America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"Mary Jane, how did the exam go?" Peter's voice betrayed suppressed excitement.

“It’s alright, thanks to you…” Mary Jane’s voice was clear and crisp.

“He betrayed us,” Gwen said calmly to Li Qun.

“No, Peter won’t,” Li Qun said.

“Meet at Peter’s house tomorrow. I’ll bring the written test questions for my driver’s license exam,” Gwen said.

“Please thank Uncle George for me,” Li Qun said.

Chapter 51: 100 Real Driving Test Questions

In America, you absolutely cannot live without a driver's license.

"These are the materials we need to prepare. My dad has already packed mine for me."

George Stacy was very reliable. He prepared Gwen's application materials first, and then had Peter and Liqun prepare theirs by referring to Gwen's materials.

They are applying for a learner's permit, which they can obtain after submitting proof of identity, proof of residence, and social security card, and passing a written test.

After obtaining their learner's permit and completing five hours of mandatory lessons, they can practice driving skills with experienced drivers. Later, they can even drive their own car to the road test.

American driver's licenses are said to be the easiest to obtain on Earth.

“We’ll submit the documents on Monday and take the written test while we’re at it. Anyone have any questions?” Gwen asked.

“There are 100 written test questions here, but according to the instructions, the written test only requires 20 questions, and you only need to answer 14 of them correctly to pass,” Peter said.

“Peter, do you know how valuable these 100 written test questions are? They’re a guarantee that we’ll pass the test 100% of the time.”

“Don’t tell me you can’t remember all 100 questions,” Gwen said.

“It’s Saturday today, and you said you’d take the written test on Monday. I’m a little unsure of myself,” Peter said.

"Relax, Peter, it's very simple. Basically, any normal person could do most of it without any training."

Li Qun looked at 100 past exam questions and memorized the simple ones after only reading them once.

Sheriff George borrowed the police station's printer to print out three practice exams for them, and thoughtfully included some police dispatch records, telling the three kids what to be careful about when driving on the road.

Some people get their driver's license and never drive again in their lives because driving on the road is like an adventure to prison for them.

In other states and elsewhere in the United States, if you are a young person driving a nice car, the police will pull you over because they suspect you of stealing it.

If you are Black, you may face the risk of being pulled over by the police at any time.

Even if a white woman is driving, the police will observe whether she is following the traffic rules.

White and Asian adult men are considered low-risk targets for police searches.

Peter looked at a few of the dispatch reports that Sheriff George had provided with him with trepidation, and began to have second thoughts.

When Gwen saw Peter put down the police dispatch log, his face pale, she realized he was frightened.

“That’s just how my dad is. He deliberately picks the scariest cases to frighten us so that we’ll obey the law when we drive,” Gwen said.

"Shouldn't drivers obey the law?" Li Qun asked, tilting his head.

“Of course we have to abide by the law, but you never know when you’ll break it. We can’t memorize all the local laws and regulations,” Gwen said.

“You should be glad we live in New York. If something happens on the street, we can always ask my dad to sort it out.”

Gwen smiled, and Li Qun and Peter laughed along with her.

Li Qun seemed to have heard something back in the old world that said America wasn't a society based on personal connections? He wanted to laugh.

On the contrary, the United States is also a society that values ​​personal relationships, and in some places, it is impossible to get by without them.

"Following the end-of-term study session, we're going to start a driving lesson!" Gwen announced.

The three of them began studying the 100 real exam questions at Peter's dining table.

Aunt May isn't home today. Someone has contacted Aunt May, a seasoned real estate manager, about wanting to settle down in Queens, New York.

Aunt May's working hours are flexible, but no matter how much work piles up each day, she always leaves work promptly at 5:30 pm. Uncle Ben usually gets home an hour later than Aunt May.

Two hours later, Li Qun had memorized and understood all 100 written test questions, spending an average of one or two minutes memorizing each question.

These are supposed to be real exam questions, meaning they will appear exactly as they appear on the actual written exam paper.

"Liqun, are you done?" Gwen glanced at Liqun in surprise. Liqun was writing Chinese characters in her notebook that she couldn't understand.

“I’m still a little short; I haven’t memorized it completely,” Li Qun said.

“Peter, Li Qun says he’s finished memorizing it,” Gwen said, turning to Peter who was engrossed in taking notes.

“Is that strange? I’m used to it,” Peter replied casually.

“I don’t believe you. Let me test you, Liqun,” Gwen said.

"Come on," Li Qun said confidently.

"Okay, please listen to the question..."

Gwen put away Li Qun's past exam questions and hid them under the dining table at an angle where only she could see them, asking Li Qun the questions.

How do police determine if a driver has been drinking or is intoxicated?

"Use an alcohol tester or have a blood test."

“Correct. Next question: How do you determine if a pedestrian is blind?” Gwen asked.

“Observe whether he is using a white cane and wearing sunglasses, whether he is accompanied by someone, or whether he has a guide dog,” Li Qun replied.

"Very good, next question..."

Gwen asked Li Qun questions, and she herself almost laughed at some of the common sense and logic problems.

It seems that the practice questions they memorized weren't about driving tests, but rather about checking whether a person had normal intelligence and conformed to the normal human thought process.

"Okay, I know you've remembered everything."

Gwen asked twenty questions in a row, and Li Qun answered them all correctly, which made Gwen feel a little uneasy.

She only remembered half of it, Peter seemed to remember more than her, while Li Qun remembered it all.

Gwen's stereotypes about Li Qun deepened.

Stereotype +1...

Li Qun couldn't hear the notification sounds from the attribute panel that he had muted.

Gwen continued to focus on memorizing the written test questions, while Li Qun began drawing comics on blank paper.

He used real exam questions as the content of his comics, drawing them into short stories with four or five panels.

Two more hours passed. Peter stretched, stood up, and smiled at Li Qun. He had also finished memorizing the questions.

“Gwen, are you hungry? Aunt May will be home soon, let’s start preparing dinner,” Peter said.

“Okay, I want to rest too.” Gwen yawned.

Gwen glanced at Peter and Liqun, who both looked relaxed, and a competitive spirit arose in her heart. She would memorize all the questions before going to sleep when she got home that night.

They tidied up the mess on the table and opened the refrigerator to find the ingredients for tonight's dinner.

“Peter, what do you usually eat for dinner?” Li Qun asked Peter.

"Creamy stew, cheese pasta, and some boiled or fried eggs."

“When Aunt May wanted to be lazy, she would just make do with canned food,” Peter said.

Chapter 52 Aunt May's Clients

Li Qun stood in front of the refrigerator, looking at the notebook that Aunt Mei had hung on the refrigerator door. The notebook contained Aunt Mei's personal recipes and the inventory list for this week in the refrigerator.

Aunt May was also a thrifty person, and Li Qun quickly learned about Peter's daily diet from Aunt May's notebook.

"What are you looking at?" Gwen asked.

“I’m looking at Aunt Mei’s recipes.”

Gwen leaned closer to look at a few pages and said, "Uncle Ben is so lucky."

“I think so too,” Peter said with a smile.

“Let’s prepare dinner according to Aunt Mei’s recipes,” Li Qun suggested.

“You’re the head chef, we’ll all listen to you,” Peter said.

“Peter, now I need you to crack six eggs and make omelet. You know Aunt May’s kitchen better than I do, and I don’t want to use the wrong tools and get disliked by her.”

"Gwen, do you want to chop onions? If not, I can do it for you."

“You chop the onions. I’ll get the ingredients from the fridge for you,” Gwen said to Liqun.

The three of them had a clear division of labor and quickly completed the preparations before putting the ingredients into the pot.

Aunt Mei's menu for dinner included omelet, lasagna with cheese and meat sauce, toast, and a pot of vegetable soup.

The most complicated and time-consuming dish to make is the cheese and meat sauce lasagna, which requires an oven. Liqun will make this dish first.

Compared to Chinese cuisine, lasagna with cheese and meat sauce doesn't have many technical difficulties, it's just that the process is more complicated.

As long as you follow Aunt Mei's recipe step by step, you won't go wrong.

Li Qun didn't have a sudden inspiration; he obediently followed Aunt Mei's recipe exactly.

"Wait 20 minutes, then sprinkle on the cheese and bake it again."

Peter turned on the TV in the living room, and the three of them watched TV together for 20 minutes.

They realized they were so enthusiastic about making dinner that they hadn't considered that Aunt May wouldn't be home for a while, and Uncle Ben's return time was even more uncertain.

"Does Aunt Mei ever come home early?" Li Qun asked.

“Yes, but very few,” Peter replied.

Twenty minutes later, Li Qun took the semi-finished meat sauce lasagna out of the oven, sprinkled it with cheese, and put it back in the oven to bake over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, she didn't take the lasagna out immediately, but kept it warm in the oven.

"I'll go make some vegetable soup."

Li Qun got up, while Peter and Gwen continued watching TV on the sofa.