Lin Wansheng’s clenched fist slowly loosened. He raised his head, looked at the two of them, and revealed a faint, playful smile.
“Well, well. I was wondering who it was. Turns out it’s the two star players with GPAs under 2.”
“Summer school let out this early?”
Kevin’s face instantly flushed red. “F*ck, what the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m not remembering wrong, am I? I seem to recall that at the end of last semester, certain people absolutely bombed algebra. With a GPA under 2.0, if you’re not making up credits over the summer, what, you think you can go to summer training camp?”
That sentence struck the two of them right where it hurt.
That was right. Just like Lin Wansheng, neither of them could take part in summer training camp.
In the American high school sports world,
“No Pass, No Play.” (If you don’t pass, you don’t play.)
It was practically an ironclad rule.
No matter how strong you were, how fast you could run, or how indispensable you were to the team,
as long as you failed one core subject, or your GPA fell below 2.0, you would be directly stripped of your eligibility to play until you brought your grades back up.
In Lin Wansheng’s mind, the stern face of his algebra teacher even flashed past.
He transformed into the white-robed wizard from the movie, spreading his arms toward Mark and Kevin.
In a deep, resonant voice, he proclaimed, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” (You’ve failed!)
Thinking of that meme, Lin Wansheng couldn’t help letting out a “pfft” of laughter.
That little chuckle completely ignited Kevin’s fury.
“Chink, what the fuck are you laughing at!” he roared, taking a step forward as if to grab Lin Wansheng by the collar.
“Enough, Kevin!” Mark grabbed him.
His expression turned even uglier because of Kevin’s wildly inappropriate word.
But he hadn’t stopped him in time. That clearly spoken “Chink” instantly silenced the surrounding clamor, and countless gazes turned toward them in unison.
Especially those of several burly Chinese men not far away, smoking with dragons and tigers tattooed on their arms.
They stubbed out their cigarettes and slowly surrounded them with unfriendly looks.
Seeing that things were going badly, Mark knew Kevin had gotten them into big trouble.
He said no more, gripping the still-struggling Kevin tightly and practically dragging him into the crowd.
Only at the very end did he turn back and viciously throw out one line: “Just wait till school starts!”
They thought they could escape just like that, but those Chinese tough guys who had surrounded them clearly had no intention of letting the matter go.
They directly blocked their path, half shoving, half dragging the two of them into the dark alley nearby.
Watching their backs gradually disappear into the alley,
Lin Wansheng couldn’t help giving their courage a thumbs-up.
Daring to shout “Chink” here in Chinatown—now that really was commendable bravery.
Taking advantage of this festive mood, he packed up his equipment and turned to head home.
And it was at that very moment that the long-awaited voice in his mind finally rang out again.
【Task complete. The reward has arrived.】
【Congratulations, my lord, you have obtained the Fruit of Word Spirit (English).】
【Learn the foreigners’ advanced skills to subdue the foreigners. If you wish to stand firm here, you must first sharpen your tools. Language is the foremost of all tools.】
【You have conversed with a hundred people, diligently seeking and striving; your resolve is worthy of recognition.】
【Consume this fruit, and the subtleties of English shall be fully understood. You may converse freely without worry.】
A semi-transparent inventory panel unfolded before Lin Wansheng’s eyes.
A crystal-clear fruit lay quietly in the first slot of the inventory.
Luckily, over the past few days, in order to deal with the system, he had crammed quite a bit of classical Chinese knowledge, and he finally managed to understand the meaning, albeit stumblingly.
Lin Wansheng looked at the reward, a little speechless.
“Fruit of Word Spirit?” he muttered inwardly. “But I got an A+ in AP English. Isn’t this thing redundant for me?”
“Is this system looking down on people too much? At school, even among those born and raised in America, there aren’t many whose essay scores are higher than mine.”
A thought rose in his mind.
He tried to touch the fruit with his mind, wanting to “take” it out of the inventory.
The moment he thought that, a flash of understanding surged into his heart.
He sensed that this fruit could not only materialize into any kind of fruit he wanted, but even more miraculously, it could actually be given to anyone to eat!
He subconsciously thought of the scene that morning, when he had just picked up the magazine and his mother had nearly broken down the door.
He also thought of what she had been constantly muttering lately.
His mother, while fighting tooth and nail with vocabulary words, would encourage herself like this: “If I still can’t learn English well, then when I send you to college in the future, I won’t even be able to ask where the dorm is. That would be way too embarrassing!”
Lin Wansheng’s heart thumped several times.
In other words, as long as he gave this fruit to his mom to eat,
he would never have to be that human translation machine again!
At the very least, his morning freedom was secured!!!
Fantastic! He clenched his fist, almost unable to suppress the wild joy in his heart.
——
He walked home beaming with delight, his steps noticeably lighter.
When he turned onto Canal Street, a voice caught his attention.
“Real shit, man! Real shit! Check it out!” A Black guy was squatting by the roadside, a piece of cloth spread out in front of him, covered with all kinds of “hot” luxury goods.
This sort of scene was already nothing unusual in today’s New York.
Ever since that highly controversial bail reform bill a few years ago had practically “decriminalized” petty theft and robbery under a thousand dollars,
“zero-dollar shopping” had become a unique American landscape.
Since then, more than two hundred retail theft cases had occurred across the city on average every day.
From chain pharmacies to luxury flagship stores, none were spared.
When large luxury stores faced robbers barging in brazenly in broad daylight,
they could only instruct security guards and employees to retreat and protect themselves.
After all, a hefty workers’ compensation claim, or legal disputes triggered by a conflict,
would cost far more than losing a few bags.
Thus, this peculiar street-level ecosystem came into being.
For stores, it was a disaster. For these “street entrepreneurs,” it was a business opportunity.
And for passersby like Lin Wansheng, it was a perfect chance to shear some wool from capitalism.
He stopped and surveyed the street stall with great interest.
Oh? Looks like this guy had just gone on a big shopping spree at LV. The selection was pretty complete.
He remembered that over the past few days, by pretending to be an employee of a nonprofit organization, he had also made a few hundred dollars.
There were only two weeks left before school started, and he wanted to go with the school team to visit colleges out of state.
However, his parents did not support his idea.
His mom and dad wanted him to stay in New York.
So, if he wanted to realize his plan,
then it was very necessary to butter up the real decision-maker at home—Mother Lin—ahead of time.
Thus, Lin Wansheng pointed at a CarryAll handbag and asked, “How much for this?”
The Black guy glanced at him and said directly, “Five hundred dollars.”
Good lord. A bag that retailed for twenty-seven hundred on the official website, and this guy was giving him a bone-breaking discount.
But Lin Wansheng felt that for a business with no cost, five hundred dollars was still way too steep.
The Chinese talent in his blood instantly awakened, and he began engaging the Black guy in a war of words.
Just as he picked up the bag, pointed at an almost invisible scratch, and prepared to use it as a breakthrough to keep bargaining down the price,
police sirens suddenly sounded not far away.
The Black guy’s expression changed. He rolled up the cloth, slung it over his shoulder, and vanished into the crowd in an instant.
The police cars roared past Lin Wansheng in pursuit.
Lin Wansheng lowered his head to look at the bag he hadn’t yet had time to put down, then looked in the direction the police had gone.
He thought to himself, “As expected of American characteristics. I came out ahead.”