People in America: My Uncle Don Quixote

"Mr. Mark," Levi looked down at the silver treasure chest before him, "what's wrong?"

The silver treasure chest slowly raised its head, its once shrewd eyes now bloodshot. "Li Wei? You... what are you doing here?"

"Sorry, I... I'm not feeling well today," he said, swaying as he stood up, trying to escape. "I probably won't be able to have lunch with you."

Without wasting words, Li Wei grabbed Mark's shoulder with one hand.

This is my own treasure chest monster, how can I let it get away?

Mark felt as if his shoulder had been bitten by a pair of pliers, and he couldn't move.

"Get in," Li Wei said with a slight effort, shoving the frail Merrill Lynch partner, who earned millions of dollars a year, into the Cullinan. "We can talk about it after we finish our drinks."

Ten minutes later, on the edge of Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, at the entrance of an Irish pub that wasn't yet open for business.

"Two glasses of pure tequila, no lemon and no salt."

The bartender glanced at the two well-dressed, wealthy men in front of him and the Rolls-Royce outside, then, without saying a word, brought out the bar's most expensive base spirit.

"I'm finished, Mr. Levi, I'm completely finished..." After just two rounds of drinks, Mark was completely drunk. "David, my friend and classmate of 10 years, that bastard, told me about a sure-fire, risk-free pre-IPO project that only required short-term bridge financing to get a 3x return..."

Li Wei sat next to him, gently swirling the wine in his glass, without interrupting him.

“I don’t have that much cash… Sarah is about to give birth, the mortgage on that house on the Upper West Side, and the membership fees for the Long Island Club have drained my cash flow,” Mark mumbled, unconsciously swiping at his empty glass. “The $1.5 million worth of stock that Merrill Lynch gave me hasn’t been cashed out yet. It won’t be vested until I’ve been with the company for a year, but David said time waits for no one, and if I miss it, there won’t be another chance.”

"So you placed the bet?" Li Wei raised an eyebrow. "Now you've lost $150 million."

“Not only that…” Mark said, rubbing his head. “David… I was a little drunk at the time. I mortgaged the house on the Upper West Side and took out a loan of $150 million, along with a total of $300 million in cash, to make a bridge loan to David, which was then used by his shell company entity in the Cayman Islands to buy up the shares.”

"But David disappeared this morning. The underlying assets of that project were a money laundering scam, and all the money is gone!"

"If it were just the money that was gone, that would be fine. I can make up for it a little when I get my year-end bonus in a few months," Mark said nervously, biting his thumbnail and shaking his leg wildly. "But for some reason, Merrill Lynch's compliance department suddenly got wind of it. As a partner, I'm not allowed to do private transactions, so they launched a compliance risk investigation against me... Damn it... Why is everyone doing this, but I'm the only one who got caught?"

"Then the shadow banks found out that my license was about to be revoked," he slumped into his chair, "and ordered me to pay the deposit within 48 hours, or they would come and take my house."

"I'm completely fucked up," he concluded. "David completely messed with me."

"That's great—oh no," Levi comforted, "that's terrible."

Hearing Mark's story, Levi expressed his sympathy for him, but at the same time, he was reminded of that mission.

[Mission Objective: Pull him out of the abyss and demonstrate a chivalrous virtue.]

It seems that pulling him out of the abyss starts here?

But he doesn't have the $300 million deposit right now.

He currently only has a little over 240 million yuan in cash on him.

However, he then remembered Anya, and that he had a girlfriend who was incredibly wealthy.

"Hey, honey, it's me," Li Wei dialed Anya's number. "Transfer $300 million to my account. It'll be useful."

"Sure," Anya said, not caring at all what Li Wei wanted the money for. "I'll transfer it to you right away, after I'm done shopping."

"Aren't you going to ask me why I suddenly need to borrow money from you?" Li Wei said with a smile. "What if I can't pay it back?"

"If you can't pay me back, you'll have to pay with your body, $1 a time," Anya said casually. "Wrap up this whole row (in French)... Okay, I'm not talking to you anymore, I want more—"

"Hey," a female voice suddenly interrupted their conversation, snatching Anya's phone, "Are you Li Wei? Don't worry, Anya is under my watchful eye and definitely hasn't been looking at other handsome guys behind my back—ah!!"

"Aida!!!!!! Sukabuleh!!! Do you want to die?!" Anya snatched back her phone. "Um... I'll have someone transfer money to you now. Be good, that's all. Love you, love you."

After hanging up the phone, Li Wei looked at Mark and said, "Anya said she'll lend you the money for emergencies first, and then we'll take care of your problems one by one."

Mark was stunned. He had always thought Anya was just a pretty face and had never learned anything about her family background.

But now, seeing how easily she pulled out $300 million, and the gifts she gave...

"Is Miss Anna's father... very famous?" he asked tentatively. "You really saved my life this time."

"Let her talk about it herself next time," Levi refused. "Do you have a photo of David and his contact information?"

"Yes, I do," Mark said, pulling out his phone, "but I can't find him."

"This is none of your business," Li Wei said. "After all, we still need to get the money back from him. Also, tell me the details of what happened with Merrill Lynch's compliance department."

"Mr. Levi..." Mark said gratefully, "I...I don't know how to repay you."

Then quickly show me the virtues of chivalry!

Li Wei patted his silver treasure chest and said, "It's alright, we're friends after all."

Mark looked at Levi's radiant smile, and his gratitude reached its peak.

He secretly vowed that he would die for Li Wei if necessary.

After settling the completely drunk Mark down, Levi left the bar and got back into the driver's seat of the Rolls-Royce.

Mark's funding gap has been temporarily filled with Anya's money, but to truly "pull him out of the abyss," the core issues are getting back the money he was swindled out of and resolving Merrill Lynch's compliance investigation.

Li Wei took out his phone and dialed Mrs. Dolores's number first.

"Mr. Levi?" Mrs. Dolores's usual calm voice came from the other end of the phone, with the sound of machinery whirring in the background. "It's been a while since we last spoke. How have you been?"

"I'm doing well lately, madam," Levi said with a smile. "How have you been?"

"Thanks to you, we are all well," said Mrs. Dolores. "Emma and I even went to watch your match last time."

"I'll send you tickets when I return to my home court next time," Levi said with a smile. "If I make it to the Super Bowl, you're all welcome to come and watch."

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Levi," Mrs. Dolores said first. "Is there anything you need from me?"

"It's not really an order, I just wanted to ask you to ask a Wall Street broker named David, his passport number is... his address is... I'll send you photos of his social media accounts later, there are photos of him. He ran off with $300 million through a shell company in the Cayman Islands," Levi said.

"Sounds like one of our channels?" Mrs. Dolores thought for a moment. "We also have experience with this kind of money laundering process on Wall Street. Give me 48 hours, and I'll find him."

After hanging up the phone, Li Wei thought for a moment, then realized that the most troublesome issue was the red line of financial compliance.

He pulled out his contacts, looked at Elizabeth's name, and dialed it.

"Merrill Lynch's compliance department needs someone to close the case..." Elizabeth thought for a moment, "Okay, okay, I'll think of a way."

After hanging up the phone, Li Wei sat in his car and suddenly felt a little guilty.

Elizabeth is already overwhelmed with the Skull and Bones affair and Charlie Mellon's matter, yet he still has to rely on Elizabeth's connections to act as a go-between.

He recalled the last time when Director Harrison showed Elizabeth no respect whatsoever.

"I owe Elizabeth a favor, and I owe Anya money," Levi muttered to himself. "Damn system, can you hurry up and give me some points?"

I'm going to destroy this world.

Li Wei, who was initially somewhat complacent about his current situation, began to realize his own insignificance and predicament.

"Hey, Uncle," Li Wei dialed Don Quixote's number again, "Let's have dinner together tonight, talk about team building and endorsements, and maybe have a few drinks... How's your alcohol tolerance? Will you fall asleep after drinking... It's nothing, just asking."

Elizabeth looked at the phone that had been hung up, flipped through her contacts, and thought for a long time before realizing that none of her usual connections could help Li Wei.

With a creak, she threw herself onto the big bed in the dormitory and stared blankly at a name in her contacts for a long time.

Her finger hovered tremblingly above the screen, and after hesitating for a long time, she still didn't press it.

She threw down her phone in frustration and paced around the dormitory.

After wandering around for a while, she finally took a deep breath, picked up her phone, and pressed the button.

Not long after, an old male voice came:

"Liz," he said, "is a rare guest."

Elizabeth paused. "Good day, Grandfather."

There was no response from the other end.

“I need a little help,” Elizabeth continued. “I need to get in touch with a senior executive in Merrill Lynch’s compliance department, or a partner in the clearing bank who has some influence.” She tried to keep her voice steady and businesslike. “I need to help a partner named Mark close an internal review case.”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, broken only by the crisp sound of ice cubes sloshing in the glass.

"How long has it been since we last contacted each other, Liz?" Alexander Mellon's voice was devoid of emotion. "Two years? Three years? You and your father refused to visit your grandfather, and then after all these years, you called me, the first thing you did was ask for my help, without even asking how I've been feeling lately?"

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and remained silent.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and remained silent.

"And you're here for that basketball kid, aren't you?" Alexander Mellon said. "You really are a little girl, willing to do anything for love."

"He plays football, we're just friends," Elizabeth said. "It's my own business."

"This Christmas, bring your father—well, let him collect his antiques if he wants to—" Alexander Mellon snorted, "and bring that soccer kid back for the family dinner this Christmas, or you can all get lost and stay away from me."

Elizabeth instinctively wanted to refuse and go back to the family dinner to see her uncles and aunts.

"I'll talk to him," she sighed. "Thank you, Grandfather."

"Very good." Alexander Mellon hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Elizabeth felt as if all her strength had been drained, and slid down the edge of the bed onto the carpet.

Just then, the phone rang again.

“Hey? Levi?” Elizabeth paused. “I wanted to ask you… My grandfather said he’d be willing to help with this, but he wants to see you at Christmas—oh, this isn’t something I can say over the phone… What? You also have something to discuss with me in person?”