Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du marveled as he tip-toed to check out the underground food city: “This place is so huge, and there are so many people.”
“It’s the largest air-raid shelter in Seattle right now,” Lu Guan laughed.
During World War II, a large air-raid shelter had been built below Pike Place. After the war, the shelter was reconstructed several times but no good projects came out of it.
Later, the government gave up its jurisdiction over this place, and gradually it became a gathering place for the homeless.
Even homeless people had to eat. Hence, some of the budget food trucks came over to provide cheap high-calorie food.
Seattle was originally a second-tier city. Later, it seized the opportunity of the Internet boom and gradually developed. Many Internet giants settled there. Hence, more and more young people came to find jobs and live there.
These people were the very first IT men. At that time, the internet had yet to be so popular and the salary for the industry was low. They had to think of all sorts of ways to save money.
They eventually found out about the budget food in the underground mall and came to buy food.
The homeless people came from all parts of America and even the world. There were people of all skin colors, Africans, Japanese, Chinese, Europeans, Middle Eastern people, South Americans, etc. There were multiple nationalities.
As they came from everywhere in the world, they brought over the delicacies from every country. The IT men, too, came from all areas of America and had an extensive list of foods they ate. However, regardless of what kind of food one wanted, one could find it there.
After some time, as the IT men started to make their pots of gold off the internet, they started to become more affluent and picky about what they ate.
After some subtle changes, the standards of the food stalls improved. The hawkers and chefs started to pay attention to sanitation and at the same time rolled out some comparatively more expensive food.
With that, more foodies were attracted to the place. The underground food city formed a positive cycle. More and more people came to eat there, the hawkers made more money. With that increased profit, they could improve the environment of the dining areas, increasing their attractiveness. Then even more people came to eat there…
Finally, a wonderful underground food city was formed. Food vendors and their followers had changed the traditional market, creating an independent food carnival night.
Now, not only were there food stalls in the underground food city, but there were also music performances.
That place used to be a gathering spot for homeless people. To date, it has become the grounds of homeless singers and artists. They were able to enjoy some benefits when eating at the food city, and some could even trade for food using their talents.
For example, the homeless singers were able to busk at particular stalls. As long as the hawker was happy with the performance, they would provide the singers with a meal.
The homeless artists would find a place to hang up their drawing board and create caricatures of the foodies to make money. While the foodies were waiting, they would browse and buy some snacks, beer or beverages to spend time.
As a result, all of that subtly helped the hawkers and stall owners to increase their profits. To thank them, the owners would treat them to food and drinks.
In fact, some of the shops even had a partnership with homeless artists. Some of the outstanding homeless singers would often perform at a few stalls. The owners of those stalls would pay them some money on top of providing food and beverages.
Li Du and his group were walking amongst the crowd, checking out the happenings casually. They found it all quite interesting.
Chinese food was very popular in the underground food city. That was because the preparation time was short and the food was high-calorie. Eating such meals in winter was very satisfying for most people.
Li Du held a grilled pork skewer and heard someone say in the familiar Northeastern accent, “Come on, Old Iron, don’t stand on ceremony. Here’s a large skewer, and this, this is a top favorite, the best. Eat up, eat up…”
Li Du looked across the crowd and saw a young man busy grilling at a barbeque stall. There were a few people standing in front of his pit. The young man had been addressing an old black man in shabby clothes.
With a look, one could tell that the old man was homeless. His hair was messy, so were his beard and clothes. His skin looked rough and there were calluses on both of his hands.
The old man was holding onto a few meat skewers. Although he did not understand Chinese, he could guess what the stall owner was saying. Hence, he shook his head as he ate the meat. “Okay, okay, thank you, buddy. That’s enough for me, I’m good with just this. You are a good man, God bless you. I don’t want any more food, you go and help others. God bless.”
Li Du walked over to queue up for a few meat skewers. The young man looked up at him and smiled. “From China?”
“That’s right,” Li Du replied in Mandarin, “You’re a fellow countryman from the Northeast?”
The young man removed his gloves and extended a hand. He smiled even wider and said, “Yes, that’s right. Hello, hello. You’ve ordered quite a bit. My skewers are quite large. Will you be able to finish them?”
Li Du gestured behind him, “Your skewers are huge, but I have a lot of people with me. My last name is Li. How do I address you?”
“Yang Dong. That’s because I was born in winter and my dad used that character to save trouble. Haha, hence, he gave me this name,” the young man laughed.
Clearly, bumping into a fellow countryman made him very happy. Very quickly, he went to clear one of the tables and invited Li Du to sit down. “Come, brothers, sit down and have some drinks. I will give you guys a discount.”
Li Du laughed. “I thought that you would give us a treat. I saw that you gave that old man a free meal just now, right?”
Yang Dong rubbed his nose and said, “Hey, I can tell with one look that you are a rich man. Would you care about a free meal? That old man was homeless. I won’t take money from a homeless man. When I first arrived in Seattle, I had also been homeless once. I know how bad it feels. Now that I can, I will help others a little.”
His meat skewers were huge and flavorful, very pleasing to the Americans’ palates. Very soon, there was a queue forming in front of his stall.
Yang Dong pointed at Li Du and said, “Mate, you go ahead and eat up. I will keep busy for a while. Let’s chat later.”
Li Du poured out the beer to show that he would be comfortable. That young man had a character similar to a classmate of his back in the Northwest. He was outgoing, generous and a straight talker.
After being busy for a while, Yang Dong returned and pulled up his pants to sit down. After pouring himself a pint of beer, he asked, “Are you here in America for leisure or planning to settle down here?”
Li Du thought for a bit and said, “How should I put it? I’m not based in Seattle. I’m here for work. I am usually in Los Angeles. I have a green card but am not a citizen yet. I’m still a citizen back in China.”
Yang Dong rubbed his nose. “You did right, old mate. You’re in Los Angeles? The City of Angels, a big city. I had also wanted to go there, but it’s not easy.”
Li Du asked as he ate, “What’s not easy? Is your English poor?”
Yang Dong said, “My English is fine. If not, why would I leave my hometown and come to America? I’m speaking in Mandarin because, one, I love that tongue. Two, it makes me feel like home. Three, it’s a type of promotional technique, to let customers know that I’m a legitimate Chinese.”
“When I say it’s not easy, it just means there is no meaning in being there. Even if I go there, there are no job opportunities for me. In Seattle, at least I have a place to sell my skewers. If I go to Los Angeles, I would have to start over from scratch.”
