Insufficient balance

  When Wang Gang left General Electric Company on Fifth Avenue in New York, he had a $50,000 cash check signed by Thomas Edison in his pocket, as well as an invention patent transfer agreement with Wang Gang and Edison as the contracting parties.

  The scribble on the note paper in Wang Gang's hospital room and this agreement of one style and two copies became the top secret in the safe of General Electric Company later. Later, Edison and General Electric Company gained much more from this torpedo mechanical device invention than Wang Gang did.

  But what was on his mind was not to accompany Edison in making inventions. In fact, when Edison saw Wang's design drawings, his first reaction was not to buy the patent for this torpedo mechanical device, but to buy Wang himself! The price was even more outrageous, directly giving 5% of General Electric's shares, plus $10,000 in cash, and a weekly salary of $100!

  The only condition is that Wang Gang must stay at General Electric Laboratory!

  Damn it, kidding me, I came to 1917 and didn't have the leisure to hang out in the lab with you all day, Edison was such an invention freak, his life and work were actually dull and uninteresting, and the old man had all the bad habits of a capitalist.

  For example, old man Tesla reneged on the $50,000 reward for improving the direct current generator, and also refused to raise his weekly salary from $15 to $23, driving Tesla away.

  GE's 5% stake is nothing, my ambition is to take over a country, the 5% stake of an American company is nothing to Wang Gang, if you want to do it, you have to control the shares, otherwise just sell and get out.

  Of course, the confidentiality and exclusivity clauses in the agreement signed by Wang Gang and Edison were emphasized by Edison. If it weren't for Charles finding that day's New York Times evening edition with Wang Gang's heroic rescue story and press conference interview, if it weren't for the photo of this guy smiling and holding up the certificate of honor as a New York honorary citizen, with the mayor tightly shaking hands.

  Edison may not have signed this check, of course, in addition to the $50,000 check, Wang Geng also presented a design sketch of a submarine periscope, which was drawn and explained on the spot in front of Edison. Only then did Edison deeply believe that this young Chinese had many things in his mind that others couldn't think of!

  Although being cheated of $50,000 by a Chinese man made Little Charles' eyes widen in surprise and feel resentful, Old Edison thought to himself that this was an opportunity to lay the groundwork for future benefits. If he were to encounter difficulties again, he would have the connection with Wang Gang to rely on. Moreover, the potential value of this invention, which could only solve the problem of torpedo misfires, was far greater than $50,000.

  Wang Gang left without forgetting to ask Charles for some change to hail a taxi, thinking to himself that since the father and son had taken such a large advantage of him, what's eight bucks in cab fare?

  After Charles figured it out, he was quite generous and casually slapped a $20 bill into Wang Geng's hand, thinking to himself that his old man had spent $50,000 like this, and if he were too stingy and lost face in front of his own family.

  Wang Gang smiled and waved goodbye to him, Edison in the window upstairs still looked at him with a passionate and regretful gaze. If Tongyong could keep this young man, who knows how many unexplored treasures were waiting for me to dig up? Alas... I really lost out. Just now I should have given him 10% of the shares!

  Of course, Wang Geng did not thoroughly reject Edison's olive branch. Before going downstairs, he whispered something in the old man's ear about wireless telegraphy, which made Edison's eyes shine brightly. Wang Geng said that if General Electric had any ideas for further development in wireless telegraphy, he personally would be willing to contribute his technology and inventions as shares and become a part of the future General Wireless Company.

  But in the end, he said another sentence, everything has to wait until he has sorted out his domestic affairs before talking about it. Making money and advancing science and technology are not as important as saving world peace and building the country.

  Actually, Edison was indeed the inventor of wireless telegraphy, but Marconi had applied for a patent earlier. As for Wang Geng, the sooner the short-wave radio station is built, the better. When the battle starts, it can be directly allocated to the company level, which makes it easier to command the troops than the wired telephone that is often cut off by bombing.

  Thinking that it's an era when even radio stations don't exist yet, Wang Gang feels that the closure of media and information is enough to drive people crazy. Hmm, the world's first radio station didn't appear until 1920 in Pittsburgh, USA. As he walks, Wang Gang ponders, after returning home, he'll first explore the feasibility of setting up a radio station.

  Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is located in the central position, almost on the center line of Manhattan Island. It's late at night, and the streetlights are dimly lit, with hardly anyone in sight. After Wang Gang went out, he didn't encounter a taxi for a while, so he walked back and forth along Fifth Avenue. Not far ahead is the dark and gloomy New York Central Park.

  On a cold and dewy night in February, under the dim light of the park gate not far away, I vaguely saw a stall selling roasted intestines and hot dogs. This made Wang Pai, a meat-eating animal from his previous life as a special forces soldier, feel a little excited. He couldn't help but quicken his pace.

  A few people were squatting around the stall, mostly street vagrants judging by their appearance. The 30-cent hot dog and 20-cent roasted sausage seemed like an unaffordable luxury to them. A few shabbily dressed men were just warming themselves up by the fire at the stall.

  When Wang Gang, a man wearing a trench coat and fedora, walked over, he attracted everyone's attention. Once they saw that he was a handsome Chinese guy with yellow skin and black hair, people's eyes widened in surprise. Apparently, New York in 1917 was not yet a paradise for Chinese people.

  At night, New York's Central Park is often a place where street vagrants and homeless people take refuge. The security situation has always been poor. For the underclass who have no food or clothing and spend the night on benches in the park wrapped in thick layers of newspaper, it's already quite late, but surprisingly, there's a young Chinese man who looks like a gentleman coming here all alone - he's really bold!

  Wang Geng doesn't care about these unsavory vagrants, China has 400 million compatriots waiting for him to save them, the vagrants in New York are the business of that 38-year-old mayor, nothing to do with him.

  To say that the Brooklyn Bridge is so high, it's really worth Wang Gang jumping again to save someone, he still has to weigh it carefully. The Huns have not been destroyed, how can he lightly jump once? Is a little girl who fell into the water important? Or is the whole of China important? Anyway, he thinks that jumping down from such a height for seeking death is understandable, but jumping down to save someone is an extremely irrational behavior.

  "Boss, two hot dogs and three roasted sausages! Add more onions and salad dressing!" Wang Gang said casually, pointing at the grill.

  The vendor was an old man, apparently a person of color, but it was unclear whether he was Mexican or South American. He didn't seem to mind Wang Gang's words and his hands moved quickly as he flipped the bread and roasted sausage, the melted fat dripping onto the charcoal fire and releasing a fragrant smoke.

  Several vagrants roasting by the fire couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, Wang Geng looked around and saw that there were four or five vagrants in the cold wind, tall and short, with unclear faces, all of them not young, thin and dirty.

  A gust of cold wind blew a tattered newspaper on the ground, and a vagrant with sharp eyes saw that the young man shaking hands with the mayor on the front page looked like the man in the windbreaker in front of him. He hastily picked it up, and several people huddled together whispering to each other for a while.

  A gutsy guy, pointing at Wang Gang's photo in the newspaper, sidled up to him with a sly smile, muttering something under his breath that clearly wasn't English.

  Wang Gang took a glance at the other person and guessed that they were boasting about being important, being able to get reported in the newspaper, implying that he should treat them to food, give some spare change to buy sausages for the vagrants at the park entrance.

  Wang Gang wasn't such a cold-blooded person, it's just that he really didn't have any spare change on him. However, seeing those few people shivering in the cold wind was somewhat unbearable. He took another look at the number of sausages and bread in the basket next to the hot dog stall.

  He said to the boss, "I didn't bring much change either. How many hot dogs and sausages do you have left? Just grill them all and give each of them one. I'll take the rest away and pack it up. Tonight, I'm treating!"