After leaving the door and carefully walking two blocks to make sure no one noticed him, Qiao Xi breathed a sigh of relief and walked into a nice restaurant on the roadside.
It's been a week since he traveled back in time, and the best thing he's ever eaten was just a hamburger. Now that he's finally rich, he naturally has to have a good meal.
Well, yes, there is no doubt that Josie is a time traveler.
Originally, he was just a white-collar worker in a third-tier city in Xia State in the 21st century.
In the end, I just had a drink with my lovelorn friend, and when I woke up, I was already in Chicago in 1943, and became a 15-year-old boy wandering the streets.
Unfortunately, even though Qiao Xi did not come from a wealthy family in his last life, he was still a young bourgeoisie with a car and a house. He lived a very comfortable life. He was in his early thirties, which was a good time.
Although I often read online novels, I have never thought about time travel.
On the other hand, the one I drank with when I was young failed to start a business and was dumped by my girlfriend of eight years. I was quite a failure in life. Shouldn’t the general template of a time traveler be like that?
Or is it that God made a mistake when choosing people?
Now I am fine. I am living in Chicago in 1943. I am happy to join the family of Qidian Orphanage.
The only advantage is that I have become 15 years old and I have wasted a life span of more than ten years.
But this life span is not that easy to pick up. After all, in the environment of this era, it is really hard to say how long one can survive.
Another good news is that the original person has not always been an orphan. His parents died in an accident less than half a year ago. They are both serious American citizens, not some gangsters.
In addition, although his deceased parents did not leave him much property, they still had a small apartment so that he would not have no place to sleep.
Entering the restaurant, Qiao Xi didn't order anything particularly extravagant.
A large piece of American meatloaf, a piece of French fries, a piece of macaroni and cheese, a salad and a large glass of Coca-Cola.
A standard American blue-collar set meal with generous portions.
As for the taste...that's about it.
However, the Coca-Cola of this era surprised Qiao Xi. The taste was much stronger than the Coca-Cola of the future.
Because he was still growing up, Josie ate everything very quickly.
After eating, I paid, which cost seventy-five cents.
Is it cheap? In fact, it is not cheap. If calculated according to the official gold exchange rate, this cost is actually equivalent to more than thirty US dollars at the beginning of the 21st century.
A few years ago during the economic crisis, such a meal would not have cost more than fifty cents.
The reason why prices are high now is because supplies were relatively tight during the war.
Yes, because it had to support the battlefields in Europe and Asia, even in the United States, a country that had not experienced the war, prices began to skyrocket in 1941, and starting in May 1942, the country also began to pay material compensation
Give the system.
Everyone will be distributed a ration book, which contains small plastic signs with 48 blue dots and 64 red dots allocated each month.
The 'blue dot' is for buying canned, bottled and other processed foods; the 'red dot' is for buying meat, fish and dairy products.
Ordinary people can only purchase supplies according to the rationed quantity. Only shops and restaurants can get larger quotas, and all other supplies are supplied to the front line.
On the front line, the rations for an ordinary army soldier are basically three to four times that of ordinary people.
It can be said that everything is giving priority to serving the war.
This rationing system will basically not end until the second half of 1944, when the output of various materials in the United States reaches its peak and surpluses begin to appear.
Of course, just like the twenty-year bootlegging business, as long as you are willing to spend money, you can buy more supplies.
After a hearty meal, Qiao Xi left the hotel. After confirming again that no one was paying attention to him, he walked relaxedly on the street and called a taxi.
Don't be surprised, taxis were available in all the Xia Kingdom's magic cities at the same time, let alone the United States.
I gave an address and the car started driving.
Soon we came to a used car dealership.
As the world's largest industrial power in this era, the United States' car ownership is extremely astonishing. In 1937, it had reached 25%.
In other words, on average every 4 Americans own a car.
Most of them are concentrated in major cities.
Let alone a first-class industrial city like Chicago.
And the price of the car is not high. A brand new basic Ford Model A sedan only costs five to six hundred dollars.
However, as the United States officially entered World War II, major American companies were temporarily banned from producing civilian cars and switched to the production of military vehicles. Therefore, new cars are not easy to buy now. Like most supplies, a rationing system is also implemented. Basically
Only special professions such as doctors and priests can get quotas.
Also subject to quota restrictions are gasoline and tires.
In comparison, a driver's license is trivial.
Although due to the large number of cars, some relatively basic traffic regulations were promulgated more than ten years ago, after all, the time is still short and they are not that strict.
So even if Josie's actual age is still a little different, as long as she spends a little more money, she can still get her driver's license smoothly.
However, Qiao Xi doesn't have much demand for a new car, a usable second-hand car is enough.
After all, Chicago is so big, it will be much easier to do things with a car.
And although gasoline and tires are subject to rationing restrictions, as the saying goes, as long as you have money, everything is easy.
In the end, Josie spent two hundred dollars to buy a second-hand Ford that was fully fueled and in good condition.
However, this also reduced Josie's assets by two hundred dollars, which directly shrunk by nearly half.
After getting the car, Qiao Xi wandered onto the road.
Not to mention, I was used to driving automatic transmissions in my previous life, and now I was a little uncomfortable driving such an antique manual transmission. However, the traffic rules these days are far less complicated than they were later, so Qiao Xi's journey was quite smooth.
Soon, Josie drove to a relatively remote gun shop.
When you walk into a gun store, you will see a wide variety of firearms.
Although the firearms of this era are not as advanced as those of later generations, you must know that there is no automatic weapons bill in the United States now. That thing was not enacted until 1986.
So now, gun stores in the United States not only have light automatic weapons such as Thompson submachine guns, M1918 Brownings, and Colt automatic pistols, but also heavy machine guns such as the Colt M1895. It's amazing.
But Qiaoxi just took a look at these guns because they were too expensive.
In the early years, the price of Thomson was extremely expensive, costing more than 200 US dollars a piece. After years of improvements, the price has now come down, but it still costs more than 70 US dollars. This is still the official purchase price.
The retail price has also increased due to the war, and is directly priced at 108.
At this price, the little money Qiao Xi had on hand was only enough for two guns, and the bullets were not enough.
Something like the M1 Garand is even more expensive, with a retail price of $150, which puts him off.
So Josie's target is an old gun from the First World War.
Not Springfield. Springfield was also widely used during World War II because of its excellent performance. Due to insufficient production capacity, the price was high.
What Josie wanted was the M1917 as a supplement to the Springfield rifle.
Because of its relatively simple structure, the M1917 was mass-produced during World War I. After the war, it was dismantled, some were sold, and more than one million were sealed.
After World War II, although this type of rifle was reactivated, it was mainly used for support of other countries or for US military training, and was basically not used in actual combat. Therefore, the stock in the United States is still huge, so the price is very cheap.
The gun and a thousand rounds of ammunition are only $45, which can be said to be quite cheap.
Basically, many people would choose to buy this gun during American folk hunting or shooting competitions during this period.
"What does the customer want?" asked the chubby gun shop owner. Next to him was a chubby young man of similar age to Josie, who should be his son.
"I want four M1917s, and give me one more M1911." Qiao Xi said directly.
The rifle was for sale, and the M1911 was for his own self-defense.
Although he was a little surprised that Josie wanted four rifles at once, the store owner didn't ask much. Having experienced the Great Depression, what kind of scene has he not seen? Dillinger even bought a gun from him back then.
Anyway, as long as you give money, what does the customer buy a gun for? It’s none of his business?