American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote-Chapter 37 - 34: One More Look and You’ll Be Accused of Sexual Harassment
"Good morning," Li Wei mumbled, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge to look for something to eat. "Is there any leftover pizza from yesterday?"
"I have a question," Don Quixote’s voice was full of confusion. "Was this statue here when we moved in yesterday?"
"Yeah," Li Wei said as he found the leftover pizza and put it in the microwave to heat up. "You didn’t notice? You even said it looked nice."
"Did I???"
Don Quixote turned his head, his eyes filled with bewilderment as he carefully examined the statue. It seemed to have appeared out of thin air, yet it also felt vaguely familiar.
The microwave DINGED after thirty seconds, and Li Wei took out a slice of pizza.
"...Get a slice for your dear uncle, too," Don Quixote said, the aroma pulling him from his thoughts. ’Did I really remember it wrong?’
"You must have. It was the first thing I saw when I came in yesterday," Li Wei replied, handing him a slice and sticking to his guns. "Are you heading to work later?"
"...Yeah, I have to go over the ledgers for Ms. Susan again."
"Then can you drop me off at the gym on your way?"
...
Ever since Li Wei had taught that rude Latino a small lesson, he had earned an unprecedented level of respect at the gym.
"Hey man, you’re here."
"Yo, bro, what’s up? What are you hitting today?"
"Li Wei, wanna work out together?"
When Li Wei stepped through the gym doors again, he could feel how much more welcome he was. It was as if winning that contest was what it took to finally be accepted here. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
The last few times he’d worked out with Michael, he had just been an invisible nobody.
The white front desk guy who had previously tried to sell him testosterone and other drugs saw him again. A smile unconsciously spread across his face as he took the initiative to greet him.
"What are you hitting today?" he asked. "Need a spot?"
"No, thanks," Li Wei said, politely declining with a wave of his hand. "I’ll just work out by myself."
As usual, he first filled up his water bottle, then headed to the weightlifting area. A few muscleheads who had been occupying the bench press rack and chatting almost subconsciously scooted aside the moment they saw Li Wei approach.
"Hey man, this rack’s free now," said a Latino guy whose arms were covered in tattoos. He grabbed his water bottle and even gave the bench a quick wipe with a towel. "It’s all yours."
"Uh..." Li Wei had only planned to ask if he could work in. "Thanks."
It seemed that forcing that rude Latino guy to do a "naked golf swing run" on Eighth Avenue had left quite a few people with a lingering fear of him.
Li Wei wiped the bench again and loaded the barbell to 100 kg. After warming up with two sets, he moved to 150 kg... 180 kg... 200 kg. It wasn’t until he was pushing 225 kg that he felt his arms and chest reaching their limit.
"Fack..."
A low gasp of astonishment came from a corner of the weightlifting area.
Li Wei felt a little embarrassed, but he walked over to the squat rack anyway, intent on logging his numbers.
He loaded the squat bar directly to 200 kg. Easy lift.
kg. A piece of cake.
By the time he was loaded up to 280 kg, the Olympic bar was already bending, wobbling slightly with every squat.
The people around him had fallen silent, afraid that even the sound of their voices might distract Li Wei.
But Li Wei was like a precision crane—steady, precise, moving straight up and down without the slightest pause, forcefully yanking 280 kg back from the brink of gravity’s pull.
When he finally re-racked the weights, he noticed Manu, the big, heavyset Black kid from Franklin High School, staring at him, dumbfounded.
Li Wei smiled but didn’t greet his future classmate and teammate. After unloading the plates, he headed to the showers.
’For now, I can still pass this off as being naturally gifted,’ Li Wei thought while showering. ’Once my strength increases a bit more, I should probably just build my own gym in the basement.’
After showering and changing, Li Wei left the gym. He took the subway to his part-time job on the Upper East Side, bought something to eat from a street vendor around noon, then took the subway and transferred to a bus back home to Bei Ling Ridge.
For the next two weeks, Li Wei fell into a simple, repetitive routine, quietly waiting for the school year to start.
During the day, he went to his part-time job on the Upper East Side. In the afternoons, he would come home to study for his other AP classes and Russian. Occasionally, he also had to receive packages he’d bought from Amazon.
During these two weeks, Don Quixote also gradually rediscovered some of his old spirited flair.
He spent nearly a week carefully reviewing bank statements, tenant information, and the accountant’s transfer records. He found more evidence, enough to help Susan recover even more of her losses.
One evening, while having dinner with Li Wei, Don Quixote spoke about the matter with great excitement.
"Ha! That shoddy accountant obviously wasn’t a graduate of any top university. He just registered a shell company by himself and even listed himself as the legal representative. I found him out with a single search."
He said dismissively, "When I used to do dirty work back at my old firm, we used layers upon layers of nested structures. Sometimes you’d know a company was registered in the Cayman Islands, but there was still nothing you could do. Compared to that, this accountant is child’s play."
"But we wouldn’t be this lucky without him," Li Wei said, tossing Don Quixote a can of beer. "Here’s to this shoddy accountant."
"Exactly," Don Quixote said, smugly taking the beer and clinking cans with him. "Here’s to him being so shoddy."
Seeing the clear glow on Don Quixote’s face, Li Wei nudged him lightly with his elbow. "Hey, Uncle, I hear Ms. Susan is still single. You’ve been divorced for a while now, too. Ever thought about asking her out?"
"No way!" Don Quixote jumped to his feet. "Haven’t I suffered enough at the hands of women?"
He then launched into another tirade, pouring out his grievances to Li Wei. He recounted the multi-layered schemes of all the bizarre women he had encountered throughout his career—from his time at JPMorgan Chase to starting his own company after leaving—a veritable collection of legendary characters.
"Don’t get involved with women," he warned. "Be careful. You could get accused of sexual harassment just for looking at one in the gym."
Seeing him react like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Li Wei just shrugged and decided not to press the issue.
As for Don Quixote’s dreams, there had been some minor changes to the storyline recently.
During one of his sleepwalking episodes after they moved the statue back, Don Quixote had solemnly announced that he was going to undertake a period of penance.
Afterward, for nearly ten days, he actually didn’t sleepwalk again!
Because of this, his sleep quality improved so much that he thought it was because of the new bed.
The night before Li Wei’s entrance exam, just as he was preparing to go to bed early for the test, he suddenly heard a rustling sound from downstairs again.
