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? ”

Qi Le’an turned the camera to the dishes he had just made and said, “Wei Sama hasn’t come back yet.”

Chen Shan pouted, “Are you coming back this year?”

Qi Le’an hesitated for a moment and didn’t reply to him.

In the first half of the year, he came to the United States, he was very busy learning English. After entering Tisch, he became busier. He studied in the semester and studied in the summer vacation, too. In addition, Wei Changfeng had the intention to finish the course in advance, so they haven’t come back yet.

Qi Le’an wanted to go back this year, but he did not know about Wei Changfeng’s plans.

Before Qi Le’an answered, Chen Mama ran over to grab the phone and said aloud, “Le’an! Why don’t you call me?”

Chen Shan, whose phone was robbed by Chen Mama, dared not say anything. Chen Mama slapped Chen Shan and said, “You said that it’s not Le’an! How dare you lie to me! Look how childish you are!”

His sister giggled when she saw her brother being beaten. She repeat the words of others like a parrot and said, “Childish!”

Chen Shan bent over to touch his sister on her nose, and the sister covered her nose with her hand and ran away.

Chen Mama looked at Qi Le’an excitedly and said, “Le’an! Did you get those two bottles of thick chili sauce? I’m sure it’s delicious.”

Qi Le’an quickly nodded, “Yes! It’s delicious! ”

Chen Mama was delighted and said, “Then I’ll have someone bring you there another day!”

Chen Shan rolled his eyes and said, “He can buy it over there! Give the phone to me! I’m going to work!”

Qi Le’an stood on the balcony, watching the video while watching Wei Changfeng walk in from the door. Chen Shan snatched the phone back and complained, “I’m going to be late. I’m hanging up. Text me!”

Qi Le’an nodded and said goodbye to his sister, then hung up the video.

Wei Changfeng opened the door and smiled, “Are you on the phone with Chen Shan?”

Qi Le’an thought he must have seen it downstairs just now. He nodded and said, “Yes, Brother Chen asked me if I’m going back this year.”

Wei Changfeng kissed Qi Le’an and said, “There’s nothing else to do after this. We can go back if you want to.”

Still, Qi Le’an was hesitant.

He had heard Professor John talking to Wei Changfeng a while before, saying that he had chosen Wei Changfeng to work for Universal Pictures. As the number one film company in Hollywood, Wei Changfeng would have a promising future no matter with what identity he got into it.

However, Wei Changfeng didn’t think that much. He opened champagne from the wine cabinet. The two of them sat in a small living room and Wei Changfeng smiled to say, “Your cooking is getting better and better. I’m really worried that I’ll lose my job one day.”

When the two of them first came to America, it was Wei Changfeng who cooked. Later, Wei Changfeng started to be busy so Qi Le’an made do in various restaurants. Later, Qi Le’an felt that eating in the restaurant was expensive and uncomfortable, so he started to learn to cook himself.

Later, though, it was Wei Changfeng who cooked most of the meals, Qi Le’an could also help from time to time.

After a simple meal, a couple knocked on the door and sent them tomorrow’s parading leaflet. Qi Le’an took it with a smile, closed the door, and threw it into the trash can.

Wei Changfeng came out after washing the dishes and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Qi Le’an shrugged and said, “Another parade. By the way, what are you doing tomorrow?”

Wei Changfeng had already handed over the papers and other things to the school. He just needed to wait for the approval to pass before he could graduate smoothly. He had nothing to do in school, so he said, “Nothing… but someone gave me two tickets to the opera. Wanna go with me?”

Qi Le’an was a little depressed. He shook his head and said: “We’ll see…”

Seeing that Qi Le’an was not happy, Wei Changfeng walked over and held him in his arms, “Is everything okay?”

Qi Le’an hesitated for a moment and said, “I heard John say a while ago that he had recommended you… Do you want to stay in America?”

Wei Changfeng was a little surprised, “How can it be?”

Qi Le’an added, “But that is a good opportunity!”

Wei Changfeng kissed Qi Le’an and smiled, “It’s just something like an internship… I’ll go and watch and learn”

Qi Le’an was slightly relieved.

In the end, he was still a little afraid. After two years in America, although he liked to know everything here, he never felt a sense of belonging here. He had the anxiety of being in a foreign land. Perhaps Qi Le’an still wanted to return to China.

However, Wei Changfeng was different. He quickly blended in here, won the love of most people around. His elegance, gentleness, and humor, all showed the charm of the East. Wei Changfeng with such hormones always gave Qi Le’an a sense of crisis.

“By the way, the girl who gave me the tickets said that they needed a temporary role for their new play. They wanted you to participate in it. Do you want to go?” asked Wei Changfeng.

Qi Le’an’s eyes lit up and he asked, “They want me?”

Wei Changfeng nodded with amusement in his eyes, “She asked me to hand it over to An. I’m going to be jealous.”

Qi Le’an blushed and said happily, “Are they asking me to act?”

Wei Changfeng reluctantly pulled out the ticket from his bag and said, “You’ll see when you go tomorrow.”

Qi Le’an took the ticket and saw the name of the troupe, which he had never heard of before. But being invited to act in the opera showed some of his capacity. Although he studied directing at Tisch, he still liked to perform more in his bones. This could be seen in the fact that he got the top score in his class in acting class.

However, in the past year of his studies, Qi Le’an had nothing to do with acting except for acting classes. He never thought that there would be such a chance now!

The more he thought about it, the happier he became. He hugged Wei Changfeng and gave him a big kiss. “That’s great!”

Wei Changfeng gave the girl’s contact information to Qi Le’an and asked them to communicate in advance. Qi Le’an added her as a friend and happily started to chat with the girl.

It was Wei Changfeng who got jealous now. He was lying in bed with a pillow and an unhappy look on his face.

Qi Le’an realized it after a moment and hurriedly threw his phone and walked to Wei Changfeng’s side.

Wei Changfeng held him in his arms. The two of them were just about to do something when they heard the sound of a couple fighting upstairs, followed by the shouting abuse of the middle-aged lady next door.

Qi Le’an chuckled. Everything was good here except the poor sound insulation of the old house.

Wei Changfeng also couldn’t help laughing. His budding sexual interest was interrupted, so he rubbed against Qi Le’an helplessly.

The voice upstairs gradually calmed down. Qi Le’an ran to close the windows and doors and said playfully, “Let’s keep it down! It’s fine! ”

Wei Changfeng raised an eyebrow.

Qi Le’an looked around the bedroom and said, “I just put up sound-absorbing wallpaper two days ago! It’s time to verify the effect!

Wei Changfeng finally knew why Qi Le’an want to do decoration without rhyme or reason.

Qi Le’an jumped into bed and was about to take off his clothes when his phone started to ring again.

Wei Changfeng burst his sides with laughter. Qi Le’an held his phone angrily and found that it was an unknown number.

The area code of the number was familiar. It was an international long-distance call from China.

Qi Le’an answered.

“Is that Le’an? I am Hu Bin! I heard from Chen Shan that you’re in New York. I’ll come tomorrow. Do you have time to meet me?”