139: Chapter 136 Another Harbor

"By the way, Li, you'd better not go out at night. I told you before, it's very dangerous here," Martin warned again while driving.

"Also, it's best not to go to the Tenderloin District, whether it's day or night; it's the most chaotic place in the entire city. Actually, even the city center is very chaotic at night. There aren't many shootings, but there are a lot of robberies, and some guys who are high on drugs love to pick fights. Also, don't go to the Richmond District. There are people from all over the world there, and racial discrimination is at its worst, though there are only some small Gangs there, and it's all petty stuff."

Li Changsheng noticed that Martin didn't seem to care much for the land he lived on, and he could always hear dissatisfaction with this place in his words. This made Li Changsheng find it interesting. Could it be that chubby Martin had spent so much time with Chinese people that he had been assimilated by their tolerance?

It had to be said that this was truly possible. After all, anyone who had been to present-day China could deeply appreciate the sense of safety that existed at all times. In China, any shooting incident was an extremely rare and sensational event. As for robberies, they were even rarer; they might happen in every city, but they were definitely not common.

But here in the US, it really was shootings every day and robberies every moment. Here, you could only enjoy freedom at all times if you had money; if you didn't, you could only enjoy constant crisis. It was no different from playing a live-action version of Los Santos.

It wasn't actually far from the airport to Chinatown, just a sixteen-kilometer journey, and it was even faster by car. The road conditions were pretty good, and after speeding along the way, they arrived at Chinatown in less than ten minutes.

Chinatown existed in many US cities, but the most famous and largest was this old Chinatown, located near the Financial District and Little Italy, measuring 1 mile long and 1.34 miles wide.

Martin dropped him off in front of a grocery store to go park the car, telling Li Changsheng to wait there. Li Changsheng didn't mind; his gaze was drawn to the environment here.

Perhaps the most striking thing in Chinatown was the tall Transamerica Pyramid in the Financial District that could be seen at all times. The various grocery stores around also gave Li Changsheng the feeling of dreaming back to China in the eighties or nineties.

These grocery stores were filled with all kinds of little things, and there were stalls selling goods at the entrances. There were signs with words like "Great Shanghai" and "Old Beijing," streets hung with red lanterns, murals depicting characters or events from unique Chinese stories, as well as restaurants and Chinese eateries.

"The rumors were true; it really doesn't feel like I've left the country here." Li Changsheng exclaimed in wonder. Who could have imagined that those compatriots who had traveled across the ocean could build such a haven in this foreign land?

Li Changsheng also discovered that this Chinatown was dominated by people from Guangdong Province, most of whom spoke Cantonese. One of the languages used for bus announcements or reminders was Cantonese. In a square next to a church, he could even see a statue of Mr. Sun, a great modern Chinese figure.

There were many pigeons in a nearby park, and old people were playing chess and chatting there. This scene made Li Changsheng feel as if he were in another lifetime. He remembered that when he was working hard in Shenzhen, he could also always see some old men playing chess in the park. However, there was always a sense of loneliness on the faces of the old people here. It seemed that even though they were in a foreign land, they still missed their homeland.

Even this street had been built according to the way they remembered it, selling hometown vegetables and groceries, hanging hometown lanterns—perhaps this was homesickness. Standing here, Li Changsheng felt safe at every moment, completely free from the tense emotions he had felt along the way.

Along the way, he had seen some guys high on drugs leaning against corners, seen a few women with free bodies flaunting themselves, and even witnessed a sickening "zero-dollar shopping" incident. But here, what he saw was the humility, politeness, and stability of his countrymen. It was as if just by standing here, his heart settled down.

Zhirou Martial Arts Hall— Seeing these few traditional characters written in a style as vigorous and flowing as a Dragon and Phoenix, Li Changsheng was stunned, because Martin had already spoken at this moment. "Mr. Li, this is the martial arts hall where Grandmaster Zhang has settled in, and it is also where I study."

As he spoke, he saw Martin wave and take the lead in greeting a young Chinese man who walked out wearing a martial arts uniform. Li Changsheng was a bit confused because the scale of this martial arts hall seemed quite large. The door of the hall wasn't big; after all, in a place with so many people and shops, just having a storefront was considered quite good.

Moreover, the gate in front of him was more than twice as large as the grocery store's, looking like the entrance to a small hotel. Crucially, the layout was also very imposing, with two huge red-lacquered wooden pillars on both sides, as well as exquisite red-lacquered carved wooden doors. Inside, there was a hollow-carved screen with a large character for "Martial" written in the middle.

Entering inside, there were various wooden dummy posts and sandbags, and he could also see small arenas for martial arts practice. Crucially, the layout here was still very classical, looking like an ancient teahouse. One could see the second-floor corridor and wooden handrail staircase from the first-floor lobby.

Young people were practicing fist techniques under the patrolling of men who looked like instructors. Wherever he looked, he could see collective drills, people practicing on wooden dummies, and even people hitting sandbags and sparring on the arena. This gave Li Changsheng quite the feeling of entering the martial arts hall of an old master from the last century, just like a scene replicated from a movie.

Just then, Li Changsheng heard someone shout at him from upstairs. Looking again, he discovered a familiar old man standing by the second-floor railing, who was waving at him with a smile. It had been many days since they last parted, and Elder Zhang still had his old flair. He didn't know if it was because of his newlywed status, but the old man's complexion was much ruddier.

Seeing this, Li Changsheng didn't care about the surprised gazes of the apprentices present and headed straight up the wooden stairs. Upon reaching the second floor, Li Changsheng realized that the layout here was indeed that of a teahouse.

The first floor was for martial arts, and the second floor actually had antique, half-open compartments like those of ancient scholars, as well as private rooms, some wooden tea tables and tea sets, and calligraphy, paintings, and various Chinese-style porcelain and other decorations displayed on both sides.

At this moment, Elder Zhang was sitting in a private room drinking tea with another white-haired old man, and he laughed when he saw Li Changsheng. "Old Cai, this is the kid. Take a look, isn't he alright?" The old man pointed directly at Li Changsheng and began to show off to the old man opposite him.

Li Changsheng couldn't help but look at the old man called Old Cai. The other person looked even older than Zhang Youdao and didn't look very healthy, but his eyes were still quite spirited. The other person looked Li Changsheng up and down, and gradually, his eyes began to brighten bit by bit. After a long while, he smacked his lips, shaking his head and sighing: "Old Zhang, you're not being authentic. Such a good seedling for martial arts, and you're only showing him off now."