Chapter 77: Chapter 69: I Thought American Healthcare Was Free?

"How’d it go?"

After hanging up, Don Quixote said smugly to Li Wei, "Just as I expected. That guy Leto is definitely getting taken care of."

"So, what’s the big secret in his ledger?" Li Wei asked, shaking the protein powder in his cup. "For them to shut down this whole line so quickly."

Before his physique reached 3.0, he could still barely sustain his energy consumption with three normal meals a day.

But for some reason, after his physique broke through to 3.0, his appetite suddenly became much larger than before.

Now, besides his three regular meals a day, he needed an extra five scoops of protein powder, along with a large amount of sugar and cream, just to keep from feeling hungry.

He even felt that his tolerance for sweetness was now on par with a native of the United States of America.

Fortunately, back when Li Wei and Don Quixote were relying on each other to get by, Li Wei had been the one responsible for buying groceries, thanks to his part-time job income. This had saved Don Quixote from having to sell blood an extra time each month just to afford food.

Hearing Li Wei’s words, Don Quixote snorted disdainfully.

Ever since he got his hands on the ledger, he had been on cloud nine, glowing with success. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"That idiot Leto used a really old version of code for his bookkeeping," he said, shaking his head smugly. "There are so many members of the Italian Mafia with their own social media accounts on YouTube now. I’ve even seen a Mafia underboss start his own personal channel."

He pointed to his head. "I can already read Italian, so by combining that with what’s online, it was easy to decipher his ledger. Ha! He wrote down all the related party transactions for every company in one place. BOOM! As long as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gets the ledger, they can follow the leads and uproot the Gambino Family’s entire loan sharking operation in Brooklyn."

"This isn’t the golden age of the ’80s and ’90s anymore," he sighed. "Nobody has money these days. You think the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t have KPIs? They’re dying to get some dirt on the Gambino Family and make a huge score."

With that, he patted his rear and stood up from the sofa.

"I’m going to negotiate with Susan," he said while putting on his suit jacket. "We can’t afford any delays. We need to secure that building quickly, before the owner realizes their pipes aren’t going to be sabotaged anymore."

"Does that mean we’re about to start living the good life soon?" Li Wei opened his shaker cup and added a lethal dose of white sugar and butter. "Can I become a second-generation rich kid by following you?"

"You brat," Don Quixote said with a laugh as he walked out the door. "I’ve got more faith in you becoming a multimillionaire before I do. If you ever need an accountant and actuary, please consider letting me handle your books."

The room fell silent again. Li Wei shrugged and downed the concoction of protein powder, white sugar, butter, and cream in one gulp.

The immense sweetness, tinged with a slight saltiness, and the grainy texture from the granulated sugar, which crunched between his teeth like popping boba, sent Li Wei’s dopamine levels soaring.

It was a bright, sunny day, and the sunlight streamed in generously, shining on Li Wei’s face.

’So warm.’

Suddenly, Li Wei’s phone rang, shattering the tranquility.

"Hello, Mr. Wens, it’s me," Li Wei answered the phone. "Oh, right... the training camp invitation... Please send it to 273 Bei Ling Ridge Community... Uh-huh, what?"

"It’s just a training camp, isn’t it?" His voice suddenly jumped an octave. "For real? You want me to perform well?"

"That’s right, Li Wei," Arthur Wens’s voice was trembling faintly. "I’m begging you. At this training camp, you must, you absolutely must, get good results. This could change both of our destinies."

"You’re exaggerating, Mr. Wens," Li Wei chuckled. "It’s just one training camp. Won’t it be fine if I just perform as I normally do?"

"Okay, okay, Li Wei, I trust you," Arthur Wens said. "But you must get plenty of rest and prepare in advance. I can’t tell you the specific reason, but what I can tell you is that I am not joking with you."

After a bit more back and forth, Arthur Wens shared some borderline methods for boosting athletic performance, such as metabolic hedging within 48 hours of a blood test using a large number of nicotine patches and a micro-dose of Cardarine. He also mentioned that if Li Wei needed it, he knew some guys in pharmaceutical labs who could provide him with some peptide supplements.

However, Li Wei rejected each of these suggestions.

But Wens was rather insistent, only hanging up after Li Wei promised to give it his all and not disappoint anyone.

"What kind of outcome could make a seasoned scout lose his composure like that," Li Wei muttered to himself as he grabbed his backpack and left. "Weird. Really weird."

...

At Franklin K. Rein High School, Li Wei had originally thought Coach Miller was the number one biggest mouth on the football team, but he discovered that Travis’s mouth was even bigger than Coach Miller’s.

Now the whole school knew that Li Wei had a rich girlfriend from a private school.

"Fack!" he explained, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I just happened to meet Anya during my part-time job. Other than that, there’s nothing between us."

"Give me a break," said Craig, the previously injured starting Quarterback, as he and other teammates surrounded him. "A chance acquaintance would drive all the way to this shithole just to watch you play?"

"Uh..." Li Wei said. "Maybe it’s because we’re both from other countries, and I happen to speak a little Russian."

"Bullshit! There are plenty of foreigners. I think she’s definitely into you, man. Ask her out a few times, she won’t be able to resist your charm."

"And I think she was driving a Mercedes G-Wagen!"

"Fack! Rich, beautiful, and young? Bro, I hate you so much! I hope you do well, but not *this* well!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of things, in stark contrast to Li Wei’s bright future and cheerful demeanor, Wang Haoran was in front of a Ms. Palmer—who now sported five chins—filling out a change of address form.

"Mr. Wang Haoran," Ms. Palmer said, chewing on bubble gum, "are you sure you want to change your home address from Flushing, Queens to Sunset Park, Brooklyn?"

"Yes, ma’am," Wang Haoran said with some bitterness. "I’m moving."

He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why his life had been turned completely upside down over a single weekend.

187,430.62 USD.

That was the medical bill his father, Wang Qiang, had received yesterday.

Damn it, why hadn’t anyone told them before? Wasn’t healthcare in the United States of America supposed to be free? Didn’t it cost nothing? Why was it so expensive!

When he took the bill from the mailbox over the weekend, he saw the string of numbers and thought it was someone’s phone number!