Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 5807 - 4830: Home Alone (10)

Among the several districts of New York, Manhattan is universally acknowledged as prosperous, while the Bronx is constantly disparaged. The Queens District is different: opinions about this area are mixed, and whether it’s in the mainstream media or among ordinary people, there has never been a unified evaluation.

Every city has an area like this. The streets and public spaces aren’t exactly tidy, the problems in municipal planning are deeply entrenched, the old streets are bustling, and the new streets are a jumble of all sorts. Rents aren’t high, the goods in the markets are cheap, transportation is fairly convenient, public security isn’t great, and the place is steeped in a strong streetwise, small-town vibe where you can see all the varied facets of life. The Queens District is just such a place.

The Queens District covers a large area. The old city, the New City, and some suburbs that are outside the official administrative jurisdiction of the Queens District all belong to the broader sense of "Queens." But most people live in the old area of the Queens District.

As for the relationship between the Queens District and Long Island, in fact the Queens District and Long Island are connected. The southwest part of Long Island is the old Queens District, while the northeast is the Hamptons District, which in reality is not under the jurisdiction of Queens; the two are actually quite far apart.

Unlike the elegant and aloof East Hampton, the old Queens District is home to the most typical New York petty citizens, most of them native New Yorkers. The most typical example is Peter Parker’s family. Blue-collar workers, stay-at-home wives with a kid, or auto insurance salesmen, small business owners, kindergarten teachers—these ordinary New York small-town folks all prefer to settle down in the Queens District.

Because the races here are mixed, the immigrant atmosphere is strong, and class barriers aren’t as rigid as elsewhere. Everyone is busy making a living and rarely has the time to stir up trouble. The public security isn’t exactly good, but most neighborhoods aren’t bad. If we only look at the old Queens District in the narrow sense, its safety could even rank among the top one or two.

There are also many cheap large supermarkets here, the cost of living isn’t as high as in other parts of New York, and the level of education is decent. Many public schools here rank quite well, and even without going to expensive private schools, children can get an education. So many modestly well-off families choose this place when they first settle in New York.

Of course, because it’s part of Long Island, even on the southwest side there are quite a few mansions. The one Natasha brought Shiller to see was a property Nick had carefully selected for a long time.

It’s only a 15-minute drive from here to Flushing. Natasha slipped into the role of a professional real estate consultant; walking backward as she spoke to Shiller in front of her, she said, "I know you love wandering around Chinese supermarkets, buying those fresh ingredients you can’t find in regular grocery stores. And Flushing is the largest Chinese community in New York."

Greed had to admit he was tempted. Being able to conveniently and quickly buy all kinds of ingredients was really important. If the chickens, ducks, and fish were dead before he put them in the pot, he would be very unhappy.

Greed had also been to Flushing quite a few times. The ingredients here were actually pretty average, far inferior to the goods supplied by those old Cantonese in Manhattan’s Chinatown. But the Chinese supermarkets here were huge, the seasonings were complete, and immigrants from all over China were represented. From sesame paste to hotpot base, from scallion pancakes with scallions rolled inside to coconut chicken, in this small Flushing you could eat dishes from all eight major regional cuisines of China.

And the takeout business here was extremely developed. After you placed a phone order, the restaurant owner would deliver it personally, and the food would still be piping hot when it arrived. If he moved here, he could eat something different every day, which would be a tremendous pleasure.

"But I should remind you," Natasha said frankly, "the economy and public security in Flushing aren’t very good. Even though this house isn’t within the Flushing area and is some distance away, it will definitely be affected. That’s also the main reason the original owner moved out."

The group went into the house together. Greed began to size it up. This place was a villa owned by an old overseas Chinese; the style wasn’t purely Chinese, but a Sino-Western hybrid with a Nanyang flavor. The house was very well maintained; you could see the age on the various wooden pieces of furniture, but they weren’t very old-looking—some even had a rich, glossy sheen, clearly the result of meticulous upkeep.

However, houses in this area all had a common problem: they were a bit narrow. Right at the entrance there was a small foyer, and after you went around a screen, the living room wasn’t big either. The front was the reception area, the back was a mahjong table, and because it didn’t have an open-plan kitchen, the living room felt even smaller.

The railings around the courtyard and the stairs were all made of wood. But because they were well maintained, there were no creaks when you stepped on them. On the second floor there were two rooms on each side, and a passage leading to the terrace. The third floor had five rooms.

Once he reached the third floor, Greed’s brows furrowed. He could tell that the third floor wasn’t originally supposed to have this many rooms; the previous owner had forcibly partitioned it into this number.

"The previous owner’s family had four generations living under one roof," Natasha said. "The owner’s great-granddaughter went back to work in China, so the whole family moved back to China and left this house behind."

The fourth floor was an attic with a storage room, but the space was also quite cramped. After Greed walked in, he couldn’t even stand up straight; even bending over to get something would be quite troublesome.

"This garden is nice." Arrogant stood on the second-floor terrace and looked down. Greed climbed down from the ladder and came to the terrace to glance down as well, and then discovered that the villa’s garden wasn’t a typical Western-style garden, but an obviously designed Chinese classical garden. There were rockeries, a lotus pond, willows, banana plants, and a small covered walkway built at the far side.

After they walked out through the back door, the two of them were even more full of praise. This garden had definitely been designed by a master; it wasn’t much inferior to those famous Suzhou-style gardens. Apart from being a bit small, it was truly beautiful and very well maintained.

"I’m a bit curious—how did this house end up in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands?"

"His great-granddaughter is the one who went to work for SWORD," Natasha explained. "He entrusted the house to Nick and wanted us to find a reliable person to take it over. The price they’re asking is very reasonable; they’re definitely not the sort of sellers who open the lion’s mouth."

"They probably care more about finding someone who will take good care of this house," Arrogant said. "You can tell that even before they left, they tidied everything up carefully. That shows they have feelings for this place."

"Of course. Three generations were born and raised here, so they’re very reluctant to part with this house. But housing prices in the city where they’ve settled in China are also quite high, so they could only sell this place to trade for another."

"I think this place is pretty good." Arrogant looked at Greed and said, "If it’s mostly just you living here, there’s no need to buy something too big. After all, your Butler is still roaming around in the cosmos, and if it’s a huge estate, there’ll be no one to take care of it."

Greed also began to think it over; he was really taken with this house. You could tell from every tree and blade of grass that the previous owner had maintained it with great care. From the foundation to the surroundings to the structure, he was quite satisfied. The rooms upstairs could be slightly rearranged; just freeing up one study would be enough. Maintaining the garden in the backyard alone would be more than enough to occupy all his free time.

They sat down at the mahjong table in the living room. Natasha was eager to play a round, but unfortunately there were only three of them. It wasn’t that they couldn’t play, it just wouldn’t be very satisfying.

After thinking for a while, Greed still shook his head and said, "This house is indeed nice, but it can’t meet my needs for hosting guests. The place is just too small. Not to mention anything else, there’s no place to park a Flying Shuttle, let alone open a Teleportation Portal."

As Earth’s various regulations have become more and more完善, it’s now not allowed to casually open Teleportation Portals on Earth. Strange, as the Supreme Magician, has some privileges, but he still has rules to follow. For example, there must be no living creatures within 50 meters of where the Portal opens, especially keeping it away from children. Clearly, there’s no suitable spot for that in this house.

Also, people like Stark have their own private Flying Shuttles, and if they fly here, there’s nowhere to park. And Stark usually doesn’t wear Nano Armor—if he’s wearing a standard model, then for safety and maintenance reasons, it has to be stored indoors. There’s not even a basement here; what, are they supposed to dump it in the living room?

Another thing was that although the garden was delicate and beautiful, it was far too fragile and not suitable for kids to play in. Most of Greed’s friends now had families with children. If they wanted to have a backyard barbecue party, there wouldn’t even be space to set up a grill, let alone inflatable bouncy castles or anything like that.

Taking everything into account, Greed still decided to give it up. As they were leaving, he felt very reluctant, standing at the door and hesitating for a long time.

"Wait," he suddenly said, "I just remembered something. Has Xu Shang-Chi recently started dating a girlfriend?"

He looked at Natasha, and Natasha looked back at him. Natasha said, a little helplessly, "Why are you looking at me? He was sent out to China a long time ago; how would I know if he has a girlfriend or not?"

Greed took out his phone and started scrolling through Xu Shang-Chi’s Tiktok page, and sure enough, the first post was a video of him with a girl. He had even tagged the girl’s page in the comments. Greed then opened the girl’s page; she was from Hong Kong and her name was Su Entao.

The name sounded a bit familiar, but Greed couldn’t place it for the moment. Very soon he saw the English spelling "Su-endo." Wasn’t that the Computer Wizard?

There are quite a few Chinese Superheroes in Marvel. Aside from the well-known ones, many are written as counterparts to American Superheroes, and the Computer Wizard corresponds to Iron Man. Both of them command ultra-futuristic technological precision Mecha, and the Computer Wizard once even worked at the Asian Branch of the Stark Group.

Xu Shang-Chi had been sent to work in Hong Kong a few years ago, so it wasn’t surprising that he knew the Computer Wizard. The two of them looked like they’d already been dating for a while; it just wasn’t clear whether they were planning to move back to America to settle down.

So, Greed called him.

"Hello? It’s me." Greed got straight to the point. "Are you coming back for Christmas?"

Xu Shang-Chi seemed taken aback by the question and said, "I probably won’t go back this year; things are too busy over here. What’s up, Doctor?"

"I just wanted to ask, are you planning to stay in Hong Kong with your girlfriend?"

"No way. The housing here is expensive and tiny, and I don’t even speak Cantonese. We’re not planning to settle here."

"So you’re planning to get married in America?"

"Yeah, my family is still over there. The two of us have already talked it through. When the time comes, we’ll bring Entao’s parents over too..."

Greed understood. Although Xu Shang-Chi had taken part in quite a few Solar System projects, he hadn’t done anything earth-shattering these past few years; most of the time he was just living his own quiet life. His parents had continued running that Chinese restaurant and treated him very well, and he had long since become part of their family. Xu Shang-Chi was not the type to abandon them, so he was bound to return to America in the end.

"Here’s the thing," Greed said, "I’ve decided to give you a Christmas present. If you’re free at Christmas, you should still come back once."

"A present? What kind of present?" Xu Shang-Chi asked. Greed could vaguely hear a girl’s voice on the other end; it was probably Xu Shang-Chi’s girlfriend.

"You’ll know when you get back." Greed turned around to look at that overseas Chinese villa. "I promise you definitely won’t be disappointed."