Wei Sama, Let's Stuff Them With Dog Food[1]

160. New York

The streets of New York in July were hot and Qi Le’an was walking quickly down the block in Manhattan. This was the heart of New York City, with Wall Street, the world’s financial center, in her lower part of town, and Tisch College in Greenwich Village, on her west side.

If Times Square and Broadway represented New York culture, then Manhattan was the representative of the origin of American modernism.

Qi Le’an bought rice and vegetables from the Chinese supermarket in Chinatown. When he reached the door, the grandmother next door gave him another salmon fillet. He politely greeted him, said hello to her, and went upstairs to the house where he and Wei Changfeng lived.

The house was not big, with one bedroom and one living room with a small terrace. A few clothes were piled on the soft sofa in the living room, while the table was filled with books. They found the old-fashioned bookcase in a flea market. According to the stall owner, its age could be traced back to the last century.

Qi Le’an washed his hands and walked into the kitchen, blocking the smoke alarm as was his custom, and then started cooking.

Today was the day for Wei Changfeng to hand over his papers and works to the teacher. They had already said that they would come back to celebrate.

Qi Le’an and Wei Changfeng had lived here for two years before they realized it.

When they first came to the United States, Qi Le’an couldn’t even speak English. For several months he traveled across the United States with Wei Changfeng. Later on, he went to prep and talked to friends from all over the world. After a long time, he managed to get past the language barrier and happily enrolled in Tisch, but he was exhausted like a dog. When he came home at night and lay in bed, he couldn’t even get erected.

Every time he thought about these things, Qi Le’an would sigh with emotion that Wei Changfeng was not a normal human being. He was able to graduate ahead of schedule under such a heavy study load!

Qi Le’an cooked poached spicy slices of pork, tomato scrambled eggs and braised baby cabbage in broth. Then he fried the salmon given by the neighbor next door and sprinkled it with salt and put it on a plate.

After he had done all this, he sent a message to Wei Changfeng and received a video call from Chen Shan.

His sister was almost three years old, with straight bangs and two ponytails. She came stumbling over in her little pink dress and said softly, “Annn, I love.”

Qi Le’an laughed and replied gently, “I love u too, honey.”

The little sister giggled as the video shifted to Chen Shan.

Chen Shan, dressed in a shirt and suit, was clearly about to head out to work. Two years had passed and the young man, full of sharp edges, had become mature a lot and looked less aggressive.

“It’s time for her to go to kindergarten, right?” Qi Le’an sighed.

Chen Shan nodded and said, “Yes, she’s going in September. Recently, she has been attending an adaptation class for early education, and the teacher has taught her a little English. So she said ‘love us to everyone she met.”

Qi Le’an laughed, “Did she tell that to you?”

Chen Shan snorted and refused to answer the question.

“Chen Shan! Is that Le’an?” Chen Mama’s voice came from afar. Chen Shan shouted, “No! Go ahead with your business!”

Then he turned to Qi Le’an and said, “She said she wanted to make some pastries early in the morning. So the whole family didn’t have a good meal. Have you had your supper yet? ”