America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"tissue."

"Tissues!"

"very good!"

"That's all for today's lesson. Remember to practice your pronunciation at home using the tapes that come with the textbook."

Gwen walked out of the Chinese tutoring center in Queens with her bag slung over her shoulder. Among the group of Asian students and teachers, the white-skinned Gwen stood out.

Gwen wanted to learn Chinese, so she had to come to the larger Chinatown in northern Queens to enroll in a Chinese class. There were only four or five people in the class, and they were all Asian kids.

Chapter 69 Peter's Inner Thoughts

Peter Parker isn't a chatterbox, or rather, his chatterbox nature hasn't yet awakened. Peter needs to wear a mask so no one recognizes him in order to perform his humorous linguistic art in front of strangers.

Peter, an introverted man, has a great love for spending time in the library.

Before Li Qun transferred to his school, Peter spent most of his weekends in the library.

Now, Peter is starting to work on his social skills.

On Sunday, he visited Steve Rogers alone, carrying a bag of bananas as Li Qun had instructed him.

"Please come in, Peter."

“Still bananas.” Steve laughed.

“We can’t come empty-handed,” Peter said.

“You can come empty-handed, we’re friends,” Steve said.

"How was your date yesterday?" Peter asked curiously.

"It's alright."

"When it came time to pay the bill, Carter and I split it."

“I made it clear from the beginning that it was my treat,” Steve said.

“Did you tell Ms. Carter about what you wanted to trouble her with?” Peter asked.

“I didn’t bring it up myself; she asked me about it. Carter said I don’t hide my feelings, and that’s true.”

As he spoke, Steve rolled up his sleeve to show Peter the new needle marks on his arm.

"She drew my blood this morning before she went to work."

"I was lucky; Carter works in the lab, so she could easily check my blood sample."

Steve rolled down his sleeves.

"When can we expect the results?" Peter asked.

"Carter said it would only take a day or two because it was a side job."

“That’s great,” Peter said.

"Yes."

“I’ll have to ask her out once I have the results,” Steve said.

"Peter, do you think I should shave my beard?"

“It feels cleaner to shave. I don’t have a beard yet, but Uncle Ben shaves every day.”

"Let's go buy some shaving supplies! Peter, can you help me?"

"Let me ask Aunt Mei what I need to buy to shave."

Peter took out his phone and called Aunt May, from whom he got the answer.

"Razor, shaving cream, pre-shave oil, aftershave..."

“I’ve written it all down, Aunt Mei.”

"Of course it's not me shaving, it's my friend."

"Is this how it works? I understand..."

After the call ended, Peter and Steve went outside.

In a Spanish supermarket, Peter and Steve faced a difficult choice between a manual razor and an electric razor, and in the end Steve chose the straight-handled manual razor.

Electric razors terrified Steve, while Peter was afraid of manual razors.

After shopping, Steve returned to the apartment and carried a bunch of things to the apartment's communal bathroom, where he and Peter sat together at the sink, figuring out how to shave.

"Aunt Mei said that you should first apply a hot towel to your beard to soften it."

"Johnny, your skin is great, you can apply shaving cream directly."

"Cream with your hands..."

Steve smeared shaving foam all over his chin, turning himself into a white-bearded old man.

"You should shave in the direction of beard growth..."

Holding the razor handle, Steve felt a strange sense of familiarity; his mind couldn't remember, but his muscles did.

Steve triggered the muscle memory of shaving, and with incredibly skillful movements, he shaved off the beard on one side of his face, then moved on to the other side, finally finishing his chin.

After shaving off all the shaving foam and beard, Steve washed his face with a towel and saw his beardless self in the mirror.

A memory suddenly flashed through his mind, but Steve couldn't grasp its essence at all.

Steve stared blankly at his clean-faced self.

"Did you get scratched?" Peter asked with concern.

"No."

Steve turned to Peter and smiled, exuding the charm of a mature man.

“Now nobody will believe that Johnny’s job is a garbage collector,” Peter said enviously.

“Peter, you’re not bad either.”

"I recently read a book that said the human brain evolved for better movement, and thinking was just a byproduct."

"Try increasing your exercise."

Steve simply patted Peter's shoulder lightly twice, and Peter winced and opened his mouth wide in pain.

“See that? You don’t have much meat on you, I can touch your bones right away,” Steve said.

Steve and Peter returned to their apartment from the communal bathroom, and Steve turned on the TV and found a fitness program.

“Going directly to the gym is too challenging, Peter. You can learn from the coaches on TV.”

“As for training… I have a better teacher,” Peter said.

"Liqun knows kung fu, so I asked Liqun to teach me kung fu-style training."

“I helped Li Qun when he was training last semester. I watched him train day by day.”

"That's great!"

“Save money wherever you can,” Steve said.

"I'm now considering finding another part-time job to earn an extra income."

“Johnny, do you really need the money?” Peter asked.

“I’m planning to buy a car, either a sedan or a motorcycle,” Steve replied.

"Johnny, you need to get your driver's license first, right?"

"Taking a driver's license is also part of my plans."

“My colleagues always talk about vacations and travel when they chat. They advise me to plan my vacation, get out of New York City and see other places. They say New York makes life too tiring,” Steve said.

"I don't know if what they said is right, but going to other cities and seeing how locals work and live will give you the answer."

“Mhm.” Peter nodded.

Vacations and travel were something the Parker family had never done before. Aunt May taking him to museums and Central Park was considered a vacation. After all, New York was full of tourist attractions.

Peter doesn't yearn for the world outside New York; he only longs for summer pool parties, hoping to be invited to participate "equally."

Steve listened like a tree hollow, as Peter poured out his heart to him.

Peter complains that Lillian is always slow to answer the phone and reply to messages; he feels like a follower when Harry is around; Gwen is always petty and frighteningly vengeful; at school, Dr. Octavius ​​devotes 70 percent of his attention to him and Lillian, constantly comparing them, seemingly harboring strange expectations of them, and secretly adding extra difficulty to their assignments...

"Peter, why do you seem so satisfied?" Steve asked, puzzled.

“Johnny, don’t tell them that I said those things about them.”

“I’ll keep it a secret for you,” Steve smiled.

Chapter 70 A healthy body is the foundation for learning.

The wardrobe door was pushed open from the inside out, and Liqun crawled out of the wardrobe.

He wasn't yet proficient in portal magic, and Bruce Banner opened the portal to the wardrobe for him.

Bruce Banner squeezed every penny out of Li Qun, and Li Qun's allowance for the next few years may all be spent on Bruce Banner's "interest classes".

Banner said he wanted to train Li Qun to be his assistant, but he did not force Li Qun; instead, he let Li Qun make his own choice.

Bruce Banner said all sorts of nice things, and after careful consideration, Li Qun felt that this was like a windfall.

Where can you find a teacher like Bruce Banner?

Bruce Banner, at a young age, has already entered the Nobel Prize candidate club, and it would not be surprising if he appeared on the list of Nobel Prize winners in any year.

If Bruce Banner hadn't been secretly wanted by General Ross but was working in a university laboratory, becoming his student would have been a beautiful fantasy for most people.

Now, for just $10, you can get an industry expert to teach you—it's practically free.

"Don't close the closet yet," Bruce Banner said to Li Qun across the closet.

"Is there anything else, Dr. Banner?"

"Never practice the portal magic you learned today by yourself in secret, understand? When you practice, either I or the King must be there to watch you," Bruce Banner reminded Li Qun.