Chapter 124: Things That Can't Be Told

  As they walked towards the stables behind the racecourse, Ju An suddenly remembered that he had bought a lottery ticket but hadn't checked if he had won yet. He took out the ticket from his pocket and said to Brad, "I spent seven dollars on this when I came in, wonder if I've won anything."

  After hearing what Yu An said, Brad took the paper from Yu An's hand and looked at it for a moment before laughing and saying: "You didn't even fill out the betting slip, how could you possibly win? Remember to fill out the betting slip next time you buy one."

  He scratched his head, and suddenly felt a bit depressed, thinking that he still had to fill out some betting slip. Nobody even gave him a heads up, and he was cheated by the horse racing track for several bucks, without even giving himself a chance to make it back.

  Following Brad for a while, they arrived at the horse stable behind the grandstand of the racecourse. Row upon row of stables stood neatly in order, with each horse's head poking out to eat the hay in front of them. Basically, every horse had someone taking care of it. Looking around, these horses were really living the high life, unlike their own stables which were basically taken care of by Nancy alone.

  In front of Brad's horse, Ju An looked at Brad gently stroking the nose of the speeding train, and then said a few words to the groom beside him. Following the neck of the speeding train, Ju An saw that the horse was already wearing a light blue small garment on its body, which looked like a medieval knight's armor at first glance. This should be the anti-mosquito clothing Brad mentioned.

  Next to the stable, after a while, I found that in the stable, the speeding train was still very quiet, standing in the stable and basically not moving at all, just stretching their heads to eat grass, as gentle as a young lady.

  Brad and the horse trainer chatted for a while, then turned to Ju An and said: "How about it, An? My horse is not bad, right? Today was his first competition, he started a bit slow, if not, he would have been leading all the way!" After speaking, he lovingly patted the horse's neck, then took out several carrot slices from a large plastic bag in front and fed them to Flying Speed's mouth.

  Right after that, the old man began to talk incessantly to Ju An about his horse breeding experiences. After a while, Ju An realized that this old man was just a chatterbox who wouldn't stop talking as long as someone was by his side. Having listened for quite some time, Ju An prepared to take his leave. The old man enthusiastically gave Ju An a business card and asked him to visit his horse farm when he wanted to buy horses, repeatedly assuring him that all of his horses were purebred and certified, and could be traded through the Horse Association.

  After leaving the horse farm, Ju An took a taxi to the hotel and got off nearby. Since Mo Li hadn't returned yet, he decided to wander around the streets for a bit. After walking for a while, he started to feel hungry, having only eaten a small bread roll in the morning. Looking at his watch, it was already past 4 pm, and he hadn't eaten for five or six hours. Ju An then found a Chinese restaurant that looked decent and went inside to eat.

  As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw a sea of yellow faces in the restaurant and suddenly felt much more at ease. The waiter immediately came over to greet him: "Welcome!" in perfect Mandarin, then led An to a table by the window, poured him a cup of tea, and handed him a menu, saying in English, "What would you like to eat?"

  "Speak Chinese, you look tired from speaking English."

  The buddy smiled and explained: "Just arrived from China three months ago, English is a bit rusty, so I'll speak Chinese with you."

  "What's your specialty? Come on, tell me. Ah, make some authentic Chinese food, not that nonsense they serve to foreigners," said Ju An as he flipped through the menu.

  The young waiter smiled and said, "I suggest you try our braised oxtail, it's fresh in this morning. Also, we have salmon, our master chef is very skilled at grilling fish."

  "Alright, I'll have the braised oxtail then. For the vegetable dish, if you have eggplant, I'll take the sautéed eggplant or scrambled eggs with green peppers, and make sure to choose a spicier pepper."

  The young man said: "Brother, what you said is all true, but why do you want it that way?"

  "Let's have stir-fried green peppers with eggs then, it goes down better with rice." Ju An said with a smile.

  The young man took note of it, then turned to Ju An and said, "Brother, please wait a minute, I'll go tell the kitchen right away." Seeing Ju An nodding, the young man walked towards the back.

  He sat comfortably, sipping his tea and looking around. The restaurant was decorated with a strong Chinese flavor, with paintings and couplets on the walls, as well as large red auspicious knots hanging from the ceiling. The tables and chairs were all in traditional Chinese style, and behind the cashier's counter hung two rows of small bamboo plaques, written in Chinese with many dishes listed, such as tomato scrambled eggs, braised lion's head, and so on.

  At this time, the chubby boss walked over and said to Ju An: "Big brother, welcome to my small shop. You look unfamiliar, is it your first time here?"

  "Ah, first time here, I said boss your store is very characteristic, the ancient color and fragrance are really good." Ju An smiled and flattered.

  The boss's chubby face suddenly increased a few points of smile: "I'm not bragging to you, this restaurant is famous in the Chinese circle in Los Angeles for its authentic and traditional Chinese flavor. The repeat customers are all our Chinese people. Look over there, we're still the designated restaurant for domestic tourist groups." After finishing speaking, he pointed to a small copper plate on the counter, with small red characters printed on it: "Designated Restaurant for Certain Tourist Group".

  After reading this, I almost spat out a mouthful of tea. This guy is too funny. The restaurant designated by the tour group even brought it out to show off. It's also a kind of weird flower.

  The boss continued: "You may think it's just a tourist group, but many domestic celebrities come to the US to play and have all patronized my small store. Now there are also many repeat customers among foreigners. By the way, brother, are you traveling alone in the US or studying?"

  "I'm not here for tourism or studying, I'm here to see my girlfriend."

  The boss suddenly realized and said: "Your wife is in Los Angeles, you are here to stay for a few days, when will you return to the country?"

  "I'll stay for five or six days. I'm currently running a ranch in Montana, raising some cattle and sheep." Ju An said with a smile.

  The boss took a look at Ju An and said, "Alright, brother, you're doing pretty well, having a ranch and all. You've really made it. Your wife is studying here, right? Next time bring her over for dinner and I'll give you a discount."

  Jū ān xiào zhe duì lǎo bǎn shuō dào: "wǒ nǚ pēng yǒu bù zěn chī dé guàn chún zhèng de zhōng cān, yáng guǐ zi."

  Translation:

  Jū ān smiled and said to the boss: "My girlfriend doesn't eat authentic Chinese food well, foreigner."

  "That's good, at first I thought your girlfriend was in the US and you came from China, so many things to be careful about." The boss let out a sigh of relief.

  Living in peace and quiet, this guy is like a firecracker barrel, is this still considered being cautious? Curious, he asked: "What's going on, that you have to be careful with your words?"

  The boss smiled and said, "Actually, it's not a big deal. Some people who have just arrived from China, with their wives or husbands still in China, many of them find roommates to rent an apartment together and start a temporary married life here. It's better if the wife is still in China, but if the husband is in China and then comes over, they'll know soon enough that they won't be divorced for long. Last time, a husband came to America and found out his wife was living with another man, he had been wearing a green hat for years, so he immediately beat up his wife and the other man, and made a scene at the police station. I didn't think your girlfriend was here, but you were in China and didn't dare tell me. But let's talk about it, several old men can bear the green hat."

  "This is the first time I've heard of such a situation, and there aren't many examples around me: 'I really haven't heard people talk about this kind of thing before, when did we Chinese become so open-minded?'"

  The boss shook his head and said, "Actually, thinking about it, we can't blame others. A man and a woman in an unfamiliar environment, working hard to make money everywhere, it's not easy. Returning to an empty house with no one to talk to, a few months is nothing, but after a few years, how many people can endure it? Those who think openly continue to live a small life, those who don't think openly and take action are not uncommon. I only came here to open a restaurant for my son's education, otherwise, I wouldn't come here to suffer this kind of torture. In our country, there are many brothers drinking and chatting, how comfortable."

  "Then your son's grades must be very good."

  "The grades are great, actually our Chinese kids rarely have bad grades, we emphasize education, but here in America it's not just about studying well, you also need to participate in extracurricular activities. In the first year, I didn't understand and was called by the teacher many times. Now my son has started playing baseball and is even the main pitcher for the school team. The kids from our country all have great grades and a solid foundation in their studies. Now I'm starting to regret coming too early, it would be better if we came during high school."

  After thinking about it, I understand now. Many students who come back to China after studying abroad can easily stand out once they overcome their shyness in class, the key is to have a solid foundation. Now, many top research institutions in the US have many Chinese people, giving the impression that Chinese people are very smart and suitable for scientific research.

  After listening to the boss's nagging for a couple of sentences, the dishes were served. After eating a few mouthfuls, Ju An felt that the boss was not bragging, these dishes were indeed authentic. He ate two large bowls of rice before putting down his chopsticks. When the boss came over, Ju An gave a thumbs up and praised: "The flavor is really authentic, to be honest, I haven't had such delicious food even in my home country."

  The boss smiled and said, "Not only is the flavor authentic here, but I also carefully selected these ingredients." After finishing speaking, he had his assistant bring over a large crab, saying it was for Ju An.

  Enjoying the delicious food and warm hospitality, I continued chatting with the boss while savoring the crab.