America 1881: Legend of the West

The next morning, Feiniao appeared downstairs at Chen Jianqiu's Lincolnshire villa.

"Where's the boss?" He jumped off the horse and walked quickly to the door.

A middle-aged soldier from the Longxiang Group who was on duty stopped him and gave him a quiet gesture.

"I didn't sleep for long, all night." He said mysteriously.

This soldier was originally a TPJ soldier under Niu San. He was honest and reliable, so he is now mainly responsible for the security and maintenance of this villa in Lincoln County.

"Did you work all night? It was too hard. It seems that being the boss is really not easy." Feiniao didn't know why and sighed.

"That's what, no, actually." The soldier was an honest man and didn't know how to describe it. He finally said to himself, "Hey, what should I tell you, an unmarried young man?"

"What do you want from me?"

Chen Jianqiu walked down the stairs in high spirits, wearing pajamas.

The warrior looked back, dumbfounded, his eyes filled with admiration.

What kind of physical strength is this!

"Young Master, good morning!" He quickly put his feet together and saluted Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu quickly pressed his hand down on the soldier.

"Keep your voice down, I'm still sleeping." He pointed to the upstairs behind him with his thumb, "Just call me Jianqiu from now on. You are all my elders."

"As you command! Young Master!"

Chen Jianqiu was a little helpless. He waved to Feiniao and motioned for him to come in.

"Boss, I want to take a leave." Feiniao walked up to Chen Jianqiu and said, "The annual hunting season is coming soon. The Blanca Mountains near Lincoln County is a good place for hunting. I want to relax."

The Blanca Mountain that Feiniao mentioned was the mountain where Chen Jianqiu shot Da Linqi before.

Since joining Chen Jianqiu, the son of a former Indian chief has been working conscientiously and handling his own affairs.

He has regarded Chen Jianqiu as a relative and Roswell as his home.

"Go ahead, you don't need to tell me this kind of thing." Chen Jianqiu chuckled.

For the next week, Chen Jianqiu stayed in Lincoln County. Except for the first day when he stepped down to support the opening of the town's bank, he stayed in the villa the rest of the time.

During this time, Chen Jianqiu enjoyed the two-person world with Camilla.

Asuka's words reminded him.

He also planned to take a short vacation for himself.

You've been busy all year long, can't you take a break?

On the morning of the eighth day, Chen Jianqiu had just finished breakfast and was reading the newspaper in the garden outside the first floor.

"The Rogue of the Ages—The Legend of Jesse James?" His attention was caught by the title of a one-page newspaper column.

The author is a journalist and columnist.

He used his own pen to vividly describe the story of a legendary bandit in the West.

This man was originally a guerrilla in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, he had been engaged in robbing trains and banks, and almost ruined Allen Pinkerton's reputation.

He is regarded as a hero of the New South Movement and a spiritual totem worshiped by Southern grassroots and populists.

Jesse James died in April of this year, after Missouri Governor Thomas T. Clint incited one of his associates to kill him.

Chen Jianqiu watched it with great interest.

"There are rumors that this man is not dead." Camilla, who was lying on a lounge chair and basking in the sun, said lazily. "I killed one of his men in Colorado, but the fog was relatively heavy that day, so he ran away."

"What happened next?" Chen Jianqiu became interested, "Didn't you continue to arrest him?"

"Then I chased you, my dear, when you seemed more dangerous." Camilla sat up and picked up the tea bowl on the table.

She put her nose to the edge of the tea bowl and sniffed.

"To be honest, this tea is really good."

Chen Jianqiu chuckled and returned his gaze to the newspaper.

The two lay in the garden for a while and chatted about insignificant things. Chen Jianqiu felt a little bored.

He stood up and put the newspaper on the table:

"I'm going to see the town," he said to Camilla.

Chen Jianqiu changed into a cloth robe commonly worn by Chinese businessmen, put on a pair of cloth shoes, took Camilla's revolver, and rode towards the town.

It was the hunting season in Lincoln County at this time, and many nearby hunters rushed to the town to buy some supplies needed to enter the mountains, such as dry food and ammunition.

Therefore, the town is busier than ever.

Many townspeople who knew Chen Jianqiu greeted the young man one after another, and even those who had received his help would salute him.

Chen Jianqiu responded with a smile.

He rode his horse and walked along the street. As he walked, he saw the sign of his bank.

Sanjiang Bank.

This bank has two branches, one in Roswell, which mainly serves the Chinese, and the other in Lincoln County, which is open to the outside world.

The next stop might be Juarez, followed by Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Chen Jianqiu stopped his horse in front of the bank door, opened the door and walked in.

There were quite a lot of people in the bank, and they were all standing in line in front of the counter.

This is not because there are heavily armed security personnel in the bank to maintain order. It may be because they all know who runs the bank.

After several rounds of baptism by Xiao Lynch, Chen Jianqiu, and Crook's cavalry, the security around Lincoln County was drastically improved compared to before.

At least, no established gangs exist anymore, or perhaps the largest gang is now in Roswell, not far away.

It may also be because Okafor stood aside with his hands behind his back and a slicked-back beard.

This man was staring intently at the crowd in line, his eyes as sharp as an eagle's.

He is tall and looks like a security guard.

"If you want to open an account, please go to counter No. 1 on the left. If you want to handle other business, please go to counter No. 2 on the right." A white-haired cashier directed the customers in the business hall.

The cashier and Okafor saw Chen Jianqiu almost at the same time.

Chen Jianqiu signaled the cashier to continue working, and he walked directly to Okafor:

"Come on, take me for a walk." He walked up to Okafor and pursed his lips at him.

The bank is not big. Apart from the business hall outside, there are only two rooms inside. One is Okafor's own office, which is at one end of the corridor.

At the other end of the corridor is a large and heavy-looking iron door, and the door lock is also a combination lock.

"That room is the vault. Inside is the safe, and, uh, there's the Maxim machine gun."

Okafor pointed to the door.

"Let's go take a look." Chen Jianqiu showed no interest in Okafor's office.

Most of the gold he fished out from the bottom of the water was placed in the vault in Roswell, and a small part was transported here as reserve gold.

Okafor walked back to his office, took out a combination box from the safe, and took out a key from the box.

He inserted the key into the keyhole of the vault door, and then began to turn the combination plate on the lock.

"Click".

The door opened, and Chen Jianqiu and Okafor walked in one after the other.

However, at this time, seven or eight cowboys on horseback slowly stopped at the gate of Sanjiang Bank.

They dismounted and began to observe the situation around the bank.

The leader, a man wearing yellow jeans, lifted his belt.

He touched his beard and lowered the brim of his hat.

The face under the brim of the hat was exactly the same as the photo of the man Chen Jianqiu saw in the newspaper column that morning.