America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Li Qun pulled Peter away from the front of the teaching building and took off his own mask to show Peter the half of his face underneath.

“I haven’t been feeling well these past couple of days. I consulted a doctor, who said that I might be allergic to some substance in the air, so I bought the highest-grade medical mask to wear to school,” Li Qun explained to Peter.

"I see."

Li Qun put his mask back on and walked into the teaching building with Peter.

Early in the morning, Vice Principal George stood behind the main gate of the teaching building, watching every student who entered.

The old gentleman is in his seventies or eighties, but he still insists on arriving at school earlier than the students to work, and every day he stands by the gate of the teaching building like a gatekeeper to strictly enforce school rules and regulations.

"Lyon, Lyon!"

The vice principal spotted Li Qun as he walked in, snapped his fingers three or four times, and walked up to him.

"What's wrong? Why are you wearing a mask?"

“I have a slight allergy; it’s an allergy to air,” Li Qun replied.

"What? Air allergy?"

“Alright, then take off your mask and let me see it. I need to make sure it’s real,” old George said seriously.

Liqun obediently complied.

If a student misbehaves, the vice principal can contact the parents to ask the student to go home and give the student a few days off.

After removing his mask, Old George frowned and carefully observed Li Qun's face. Li Qun only took a few breaths in the teaching building corridor, and his face instantly contorted in pain.

"Put it on quickly."

Do you know exactly what aspect of your air pollution symptoms are causing your allergy?

Old George's expression softened, and he asked Li Qun in a friendly manner.

“I don’t know. If I need to be screened for allergens, the doctor said I’d have to wait until spring,” Li Qun replied.

Take care of yourself.

The vice principal waved for Li Qun to leave.

Li Qun walked to his storage box, where Peter had been waiting for a while.

"Old George is just going to let you off like that?" Peter was still worried.

"What else are you going to do to me?" Li Qun asked.

“He might guess you have the flu and think it would be better to send you home,” Peter said.

"Did Old George advise every student who wore a mask to go home to deal with the situation?" Li Qun asked.

“That’s how it is with students who are flushed, have a fever, and are coughing,” Peter replied.

"So we were really lucky last semester, that old George didn't find out you were sick." Li Qun laughed, and Peter laughed along with her.

As Li Qun carried his textbooks to class, some students in the hallway avoided him when they saw him wearing a mask. Some made subtle movements, not wanting Li Qun to realize he was disliked; others frowned and turned their faces away as if they had seen a pile of dog poop.

Peter and Gwen, who were walking next to Li Qun, were also disliked by the other students.

"Isn't this discrimination?" Li Qun turned to observe Gwen's expression.

“Are you laughing?” Gwen noticed Li Qun’s eyes.

"How did you know I was laughing?" Li Qun asked rhetorically.

“You smile with your eyes, you always do,” Gwen replied.

“Gwen is right. Li Qun, your smile is very different from others. If I don’t look into your eyes, sometimes I think you’re a Russian who doesn’t like to smile,” Peter said to Li Qun.

“At first I tried to fit into this atmosphere of laughing like an idiot all day long, but I found that I couldn’t adapt to laughing like an idiot all day long,” Li Qun explained.

“Me too.” Gwen nodded with a sense of empathy.

“After my mother passed away, I went back to school and found everyone laughing like an idiot, and I didn’t know what they were laughing about. As soon as you opened your mouth, the other person would start laughing.”

Peter laughed as soon as Gwen finished speaking.

"Don't laugh, Peter."

“I can’t help it,” Peter replied, trying his best to restrain himself.

Peter stopped smiling for a moment, but then laughed again.

When class started, Li Qun sat down in his usual spot in the classroom, and history teacher David walked in.

Before the class officially started, Teacher David kindly inquired about Li Qun's health and learned that Li Qun was just experiencing "air allergies," which put him at ease before beginning the class.

Li Qun felt that he would be greeted by every teacher in his class this morning, and things did indeed happen just as Li Qun had guessed.

Each teacher asked Li Qun to take off his mask to check if there were any marks on the corner of his mouth. Dr. Otto went the extra mile, wiping the corner of Li Qun's mouth with his finger to see if he had used makeup to cover up the marks.

Dr. Otto began to have doubts about Li Qun's condition. After all, he had intervened yesterday after school when Li Qun was blocked outside the school by two adults.

Li Qun is of Asian descent, and the teacher was mainly worried that Li Qun had been a victim of domestic violence.

In the teachers' office, Li Qun was often the topic of conversation; there was so much to talk about about him.

During lunchtime, Liz also ran over to Li Qun in the school cafeteria to express her concern.

After opening the insulated box, Li Qun quickly picked up some vegetables, took the plate, and went outside to eat.

Gwen, Peter, and Harry said they couldn't smell anything in the air, and Lillian said their sense of smell had deteriorated a thousandfold.

Li Qun and Stan Lee were having lunch on the outdoor steps. Stan Lee was eating a Mexican burrito, with a thermos full of steaming black tea next to him.

“Liqun, you should train your super sense of smell, just like Superman controls his superpowers,” Stan Lee teased Liqun with a chuckle.

“Stan Lee, super sense of smell is a passive ability. Besides, I don’t have a superhuman brain to control my super senses.”

Li Qun eats very quickly. The outdoor temperature is below zero, so if she doesn't eat quickly, the food will get cold.

After finishing their meal, Li Qun returned to the restaurant, and Gwen and the others expressed their concern. They worried that eating lunch outdoors might backfire and make Li Qun sick.

"No problem."

“What will we do if you get sick and take leave?” Gwen said.

“Yeah, what are we going to eat?” Peter said.

“Yeah, what should we eat?” Harry asked.

Chapter 105 Infection can be cured by drinking milk

What was that guy wearing?

"It looks cool."

In the corridor, Li Qun walked past the small group.

He didn't expect that the mask he was wearing was so high-end that some people couldn't recognize it as a mask.

If you were to choose a common blue or white disposable medical mask, the response from Liqun wouldn't be one of "coolness," but rather one of harsh and sarcastic remarks.

A day later, Li Qun noticed that some people at school were imitating him by wearing cloth masks to look cool.

If they were students in the same grade, they would know that Li Qun wore a mask because of "air allergies." Those who imitated Li Qun were all students from other grades, and none of them dared to appear in front of Vice Principal George wearing a mask.

After school, the vice principal appeared in the chemistry classroom with a serious expression.

"Mr. Michael, is there anything wrong with your chemistry experiments?" Old George looked around the chemistry classroom and then turned to look at the chemical reagent cabinet.

No. I haven't conducted any experiments with my students in any of my chemistry classes this semester.

“It’s too cold. I’m afraid the students’ hands will be so cold that they won’t be able to hold the test tube forceps,” Mr. Michael said to the vice principal with a smile.

"On the second day of school, I discovered that one of my students was allergic to the air in the school's indoor environment, and it seems that there are more students with air allergies today," Old George said, frowning.

"Vice Principal, do you think there was a chemical leak in my classroom, which caused some students to feel unwell?"

"This is terrible."

Teacher Michael thought that old George's idea was terrible.

He taught every chemistry class with seriousness and dedication, and no student ever had an accident in his class.

"Is it possible that the students stole the chemicals to play with?"

“This happened when I was in school,” old George said.

"When did you start school?" Mr. Michael asked old George earnestly.

“Half a century ago,” old George replied.

“Such a thing would never happen here.”

"Look how sturdy this cabinet is, and only I have the key to it."

Mr. Michael showed his keys to the vice principal.

Through the glass window of the cabinet, Mr. Michael introduced the chemicals in each bottle to the vice principal one by one, and there was no bottle missing the correct dosage.

"Mr. Michael, could you analyze the air composition in each classroom of the school?"

"this?"

“We’re just a high school, not a university, so we don’t have advanced labs,” Mr. Michael politely declined.

"alright."

“Vice Principal, should we check the cafeteria? Maybe it’s a problem there,” Mr. Michael said.

"It won't be ready until Monday," old George said sadly.

From the day students returned to school until the weekend break, students only came to school for three days during the first week of school. And today, Friday, the students who imitated Li Qun by wearing masks were thinking of coming to school to put on a show since the weekend was approaching.

Whether in the east or the west, a certain trend will always suddenly become popular among students in schools, which will give teachers a headache.

"bathroom?"

“A problem with the toilet drains is the easiest way to spread it throughout the school,” Mr. Michael advised Mr. George.

"Now is the perfect time to inspect the toilets."

"Mr. Michael, are you free to come with me now?"

"Uh, sure."