America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"21 is old."

Both the uncle and aunt looked at Liqun.

"You have to be 21 to buy a gun, cigarettes, and alcohol," the uncle laughed.

"The regulations vary from place to place. Once I can buy guns in the future, I'll get a few licenses and then I can play with guns myself."

"I wore gloves at the shooting range today, but I felt that the feel would be even better if I took them off," Li Qun said.

"It's better to wear gloves. That way, you won't leave your fingerprints on it, since it's not your own gun," the uncle said.

Chatting along the way, the uncle found a parking space, and the family got out of the car and walked a few steps into the Spanish restaurant.

The fact that Spaniards can make ham shows that they know how to eat well. My uncle ordered the food in Spanish.

"Uncle, you speak Spanish?"

"I can speak a little bit, enough to order food. When I was in school, Spanish was my elective foreign language."

“Spanish is much more widely used than Italian. In New York, you basically don’t need to use Italian unless you go to the Italian community,” my uncle said.

"I've installed it for you again." Aunt kicked Uncle.

"Yes, your aunt studied Italian, but she's almost forgotten it all now."

“I also studied Italian at school,” Li Qun said.

"Oh, it's nothing." Uncle smiled.

My uncle and aunt both looked at the report card, but their primary focus was on whether I got an 'A'. Only if I didn't get an 'A' would they then inquire about which subject the problem occurred in.

"what is that?"

Suddenly, her aunt leaned closer and reached out to brush Li Qun's hair aside.

"What's wrong?" the uncle asked with concern.

Li Qun's ears were visible.

Aunt reached out and touched Liqun's ear, then looked at Uncle with a puzzled expression.

"Liqun has two ear piercings." Auntie's face tightened, and her eyes showed some fear.

The needle-like golden cudgel flew off his ear at the last second and now hovers between his fingers under the Liqun table.

"Relax, it's just two ear piercings, it's normal for young people."

My uncle laughed, his whole face crinkling up with laughter.

"Where is the stick for the ear bridge?" Auntie asked, pinching Liqun's cheek.

"Is this called Ear Bridge?" Li Qun asked.

“I felt something was off today, and it turns out you’ve been turning your face to the side the whole time, Liqun,” Auntie said seriously.

"These two ear piercings were an accident."

Liqun surrendered.

"I'll hear your explanation when we get home," my aunt said forcefully.

"Tiger Mom..." the uncle whispered to Liqun.

Li Qun raised his hand to tidy his hair, and casually put the golden cudgel back into his ear.

The Spanish food was quite good, full of exotic flavors. Having gotten used to Chinese food, the novel taste experience of Spanish food washed away the tired taste memories.

Li Qun ate the meal rather cautiously, constantly glancing at his aunt's expression and thinking of ways to respond.

How should he explain the ear piercing?

Getting two ear piercings is tantamount to challenging the traditional authority of parents in the Aurora style.

He couldn't honestly answer that the golden cudgel had pierced his ears. He was the one chosen by the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic cudgel), and the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was still waiting for him.

His aunt and uncle will take him to a psychiatrist.

The uncle swiped his card to pay, the aunt sat in the driver's seat, and Liqun sat in the passenger seat. Before long, the four of them arrived home.

The trunk was opened, and the ammunition box and fishing gear were unloaded from the car.

My aunt was carrying her ammunition case, and my uncle was standing next to her, holding his fishing rod, saying, "It's just two ear piercings, look how nervous you are."

"Just an ear piercing?"

"It's just an ear piercing now, will you get a tattoo later?" My aunt had a different opinion.

"I wouldn't dare," Li Qun said nervously.

“My cousin would never do that,” Shuangxi said.

"Prevention is better than cure, don't you understand this principle?" Aunt said to Uncle.

“I’ve had tattoos too, why aren’t you this nervous?” my uncle said.

“You were young then, and we were young too. The tattoos have been removed now,” Auntie said.

"Don't make a big deal out of a child's minor mistakes," the uncle said.

Chapter 81 The Ruyi Cudgel Shows Its First Signs of Power

The uncle and aunt revealed each other's secrets, and after a heated argument, the tension temporarily subsided.

After returning home and putting their equipment away, Auntie took two capsules and a cup of hot water and placed them in front of Liqun.

“Antibiotics, to prevent your ear from getting infected,” my aunt said.

"Thank you, Auntie."

Li Qun picked up the two capsules, examined them, and confirmed that they were antibiotics and not truth serum. He then swallowed them without worry.

My aunt sat down on the sofa, diagonally opposite Liqun.

"Where did you get your ears pierced, and how much did you pay them?" my aunt asked.

"I didn't spend a penny; I got my ears pierced at my dad's place." Li Qun's expression was sincere, and he didn't utter a single lie.

"Dad?" Auntie was a little incredulous.

"That's about it..."

“I’ll talk to him about this tomorrow,” my aunt said.

"Okay, I'll tell Dad so he can prepare himself mentally."

“If it’s just getting your earlobe pierced, that’s barely acceptable, but why would you want to do an ear bridge on your auricle? That’s extremely painful and will have a very bad effect on the cartilage in your ear. In severe cases, your ear could even rot away,” my aunt said seriously.

"Where's that nail on your ear bridge? Show it to me. I know you hid it beforehand."

Aunt Chen Jiao approached step by step.

"I have iodine and cotton swabs. I'm here to disinfect the Liqun."

My uncle appeared, holding a brown glass bottle in one hand and a pack of sterile cotton swabs in the other, interrupting my aunt's rhythm.

"Lie down."

Liqun could only lie down.

After his ear was pierced by the golden cudgel, he simply wiped the blood from the ear hole with a tissue and did nothing else.

Aunt and cousin Shuangxi both craned their necks to watch. Uncle was pulling on Liqun's ears and wiping around the ear piercings with cotton swabs dipped in iodine.

"Two rather obvious small holes," the uncle said.

"Is it ready?" Li Qun asked.

"Alright, get up."

Li Qun sat up again.

"I didn't get these two ear piercings just for fun or to look cool. The metal rods in my ears aren't just ordinary decorations; they're my dad's family heirlooms."

“Wife, did you hear that? Dad gave all his family heirlooms to Liqun. It’s a kind of master-apprentice inheritance,” the uncle chimed in.

Li Qun displayed the tiny golden cudgel in his palm.

My aunt reached out to take it, but she couldn't lift it at all.

My uncle and cousin also tried, but they couldn't pick it up either.

"What's the principle behind this?" my aunt asked, puzzled.

“It can only be carried on my person like this,” Li Qun said, putting the golden cudgel back behind his ear.

"It's the Ruyi Jingu Bang!!" Shuangxi exclaimed.

"You're right!" Li Qun said with a smile, pointing at Shuangxi.

Aunt touched the golden cudgel on Liqun's ear with her finger again and found that the golden cudgel was like a root in Liqun's ear, and she couldn't take it off herself.

"Okay, okay."

Watch your ears.

Let's leave it at that for now.

“If your ear rots, I’m going to go and rip Dad’s ear off,” Auntie said to Liqun.

“That won’t happen,” Li Qun replied.

Seeing his aunt walk into the bedroom, the three men in the family breathed a sigh of relief.

My uncle turned on the TV and took a can of wheat juice from the refrigerator to drink.

"Uncle, what did you get tattooed when you were young?" Li Qun asked curiously.

"The name of my first love," my uncle answered softly.

Does your aunt know that he's your first love?

"She doesn't know, don't tell her. I told her I tattooed my grandma's English name." The uncle smiled humorously as he held up a glass of wheat juice.

……

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