Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, summer had arrived. The weather in Chicago was starting to heat up.
In the early morning, Josh, dressed in a polo shirt, sat leisurely in the yard drinking coffee.
Of course, he didn't only drink coffee—he wasn't from Shanghai, where people acted like they'd die without it. Occasionally, he'd have some black tea as well.
As for green tea, it wasn't that he didn't want to drink it, but in the American market—like in the UK—black tea was mainstream. Except in Chinatown, it was hard to buy green tea anywhere else.
The problem was, with the Pacific War raging, goods from Asia simply couldn't be shipped over. Even in Chinatown, it was difficult to find green tea, and most of what was available was low-quality tea dust. Things might be a bit better on the West Coast in Los Angeles, but in Chicago, located in the Midwest…sigh.
So for the time being, Josh had no choice but to stick to coffee and black tea.
Fortunately, he was now wealthy and influential. If he were just an ordinary person, even coffee and black tea would be hard to come by—both were rationed goods. Coffee was limited to one pound every five weeks per person, and black tea to 20 grams a week...What, are we feeding cats here?
Good thing he was young and could tough it out for another two years.
"My dear, I've got some bad news—it looks like you've been targeted by the United Service Organizations!" Margot, dressed in a white sheer summer dress, sat down next to Josh with an invitation in her hand.
"…It's only been a little over three months? They're here to sell war bonds again?" Josh's head began to ache as soon as he heard "United Service Organizations."
It was early July now. Back at the end of March, he had bought three million in war bonds all at once, which brought him significant fame and benefits.
For example, the establishment of three factories had gone smoothly, with approvals and supply chains practically rolling out the red carpet.
Especially the syrup factory—thanks to hiring researchers from the University of Chicago, they had successfully begun mass production of the enzyme saccharification process a month ago, and the first batch of corn syrup passed testing just a week ago.
After military representatives sampled the product, the entire batch—and the subsequent production—was directly purchased by the military. Josh had effectively hitched a ride on the coattails of the most powerful army of the era. Quality aside, in terms of size and equipment, the U.S. military at this time was undoubtedly number one in the world.
But it hadn't come without a price. Since then, he had become a target of various anti-fascist organizations of the time in America, all looking to take advantage of him.
Aren't you a leading figure in the anti-fascist movement? If you have the money to buy $3 million in bonds, surely it's not too much to spend a few thousand or tens of thousands supporting our cause?
Still, it wasn't too serious. These small groups were easy enough to deal with.
For instance, he'd say, "I already spent all my money on war bonds. How about I donate some of those to you instead?"
Usually, that would shut them up.
Because what these groups needed was cash and supplies. Bonds were great, but they couldn't be used as money in the short term.
And if they didn't cash them in? Were they really supporting the anti-fascist cause, or just lining their own pockets?
But trying to cash in war bonds at the bank directly? No way. The military sold bonds to raise funds for the war. Redeeming them before maturity might be understandable for ordinary people short on money, but for an anti-fascist organization? That would look like sabotaging the military.
However, dealing with groups associated with the military wasn't so easy.
After all, Josh's syrup factory had just received a large military order—claiming he had no money wouldn't hold up.
In this regard, the U.S. military was a model client—most orders were paid upfront or on time, with no delays.
Not like the Brits next door, who paid with IOUs.
Josh had only just received his payment, and now the United Service Organizations were at his door.
This was a government-designated partner organization under the Department of Defense.
The tone of their invitation was clear:
You made a lot of money off that military order—shouldn't you support us a bit? Maybe buy some more bonds? After all, they have a good interest rate; it's not like you're losing money, right?
In this situation, how could Josh refuse?
If he didn't buy, he could kiss future military orders goodbye.
Of course, Josh wasn't particularly interested in the military contracts themselves. After all, he had a trading system—selling the same syrup to Daenerys yielded profits many times greater than selling to the military.
But the title of "military supplier" mattered to him.
With that kind of status, it would greatly help his social ascent in America and his integration into various capital circles.
And in two years, once the war was over, that title would become even more valuable.
Whether he went to Europe or Japan, he could easily become someone of high status and strip resources there at minimal cost.
So, even if he had to donate outright, he had to protect that status.
Still, the feeling of being at the mercy of the military was annoying.
"Haha, darling, don't be so upset. Compared to Howard in New York, you're doing pretty well—he was forcibly drafted by the military," Margot said with a smile, trying to comfort him as she noticed Josh's displeasure.
"How can I compare to him? He's an aviation expert. I'm just a high school dropout," Josh shook his head, but a question crept into his mind—Wasn't Howard Hughes supposed to live in Los Angeles?
"My dear, you shouldn't belittle yourself like that. You just turned sixteen, yet you already own three factories and have landed military contracts. Especially your syrup factory's saccharification enzyme and high-fructose syrup—they're monopoly products. In the future, your achievements will surely surpass his."
Margot walked behind Josh, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and said close to his face.
"By the way, this time the United Service Organizations are visiting Chicago with a whole bunch of Hollywood stars—Jane Russell, Whitney Frost, Pauleen Goddard, and many other big names. Especially Whitney Frost—her performance with Judy Garland in Ziegfeld Girl was amazing."
Whitney Frost? Josh looked completely puzzled. He had never heard of her.
He vaguely remembered Jane Russell—Howard Hughes's mistress. She got banned for being too revealing in a wartime film and ended up playing minor roles afterward.
"Oh right, there should be a program schedule on the invitation. Let's take a look!" Margot said cheerfully.
Josh gave a helpless smile and opened the invitation in front of him.
In the next second, his expression changed dramatically.
"Margot…What was the full name of the Howard you just mentioned?" Josh asked.
"Howard Stark? Why?" Margot replied. "Oh, by the way, before he was forcibly drafted by the Department of Defense last month, he held some kind of big technology expo in New York. Too bad I found out too late, or we could've gone—there were supposed to be all sorts of cool things there."
At this moment, Josh's voice trembled slightly, which Margot found strange—but she still answered truthfully.
Standing behind him, Margot didn't notice Josh's ashen face—or the way his eyes were fixed on the program list in the invitation, staring at the segment titled: Captain America.