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"This was left to me by my father. I once took a piece to have it appraised. They said the quality wasn't very good, with only about 80% purity," Josh said, pointing at the gold in the box. "As long as I exchange this gold for US dollars at the bank, I can pay for this house."
"What? The bank? No, no, no, you can't exchange it at the bank." Hearing Josh's words, Margot immediately spoke up.
"Why not?" Josh asked, feigning ignorance.
"It's not worth it. The bank's exchange rate is just a government money-grabbing scheme to fool the general public. If it's a normal transaction, based on current market rates, it should be at least fifty dollars per ounce," Margot explained.
Though she was a wealthy heiress and not particularly business-savvy, Margot wasn't some clueless naĂŻve girlâshe still understood some basic economic principles.
"Then where should I exchange it?" Josh asked.
"That's easy, leave it to me. Uncle John happens to need a lot of gold, and this amount of yours, he can easily take," Margot confidently took charge of the matter.
"Uncle John?" Josh was puzzled.
"He's the one who took over my father's jewelry company, also my father's partner. He had a great relationship with my dad. After my father passed away, because I wasn't good at running a business, I sold most of the shares to him and only kept a small portion," Margot explained.
"That's great. But won't this trouble you?" Josh said gratefully.
"It's no trouble at all. This is a mutually beneficial deal. Don't be fooled by the bank's price of 35 dollars per ounceâit's just a facade. When they sell to companies in need, although the official price remains, after all the fees and bureaucratic approvals, the actual cost isn't much lower than buying from the black market at high prices. And it's also limited in supply. Uncle John's business hasn't been easy these past years either," Margot said, shaking her head.
Hearing this, Josh nodded.
He understood this well.
When it came to harvesting wealth from the public and the world, the U.S. government was a master.
Don't be misled into thinking Roosevelt's New Deal saved the American economy. At the time, the government was deeply in debt and had no money to implement any such plan.
And yet, the New Deal was carried out smoothly... so the question was, where did the money come from?
The answer: by reaping the public's wealth.
The very first act of Roosevelt's New Deal was the Emergency Banking Act, which devalued the dollar against gold and banned gold exports.
Then, he forced citizens to turn in their gold at $20.67 per ounce and required American gold mine owners to sell their output to the Treasury at the same price.
Then, just a year later, the government raised the official gold price to $35 per ounce, effectively devaluing the dollar by 40%.
This meant that the wealth of the public was instantly cut by 40%.
The state got rich, and the people became poor.
Such ability to reap the public's wealth was truly impressive.
And looking ahead, whenever the U.S. faced trouble, they would just devalue the dollar or hand out money to citizens.
So this wealth-harvesting game had long been a traditional skill of the U.S. government.
"I helped you againâshouldn't you thank me?" With the matter settled, Margot teased.
"Of course. So I've decided to cook dinner myself and invite you to join me," Josh said with a slight smile.
"Oh? You can cook?" Margot was very surprised to hear that.
"Of course. Just wait and see. But we'll need to buy some ingredients first," Josh said.
"Oho, I'm already looking forward to it," Margot replied with a big smile.
So the two of them headed out again and drove to the nearest farmers market.
Actually, supermarkets already existed in 1940s America, but at that time, they mainly sold national-brand packaged goods and rarely carried fresh food.
Most supermarkets were also built in remote suburbs. Refrigerators weren't yet widely used in the early 1940s, and there weren't many ways to preserve food, so faraway supermarkets didn't meet people's needs.
So back then, people still mainly bought fresh food from small local shops, roadside stalls, or farmers markets.
Local farmers would bring their fruits, vegetables, honey, and other agricultural products from their own farms to sell.
After walking around the market, Josh quickly bought some beef, a chicken, a salmon, and ingredients like lettuce, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots.
He didn't plan on cooking authentic Chinese dishesânot because he didn't know how, but because the conditions didn't allow it.
Because here, you simply couldn't buy scallions, ginger, garlic, or other essential Chinese seasonings. There was no soy sauce, vinegar, or cooking wine. There were only Western seasonings like rosemary, cinnamon, ketchup, and pepper.
Chili peppers, however, were availableâafter all, they originated in the Americas.
Besides the ingredients, kitchenware was also an issue.
There was no wok in the house, only an oven, frying pan, and a barbecue grill.
So he could only adapt and make some semi-Western, semi-Chinese dishes.
For example, the beef could be stewed with tomatoes and potatoes.
The chicken could be made with ketchup and starch into what would become known in future America as General Tso Chickenâsomething Chinese people would find baffling. It was basically a sweet and sour chicken made using the same method as sweet and sour pork. Very simple. A chef from Taiwan had whipped it up in the 1950s to please a U.S. Navy commander from the Seventh Fleet.
As for the salmon, that would be grilled Western-styleâdrizzle with lemon juice, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add some rosemary.
Lastly, the vegetablesâlettuce, carrots, and mushroomsâwere sliced and stir-fried casually in a pan.
As for the staple food... of course, it was bread. Two freshly baked baguettes solved that problem.
Let's just say, if a Chinese person saw these dishes, they'd probably turn up their nose but to fool a foreigner, it was more than enough.
To make real Chinese food, Josh would have to go to Chinatown one day to buy the proper seasonings and kitchen tools.
"Wow, this is amazing! This chicken is so deliciousâis it an Austrian specialty? What's it called?" Though Josh considered it a very makeshift dinner, most of the dishes had a sweet-and-sour taste, which clearly suited Margot's palateâshe was eating with great enjoyment, especially the awkwardly "not-quite" General Tso Chicken.
"Yes, that's right. It's an Austrian dish called Ferdinand Chicken!" Josh said, looking deeply at the dish.
And he would absolutely not admit that this thing was Chinese food.
Besides, as someone of Austrian descent, cooking Chinese food wouldn't make sense at all.
So yes, it was Austrian cuisine. Ferdinand Chicken. No problem there.
As for why it was called Ferdinandâwell, at that moment, besides that failed art student, Josh could only think of the guy who was the spark for World War I.
Thus, under circumstances completely baffling to all of Austria, a dish that would later sweep through America as a popular Austrian classicâFerdinand Chickenâwas born.