America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Page 46

Liqun was resting standing up, and so was his father. They both breathed in the same way on the rooftop, facing the direction of the rising sun in the east. Their movements were identical.

Li Qun told his father that he would wake up at five o'clock every morning, so his father adjusted Li Qun's training time, making him come to him to practice in the morning and evening.

My father is getting old and his sleep time is very short, almost matching Liqun's sleep time.

You might not be able to find Liqun cigarettes at your uncle's Yellow Crane Tower restaurant, but you're very likely to see them appear in your father's pawn shop.

Besides practicing martial arts in the morning and evening, Liqun also helped his father with odd jobs. There were still many places in his father's pawnshop that had not been properly cleaned.

Sunrise in New York City actually comes very early. At the end of June, sunrise is around 5:30 a.m., and the morning rush hour is from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., when the subway is extremely crowded.

The first class at Midtown High School is at 7:30 in the morning, which is not early at all.

Li Qun went downstairs to buy breakfast.

My dad's favorite breakfast is soy milk and fried dough sticks from a breakfast stall in Chinatown. It's an authentic Chinese breakfast that can only be enjoyed on their Chinatown.

Li Qun bought two baskets of steamed buns, five fried dough sticks, and two cups of soy milk and returned to the pawnshop.

"Liqun, shouldn't you get a haircut?"

The old man looked at Liqun's hair.

He didn't get a haircut after being discharged from the hospital until the summer vacation started, and now his hair is so long that it covers his ears.

Li Qun scratched his hair, feeling that he only needed to trim the hair on the back of his head to prevent it from rubbing against his neck.

He really likes his current medium-length hairstyle, which looks a bit like his dad's hairstyle when he was young.

In the room on the second floor, there are black and white photos of my father when he was young. They were taken with a group of Native Americans, and my father in the photos also looks like a Native American.

Li Qun felt that this black and white photo was very artistic, and the artistic feeling came from the "black and white filter".

"Dad, could you cut the back of my hair for me later? Just make sure it doesn't rub against my neck."

"Okay, I'll cut it for you in a bit."

My dad can do a little bit of everything; he even cuts his own hair.

In New York, getting a haircut at a barbershop is very expensive.

Uncle Liqun and his cousin also cut their own hair at home.

Liqun had seen her uncle's hairdressing skills; he only knew how to give buzz cuts. Her aunt, on the other hand, went to the hair salon to maintain her hair; she was the only one in the family with a VIP membership card at the salon.

After breakfast, Dad gave Liqun a professional haircut, and the hairstyle he got was just as good-looking as when he was young.

"Very energetic."

The old man smiled and told Liqun to go wash his hair himself.

After washing her hair, Li Qun dried it, looked at herself in the mirror, shook her head, and felt much more relaxed with her new hairstyle.

"You're going to class with two classmates this afternoon, right? Remember to wear your mask."

The old man washed his hands, cleaned the hairdressing tools, and put them away.

"I remember."

To get a driver's license, they are required to take five hours of mandatory video lessons, which is essentially five classes. Each class involves staring at a projector screen for an hour, making it even less effective than a typical university course.

At noon, Liqun went to his uncle's Chinese restaurant to pick up lunch and ate at his father's shop. After lunch, Liqun and his father watched TV together for a while, keeping up with news from around the world.

"Dad, I'm going out."

"Face mask."

Li Qun took out a mask, put it on, walked out of the pawn shop, and after leaving Chinatown, Li Qun started jogging with light steps.

New York's public transportation system is only passable; without your own car, you'll have to walk to many places in New York.

The New York subway wasn't a commuter nightmare in the afternoon, but there were still many people waiting in the subway stations.

Wearing a mask, Li Qun was able to survive somewhat in the environment of the New York subway station.

……

"Ding ding ding~!"

The door to Old Man's Pawnshop was pushed open, and a "Tony Leung" walked in, followed by a boy about the same age as Li Qun.

"Find what you want yourself."

Dad lay on the recliner, his eyes fixed on the television hanging on the wall.

"Chen Long, I've come to see you."

The old man turned to look at the other side of the counter, his expression immediately turning serious. "Tony Leung" smiled kindly at the old man and gently tapped on the counter.

"Civil and military?"

The old man got up from the recliner, put his hands on the counter, and kept an eye on the golden cudgel on the staff stand.

"I never imagined you'd grow up so old, your hair is all white now," Wenwu remarked with a sigh.

“I’m not like you, with ten rings that grant immortality. I’m just an ordinary person who drank the elixir.”

"What do you want from me?" the old man asked Wenwu with a serious expression.

"Wait, you look a bit older too?"

The old man noticed the gray hairs around Wenwu's ears.

"Like you, I also retired from the martial arts world for a while and put down my rings."

"Shangqi, come here." Wenwu reached out and put his arm around the boy next to him.

“This is my son, Shang-Chi,” Wen-Wu introduced to his father.

“I heard you took on an apprentice, so I brought my son with me.”

The old man looked at the ten rings on Wenwu's wrist and shook his head.

"Didn't you say you were retiring from the martial arts world?" the old man asked.

“You are the most unforgettable opponent in my life. You should know that I am different from you. I want to retire to the mountains, but others will not let me go.”

Wenwu's expression also turned cold.

“You sent your son to defeat my apprentice, hoping to earn the right to lift the stick.” The old man chuckled.

"Your son can't beat my apprentice."

"How will we know if we don't try?" Wenwu asked earnestly.

Chapter 56 Shall we have dinner together tonight?

The feature phone vibrated in his pocket. Liqun took out his feature phone, which could only make calls, send text messages, and play Snake, and glanced at the text message. It was a message from his father.

"Come back quickly after class, it's urgent." - Dad

"Received." —Liqun

"What's wrong?" Peter asked in a low voice, concerned.

"My dad ran into some urgent business and told me to go home as soon as I finished my class."

"Do you need our help?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know the situation yet. I'll call you if I need your help," Li Qun said.

"it is good."

Li Qun glanced at his watch; there were still more than twenty minutes until get out of class ended.

What could happen to Dad that would require him to rush back immediately after class?

Is it a problem with the used car?

Could someone have reported that Dad is growing vegetables on the rooftop?

The vegetable garden on my dad's rooftop is made by planting vegetables in soil in wooden boxes, just like growing other green plants, so there won't be any problems.

Could it be a tax issue? Has the IRS come knocking on my dad's door?

Liqun is anxiously waiting, waiting rapidly...

As soon as the video lesson ended, Li Qun rushed out of the classroom and headed for the subway station. Peter and Gwen had never seen anyone run so fast; he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Wearing a mask, the hot breath fogged up Li Qun's glasses.

Li Qun quickly swiped his card to pass through the subway turnstile and entered the subway car the instant the doors closed.

I rushed back to my father's pawn shop, only to find a sign that the shop was temporarily closed. When I went inside, I found my father chatting and drinking tea with "Tony Leung". There was also a boy who was slightly shorter than me, bending over and examining the decorations in my father's shop.

"Dad, what's up?"

Li Qun took off his mask and noticed that the man who looked like Tony Leung had a faint fragrance that was not typical of ordinary people. The boy also had this fragrance.

"Liqun, let me introduce it to you."

"This uncle's name is Xu Wenwu, and he is an old acquaintance of mine."

"This is his son, a year younger than you, named Xu Shangqi."

"They've come to challenge you to a duel," the old man said.

"A martial arts contest?"

Li Qun observed Xu Wenwu and his son Xu Shangqi with his eyes.

“Unlike your sparring with Miyagi, this is for you to have a proper fight with this kid,” the old man said.

"You're Li Qun?"

Xu Wenwu stood up, and Li Qun felt an invisible pressure emanating from him.

"Hello Uncle Xu, I am Liqun."

“We’ll have our duel on this rooftop. If we go anywhere else, there will be onlookers,” Wenwu said.

Wenwu led Shangqi up the stairs to his father's rooftop, while Liqun looked at his father with a puzzled expression.