After all, Su Jingyi is no longer the sensitive and timid little girl she was a few years ago. She has grown very fast in the past few years and is now fully capable of standing on her own. "Okay, I remember that."

Huang Wanzhen noticed the atmosphere was a bit sad, so she brought the topic back to her studies. "What are your plans after graduation?"

Su Jingyi pondered for a moment and said, "The domestic situation is not good. I don't know what will happen next. I don't plan to go back in the short term. Otherwise, I will continue to move up. It would be good to apply for a graduate degree. I can also get to know more outstanding students here."

Early the next morning, Su Jingyi drove Huang Dongshi and Huang Wanzhen to a nearby market and bought a lot of things.

As soon as I got off the car, Zhao Dahua came out from the house to greet me. She pursed her lips embarrassedly and said, "I overslept this morning."

Huang Wanzhen smiled, "It's okay. I guess she's not used to the boat ride and is tired. Look what we bought."

Zhao Dahua took the bag from Huang Wanzhen and exclaimed in surprise, "Zucchini, shallots, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, wow—so many!"

Mrs. Huang slowly got out of the car and said with a smile, "Dahua, I want to eat Hutazi."

Zhao Dahua tied up the bag, held it in her hand, and said excitedly, "Madam, I'll do it right away."

Then, he turned to Huang Wanzhen and Su Jingyi and said, "What would Mr. Huang and Ms. Su like to eat?"

Before Huang Wanzhen could finish, Su Jingyi started talking, "I'm not picky. As long as it's authentic Chinese food, I'm fine. Pancakes, hutazi, youtiao, stir-fried dishes. Oh, and the stir-fried dishes must have peppercorns, vinegar, and soy sauce. They have to be authentic, not like the Chinese restaurants here, which are all sweet. Oh my God, they're just torturing my stomach."

"These foreigners use different seasonings than we do. The dishes they cook are so different from the taste of ours. It's killing me."

Perhaps because of her deep resentment, Su Jingyi kept muttering from outside the house to inside.

Huang Dong looked at her sympathetically and wanted to interrupt. After finally waiting for Su Jingyi to stop talking, she quickly said, "Who said it wasn't true? I survived on flatbread wrapped in sauce on the boat. At first, there were green onions, but later even green onions were gone. They only had onions, but they just didn't taste as good as our green onions!"

"They say America is amazing! Here we can't even buy seasonings. Luckily, Manager Lin gave us a big bag of seasonings before we came here."

The two of them seemed to have met a kindred spirit. They sat on the sofa and began to discuss the food here.

"They can't cook at all. If we're talking about cooking, we have to rely on our eight major cuisines. If we just pick out one of them, we can beat them down."

"We have a huge table of dishes during the holidays, but they only eat roast turkey for Christmas, and they think it's a very fancy and delicious dish. But it's actually awful, old and woody."

Huang Dongshi's eyes widened, and then became even wider. "Really? The name sounds like roast chicken."

"Oh my! Auntie, you don't understand. The taste is far inferior to our Beijing roast chicken. Our old Beijing roast chicken is tender and smooth, and it's incredibly delicious. You said that there are many old Beijingers who have studied abroad, but why haven't I heard anyone praise this roast turkey? That's because it tastes too bad. If it were good, it would have been sold in Beijing long ago."

Mrs. Huang nodded. "That's right. People in our area eat everything. Even insects can be made into delicious dishes. I've never heard of roasting turkey. It must be too inferior."

When Dahua finished preparing the meal, the two were still talking excitedly.

Huang Wanzhen had to interrupt them, "Go wash your hands and have dinner. There are flatbreads and glutinous rice cakes. I'll ask Dahua to fry you dough sticks for you tomorrow morning."

Huang Dong stood up and said to Su Jingyi, "When you leave, you must tell me in advance. I will fry some small fish, fried cakes and vegetarian meatballs for you. Fried things can be stored for a long time and don't spoil easily."

Su Jingyi nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay, Auntie, make me some more. Don't worry about it going bad. I have a refrigerator, I can freeze it and eat it later."

Su Jingyi, this useless person, seemed like a starving ghost reincarnated. She ate four porridge dumplings, half a pancake, and many dishes, and successfully stuffed herself.

"Okay, okay, it's not like you won't have another meal after this one, don't upset your stomach."

Su Jingyi had lived in the United States for a long time and was familiar with some of the customs and habits of the foreigners here. She told Huang Wanzhen, "When you first move to a new place and want to fit in, the fastest way is to throw a party. Their parties here aren't as complicated as banquets back home. We can just go to the supermarket and buy some drinks and cakes."

Su Jingyi stroked her chin and thought for a while, then said, "Dahua can make Chinese pastries. It would be even better if we asked her to make some of our pastries in advance."

Huang Wanzhen sighed, then suddenly turned to Zhao Dahua and said, "Dahua, are the snacks we bought spoiled?"

"Some of the halva, malt sugar, and extra sweet ones didn't go bad, and the rest were eaten on the boat."

Huang Wanzhen turned to Su Jingyi and asked, "Do you want to eat it? I'll save one for you."

Su Jingyi waved her hand. "No, I like salty food and not sweet. I'll follow you to deliver it to the neighbors and invite them to the party."

The first house the two men went to was the Friant family in the east. Mr. Friant was not at home. Only Mrs. Friant, their three children, and a maid were there.

Seeing that they were new neighbors visiting, Mrs. Friant received them warmly. After thanking them for the gifts they brought, she ordered the servants to serve coffee.

Looking at the three children, Huang Wanzhen smiled and said, "They are so beautiful, just like little angels."

White children are like this. They are the prettiest when they are young, and they are white and tender like angels. But when they grow up, it is not necessarily the case.

Mrs. Friant accepted Huang Wanzhen's praise with a smile, and even asked if she had any children at home.

"I have a seven-year-old girl at home named Pearl."

"Oh! The same age as my second son. My eldest son is ten, and my youngest daughter is five."

Don’t say that white people are aloof. In fact, white people are also quite gossipy. After talking about some interesting stories about children, Mrs. Friant asked about Su Jingyi again.

Su Jingyi only said that she was an international student at Columbia University, and also introduced Huang Wanzhen's school.

When Mrs. Friant learned that both of them were going to college, and such an outstanding university, she became even more enthusiastic.

Before leaving, Huang Wanzhen invited her family to attend a party at her home in two days. Mrs. Friant happily accepted the invitation.

Not all the neighbors were as kind as Mrs. Friant. Several families politely declined, and two even refused to accept their visit.