Chapter 41 28-1

On the flight back to New York, Michael Corleone breathed a sigh of relief and tried to get some sleep.But, to no avail, the most terrible period of his life came, perhaps the fatal one.Now, it can no longer be postponed.Everything is ready, all the work is ready, two years of preparatory work is enough, and there is no possibility of delay.When the Don formally announced his retirement to his regiment commanders and members of the Corleone family last week, Michael knew it was his father telling him that "the time has come." Now, it has been almost three years since he returned to China, and it has been almost two years since he married Kai.During these three years, I was mainly familiar with the business activities of the family.He talked for a long time with Tom Hagen, and for a long time with the old man.He was greatly taken aback when he learned how rich and powerful the Corleone family really was.The Corleone family owned extremely expensive real estate in downtown New York, owning an entire office building.The family actually owned two brokerage buildings on Wall Street, several banks on Long Island, and several clothing center companies through aliases or nominees.All this combined with the illegal gambling industry is really scary enough.

What Michael Corleone finds most interesting in reviewing the past dealings of the Corleone family is that shortly after the war, the Corleone family received a considerable amount of protection from a large group of speculators who copied music records without authorization. host.These speculators specialize in copying and reselling records of famous singers, and they have never been caught.Of course, the singers and original recording dealers got nothing on the records they wholesaled to stores.Michael Corleone noticed that Johnny Fontane also lost a lot of money to this kind of falsification, because at the time his records were also the biggest hits in the country.

He asked Tom Hagen what was the secret.Why did the old man agree to cheat his godson.Hegenland shrugged.Business is business.Besides, John was not a good thing in the old man's mind, and John divorced his childhood sweetheart to marry Margot Yahiton, which made the old man very unhappy. "So why did the counterfeiters stop their counterfeiting all of a sudden?" Michael asked. "Did the police find them?" Hagen shook his head. "The old man stopped protecting them. Connie stopped protecting after she got married. This is a typical case, and he has seen it a lot.On the one hand, the old man is helping those who are in misfortune, but on the other hand, he has intervened to cause those people's misfortune.This, not by intrigue, nor artful arrangement, but by the diversity of his interests, or by the natural laws of the universe.The interpenetration of good and evil is a regular phenomenon in the natural law of the universe.

Michael and Kay were married in the mountains of New England.They held the wedding in silence, only the woman's family and a few friends of the woman attended.After they were married, they moved back to Long Beach Township Boulevard.Michael was amazed at how well Kay got on with her husband's parents and all the people who lived on the Mall.Needless to say, she conceived immediately, as one would expect of a good old Italian wife, and this did something to the harmony of the family.Then, two years later, a second child began to form in the womb. Kai plans to pick him up at the airport.She often went to meet him and was always so happy to see him come back from business trips.Every time he came back to see her, he was very happy.But this time is an exception.This is because the end of this business trip means that he must start the action he has been preparing to take for three years.The commanders of the corps should also respect him.And he, Michael Corleone, was going to issue orders and make decisions.These orders and decisions will definitely determine the fate of him and his family.

Every morning, when Kay Adams Corleone got up to nurse the baby, she would see Mama Corleone driving off the Mall in a car driven by a bodyguard and returning an hour later.Soon Kay heard that her mother-in-law went to church to pray every morning.Once the eldest wife came back, she would drop in and have some morning coffee, and at the same time see her new grandson. Mrs. Corleone was always asking why Kay wasn't a Catholic, ignoring the fact that Kay's children had been baptized Jesuits.So Kay felt that she might as well ask the old lady why she had to go to church every morning, and whether going to church every morning was the duty of Catholics.

The old lady seemed to think that going to church every morning might be the main obstacle to a quiet conversion to Catholicism, and she said hastily: "Oh, no, no, some Catholics only go to church at Easter and Christmas , You can enter the church whenever you feel like it.” Kai laughed. "Then why do you go to church early every morning?" Mrs. Corleone said very naturally, "I, I pray for my husband." Pointing down at the floor, she said, "I pray for him and he won't go to hell." .” She paused for a moment. "I pray for his soul every day and he will go to heaven." She pointed upwards at the spring sky.

She had a childlike smile on her face as she said these words.It seemed as though she were somehow twisting her husband's will, or that her efforts to twist his will were futile.It was almost a joke when she said it, too, in her peculiarly stern Italian old woman way.This time, too, she always showed disrespect to the great old man whenever her doctor was not present. "Then, how does my father-in-law react emotionally?" Kai asked politely. Mama Corleone shrugged. "He's been a whole other guy since they shot him. He made Michael do all the work; he tends the vegetable garden all day, the peppers, the potpourri. Like he's still a farmer. But then again, men are always like that."

At some point in the morning Connie Corleone would lead her two children down the avenue to see and chat with her.Kay adored Connie, her bubbly personality, and her preference for her brother Michael.Connie taught Kay how to cook Italian dishes, and sometimes brought Michael to try her own special dishes. As usual, she asked Kay again this morning what Michael thought of her husband Carlo.Does Michael really like Carlo, as he seems?Carlo had always had minor entanglements with the family in the past, but in recent years, he had changed his ways.He did do well in union work, but he had to work hard, many hours a day.Carlo really liked Michael, something Connie often said.But then again, everyone likes Michael now, just as everyone liked his father back then.Michael was the very embodiment of the Don.Michael intends to run the family's traditional olive oil business.The bits really couldn't have been better.

Kay had read Connie's mind long before that: when Connie mentioned her husband's connection to the family, she was anxious to hear a word of praise for Carlo.Kay would be foolish not to see that Connie had a nervous concern about whether or not Michael liked Carlo.One night Kay posed the question to Michael, noting that Sonny Corleone had never been talked about, not indirectly, at least not in her presence.Once, when he tried to mourn Sonny in the presence of the old man and the old lady, the old couple listened but said nothing and ignored them when they were done.She also tried to talk Connie about her older brother, to no avail.

Sonny's widow, Sandra, moved to Florida with her children because her parents lived there.With some financial arrangements, she and her children lived happily, but Sonny died with no fixed assets of her own. Michael barely explained what happened the night Sonny was killed: first Carlo beat his wife Connie, then Connie called the Greenway, and it was Sonny who answered the phone, and Sonny went crazy after answering the phone He also rushed out.So Connie and Carlo have been nervously worried that other members of the family will blame her for indirectly causing Sonny's death, or blame her husband Carlo.This does not appear to be the case, as evidenced by the fact that the family gave Connie and Carlo a house on the Boulevard, and that Carlo was promoted to an important position in the union system.And Carlo has also reformed his evil ways and returned to the right. He must not drink too much, stop promiscuous whoring, and stop desperately trying to show off.In the past two years, the family has been very satisfied with his work and attitude, and no one blames him for the past.

"Then why don't you invite the two of them over for a talk one night, and you can reassure your sister too!" Kay went on to say, "Your sister is so pitiful, she is always nervous about your treatment of her husband." Opinion. You might as well just tell her and tell her to get those wild thoughts out of her head." "Well, I can't do that," Michael said. "Our policy is not to talk about these issues among family members." "And will you allow me to tell her what you told me?" asked Kay. This was originally a reasonable suggestion, but he thought about it for a long time.This puzzled her.Finally, he said, "Kay, I'm a big party. I don't think it's good to talk about it. She's going to be suspicious anyway. There's nothing anyone can do about it." Kai froze.She sensed that Michael had always been colder to his sister than to anyone else, even though Connie loved him. "It's true that you don't blame Connie for Sonny's murder?" she asked. Michael sighed. "Of course not," he said. "She's my sister, and I'm very fond of her. I'm sorry for her. Carol, though he's getting better, is a really bad husband. Let's forget him and be good." When it comes to personality, Kai has never broken the casserole and asked the bottom line, so she stopped being wordy.In addition, she knew that Michael would not take tough things, but if he came to tough things, he would be ruthless and determined.She knew that she was the only person in the world who could influence his will.But at the same time, she also understands that using this power too often will damage it.After living with him for two years, she loved him even more. She loved him because he was extraordinarily generous and never judgemental in even the smallest things.She could already see that he was a very powerful figure now.People kept coming to him to discuss problems and ask him for help.People are always obedient and respectful to him.There was, however, one of his qualities which made him especially lovable to her, comparatively speaking. Here's what happened: Ever since Michael returned from Sicily with a battered face, everyone in the family had urged him to undergo corrective surgery.His mother constantly pushes him.At a Sunday reunion, as the Corleone family gathered on the avenue, his mother yelled at Michael: "Looking at you like this is like a robber in a movie. For the sake of Jesus Christ, for the sake of your poor wife, you should have your face repaired. After repairing, you will not Got a runny nose all the time. You look like a drunk Irishman when you have a runny nose. The old man sat at the top of the table and saw everything clearly.He looked at him quietly and said, "Do you feel disgusted by his appearance? Kai shook his head.So, the old man said to his wife: "He is no longer under your control. You are too busy and mind your own business." The boss calmed down immediately after hearing this.Not because she was afraid of her husband, but because it was unseemly to argue with him on such matters in the presence of other people. But Connie, the old man's favorite, had just come into the banquet hall from the kitchen, where she was in charge of preparing the dishes for the family dinner, her face was flushed by the fire, and she immediately took over and said: "I think he should have his face trimmed. He was the most handsome of our parents before he was hurt. Mike, you'd better take advice and promise to have your face trimmed." Michael looked at her, absent-mindedly.It seems that he didn't seem to listen to what he said just now, he just didn't say a word. Connie came and stood beside her father. "You can also say something to persuade him," she said to the old man.She put her hands affectionately on his shoulders, and touched his neck with her hands.She was the only one who could be so close to the old man.Her affection for her father is like a little girl's affection for her father, a kind of trust. The old man patted her hand and said, "We are all famished with hunger, quickly bring up the thin strips of solid noodles, let's chat while we eat." Connie looked back at her husband and said, "Carol, tell Michael to fix his face too. Maybe he will listen to you." over their friendly relations with others. Carlo was handsomely tanned by the sun; his blond hair was well cut and neatly combed.He said, sipping the house wine from his glass, "No one has the right to tell Michael what to do." Carlo had been a different man since he moved to the avenue.He knows his position in the family, so he never deviates from it. Behind all these phenomena lay something Kai did not understand, that is, something invisible to the naked eye.As a woman, she could see that Connie was trying to please her father, but she played it beautifully, even sincerely, but not from the heart.Carlo's answer was equivalent to hitting his forehead to the ground and knocking his head, and Michael paid no attention to all this. Kai didn't take the doctor's deformed face to heart, but he worried about the sinus problems it would cause.Facial contouring surgery will also work well to heal sinus problems.For this reason, she wanted Michael to go to the hospital for the necessary surgery.However, she knew in her heart that he would rather keep his deformed face.She was sure the old man knew it in his heart. But Kay was surprised once, after the birth of her first child, when Michael volunteered to come to the maternity hospital and ask her, "Do you want me to get my face done?" Kai nodded. "You understand the psychology of children. When your son grows up and understands that your face is not normal, he will be sad too. I just don't want our children to see your face. Myself I don't care a bit, I'm glad it's true, Michael." "Okay," he said, smiling at her, "I'm going to operate." After she came home from the hospital, he began to make all the necessary arrangements.The operation was successful, and the original depression on the left side of the face was almost invisible. Everyone in the family was happy, but no one seemed happier than Connie.She visited Michael in the hospital every day, always taking Carlo with her.When Michael first came home, she hugged him hard, kissed him, then looked at him appreciatively and said, "Now he looks like my old dainty brother again." Only the old man remained indifferent, shrugging his shoulders and commenting: "What's the difference?" But Kai felt a sense of gratitude.She knew that Michael modified his face against his own wishes.The reason why he wronged himself was because she made such a request to him.She was the only person in the world who could make him act against his will. On the afternoon of Michael's return from Vegas, Rocco Rapine drove up to the boulevard, asked Kay to get into the car, and took her to the airport to meet her husband.She always had to meet her husband when he came on business, mainly because she always felt lonely without him on the heavily guarded boulevard. She saw him get off the plane with Tom Hagen and Albert Neri.Kay didn't like Neri, because his cool-headed brutality reminded her of Luke Brasi.She saw Neri walk behind Michael, then scuttled beside him, and saw his piercing eyes quickly scan everyone in the vicinity.The first one Michael and his party saw was Neri.Neri touched Michael on the shoulder and told him to turn in Kay's direction. Kay ran up and threw herself into her husband's arms; he let her go after a few quick kisses.He, Tom Hagen, and Kay got into the limousine; Albert Nelly disappeared somewhere.In fact, Neri got into another car with two other men.This car followed that car all the way to Long Beach Town, but I didn't see it. Kay never asked Michael how the mission was going.Even polite questions like this are tacitly understood by both parties as embarrassing questions.It wasn't because he didn't want to give her an equally polite answer, but asking them would remind them that the forbidden zone was definitely not included in the scope of their marriage.Kai no longer cared about such matters at all.But she frowned in disappointment when Michael told her that he was going to his father's in the evening to report to the old man about his trip to Vegas. "I'm sorry," Michael said, "tomorrow night, let's go to the center of New York to see a show and have a meal, okay?" After that, he patted her belly lightly. She was almost seven years pregnant. It's been a month. "When the baby is born, you're locked up again. Why, really, you're more Italian than New England. Two babies in two years. Kay said sourly, "But you, you're more New England than Italian. You spend your first night home on business." But all the while he was saying this he was talking to him. smiling. "You won't be back very late, will you?" "Before midnight," Michael said, "don't wait for me, you're tired, you go to sleep." "I'm going to wait for you, I don't sleep," he said. The meeting that evening was held in the library of Don Corleone's house.There were the Don, Michael, Tom Hagen, Carlo Rizzi, and the Commanders Clemenza and Tessio. The atmosphere at this meeting was not at all as harmonious as in previous meetings.There had been some tension between them ever since Don Corleone had announced his semi-retirement, with Michael taking over the family affairs.Control of a business like a family, by convention, is not passed down from father to son at all.In other houses, powerful commanders like Clemenza and Tessio are likely to succeed.Otherwise, they will approve the split and establish their own family systems. In addition, since Don Corleone made peace with the five major families, the strength of the Corleone family has gone from bad to worse.For now, the Bazzini family is undoubtedly the most powerful family in the New York area.After this family formed an alliance with the Tattaglia family, it replaced the original position of the Corleone family.In addition, this family also quietly and gradually weakened the strength of the Corleone family, and slowly squeezed into the gambling field of the Corleone family.They test Corleone's reactions, find the family weak, and set about setting up their own lottery gambling registry.