Brainoid

What surprised Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong was not that Anton called him "Mom" when he first came up, but that he really knew how to speak Chinese, and he didn't have any accent at first glance.

She was stunned, and so was Anton. Fortunately, Anton was stunned for a second and quickly explained: "Well... because Min was afraid that you would hear her asking for Coke in the park, so she said it in English on purpose..."

"Then are you American?" Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong asked directly.

"So... I guess." Anton really wanted to say that he was a pure Northeastern man, but someone had to believe it, "But I was born in China..." In fact, this is also doubtful, but Just think of it as, "I went to the United States later."

Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong glanced at him and sighed with a headache: "Oh, this girl Qi Min."

What she was thinking about was the boyfriend her daughter was looking for. Even if he was not a complete foreigner, he was still a "Chinese-American hybrid" who had grown up in the United States. What's even more troublesome is that this guy obviously speaks Chinese, but he actually speaks English to his daughter at home. It's embarrassing to say that he admires foreign things.

However, Anton didn't know what Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong was thinking. When he saw that she was silent, he continued to peel the apple with the knife silently. After peeling, cut into pieces and put them in a bowl, then washed the juicer and started to squeeze apple juice.

At this time, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong, who was standing aside and "monitoring", suddenly asked: "By the way...are you planning to return to the United States or stay here?"

Anton was asked a question out of the blue, and he almost lost his grip as he poured the apple chunks out of the juicer, and quickly said: "Of course I will stay here. What can I do in the United States...right?"

He regretted it after he said it. Anton knew that the thing he disliked the most was that he didn't have a serious job. In fact, he couldn't blame Qi Min for letting him take care of Mimi at home, because he himself had no ambition. Logically speaking, Anton had a high school degree at the time. Even if he couldn't be a chef, he could still do some other decent work. He could even get a loan to go to college, which was better than delivering food. But he didn't want to leave the Chinese restaurant, and he didn't want to owe money. He always felt that he would not be able to pay it back in the future. Instead of "struggle" day and night with the debt, he might as well deliver food.

This is also because labor costs in the United States are high, and you can earn a lot of money by delivering food. Anyway, for Anton, it is enough to have money to spend and maintain a normal life. When Qi Min was studying for his Ph.D., he was still motivated to make money. After Qi Min graduated, he really felt that there was no need to work so hard. After all, Qi Min is doing well. If her boyfriend is not doing well at work, it will be more embarrassing than not having a job.

But sure enough, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong asked along the way: "What kind of work did you do in the United States before?"

This question was a natural one, and Anton had to jump out of the hole he had dug for himself: "I just... work in a restaurant, um... delivering takeout."

After hearing this answer, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong couldn't help but look at him carefully again. Anton thought that this middle-class electrical engineer in China would dislike the social status of his daughter's boyfriend. However, few people expected that, and Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong felt a little relieved at this time.

She was originally worried that her daughter would go astray in her Ph.D. and start admiring foreign things, and that she would "treason" and live under the American imperialism in the future. But now it seems that the boyfriend she found is just hanging around in the United States, and it is better to live well in China. Looking at Anton's appearance, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong understood a little bit. Her daughter just liked this guy's good looks. She didn't want to rise in class or get a green card in the United States. In her opinion, it was just for fun. .

Today's young people, alas.

But even just for fun, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong was a little uncomfortable with her daughter finding a boyfriend who delivered food. Although their family is said to be in the middle class, the middle class has always been very fragile and really cannot afford to be created. This kid had better not cause any trouble, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong thought, and since Qi Min didn't take him home to meet his parents immediately, in her opinion, he probably didn't mean to maintain a long-term relationship, so she hoped that she would have fun If you get tired of it, just split it up.

Thinking of this, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong couldn't help but ask: "Hey, young man, you and Qi Min... when did you meet?"

Anton turned off the juicer and replied hesitantly: "Six years ago... that was when Min just started studying for his Ph.D."

Anton was a little afraid that Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong would misunderstand him, thinking that he was targeting first-year PhD students to "invest" in promising futures. But really speaking, at that time, he had just graduated from a free public high school and had just started delivering food full-time to make a living. Anton really didn’t understand anything at the time, and he even mocked Qi Min for not being able to earn a salary from studying for a Ph.D. compared to washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant.

But compared to the time they met, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong was even more surprised that they had known each other for six years. I haven’t had enough fun in the past six years. Isn’t it a bit unreasonable?

As an old lady, Zhu Shaoqiong also knew that Qi Min had a bit of a weird temper. Qin Zhenjun before did not do anything to offend her to the point where she still resents her to this day. This kid has long hair and a ponytail. He looks quite individual, but the more individual a person is, the easier it is for him to offend Qi Min. Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong really didn't understand what he was capable of, being able to play with her daughter for six years without getting tired of it.

And if they have been talking to each other for six years, Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong is also a little worried that this guy has instilled some messy views into her daughter - otherwise he, a food delivery guy, can't speak well, and no matter how good-looking he is, he will get tired of it after so many years. , what has Qi Min been pursuing all these years!

"Young man, how many years have you been delivering food?" Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong asked.

"It's also a little more than six years." Anton replied.

Co-author: Did you get to know Qi Min when you first started delivering food? Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong then asked: "What did you do before delivering food?"

This question made Anton stunned for a full two seconds, and then he said uncertainly: "I am... studying in a public high school?"

Because the original owner of the Chinese restaurant left, no one could pay Anton's private high school tuition. He attended a tuition-free public high school in his last year of high school. Anton was hesitant to tell Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong that he actually spent most of his high school time in a private high school with relatively good teaching quality. He had taken some AP courses and was barely considered a cultural person.

But regardless of whether he was a private or public student, he was still in high school more than six years ago. This fact shocked Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong a little. This means that Anton met Qi Min not long after he entered the society. At that time, Qi Min was already a person who had been criticized by his ex-boyfriend in college and would not treat her boyfriend so casually.

Calculating this, Qi Min should be three or four years older than this kid. These three or four years are an important stage for young people around the age of 20 to understand society. Ms. Zhu Shaoqiong suddenly understood why her daughter had been able to talk to him for so long without any problems - perhaps it was not because this boy had instilled something in Qi Min, but because Qi Min had instilled something in him subtly.

You can also tell from his accent that he is indeed greatly influenced by Qi Min.