American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote

After chatting a while longer, Don Quixote once again warned Li Wei that a great storm was coming and to be prepared. Then, he staggered back to bed.

Early the next morning, when Lily came into the garage, she was blown away by the sight of the Koenigsegg.

"Whoaaaaa!!!" she shrieked. "Bro! Is this your car?!"

She circled the Koenigsegg four or five times, constantly taking pictures and videos with her phone.

"This is so awesome, bro!" she said, hugging Li Wei’s arm. "Unlock it! Let me see, let me see! Pleeeease—"

Unable to refuse her, Li Wei took out the key fob and pressed a button. The Koenigsegg’s two doors automatically swung open, rising vertically in front of the front wheels.

Lily’s eyes practically sparkled, and even Chen Haisheng, standing off to the side, cast an envious glance at the car.

Although he, like Lily, didn’t recognize the brand, it looked ten times cooler than your average Ferrari or Lamborghini.

"Can you drive me to school in this today?" she asked, clutching the car door and giving Li Wei puppy-dog eyes. "Please, Big Bro, my favorite brother."

Before Li Wei could speak, he heard Don Quixote’s stern voice from nearby. "Lily Cervantes! What are you doing?"

"Dad!" Lily stomped her foot. "Just let Brother Li Wei take me to school! Let him take me in this car!"

"Get in the Cadillac Escalade!" Don Quixote’s eyes widened in a glare. "Today is your final exam! If you keep this up, you can forget about that Chanel bag!"

Lily hesitated for a good long while, weighing her options: flex on the entire school just this once, or obediently get in the car, earn a good grade, and get a Chanel bag.

"The car isn’t going anywhere," Li Wei said with a smile. "But if you blow this, your dad might not agree to buy you that bag."

Lily thought it over carefully. After circling the Koenigsegg and taking photos for a while longer, she got into the Cadillac Escalade, looking back every few steps.

"That girl..." Don Quixote sighed and walked over to Li Wei. "So this is the gift from those casino people? A Koenigsegg? They’re certainly generous."

"Yeah," Li Wei said, pointing to an empty parking space. "I hadn’t driven the 911 in so long the battery died. I had Brother Haisheng take it to get fixed yesterday."

"I was actually going to talk to the residents’ committee this morning," he said, complaining as he spoke. "I was planning to ask them about renting two more parking spaces."

"They’re all gone, aren’t they?" Don Quixote said, looking at the completely full garage. "Are there any parking spaces left at all?"

"Not a single one," Li Wei said, shaking his head. "So now one of the cars has to be parked outside."

"Having too many cars really is a pain," Don Quixote said, looking at the Cadillac Escalade, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, and the Koenigsegg. "Why don’t you get rid of that 911? You really don’t have much of a chance to drive it these days."

"I’ll hang onto it for now," Li Wei said with a smile. "I’ll find someone who can drive it from time to time, even if it’s just to keep the battery charged."

"That works," Don Quixote said, turning to get into another Cadillac Escalade. "I’m playing golf with a regional GM from Nike today. I’m heading out."

"Be safe."

Just as Li Wei said that, his phone suddenly rang again.

"Mr. Arthur!" Li Wei answered the phone, pleasantly surprised. "You finally called."

After his conversation with Arthur, the so-called "mole man," underneath the park, Li Wei had Chen Haisheng bring him out of the sewers.

He gave Arthur a sum of money, put him up in a long-term hotel suite, and told him to call once he was settled and feeling better.

"I had no choice but to call," Arthur’s voice was full of energy. "Christmas is almost here, and we need to spend that money for you before the 31st."

"So, you’re calling now because you’ve found some prospects?" Li Wei asked, getting into the Koenigsegg. "I can come to you. We can talk?"

"Come on over," Arthur said crisply. "I’ll be waiting for you at the Starbucks on the corner of Fifth Avenue."

「Half an hour later.」

On Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, even in the biting winds of deep winter, there was never a shortage of onlookers and activity.

Near a crosswalk, even though the light was green for traffic, one side of the intersection was still packed with tourists.

A closer look revealed that nearly all of them had their phones out, snapping picture after picture of the Koenigsegg parked in front of Starbucks, causing a bottleneck at the crosswalk.

If not for the police car parked quietly nearby, its occupants keeping a voluntary watch over the vehicle, some of the bolder young people would have likely crowded in to lean against the car for a photo with its emblem.

From a secluded corner of the coffee shop, Arthur retracted his gaze from the window and teased, "Good lord, look at that commotion outside." He stirred his coffee. "Mr. Li Wei, you’ve really hit the big time."

"It was a gift someone insisted I take. There’s no more room in the garage," Li Wei shrugged. "Mr. Arthur, how have you been? Adjusting to life above ground?"

"It’s been alright," Arthur said, touching his clean-shaven chin and smoothing his impeccable hair. "It’s just, being this clean-shaven... it makes me feel a bit like I’m running around naked."

Li Wei burst out laughing.

"So, Mr. Li Wei, let’s get down to business. After all, closing on a mansion in just three weeks is a bit of a challenge," Arthur said, opening his laptop. "Luckily, I haven’t been idle. I’ve already shortlisted two properties for you based on your requirements—or, you could say, two types of properties. We can pay half the cost for either one before the end of the calendar year, which would take care of the 15 million USD you specified."

Li Wei nodded. It was because of his commercial endorsements. If he couldn’t make a financial deduction by legally acquiring a large-scale asset, the vampires at the Internal Revenue Service would directly drain more than seven million from his account come tax season next April.