America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"Dad needs to go to sleep now. Remember to lock the door when you leave." Dad walked up the stairs and left the rooftop with his hands behind his back.

Li Qun was wearing a total of 20kg of sandbags, which made him clumsy.

……

……

"Liqun, what are you carrying on your hand?" Peter asked curiously.

"It's a load-bearing load, each one weighs 5kg."

Peter understood immediately.

"Once you get used to these weights, will your movement speed become much faster after you take them off?"

"I don't know," Li Qun replied.

"That's how it is in kung fu movies."

“We have PE this afternoon.” Peter glanced at the timetable posted in his locker.

"Another PE class with Flash," Li Qun sighed.

At Midtown High School, physical education classes consist of two parts: the first half is spent conducting physical activities under the teacher's guidance, and the second half is free time.

Peter usually only needs to persist for 20 minutes before he can find a place to sit down and read, but now he prefers to practice kung fu with Li Qun during the latter part of his free time.

Li Qun taught Peter to practice Tai Chi, but not his father's Chen-style Tai Chi, but the 24-form Tai Chi that Li Qun had learned before.

As he gradually integrated into the environment of Midtown High School, his classmates and teachers also gradually got used to the transfer student, Li Qun. The acquisition of stereotype points plummeted, and he could only gain a few points by practicing Tai Chi with Peter in the corner during physical education class.

The blonde girl sat alone in the stadium stands, her hair disheveled and unkempt. She slightly raised her head to observe Peter and Li Qun, then pushed up her thick-rimmed glasses and began sketching Peter and Li Qun in her sketchbook.

A basketball flew by and hit the girl on the head, knocking the sketchbook out of her hand.

"Sorry!" A male classmate who played basketball with Flash ran over, his eyes full of apology.

"..."

The girl let the basketball roll off the stands, focusing only on quickly picking up her sketchbook and stuffing it into her bag, not wanting anyone to see what she had drawn in it.

"I'll help you..."

What did you draw?

"You freak!"

The male student tore the girl's drawing out of her sketchbook and shredded it into pieces on the spot.

The girl was stunned, unable to believe that someone would do such a thing.

"What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with you!"

The male student shook his head, turned around, jumped down from the tiered stands, and picked up the basketball.

The gymnasium fell silent as the students in their PE class watched the girl in the stands.

The blonde girl had her head down, and her body seemed to be trembling.

"Is she alright?"

Li Qun stopped her Tai Chi movements and looked at Peter.

“I know her; we took AP Chemistry together,” Peter told Li Qun.

"Her name is Gwen Stacy."

Li Qun and Peter secretly observed that Gwen, like an enraged lioness, picked up the scraps of paper around her, put them in her bag, rushed down from the stands, hit the boy, and then stormed out of the indoor gymnasium.

The boys playing basketball under the hoop were stunned; it was the first time they had ever seen someone in school get beaten up by a female classmate.

"Robbie, it's your problem. Why did you tear up her things?"

“If she calls your parents, you’re finished,” Flash said.

"What's wrong? What's her family background?" Robbie asked casually.

“Her father is a sheriff in the New York Police Department, and no one dares to bully her at school.”

"On the first day of school, her dad personally drove her to school in a police car," Flash said.

"……I have no idea."

“Now you know,” Flash said.

"It's nothing, it's no big deal." Robbie continued playing basketball with Flash and the others.

Physical education class ended, and it was 3:30 PM, time for school to end.

While Li Qun and Peter were chatting in front of the lockers about whether to watch the preliminary rounds of today's street fighting tournament, Gwen Stacy walked up to them, holding a book in her arms.

The Gwen Stacy in front of me is not the Gwen Stacy that Li Qun has a stereotypical image of.

She seemed to have no sense of style; her overly long hair and bulky round-framed glasses covered half of her face. She wore an oversized shirt, jacket, and sweatshirt stacked on top of each other, and a flamenco-style patchwork long skirt that almost reached her ankles, completely obscuring her figure.

Li Qun felt that Gwen had good taste and her own style.

Chapter 16 Three people can't even make a pair of parents.

"Parker, Leon, can you do me a favor?"

“What is it, Stacy?” Peter asked.

“My counselor wants to talk to me about what happened in gym class just now,” Gwen Stacy explained to the two of them.

"How can we help you?" Li Qun asked.

"Robbie tore up my painting; it was actually of the two of you."

"You guys were practicing Tai Chi in PE class, right? The movements are gentle and graceful, making for excellent life models. That jerk has absolutely no artistic talent; he thought I was painting something else," Gwen Stacy whispered to Peter and Li Qun.

“I understand,” Peter smiled. “So how can I help you?”

“Let’s go find our tutor, Ms. Warren. You two can play Tai Chi while I draw your pictures to recreate the scene,” Gwen said.

Li Qun nodded to Peter.

“Okay…” Peter hesitated before agreeing.

"Let's hurry, time is of the essence."

Li Qun and Peter were ushered by Gwen to the office of their tutor, Ms. Warren, who had made tea and was waiting for Gwen to return.

“Peter, Lyon, good afternoon,” Mrs. Valen smiled at the two.

“Ms. Valen, Stacy invited us to practice Tai Chi,” Peter said somewhat nervously.

"Yes, I know. You can begin."

“Stacy, sit down too. I want to watch you draw.”

All three of them were very nervous in the office.

Ms. Warren, the counselor, has a broad range of responsibilities at the school, including student mental health issues and campus discipline. Her superior is Vice Principal George, the elderly gentleman who stands at the entrance to the school building every morning to check if students have violated the rules in the Student Handbook.

"Well……"

Ms. Warren stood behind Gwen and watched her painting process for a few minutes, then glanced at Li Qun and Peter, who were practicing Tai Chi, and nodded.

"All right."

"You can stop now."

Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

“Can we go now?” Peter asked.

"of course."

The two grabbed their backpacks and hurried out of the office; Peter was going to be late for his pre-course.

"I'm so embarrassed, Peter, did you see the way Ms. Warren looked at us?" Li Qun complained to Peter.

“I saw it; she definitely thought we were both weirdos. She probably had never been exposed to kung fu culture before,” Peter said.

“I feel like she would think that Stacy is a weirdo just like us.”

"Why didn't she come after Flash when he bullied others?" Li Qun asked again.

“Flash is probably her type. I mean, her type of student,” Peter replied.

"Hey Peter, Lyon, where have you two been? Are you going to watch the game later?" Stan Lee popped up and asked the two of them.

“Sir, why don’t you go?” Li Qun said.

“Peter, we’re waiting for you.” Stan Lee smiled.

Li Qun found a quiet spot on campus to sit down and read. An hour later, Peter finished his pre-course and Stan Lee was about to leave work. The three of them set off to watch the game.

Gwen Stacy escaped from Ms. Warren's clutches. Instead of going home immediately, she wandered around the school building a few times and saw Peter leave after attending his Advanced Placement class. She then spotted Lillian hiding in a corner of the campus, reading a book.

"Thank you for helping me today."

Li Qun looked up, and Gwen stood in front of him, blocking his light.

"nothing."

"What book are you reading?" Gwen asked, trying to find a topic to start a conversation.

"How the Steel Was Tempered..." Li Qun closed the book and showed the cover.

The old, simple cover features a shovel, a red five-pointed star, and a gaunt figure as its design.

"You probably haven't heard of this novel, have you?

Li Qun looked at Gwen Stacy, who sat down next to him with great curiosity in her eyes.

"What story was it?" Gwen asked.

"The protagonist's name is Paul, but I can't give away any spoilers. You'll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens in it."

"Can I borrow it to take a look after you're done reading it?"

"Of course, I hope you can finish reading it."