America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"Using cola as a condiment is actually based on the same principle as adding sugar."

"Okay, you've convinced me. I'll give it a try."

Gwen used chopsticks to pick up a chicken wing and put it on her plate, then ate it directly with her hands.

Eating chicken wings is no different from eating ribs; you just gnaw along the bone.

"Is it good, Gwen?" Peter asked.

“I’ll have another one to taste it; I couldn’t taste anything in the first one,” Gwen replied.

Li Qun prepared three Chinese dishes, and Gwen also served three white dishes to cater to everyone's tastes.

The vegetable salad, black pepper chicken soup with mashed potatoes, and a platter of bacon, sausage, fried eggs, and grilled vegetables are incredibly simple to make.

It's clear that this is how Gwen and George usually deal with their stomachs when they get home.

"It tastes pretty good!"

George ate his cola chicken wings and smiled as he looked at his daughter.

“I still want to tease Peter,” Gwen said to her father, George.

Peter picked up a chicken wing and put it on his plate. He put down his chopsticks and started eating with his hands. Li Qun noticed a change in Peter's pupils.

"10 points!" Peter exclaimed.

“You really have the air of a food critic,” Gwen joked.

"Peter, how would you rate these two dishes?" Li Qun asked Peter.

“I’d give 8 points for scrambled eggs with tomatoes here because I’m allergic to egg whites and can’t eat too many eggs,” Peter said.

"I would give the mint fried pork ribs a 9.5 out of 10. I deducted 0.5 points because this is not the first time I have eaten this dish."

“In my opinion, dinner tonight was perfect,” George said with a smile.

“These three dishes, they look like they were made by Gwen, right?” George pointed at Gwen’s white dishes.

“It’s okay if you don’t eat them. Peter, Liqun, and I will finish them off,” Gwen said nonchalantly.

“This was made by Gwen, but I taught her some tricks that subtly altered the flavor,” Li Qun told George.

"Oh?"

George scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and started eating the mashed potatoes mixed with rice.

Wow!

George had a sudden inspiration. He peeled the chicken meat off the cola chicken wings and mixed it all together with vegetable salad, fried bacon, fried sausage, and fried eggs into his bibimbap, along with some scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

One bite, and it's an absolute delight.

"Uncle George has grasped the ultimate essence of Chinese cuisine."

“What is the highest truth?” Peter and Gwen looked at Liqun.

"Anything can be mixed with rice."

George lowered his head and devoured the entire bowl of his creative fusion rice in one go. He let out a breath, opened a bottle of wheat juice, and took a satisfying sip to finish the meal.

The old father leaned back in his chair contentedly, his eyes filled with the scene of his three children, Gwen, Peter, and Liqun, chatting and laughing.

George Stacy felt full and very satisfied.

He suddenly felt that this was the most satisfying meal he had eaten since Helen left him.

Chapter 34 A Terrifying and Thrilling Night

After dinner, Li Qun saw a scene in the kitchen that was extremely horrifying to him.

Gwen first fills the sink with water, then pours in detergent, washes each plate in the water, wipes it with a towel, and then sets it aside to drain.

"Is there no next step?" Li Qun asked in shock.

“That’s it,” Gwen replied.

“But there’s still detergent residue on it…” Li Qun said.

"Don't worry about that, the detergent is food-grade." Gwen gave Liqun a strange look.

"I don't think this is normal."

"Peter, what do you think?"

“Yes, we have a dishwasher at home,” Peter said, scratching his head.

Peter simply throws all the used dishes into the dishwasher at home, and then takes them out and puts them back in the cupboard after the dishwasher finishes washing.

“Liqun, how do you wash your dishes at home?” Gwen asked.

"It needs to be washed with clean water at least once more; we can't just wipe the plate and leave it like that," Li Qun said.

“Just wiping the dishes is tiring enough, and then you have to wash them again.” Gwen shook her head.

"let me."

Li Qun rolled up his sleeves and took over the dishwashing job from Gwen.

With skillful movements and nimble actions, Peter could tell at a glance that Liqun was a good child who would help with housework, just like himself.

“Liqun, you seem to have a bit of OCD,” Gwen complained.

“I don’t deny that I do have obsessive-compulsive tendencies in certain things,” Li Qun told Gwen.

Li Qun finished washing the dishes in a few minutes; they were ready to begin their horror movie night.

The TV in Gwen's living room is huge, and there's also a really good sound system; these are all things George painstakingly saved up for.

The three sofas surrounding the television were also exceptionally comfortable, making it easy to sink right into them.

George Stacy examined the several Nightmare on Elm Street videotapes that Li Qun had brought.

His current concern is the possibility of intimate scenes between male and female characters in horror movies, which could be awkward for him and his three children.

"Wow, this movie series was born in the same year as you guys."

"The first Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984."

George waved the videotape of the first Nightmare on Elm Street at the three high school students huddled on the sofa, then put the tape into the VCR and started playing the movie.

The film opens with a girl in white pajamas running down a dark corridor, accompanied by eerie laughter. The scene then shifts, and suddenly the scene shifts to a factory-like place...

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you!"

Three, four, lock your door.

"Five, six, hurry and get the cross."

"Seven, eight, sleepless all night..."

Gwen clung tightly to the pillow; she was starting to get scared.

Nursery rhymes have a special magic, and Sheriff George subconsciously touched the cross pendant hanging on his chest.

The historical setting of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is the same as George's own youth, making him feel the strongest sense of identification with the story.

To create a horror movie atmosphere, they turned off all the lights in the house, leaving only the light from the television flickering on the faces of the four of them.

Ten minutes into the movie, George's worst fears came true.

That scene did indeed appear!

It lasted only a minute, and through the lens of cinematic language, it was only used to depict the romantic relationship between the two characters, which was rather conservative.

George glanced at Gwen, Peter, and Li Qun; none of them reacted in any particular way, which reassured him.

Is he feeling a bit repressed?

George reflected on himself.

Five minutes later, Nightmare Freddy made his official entrance!

……

……

I didn't sleep all night.

The four of them stared wide-eyed until dawn.

Li Qun was not afraid, but as soon as Peter saw that Li Qun had closed his eyes, he quickly shook him awake.

“If Freddy dares to enter my dream, I’ll show him what real terror is,” Li Qun said dejectedly to Peter.

“But I’m scared,” Peter said to Liqun. “If I fall asleep and you fall asleep too, you won’t be able to enter my dreams to save me.”

“Peter, you are Peter Parker.”

“It’s just a movie; Freddy doesn’t exist in real life,” Li Qun told Peter.

"Look, they're asleep."

On another sofa, Gwen leaned on George's shoulder, while George was still touching his crucifix pendant. It was unclear when they had fallen asleep.

Gwen suddenly struggled, startling George awake, and also startling Peter and Liqun.

"No!"

Gwen seems to be having a nightmare.

"Look..."

Peter Parker's mouth was wide open, and he could practically put four fingers inside.

"Gwen, wake up!" Father George shook Gwen awake.

"..."

Where am I?

"At home, baby."

George let Gwen touch his cross, and Gwen regained consciousness.

Watching all five "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movies in one night was too much for them, and they experienced obvious post-horror movie syndrome.