America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"This is it."

It's a very common cardboard box, but it's packed full of things.

There were many cardboard boxes in the attic, and Aunt May thought Peter was going to share his childhood with Lillian and Gwen.

“Peter, you’re dirty.”

"Let me get you a damp towel to wipe it off."

Aunt May went downstairs again to get Peter a wet towel.

Peter carried the cardboard box into his room, blew the dust off it, opened the box, and carefully took out the contents, placing them on the carpet in his room.

“I bet even a museum doesn’t have as much information as Uncle Ben has collected,” Peter said.

Ben Parker created a journal, compiling photos of Captain Steve Rogers, scattered news reports, and even some items supposedly belonging to Steve Rogers himself. He also wrote down information he gathered from others, along with numerous articles about Captain Steve Rogers.

Captain Steve Rogers was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Uncle Ben conducted an archaeological investigation into Captain Steve's childhood, adolescence, and youth in New York.

In 1929, the Great Depression broke out in the United States, and one day, Captain Steve, who was just a child, lost his father.

Steve Rogers spent his adolescence during the Great Depression. He and his mother depended on each other for survival, eating only one meal a day. The prolonged hunger left him severely malnourished, short, and thin.

Young Captain Steve Rogers was filled with confusion about his life. Why did they have to eat scraps every day? Why did his mother work all day but barely earn any money? Why did they live in Hooverville, a village made of scrap metal and cardboard? Why, elsewhere, was milk dumped into rivers and wheat and corn burned as fuel?

Later, Steve Rogers found the answer, which was in the book, and it made everything clear to him.

Peter, Li Qun, and Gwen sat on the carpet, deeply moved by the pile of materials detailing Captain Steve's life story.

"What are these? The contents don't seem to have anything to do with Captain Steve."

Gwen picked up the copy paper clipped with a paperclip and glanced at its contents.

"This is a book that Captain Steve has read."

“Uncle Ben copied them page by page in the library,” Peter explained.

Li Qun took the photocopy and glanced at the contents. Looking at the technical terms and conceptual descriptions, he thought, "Isn't this 'Das Kapital'?"

"Uncle Ben has finished photocopying them all?"

Li Qun took out all the copy paper from the cardboard box. The copy paper had creases, serial numbers, and Uncle Ben's notes.

It's clear that Uncle Ben didn't photocopy all the contents at once, but rather photocopied the entire set of books multiple times over a long period.

It's possible that if he copies one page, Uncle Ben will read that page; if he copies the entire set of books, Uncle Ben will have read the whole set.

Whatever books Captain Steve had read, Ben Parker had also read.

“This is Uncle Ben’s treasure.”

Li Qun carefully put Uncle Ben's photocopy back into the cardboard box.

The three continued studying Uncle Ben's "Captain Steve's Journal." On the last page of the journal, Li Qun, Peter, and Gwen saw a sentence written by Uncle Ben:

With great power comes great responsibility.

It looks like Uncle Ben is summarizing Captain Steve's life.

……

Captain Steve was transformed into a super soldier in a secret Nazi base.

Before America declared war on the Nazis, Steve had attempted to enlist, his exceptional intellect allowing him to foresee the future of the war. If the Nazis were not defeated, humanity would be plunged into hell.

However, the American army did not need a soldier as dry as tinder, which led him to leave America and travel to Europe on a convoy of aid supplies. Steve joined the European battlefield as a volunteer without borders.

During a battle, he was unfortunately captured by the Nazis and used as a guinea pig for human experiments. Apart from him, all the other test subjects died from the torture of the experiments.

Captain Steve's iron will made him the world's first super soldier.

As the only successful creation, the Nazis wanted to brainwash Captain Steve, turning him into a Nazi weapon and propaganda tool. However, the brainwashing failed, and Captain Steve escaped from the Nazi secret research base.

A red star was thus created.

Captain Steve used a piece of armor salvaged from a tank as a shield to fight the Nazis; this shield had a red star on it.

People of goodwill gathered around Captain Steve, and they gave their guerrilla team a name: the Avengers.

Seeing the successful modification of Captain Steve, the Nazis became even more fanatical in their experiments with human modification. They fused animals with humans to create terrifying cyborgs: Spider Man, Bat Man, Cobra Man...

……

Looking at the "human modification," "Frankenstein's monster," and "Nazi scientist" mentioned in Uncle Ben's notes, Li Qun's expression was quite subtle.

"Why does it start to feel more like science fiction as it goes on?" Gwen looked at Peter and Li Qun blankly.

"Captain Steve's disappearance is also closely related to these exaggerated contents. Many people use these strange contents to regard Captain Steve as a fictional character and believe that he does not exist."

“However, Captain Steve did indeed live in this world,” Peter emphasized.

“Liqun, do you believe Captain Steve exists?” Peter looked up at Liqun.

"I believe."

"Do you think it's possible that Captain Steve might still be alive?" Li Qun said.

"That's impossible."

"Let me look for it for you."

Peter rummaged through his journal and some of Uncle Ben's research papers, showing Li Qun the contents of Captain Steve's "Final Battle".

"Although Captain Steve had several near-death experiences and his comrades thought he had sacrificed himself, he would still wave and run towards his comrades at some point."

"But here, he is truly dead."

Chapter 43 Peter's Dinner

"Hey, Uncle, Aunt Mei invited us to stay for dinner. I'll be back a little later."

"Okay, I'll be careful."

Li Qun hung up the phone, and then it was Gwen's turn to pick up the receiver and call her father, George.

Sheriff George agreed and told Gwen that he would pick her up after get off work.

"Alright, kids, let's go to the supermarket and buy some things!"

Aunt Mei drove the car out and took them to the supermarket.

At the Parker's house, Uncle Ben has a car, Aunt May has a car, and Peter has his bicycle.

"Aunt May, what are we having for dinner tonight?" Peter asked Aunt May.

“Anything is fine. We’ll eat whatever we find at the supermarket tonight,” Aunt May said to Peter.

"Aunt Mei, did you like the dumplings Peter brought home last time?" Li Qun asked.

"Oh my god, I love it so much, and Ben loves it too. It's beef filling, right? I usually make Polish potato and cheese dumplings and Italian ravioli at home."

"Shall we make dumplings for dinner?" Gwen suggested.

“I agree!!” Peter looked at Li Qun.

"Aunt Mei, would you like to eat dumplings?" Li Qun asked.

“Of course, I’ll listen to you, kids,” Aunt May said with a smile.

"Speaking of dumplings, Ben once bought me a dumpling-making machine. You put the dough and filling on the machine and turn the handle vigorously, and a dumpling is made."

“It looks like that, but the success rate is too low,” Peter said with a smile.

"Yes, it's a stupid machine. I haven't seen it in ages. I don't know where Ben hid the dumpling machine," Aunt Mei said with a smile.

“Aunt May, I know. Uncle Ben took the invoice to return it. Uncle Ben isn’t going to pay for a stupid machine,” Peter said.

"Gwen, do you know how to make dumplings?" Peter asked Gwen again.

"Of course I can. My mother taught me before. I haven't practiced for a long time."

“Knead a dough ball, then roll it out into a large sheet. Place the dumpling filling evenly on one half of the sheet, then fold the other side over. Use a plate to roll and press the filling onto the sheet before cutting. That’s how you make a table full of dumplings,” Gwen replied.

“Yes, this is how you make Italian ravioli.” Aunt May nodded.

“Oh, the way Chinese dumplings are made is a little different,” Li Qun said.

"We knead a large dough ball, then divide it into small dough balls, roll each small dough ball into a wrapper, and one wrapper for each dumpling filling. We then pinch the wrapper closed in our hands to make a dumpling."

“Liqun’s method is the oldest and most authentic, after all, dumplings all over the world originated in Aurora,” Peter said.

“The noodles too,” Gwen added.

“Isn’t it a bit monotonous to just eat dumplings? I can also let you try a brand new way of making pasta,” Li Qun said.

“Pasta with ravioli, a perfect combination, I’d like to try it,” Peter said.

On the way, they discussed and came up with a supermarket shopping list with Aunt Mei.

They need to buy two boxes of ground beef, a bag of flour, a bag of pasta, two onions, a bunch of leeks, a piece of ginger, and a cucumber.

After buying the items on their shopping list at the supermarket, they returned home and began the process.

Uncle Ben's kitchen is an open kitchen with a long dining table, where most of the food preparation is done.

At the stove, Li Qun automatically took over the role of head chef from Aunt Mei and put on an apron.

He first put the pasta, which was supposed to cook for fifteen minutes, into the pot.

He turned to Peter and Gwen and told them to chop the leeks and onions, while he himself sliced ​​the ginger and soaked it in warm water to make ginger water.

"Be careful when using the knife," Li Qun reminded Peter and Gwen.

"I'm watching them." Aunt Mei was kneading dough, making a large dough ball.

"Liqun, is this what you're doing?"

Li Qun glanced at Aunt Mei's actions. Aunt Mei was dividing the large dough into small doughs according to the Chinese dumpling-making method he had mentioned in the car, and rolling the small doughs into dumpling wrappers.

"That's absolutely right, Aunt May!"

Peter and Gwen finished chopping the onions and leeks, and tears kept falling from their eyes.

Li Qun then mixed the ground beef, chopped onions, and leeks together, added the soaked ginger water, and stirred it all together to make the dumpling filling.

Li Qun kept some ground beef, onions, and leeks to make his new-style pasta, and casually shredded cucumber.