Chapter 299: Vito Corleone

The sun was bright, and the dry heat of the Mediterranean climate, combined with the humidity from being close to the sea, woke Malena up.

Before she could even open her sleepy eyes, Malena felt the warmth of skin touching skin. She moved her legs to sense it and discovered that she was riding on someone.

Thinking of last night's madness, she couldn't help but blush. She immediately pretended that nothing had happened and continued to feign sleep, but her trembling eyelashes betrayed her.

Wang Yan reached out and covered her treasure, kneading it, and feeling the trembling of the delicate body in his arms, he laughed and leaned in to whisper in her ear: "Dear Ms. Malena, it's time to get up."

Malena couldn't keep up the act. She opened her eyes, looked at Wang Yan's face, which was inches away, with a flushed face, and couldn't help but lean forward and kiss him: "I love you, dear."

Wang Yan, of course, understood that this love was interpreted in many ways; it was a dual expression of soul and body. He immediately straightened his waist and entered a warm place: "I think we should enjoy this love a little more."

Malena let out a soft moan...

After a while, until noon, the two finally took a shower, washed up, and ate the lunch Wang Yan had made himself at the dining table. Malena was wearing the black spaghetti-strap dress he had seen when he first arrived.

The change in their relationship was indeed a bit fast, and for a moment, Malena really didn't know what to say. After eating in silence for a while, she said, "Wang, I think we need to be careful in the future."

Wang Yan was puzzled: "Careful about what?"

"You shouldn't... shouldn't, um... inside, like this... like this, I will get pregnant..." Malena lowered her head, not daring to look at Wang Yan.

Wang Yan couldn't see what her face looked like, but he could clearly see her flushed neck. He laughed and said, "You don't want to have children for me?"

"Of course not, I want to have many children for you." Malena looked up, explaining anxiously. Meeting Wang Yan's smiling eyes, how could she not know he was teasing her? But she didn't stop; she continued, "Wang, your situation is very dangerous. I am a person people discuss in town, and pregnancy cannot be hidden. Once discovered, you won't be able to hide either."

"Malena, don't be afraid. As long as you want to have children, that's enough. Believe me, we will be fine. Are you willing to leave Sicily?"

There was no other way; the children he and Malena would have would inevitably be mixed-race. Having children was no problem at all; what he had to consider was the children's upbringing. He was in Italy, not in France. It was certain that the children would be excluded if born here, but the problem now was that they couldn't even be excluded if they wanted to be. Because he had no way to let the children walk on the street openly and honestly; even if he ruled Sicily in secret, this could not be solved. Ruling with an iron fist on the surface could solve it, but he couldn't do that either.

Based on this, he had to go to America to mix. Although the situation there wasn't good now, it wouldn't be as alternative as Sicily; relatively speaking, it would be much better.

"Leave Sicily? Then where are we going?"

"America. Once we get there, there will be no problem. There is no war there, and we will be very safe. Of course, discrimination still exists, and you will be wronged along with it. I'm sorry, Malena."

"No, Wang, don't say that. You know, I've never cared." Malena shook her head and said, "It's just that my father is old, and his hearing is not good, and his life is very inconvenient. Now the war situation in Italy is not very good, and I don't know when it will reach here. I am very worried about his safety."

"You are a filial and good child, Malena. But you don't have to worry; we can take him with us."

"Really?" Malena looked at Wang Yan in surprise, then turned a bit disappointed: "He is very stubborn; he is a rigid person. I'm afraid he won't want to leave with us, and I'm also afraid he won't be able to forgive us when he sees me with you."

"I will convince him." Wang Yan nodded affirmatively: "Of course, even if he doesn't agree, it doesn't matter. We can take him away first. You don't need to worry about him not forgiving us. I think after living there for a period of time, he will always understand."

Malena hesitated: "Is that really okay?"

"There is nothing that is not okay. It's settled, Malena." Wang Yan said unquestioningly: "I have something to deal with tonight. Tomorrow night, tomorrow night, invite your father to the house, and I will have a good talk with him."

Malena pondered for a long while, looking at Wang Yan carefully: "You won't be angry, right, Wang?"

Wang Yan couldn't laugh or cry: "Malena, I have always admitted that I am a thug, a murderer. But that definitely does not include your father, and definitely does not include anyone else you care about. How could I do something that would make you sad? In your eyes, am I just a bastard who only knows how to kill?"

"I didn't mean that, I..."

"I understand, of course I understand, Malena." Wang Yan reached out and stroked her head: "Everything will be fine. Life is always moving forward like this. We can never avoid future disasters, so don't worry about things that haven't happened."

"I promise, we will always be fine. I will never let you become a widow, leaving you with a broken home, letting you struggle alone. What you should think about now is which city we are going to, what kind of house we are going to live in, and how we are going to decorate our future home. This is what you can decide, not worrying about things we cannot foresee."

Malena opened her mouth, looking at Wang Yan, who was lowering his head and eating heartily, and in the end, she said nothing more.

She might have been afraid before, might have felt that Wang Yan was a thug, a murderer. But as the time they spent together increased, and as she understood him more and more, she never had those thoughts again. Instead, she thought that if it weren't for the war, a person like Wang Yan, who couldn't survive, would never have reached this point. She blamed this dirty world, blamed those who started the war. But at the same time, she was also grateful; after all, without those things, they would not have met.

Wang Yan didn't know that Malena was finding excuses for him to absolve him of his crimes. If he knew, he would be very gratified. After all, no one would feel good knowing their man was a murderer, and it was good that Malena could think that way. Of course, the most important thing was that those things were all said by himself, but Malena had never seen them. Knowing about killing and seeing killing with one's own eyes were two different things. He also only killed members of the Mafia, so that feeling was much less. After all, the principle that "if you come out to mix, you always have to pay it back" was known to the whole world.

And in the future, Malena might care even less. Because she knew that he killed to support his family, to avoid being bullied, and to live better.

This distorted set of values was, to a certain extent, thanks to him, Wang Mou, and to a certain extent, it was also the influence of generations in Sicily. After all, it was men who were the masters of the house, and women were appendages. Although there were vows and romantic love, ultimately, it was still male chauvinism.

Coupled with the fact that the Mafia had been intertwined here for hundreds of years, their ability to accept things was relatively strong. Of course, if they didn't accept it, they had no other way; they couldn't change it. So, wisely, they didn't care and didn't ask. They went to church every day to pray to God, seeking peace of mind for themselves and praying for the safety of their own men, hoping they wouldn't be shot to death and left on the street.

The silence didn't last long. Wang Yan spoke to divert Malena's attention, not letting her think too much, and the lunch ended in laughter.

Having tasted the fruit, Malèna, as a beautiful twenty-one-year-old woman, as a young woman who had been married for over two years and had spent most of that time as a widow, now that she was re-experiencing the truest beauty of the human world, and experiencing a beauty far more powerful than anything in her memory, was naturally greedy for pleasure.

And Wang Yan, this no-good fellow, having been a monk for nearly a year, now that he had broken his fast so thoroughly, and counting Malèna's uninhibited nature, was naturally a player who didn't hold back.

Therefore, on such a sweltering afternoon, as ordinary as any other in Sicily, in an old building by the seaside in the countryside of Syracuse, the air was filled with suppressed, voluptuous sounds of pleasure—it was broad-daylight indulgence, an entanglement of spirit and flesh, and for most people, a great joy.

Dinner, naturally, wasn't on time either; it was delayed by quite a bit. Of course, the one making dinner was still Wang Yan. Malèna, this big foreign mare, had ultimately failed to withstand the conquest of the knight from the distant East. She was wearing yet another slip dress, sitting lazily on the sofa he had moved to the corner, looking infatuatedly at the broad back of the Eastern knight.

After a while, Wang Yan finished the last dish: "Alright, Malèna, come and eat."

Hearing the movement, the dazed Malèna came back to her senses. Looking at the vigorous Wang Yan, she muttered a small, quiet sentence, then slowly got up and sat down at the dining table.

Wang Yan didn't hear the muttering clearly, but he could guess the general meaning. It was nothing more than calling him a "big beast" of Sicily—a compliment, of sorts...

Wang Yan helped Malèna put some food on her plate: "Are you okay?"

Malèna's face flushed red, and she rolled her eyes at Wang Yan: "Of course I am."

With a laugh, Wang Yan didn't tease her further and said: "Have you decided which city in America you want to go to?"

"You bad man, how would I have had time to think about that..." Malèna said weakly: "I'm just a country girl from Sicily, I don't have that much worldly experience. From childhood until now, the furthest I've ever been is Messina once; I haven't even been to Palermo, the capital of Sicily."

"It doesn't matter. When we leave, we'll be departing from Palermo. You can have a good look around then, and then we'll set off. And you don't need to have any worries about leaving your homeland; we're only leaving for a while. When the war ends, if you want to come back, you can do so at any time."

Malèna nodded, blinking her beautiful large eyes: "Then I don't know where to go either. In America, I've only heard of New York and Washington; I don't know about the others."

Wang Yan didn't care at all and waved his hand: "Then we'll go to New York. We'll live there for a while first, and after you're familiar with it, we can move if you want to go anywhere else."

"Can we?"

"Why wouldn't we be able to?" Wang Yan took her hand, played with it in his own, and gave her strength: "Malèna, remember, any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem. Our lives should not be trapped by money. What you need to worry about is how to spend the money; gaining happiness is the most important thing. So, what kind of house do you want? I can have someone buy it there first, and when you, the mistress of the house, go over, you can decorate it properly."

Malèna thought about it seriously: "By the sea, or a farm would be fine."

Wang Yan waved his hand grandly: "Then we'll prepare both, whatever you like. Alright, let's eat. Once I handle some things here and contact people in America, if nothing goes wrong, we can be watching the sunrise in New York next month."

"I'll listen to you." Malèna nodded with longing, clinked glasses with Wang Yan and took a sip of wine; she even had energy for her meal.

Although life wasn't very good, she was, after all, a girl in her twenties and still had vitality. Wang Yan made small talk with her about things in America, and they finished dinner laughing and chatting.

The messy dishes were naturally cleaned up by Wang Yan, as Malèna wasn't very mobile. After clearing the table, washing the plates, and rinsing the cutlery, he picked up Malèna, who was flipping through a book on the sofa in the corner, let her plump buttocks press against his legs, and while her fair arms caressed his skin and wrapped around his neck, the two of them snuggled sweetly, chatting and enjoying the comfortable time after a full meal.

But comfortable times never last long. The two of them hadn't been chatting and laughing for long when a "bang, bang, bang" knocking sound rang out at the door.

Malèna's first reaction was naturally to look at the man holding her, only to hear Wang Yan say calmly: "Ask who it is."

"Who is it?" Malèna followed instructions and shouted loudly.

"It's me, Gaspare Cussimano. Your father has a toothache recently, so I've come to bring you some medicine."

"He's the town dentist." Hearing the loud answer from outside, Malèna looked at the person beside her and introduced him, then hesitated and said: "I can feel that he has ill intentions."

Wang Yan shook his head with a chuckle, patted her rounded bottom, and whispered in her ear: "Every man in town has ill intentions toward you, and for this Dr. Cussimano to come over at this time, he definitely has no good intentions. Who told you to be born so beautiful, stirring the hearts of all men? It is your beauty that has led him astray."

"Talk to him for a bit; I'll go upstairs to hide, and you change your clothes." Wang Yan carried Malèna upstairs. Now that she was wearing a slip dress that revealed a lot of skin, it was clearly not suitable for meeting outsiders.

Malèna nodded and shouted toward the door: "Dr. Cussimano, please wait a moment."

"Alright, Ms. Malèna, I'll wait for you at the door."

Listening to the excitement in his voice, Wang Yan shook his head. He naturally knew this doctor; after all, he was in the movie. This jerk, while having a wife, claimed to be Malèna's fiancé, fought with Lieutenant Cadì, who had just finished a date with her, outside Malèna's door, and only then was Malèna forcibly taken by the bald lawyer who said "her beauty is her crime," beginning her tragic fate.

Wang Yan placed Malèna on the bed, lit a cigarette, and watched appreciatively as she shyly changed her clothes. After Malèna changed and left after kissing him, he leaned against the door on the second floor and listened.

As for the smoking, he didn't care; not to mention that his body was already tough, and every time he returned to the system, the "Good Dad" would provide a body-recovery buff. Malèna also smoked, but since he appeared, he hadn't really seen her smoke much. If she really wanted to, he wouldn't say anything; after all, it was her own choice.

Very quickly, the sound of voices talking downstairs rang out.

Malèna looked politely at the old man before her, who didn't hide his gaze: "Good evening, Dr. Cussimano, thank you for the medicine."

"Don't say that, Ms. Malèna, it is my honor to serve you." Looking at the weary Malèna before him, Cussimano took Malèna's hand and kissed it with his foul mouth.

Malèna pulled her hand away forcefully: "Dr. Cussimano, the medicine has been delivered, and it's already so late. It will take a while to get back to town; shouldn't you be going?"

"Oh, yes, Malèna." Cussimano licked his face: "But could you let me rest a bit and have a glass of water before I go? After all, I've walked such a long way, and this damn weather is so hot."

Malèna hesitated and didn't speak. But Cussimano didn't care about that; without another word, he tried to push past her to get inside.

Malèna quickly stepped back, clearing the doorway, then turned to find a glass, filled it with cold water, and handed it to him.

"Malèna, your husband is a hero; you don't need to be sad, we are proud of him." Cussimano looked at the beauty before him: "If you have any difficulties, you must tell me; I will help you, no matter what it is."

"Thank you for your concern, Dr. Cussimano." Malèna said: "You've had your water, please go back as soon as possible, and be sure to stay safe."

Cussimano wanted to say a few more words, but Malèna was practically telling him to get lost, and he didn't have the guts to say the words he'd been brewing the whole way, nor did he have the guts to force himself on her. He could only nod reluctantly: "Thank you for the water, Malèna, I will come to see you again."

Malèna stood at the door politely: "I am fine, so I won't trouble you. But I still want to thank you, Dr. Cussimano."

Seeing this, Cussimano moved toward the door step by step, reluctant to leave, and muttered to himself: "I will come to see you again, Malèna. Oh, if you are afraid when you are alone, you can find me at any time."

Malèna tried her best to restrain herself, pushed the old guy out the door, and then quickly closed it.

Cussimano still wanted to say more, but seeing the door just inches from his nose, he took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead and, unwilling to give up, shouted loudly: "I will come again, Malèna, wait for me."

Malèna, of course, wouldn't respond. After locking the door, she quickly went to the bathroom and used soap to wash the hand that had been licked by the pig. When she came out again, Wang Yan was already sitting back on the sofa in the corner with his legs crossed.

Consciously sitting on the man's lap, her arms wrapped around his neck, Malèna opened her large eyes and breathed like an orchid: "What are you going to do?"

Wang Yan cupped her head with his arm, his fingertips twirling her dark hair: "A piece of trash who covets my beautiful wife, covets the mother of my future children, a man who is unfaithful to his wife and attempts to betray his family—what do you think I should do?"

"Don't kill him, can you?"

"Of course, then I'll just have someone go and have a good talk with him."

Malèna pressed against that warm chest: "Just make him not come and harass me again."

"Of course, we'll do as you say."

Wang Yan agreed very readily; there was indeed no need to kill the man. If that dentist really deserved to die, then most of the people in all of Syracuse should die, and the German garrison troops should also die. But clearly, he couldn't do that. So relatively speaking, this dentist could naturally be spared.

After all, that's how the movie played out—the dentist began Malèna's tragic fate. But if there were no dentist, there would be lawyers, judges, military police, police, and officers; there were plenty of people eyeing Malèna anyway. A beautiful woman without support would always be unable to escape.

However, while that was true, his, Wang Mou's, woman was not so easy to tease.

So, after whispering sweet nothings with Malèna, dreaming of the future, and waiting until the daily patrol called for lights out, Wang Yan placed the exhausted Malèna on the bed and sat by her side to accompany her as she fell asleep.

Malèna was indeed exhausted; after all, she had been tossed about for most of the night yesterday, and then half the morning and an entire afternoon today. Wang Yan didn't need to accompany her for long before she basically fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

He changed his clothes, waited patiently downstairs until after ten o'clock, and then set off, climbing out of Malèna's house. Concealing his figure all the way, he quickly arrived at the original stronghold on the edge of the town.

A group of subordinates in black clothes and black hats had long since arrived. Seeing Wang Yan enter, the group of subordinates scattered about, some smoking and some drinking, stood up in unison and lowered their heads: "Good evening, sir."

Of course, it was impossible for all thirty of his subordinates to be here; there were only seven or eight. These people were small leaders, each bringing two or three subordinates, with at most four or five, and the subordinates also commanded peripheral members. He had elite personnel, so naturally, he wouldn't let any of them take the lead.

It was just missing someone saying "please go upstairs," which Wang Yan had said once, but they were always so taciturn that he had gotten used to it—who told him not to dare come out during the day? But he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his eye. He waved his hand: "Good evening, friends." As he spoke, he walked to the large, soft, and comfortable single sofa he had gotten later and sat down, continuing: "How is Leo? He didn't die, did he?"

"Mr. Leo is very well. The doctor says he'll be fine after resting for a while, but he can't get out of bed and walk yet, and he needs to be fed. He asked me to convey his apologies to you, sir."

The person speaking was someone Wang Yan had newly promoted—the one who survived from the five people he had talked to in the first wave: Val Crawford. He was a tall and strong young man who had always performed quite well.

Wang Yan nodded and asked: "Did Messina send people over?"

Another person stepped forward and said: "Yesterday, at Leo's bedside, we negotiated with their people. In the end, they compensated us with a sum of money, gave up a portion of the arms smuggling business, and they also promised to introduce us to sellers in America."

This person was a few waves behind Val, but he could also be considered an old hand in the original organization; his name was Camas Flanagan. He was even fiercer than Val, having killed two of the East Shore's "Dons," and could be considered Wang Yan's top enforcer; he was the best at hand-to-hand combat among these people. Of course, no matter how fierce, in Wang Mou's hands, it was just a matter of a few punches and kicks.

Wang Yan took the wine handed over by a subordinate: "The terms were too generous; did that lucky guy who just took office cave in?"

"Yes, sir. Before, when we approached him, he looked down on us; now he's practically kneeling before Leo." Camas grinned and laughed along with the others, continuing: "He secretly called Leo, saying that he might still oppose us in the future, but that was for the sake of his position, and asked us not to misunderstand. The people he sent out were all enemies, and he hopes we can solve them for him; he will listen to us to a certain extent. Sir, what do you think?"

"Then demand his obedience to a certain extent; if he doesn't listen, make him like his predecessor."

"Understood, sir."

Wang Yan thought for a moment and looked at Val on the side: "Tomorrow, go find a dentist in town named Gaspare Cussimano and have a good talk with him. I want you to knock out all his teeth, make him a dentist without teeth, and warn him not to harass Malèna again; even if he sees Malèna, he must take a detour."

Upon hearing this, Val looked at Wang Yan in surprise and suspicion, then forcibly suppressed the urge to exchange glances with the others and asked respectfully: "Everything will be done according to your instructions, sir. But may I know what relationship you have with Ms. Malèna?"

Wang Yan wasn't surprised that they knew about Malèna; after all, Malèna was the most beautiful woman in Syracuse, and this was a common affirmation among all the men who had seen her. This group of hoodlums who didn't attend to their proper business naturally knew about Malèna.

"Malèna's husband is dead, and I am all alone; it's very natural, isn't it?" Wang Yan looked around with a chuckle, held up a finger, and looked calmly at Val before him: "This is the first time, and I hope it is also the last."

It wasn't that he was afraid these people would have thoughts of killing him; after all, following him meant money, and not following him meant no money—that was the most basic principle. They knew their own worth and wouldn't think they could make money on their own. If that were really the case, they would have been "Dons" long ago; why would they be kneeling before him, Wang Mou, kissing his leather shoes? And those who didn't know their worth had basically been screened out and killed by him.

It was just that he felt Val was talking too much, lacked a sense of hierarchy, didn't understand respect, and needed a reminder.

Val couldn't help but tremble, cold sweat streaming down: "Apologies, sir."

Wang Yan scanned the crowd again and took a sip of wine: "My identity makes it difficult to live in Sicily; there will always be a day when I am exposed. And your prospects for development here are not great, so I plan to help you and your families immigrate to America. It doesn't matter if you don't want to go; this is our base, and someone always needs to guard it. And it's impossible to take all of you at once; this requires a process. So after today, you can go back and discuss it with your families; those who want to go, tell Camas, and he will compile the statistics."

Camas nodded, indicating he had received the order.

Wang Yan looked at Camas and asked: "What about the people sent to America before? Why has there been no news for so long?"

"Sir, I was just about to tell you; they sent news back yesterday." Camas paused for a moment, organized his language, and said: "You want to do olive oil, as well as other businesses like construction and gambling, but these businesses are already controlled by people there. If we don't challenge them, we won't be able to grow, and they won't allow us to do it."

"Tell me in detail."

"In Las Vegas, there is..." Camas introduced the situation in detail.

Basically, whether it was illegal casinos everywhere or the legal casinos in Las Vegas, they couldn't touch them. They were either controlled by the Mafia or jointly controlled by big capitalists and high-ranking officials. The same was true for construction and other businesses; it wasn't easy to intervene.

It was normal to think so; although this was the time for America to take off, and opportunities were everywhere, no one was a fool. People had long since discovered the business opportunities and achieved certain successes; it was indeed very difficult for outsiders to intervene. And the legal system in this era wasn't as sound as it would be later; basically, the whole world was the same—the strong ate the weak, even more nakedly.

After Camas babbled on for a while, he said: "And the largest olive oil sales company in the United States, Genco Olive Oil Company, is the business of the Corleone family, the largest in the United States."

Wang Yan's eyes showed surprise: "The Corleone family?"

"Yes, the Corleone family." Camas affirmed: "Their Don is Vito Corleone. It is understood that he came over from Palermo, has operated in America for many years, and has powerful political resources. Without their consent, we cannot do the olive oil business."

"Vito Corleone..."

Wang Yan lit a cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, stroked the stubble on his chin, and muttered the name repeatedly...