Chapter 73: Chapter 66: God Bless America...?

Anya was suddenly overcome with an impulse. She wanted to scream, to grab Li Wei by the collar and shout, ’You’re a liar! That wasn’t a magic trick at all!’

’Most magic props leave behind a chemical smell after they’re used, but that coin you bent had no smell at all!’

’Suka Bulie! Just tell me the secret already!’

But the thought only lingered for a moment before she pushed it aside.

You could say Li Wei was the first person her age she’d met since arriving in New York who gave her a sense of kinship, a connection to home. It wasn’t just his accented yet fluent Russian. More importantly, he was one of the few people who didn’t look at her with prejudice or treat her differently.

But Li Wei’s voice suddenly broke her out of her reverie.

"Um..." he said suddenly. "Your bow is crooked."

She instinctively raised a hand and quickly adjusted the black bow on her head. She had spent ages picking this one out.

’He noticed? Of course he did. But why didn’t he compliment it? Is he not telling me the secret because he thinks I look silly wearing this?’

Anya’s mind was in a jumble, and the words she’d been about to say caught in her throat.

"Oh..." she said. "How about now?"

"Much better now," Li Wei said with a smile. "But to be honest, it doesn’t really make a difference whether it’s crooked or not."

Anya was instantly displeased again.

’What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying this accessory I so carefully picked out is completely insignificant?’

"Yo, Li Wei!" Travis came over, shooting a cautious glance at Anya. "We’re planning to go to Manu’s house to celebrate later, throw a little party. But I’m guessing you can’t make it, right? Because you’ve got, uh—"

He pressed the tips of his index fingers together, a sly grin spreading across his face.

"Sorry, I really can’t make it," Li Wei said, shaking his head and pulling out his phone. "I have a doctor’s appointment tonight for a physical."

"All right, then." Travis’s eyes were filled with envy. "Man, I’m so jealous. You’re heading to the NCAA."

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves," Li Wei said with a laugh. "I still have training camp after the physical."

As he was putting his phone away, Li Wei suddenly noticed Anya’s gaze was fixed on it, her eyes following its every move.

Li Wei suddenly remembered that this was their second time meeting, yet they still hadn’t exchanged contact information.

"Do you want to... exchange info?" Li Wei asked, holding out his phone. "I can’t believe I forgot last time."

Anya nodded and took the phone from him.

"That should be enough—"

Li Wei saw her type her number into his phone and went to take it back, but he realized Anya was still holding on tight, showing no sign of wanting to return it.

Only after she had added herself on his Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media accounts did Anya finally hand the phone back to Li Wei.

"I’m heading back," she said. "Bye."

Li Wei noticed she’d said "Bye," not "Goodbye." In a Russian context, the two had very different meanings.

"Goodbye" implied a very formal farewell, the kind for when you might never meet again. "Bye," on the other hand, suggested you were only parting for a little while and might even run into each other again around the next corner.

With her hands behind her back, Anya left the stadium and headed toward her G800.

Once she was sure no one was watching, her pace quickened, and she ended up skipping and hopping the last few feet to her car.

Meanwhile, Coach Miller insisted on driving Li Wei to the hospital to meet up with Wen Si, the scout.

...

At the New York University Langone Hospital’s Brooklyn Campus, Coach Miller, who had changed into a sharp-looking tracksuit for the occasion, escorted Li Wei through the VIP entrance as if he were a top-secret weapon. Wen Si, the scout from 247Sports, accompanied them.

"Perfect, just perfect," Wen Si said, walking beside Li Wei. He was looking down, flipping through the data from Li Wei’s physical tests and blood work. "This is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. You don’t even smoke weed? No steroids at all? A report like this is incredibly rare."

The corner of Li Wei’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say anything.

"Now we just need the attending physician to sign off on this," he said, patting Li Wei’s shoulder excitedly. "And then we can witness the birth of a new number one NFL draft pick! Hahaha! The first Asian number one draft pick in history!"

A few moments later, the attending physician emerged, holding a thick stack of ultrasound images and reports.

"Wen Si, are you sure this kid is only seventeen?" He turned his head and adjusted his glasses. "His bone density is far higher than his peers, his body is already fully developed, and his cardiac output is way above average. He was practically born for high-intensity contact sports."

Hearing this, Li Wei let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He had deliberately suppressed his three main stats to just under the 2.0 threshold, and his body had changed accordingly. It seemed that while his numbers were still far beyond normal, he had successfully concealed the full truth for now.

Wen Si’s head snapped up. "Dr. Chris, just give us the bottom line."

"Wasn’t I clear enough? The bottom line is that Mr. Li Wei is physiologically mature and more than capable of handling football games of any intensity," he added. "In my personal opinion, playing at the NCAA level would be a waste of his time. He doesn’t need to be developed; he’s already a finished product. He’s at a level where he could enter the NFL draft right now."

Coach Miller silently pumped a fist in celebration.

"Dr. Chris, could I have a word?" Wen Si thought for a moment before pulling the doctor aside into a corner. "Let’s talk privately..."

About half an hour later, with all the medical paperwork completed, the three of them left the VIP clinic area.

As they reached a corner in the first-floor emergency room corridor, the clamor and the smell of disinfectant hit them. The sound of a gurney’s wheels rolling across the floor grew closer, carrying a pale-faced Chinese man who looked to be in his forties.

"Wow! This is what I call human rights! This is civilization!"

Though he was lying on the gurney, Wang Qiang was shouting into his phone camera like a triumphant general. Beside him, a white male nurse was preparing to take him for imaging.

Li Wei’s group happened to pass him by the elevators.

"Hey, young man," Wang Qiang recognized Li Wei at once. "You at the hospital, too?"

"Yeah," Li Wei said simply, giving a nod. "Uh... Uncle Wang, what happened to you?"

"Ah, you know how it is at the construction site. It’s normal to run into troublemakers," Wang Qiang said evasively. "My leg got broken. Looks like I’ll need surgery and then have to rest up for a while."

As he spoke, he suddenly grew excited. "I’m telling you, the United States of America is paradise on earth! My coworker called an ambulance for me, and from the moment I got here, they haven’t charged me a single penny for registration! Nobody’s asked me for money. This is free healthcare! Back home, who’d even look at you if you didn’t pay up front? This right here, this is the warmth of democracy!"

He even turned his head and shouted to the nurse in extremely broken English, "God bless you, God bless America!"

The white male nurse clearly didn’t understand a word he was saying, but he offered a polite smile and pushed the gurney down the emergency corridor.

"What were you two talking about?" Wen Si asked. "Do you know him?"