America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Chapter 38 I want to make dumplings

A spectacular aurora borealis appeared in the sky over New York, and the streets of New York were filled with more people than usual to admire it.

John drove, while the other five people squeezed into the car, making a total of six people heading to the Yellow Crane Tower Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Old Frank was a figure who suddenly appeared in John and Li Qun's lives; he was not part of their original history. In the present day, Old Frank is a retired legendary firefighter, and many people on the street recognize him.

Uncle Huang Helou smiled helplessly as he watched Li Qun bring another table of customers to the restaurant.

"What would you like to eat?" Uncle asked with a smile, handing the menu to old Frank.

"This, this, this, and this too." Old Frank ordered the dishes skillfully.

"Would you like something to drink?" the uncle asked again.

"No, thank you." Frank closed the menu.

My uncle got busy in the kitchen, and Liqun also came in to help. All seven dishes were served within twenty minutes.

Leopold exclaimed in amazement at every dish and praised the complimentary tea, even wanting to buy the tea leaves used for the restaurant's free tea from Li Qun.

"Mr. Leo, did food from over a hundred years ago taste bad?" Li Qun asked.

"The food wasn't as good as tonight's."

"So this is what real cuisine in Aurora is like. It completely overturned my imagination," Leopold said.

Dining with a duke from over a hundred years ago, everyone at the table subconsciously restrained their eating habits, trying to behave as elegantly and properly as Leopold.

Tonight was the first time Duke Leopold had used chopsticks as cutlery for dinner, and with just a little practice, he was already quite adept at using them.

After dinner, everyone received a fortune cookie, and Leopold experienced the Chinese restaurant culture that only exists in America.

“Our lives are inseparable from Chinese food. Sometimes we even eat at Chinese restaurants for Christmas and Thanksgiving,” old Frank told Leopold.

"Liqun, come back early tomorrow," his uncle reminded him.

"I know."

"You haven't forgotten what day it is tomorrow, have you?" Uncle asked Liqun with concern.

“How could I forget? Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival,” Li Qun replied.

“Mid-Autumn Festival? Is that a festival in China? Will the restaurant be open tomorrow?” John asked.

"So it's the Mid-Autumn Festival. Chef Huang's restaurant will be closed for a day," Old Frank said.

“Yes, Frank.” Uncle smiled at old Frank.

"What is the Mid-Autumn Festival?" Leopold asked.

"It's a festival for families to reunite in Aurora, on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, just like our Christmas. Families celebrate together," old Frank explained to Leopold.

"Frank, here are some mooncakes for you."

"None of you are allergic to nuts or peanuts, right?" the uncle asked.

Thank you.

My uncle gave one to everyone, even Peter.

Li Qun had planned to bring a mooncake for Gwen, Peter, and Harry to school tomorrow, but he gave Peter's ahead of schedule.

"When admiring the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is at its fullest on the sixteenth day of the lunar month," Li Qun said to Peter.

Peter looked at Li Qun's face.

It was another holiday spent together as a family, and they started talking about family again. Peter seemed to see a fleeting sadness in Li Qun's eyes.

“Should we call the school and ask for a day off, and tell the teachers that tomorrow is your important holiday?” Peter said to Li Qun.

"Let's forget it. The Mid-Autumn Festival isn't a public holiday in the United States. Students should prioritize their studies," Li Qun said.

The white people present all laughed. Li Qun could imagine that the stereotype points on his attribute panel were rapidly increasing by 1, +1...

……

……

In the morning, as Li Qun walked into Midtown High School, he suddenly remembered something: according to the time difference, yesterday was already the Mid-Autumn Festival in Aurora, while he was a day late in New York.

The Mid-Autumn Festival should be a three-day holiday, right? Schools in Aurora University on the other side of the world are all on holiday.

"What are you thinking about?" Gwen appeared beside Li Qun and asked him.

“Gwen, here’s a snack.” Li Qun took a mooncake out of his backpack and gave it to Gwen Stacy.

"Am I the only one who has it?" Gwen asked Li Qun.

“I also brought one for Harry, and I gave Peter his last night,” Li Qun replied.

Is it an upgraded version of the fortune cookie?

Gwen looked at the mooncakes that Li Qun had given her.

"No, it's just because today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and we eat mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival," Li Qun replied.

“Peter is late today. Did his alarm clock not go off?” Gwen asked.

“I use my phone alarm now, even though I wake up earlier than it does,” Li Qun said.

Peter was late; Gwen and Liqun had gone ahead to wait for him in the classroom.

Before the school bell rang, Peter entered the classroom and sat down in the seat that Li Qun had reserved for him.

"Did you have insomnia last night?" Li Qun noticed that Peter's eyes were a little bloodshot.

“I have trouble sleeping,” Peter replied.

“I want to do something,” Peter said.

“John, John and Uncle Frank are working hard to save Aunt Julia and the lives of the other victims, and I want to too…”

"I wish my mom and dad could be saved too."

“…Liqun, don’t you think so?” Peter turned to look at Liqun.

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Li Qun whispered to Peter.

"Uncle Frank could change the course of history to some extent, change one person's fate, and change the fate of many people."

"All these changes need to be accomplished by Uncle Frank thirty years ago."

“But Peter, aren’t you worried that what Uncle Frank did in the past will affect our existence now? You know, thirty years ago, Uncle Ben was just like us, in high school.”

“John dared to let Uncle Frank act because he existed thirty years ago, and his existence was much more stable than ours.”

Li Qun's explanation made Peter fall into deep thought, and Peter looked depressed.

A crumpled piece of paper was thrown at Li Qun's head. Li Qun raised his hand and caught the paper, preventing it from hitting his head.

"Has the case encountered a tricky problem?"

Gwen asked from inside the crumpled paper.

Li Qun looked at Gwen.

Gwen was unaware of the details of the radio station's journey across thirty years; all she knew was that Lillian and Peter were helping a Queens police officer named John investigate a cold murder case.

Because the victims in the case were all women, Gwen deliberately avoided the opportunity to go to Sullivan's house to learn about the radio station's functions.

Chapter 39 The Genie

Old-fashioned amateur radio stations were like Aladdin's lamp, and Frank Sullivan from thirty years ago was the genie in the lamp. The limitation to making a wish to Frank was the ability of both the wisher and Frank himself, which is somewhat similar to Shenron in Dragon Ball.

To be able to influence changes over a period of thirty years on a small scale is absolutely a miracle, and the birth of this miracle is due to too many coincidences.

In the original account, after Frank died in the fire, his old radio was put away in his box and lay dormant in the storage room under the stairs. If he hadn't been bored and taken out his father's radio to play with it, he wouldn't have been able to contact his father Frank, who had been sitting in front of the radio thirty years earlier, when the aurora appeared.

After the historical changes, the state of this old amateur radio station being placed on the desk remained unchanged, whether it was Frank Sullivan escaping the fire but dying of cancer, or Xiao Ai surviving for thirty years after quitting smoking.

Li Qun was exploring the rules of historical change with great caution, and did not naively believe that he could change what would happen in history by relying on Frank from thirty years ago.

The reason Frank was able to bring such a clear historical change to them was because he was Yoha's father, and the driving force was Frank's "love" for his family.

Frank was able to quit smoking because he loved his son and wife.

Uncle Ben told Peter that his parents had died in a car accident, and that Peter's situation was also due to a car accident.

How to prevent a car accident?

The most direct way is to have Frank, who lives in the past, kill the driver of the other car in the accident.

Is that possible?

A life for a life?

If Li Qun could make such a request to Frank, Frank would absolutely never do it.

Finding other ways to save their parents' lives would be far more complicated, with plans and actions far more complex than they even knew where to begin.

"Peter, these scars are what make us who we are today. Don't try to fix them. You are fine as you are now. Don't dwell on the past; live in the present."

Li Qun wrote in his notebook, and then tore the page out after he finished writing.

Summer has passed, and they've all grown a year older, now 17-year-old teenagers.

The words written on the paper reminded Li Qun of the online messages he left during his adolescence in the old world, but he didn't feel embarrassed about it.

Li Qun crumpled the paper into a ball and gently tossed it onto Peter's desk.

Their seats were next to each other, so they could continue to chat during class, but Li Qun realized that the teacher was watching them and that it would be dangerous for them to continue chatting.

"Peter and I found a magic lamp, and a genie came out of it. The genie could grant our wishes, but the conditions were very strict. Peter's wish exceeded the genie's power, which made Peter very upset."

Li Qun replied to Gwen's note, and with precise force, threw the note back to Gwen.

Gwen calmly unfolded the crumpled paper and carefully read Li Qun's reply.

She glanced at Peter, who was also looking at the crumpled paper that Li Qun had thrown to him.

After Peter finished reading it, he crumpled the paper into a ball and put it in the desk drawer, then rested his chin on his hand.

The class period passed just like that.

……