to the store.

"Got it, Uncle Shen. Don't worry, I'll be back in ten minutes."

Jin Muchen nodded to Mr. Shen, took the takeout, and went out to his old car.

Now he worked as a mover at the distribution center during the day and delivered for this restaurant at night. He had been doing this for over a month and had become familiar with both places.

The Shens liked him even more. His arrival solved their business expansion problem, and more importantly, he was diligent and smart.

Other delivery people could only make ten to twenty deliveries a night, but this young man could make thirty to forty. Such a hardworking and diligent young man was rare.

Even if they paid him more, the Shens thought it was worth it.

Jin Muchen drove to Church Street, which was relatively safer in the Sinclair district, as most of the residents there were employed black people.

Unlike the streets behind, which were mostly inhabited by drug dealers, thieves, and gang members.

At 10:30 PM, while Manhattan was still bustling, the Sinclair district was already quiet.

There were a few other Indian delivery people at the restaurant, but they generally didn't dare to come here. Jin Muchen had come a few times and was no longer afraid.

The street was mostly dark except for the streetlights. At the street corners, groups of young black men gathered under the streetlights, bare-chested and tattooed, clearly not good people.

Jin Muchen knew they were drug dealers and gang members.

The streets were deserted, with few people around. Of course, in the shadows of the alleys, there were many women and men dressed provocatively, waiting for customers.

They all watched every passing car closely. If a car slowed down and stopped by the roadside, they would quickly approach, some to sell drugs, and others to sell themselves.