People in America: My Uncle Don Quixote

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Li Wei, holding the phone on the other end, suddenly asked:

"Since you know so many of Charlie Mellon's problems," he said, looking at Julian, "why don't you just name one?"

Julian immediately perked up, his mind racing as he quickly pieced together a detail.

“Hmm… Cayman Islands, Blue Waters Art Trust,” he blurted out. “It’s a shell company of the Manhattan Arts Center. Last November, Adam used this account to buy a batch of postmodern paintings of dubious origin at a high price. The funds flowed through two private bank accounts in Liechtenstein and eventually back into a tax-exempt project under his name. This transaction helped him avoid at least $80 million in capital gains tax.”

After he finished speaking, Julian stared intently at Li Wei's expression.

Li Wei frowned slightly, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.

He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

Julian's heart pounded; he thought he had succeeded.

In this life-or-death struggle, Li Wei can survive as long as he shows greed for intelligence.

He was already planning in his mind how he could quickly transfer the remaining funds and escape this vortex once Li Wei used his resources to bail him out.

As for Charlie Mellon's scandals? That's just a template he applied to Charlie based on Wall Street's standard operating procedures. As Charlie Mellon's agent, Adam's actions, no matter what, could not be traced back to Charlie Mellon.

Julian had no evidence at all; he was just bluffing Levi.

"It sounds very" ", Li Wei seemed somewhat tempted, leaning forward and stopping his tapping.

Julian couldn't help but ask eagerly, "So, we've made a deal?"

"Of course..." Levi drawled, "No."

He deliberately watched as Julian's smile froze.

Julian looked at Levi in ​​disbelief: "Why? With these, Charlie Mellon will be in deep trouble, and Elizabeth Mellon will win this war."

“That’s not the point, Mr. Julian,” Levi said softly. “Do you remember last year when Uncle Don Quixote brought me to you, hoping you could give me a letter of recommendation for Yale?” (Chapter 25)

"Uh... I remember," Julian said hesitantly, "Back then... didn't I promise you and give you a letter of recommendation?"

"Yes," Li Wei nodded, "but you didn't tell me it was a useless letter of recommendation." (Chapters 120, 150, 188)

Earlier at the mayor of Holmes' dinner, Levi had wondered why Julian had been avoiding him, and Mark's casual remark about whether Levi had used the letter of recommendation only fueled his suspicions.

Later, he took the letter of recommendation to inquire about it and found that the contact information on the letter was an internal email address of JPMorgan Chase. If Li Wei really wanted to use this letter of recommendation to get into Yale University, it would be judged as a fake letter of recommendation because he could not contact Julian at all.

At that time, even those who could have been admitted to Yale University may be rejected due to this stain on their reputation, and may even be reported by the entire Ivy League.

This was a very small detail, one that even Don Quixote and Livy didn't notice at the time, and it was definitely not an unintentional mistake.

Julian's face turned pale instantly.

"That email address..." he stammered, "I accidentally got that email address wrong."

"Oh? But I haven't said what it is yet," Li Wei said sarcastically. "How do you know it's an email problem?"

Julian fell silent.

"And back then, Uncle Don Quixote took the blame for your operational error. He was originally JPMorgan Chase's youngest Executive Officer," Levi said softly. "More than 10 years have passed, and he's fallen on hard times. Have you ever visited him even once?"

"You even used the topic of tuition and student loans to mock us. You know perfectly well that he sold his blood to get that pen," he stared at Julian. "I vividly remember that Montblanc Meisterstück 146, worth over $800. And what did he get in return?"

"Yes, it was my fault," Julian raised his head and forced a smile, "but you're an adult, you need to look at this from two perspectives."

"First of all, I made a mistake in this matter, it was my fault," he kept trying to justify himself, "but this has nothing to do with the Mellon family's internal affairs, right? Don't let past sunk costs influence your decisions."

“Julian, Julian,” Levi shook his head, “Do you think I don’t understand the Mellon family after spending so much time with Elizabeth? Do you think Charlie Mellon would give you so much dirt on him? And if you had this kind of dirt, you would have already used it to make a deal with the federal prosecutor. Now you’re coming to beg me? You’re just trying to trick me.”

"A complete scoundrel like you has no value but spending your life in prison," Li Wei said, hanging up the phone. "I heard your wife is already drafting divorce papers after finding out about this. I wish you bad luck, goodbye."

He hadn't actually investigated Julian's wife, but that didn't stop him from casually lying to upset Julian.

After hanging up the phone, Li Wei didn't look at Julian again and turned to walk towards the exit of the visiting room.

Behind Li Wei, Julian let out a desperate roar.

He frantically pounded on the bulletproof glass, his orange prison uniform standing out starkly against the pale fluorescent light.

He watched helplessly as the iron door slammed shut behind Li Wei, completely sealing him in this cage of despair.

By the time Li Wei returned to his luxury apartment in Battery City Park, the morning sun had already completely pierced through the thin fog of Manhattan.

When he opened the door, the apartment's private chef had just finished making breakfast. On the table were freshly fried bacon and eggs Benedict, as well as the aroma of coffee and butter, which was completely different from the air conditioning outside.

Don Quixote and Lily were having dinner at the large island counter when Livy entered. Lily immediately smiled brightly and ran to pull out a high stool for Livy.

Li Wei sat down, casually picked up a sandwich with slightly charred and crispy edges from the plate, and stuffed it into his mouth, taking a big bite.

This is a diet plan specially made for Li Wei by the team's nutritionist. The sandwich contains top-grade Australian Wagyu beef. One bite and the aroma of milk, beef, and fat completely overwhelmed his taste buds.

"You emanate a chill from me," Don Quixote looked up at him, stopped spreading butter on the bread, and asked with concern, "Where have you been so early in the morning? Is it very windy outside?"

"I met someone," Li Wei mumbled, picking up his black coffee. "I took care of a small matter."

Lily was focused on the sausages on her plate, wearing her well-tailored private school uniform with the hem of her plaid skirt meticulously trimmed.

Li Wei didn't continue speaking, but just quietly ate his sandwich. It wasn't until Lily finished her breakfast, jumped off the bar stool, said "I'm going to get my schoolbag," and ran back to her room that he looked at Don Quixote again.

"I just went to the Southern District of New York Federal Detention Center." Levi pulled out a tissue to wipe his hands. "I went to see Julian."

Don Quixote paused slightly as he spread the butter, the blade hovering in mid-air.

"He now faces a maximum federal sentence of 45 years. JPMorgan Chase's compliance department pinned several high-risk account irregularities and bad debts on him. Jamie Dimon personally ordered a thorough investigation into him, and Charlie Mellon also abandoned him."

Li Wei looked into Don Quixote's eyes and slowly said, "He just begged me to get him out through the bulletproof glass, and I refused."

Don Quixote simply stared at the butter knife in his hand. After a few seconds, he put the knife back on the plate and gave a faint "hmm".

"I understand." His tone was calm and even, as if he had just heard gossip from a complete stranger, without even the desire to ask for details.

Just then, Lily ran out of her room with her schoolbag on her back: "Daddy, I'm ready!"

"Let's go, there might be traffic today." Don Quixote stood up, picked up his coat from the back of the chair, took Lily's hand, nodded to Levi, and said, "We're leaving now."

The early autumn morning was slightly chilly.

When Don Quixote had free time, he would still choose to personally take Lily to school, as this was one of the requirements of the private aristocratic school, which stipulated that parents must pick up and drop off their children a fixed number of times each week.

The Cadillac silently glided into the traffic. It would only take a few minutes to reach the school. Don Quixote's gaze seemed not to be focused on any specific object; he simply drove mechanically.

Lily, meanwhile, was engrossed in playing on her phone. After entering junior high school and turning 13, she and Don Quixote were no longer so speechless.

In particular, Don Quixote was sometimes quite harsh on her, which made her feel uncomfortable.

For example, she wouldn't even be allowed to eat ice cream.

As the car slowly passed a high-end Italian handmade gelato shop on the street corner, Don Quixote suddenly spoke:

"Lily, it's still early before we leave today," he said, glancing at his daughter in the rearview mirror. "Would you like some ice cream?"

Lily was stunned. She looked up in surprise at Don Quixote's unusual behavior.

"Now? But Dad, it's eight o'clock in the morning." Lily blinked, somewhat incredulous. "You always said that eating raw or cold food in the morning is bad for your stomach, and we just had breakfast."

"It's alright," Don Quixote said, glancing at the sign at the shop entrance. "I can make an exception today. What flavor would you like?"

"Really?" Lily's eyes lit up.

"Of course," Don Quixote nodded affirmatively.

Lily glanced at Don Quixote with some suspicion. Was Don Quixote acting a little strange today?

"Then I'd like three scoops," she tentatively asked, ordering a large ice cream with three scoops, "one pistachio, one mango, and one strawberry."

Don Quixote parked his car on the side of the road. "Hurry up and go, buy it and come right back."

Even when Lily brought the ice cream back, I was still a little incredulous. My strict father actually let me eat ice cream in early winter, November? Is today some special day? Did he abandon Aunt Susan and find a new woman to please me?

"Swoosh..." She happily swung her legs on the spacious back seat. "Daddy, since we can make an exception today, can I ask for a new toy?"

"What is it?"

"Hmm, Van Cleef & Arpels' new four-leaf clover bracelet," Lily's voice trailed off, "Dasha and Bobby in my class both have one, it costs $1600."

For a 13-year-old girl who has just entered a prestigious private school, one source of social security depends on these seemingly inconspicuous but highly recognizable expensive luxury jewelry pieces.

"Okay," Don Quixote nodded, "I'll take you to buy it after school."

Lily's eyes widened instantly; she could hardly believe her ears.

It's worth noting that although Don Quixote is now quite wealthy as Livy's agent, he still maintains a cautious habit when it comes to spending money, yet he agreed so readily today.

Her eyes darted around, and she immediately pressed her advantage, saying, "Really?! Well... since you're in such a good mood today, I saw a black CF mini bag in a Chanel window last weekend. Actually, it goes really well with that bracelet; all the older girls are carrying it, and it's only a little over 5000 yuan—"

"Snapped!"

Before Don Quixote started the car, he turned around and flicked her forehead.

"Stop your greed," he said with a half-smile. "We'll discuss the Chanel bag issue after you get all your A's this semester."

Li Wei earns close to $46,000 after tax for each match. With commissions from commercial endorsements, he has about $600,000 to $700,000 in cash on him, even though he doesn't have as much cash as Li Wei. Since his food, accommodation, and car are all registered under Li Wei's company for tax withholding, he can save almost whatever he gets.

A $5000 bag wasn't a huge amount for him; he just hoped it would motivate Lily to study harder.

What a beautiful day! Shall we have dinner together with Susan tonight?

As he watched Lily jump out of the car and walk into the school gate with her best friends, laughing and chatting, he suddenly thought to himself.

The phone rang.

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao.

Don Quixote looked up and saw that it was Susan calling.

"Lunch? Hmm... I'm having lunch with Puma's North American regional general manager... How about this afternoon? What would you like to eat?" Don Quixote smiled slightly. "Okay, see you then."

The author, "I Like Sundaes," recommends reading "A Man in America: My Uncle Don Quixote" using the "Renren Bookstore" app. Download and install it.