Handing Out Relief

The old pastor was heading to a Whole Foods supermarket in Manhattan, directly across from Central Park.

The supermarket sold natural, organic foods, including products marketed around healthy concepts such as sugar-free, vegetarian, and gluten-free.

The supermarket was brightly lit, its counters and refrigerated cases filled with prepared foods that looked, smelled, and tasted wonderful. It was particularly suited to middle-class shoppers with aspirations. Its only drawback was that the prices were "slightly" higher.

Every evening, any unsold prepared food had to be disposed of.

Throwing it out as garbage meant paying a disposal fee, too. So the supermarket preferred to donate the food to a "food bank," or simply have a charity haul it away.

The old pastor's little church didn't have a refrigerator large enough to store so much food overnight.

But he had contacts and connections, enough to get the supermarket supervisor to hold the food overnight so he could pick it up the following morning.

When Lin Rui reached the supermarket's storage area, several enormous food boxes had already been set out in a designated spot.

An extremely fat Black woman was directing the unloading. When she saw the old pastor, she merely offered a casual greeting and pointed at the food boxes on the ground before getting back to work.

"Leon, load these boxes into the pickup bed," the old pastor instructed. He was well into his sixties, almost seventy, and moving these boxes was a struggle every time he came.

Lin Rui opened a box at random. Inside were ice-cold cheese sandwiches, cod burgers, sushi rolls, and golden fried chicken.

Honestly, the food was quite good, and everything had basic packaging.

A quick "ding" in the microwave would make it piping hot and fragrant. Take it out to a roadside stall and sell it for a few dollars a portion, and there would certainly be no shortage of buyers.

Lin Rui had entertained similar ideas "back then," but it had to be done on the sly-reselling charitable donations for personal profit was not only immoral, but illegal.

While he moved the boxes, the old pastor thanked the Black woman. She seemed rather interested in Lin Rui, however, and asked with a smile, "Mr. Borg, have you found yourself a helper?"

"Yes, his name is Leon." The old pastor glanced back at Lin Rui and happily introduced him. "I'm getting old. I can still drive, but moving things is really becoming a struggle.

"That boy is bright and hardworking. Taking him in helps me, too. Otherwise, moving these few boxes of food alone would wear me out."

The Black woman nodded, but continued pointedly, "The boy's quite handsome, and tall, too. Just a little on the skinny side.

"Even by the fashion world's standards, he's top-grade goods. I bet someone will take a fancy to him soon, and he won't stay at your little church for long.

"After all, whatever else New York might lack, opportunities are everywhere."

Human standards of beauty were all the same. A man with thick brows, large eyes, and a strong, square face would be handsome regardless of his ethnicity.

What was more, Lin Rui was young, spirited, and full of vitality. In the short time he spent moving the food boxes, workers in the supermarket's storage area kept stealing glances at him.

Even the men found the young fellow pleasing to the eye, or "felt jealous."

"Hey, kid, want to make some extra cash?" the Black woman called out.

Lin Rui had moved six large boxes of food. His body was slightly warm, and he had broken a light sweat. He stepped closer and smiled. "Of course. I'm broke."

Lin Rui still had five thousand dollars in his bank account, scraped together by his parents. It was meant to cover his tuition, miscellaneous school fees, and living expenses, all of it hard-earned money.

With New York's cost of living, that little money wouldn't go nearly far enough.

When he boarded the transoceanic flight, he had already prepared himself to endure hardship and work under the table to support himself.

But in his previous life, arriving in the United States had been like taking a club to the head-when it came to enduring hardship, who could outdo the Mexicans?

People from Country Z came to the United States hoping to strike it rich.

The Mexicans came with the mindset of "escaping hell" and "willingly working like oxen and horses." They had driven wages in the labor market straight into the ground, taking on every dirty, hard, and exhausting job.

The Black woman liked Lin Rui's straightforwardness and asked, "You're on a student visa, and you haven't enrolled yet, so you can't get a regular job.

"But you're Asian, and you managed to apply to study in the United States, so you must be good at school. Interested in tutoring a middle schooler? I'll pay you twenty dollars an hour.

"You'd only need to come to my place two or three times a week, two hours each time. If the tutoring works out well, I can recommend you to other clients."

At the time, New York's minimum wage was six dollars an hour.

But in the tutoring business, twenty dollars an hour was on the low side.

The Black woman was subtly trying to push the price down. Seeing that Lin Rui was "young," "new to the United States," and "unfamiliar with the place and its people," she wanted to get herself a bargain.

After all, a supermarket storage supervisor's salary certainly couldn't compare to that of Wall Street elites who earned thousands of dollars an hour.

If it was too expensive, she truly couldn't afford it.

Lin Rui didn't care too much about the hourly rate. After all, at twenty dollars an hour, working a full eight hours a day for twenty-two days a month would bring in a decent monthly income.

He looked at the old pastor, hoping to hear his opinion.

For a moment, the old pastor wasn't sure what to say. He knew the hourly rate was low, but Lin Rui couldn't find any particularly good work at present, either.

If he could earn some extra money now, it would certainly improve his life considerably.

After thinking for a long while, the old pastor could only offer a vague remark. "Mrs. Jones is a good person, very kindhearted. She's helped our neighborhood a great deal and donates to the church regularly."

That assurance of her character was exactly what Lin Rui wanted. Enrollment was still nowhere in sight, and handing out relief at the church every day couldn't go on forever. He had to find some proper work.

Tutoring was better than washing dishes.

"All right. Middle school tutoring isn't too difficult. I think I can handle it," Lin Rui agreed. "Where do you live?"

"I live in the Bronx, too, in the 41st Precinct, not far from Mr. Borg's church. Come at seven in the evening. I can drive you there and back."

Something suddenly occurred to Mrs. Jones, and she continued, "Do you have a cell phone?"

"No." Lin Rui shook his head. Cell phones weren't expensive these days, but he really didn't have one.

"Wait a moment." Mrs. Jones turned and went into the supermarket. Before long, she came back with a Nokia candy-bar phone. "You can have this. It's only on the cheapest plan, but there's a year's worth of credit prepaid."

The phone came at just the right time and would make things much more convenient for Lin Rui. He quickly thanked her. "Mr. Borg was right. You really are a good person. You can deduct its cost from my tutoring fees."

Mrs. Jones chuckled and lowered her voice. "Ah... don't worry about it. This phone isn't worth much. It's being written off. Just one of the little perks of my position.

"If you can get my child a few B's on the upcoming exams, I'll be very happy."

She would have been better off not saying that. Now that she had, Lin Rui felt quite a bit of pressure.

In America, where "happy education" was all the rage, if even getting B's was difficult, this Black woman's child was probably no easy customer.

After saving each other's phone numbers, Lin Rui and the old pastor drove to other supermarkets, picked up several baskets of overripe bananas, apples, and the like, then headed back.

The whole morning passed just like that. Homeless people had already gathered near the little church, waiting for relief to be handed out.

These people had to run between different relief stations every day, collecting as much food as possible, or they wouldn't have enough to eat.

The believers and church members who had come to help were already in place. Among them was a rather pretty young white woman. She looked quite surprised to see Lin Rui and offered her hand. "Hi, I'm Linda."

"I'm Leon." Lin Rui shook her hand.

"I haven't seen you before. Where are you from?" the young woman asked curiously.

"I came from the other side of the planet." Lin Rui had meant to make a joke, but he had clearly overestimated the young woman's knowledge of geography and had to add, "I'm from Country Z."

"Wow!" Though she didn't really understand, the young woman still gave him an astonished look, providing plenty of emotional validation. "Are you here for your community service course, too?"

"No..." Lin Rui had wanted to explain that he was here to earn money, but explaining that to a "sweet, naive airhead" seemed a little unnecessary. Instead, he smiled. "I crossed the entire planet to meet you."

The young woman's expression instantly became quite a sight, and she couldn't help breaking into a broad laugh. "Kid, how old are you? You actually dare to flirt with me? You're done for, because you've successfully sparked my interest in you."

After saying that, the young white woman deliberately moved a few steps away and stood behind another table, seemingly drawing a line between them. Yet she kept glancing at Lin Rui, her eyes sending flirtatious messages.

All the food being handed out today was prepared food.

Sandwiches, burgers, and the like were packed into boxes and put in a plastic bag, accompanied by a bottle of water or a carton of yogurt, plus a banana with a blackened peel. That made one meal.

The homeless people lined up to collect theirs. Some took the food and left without expression. Others offered their thanks, calling out, "God bless you."

Over two hundred meals were handed out in half an hour, leaving only a mess on the ground-many of the homeless people were picky about the free items and tossed quite a bit of food and packaging straight onto the ground.

The old pastor could only do it himself, bringing out a floor sweeper and cleaning the area in front of the church. As for the rest of the street, there was really nothing he could do.

Lin Rui intended to help, but seeing that the young white woman was still watching him, he sighed inwardly, took out his phone, and walked over. With a smile, he asked, "Can I have your number?"

"Nope." Linda rejected him with a smile. "You look too young. I can't date you. Maybe I'll consider it when you're a little more mature."

With that, the young woman turned and left, driving off. She had spent all that time teasing him just to enjoy this very result.

Lin Rui didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The old pastor drove over on the floor sweeper and said with a smile, "Leon, I was worried you wouldn't be able to adjust to life in New York. Now I see you're adapting quite quickly."

"Linda is... pretty cute." Lin Rui wanted to ask about that chick's background.

"She's a good girl." The old pastor nodded. "Her parents live nearby. She studies journalism at college and should be two years older than you.

"She's not only pretty, but kindhearted, too. She often comes here to help me. But Linda has a steady boyfriend. There's no shame in being turned down by her."

American "sweet, naive airheads" were easy to pick up, especially those in their teens and twenties. They radiated hormones all day long, and if the attraction was mutual, they could mate.

Lin Rui had no intention of guarding his chastity like jade. He didn't mind seizing the day and taking things beyond friendship with a beautiful woman.

Even if he was rejected, he lost nothing. He was used to it.

But a short while later, the old pastor took a phone call, then looked at Lin Rui with an odd expression. "I still underestimated you.

"Linda is asking me for your phone number. She says you look particularly innocent, and she wouldn't mind making friends."