American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote-Chapter 46 - 43: Grasping with Both Hands, and Both Must Be Strong
Li Wei, Emma, and the others stood at the door, watching the Range Rover SV disappear around a corner on Madison Avenue.
"Still looking?" Emma turned her head to look at Li Wei, who was staring after the taillights. "Did she steal your soul with that smile?"
Li Wei reluctantly pulled his gaze away. He mulled it over for a moment, then said, "Not really. I was just wondering why she didn’t tip today."
"Are you dumb?" Emma patted him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "She said she remembers you. Isn’t that enough?"
’I’d rather she didn’t remember me,’ Li Wei sighed, walking back inside with Emma.
"Just think about it," Emma said excitedly, counting on her fingers as she spoke. "Someone like her probably has an allowance of over a hundred thousand USD a month. Add in the spending power of her best friends and other contacts... if you can just win over a big client like her, you might make enough to pay for your college tuition in a year."
"Isn’t her family an Old Qian Family?" Li Wei asked casually as he pulled the door open. "Why only a hundred-something thousand USD a month?"
"You think families like that are nouveau riche?" Emma explained. "They tend to keep a tight rein on the younger generation’s finances to stop them from spending extravagantly. Besides, she’s definitely not the only one in her family. It’s normal for there to be a dozen or so heirs."
Li Wei thought about it and realized it made sense. A great family that had lasted for a hundred years wouldn’t let its descendants run wild without any limits.
"By the way, that tiara she wanted to rent," Li Wei asked, "it’s not cheap, is it?"
"Not cheap? It probably costs several million USD," Emma said, then sighed. "Ah, when will I ever make several million USD?"
However, Emma was good at managing her feelings from working in a high-end luxury boutique. She quickly composed herself and shifted back into work mode.
「The morning’s work came to an end.」
Li Wei once again briefly detached himself from the glamorous life of the Upper East Side, boarding a subway back to Brooklyn.
This time, however, he didn’t take the subway and then transfer to a bus to go straight back to Bei Ling Ridge. Instead, he got off at the Sunset Park station.
He’d noticed when he left this morning that his refrigerator was basically empty and he needed to restock on some groceries.
After buying vegetables, seasonings, and seafood at a Chinese-owned fresh food market, Li Wei walked to a butcher shop in Bei Ling Ridge to buy beef and lamb.
When he had previously shopped at the supermarkets in Bei Ling Ridge, he discovered that for identical items sold in the exact same supermarket chain, the prices could be over 30% higher just one street over.
The residents of Bei Ling Ridge were generally blue-collar families with steady jobs. The area had a large population of Italian and Middle Eastern immigrants, creating a stark contrast with the neighboring Sunset Park, just a street away, which was a hub for Chinese and Latin Americans.
Although Bei Ling Ridge was closer to the sea than Sunset Park, the seafood was actually cheaper in Sunset Park due to differences in dietary habits.
「Back home.」
Li Wei refilled his refrigerator.
That afternoon, the Rogue fitness equipment company delivered the order to the curb. It included 800 kilograms of weight plates and over 100 kilograms of various equipment. Including the basic shipping, packaging, taxes, and other fees, the equipment cost Li Wei over 3,000 USD in total.
He spent so much on the equipment partly to meet the minimum for basic shipping, and partly to prepare for future assessments of his progress.
His current strength level was already starting to attract attention at the gym. If he kept improving, he’d probably get filmed and posted online, leading to a series of unnecessary troubles.
Besides, cheap equipment wouldn’t be able to handle his current strength. It was better to buy something good all at once and keep it at home. That way, he could properly track his body’s changes for a long time to come.
"You sure you don’t need me to call a forklift to help you?"
The truck driver, a cigarette dangling from his lips, said to Li Wei after unloading the goods onto the curb, "Only 199 USD, buddy. This pile of iron is at least a ton!"
"It’s only a few steps. 199 USD is way too expensive," Li Wei said, bending over and directly lifting a 100-kilogram plate. "I’ll just do it myself."
"Wardafa..."
The driver’s eyes widened as he watched Li Wei walk into the house carrying the weight plate like it was a child. For a second, he thought he’d delivered the wrong shipment, maybe some fake technique plates used for performances.
But when Li Wei went inside, the driver jumped out of his truck and took a closer look. After finding he couldn’t budge the plates at all, he confirmed that he hadn’t delivered the wrong goods.
Seeing Li Wei walk out of the house with a perfectly normal expression, the driver gave up on the chance to earn that inside-delivery fee. He muttered to himself as he got back in his truck and drove away from Bei Ling Ridge.
After nearly an hour, Li Wei finished assembling the power rack. He nodded in satisfaction, lay down on the bench press, and began to allocate his points.
Last time, he had created a 0.4 difference between his various stats all at once, which gave his body a strange, high-latency feeling. This time, Li Wei had learned his lesson and focused on developing his three main stats evenly.
He first allocated 0.1 attribute points to Strength all at once.
[Strength 1.8] -> [Strength 1.9]
A familiar warmth spread from his spine, flowing through his entire body and into every corner of his muscles.
Li Wei could feel every one of his muscle fibers forming deeper connections, solidifying, and becoming incredibly resilient.
Under the influence of this warmth, Li Wei didn’t feel his body bulk up. On the contrary, he felt as if he had become more "solid."
After some thought, Li Wei put the remaining 0.3 attribute points into [Constitution] and [Agility].
Constitution increased by 0.2 points.
[Constitution 1.5] -> [Constitution 1.6]
[Constitution 1.6] -> [Constitution 1.7]
Agility increased by 0.1 points.
[Agility 1.6] -> [Agility 1.7]
After allocating the points, Li Wei lay quietly on the bench press. He didn’t get up right away, but instead closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of his body slowly evolving.
As his Constitution and Agility caught up, the feeling of discomfort and awkwardness in his body completely vanished.
He could bench press 225 kilograms before without any discomfort, but after this round of point allocation, his awareness of his body rose to a new level, giving him a subtle sense of balance.
Raising his Constitution from 1.5 to 1.7 all at once didn’t just seem to improve his endurance; something deep within his bone marrow had become tougher.
He felt his bones become harder, more resilient, and more supportive. His joints felt as if they had gained an extra layer of connective tissue, like they had been fitted with shock-absorbing, resilient armor.
Li Wei’s eyes snapped open. He sprang up from the bench press—his body moved with his will, his will followed his thoughts.
Calisthenics techniques that had once seemed incredibly difficult to him could now be performed with ease.
"Time for a warmup," Li Wei said, loading six large plates onto the new barbell. "I’ll start the warmup at 170 kilograms this time."
170, 180, 190... he quickly surpassed his previous record of 225 kilograms.
When Li Wei loaded the bar to 230 kilograms, he finally felt a heavy sense of pressure. But this pressure didn’t intimidate him; instead, it made him feel excited.
Thanks to the corresponding increase in his Constitution, his elbow and wrist joints felt no discomfort at all, even when benching super-heavy weights.
Before, he was like a precision hydraulic press. Now, that press had been thoroughly lubricated and meticulously maintained.
He finally stopped after pressing 250 kilograms, steadily re-racking the barbell.
’Balancing the stats really is the way to go,’ Li Wei thought as he unloaded the plates. ’You have to work on both sides, and both have to be strong.’
