Reborn in 1855 America: A Tycoon's Rise

"Wake up, he's waking up!"

"Really, he's waking up! Oh my God, his eyes are moving!"

"Oh my God! Jesus!"

"Hey, Bill, I really didn't expect you to save him! God bless, you finally..."

"Scrooge... Can you hear my voice?"

...

When Scrooge tried hard to open his eyes, he heard a group of people around him chattering in English. The noise was so loud that it gave Scrooge a headache. He struggled to open his eyes. Well, a group of Europeans were surrounding him in a circle, all with their necks stretched out.

At this time, the midday sun was also shining through the gap in the middle of the circle of people's heads and onto Scrooge's face. The sun was too strong. Scrooge just opened his eyes a little, and had to close them again. At the same time, he also wanted to raise his hand to block the overly strong sunlight. However, he couldn't raise his hand. Instead, this action made him feel dizzy and almost passed out again.

"The stretcher is coming... Be careful, John, come and help me lift his head... Be careful, don't use too much force... Carl, lift his buttocks, not from the waist, from the buttocks! You idiot, don't you even know where the buttocks are?... Gently! You will make him get injured again like this."

Scrooge felt that he was carefully lifted up by several people. At this time, he found that his whole body was in pain.

...

Scrooge lay in bed for several days. During these days, he tried hard to figure out one thing, that is, he unfortunately became a member of the army of time travelers.

Unfortunately? Yes, unfortunately. Many people think that time travel is a low-risk and high-yield business. You see, which poor loser doesn't immediately get a protagonist template after time travel and has good luck from then on? When it comes to practicing martial arts, there will be an old man coming out, holding some divine-level unique learning, kowtowing and begging you to learn it.

But the fact is not necessarily so. This is like investing in stocks. What everyone hears are the stories of "successful people". As for those unlucky guys who jump off buildings, who cares who they are? And the danger of time travel is actually much greater than investing in stocks. If you really travel to ancient times when social productivity is extremely underdeveloped and it is difficult to communicate due to the changes of ancient and modern voices, think carefully, what is the difference from throwing you directly into the black African regions such as the Congo or Rwanda?

It took several days for Scrooge to figure out that he had now traveled to the United States in 1855 and became a little brat named Scrooge McDonald (coincidentally, the name remained the same) who was just eleven years old. A few days ago, "he" fell from a tree while digging a bird's nest and died. Fortunately, Bill Rockefeller, the neighbor who was said to be proficient in medicine (of course, some people said that he was just a liar who sold "special medicine for curing cancer"), happened to be at home. With his efforts, he managed to rescue him.

Of course, Scrooge's parents were now extremely grateful to Bill. They felt extremely ashamed for their previous belief in rumors, believing that Bill was an immoral quack and even slandering his reputation in front of others more than once. When Bill woke Scrooge up, Scrooge's father, Joseph, sincerely apologized to Bill in front of everyone.

Bill was indeed knowledgeable. When Scrooge showed various strange phenomena in the following days, such as suddenly not recognizing people, or having a particularly strange accent, Joseph sent for a priest to see if there was something unclean at work, while consulting with his neighbor Bill. Bill reassured Joseph that people who had injured their heads often had similar symptoms, which was nothing strange. This statement was also recognized by Pastor Stephen who arrived later. Therefore, Joseph and his wife Laura were relieved. On the one hand, they admired Bill immensely, and on the other hand, they became accustomed to Scrooge's subsequent strangeness, at most muttering: "Poor Scrooge, I hope he can get better soon."

A week later, Scrooge McDonald was finally able to get out of bed and go out. After spending two days running around, Scrooge - Scrooge was finally convinced that he had really traveled to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Speaking of which, Scrooge's luck was not bad among the time travelers. Although he didn't travel to a big noble or wealthy family, his family situation was still at a medium level. His father, Joseph, was a good shoemaker. The shoes he made were beautiful in appearance, comfortable to wear, and durable, and had a very good reputation in the neighborhood. With Joseph's craftsmanship, the family's life was still decent. Once a week, the family could even have meat to eat. Speaking of which, it was even better than the neighbor Bill's family. And as the youngest son, Scrooge was the most beloved child in the family. Both his father Joseph and his mother Laura, as well as his eldest brother Carroll who had started helping his father make leather shoes, loved him very much.

But this was not the most satisfying thing for Scrooge. Such a living standard was still unable to compare with Scrooge's original living standard. What really satisfied Scrooge was his neighbor Rockefeller. And Scrooge was now sure that this Rockefeller was the one who would become a legend.

The neighbor Bill Rockefeller had three sons and two daughters (actually three, but one of them died at the age of two). Their eldest son was named John, the second son was named William, and the third son was named Frank; the eldest daughter was named Lucy, and the second daughter was named Mary. Wasn't this the world-famous Rockefeller family in the future? According to history, John Rockefeller would become the oil tycoon, and his Standard Oil Company, at its strongest, controlled more than 80% of the entire United States' and more than half of the world's oil. And he himself became the first super-rich person in American history with a personal asset exceeding 1 billion US dollars, and when he died, his personal wealth was as high as 1.4 billion US dollars!

This 1.4 billion US dollars was not the meaningless 1.4 billion US dollars in the 21st century. The ratio of this sum of money to the GDP of the United States, which had already become the world's number one economic power at that time, was as high as 1:65. Calculated based on the total GDP of the United States in 2013 at 16.56 trillion US dollars, his personal wealth would be as high as approximately 255 billion US dollars!

Of course, the Rockefeller family has not yet prospered, and John Rockefeller, the future number one richest person in the United States and the oil tycoon, is still honestly studying in middle school. But isn't this a good opportunity? As long as you hold onto this thigh, the future will be very promising.

Scrooge was four years younger than John Rockefeller, but because of his better family conditions, Scrooge started school earlier than John. As a result, the two were now studying in the same middle school. It was just that John was one grade higher than Scrooge. In the past, the two of them went to school together every day.

After resting at home for two more days and confirming that there was no problem, Scrooge was finally going to school. After breakfast, John Rockefeller from the neighbor's house came to call him.

"Scrooge, it's time for you to go to school today!" While saying this, John also helped Scrooge pick up his schoolbag, and the two walked out together, "My mother asked me to take good care of you on the road. She always worries that my father is not very reliable... Well, let's not talk about this... I heard that you have forgotten a lot of things. Do you still remember the things you learned in school?"

"I've forgotten some, but I remember most of them. Even if I don't remember, I can just learn them again. I think as long as I work hard, there is no reason why I can't learn well." In the eyes of Scrooge, who was an engineer in his previous life, the things learned in middle school in the 19th-century United States should not be difficult to deal with.

John Rockefeller suddenly stopped. He stared at Scrooge up and down for a long time, and then said, "Strange, can a fall really change a person completely? You are much more composed and confident now! It's almost like you've grown up all of a sudden."

Seeing a sixteen-year-old brat saying that he had grown up all of a sudden, this feeling was really strange. Although he clearly knew that this half-grown child in front of him was the future number one richest person in American history, and although he knew that he would drop out of middle school this year and then enter a business school to learn accounting, and then start on the path of creating a legend, Scrooge still felt very strange.

The road to school was very long. It took almost half an hour to walk there. The two walked and talked.

"Well... Scrooge, there is one thing I don't know if you still remember?" John Rockefeller suddenly said.

"What thing?" Scrooge asked.

"I knew you had forgotten." John Rockefeller shook his head, and then said, "I don't plan to continue studying in middle school. I plan to go to the business school in the city to learn accounting. I think this is more practical for me. You know, our family's situation is not good. My father has always been unreliable. Although he performed well when he saved you this time, but he... Anyway, as the eldest son, I must take on the responsibility of supporting the family as soon as possible."

"I seem to know a little bit." Scrooge frowned, as if thinking hard, "I seem to remember that the tuition for such schools is not cheap, John. Do you have that much money?"

"That's the thing. It costs 40 dollars. My father promised to lend me 40 dollars, but he asked me 15% interest. D*mn, this interest is much higher than that of the bank! He is just bullying me because I can't borrow money from the bank. I want to know if you can ask your family to lend me some money, even a part of it. When I get a job, I can pay you back at the bank interest rate, no, a little higher than the bank, 11% interest. How about it?" John Rockefeller looked at Scrooge's eyes expectantly.

"John, you know, although our family may be a little more well-off than yours, after all, my father and my elder brother are both earning money. However, 40 dollars is not a small amount for us either. I personally don't have that much money and can only ask my parents for help. I don't know how much they can give, but I will try my best to persuade them. However, John, you have to tell me first, how do you plan to repay this money after you get it and complete your studies at the business school?" said Scrooge.

"Scrooge, you've really changed a lot. You can actually think about so many things. I couldn't consider so many things when I was your age." said John Rockefeller. "If I want to start my own company and be the boss in the future, I will definitely find you as my partner. I have investigated that there are many new companies opening now, and other staff are relatively easy to find. However, there is a relative shortage of people who can keep accounts, so if I com