Chapter 40: The pastry was rejected

After a long journey, the cruise ship finally arrived on the east coast of the United States. Under the gray sky, there was a gray city, with snowflakes dancing all over the sky. On a small island in the distance, the Statue of Liberty held a torch, as if guiding the direction for travelers coming from afar.

The weather in New York was very cold, and the Jian, wearing a fur coat and high boots, was trembling with ice, but it was still hard to hide his excitement. He jumped around like a bird and ran to the bow of the boat, and turned around to greet Chen Zikun: "Come quickly."

Chen Zikun caught up quickly, and the two of them snuggled up to the bow of the boat and looked at Manhattan in the snow dance. Jian Bing couldn't help but spread his arms to make a flying look, and shouted at the same time: "America, I'm here~~~~"

Chen Zikun quickly put her waist on her waist and blamed her: "What should I do if I fall down?"

Jian Bing giggled and said, "With you here, I'm not afraid of anything. Do you know, I'm always having nightmares along the way, dreaming of a same cruise ship crashing on the ice sea, killing thousands of people. That miserable look was scary. Fortunately, our ship is fine and arrived safely."

The whistle was roaring and deafening. The port was getting closer and closer. Passengers returned to the cabin, packed their luggage and prepared to get off the boat. Half an hour later, Chen Zikun and Jian Bing were already stepping on the land of Manhattan. They looked at the skyscrapers all over and sighed: "This is the United States."

A staff member of the New York Consulate came to pick up Chen Zikun. He was a sent-in student and a friend Gu Weijun told him to take care of. The consulate had arranged a hotel for them, just on the famous Broadway Street, very close to Chinatown where Chinese people live.

New York is like the Shanghai Public Concession that has been magnified countless times, with noise and prosperity emitting every corner. Beggars sleeping on the vents of heating pipes, expensive goods placed in Broadway shopping mall windows, Ford cars whistling on the streets and New Yorkers all telling the Chinese couple that this is the other end of the earth, New York.

The hotel is very old and is a building from the mid-century. The golden wallpaper in the room is already dull, and the toilet is a bit difficult to use, but the row of rough cast iron radiators under the window is burning hot, bringing spring-like warmth to travelers from afar.

After seeing off her friend from the consulate, Jian Bing became busy. She first put water in the bathtub, then tidied up her luggage, and replaced her dusty luggage. She was used to being served by others, and her clothes were always handed over to the laundry. When she arrived in the United States, she was no exception. If there was a phone call in the room, she could go directly to the front desk and ordered someone to come to collect the clothes.

After the phone call, after twenty minutes, someone rang the doorbell. The one who came in was a thin Chinese woman. Jian Bing was worried that her English level was not enough to communicate with the locals. She was very happy and talked to her in Mandarin. But the old woman shook her head and spoke a dialect that Jian Bing couldn't understand.

Chen Zikun came out of the bathroom, spoke the same language and talked to the old woman, taught her clothes, and gave her another twenty-five cents tip. The old woman went out with great gratitude. Jian Bingqi said, "Where are the dialects you speak?"

"Chaozhou dialect, I spent a while in Guangdong and could speak Cantonese and Chaozhou dialect. Most of the people in New York Chinatown are Chaoshan people, and most of them open laundry rooms. These people were all sold piglets to the United States to build railways in their early years. Later, California was engaged in anti-Chinese deficiencies in China, so they moved to the east coast." Chen Zikun learned a lot of American customs and culture from Gu Weijun along the way. He told the story at this moment, which immediately made Jianbing Dasheng admire him.

I cleaned up and went out to find a restaurant run by an American, ordered a ham, fried egg, sandwich and had a full meal. Originally, Chen Zikun wanted to order a bottle of brandy to celebrate, but was told that due to the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, wine bans across the United States, he could not drink money. The two of them could not help but miss the delicious food and wine in Shanghai, and they were thousands of miles away from home. They wanted to stay in the United States for four or five years or even longer, and they couldn't help but feel sad.

After a day resting in New York, Chen Zikun took a car to West Point Military Academy 80 kilometers away, striving to catch up with the spring enrollment of the 1921 class. West Point Military Academy is located along the Hudson River. Its terrain is dangerous and is a must-fight for military strategists. In more than a hundred years of its establishment, the school has been quite large in scale, entrenched on the river bay highlands, like a fortress.

After careful interrogation at the door, Chen Zikun entered the school. The campus was filled with military academy students wearing gray military uniforms, who followed the rules and were meticulous and completely different from the young people in society.

When he arrived at the school office, Chen Zikun submitted his documents to a female secretary wearing reading glasses who was typing on a typewriter. The secretary in his fifties looked at the documents, looked over the top of the glasses frame and looked at Chen Zikun. He said, "Wait, then picked up the documents and went into the office next to him."

Five minutes later, the female secretary came back and told Chen Zikun in a stereotyped tone that it is a pity that we do not approve of the documents you submitted. In other words, the things you brought were invalid.

Chen Zikun is one of the top two. This is a recommendation letter signed by President Xu Shichang, and it is also stamped with the seal of the President of the Republic of China. In addition, his identity certificate was also issued by the Ministry of Army and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They are all formal documents, so why are they invalid?

He argued with reason, but the female secretary disagreed. She glanced at him with contempt and continued to knock on his typewriter. The office door opened and a gentleman with glasses came out. He was quite polite and explained the reason to Chen Zikun.

It turns out that the rules for enrolling students at West Point Military Academy are that students must have letters of recommendation from members of Congress or military generals to enter the school. The same is true for foreign students. However, the recommendations are not brought by the students themselves, but must be passed on between countries through diplomatic channels.

Now Chen Zikun understood that it was worthless to the other person to share the recommendation letter of the president. Could it be that his trip was in vain? He couldn't swallow his breath and insisted on meeting the top leader of the school.

The glasses shrugged, knowing that he could not convince the stubborn Chinese, so he called the principal with a try-and-see attitude, and then said a few words: "Sir, please come with me."

The principal's office is located on the highest floor of the office. Standing by the window, the playground is fully visible. The house is decorated in a very military style. Sabre and battle flags are hung on the walls. A middle-aged soldier sits behind the desk and a star on his shoulder.

"Principal, Mr. Chen is here." Mr. Glasses presented Chen Zikun's information. After carefully reading it, the general handed it back to him: "I'm sorry, when it comes to treating foreign students, we must treat everyone equally. To make exceptions to one person is unfair to others."

Chen Zikun wanted to argue a few more words, but the general suddenly raised his head, and his eagle-like gaze made him swallow his words, straightened his back and said, "I will come back."

Chen Zikun returned to New York in great frustration. As soon as he walked to the door of the hotel room, he heard Jian Bing's yelling in anger. When he entered the door, he saw that the old woman in the laundry room was bowing her head and being scolded. Jian Bing shook a damaged tweed top in his hand: "Do you know how much this clothes cost? If they are damaged, you will have to pay for it!"

"Forget it, it's just a piece of clothing." Chen Zikun stopped Jian Bing's anger and took out a coin to send the old woman. When talking about the nails he was hit by the pastry, Jian Bing felt even worse when he heard it, and he was helpless after complaining for a long time.

"In this case, I have to call back and ask the President to issue another letter of recommendation. But this time, the people of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be lazy, at least a few months later, will it delay their studies?" Jian Bing said dejectedly.

Jian Bing is right. Not everyone can send a president. The last time I got the recommendation letter so smoothly was entirely due to Wu Peifu's face. Now that Marshal Wu is training troops in Luoyang, can he still make a special trip to Beijing for this matter? The big guys are busy with everything, and no one will take Chen Zikun's study abroad to heart. It would be light to delay a few months, and maybe even one year.

Chen Zikun said: "There is nothing to do. There is only this road to go. Who made me a foreign student? If they were their own people, there would be no such trouble."

Even though he was depressed, he still had to eat food, but it was cold outside. Jianbing was too lazy to move because of the cold, but he was greedy and wanted to eat Chinese food. Chen Zikun went to Chinatown to buy some cooked food.

As soon as he left the hotel gate, the old woman from the laundry came up and said, "Sir, you are a good person, I can help you."

Chen Zikun was shocked: "What can you help me?"

The old woman smiled mysteriously: "I can help anything."

Chen Zikun looked around in shock and saw if the old woman had any shadows. It was sunny in the sky, could it be that she had met a god?

"Sir, come with me." The old woman pushed the cart to collect her clothes and walked slowly in front of her. She was heading towards Chinatown. Although Chen Zikun was suspicious, she still followed her.

In a short time, I came to the famous Chinatown of New York, where Chinese restaurants and laundry rooms were everywhere. Various signs were also written in Chinese characters. Most of the people who came and went to and from Asia, and many even dragged their braids from the Qing Dynasty.

The old woman came to an outside of a laundry room, went in and out of the front door, walked around the alley several times, and finally arrived at her destination. This was the basement of a building, with statues of Guan Gong in the house, and some black and white photos hanging on the wall, and smoke was shrouded in smoke. Four Chinese were sitting at the table playing mahjong.

"Sir, wait a moment, I'll report to Uncle Ji." The old woman said and entered the inner room.

After a while, Chen Zikun was called into the inner room. The room was very dark. The candlelight swayed on the candlestick. A little old man with braids curled up on a rattan chair. His face was wrinkled like an orange peel, and he was holding an equally wrinkled Shapi dog in his arms.

"Young boy, I heard you are in trouble?" Uncle Ji's Mandarin is not very standard, with a strong Chaozhou accent. He doesn't look at him when he speaks, and just caresses the Sharpie Dog.

"Yes, some small trouble." Chen Zikun was a little alert. The atmosphere here was very strange. I'm afraid it was not the place where the honest people came.

"I can help you with your troubles, and the charges are very fair." Uncle Chi said slowly.

The old woman also said, "Uncle Chicken can do anything."

Chen Zikun couldn't help but say, "I need to be a US citizen and get the recommendation of a member of Congress. Can you do this?"

Uncle Chicken smiled rattle: "Yes, as long as you can afford the money."
Chapter completed!