America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 21 Her Husband Forbids It

Interrupted by the unexpected incident, Zhang Ailun wasn't in the mood to scrub his hair anymore. He quickly scrubbed it a couple of times and dried it with a hairdryer. He rubbed the pink cloth a few more times before thoughtfully hanging it back up.

I went downstairs.

Reina sat at the dining table with her legs crossed, holding her phone, behaving elegantly as if nothing had happened.

Seeing that Zhang Ailun had finished showering, he smiled and waved, "Finished? Come and try some of the dishes from your hometown, see if they suit your taste."

"These are all Americanized Chinese food. You don't need to order so much stuff. It's expensive and tastes terrible. You might as well just eat fast food." Zhang Ailun glanced at the table and realized he didn't recognize three out of the four dishes.

"What is this?"

"General Tso's Chicken," Reina said after glancing at it.

"If you hadn't told me, I would have thought it was a half-finished sweet and sour pork dish with a few pieces of boiled broccoli..."

Zhang Ailun was speechless with emotion.

"What about this one?"

"Beef with Chinese kale"

"And what is this?"

Hot and sour soup.

Zhang Ailun sat in his chair, took out his chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat—he couldn't tell if it was pork or chicken—and tasted it. He then calmly gave a thumbs up.

Americanized Chinese food.

Just eat, and you'll eat without making a sound.

"If you like it, eat more."

Reina smiled and said, "These are all for you."

Zhang Ailun was terrified of hearing that sentence.

I forced myself to eat two bowls of rice.

I ate so much that I was sweating on my forehead.

This is the first time in my life I've ever tasted something so sweet, so salty, and sour—it's either too sweet or too sour. It's also the first time I've ever felt that eating is such a painful experience.

Zhang Ailun vowed that he would rather eat boiled chicken breast, which has little flavor.

Reina also tasted a piece of chicken, and after finishing it, she put down her spoon and didn't move.

Zhang Ailun immediately asked her, "Eat! Why aren't you eating? It's a $15 plate of General Tso's chicken and boiled broccoli, and you're just not going to eat it?"

"I don't think it tastes good."

Reina answered honestly.

"Great, I also think it tastes terrible!"

Zhang Ailun smiled with relief and immediately put down his chopsticks, no longer forcing himself to eat.

This proves that it's not that his sense of taste is damaged, but rather that this dish is purely American cuisine, and other dishes were not selected because they were not pure enough.

A meal of Americanized Chinese food silenced two lively, cheerful people.

What is this "bitter-sweet meal"?

Reina might be reminiscing about the days when she used to eat potatoes and rye bread back in her hometown.

"Don't order from them again! Just blacklist that Chinese restaurant!!" Zhang Ailun immediately suggested.

"I've already done that."

Reina replied somewhat irritably, "I spent $68 to order this kind of thing, and I'm never eating at that restaurant again."

He pulled out his phone and gave it a terrible review. As he wrote, he was spewing profanities, using Russian-style trilled "sukabl" and speaking in a dialect that no one could understand.

Look at the food you've made! It's making people angry!

Even those local white people, how could they eat something like this?

I'll probably never get to eat four proper dishes in my entire life.

Rena got up, took two slices of bread from the refrigerator in the back kitchen, spread butter on them, added pickle slices and luncheon meat, and took a big bite.

"Give me one too. Thank you." Zhang Ailun looked at it longingly.

The child got hungry from watching it.

The two of them ate their buttered bread in silence, their cheeks starting to ache.

We finished a simple yet hearty dinner.

Reina finished cleaning and thought it was all over, but then she took out a small basket of snacks and potato chips from the warehouse and waved at Zhang Ailun.

The two went to the empty second-floor balcony and sat down on chairs.

As the sun sets and a cool breeze blows, each of us grabs a bag of fries, nuts, and sparkling water and starts enjoying our meal.

Wearing sunglasses, Zhang Ailun lay back on a beach chair with his legs crossed, commenting like a wealthy landowner, "These nuts aren't very good; they're not as good as the cashews I used to eat from Dandi."

"What did you do before?" Reina looked at him with some suspicion.

What happened in between that led you to become a homeless person on the West Coast?

"Because I fell in love with a woman."

"Pfft." Reina spat out a mouthful of soda. Instantly intrigued, she sat up straight. "Tell me, what happened?"

"She said I was the most handsome man in the world."

Reina fell silent.

"I preserved her innocence and closed the door to loving others."

"It was this woman I loved so deeply who turned me into the dumbest man in the world."

"I take every word she says seriously. She said she loves my lips the most."

"My demands weren't high; I just wanted her to treat me as well as before. But one day she said the same thing, yet she embraced someone else..."

Reina was completely immersed in this love story, and her eyes welled up with tears as she empathized with it.

He took out a tissue to wipe away his tears, his voice choked with emotion, "Then you must have loved that girl very much."

"I'm willing to give everything for her! But her family won't allow us to be together."

Zhang Ailun sighed.

Reina immediately said seriously, "Love is a matter between two people. If you feel that you are very happy together, there is no need to listen to other people's advice! Even if you experience the failure of marriage in the future, it cannot erase the fact that you once loved each other."

"Is it her father and brother who forbid it, or her mother and sister who forbid it?"

"It's her husband who won't allow it."

"..."

Zhang Ailun silenced Reina with just one sentence.

I stood there stunned, feeling like my CPU was about to overheat.

The way he looked at Zhang Ailun also became strange.

But she quickly realized from Zhang Ailun's laughter that he was lying to tease her.

"Great! Allen! I felt sorry for you for just three seconds."

Rena stood up angrily, took out $40 from her pocket, and threw it in his face.

With one hand on his hip and the other pointing towards the entrance of the shelter, he said, "Rest time is over, Allen. Now, immediately, get out of my sight!!"

"I haven't finished eating yet..."

Zhang Ailun, looking completely innocent, was holding a bag of potato chips when Reina turned around, took two bags of snacks from the basket, and threw them at his face.

"Take them and get out of here!" Reina snapped.

"Don't forget to take your damn tent with you!!"

Seeing that Reina was a little angry, Zhang Ailun immediately apologized.

"I was wrong, Reina, could you give me another chance... Hey!!"

She slammed the shelter door shut and locked it from the inside. Rena turned and left, leaving him with only an international friendly gesture.

Zhang Ailun stood on the street, carrying bags of snacks and looking speechless.

The next second, an unopened tent was thrown down from the second floor, landing right in my arms.

Damn it, I've offended my sugar daddy and I'm in deep trouble.

Zhang Ailun was kicked out and helplessly turned to leave, preparing to go home and set up camp.

His phone rang in his pocket at that moment. Zhang Ailun glanced at it; it was a number he had dialed before. He immediately answered, holding it to his ear, "Hello?"

"Hey! Hello, this is Catherine. Did you find my wallet, Hamburg?"

Hamburger? Who's that?

Oh, it's me.

"Yes, it's me. Are you Ms. Jon?" Zhang Ailun replied.

"Yes, it's me. Thank you so much for finding my wallet! And for kindly letting me know, sir, you're such a good person!"

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded excited.

"Do you have time to return my wallet now? Or where are you, sir? I can drive to see you."

Zhang Ailun glanced at the containment station and reported his current location and his attire.

"Please wait there for a moment, I'll be right there, in twenty minutes at most! But it would be best to find an intersection with traffic lights so that people can see you easily."

"Okay," Zhang Ailun said.

"Thank you so much!!"

(End of this chapter)