to deep

"Second brother." Zhao Wenyan walked quickly to the side of the man, his tone hard to conceal his excitement.

Huo Qiyu ranked second in the family, so he was naturally called Huo Er according to the Beijing practice, and he became the second elder brother in the mouths of their juniors.

When Zhao Wenyan was young, his second elder brother was the one who took care of him the most among his peers. Unfortunately, he went to work in the US embassy and almost never heard from him. He didn’t hear anything until these two years.

Two years after the teacher told him that the ministry planned to let him study in the United States, he immediately notified Huo Qiyu, and the first thing he thought of after coming to New York was to meet him.

Huo Qiyu smiled, stretched out his hand and rubbed his head, the unfamiliarity that he hadn't seen for eight years disappeared without a trace with this familiar movement: "Get in the car and go have dinner."

Huo Qiyu took him to a private restaurant. The owner seemed to be very familiar with Huo Qiyu, and the two chatted a few words in English.Huo Qiyu's English pronunciation is a bit special. The extreme standard without any accent is standard in international conferences, but it seems a bit weird in daily life.

"Do you come here often?" Huo Qiyu asked after he took the table, "It's quite far from the consulate, wouldn't it be inconvenient?"

"It's close to where I live." Huo Qiyu poured a glass of red wine for both of them, and said in a calm voice, "I don't have much work at the consulate, and I usually have a lot of time to come out, let's try it."

"I'm allergic to alcohol." Zhao Wenyan looked down at the goblet, "I found it in Venice, sorry."

"Oh, luckily it's okay." Huo Qiyu smiled nonchalantly, "Is Mr. Zheng okay?"

"The teacher is very nice. He asked me to bring you two bottles of wine, but unfortunately they were detained at the airport."

"That's a pity." Huo Qiyu sighed slightly, and couldn't help but soften his tone, "You still call him teacher?"

"A teacher for one day and a father for life, the teacher didn't let me change my mind."

"Alright." Huo Qiyu nodded without saying anything, "Have you considered working part-time?"

"The teacher won't let me go to work, and if I lack money, I can just go to him."

He is not short of money, but when he came to New York, a city where money and consumption flowed in his blood, the habits he had developed were incompatible here.

He suddenly thought of the glass of milk that Shen Qiao handed him in the morning, and felt a little annoyed.

"You can find me if you have no money. Your teacher is busy, so don't bother him." Huo Qiyu cut a piece of steak with an elegant gesture, obviously used to this kind of dinner, "I heard that the American Academy of Drama does not admit Asians, you live alone ?"

"No." Thinking of Shen Qiao and Zhao Wenyan, he suddenly felt a little headache, "My roommate is also Asian, but he should be of British nationality." He paused, and suddenly said, "Can you do me a favor, second brother?"

"Say."

"If you are free on the weekend, can you help me with my spoken English?"

"..."

Huo Qiyu opened his mouth slightly, obviously a little shocked by his proposal.

Zhao Wenyan had already thought of this scene, but he still insisted on repeating: "I mean it."

His English is good, but only in written form. Not only is he not fluent in spoken English, but he also has an obvious accent. He can only say that there is no problem in daily communication.

But listening to professional courses is absolutely not acceptable.

Huo Qiyu, a talented student who graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of Tsinghua University and participated in the Sino-British negotiations on the Hong Kong issue at the age of 20, is indeed overkill for him to tutor him in English, but he really can't find anyone else now.

"If you really think so, I have no problem." After a while Huo Qiyu said, his tone was still a little helpless, as if he suddenly thought of something, he asked, "Does your roommate speak Chinese?"

"My roommate can speak Chinese, but he is...queer(1), I don't want to have too much contact with him."

Looking through the dictionary today, I happened to come across this word meaning "weird". At that time, Zhao Wenyan was deeply touched and was particularly impressed, so he was always thinking about applying what he had learned.

"Queer?" Huo Qiyu frowned, "Are you sure?" "

"Sure." Zhao Wenyan said with certainty.No one in the world can interpret this word better than Shen Qiao!

Huo Qiyu sighed slightly, looking at Zhao Wenyan with fatherly sympathy.He put down the spoon, and said in a heavy tone, "Come to me after five o'clock in the afternoon if you are free, and I will give you the address later. If I am not here, you can find my roommate. He is from New York, but his Chinese is good."

"Okay." Zhao Wenyan didn't think much about it.

It was eight o'clock in the evening after dinner, and Huo Qiyu offered to send him back.Zhao Wenyan originally didn't want to trouble him, but Huo Qiyu insisted:

"New York is very chaotic during this period, and you will pass through Brooklyn when you go back." Huo Qiyu said, "Asians are the most likely to be targeted by them, and it is not good for you to get involved in some troublesome lawsuits."

"..." Zhao Wenyan always felt that there was something in his words, but he really couldn't hear the meaning behind the words, "Okay."

The two chatted all the way to the school, and when they got off the car, Huo Qiyu suddenly asked: "Aren't you used to it in New York?"

"Yes." Zhao Wenyan admitted, and there was nothing to hide, "This place is different from China, and it's also different from Europe."

Because of his teacher, he has been to many international film festivals, and he has seen the appearance of developed countries, but he has to live in New York for two years. The difference he sees and experiences in one day is the same as in the past ten days and a half months. I can't feel it either.

He suddenly thought of Shen Qiao again, he was obviously used to this kind of life, maybe even lived this kind of life since birth, although it seemed that Shen Qiao didn't reject him and was even very kind to him now, but who could tell what would happen in the future?

"I wasn't used to it when I first came to New York, and the situation was worse than yours." Huo Qiyu pulled out the car key, looked at the moonlight outside the car window, as if recalling something, "But I'm luckier than you, my roommate and I It's okay, nothing special. At first we didn't think we would live together for so many years, but who can guess the future?"

"..." Zhao Wenyan was speechless, "I really don't think he is a suitable person to be a friend."

"You may think that he is different from you, but he may not be a good person." Huo Qiyu sighed slightly, "It's getting late, you should go back to school first."

"it is good."

After watching Zhao Wenyan enter the school, Huo Qiyu took out his mobile phone and dialed a number.Connected quickly.

"When will you be back?" It was a grown man's voice on the phone, with a New York accent in English.

"Half an hour later, what happened?"

"Not the future Mayor Brown?" The man seemed to smile teasingly, "I know you don't want to see him, but we have to deal with him tomorrow."

"God!" Huo Qiyu sighed, as if he was about to face a torture, "Then we should prepare well in case I can't control it tomorrow. I'll try to hurry up." He paused, as if he suddenly thought of something , "Is New York more and more open? I have a friend who only came here for a day and met a gay."

"Maybe, several leaders of the Hammond family are raising male prostitutes." The man's tone suddenly became playful, "Do you need me to tell the future Mayor Brown that you actually took the initiative to ask me about homosexuality? He Must be flattered."

"If you dare to do that, you will appear tomorrow on the bed of the leaders of the Hammond family's male prostitutes." Huo Qiyu said leisurely, "You can't look at it like this, George Lockett. I like girls."

After class started the next day, Zhao Wenyan arrived in the classroom early.Caucasian students who came in one after another saw him commenting in amazement almost undisguisedly. Although his spoken English was not very good, he could still vaguely hear that what they said was not good.

He has long been used to this kind of curious look, so he simply ignored it.Fortunately, today's class is video editing, and the content of the teaching is not too difficult.After class, the teaching assistant suddenly stopped him: "The dean is back, let me inform you to go to the dean's office, Chinaman (2)."

Immediately there was booing all around.Zhao Wenyan was annoyed, so he simply raised his head and looked directly at the middle-aged white man with an Australian accent: "Thank you for your errand service on behalf of the dean, Boong (2)"

After speaking, ignoring the uproar around him, he picked up his bag and left the classroom.

He came to the United States to study quietly, but it is an insult to the country and the nation, and no one can remain indifferent.

The dean's office is not far from the classroom.After knocking on the door and hearing "Please comein", the scene in front of him made him a little speechless:

He opened the door. Carl Kestner, the dean of the American Academy of Drama, was sitting at his desk and flipping through a magazine. I want to ask you something, let me help you translate."

(1) Literally translated as weirdo, but in New York slang it has a homosexual meaning.

(2) Generally translated as "Chinaman", the most commonly used derogatory term for Chinese people in North America.

(3) The scornful term for Australians in North America means "indigenous", which is intended to satirize the power of others.