Brady and Donna walked into the Wang family's garden hand in hand. They received Wang Lei's invitation and came together. Wang Lei, who was standing nearby, quickly came up to welcome them.
Wang Lei was wearing a dark blue suit with vertical stripes today, a white shirt, and a dark blue bow tie. His hair was smeared with hair gel, and he looked meticulous and handsome.
Brady spread his hands and leaned back exaggeratedly, while Donna handed over a wrapped gift and said with a smile: "Happy birthday, Rex, from today on, you are an adult!"
"Thank you, I have to see what this is first." Wang Lei took the gift box and opened it with a smile. Inside was a blue tie with twill. He immediately showed a surprised expression: "Wow, a very beautiful tie, I'm thinking about it. Do you want to change it immediately?"
"Hey, Rex, I think you should stop. You look so handsome today. I'm starting to worry about my baby Emily!" Brady joked with a smile, and Wang Lei winked at him. : "Uncle Brady, don't worry, I am already eighteen years old and I will be responsible for my actions."
"You brat, don't even think about it!" Brady raised his arm and slapped Wang Lei, and then they both laughed happily. Wang Lei stretched out his hand to invite them to sit inside. They had already spent ten dollars on tickets to the dinner at the door, and also prepared a special gift as a token of support and congratulations to Wang Lei.
Just this morning, Wang Lei had registered with the Braddock Election Committee with dozens of signatures collected and officially became a candidate for the next town mayor.
So far, only he and the original mayor Hawke have registered to run. If nothing unexpected happens, the competition will be between the two of them.
In the past two days, Hawke's campaign offensive has been in full swing. His photo was even published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the largest local circulation newspaper. Such publicity and large-scale financial investment can almost make his competitors despair.
But this did not affect Wang Lei. He was full of confidence in his ideas and plans. He believed that he had found the key to solving Braddock's problem, and that was the community. He wanted to unite Braddock, something money couldn't do or replace.
Of course, Wang Lei also needs money. With money, he can launch the most basic publicity activities and let his ideas be known and accepted by more people, so whether he can raise money tonight is also very important to him.
Wang Lei looks normal on the surface and warmly welcomes every guest. But between receptions, he always walks around nervously, crossing himself with his fingers and praying for God's blessing.
"Lei, don't worry, everyone will come to support you!" Emily walked over quietly, grabbed Wang Lei's palm with one hand, made a fist with the other hand, and waved it in front of her.
"I know" Wang Lei smiled at Emily, a little unnaturally, and he spread his palms: "I just want to know how many people will come and who else will come."
Those who can come tonight will be very likely to vote for him. Wang Lei thinks there should be more than twenty people. He has visited many people in the past two days and has successfully changed some people's views on him and won some support.
But when the dinner started, except for Wang Lei¡¯s parents and sister Wang Hua, excluding members of the campaign team, there were only thirteen other guests, a dozen fewer than Wang Lei expected.
Brady and Donna, Walker, Judd, Eric, Grace, Brady's fishing buddies Jaxon and Bud, Colin's sister Amanda, Wang Yang's parents, Bella, a volunteer at the Carnegie Library Auntie, little boy Matthew and his mother - Matthew said he wanted to support Wang Lei because sister Emily said so, so he pulled his mother here.
Matthew's arrival also caused trouble. Wang Lei originally thought that Matthew was a child and did not need to spend money to buy tickets. However, Matthew's mother Delia insisted on buying tickets. She believed that voters should not accept anything from the candidates. benefits, otherwise the integrity of the vote cannot be maintained.
Finally, Jaxon, who is Brady¡¯s friend and has been a lawyer, pointed out that Delia¡¯s words are very reasonable. If Matthew¡¯s ticket is exempted, it is likely to trigger a vote-buying lawsuit.
These legal provisions are really annoying, but no one, including Wang Lei, Delia and others, complained. Only strict regulations can ensure the fairness of the election. Otherwise, Hawke could find another way to benefit the children in the town and exchange votes from their parents.
So, strictly speaking, Wang Lei¡¯s birthday and fundraising party sold a total of fourteen tickets, totaling one hundred and forty US dollars, which was not enough to cover the cost of the dinner.
Damn it?Why are there so few people? Wang Lei was very disappointed. He felt that more people should come. But he quickly cheered up and threw himself into the dinner. Few people come, which means that he has not done his job well enough and needs to continue to work hard. He must not be discouraged midway, otherwise he will lose both the watermelon and the sesame seeds.
The dinner is open-air, but it is different from the traditional cold dinner. There are two steaming soup pots on the table, which are heated with an alcohol stove below. Some vegetables, beef rolls and thin fish fillets are placed next to them, which can be placed on the table. Eat it in a pot. This is a special Chinese way of eating, called hot pot. The bottom of the pot is Chentan pickled cabbage and fish bone soup. One pot has strong-flavored chili peppers, while the other does not, but both taste very delicious.
Wang Lei, Wang Jiaming, and Hu Shuying greeted everyone to start eating. Wang Lei kept walking among the crowd and talking to everyone. Everyone congratulated him on his eighteenth birthday, and he thanked everyone for their support and rarely talked about specific things. , the atmosphere is warm and friendly.
There were only soft drinks on the table, and there was no wine or alcoholic beverages. Although the host of today¡¯s banquet, Wang Lei, was an adult, according to Pennsylvania law, only people over 21 years old can drink. Wang Lei could not violate this rule.
Wang Jiaming and Hu Shuying are constantly bringing out new dishes from the kitchen, such as fish head with chopped pepper, Kung Pao shrimp, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised eggplant, stir-fried shredded potatoes all are delicacies with Chinese characteristics.
When everyone had almost eaten, Wang Lei found an opportunity to stand in front of everyone and signal that he had something to say.
The guests attending the banquet put down their tableware and focused their attention on Wang Lei. They had long been informed of the nature of the party and were looking forward to Wang Lei's performance.
Wang Lei first thanked everyone for coming, and then he said with a smile: "Today is my eighteenth birthday, and running for mayor is my coming-of-age ceremony. I think this is great, because becoming an adult means responsibility. I think it¡¯s time for us to take responsibility!¡±
"Eighteen years oldI know everyone has doubts about this, but I have to say, it's not a problem at all!"
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