People in America: My Uncle Don Quixote

Chapter 96 Li Wei's New Year Plans (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

The day after Levi moved in, New York City had its first snowfall.

Don Quixote, along with José and his team, worked overtime and finally completed the most extravagant Christmas decorations in all of New York the day before it snowed. Thousands upon thousands of colored lights, giant inflatable or wooden Santa Clauses, nutcrackers, and more...

Snowmen, dynamic lights, and Christmas decorations were placed among hundreds of residents.

Originally, this project was to be arranged by a professional Italian company, but with their disappearance, the job fell to Don Quixote.

Because of Dyker Heights' renowned Christmas decoration traditions throughout the United States, Don Quixote was famous even before it went bankrupt.

Faced with this daunting challenge, he naturally spared no effort, so busy that he didn't even have time to decorate his own Christmas tree, which displeased Lily.

Fortunately, Lily was at home with Levi, allowing Don Quixote to confidently venture out on his own.

According to American family tradition, during Christmas, families with the means will buy a pine tree to place in their home and decorate it with various light-up decorations to celebrate the most important day of the year.

"If we set off now, before the snowplows pass by at 4 p.m.," Levi said to Lily as he pulled on a thick parka, "we might still be able to snag a seven-foot-tall fir at Costco."

Lily shoved herself into her down jacket, putting on a pair of red and white striped stockings. She was still angry that Don Quixote hadn't had time to help her decorate the house, and that he had refused to buy her the chocolate ice cream from Saga 3 as compensation.

Just as the two pushed open the door, ready to welcome New York's first snow, a Chevrolet pickup truck, laden with mud, pulled up in front of Levi's townhouse with the sound of its engine.

The wheels screeched as they crunched on the thin snow, and before the white smoke from the exhaust pipe had dissipated, Travis nimbly jumped off the car.

"Hey, buddy!" He patted the hood, the force of which shook off a layer of snow. "Didn't you say the other day you were going to buy a Christmas tree today?"

He pointed to the back of the pickup truck, where a huge creature lay tightly wrapped in nylon rope.

"Little Travis!" a gruff male voice came from the passenger seat. "You brat, you didn't even park the car properly."

A middle-aged white man in overalls with an oily face got out of the passenger seat. He had a big belly and was obese. Li Wei noticed that his legs and feet didn't seem to be very strong.

"Levi! Hello!" he said happily as soon as he saw Levi, and walked up with a limp, tightly grasping Levi's hand. "I am Travis's father, Travis."

"Hello, Mr. Travis," Levi said politely, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Old Travis said happily. "I heard from young Travis that your family hasn't had time to decorate your Christmas tree yet, so I asked an old friend of mine to cut it down himself from a forest in North Carolina. It just arrived last night."

"Nine feet, Fraser fir, compact needles, deep green," he said, patting the back of the truck and laughing loudly, "This is top-notch material, unlike the ordinary stuff that takes three weeks by train from Oregon to get to New York."

"You've gone to so much trouble," Li Wei said, somewhat flattered. "Thank you for helping to deliver this Christmas tree."

"I have to thank you," old Travis said with emotion. "Travis told me that without your guidance and support in his studies and in winning games, he would never have been able to get the scholarship. You changed his destiny and the destiny of our family. This Christmas tree is nothing. I will send it to you every year if you wish."

As he was saying this, he was about to drag his leg, which was full of gouty tophi, to move the Christmas tree from the back door into the house, but Li Wei quickly stopped him.

In the end, he and Travis carried the Christmas tree inside together, bidding farewell to the Travis father and son who expressed their deepest gratitude.

After finally finishing decorating the Christmas tree, Li Wei and Lily were about to go buy some Christmas light decorations when the doorbell rang again.

"Is Santa Claus coming!" Lily excitedly ran to the door. "I'll open it—wait, what?"

"Who is it?" Li Wei asked as he walked over, wiping his hands. "Lily, why aren't you saying anything?"

"They are two very pretty older sisters." Lily ran back and took Li Wei's hand, leading him to the door.

"Mrs. Dolores, Emma?"

Li Wei was stunned for a moment, looking at Mrs. Dolores in front of him, who was wearing a mink coat, and Emma behind her, who looked like a little follower and was holding a large box.

"Merry Christmas!" Emma said casually.

"Congratulations on moving to your new home," said Mrs. Dolores. "Would it be alright if we came in and had a seat?"

"Please come in," Li Wei instinctively made way for him, "We just moved in, so the place is still a bit messy—"

Mrs. Dolores didn't seem to care about any of this. She and Emma went into the living room and sat down opposite Levi.

"Speaking of which," Li Wei said, looking at Mrs. Dolores, whose face remained unsmiling, "it seems you haven't been to the shop for quite some time."

Mrs. Dolores and Emma are truly two extremes; one is completely unsmiling, making it impossible for you to guess what she's thinking.

The other one seems to have no self-control; despite having a boyfriend, she constantly talks about finding a rich man but never takes any action. Her emotions are always on her face.

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, Mrs. Dolores calmly replied, "I've been busy with some things lately, and I was only able to get a little rest last week."

"Let me tell you, Levi, we've done something really big!" Emma exclaimed excitedly. "We..."

She suddenly remembered something, turned to look at Mrs. Dolores, and found that the other woman was staring at her expressionlessly. She then chuckled awkwardly and sat down again.

"I heard you're heading to the All-American Bowl soon," Mrs. Dolores said. "It just so happens to coincide with your move for Christmas, so I brought you a little gift as a housewarming present."

""

"Ta-da!" Emma proudly pulled out a large box, "Guess what this is?"

"It's all written here, Emma," Levi said with a smile. "Isn't this wine?"

"You have such good taste?" Emma examined the small note on the box closely. "This is Remy Martin Louis I."

3.

"I wish you great success. When you come back with the championship, you can open this bottle of wine," Mrs. Dolores said with a rare smile. "It will witness your journey to becoming a superstar."

Unable to find a good reason to refuse, Li Wei nodded and thanked Mrs. Dolores for her kindness, accepting the bottle of wine.

After sitting for a while longer, Mrs. Dolores got up to say goodbye.

"There's a lot to do around Christmas," she said. "Besides, I don't think I've told you what I actually do yet."

"Don't you own a boutique?" Li Wei blinked and asked.

"Opening a boutique counts too," Mrs. Dolores said with a smile. "If you encounter any... people who bother you, or if you need to handle some funds legally and legitimately, you can contact me. Of course, I'm talking about after you enter the NFL."

"Once you become famous, your net worth will skyrocket in a short period of time, making you a multi-millionaire or even a billionaire," she paused, "If you encounter any problems you can't solve... you can contact me. Many people will come after you like wolves from Siberia, except they'll be wearing suits and ties."

After saying that, she called out to Emma, ​​who was playing with Barbie dolls with Lily (Emma was very attached to Lily's toys), and the two of them got into a Bentley Bentayga SUV parked at the door and left Dyker Heights.

"Alright," Levi said, watching the Bentley's taillights disappear into the distance, then turned to Lily and said, "Now we can finally go shopping. We're going to buy 100 little stars to light up this Christmas tree."

Lily is now really into playing with Barbie dolls, and she seems a little too lazy to move.

"How about this," Levi said, looking at Lily who was pretending not to hear, "if a pretty girl comes with me to Costco, I'll not only buy her her favorite Kirkland chocolate chip cookies, but also an ice cream cone."

Lily put down her toy, thought carefully for a moment, and said, "The pretty little girl wants to eat two ice cream cones."

"Deal," Li Wei said, "but don't tell Dad."

"No problem," Lily dashed back into the house, grabbed her coat, and said, "I'm all ready."

With an additional person in the family, especially a little girl, the things we need to buy have suddenly increased.

When we arrived at the Costco entrance, the snowflakes had already started to grow larger, and a thin layer of white mist hung above the parking lot.

「记住我们的任务，」李维把车门关上，「1：买灯带；2：装在树顶的五角星；3：100个圣诞小星星；4：厨房纸巾、牛奶、日曆..

""

"Two more ice cream cones and cookies!" Lily exclaimed.

"That's right!" Li Wei nodded. "Let's go!"

Upon entering, a wave of warmth hits you, a testament to America's extravagant use of energy. The door doesn't need to be closed at all; large plumes of hot air collide with the snowflakes at the entrance, turning into a puddle that spills around you. The surroundings are filled with the noise of people and the clanging of metal as shopping carts are dragged along.

As soon as he entered, Li Wei couldn't hold back. As a Costco store, which is similar to a family-style one-stop shopping supermarket, it is very common to hold tasting events.

But what does it mean to sample painkillers? Is it even allowed to sample this stuff? And there are quite a few people queuing up.

Seeing that Lily still wanted to join in the fun out of curiosity, Li Wei pulled her to the right and led her along the first area on the right side of the entrance.

Lily's eyes were immediately drawn to a pile of New Year-themed calendars and notebooks.

"This!" She reached out and picked up a calendar with a picture of a puppy and a wreath on the cover. "This is so cute."

"Whatever you like." Li Wei glanced at the dazzling array of covers next to him, "But I thought you would choose Barbie, Disney, or Hello Kitty."

"I already have Barbie," Lily said. "I like puppies."

"Okay, okay," Li Wei took the calendar and tossed it into the shopping cart. "With a calendar, you can write your schedule and your annual plans on it."

"What's a schedule?" Lily asked. "How do you make an annual plan?"

"A schedule is what you do every day; you can write it down in advance on your calendar," Li Wei said, taking a pack of kitchen paper towels and tossing it into the shopping cart. "An annual plan is what you need to do this year."

"What are Li Wei's annual plans?"

"Me..." Li Wei thought for a moment, then started counting on his fingers, "There are probably a few things like this."

"After Christmas, I'll be playing in the All-American Cup in early January," he said. "And if I can win the championship, then I should be involved in the NFL draft in February and March."

"And then?" Lily spotted the dessert section and pulled Levi towards it. "What about April?"

"We'll officially announce it in April, then start filming and training," Li Wei said. "Then in May I'll graduate, prepare for the prom, and after graduating in June I'll probably go on a trip, right?"

"Travel!" Lily exclaimed. "I love traveling! Can I go with Brother Levi?"

"You have to go to school, honey," Li Wei politely declined. "You only have a little over 2000 days left until your SAT exam. You need to start working hard now."

Just kidding, he's going to spend his graduation trip with Anya, how could he possibly bring Lily along?

"Daily plans, annual plans," Lily said, counting on her fingers, "but what about longer-term plans?"

"Of course," Levi said, pretending not to see the potato chips Lily threw into the shopping cart, "and life plans too."

"I want to be a princess!" Lily exclaimed. "Isn't that part of my life plan?"

"Well," Li Wei shrugged, "I guess so."

"So what are your life plans?" Lily asked. "Dad said you'll become a big star."

"Becoming a big star is just a phase in my plan. After all, people's goals change," Li Wei said, stroking his smooth chin. "My current life plan is to become a super rich person."

Although Levi never told anyone about it, Elizabeth's effortless resolution of the custody dispute that had been causing both Levi and Don Quixote a headache still gave Levi a slight shock and made him realize that in America, to some extent, money meant power and freedom.

Although he doesn't have much money right now, perhaps he can try to start by getting a signing bonus from the NFL and become a billionaire on his own.

He silently thought to himself, "At the same time, I'll improve my stats."

In just three months, he was already able to defend against small-caliber firearms and scale walls.

It's hard to imagine what he'll be like in a few years, and whether he'll actually be able to escape Earth's gravity and fly into space.

It's estimated that Spider-Man's mask will be replaced with Superman's costume at that time.

While Levi and Lily were shopping at Costco for things they would need for Christmas a few days later, a Gulfstream G800 private jet took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport and landed at TEB Business Airport in New York.

A bald, middle-aged Russian man with a blank expression descended the gangway, got into a stretched Rolls-Royce Phantom that had come to pick him up, and headed toward the Bronx.

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