Being carried onto an ambulance at the start? But this is America!

No one paid them any attention for the time being, and the two brothers became reserved, taking out the boxed lunches they had received from the Methodist Church from the cart.

The lunchbox was substantial, and a rich aroma immediately wafted out when the lid was opened.

The beef stewed with black pepper was so tender that the meat was almost melted in the thick sauce.

It was served with white rice, two hearty slices of whole wheat bread, and a small box of unidentified sauce.

For a stomach that had been eating cold sandwiches and donuts for days, this was a true feast.

Li Fan couldn't wait any longer and began to wolf down his food.

Li Ping first drank a few sips of warm vegetable soup to soothe his throat.

As the two were engrossed in their meal, darkness fell, and commotion arose again at the camp entrance.

A Latina girl in a fast-food restaurant uniform stormed in, slammed her backpack down in front of her tent, and began to complain loudly:

"Fuck me! That bastard boss Diego cut my hours to 25 hours a week again!"

She rolled her eyes, put her hands on her hips, and said, "He said if I don't leave work soon, he'll kindly call the police for me!"

"You should have said so earlier! If I had known there would be so few working hours today, I should have taken that afternoon cleaning job!"

She kept complaining, and the others in the camp seemed used to it, except for old Tom who gently comforted her.

Soon, as Old Tom introduced the newcomers, her attention was drawn to the Li Ping brothers, who were eating.

"Hey, are you the Asian brothers that Ms. Marina introduced?"

She walked over quickly, her face instantly transforming into a bright smile.

Upon closer inspection, she appeared to be in her early twenties, with large, deep brown eyes, thick black hair tied in a neat ponytail, a voluptuous figure, a healthy blush on her round face, and an infectious smile.

She's not exactly stunning, but her slightly chubby figure paired with her small face is quite pleasing to the eye.

As soon as she appeared, Li Fan, who was wolfing down his food, slowed down his chewing speed for some reason, and his back seemed to straighten up a bit.

"Hello, ma'am, it seems that we are the only two new faces here."

Li Ping swallowed the food in his mouth and smiled in response, only to find that the girl's gaze was intense, as if she was staring at... the box of beef rice in Li Fan's hand.

No, it seemed as if they were scrutinizing Li Fan's undeniably muscular physique, befitting a bodybuilder.

According to the aesthetic standards here, tall and strong guys like him are indeed popular with girls.

"My name is Camilla Mendoza, you can call me Camilla. If you stay, we'll be neighbors!" She extended her hand, very familiar with him.

"Li Ping, this is my younger brother, Li Fan."

Li Ping shook hands with her and felt that her palms were a bit rough, a sign of long hours of work.

"Ping... Li? Fan Li? It's nice to meet you!"

She tried to repeat her name, the pronunciation strange but full of goodwill.

Her gaze unconsciously drifted to the lunchbox in Li Fan's hand, and she swallowed, but quickly concealed it.

"Have you had dinner yet? If you don't mind..."

Li Ping took another complete boxed lunch from the small cart, which Marina had given him as an extra, and handed it over.

He kept eating all afternoon, so one serving should be enough for now.

Making new friends over a meal and exchanging potential information and goodwill is a worthwhile investment.

"Oh my God, really? Is this really Marina's homemade black pepper beef? I can practically smell it through the box!"

Camilla accepted it with delight, her eyes shining. "Thank you so much! Is there anything I can do to help you in return?"

She was clearly happy to trade the information for this rare meal, since she often missed out on high-quality relief distribution points while trying to find odd jobs, and it was too dangerous for her to go out alone to find food at night.

The two chatted as they ate.

Li Fan strained his ears, trying to keep up with the conversation and hone his poor English listening skills.

When Camilla heard Li Ping say that the two brothers had just been released from a juvenile detention center and had only been living on the streets for a few days, she clicked her tongue in sympathy:

"Damn...that's terrible, but you're lucky to have run into Ms. Marina. The people she recommended will be helpful to Boss Roland!"

Li Ping took the opportunity to ask the question that had puzzled him when he heard the complaint earlier.

"Camilla, why are you so angry that the boss is only making you work 25 hours a day? In some places... we might actually be happy if the boss lets us work less?"

He must have had enough of working overtime in his past life.

"Bro!"

Camilla nearly choked on her food, her eyes wide as if she had heard a fairy tale. "You've never worked in America, have you?"

Listen, according to the ACA, if an employee works more than 30 hours a week, the employer must provide health insurance. To save that money, that bastard Diego would love to split each of us into 25-hour shifts and save seven or eight hundred dollars!

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, waving her fork: "I used to be able to work 28 hours, but then some idiot at the convenience store next door accidentally worked 31 hours. The boss didn't provide medical insurance, so he was reported and had to pay a huge sum of money!"

Now look what's happened! All the small business owners on our street are terrified and are drastically cutting working hours!

"I only earn $13 an hour for 25 hours, which means I'm losing almost $40 a week out of thin air. Forty one-dollar bills—that can buy so much!"

She angrily stuffed a large mouthful of beef into her mouth, chewing it as if she were gnawing on the boss's bones.

"Now I have no choice but to squeeze in one or even two part-time jobs, which are even more fragmented, more tiring, and less safe. Fuck the system!"

Li Ping suddenly realized.

Sometimes reducing working hours is not a benefit, but a blatant evasion of responsibility and exploitation, directly cutting the income of the most vulnerable workers.

"You're working three jobs at the same time?"

Such hardworking laborers actually live under bridges?

What happened to the promise of washing dishes to buy the White House?

"certainly!"

Camilla counted on her fingers, "The taco server, the night shift worker at the 24-hour convenience store, and the scattered cleaners... I go wherever the smell of money is!"

Mexican stores offer the most stable but low-paying jobs; night shifts at convenience stores are dangerous but easy, depending on the schedule; cleaning jobs offer the highest hourly wage, but the customers are eccentric, and you might even encounter creepy old men...

As if she had found someone to confide in, she poured out her grievances at a rapid pace, interspersed with vivid Spanish interjections and street slang.

Li Fan had long since fallen behind and buried his head in his rice, looking completely bewildered.

Li Ping also had some difficulty listening, but he managed to catch the key information and Camilla's identity.

My parents illegally entered the United States from Mexico ten years ago, and my father has since disappeared.

High school was interrupted because he could not afford the tuition.

Camilla's mother moved to Texas with her two younger brothers to stay with relatives, while Camilla stayed in Los Angeles.

There are more job opportunities here.

Eight months ago, I was still sharing an apartment with my roommate, but I was forced to move out because the landlord raised the rent.

Even so, she still made sure to send $200 to her mother in Texas every month.

In short, this is a local guide who struggles, is familiar with the rules of survival at the bottom, and has multiple gig work experiences.

Finally, Camilla took a big gulp of water and looked at Li Ping with a puzzled expression.

"Honestly, I've heard that in some parts of Asia, it's possible to work 50 hours a week? How much can you earn? Why would anyone want to come here and suffer like this?"

Li Ping was speechless for a moment.

The complexity of this problem far exceeds what a meal can explain.

He smiled wryly and explained the different concepts of monthly and hourly wages, concluding with these remarks.

"...So, longer time doesn't necessarily mean more money. In the end, no matter where you are, capitalists always want to get people to do the most work with the least amount of money."

"A-fucking-men! (That's so damn right!)" Camilla slapped her thigh hard, feeling like she had found a kindred spirit.

"Come on, a toast to all the stingy bosses and rotten working hours systems in the world!" She raised the kettle.

Li Ping smiled, raised his soup bowl, and lightly tapped it against hers.

Although Li Fan didn't fully understand, he still picked up the water bottle in a daze.

People at the bottom of society are all pretty much the same.

However, the fixed costs in the United States are too high, housing is difficult to obtain, social security is difficult to obtain, and there is also the tax issue that can never be avoided.

The two proletarians felt much better after arguing for a while.