America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 220 True Life Number One

"I think it's about time. Let's go to Chinatown for a stroll and then have dinner there."

After saying goodbye to Jasper and Professor Stella, Sean Lee finally escaped from his "busy schedule" and, on his way back to the parking lot, looked at the two girls and said this.

"Yeah, sure."

Victoria smiled and nodded. "What's fun about Chinatown in New York?"

"It should be no different from Chinatowns in other countries, with Chinese characteristics and elements."

Sean Lee shrugged. "But you should be able to find everything you want there."

He recalled a statistical report that the first generation of Chinese immigrants built Chinatown in New York. The second and third generations gradually moved outwards to seek settlement outside Chinatown. Since then, only a small number of young people remain in Chinatown, and those walking in Chinatown are mostly foreigners traveling out of curiosity.

As a result, Chinatown's services are gradually shifting towards a Western American style, catering more and more to the preferences of foreign tourists who are simply visiting.

Perhaps this is the origin of stereotypes.

Li Xiaoen sighed inwardly, recalling how, when he first started delivering food, he encountered many Americans who believed that Americanized Chinese food was essentially Chinese food.

"Sufeil..."

Li Xiaoen opened the car door and got in. He looked up at the girl in the rearview mirror, who was still standing there with her arms crossed, saying, "We've had hot pot twice. This time, it's your turn to make the sauce. Let's see how good you are."

Sophie didn't answer, but turned around and glanced at him sideways.

"..."

"All right……"

Li Xiaoen felt bored and shrugged. "It's better to be prepared than not. Let's prepare several kinds and see which one tastes better."

Just as he was about to look away, he suddenly noticed Victoria's meaningful gaze, and his heart skipped a beat. He reached out and turned on the music in the car.

Indeed, being with two girls is really inconvenient.

Li Xiaoen had a bit of a headache. It was almost time to leave work in the afternoon, but he still drove into Manhattan, the busiest part of New York. The roads were gradually getting crowded with cars, but he pressed the accelerator harder and faster, quickly weaving through the gaps in the traffic.

"Wow...so many red lanterns and stickers, they look so pretty."

After parking the car nearby, the three of them stepped into Chinatown. The first thing Victoria saw when she saw the red color filling her entire field of vision was a gasp of surprise. She looked at a long strip of something moving rapidly and rhythmically in the distance and her eyes widened in delight.

“Sean, and Dragon Dance too.”

Unable to resist, Victoria reached out and grabbed the young man's arm. Looking up at him with delight, she asked, "Is it a holiday today?"

"Um……"

Li Xiaoen raised his head slightly, pondered for a moment, and then looked at the girl with a smile and nodded, "Victoria, you are very smart."

A compliment earned him a haughty eye roll. Li Xiaoen took a deep breath and chuckled, "It must be close to the Chinese New Year. That's why Chinatown is decorated like this and has such a grand dragon dance."

As he spoke, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions—he had been studying in the United States and had seen few Chinese people in his daily life, and had only been exposed to Chinese culture a handful of times. If it weren't for seeing this scene in Chinatown, he would have forgotten that it was already close to the Spring Festival while he was in a foreign country.

However, due to his studies, he was unable to spend the Spring Festival with his parents this year, something that perhaps every international student has to go through every few years.

"I've heard that the Spring Festival is equivalent to Thanksgiving in America, and is the most important holiday for family reunion throughout the year."

Just then, Suffer, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up. As Li Xiaoen looked over in surprise, seeing the girl not holding a grudge and even comforting him, he saw her smiling and speaking again.

"Let's spend Chinese New Year with you on that day. You can then have a video call with your parents and everyone can chat together..."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoen felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his whole body tensed up.

"Sean, Sean..."

After calling out twice, Victoria saw the young man looking over in bewilderment. Her mind was inscrutable. She narrowed her eyes, let go of the young man's arm, and turned her gaze back to the distance. "Let's go. Let's not stand here."

"it is good."

Despite feeling frustrated, Li Xiaoen forced a smile.

There must have been a lot of activities during the Spring Festival, with lanterns and decorations everywhere, so there were more pedestrians than ever before. Li Xiaoen still took out her phone to search and finally found a milk tea shop nearby.

After buying three cups of brown sugar pearl milk tea, I took the two girls to the hot pot restaurant we had visited before.

"Hey, young man..."

The hot pot restaurant was already packed with people. It was the same middle-aged auntie from last time. After greeting a table of customers, she turned around and saw Li Xiaoen coming in from the door. She immediately smiled and raised her hand to greet him.

"Auntie, we're here again."

Since the other person was speaking Chinese, Li Xiaoen smiled and responded in Chinese, nodding and greeting them, then looked around the hall and asked, "Are there any seats available now?"

"Yes, you've come at the perfect time, there's just one table left."

The aunt nodded with a smile. When she saw Suffer next to the young man, she was about to greet him warmly, but then she saw a beautiful young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes standing next to him. She opened her mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

"Good afternoon. Sean and I came over earlier. Thank you for your hospitality."

Sophie nodded with a smile and took the initiative to speak.

"No, no, no, it's all what I should do."

The aunt quickly shook her head, nodded to Victoria beside her, and then looked at Li Xiaoen with an ambiguous expression. "Come on, come on, I'll take you to your seats."

"Weren't the tableware provided by the restaurant cleaned and disinfected?"

As soon as they sat down, hot water and tableware were laid out. Victoria was taken aback when she saw Sophie skillfully washing the bowls, chopsticks, and forks with her hands.

"This is the process that Chinese people go through before eating, similar to... fortune cookies."

With her hands still busy, Suffer deliberated for a while before reaching this conclusion.

“As a native of Yuecheng, China, I have found three errors in what you said.”

Li Xiaoen rolled his eyes, and under the gazes of the two women, he muttered, "First of all, the process of eating fortune cookies after a Chinese meal is just a process specially designed by Chinese restaurants in the United States. In China, there is no such thing as eating fortune cookies after a meal."

Fortune cookies, a dessert served after Chinese meals, are actually crescent-shaped or ingot-shaped crispy cookies with a paper strip inside. The paper strip often contains blessings, proverbs, or even prophetic blessings.

This can almost be considered a groundbreaking design for Chinese cuisine by the United States, yet many Americans believe it to be part of China's traditional culture.

Li Xiaoen raised one finger, looked at the two girls opposite him from left to right, and then slowly raised a second finger.

"Secondly, the habit of washing dishes and chopsticks before meals is not common throughout China. As far as I know, it is only found in the southern regions, around Guangdong Province."

"third……"

Li Xiaoen glanced at Su Feier meaningfully, "We only wash our clothes before eating out; we don't need to at home."

Suffering from a sudden pause, Suffer kicked the young man under the table.

"Hurry up and prepare our sauce!"

"Good good..."

Somewhat amused, Li Xiaoen noticed the girl's face gradually darkening, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly got up and walked briskly towards the condiment area.

Turning back to watch the young man leave, Victoria pondered for a moment before reaching out to take a bowl and chopsticks that had already been filled with water.

"Sophie, let me help you."

He seemed to have gotten a little carried away. Standing in front of the condiment station with a small bowl in hand, Li Xiaoen thought to himself, if he were to tease Su Feier and force her to admit that she had come to China to look for his parents, she would be completely unable to defend herself.

With a sigh in his heart, Li Xiaoen took a deep breath, prepared three bowls according to the previous recipe, and glanced back at the two girls sitting at the table, both sipping milk tea in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere, before walking back.

There were three people this time, and one single-serving pot was clearly not enough, so Li Xiaoen specially ordered a pot for each of them, in order to avoid any more situations that would leave him at a loss.

Holding the serving chopsticks, Li Xiaoen dipped the meat into the boiling water, scalding it for only about ten seconds before picking it up and placing it in the condiment bowl in front of Victoria.

"Just like that, dip it in some sauce and eat it."

Li Xiaoen raised his chin.

Victoria first looked down, then reached out and picked up a slice of beef with her fork. As if realizing that it was unseemly for the slice to hang loosely, she put down the fork, placed it against the edge of the bowl, and began to rotate it. Just like Sophie had done at the beginning, she rolled the whole slice of meat into a roll before putting it in her mouth.

Seeing a hint of surprise in the girl's eyes, Li Xiaoen nodded in relief.

"That's it, it's very simple, isn't it?"

Li Xiaoen shrugged, and then, facing Su Feier's seemingly casual glance, said, "Let's just treat it as different ingredients in different pots, that might be better."

After saying that, he took a plate of raw beef balls and used a small spoon to scoop them one by one into his pot.

"Is this... a beef ball?"

After swallowing the beef in her mouth, Victoria looked over with wide, curious eyes.

"Yes, I put foods that need to cook for a long time in this pot."

Li Xiaoen smiled and nodded in response, "Victoria, you use your pot to blanch the meat, and Suffer uses hers to blanch the vegetables. This way, the division of labor is clear, and you don't have to worry about the blood and foam from the meat ruining the taste of the vegetables."

After saying that, Li Xiaoen picked up another plate, leaned over, and carefully pushed a few pieces of corn into the pot in front of Suffer.

"This configuration does seem really good."

Looking around at the various foods bubbling in the three pots, Victoria nodded knowingly, a smile spreading across her face.

"That's a beef ball..."

Sophie chimed in at just the right moment, gesturing with her chin to another dish on the table, "Isn't that dish also filled with beef balls? Wouldn't it be better to just cook that dish directly?"

"No no no..."

Li Xiaoen smiled knowingly and shook his head. "The two kinds of beef balls taste different when cooked. Raw beef balls taste better when cooked directly."

"They're all beef balls, so how can there be a difference?"

Sophie raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, you'll know once you try it."

Li Xiaoen nodded firmly, and just then, the system screen appeared in front of him, a rare sight.

[Gambling Agreement]

[With your eyes closed, correctly identify five raw and cooked beef balls]

[Reward for a successful bet: 5 True Life No. 1]

[True Life No. 1: After use, it can replenish brain nutrition, promote bone growth, and improve memory.]

【Whether to accept? 】

"..."

Fortunately, there was a "true" label, otherwise he would have really thought that the system would give out those fraudulent, worthless rewards.

Li Xiaoen's eyes quickly swept across the information on the screen. His face darkened at first, but then he realized what was happening and breathed a sigh of relief.

Silently accepting the bet, Li Xiaoen looked up at Su Feier, who was looking at him with a suspicious expression, and smiled, raising his chin.

"Don't believe me? Then I'll close my eyes and try both kinds of beef balls, and give you the correct answer each time. What will you have to give in return?"

Upon hearing this, Sophie frowned slightly and silently watched him...

"It's inconvenient for me to close my eyes, so you can feed me with my chopsticks or the new fork."

Sure enough, the provocation tactic worked very well on the highly competitive Sophie.

Li Xiaoen found it amusing. He placed his chopsticks and a spare fork on a plate in the middle, then calmly closed his eyes.

Hearing a few faint sounds, Li Xiaoen guessed that the meatballs were cooked and put them into the hot water.

Worried that activating the [Eye of Insight] would be detected as a foul, even though the cooked meatballs cooked faster, it seemed that Suffer was also deliberately avoiding the loophole of time difference. Li Xiaoen waited silently for a long time, but what he heard first was Victoria's voice from the other side.

"Sean, open your mouth."

Victoria's voice carried a hint of amusement, "Seeing you sitting there bored, I boiled some beef for you."

what……

She truly lives up to her gentle nature as Victoria.

Li Xiaoen silently thanked him, opened his mouth in agreement, and a fork was immediately handed to him. He bit into the beef, the sauce was just right, and he tasted the rich oil and tender texture in his mouth, nodding repeatedly.

Because his eyes were closed, Li Xiaoen could only turn his head slightly to face the girl.

"Victoria, your cooking is really good."

"Hehe, thank you for the compliment."

Seeing the young man sitting there awkwardly waiting to be fed, Victoria chuckled and pursed her lips, then gave a soft hum, "This hot pot isn't difficult at all. It's much more convenient and simpler than any other food."

"Isn't this what hot pot is all about?"

Li Xiaoen shrugged. "The most important thing is the freshness of the beef, the ability to cook it right away, and the feeling of sitting around a steaming pot together – the warmth of the meal and the sense of connection."

"Um……"

After a moment of contemplation, Victoria turned her head to look out the window at the layers of snow still clinging to the eaves of the shops, and the constant stream of pedestrians on the street. She smiled and nodded in agreement, “What you said makes a lot of sense.”

"of course."

Li Xiaoen smiled and raised his chin, about to say something, when Su Feier suddenly interrupted.

"Alright, Sean, open your mouth."

"..."

Hesitantly, Li Xiaoen did not do as instructed immediately, and swallowed.

"Suffer, are you sure what you're handing me right now is a beef ball?"

"Open your mouth!"

Keeping her hand raised, she used chopsticks to pick up food and hand it to the young man. Suffer didn't use this method often, and she soon ran out of energy, rolled her eyes, and scolded him.

"My beautiful goddess of victory..."

Sean Lee still chose to seek Victoria's help, "Look, is what Sophie handed over really food?"

(End of this chapter)