Kai, why did you call me over so urgently? I just got off work."
A slightly plump fellow, shaped somewhat like a football, quickly arrived at the house Wang Kai rented, plopped down, and grabbed a Coke from the secondhand refrigerator under Wang Kai's desk.
After twisting off the cap, he guzzled it down.
His pizza shop uniform was already soaked with sweat, indicating he was indeed very tired.
Droplets of sweat dripped from his slightly long, curly hair.
It was truly puzzling why American fat guys liked to keep their hair long; didn't it make them look even sloppier?
"Jimmy, I've come up with a way to make money, and I want to pull you in on it.
That way, you won't have to deliver pizzas in this hot weather anymore.
I don't think you're trying to lose weight during this vacation, are you?"
Wang Kai said.
This Jimmy, whose full name was Jimmy Atkins, was Wang Kai's best friend from school, and also belonged to the disadvantaged group.
They were often bullied by the popular kids at school, mainly because Jimmy was a fatso and he was Asian.
"What way to make money? You're not going to sell drugs, are you? My dad would kill me!
Don't forget Doug from our school; he got killed while selling drugs."
After downing the Coke, Jimmy finally caught his breath, but after hearing Wang Kai's words, he became nervous.
In his mind, the only easy way to make money was selling drugs.
There was a guy like that at their school, but he was shot and killed by a competitor during a deal.
It caused a big stir at the school, and the school thoroughly investigated, issuing warnings to all students connected to off-campus hooligans, even suggesting they drop out.
"What are you thinking?
Am I the kind of person who would sell drugs?
I'm going to make fast food, Chinese fast food, I guarantee the business will be booming!
Maybe we can earn enough money during this vacation to pay for college later."
Wang Kai said.
According to his memory, his eleventh-grade vacation had just begun.
In America, instead of dividing into elementary school, middle school, and high school, it's twelve grades.
Nine to twelve is high school, and he was in eleventh grade, with only one year left before college.
There were also four vacations: Thanksgiving with about a week off, winter break for about twenty days, spring break for one to two weeks, and only the current summer vacation was the longest, with two to three months.
Wang Kai planned to use these two to three months to make money.
"Fast food, will it work?
Can you cook?"
Jimmy was a little hesitant.
After all, he knew that Wang Kai ate out every day and had never seen Wang Kai cook, so he was very skeptical.
"Of course.
If I couldn't cook, how would I have come up with this idea?
So I need the food truck from your house.
That way, the two of us can set up stalls in those commercial areas, and we're sure to make a fortune."
Wang Kai said.
Wang Kai couldn't do anything about his friend's distrust.
Who told the "previous him" not to show off his strength in this area?
"Well, you have to cook for me once first.
As long as it's delicious, I'll modify the van at our house.
Anyway, my dad doesn't drive it anymore."
Jimmy thought for a while and chose to trust his best friend, but he had to make his best friend show off his skills first.
"No problem, but I need to buy some ingredients.
I need to go to Chinatown to buy some ingredients.
You know, many Chinese delicacies require various seasonings.
These seasonings can't be found in American supermarkets; they're only available in those seasoning shops in Chinatown."
Wang Kai said.
Although he hadn't learned the Three-Egg Shumai and Golden Ratio Shumai yet, the other delicacies were no problem.
When he was an otaku, Wang Kai cooked for himself.
"Then what are we waiting for?
Let's go now."
Jimmy was very enthusiastic about eating, or else he wouldn't have developed his physique into this football shape.
However, this shape was too common in America, mainly because they ate more junk food than the Chinese.
Even so, these foreigners often criticized Chinese food as unhealthy.
They didn't think about how their burgers, pizzas, and Cokes had increased their country's average waistline by a lot.
Outside the apartment building, downstairs, the two of them rode their bicycles.
Although they couldn't afford cars, bicycles were no problem.
A little money could buy a very good secondhand bicycle, but Jimmy's bicycle was a bit more expensive, otherwise, a cheap bicycle couldn't withstand his weight.
New York's Chinatown is located in Lower Manhattan at the south end of Manhattan.
Its area is centered on Mott Street, including Canal Street, Bayard Street, Pell Street, Lafayette Street, Bowery, and East Broadway.
It was a place where Chinese people spontaneously gathered during the Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States.
Almost all the residents here are Chinese, and Chinese people who come here don't even need to speak English.
Chinese people engage in various commercial activities here, mainly opening shops, restaurants, and gift shops.
After all, this is not a commercial area; the elites are more often on Wall Street.
One-third of the shops are restaurants, and the streets are lined with piles of fruits, medicinal materials, and seafood stalls.
Aunts selling general merchandise and beautiful Chinese signs are mixed together, which reminded Wang Kai of his hometown.
Coming here was full of memories.
With the progress of the times, people's discrimination slowly subsided, and white people began to enter Chinatown, treating it as a tourist attraction.
Without time to go to the other side of the ocean, they came here to experience exotic customs, of course, all modified exotic customs.
According to the signs, Wang Kai came to a seasoning specialty store.
Here were various seasonings that Westerners didn't often use, such as star anise, dried tangerine peel, etc.
Wang Kai skillfully selected the seasonings here, while Jimmy curiously looked at these strange-shaped seasonings.
Wang Kai even saw Jimmy stuff a Sichuan peppercorn into his mouth to taste, and the result was predictable.
Jimmy couldn't close his mouth and ran out to rinse his mouth desperately with water.
After buying the seasonings, Wang Kai went to buy some ingredients, such as pork belly.
Westerners often eat pork, and most of the pork is sold to Chinatown, so you can buy good quality pork here.
After buying everything, Wang Kai and Jimmy rode to Jimmy's house, mainly because Wang Kai had no way to cook there, and Wang Kai also needed to win over Jimmy's dad.
After all, that van was Jimmy's dad's.
In the United States, the relationship between children and fathers is still very clear.
Although there is also spoiling, children need to obtain more things through their own efforts, that is to say, Jimmy usually has no problem driving that van, but it would not be easy to transform it into his own.