The top of fame and fortune [Comprehensive British and American]

"That's how it is." In the bedroom early in the morning, Erica was sipping hot coffee and talking about her appearance at the New Year's Eve party last night.

And Peter sat beside her, still holding the Iron Man hero card that he couldn't put it down in his hand, but worry soon appeared on his face, and he looked at the "New York Daily News" that he left beside the bed, " The content on this is exaggerated, completely slanderous, and may even cause trouble to you."

The entertainment newspapers always only focus on attracting attention, but this report, which is purely nonsense, has probably become the hottest news in New York City now.

After all, the "New York Daily News" is almost the newspaper with the most readers in the New York area, occupying the fifth place in the best-selling list of newspapers in the United States.And Erica, as the protagonist of the incident, is very easy to become the target of many vulgar tabloids.

"Although it seems that this news has indeed caused an uproar," Erika comforted Peter, who was worried about her, "but in fact, it is just entertainment for the spectators in their spare time. , the heat will last for a few days at most, and if there are no follow-up incidents, they will soon be forgotten by them."

Her expression was relaxed and confident, not only looked very reliable, but also had a kind of cool energy, which immediately relieved Peter's worries a lot, and instead began to wonder if his previous "like an enemy" was a bit exaggerated, he Touching the back of his head shyly, "I think you're right, Li Ka."

"There is no need to discuss boring news events. Now, Petey, maybe you would like to talk to me about the part-time job at the "Daily Bugle". You know, I still hope you quit this job." Erica looked at the boy, Continue this morning family session with him.

And Peter was obviously not surprised when he heard Erica's words. It was not the first time that the two had discussed whether to resign from the "Daily Horn".

After Uncle Ben passed away half a year ago, in order to share the financial pressure of the family, Peter began to work as a part-time student in the "Daily Horn" and took photos for the newspaper. Among them, the photos of "Street Masked Vigilante" Spiderman he contributed were usually very popular .

But in the "Daily Horn", the newspaper owner Jameson has a very bad temper. He hates Spider-Man and often scolds Peter who took pictures of Spider-Man.

Especially five months ago, Aunt Mei fell ill and was in urgent need of surgery. After Erica and Peter withdrew all their family savings from the bank, they were still short of 1000 yuan in surgery fees.

In order to raise money, Peter hoped to use a number of the latest rare photos of Spider-Man to go to the "Daily Bugle" in exchange for remuneration, or a loan of 1000 yuan, but he only got ridicule and scolding from the newspaper owner Jameson.

The $[-] that was finally raised was Erica’s internship salary advanced by the Finance Department of Wayne Group.

Thankfully, Aunt May's surgery was a success and she recovered quickly.

At this time, even after five months had passed since that incident, Erica obviously still did not forget the scene where Peter was scolded by the boss of the newspaper, and Peter also couldn't put this incident behind him, but he regretted it. It was at that time that Erica was taken to the newspaper office.

Standing outside the editor's office, she must have heard those words that were really not pleasant, so when he walked out of the editor's office, he bumped into her face mixed with anger, exhaustion, frustration, and even bewilderment look.

But just a second later, all those negative emotions were swept away, and she regained her determined and relaxed and confident expression, and said to him, "We should go to Wayne Group next and see if I can advance my salary. "

In the bedroom, Peter looked at Erica, "Actually, this is a very easy part-time job. Now I only need to regularly provide photos of Spider-Man to the newspaper to get paid."

"You know, it's easy for me to do." He deliberately turned the conversation to Spider-Man, and Erika was skeptical about his surprising secret that he was the most popular 'masked vigilante' in New York City. The only one who knows the truth.

Peter was able to leave home every night without being noticed by Aunt May, Erica did a lot to cover up for him.Last night, for example, when Spider-Man left home early to save the world, Aunt May thought he was staying in the bedroom, rewatching the tapes of the classic musical "The Wizard of Oz" with Erica.

Thinking of last night, Peter purposely put on a relaxed tone, "I solved at least three robberies and fights last night. It should be a happy holiday. These people are really annoying."

Before Erica could answer, he continued, "By the way, do you remember the physics competition I participated in last month? I think it can bring me a scholarship."

Although the scholarships issued by American high schools are not as common as universities, it is not difficult for Peter Parker, who has excellent grades, to obtain these financial aids.

In the current Parker family, for Peter and Erica, the importance of scholarship is self-evident.

In fact, if Erica hadn’t won the full scholarship, it would be impossible for Erica to choose to study at Columbia University in New York. Among American universities, the high tuition fee of this Ivy League school ranks in the top five in the United States, which is almost higher than its academic The level is even higher.

Even with the full scholarship, Erica does not need to bear tuition expenses, but the high daily expenses of living in New York City are really not a small sum for the Parker family.

And if Erica can't continue to receive a scholarship to enter the business school after two and a half years of undergraduate studies, the high tuition fees of the graduate school may make her anxious and sleepless all night.

Or she will choose to work directly, but with a bachelor's degree in economics, in New York City, where there are many top business school students, the job opportunities and initial salary levels that can be obtained are undoubtedly quite limited.

All in all, Erica Parker's economic situation will always remain in a tight state in the foreseeable few years, unless he wins the lottery.

But now, looking at the boy sitting next to her, who was trying to change the subject in various ways, Erica knew very well that the only reason why Peter was unwilling to resign from his part-time job at the "Daily Horn" was, of course, to alleviate the tension as much as possible. financial burden on some families.

She pondered for a while, "After the spring semester starts, I will try to apply to the professor for a teaching assistant job for first-year students."

In colleges and universities across the United States, in addition to graduate students, course teaching assistants are usually selected among senior undergraduates, but Erica is currently only a sophomore, and her chances of being selected are quite limited.

Peter disagreed with her decision, "But your studies are already very heavy on weekdays, and teaching assistant work will only make you busier."

He tried to convince Erika, "You can't let those economics classes take up all your time, you have to at least take some time to go out with that guy with the blond curly hair—"

Peter's voice stopped, and he obviously remembered the fact that Erica had broken up with the other party. This was almost the first time he hoped that the cunning capitalist would still appear in Erica's life.

For Peter Parker, who has always admired superheroes, it is of course impossible to like Lex Luthor who tries to "sanction Superman" all day long, but he has to admit that the metropolitan capitalist, if only as Erica From the point of view of my boyfriend, it is indeed a good choice.

The first meeting between Luther and Erica was a bit dramatic. In the summer after graduating from high school, Erica found a job as a lifeguard at Rockaway Beach, Queens, not far from Parker's home, and Luther was rescued by her from drowning. one of them.

Although Peter didn't understand until now, why a super rich man would go surfing on a public beach.

Thinking of Lex Luthor, Peter cautiously probed Erica, "Or maybe you've made up with that 'nasty capitalist'?"

"No, Peter, Lex and I are over, and you shouldn't always bring him up in negative terms," ​​Erica said, just like last night, still defending Lex out loud, and still believes that the separation of the two is not a good thing. , the responsibility is on her, "In the first few months, I was in a bad state."

After Uncle Ben's death and Aunt May's illness and admission to the hospital, these two family accidents happened almost at the same time, and the worse economic situation and physical and mental pressure made Erica almost difficult to find out when she faced a boyfriend who was the third richest man in the United States. balance with him.

All she could feel was the insecurity and the burden of life, and everything else seemed so insignificant at the time.

Even when she was short of the 1000 yuan surgery fee, she would rather choose to advance her internship salary than ask Lex for help.To Erica at the time, it seemed like accepting Lex's financial help would really make her feel like a gold digger girl.

The reason why she thought so at the time was precisely because her self-confidence and psychological state were already in jeopardy. She had always been strong and confident, and she was unwilling to admit that she was so helpless and cowardly when facing family changes.

"Talk time is over," Erica said without continuing to talk to Peter about her relationship that ended, she left the bed, stood up and walked to the door, "I have to wash my face, I think you can go to the kitchen first Go help Aunt May prepare breakfast."

Peter followed her out of the bedroom, obediently walked into the kitchen, and stood next to Aunt May to make a sandwich.

Erika stood beside him just as he was sandwiching the bacon omelette between two slices of toast and started trimming the sides of his toast.

Peter had always disliked the toast sides of his sandwiches, and Erica never forgot that.

Aunt Mei was frying muffins, looked at the two young people beside her, and couldn't help but smile on her face. Then she thought of the work arrangement that still required overtime work today, so she told Erica and Peter, "Don't make any special work tonight." Make time to wait for me at the subway station, you should go to meet up with friends during the holidays, or watch a movie is also good."

"Watching a movie is a good idea——" Erica deliberately thought about it, and looked at Peter tacitly, and then changed to a boy and said seriously, "But I think the participants of this party should be The Parker family."

Faced with the lovely performance of these two young people, Aunt Mei certainly couldn't say no to it.

On the first morning of 1990, when the Parker family was huddled in the kitchen to prepare breakfast, at the other end of New York City, in a popular restaurant next to a high-end apartment in Manhattan——

Anne Leibowitz, the chief photographer of the old American magazine "Vanity Fair", put down the "New York Daily News" in her hand, borrowed the restaurant phone, and called the legendary editor-in-chief of "Vanity Fair" Tina Brown, "I think, I found it. Our cover girl."