America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

“Okay, I’ll confess. Actually, last night Uncle Ben encountered a robber, and I chased him away with my kung fu,” Peter explained, half-jokingly.

“That’s how it is.” Li Qun pretended to believe him.

"You and Uncle Ben made this on a whim, didn't you?" Li Qun asked.

Peter paused for a moment.

“How can we come empty-handed? Peter, we always bring something every time we visit Steve. I told you that this is a traditional custom in Aurora.”

"Is it too late for me to go buy things now?" Peter asked.

“No need, Dad doesn’t care about that,” Li Qun said.

Peter glanced at Uncle Ben, who was chatting with his father, and noticed that the two were about to go upstairs to visit the rooftop. Peter quickly reminded Li Qun.

Upon arriving at the rooftop, Peter noticed that he hadn't been there for a while, and the layout of the rooftop had changed, with many objects that looked like they were for practicing martial arts.

Li Qun casually picked up a long stick from the weapon rack and demonstrated his stick fighting skills to Uncle Ben, which amazed Uncle Ben.

“Peter, how about we spar a bit?” Li Qun invited Peter.

“Uncle Ben, may I?” Peter looked at Uncle Ben.

"Go on, Peter, be careful."

Li Qun threw Peter a stick, and the two began to fight in a formulaic manner, with each kung fu move dazzling the eyes of the audience.

“Peter has a strong learning ability,” the old man said, arms crossed, turning to Ben Parker beside him.

“Some people need to practice for one or two years to reach this level, but Peter only studied for half a month and reached it.”

“I’m proud of him,” Uncle Ben said with a smile.

"That's about enough."

The old man called out to the two of them. Upon hearing his words, Li Qun and Peter stopped, politely clasped their hands in a gesture of respect, and then returned to their parents' side.

“It’s simply art,” Uncle Ben exclaimed.

“It’s alright, but I usually don’t allow them to show off their kung fu to people,” the old man said.

“I understand,” Uncle Ben nodded.

"What are those wooden stakes for?" Uncle Ben asked curiously, pointing to the plum blossom stakes.

"Liqun, you should demonstrate how to improve your balance."

Liqun stood on the plum blossom stakes and moved easily between them.

Uncle Ben walked up to the shortest post and tried it; he couldn't even stand firmly on the post.

After trying it himself, he finally understood a little about the difficulty of Li Qun moving freely on the plum blossom stakes.

I thought my Peter was amazing enough, but it turns out that Peter's best friend is just as amazing.

"I'll give it a try."

Peter stood on the plum blossom stake.

“Don’t look down,” Li Qun said to Peter.

"I see."

Peter and Liqun played a chasing game on the plum blossom stakes.

Uncle Ben had always imagined that teenage boys who acquired extraordinary abilities would become arrogant and complacent, yet he hadn't seen these flaws in his nephew Peter. Now he understood—it was because Peter wasn't the most special boy.

Uncle Ben is reminded of a joke: No matter how good you are at something, there will always be an Asian who is better than you.

Could Li Qun, the boy, have also been bitten by the genetically modified spider at the Columbia University science fair?

Uncle Ben suddenly began to consider the possibility that "Liqun was also bitten by a genetically modified spider."

“Could we make it a little more challenging for them?” Uncle Ben asked Dad.

"What do you want to do?" the old man asked curiously.

Uncle Ben picked up a sandbag from the side and gestured to Dad as if he were throwing Peter and Liqun.

The old man smiled and nodded.

Uncle Ben threw a sandbag at Li Qun.

Things didn't go as Ben Parker thought.

Uncle Ben threw the ball in a very ugly arc, with no chance of hitting Li Qun at all. Instead, Peter turned to look at Uncle Ben in confusion.

"I'll do it." The old man smiled, picked up a sandbag, and threw it forcefully at Liqun.

Li Qun sensed the incoming sandbag, stood on one foot on the plum blossom stake, turned around, and accurately caught the incoming sandbag in his hand.

"Beautiful!" Peter exclaimed.

Li Qun then threw the sandbag to Peter, who hurriedly caught it.

"Peter!" the old man called out, drawing Peter's attention.

The old man threw a sandbag at Peter too, so that it would be fair.

Peter, who was prepared, easily caught the sandbag his father threw to him, and then threw another sandbag at Liqun, who caught it again.

"Dad, here you go."

Liqun threw the sandbag at his father.

In Uncle Ben's view, the sandbag turned into a black shadow and flew towards them, while his father beside him steadily caught the black shadow flying at high speed.

“If it were me, I couldn’t handle it,” Uncle Ben said to his father.

The old man maintained his kind smile and nodded to Ben Parker.

"Kung Fu can train your eyes, your mind, and every part of your body. I'm very old now, but my physical fitness is better than many young people," the old man said to Ben Parker.

"Dad, do you think I can learn kung fu?" Ben asked.

“You can learn some health-preserving skills; let Peter teach you Tai Chi,” the old man said.

Li Qun and Peter stepped down from the plum blossom stakes and smiled at each other.

Now we can see Uncle Ben practicing Tai Chi with Peter in the mornings and evenings, and maybe Aunt May will join him too.

Is this Tai Chi?

Uncle Ben recalled the Tai Chi movements he had seen Peter practice, but none of them were standard.

Ben Parker is undoubtedly lucky; today, his father taught him Tai Chi step by step, correcting his every movement on the spot.

Ben Parker spent an afternoon learning Tai Chi on his dad's rooftop.

In the evening, when Aunt Mei returned home, she found that their dinner that day was a takeout Chinese meal: fried rice, Kung Pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, braised beef, milk-fried trio, and stir-fried mixed vegetables. The 1978 movie "Superman" was playing on the TV.

"You two really had a great time today," Aunt Mei joked.

"Mei, you have no idea what we've been doing today," Uncle Ben said to Aunt Mei.

"What did you do?"

“In the morning, Peter and I watched two of your scariest movies at home; at noon we went to Chinatown for lunch and enjoyed some authentic Chinese food; in the afternoon, a kung fu master personally taught me Tai Chi,” Uncle Ben said proudly to Aunt May.

“Very good,” Aunt Mei said calmly.

Chapter 317 Parker's Job

In a sense, Ben Parker's work at the newspaper was 24/7; his strong sense of responsibility led him to save his days off and not take leave unless absolutely necessary.

On Sunday, Ben Parker went back to work at the Daily Bugle.

“Are you feeling better? Don’t push yourself. I can approve a week’s leave if you need it,” Jameson said to Ben Parker.

"I'm fine. I know my own body. If I'm not feeling well, I'll take another day off." Ben Parker smiled at Jameson.

"Is the newspaper still hiring?" Ben Parker asked Jameson.

"What's wrong? Do you want to help someone find a job?" Jameson asked.

“Peter is graduating soon, and I want to find him something to do. If possible, I’d like Peter to work as an intern photojournalist at the newspaper,” Ben Parker said.

"No problem, it's a piece of cake."

“But can Peter handle the job of an intern photojournalist? It’s very challenging even for a college graduate, requiring you to be constantly on the go and running around on set,” Jameson said.

“You’re about to become an adult, so you’ll have to experience some of life’s hardships,” Ben Parker said to Jameson with a smile.

“Okay.” Jameson smiled back at Ben Parker.

After a brief chat with Jameson, The Daily Bugle began its editorial meeting for the day.

The work at the Daily Bugle is quite fast-paced, a pace that was forced upon them to survive in the fiercely competitive New York news industry.

After the meeting, Ben Parker returned to his office to start working, and also sorted out and printed some official documents and unofficial data that he planned to take home for Peter to study.

Last year, New York City saw 587 murders, 24800 robberies, 29500 serious assaults, 30102 burglaries, approximately 110,000 pickpocketing incidents, and over 20,000 motor vehicle thefts…

平均下来，纽约一天内就会发生一到两起谋杀事件、抢劫案68起、重伤害81起、入室盗窃83起、一般盗窃301起、机动车盗窃55起，重罪发生数量触目惊心。

Uncle Ben wanted to use statistics to let Peter know what kind of "evil monster" he would face as the first "superhero" recognized by New York City residents.

These are the kinds of things that can still be reported in the newspapers, but the things that can't be reported are even more terrifying.

At lunchtime, Uncle Ben heated up the sandwiches he had made that morning in the microwave. He stood in front of the editorial office’s large floor-to-ceiling windows, admiring the New York skyscrapers as he ate his boring lunch.

The newspaper's daily deadline is 4 p.m. After the initial review, the manuscripts need to be reviewed a second time by the editors, including Uncle Ben, to verify the compliance of the content, journalistic ethics, and consistency of the stance before being sent to Jameson for final review.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Uncle Ben knocked on the glass window of the editor-in-chief's office.

"Jameson, I'm going home now."

"You go first."

“Wait a minute,” Jameson called out.

"Is there anything else, Jameson?" Ben asked from the doorway of the editor-in-chief's office.

"Does Peter understand the internet? I remember you bought Peter a home computer," Jameson asked.

“He knows more than I do, so what?” Uncle Ben replied.