America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

The old man shook his head, his eyes filled with disbelief as he looked at Liqun.

"We won't practice the basics today; instead, I'll teach you a set of staff techniques."

The old man took two long, red-painted sticks from the corner of the wall, tossed one to Liqun, and kept the other for himself.

"This set of staff techniques is called the Eight Immortals Staff."

"The staff is the ancestor of all weapons."

"Once you've mastered the staff technique, you'll quickly get the hang of other weapons as well."

"Alright!"

The old man's stick moved at varying speeds, his movements sometimes graceful and sometimes sharp, relying on the stick to perform many unimaginable actions.

After performing the Eight Immortals Stick routine once, the old man took a sip of tea and rested for a while.

"You come here!"

Recalling his father's demonstration, Li Qun also performed about 50-60% of the Eight Immortals Staff routine.

"You need to put your weight on your right foot, not your left!"

The old man pointed at Li Qun's body movements with a stick, not holding back at all, making Li Qun feel pain all over his body.

"Endure it; resisting blows is also part of cultivation," the old man said.

Chapter 20 The Discus Thrower

It was nearly 11 p.m. when Li Qun walked out of the back door of his father's pawnshop alone and headed towards his uncle's house through the back alley.

The streets were lined with Chinese signs, and all the shops were closed. Under the dim streetlights, a few rats could be seen scurrying along the street corner.

There were no homeless people, and no drunk old men.

Compared to other parts of New York, Chinatown seems like another world, completely out of place with the New York environment.

The large red lanterns under the eaves of the shops, still glowing red, were unusually frightening at night.

When he got home, his uncle was still awake and waiting for him. This was the latest he had ever come home.

"Did Dad give you extra training?"

“Uncle, Dad supports me competing with others. He didn’t say this just a few days ago,” Li Qun said.

"Who wants to fight you?" the uncle frowned.

"A quiet life in a place called Miyagi."

"No problem, but you absolutely cannot lose. Otherwise, if your father doesn't let you off the hook, neither will I," the uncle said with a smile.

"Is it a classmate from school?" the uncle asked.

“I met him today while watching a street fighting match. The guy named Miyagi is one of the competitors,” Li Qun replied.

"Is it impressive?"

"He has more combat experience than I do."

“Isn’t what you’re saying obvious?” Uncle said.

"Um……"

“Come with me to the rooftop,” the uncle said.

"Uncle, you're not going to spar with me too, are you?" Li Qun asked in surprise.

"The fact that you were able to walk back by yourself instead of being left at your father's place overnight shows that you still have the strength."

"Don't worry, if you can't get out of bed tomorrow, I'll call the school to ask for leave for you," the uncle said.

Liqun and his uncle went up to the rooftop of the Yellow Crane Tower, and his uncle turned on the lights on the rooftop.

"Did your father say what kind of kung fu he taught you?" your uncle asked.

"My dad taught me the Eight Immortals Staff Technique today and even demonstrated Drunken Fist. Does that count?" Li Qun replied.

The uncle nodded: "I learned the White Eyebrow Fist."

“I’m your uncle. If I teach you White Eyebrow Fist in private, your father won’t blame you for anything.”

"Come on, let me see what level you're at, Liqun."

The uncle's teaching method was completely different from the father's. He started with practical combat right away. After a set of White Eyebrow Fist, Li Qun was at a loss and could only dodge and defend.

"Fight back! Don't just block!" the uncle said, displeased.

"Then I'll play!"

Li Qun, being careful, elbowed his uncle to the ground, causing him to clutch his chest in pain, his eyes closed and mouth open.

"Uncle, are you alright?!"

"...Something's wrong," the uncle forced out through gritted teeth.

Should we call an ambulance?

"No, I'll just lie down for a bit!"

The uncle lay on the ground for five or six minutes before recovering. After getting up, he looked at Liqun with a complicated expression.

"Truly, a great teacher produces a great student. I no longer need to secretly teach you the White Eyebrow Fist," the uncle said weakly.

"How did you come up with the idea of ​​using your elbow against me just now?"

"What else can we do?" Li Qun asked.

"..."

silence.

My nephew not only seems to have good grades in school, but also has a high combat IQ, and his physical performance doesn't seem like that of someone who has just started practicing martial arts. He seems to be a martial arts prodigy.

"Uncle, will you still teach me the White Eyebrow Fist?"

"I'm not teaching anymore, I'm going back to sleep."

"Oh."

……

……

It was lunchtime at school.

Li Qun opened his lunchbox and sat down with Peter and Gwen in a corner of the cafeteria to eat lunch.

Today, his aunt prepared three dishes and a soup for him: Kung Pao Chicken, Beef with Green Peppers, Four Happiness Meatballs, and Vegetable Soup. The taste was the same as in the restaurant.

"Liqun, I really envy you for having an uncle who owns a Chinese restaurant."

Gwen's eyes were glued to Li Qun's lunchbox, and she ate the cold sandwich she had brought from home, just like Peter.

Two slices of toast, sandwiched with lettuce, a fried egg, grilled bacon, cheese, and salad dressing, can fill your stomach but don't make you feel truly satisfied with what you've eaten.

Peter and Gwen could also choose to buy meals from the school cafeteria, but the food there tasted terrible, like English cooking.

“Peter, Gwen, I want to discuss something with you.”

“Just tell me what it is,” Peter said.

"I won't watch the later preliminary rounds of the street fighting tournament; I'll wait until the main event starts," Li Qun said.

“Okay, then it’ll just be me, Gwen, and Stan Lee together this week,” Peter said.

"Is it your family that won't let you watch it?" Gwen asked.

"Remember yesterday? That karate kid wanted to spar with me, but I refused. After I got home yesterday, I told my master and my uncle about it, and guess what happened?"

"Are they worried about you and don't want you to get involved in the conflict?" Peter guessed.

“Completely the opposite. My master and my uncle both said I should take the job and let the karate kid know how powerful Aurora Kung Fu is,” Li Qun said.

"So you're not watching the preliminaries these past few days because you're going home early for special training?!" Peter's eyes lit up immediately.

“That’s right.” Li Qun nodded.

"Wow!"

“Liqun, can I come watch your training this weekend?” Peter asked.

“Of course, Peter, you might even be able to help,” Li Qun said.

“I want to join too,” Gwen said.

"Then I'll give you the address."

Gwen glanced around, then pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly wrote down the addresses of the pawnshop and the Yellow Crane Tower Chinese restaurant that Liqun had given her father.

"Why did you bring your cell phone to school?" Peter asked Gwen nervously in a low voice.

“My dad is worried about me. He forced me to take the job, saying it’s a kind of training, and I need to make sure no one finds out I’m breaking the school rules,” Gwen answered softly.

"If this keeps up, you'll corrupt us all," Peter muttered under his breath.

“It’s just school rules, it’s not against the constitution, Peter, you’re too good!” Gwen said.

“How many school rules have you broken now? If Old Joe finds out, he’ll make you copy the student handbook a few times,” Peter said.

“To tell you the truth, I plan to break every single school rule I can before I graduate,” Gwen said softly.

"That's amazing."

Li Qun gave Gwen Stacy a thumbs up.

I support you.

"Don't just talk the talk, want to join me in the action?" Gwen looked at her two good brothers with bright eyes.

"Gwen, what are you doing?" Li Qun asked nervously.

"Have you noticed that the discus thrower statue in the school looks a bit strange?" Gwen whispered.

"What's strange?" Peter asked, puzzled.

“He has no gender,” Gwen said.