Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 84 - 81 The First Meal in New York

"Not the usual Front Desk you see in companies, in investment banking, those people who fly around making investments are called Front Officers, abbreviated as FO, which translates to ’Front Desk’ as well," Qi Yi continued to explain.

"What kind of company is this? Why make job titles so complicated. So VP is to let you skip from entry-level analyst straight to assistant manager?" Yan Yan made a "Wow" expression.

"Not at all, I didn’t join Barclays to be an Analyst in the first place," Qi Yi assured Yan Yan not to be too surprised.

"Then what are you doing? Wait, let me think.

My cousin mentioned there’s a research position that doesn’t require much overtime. What’s it called?

Oh right, Equity Research.

Are you doing that?" Yan Yan thought hard about the positions that Yan Ling had mentioned to her before.

"None of those. Has your cousin mentioned any other research positions?" Qi Yi decided to give Yan Yan enough time to recollect.

"No more, huh? Do you need so many different positions just for research?

Why do I feel like after all this digging, I still know nothing about your job?" Yan Yan was a bit frustrated.

"Your cousin is from Wharton, so he’d definitely be more familiar with positions directly related to finance.

Analyst and Equity Researcher are basically what people studying finance can do.

No need to specifically look for someone from the math department," Qi Yi explained.

"So what exactly is your position?" Yan Yan really couldn’t remember any other position that her cousin had mentioned that she hadn’t thought of.

"Are you only interested in my job?" Qi Yi swayed their intertwined hands.

"For me, at most I’m interested in whether there are a lot of beauties at your job," Yan Yan decided not to continue recalling those complicated positions.

"So it’s still about work. Are you that insecure about me?" Qi Yi asked very seriously.

"Ah, life is so hard~" Yan Yan suddenly shook her head and sighed.

"Why such a big sigh all of a sudden?" Qi Yi stopped walking and looked at Yan Yan.

"If I don’t care about whether there are beauties in your job, then you’ll say that I really don’t care about you. So, even if I don’t care, I have to pretend like I do," Yan Yan accidentally blurted out the truth.

"Do you care or not?" Qi Yi asked with a hint of amusement.

"Guess?" Yan Yan looked at Qi Yi playfully and a bit provocatively.

"A girlfriend is for loving, what’s there to guess? I won’t guess," Qi Yi didn’t take the bait.

"Alright, alright~ Let’s not talk about this. So, did I really order myself a big instant noodle feast?" Yan Yan looked aggrieved.

"No, you’re in luck. My first meal in New York was a burger," Qi Yi let go of the luggage and gently touched Yan Yan’s head, then helped tidy up her hair.

"Ah? KFC or McDonald’s?" Although not instant noodles, Yan Yan had already had her fill of these two in both China and Australia.

"What? Would you rather have instant noodles?" Qi Yi asked with a grin.

"No, I’ll just have whatever you had for your first meal in New York," Yan Yan was a little depressed but still decided to take responsibility for what she said.

"Then you’re really in luck. My first meal was Shake Shack on Eighth Avenue, but this burger place is really popular and you have to queue up for a long time," Qi Yi decided to reveal the answer in advance to alleviate the foodie’s sadness quickly.

"When did you become so interested in food?" Yan Yan’s depression vanished the moment she heard about delicious food.

"I’m not interested in food, but in the story behind this restaurant.

It’s a burger that even investment bankers would queue for an hour to buy.

I was dragged to queue up by Antonio as soon as I got to New York," Qi Yi spoke to Yan Yan about his first meal in New York.

Antonio, Qi Yi’s roommate at Stanford. Italian. (note 1)

In the United States, colleges generally provide on-campus housing only for the first year of undergraduates, but Stanford is one of the very few that offer it for four years.

Of course, you can also choose to move out after the first year and not live on campus.

Stanford’s dormitories are basically single rooms for each person, and rooming situations like Qi Yi and Antonio’s, where two people share a dorm, are relatively rare at Stanford.

The two-person dormitories at Stanford aren’t simply single rooms converted for two people.

On the contrary, they are much better in terms of amenities than single rooms, and they also cost more.

Of course, the cost is for those who pay for their accommodation themselves.

For someone like Qi Yi, who got the best scholarship due to his outstanding mathematical ability, his accommodation didn’t cost him anything.

Yan Yan had seen Antonio in Qi Yi’s graduation photos, a handsome European with blond hair and blue eyes.

When Yan Yan chatted with Qi Yi on the phone, she often heard Antonio speaking.

Antonio is a kind of quirky engineering guy with extraordinary enthusiasm for hot dogs.

"What’s the story behind this store? Didn’t Antonio go back to Italy? How come he’s still taking you out for burgers in New York?" Yan Yan hadn’t heard Qi Yi mention this before. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"He toured New York first before returning to Italy.

Shake Shack initially was just a little cart selling hot dogs at Madison Square Garden.

Antonio heard the two words ’hot dog’ from somewhere and felt he had to come to New York to eat.

Now, Shake Shack has transformed from a little cart to a chain with several locations in downtown New York City.

The founder, Danny Meyer, is a maverick in the New York food scene.

His entrepreneurial story is also something that investment bankers love to talk about," Qi Yi introduced to Yan Yan.

"Did Antonio tell you all this?" Yan Yan was curious as to how Qi Yi knew so much about the history of a burger joint.

"No, he went just because it was once a little cart selling hot dogs," Qi Yi’s roommate was the kind of person whose eyes lit up at the sound of ’hot dogs’ and who couldn’t move when he saw them.

"Then when did you become so interested in food that even the founder’s name is on your radar?" Yan Yan continued to wonder.

"Because my girlfriend will tell me in August that she will decide to come to New York next year.

I obviously need to do some advance scouting for her.

Anything delicious in New York definitely needs to be researched in the most detailed manner possible." Qi Yi was very familiar with the food-loving trait his girlfriend had developed since high school.

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note 1:

Antonio is a name in Italian. If translated to English, it’s simply Anthony.