America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"beard."

The old man reminded the other man, and the man took a few grains of rice from his beard and put them in his mouth.

"I'm sure I know you."

The man stared blankly at his father.

“If you could trim your hair and beard, Dad might recognize you,” Dad said.

"My hair, my beard..."

"Do you have scissors?" the man asked.

"Liqun, please help him."

"learn."

Li Qun found his father's barber toolbox and had the man get his hair and beard trimmed in front of his father's shop.

Should I keep a small portion of my beard or half of it?

"Cut it all off."

"OK".

Half an hour later, a clean-cut, handsome face full of righteousness appeared in front of Li Qun and his father, but his eyes were still blank.

The old man stared blankly at that face, trying hard to remember.

"I still can't remember." The old man shook his head.

"Do you remember who you are?" the old man asked.

"I do not know."

Li Qun looked serious.

He was trying very hard to control his facial expressions.

The old man didn't recognize the man, and the man also claimed to have amnesia, but the old man recognized him.

This man is Steve Rogers.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Li Qun asked.

“…The bridge,” Steve replied.

“Dad, I have an idea.” Li Qun turned to look at his father.

"what idea?"

"Do you want a job?" Li Qun turned to Steve and asked.

"Work……"

“Liqun, your father doesn’t have any open positions to hire,” the father said.

“My uncle’s restaurant,” Li Qun said.

"That's even more impossible." The old man shook his head at Liqun.

“Liqun, I know you want to help him, but the best option is to call him,” the old man advised.

"Who are you going to call?" Steve immediately became alert.

"Were they the same people who were chasing me yesterday?"

“Those people are New York police officers. They’re not trying to hunt you down; they’re trying to help you, take you to a shelter, give you a place to eat and sleep, and help you find your family,” Dad said.

"Really?"

"Really." Dad nodded.

“Make a call,” Steve Rogers nodded to his father.

"Okay, Dad will make the call now."

"Why did you run away?" Li Qun asked Steve, who had lost his memory.

“I had a voice inside me telling me I couldn’t get caught. I needed to hide and not be discovered,” Steve answered honestly.

"When I saw this store, it was like a memory flashed by, but it was just a fleeting one."

"Now, I feel that the voice was wrong."

The old man gave the shop address over the phone, and the operator said that police officers would arrive soon.

The old man opened the counter drawer, counted out five 20-yuan bills, and put them in Steve's hand.

"Why are you giving me money?" Steve asked blankly.

“This is the money the government gave you,” Dad replied.

"The money the government gave me?" Steve frowned.

"Keep it safe, don't let anyone else take it," Dad said.

“Dad, can I go with him? To make sure he settles down in the shelter,” Li Qun said.

"So you're going to see this through to the end? Well, I'll go with you then," the old man said.

After waiting for more than 20 minutes, a police car stopped in front of the old man's shop, and two police officers got out of the car. One of them was a Chinese-American officer named Tommy.

“Tommy, I’m taking my apprentice with me to see which shelter you take this guy to,” the old man said to Officer Tommy, his hands behind his back.

"Dad, are you sure you want to get in the police car?" Tommy asked his father.

"Is it not allowed?"

"can."

"Partner, you don't have any objections?"

Chinese-American police officer Tommy's partner was an African-American officer who smiled and nodded at Tommy.

Li Qun and his father squeezed into the police car and accompanied Steve to the shelter.

"Dad, does this guy really need help?" Tommy asked, puzzled.

“My apprentice just cut his hair and beard; before that, he really looked like a homeless man.”

“He came into my shop and said he thought he knew me. He may have suffered a major shock to his head, which made him unable to remember things.”

“Did you watch TV last night? This guy jumped into the river and came from Manhattan,” the old man explained.

“No,” Tommy replied.

"I saw it, it really is him?" The black partner observed Steve through the rearview mirror, then turned his head to examine Steve more closely.

“We should call the production crew; this is going to cause some trouble,” the Black officer said to Tommy.

"No, no, please don't call the production team over!" Li Qun hurriedly shouted.

“What’s wrong? The show made him famous. He has the potential to be a movie star. This might be his chance to turn his life around. In a few years, we might only see his face in the movie theater.” The black police officer said to Li Qun.

“Dude, you want to be rich too, right? To be one of the upper class?” the black police officer said to Steve again.

"upper layer?"

Steve frowned, as if some memories had been triggered in his mind, but they vanished in an instant.

Steve Rogers' eyes flickered slightly.

Soon they arrived at the shelter, and everyone in the police car got out.

The police officers came over in person and kept an eye on the shelter staff. Steve quickly went through all the procedures to check into the shelter.

The first step was cleaning. The shelter staff gave Steve a new set of clothes, donated by a kind person. Steve didn't need a haircut, but he did need a shower.

The second step was a simple physical examination, measuring height, weight, vision, and blood pressure, checking for any disabilities or past medical history, and creating a health file for Steve on the spot. Steve was found to have a brain disability.

"This guy is a problem. He doesn't remember his name or identity, and he doesn't have any identification on him. During the medical examination, he had a lot of scars all over his body, including gunshot wounds."

"He may be a veteran who has participated in extremely brutal wars."

The shelter doctor was speaking to a few people, while the others in the office looked out the window at Steve, who was sitting on a chair in the aisle, waiting for the next step.

"Do you know him? Look at his injuries, he's a national hero. He shouldn't be here; he should go home." The doctor looked at Li Qun and the old man.

“He said he thought he knew Dad, but Dad didn’t recognize him,” Li Qun said.

"Sir, please try to recall carefully," the doctor said, looking at the old man.

The old man scrutinized Steve's appearance once more. Steve looked like a young man in his thirties. The old man's memories only spanned the last forty years, and he couldn't find a similar appearance in his memory.

The old man shook his head.

"Ok."

"Before we find out his true identity, we need to give him a name. But it can't be too formal, to avoid conflicts between his memories and his original ones if his amnesia improves in the future," the doctor said.

"How about Johnny?" Li Qun suggested.

"This one will do." The doctor wrote the name 'Johnny' on Steve's temporary file.

Chapter 9 The Box from Sixty Years Ago

Outside the shelter gates, Black police officer Earl was still somewhat reluctant to leave; they were now taking Old Man and Li Qun back to Chinatown.

“I was going to suggest calling him Forrest Gump,” Earl said, turning around.

"Forrest Gump?" Tommy glanced back at the shelter again.

“Don’t you think ‘Johnny’ is similar to Forrest Gump? Neither of them are very bright, but they’re very lucky,” Earl said.

"Where is the good luck?" Tommy asked.

“I have a feeling he can’t stay homeless forever,” Earl, the black guy, said.

"Dad, when will I get that hundred dollars, Tommy?"

“Dad, remember to check your account within five business days,” Tommy replied.

……

Back at the pawn shop, Li Qun held his phone and looked at the phone numbers in the phone book, moving from Peter Parker's number to John Wick and Blackfriar.