American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote

"Charles Mellon," he said, walking up to Li Wei with a faint smile. "I’m Liz’s cousin."

"Li Wei," he replied, politely shaking his hand. "A friend of Elizabeth’s."

"Pardon my bluntness," Charles Mellon said, glancing at Elizabeth, "but for Mr. Li Wei, the NFL’s hottest rising star, to be hanging around with our little Brooklyn Princess... it’s a bit beneath you."

"Charlie, today is the opening. If you’re here to visit, you’re welcome," Elizabeth’s gentle expression instantly changed. She took a quiet half-step forward, shielding Li Wei behind her. "But if you’re here to pass judgment on my friends, you can go right back to your Manhattan Art Center."

"Oh, don’t be so sensitive, my dear Liz." Charles Mellon chuckled, putting on a phony smile that Li Wei instantly despised. "Mr. Li Wei, you probably don’t understand the internal structure of the Mellon Family. Among our more than 500 members, resources are heavily skewed toward the core circle. Compared to the Manhattan Art Center, Brooklyn Danbo isn’t bad, but—"

He glanced around at the surroundings and clicked his tongue. "Compared to the Mellon name, this is all rather unbefitting."

"If you truly want to make some real friends," he said, "I’m an alumnus of a senior advisor at the Federal Communications Commission. He could probably pull some strings to get you more favorable terms in your NFL broadcast contracts, more screen time during the games. How about it?"

The color drained from Elizabeth’s face. She bit her lower lip hard, her nails digging into her palms without her realizing it.

Li Wei looked at Charlie’s unabashedly arrogant face and suddenly smiled.

"Thank you for the offer, Mr. Mellon," he said. "But there’s an old saying in the Celestial Dynasty: ’One does not accept a reward without merit.’ It means I can’t accept help for no reason. So let’s save the introduction to your senior advisor for another time."

Charles Mellon’s expression didn’t change at all, as if he had expected Li Wei to say that.

He looked the two of them up and down—Elizabeth, considered one of the most beautiful in the family, and the equally handsome Li Wei beside her—and nodded as if he had just understood something.

"Young people will always be reckless for certain things," he said with a smile. "I understand; I was the same at your age. Liz just told you where to find me. If you run into any trouble, or if you find that something isn’t quite right—"

He shot a subtle glance at Elizabeth. "You’re welcome to come find me anytime."

With that, he rudely pushed his way between them and walked into the art gallery.

"Thanks," Elizabeth said, smoothing her hair. "Now you’ve met my cousin."

"For what?" Li Wei said with a laugh. "He’s even more pretentious than you were. I really don’t like him."

Elizabeth knew exactly what he meant by that. She couldn’t help but laugh, then she shot him a playful glare.

"But he’s not wrong. Even within my grandfather’s branch of the family," she said, "my cousin’s side is favored much more than mine. You saw it yourself. After graduating from the Wharton School of Business, he got to take charge of a place like the Manhattan Art Center, while I had to start from scratch and open this small art gallery over here."

Li Wei looked around and nodded. "It might not look like much right now, but it’s all your own work, after all."

"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed. "This is the best I can do for now."

"By the way," Li Wei paused, "why would he deliberately cause trouble? Like you said, his position in the family is much more central than yours. Even if art is a marginal business for the Mellon Family, he’s still at the core of that marginal world."

"You think it was him?" Elizabeth paused, stunned. "My own cousin is trying to sabotage me?"

"Who else could it be?" Li Wei shrugged. "Who else would deliberately make trouble for you, but also control the fallout just enough to make only you look bad?"

The more Elizabeth thought about it, the more confused she became. "It’s true he’s never liked me," she said, looking at the back of Charles Mellon inside the venue. "But why would he do this?"

"That, I don’t know," Li Wei said. "That’s your family’s internal affair."

...

Thanks to the advance warning from Lin Daohang and Li Wei, Elizabeth’s art gallery event was a complete success.

Two days later, Li Wei arrived as planned at an old boxing gym in the Bronx.

This was the venue for the regional qualifiers of this year’s New York Golden Gloves tournament.

Pushing open the heavy iron door, he was hit by a wave of hot air, a mixture of medicinal ointments, Vaseline, and the thick stench of sweat.

Overhead, several rows of old fluorescent lights emitted a low BUZZ, casting a ghastly white light on the blood-spattered canvas in the center of the ring.

The folding chairs below the stage were crammed with all sorts of gang members, low-life gamblers, and fervent boxing fans, filling the air with a deafening roar of curses and whistles.

Wearing a discreet hooded sweatshirt, Li Wei squeezed his way to the front rows.

"Mr. Li! Over here!"

Lin Daohang was already waiting in the front-row VIP section by the ring. The moment he saw Li Wei, he rushed over with a beaming smile. He was wearing a Tang suit for the occasion, accompanied by two Chinese coaches in T-shirts printed with the words "Fujian Business Association."

"Mr. Li, for you to come in person is a tremendous honor for that kid Hai Sheng." As he spoke, Lin Daohang respectfully led Li Wei to the seat with the best view and introduced him to the coaching team behind him, "This is Mr. Li Wei."