America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 138 Chopsticks and Knife and Fork

"Sufeier, why are you here?"

Li Xiaoen asked helplessly as he walked to the front of the car under the girl's gaze.

"Open the car door quickly, it's hot in here."

Sufeil pursed his rosy lips under his sunglasses and took a deep breath.

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen looked up at the sky with white clouds hanging in it. The sun was shining brightly today, and there was a cool breeze blowing from time to time. The temperature was not high in the autumn of October.

Without thinking too much, Li Xiaoen opened the car door and got in with Sufeil.

The air conditioner in the car was blasting. Su Feier looked out the window as soon as he sat in the car. The atmosphere inexplicably fell into a strange silence. Li Xiaoen couldn't help but take the initiative to speak: "Su Feier..."

"Please ask the professor for me, and I'll treat you to a meal."

As if he already knew what Li Xiaoen was going to say, Su Feier suddenly turned around and interrupted him.

"..."

"Ok."

Li Xiaoen shrugged his shoulders and didn't worry about why the girl was so anxious. He called her on Saturday morning and started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

Even on weekends, traffic in Midtown Manhattan is still a bit congested. Compared to the business cars coming and going on weekdays, weekends seem to have extra time for tourists and sightseeing buses. The congestion is even more obvious at some of Manhattan's iconic buildings.

After slowly parking the car behind a Porsche, Li Xiaoen casually selected a song on the console and turned his head to look at the girl next to him.

"How about going to Chinatown for beef hotpot?"

He had originally planned to eat some authentic Chinese food, but now that Sufeil had suddenly arrived, considering the other party's taste and that he himself was not used to gourmet Chinese food, he simply chose hot pot, which was acceptable to both parties.

"sure."

Sufeil nodded without objection.

Because of the traffic jam, it took forty minutes to travel a short distance of 4 miles. Li Xiaoen parked the car in a parking lot near Chinatown and then took Sufei to the hot pot restaurant they had visited last time.

Because it was the weekend, there were a lot of people coming and going in Chinatown, but there were not many Chinese faces among them. Instead, there were more foreign tourists and various internet bloggers who were holding their mobile phone cameras and taking pictures everywhere.

Perhaps it was because Sufeil's appearance and temperament were too eye-catching that she attracted a lot of people's attention along the way. What's more, the cameras in their hands were facing her intentionally or unintentionally. Li Xiaoen looked around and noticed it. He couldn't help but pull the girl's hand to protect her on the inside of the road.

Looking up at the young man in surprise, Sufeil's lips, which were particularly rosy today, showed a contemptuous smile.

"Thank you, twenty dollars."

Taking the girl's gaze in, Li Xiaoen spoke slowly. Just a simple sentence made Su Feier frown.

"what are you saying?"

"It's an honor to be your 'human shield,' Miss. As a top student at Princeton University, my service originally costs fifty dollars. Today is our first day of business, so I'm specially..."

Li Xiaoen was joking, but he suddenly felt a pain in his hand and stopped talking.

"what are you saying?"

Sufeil's eyes fluttered, his clear eyes like sapphires flashed with light, and he pursed his lips to reveal a rare gentle smile.

"Are you sure you want to compete with a man like me in grip strength?"

Holding the soft hand, Li Xiaoen bent and supported himself to resist the opponent's strong grip. He did not fight back immediately, but gave a warning with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"what are you saying?"

Sufeil said the same thing again, blinking innocently.

"Since you initiated the challenge, just don't cry if it really hurts."

Li Xiaoen couldn't help but sneer. Just as he was about to exert force with his palm, he saw Sufeil loosen his grip immediately, leaving him stunned for a moment, unable to react.

"To the restaurant, Mr. Shield."

Sufeil withdrew his hand and gave a mischievous reminder.

Li Xiaoen: "..."

"Ha ha……"

A middle-aged woman came out of the store and greeted them with a smile, "Are you two?"

She saw the two young lovers competing hand in hand, a scene of young bickering, and even her mood at work became better.

"Yes, two."

Li Xiaoen took over the conversation and looked around the restaurant, "Is there any quiet place?"

"Yes, there is exactly one."

The woman looked at Li Xiaoen familiarly, smiled and nodded, her eyes inevitably looking at Su Feier, "For a table for two, we need a quiet place, so we can only have one pot. Do you mind?"

“Just one pot.”

Sufeier nodded indifferently. She had learned a little about hot pot since her last visit. In China, sharing a pot was the norm.

Being led to a corner by the window, Su Feier looked around at the seats on both sides of the boiler, and kicked Li Xiaoen who had just sat down, "You get up, I'll sit in."

"Sitting side by side?"

The kettle was already brought up, and Li Xiaoen was boiling the cutlery. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, but when he saw that Sufei didn't answer, he didn't bother to dwell on it anymore and stood up to make room.

"You wash the dishes, I'll go get some seasoning."

Now that he was standing up, Li Xiaoen simply went to get some seasonings and said, "How about the same combination as last time?"

"can."

Nodding, Sufeil reached out to touch the ceramic bowl filled with hot water in front of Li Xiaoen's seat, and quickly retracted his hand.

"Can you do it?"

Looking at this scene, Li Xiaoen complained in a helpless manner.

I guess the other party has a dishwasher at home, so this young lady may have never tried washing dishes with hot water.

"you can go now."

After rolling his eyes at Li Xiaoen, Sufei lowered his head, carefully picked up the chopsticks, and put them into the bowl to stir. The water in the bowl formed a vortex and gradually overflowed.

Pretty smart.

Li Xiaoen felt amused and turned around with peace of mind, walking towards the condiment table.

Shacha sauce, minced garlic, oyster sauce, chopped coriander...

He skillfully matched various seasonings and blended them in a certain proportion. Having eaten hot pot so many times since he was a child, Li Xiaoen had already experimented with and mixed out his favorite recipe. Naturally, he was quite proud that Sufeil liked him.

After quickly preparing two bowls of dipping sauce, Li Xiaoen was about to turn around and go back when the middle-aged woman from before suddenly came up to him.

"Good job, young man."

Seeing the gossip in Li Xiaoen's eyes, the woman smiled and started a conversation in Chinese, "You don't look like an ABC. Are you here to study abroad? You're the first person I've ever met to have such a beautiful white girlfriend."

"Maybe you misunderstood."

Li Xiaoen's expression turned strange, "We are not a couple yet."

"That's also ambiguous, isn't it?"

The middle-aged woman smiled confidently. She seemed to have a lot to say, giving Li Xiaoen the feeling of being the head of the village intelligence department. She nodded seriously and advised, "Cherish her, study hard, and strive to stay after graduation."

After she finished speaking, she saw that Li Xiaoen's face was still helpless and unmoved. She couldn't help but glared at him anxiously: "Didn't you see that girl is very clingy to you? She doesn't want to sit across from you, she wants to sit next to you."

"..." Li Xiaoen frowned slightly and nodded: "Okay, thank you for the reminder."

"It's good to know."

The woman smiled and said, "When you have a mixed-race baby, come and show it to me when you have time. You two are so good-looking, and the baby will definitely be even better..."

"Stop, stop..."

Are the village intelligence department's words really that explosive? Li Xiaoen quickly interrupted, feeling both amused and helpless. "Isn't this too outrageous?"

"Oh, that's not outrageous, I..."

The woman was waving her hands while talking when she saw the guests at a table not far away suddenly raised their hands. She stopped talking, said hello and walked over without interest.

After the woman left, Li Xiaoen shook his head, breathed a sigh of relief, and walked back to his seat.

Returning to his seat and placing a bowl of dipping sauce in front of Sufeil, Li Xiaoen looked at the girl and couldn't help but recall what the middle-aged aunt had said before.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Noticing Li Xiaoen's gaze, Sufeil walked up to him, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"nothing."

He shook his head slightly and quickly. The pot was already on the fire and was cooking. Li Xiaoen picked up the chopsticks and fiddled with the corn and white radish in the pot.

While still feeling emotional, Li Xiaoen suddenly realized that Sufeil was close to him again, and he couldn't help but look sideways in surprise.

"What are you looking at me for?"

The two were so close that they could even feel each other's breath. Sufeil raised his chin and gestured to the ingredients on the table, "Can you put the raw beef balls down first?"

With an unconscious pang of his heart, Li Xiaoen nodded in agreement, picked up the plate of raw beef balls, separated them, and then slid them into the pot one by one.

"You still know this?"

Li Xiaoen looked sideways at Sufei in surprise, took the iced juice brought by the waiter, and poured it into both of their glasses.

"It tasted good last time, so I went back to check it out."

After answering casually, Sufeil picked up the glass of juice and took a sip.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoen nodded seriously.

Beef hotpot requires that the beef be blanched for a short time to retain its tenderness. In a sense, the concept is similar to that of steak.

"The water is boiling, you can put the beef in."

Sufeil, who was beside him, bumped into him.

"it is good."

It was the first time that an American girl reminded him to eat beef hotpot. Li Xiaoen didn't know what it meant. He put a plate of marbled beef on the strainer, immersed it in boiling water, and took it out in ten seconds.

"Not going to use chopsticks this time?"

Looking at Sufei reaching for the beef on the strainer with a fork, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but laugh and tease, but was immediately rolled his eyes.

Sufei just forked a piece of beef, turned his wrist, rolled up the whole piece, and then picked it up.

"It's just a difference in the dining utensils. Does that make you feel proud?"

Youyou scoffed. Sufeier dipped the beef in some seasoning, put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it. "If you really lack confidence, I can help you transfer to my cousin's elementary school."

"It's not a question of pride, it's a difference in convenience." Li Xiaoen explained helplessly.

"Really? I think a knife and fork is very convenient."

Sufeil snorted nonchalantly, with a faint smile on her face. She reached out her fork towards the colander as she did the first time, but unexpectedly the young man next to her reached out a pair of chopsticks and picked up all the remaining slices of beef - he even pulled off a slice that was already on her fork.

Facing the girl's surprised look, Li Xiaoen raised his chin and asked, "Is it convenient?"

Her red lips parted slightly, revealing her neat, white teeth that were clenched, and Sufeil's eyes narrowed.

"It doesn't matter if you don't answer. The facts have already given the answer."

Li Xiaoen smiled nonchalantly, dipped the slices of beef on the chopsticks into the sauce and stuffed them into his mouth. As he was chewing and feeling the tender and smooth texture of the beef in his mouth, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his lower back, which made him grimace in pain.

"If I don't do this, how can I explain to you that chopsticks are more convenient?"

After swallowing the food, Li Xiaoen quickly put down his chopsticks and reached back to grab Sufei's hand.

"Humph, your Chinese chopsticks are unhygienic, how do you explain that?"

Letting go of her hand, Sufeil snorted softly. She was not convinced that the dining culture she had cultivated since she was a child was being belittled.

Is this some kind of chopsticks versus knife and fork debate?
Li Xiaoen felt strange, but he still explained, "Unhygienic, you mean the communal dining system? We also have separate chopsticks for picking up food. It's becoming more and more common now."

"You have to keep changing chopsticks while eating. Is this what you call convenient?" Sufei retorted with a sneer.

"..."

"It seems to make some sense."

Thinking in his mind, Li Xiaoen nodded. There is no perfect or superior tableware. The only difference is the customs and habits of each place. As for the example of eating with chopsticks, there is no need to mention it again.

"Well, this debate is a draw for now."

Shrugging his shoulders and coming to a conclusion, Li Xiaoen took a big bite of beef and was about to drink a sip of ice drink when he found that there were a few drops of oil floating on the glass of juice in front of him, which was obviously contaminated by the soup that the two people had stirred up when they were fighting over it.

"Pfft..."

Su Feier laughed out loud, and then she looked at Li Xiaoen mischievously, "It seems like I won."

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen said slowly, reaching out to take the drink in front of Su Feier and drinking it in one gulp, "Did I lose? How come I didn't notice?"

His smile faded, Sufeil rolled his eyes, turned to look at the pot where the food was boiling, and took the initiative to scoop up the cooked beef meatballs with a colander.

"Pour it back up." She bumped her legs under the table.

Li Xiaoen had no objection. Just as he poured the cup, he saw Su Feier take a bite of the beef meatball. The heat made his teeth tremble. He picked it up and took a sip at the right time, which made him feel a lot more relaxed.

"The beef balls are very hot right after they are taken out. Let them cool down a bit before eating."

Li Xiaoen said helplessly, and Sufei's legs hit him again under the table.

"Then put beef in it."

"Ok."

Li Xiaoen nodded, noticing that Su Feier's drink was now empty. "Could you please offer to refill your drink after you finish it?"

Sufeier looked over with contempt when he heard this:
"This is my cup. I can do whatever I like. Any problem?"

"That's the truth."

Li Xiaoen nodded indifferently, took out the beef when the time was up, and took the initiative to take the drink and pour it into the cup.

"I'm different from you, Sufir."

Li Xiaoen showed a meaningful smile on his face, "I am a very generous person, I won't be so stingy."

"..."

“Hey Hey Hey…”

Noticing that Sufeil reached out to touch his lower back again, Li Xiaoen shouted quickly, and after hurriedly placing the drink on the table, he grabbed the girl's hand before his waist was hit.

(End of this chapter)