Little Life on An American Ranch

The black crosses of granite are neatly arranged among a group of tombstones, and there is not much difference from other tombstones except for the new ones. It's like an old man, so ordinary that he can't recognize him when thrown into the crowd.

On the second day after receiving the news of the old man's death, Jian Heng flew to Montana on the earliest flight, got off the plane from Kalispell, and headed straight to the cemetery.

Bend down and place a bunch of small white flowers in front of the tombstone. There are no big flowers on the bouquet, but straight stems and straight branches, dotted with small flowers.

When Jian Heng saw it at the flower shop for the first time, he felt that it was a perfect match for the old man, so he ordered a big bunch, but he didn't ask anyone to wrap it, so he just tied the roots with a rope and it was done.

Jian Heng knew that the old man would definitely not blame himself, not only would he not blame him, but if he could speak, he would definitely praise himself.

"I didn't expect that we drank together during the Spring Festival last year, but now you're lying inside while I'm outside!"

Jian Heng bent down and squatted in front of the old man's tomb. He looked up and saw a piece of bird droppings on the tombstone. He took out a tissue from his pocket and wiped it off.

"You said that you old man is really stubborn, even if you die, you don't want to leave a thought for others, right?" Jian Heng finished wiping the bird droppings, and sat down on the grass.

He reached out and broke a grass stalk, played with it in his hand and said, "You said you want to leave quickly, so you can leave simply, and just donate your pasture to a charity fund. You're fine." What are you trying to do to me? Oh, you know I'm just about to make a small fortune, you old man misses me? Can we be so unkind? I just got my fitness instructor certificate, good guy , I’m not happy yet, you came up here and gave me a stick... ".

Complaining in his mouth, but Jian Heng couldn't continue talking, his nose was so sour, tears came down unconsciously, he stretched out the back of his hand and wiped the tears twice, to calm down Jian Heng just looked at it like this The tombstone less than a hand away from me reads: Anders Lee, 1940-2017.

The relationship between Jian Heng and the old man started when Jian Heng came to the United States. When he was sixteen, Jian Heng had a big fight with his own father, Jian Zhenhua.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old child has never seen such a big god. He thinks that he can make a living without his parents and rely on his own ability. When he happened to be running to the south to work, he met a man on the long-distance bus. The "good-hearted man" talked with Jian Heng about how good America is, and then Jian Heng, who was not deeply involved in the world, believed the words of this generous brother and came to the United States in a daze.

But when I arrived in the United States, I realized that the ghost girl is so good! I was directly sold by these gangsters to a logging camp on the US-Canada border. I stayed in a place where no birds lay eggs, and there was no one in the area for a hundred miles. In reality, I taught Jian Hengwen the text on the bonded labor.

In that bird place, people are not afraid of you running away at all. Let's put it this way, as long as you don't run out along the road, there is only one way: die! Follow the road, within ten minutes, someone with a dog can catch you back.

In this place, any bad temper can be changed for you! After a few meals and one hunger, you will wear out your temper.

Jian Heng realizes that even if you die here, others will just throw you into the woods, and you will be fed to bears or wolves. The dead one is no different from a dog. So Jian Heng worked honestly, and even flattered the foreman from time to time. After working for half a year, he actually became the foreman's little follower. Several times he was tentatively given a chance, but Jian Heng held back and didn't run away. Gradually With a little freedom.

Once, when I was driving with the foreman out to buy things, the den happened to be raided by the police. As soon as the foreman saw that something was wrong, he dropped Jian Heng and drove away.

Jian Heng had to wait alone on the side of the road with a temperature of minus 20 degrees. After waiting, he waited for the old man who went out to see his daughter coming home.

Jian Heng got in the car, and the two started chatting like this. When he learned that Jian Heng was Chinese, the old man actually used simple Chinese. Only then did Jian Heng know that the old man's father was a military instructor of the KMT. Born in Nanjing, China, he grew up in China until he was ten years old. After the founding of New China, he returned to the United States with his parents.

Just like that, Jian Heng started working at the old man's Silent Lake Ranch. It didn't work for a year. The old man spent money to treat Jian Heng as someone who got American citizenship. After a few years, Jian Heng will come out here to see , the old man didn't stop him, and Jian Heng arrived in New York soon.

The matter is simple, and I can finish it in a few words, but I can't finish talking about the hardships I have suffered in this matter for three days and three nights. A sixteen-year-old boy seemed to have fallen from heaven to hell all of a sudden. Only then did Jian Heng realize that on the same earth, there are people who really live worse than dogs.

The old man can be said to be Jian Heng's savior!

During the few years on the ranch, Jian Heng and the old man worked together to hire more than 6,000 acres of ranch. Except for a few people who would be hired to help during the particularly busy season, all the work was done by the old man and Jian Heng. Dry.

Sitting in front of the tombstone, Jian Heng recalled the time with the old man, while talking about the past to the old man's tombstone.

Just as he was talking, Jian Heng noticed a figure walking towards him from the corner of his eyes. When he looked up, he found that it was a sturdy American man with a gray long-sleeved shirt on his upper body and jeans that had been washed a little bit whitish. , a pair of leather half-height boots on his feet, the whole person looks a bit dirty, one can tell that he is a person from a dry ranch, with a smell of cow dung on his body.

"Jane?!" The visitor walked to Jian Heng's side curiously, first put the flowers in his hand on the old man's tomb, and then looked at Jian Heng for a long time before saying uncertainly.

"Remington?" Jian Heng also recognized the person coming, and stood up directly from the ground.

"Hi, buddy!" Remington immediately came over enthusiastically and stretched out his arms to embrace Jian Heng: "I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you?"

"Very good! How about you, how is the life of a professional player?" Jian Heng tightened his grip on Remington, patted him hard twice, and then let him go.

"I'm injured and retired!" Remington's expression darkened when he said this.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." Seeing the look on Remington's face, Jian Heng immediately understood that something sad happened to him.

Remington wanted to laugh, but the expression on his face was very unnatural. He stretched out and patted Jian Heng's arm: "What about you, I heard you picked up a Mercedes-Benz, okay, buddy!"

"I guess it was picked up for nothing." Jian Heng sighed.

Hearing what Jian Heng said, Remington thought about what was going on: "You'd better give up on Anders' ranch. Before Anders passed away, he knew that it was a big burden, and he had found countless investments. Man, it didn’t work out in the end. Dude, my suggestion is to let the bank take it back! Old Anders won’t blame you, it’s really hard to save his ranch, and it’s really impossible without eight or nine million.” .

"How can you owe so much money, 6.7 million US dollars! Where did the old man ask for so much money?" Jian Heng said.

The total price of the old man's ranch is only about 10 million dollars. Now the real transaction price of a pure pasture ranch like this may not exceed 10 million U.S. dollars, regardless of the 6,400 acres of land (replaced by Chinese mus). More than 30,000 mu) seems to be quite impressive.

But the value of a ranch depends on the size of the building and the irrigation system. Traditional pastures such as the Silent Lake Ranch can feed a cow on a dozen or twenty acres. A well-irrigated pasture only needs five acres. Being able to feed a cow is the difference! That is to say, other people's ranches can cost 30 million U.S. dollars, and it is only worth 10 million U.S. dollars.

"Anders' daughter, do you know? The old Anders' lawyer documents stated that Mary had the right to deal with the ranch when he was sick. Who knew that Mary would sign the contract when Anders entered the hospital. Pressed the contract, and used the ranch as a loan to her company in Los Angeles for eight million dollars in funds....".

Hearing what he said, Jian Heng was left with a sigh.

The Silent Lake Ranch can be said to be the ancestral heritage of the old Anders family. Let’s put it this way, before Montana was incorporated into the United States, his ancestors were the owners of the ranch. When working on the ranch, Jian Heng More than once, I heard the old man persuade her daughter to come back to take over, but I didn't expect that Mary would do this behind the old man's back.

Seeing Jian Heng's speechless look, Remington went on to say: "Our family wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive after calculation. The bank's plan is to split the entire ranch into several small pieces and sell them to the city. The rich people in the country used it as a vacation ranch. Our accountant calculated that without 12 million dollars, it is impossible to get all the six yuan that the bank wants to distribute. It is not the whole ranch, and it is meaningless to us. So we just had to give up."

Jian Heng, who Remington said, also understood that when the documents here were sent to New York, Jian Heng had already consulted his lawyer and accountant in New York. Let’s put it this way, now that Jian Heng has inherited the ranch, it is actually cheaper than buying a ranch of the same size. The ranch doesn't make much money, not only does it not make money, but it may also cost more money.

Some people may not understand, because the inheritance tax in the United States is really too high, and the money you get will have to pay a big tax. If you sell it purely, you can avoid it. Inheriting the ranch may be about 50% of the tax. Still have to pay, plus the inheritance tax, Jian Heng not only owes money to the bank, but also owes money to the fucking IRS.

Most importantly, Jian Heng doesn't like life on the ranch!

When the big guys in the country heard it, good guy, the family has more than 6,000 acres of pastures, and they might not be able to live well. This is actually similar to having a house in the bustling area of ​​Beishang Factory, but earning a salary of more than 2,000 yuan. The price of the house is tens of millions, you sell it and where do you live? If the ranch is sold, what will you eat?

And most importantly, ranch life isn't any fun!

All the poetic and picturesque things in the book are nonsense, unless you don’t rely on the ranch to make money, you are originally a big president, a big longboard, the ranch hires someone to take care of it, and you come here to ride a horse, so you can only look at the ranch.

If you ran the ranch for a living, you'd have to start three things almost from dawn every day, eating, sleeping, and shoveling cow shit! Until seven or eight o'clock in the evening, the cows entered the shed. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, every day is like this, even if you are sick, as long as you are not dying, you have to get up to shovel shit and repair the shed.

Because if you don't do it, the cow's living environment is bad, it will get sick, and it will die if it is seriously ill! The cows are all dead, and you, a rancher, can't eat hot shit!

A ranch hood on his head is not good news for Jian Heng now, it is a natural disaster! It was completely calculated by the old man lying in the mud.