American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote

Buying Los Angeles was a joke. No one thought you could actually buy the entire city for a hundred million USD.

The NFL SUV cruised smoothly through the night. Outside the window, flashes of deep blue and crimson-gold flags flew by. The fans had yet to disperse; tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

In fact, the celebrations would last for several days beyond the Super Bowl itself.

About twenty minutes later, the SUV pulled up to the entrance of a private estate on the north side of Beverly Hills.

This was one of the Los Angeles properties belonging to Giants owner John Mara: a three-acre, Tuscan-style Italian estate. It was said to have been built by a Hollywood producer in the 1940s before being acquired by the Maras, who now used it exclusively for large-scale events and banquets.

Outside the window, two security guards in suits stood on either side of a cast-iron gate. Two deep blue Giants flags hung from the gateposts, swaying gently in the night breeze.

The driveway extending from the main gate was lined with neatly trimmed ornamental trees. Strip lighting ran along the edges of the drive, stretching out to the road beyond like a golden river.

Before the car had even fully stopped, Li Wei could already see the long line of cars up ahead.

"The whole league is watching this Super Bowl victory party," said Don Quixote. "Team sponsors, league executives, the media... Mara invited at least 400 people."

After getting out of the car, they had to pass through two security checkpoints just to get from the parking area to the main building's entrance. The NFL security team handled one, and John Mara's private detail managed the other.

Once through the main doors, the space opened up dramatically.

The heart of the estate was a vast, open-air garden flanked by buffet tables and bars. Waitstaff weaved through the crowd, carrying trays of champagne.

While it was billed as a victory party, "outdoor banquet" was probably a more accurate term.

The players had already changed into their street clothes and were mingling in small groups with their wives, girlfriends, agents, and families. Some stood by the pool chatting loudly, others were toasting around the bar, and a few had already jumped into the water.

In addition to team personnel, a number of Hollywood faces were also spotted in the garden.

As Li Wei entered the garden, a casual glance revealed several faces he recognized from the movies.

Matt Damon from *The Martian*, Vin Diesel—the "family" man from the *Fast & Furious* franchise—and a few other faces he recognized but couldn't name.

Dwayne Johnson wasn't there, perhaps due to the online rumors about his deep-seated feud with Vin Diesel.

"Wow, they're all celebrities," Jin Heon marveled.

"But in person, they look so..." She glanced at the rather ordinary-looking celebrities, then turned to Li Wei and whispered, "Boss, you should be a movie star. You're way more handsome than they are."

Li Wei glanced at the bald, slightly paunchy Vin Diesel and was just about to say, 'True that,' when Head Coach Dabor and the Giants' director of public relations walked over.

"Kid, congratulations," the PR director said in a low voice. "But before you start celebrating, there's something I need to remind you of—"

He fought back a smile as he pulled a small stack of printed cards from his pocket and handed one to Li Wei:

*Reminder: More than 15 media outlets are in attendance. All players and their guests are asked to be mindful of their conduct to avoid actions that could be taken out of context. Special Note: Consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons under the age of 21 is strictly prohibited.*

"'You're only nineteen,' Dabor said, patting Li Wei's shoulder with a gloating look. 'Sorry, kid. Even though you're the man of the hour, you can't have any of the celebratory booze today.'"

"Drinking juice at the Super Bowl victory party?" Li Wei raised an eyebrow. "I'm the MVP."

"Even the MVP has to obey the law," said the PR director. "TMZ is on the other side of the garden. Have you noticed the cameras beyond the fence?"

"But!" Dabor said, his face flushed, "we've prepared an alternative for you."

With that, he pulled a bottle of LW sports drink from behind his back and shoved it into Li Wei's hand.

"Your own brand," he said with a wink. "Drink this. Mara said he won't charge you for the product placement."

Li Wei let out an exasperated laugh. 'What I need right now is more production capacity, not this tiny bit of publicity.'

When he found a thoroughly bored Kaja and Anya, drink in hand, he noticed that they weren't holding any alcoholic beverages either.

Apparently, by sticking with Li Wei, they too had been put on a drinking ban.

The three of them stood at the Giants' victory party, surrounded by a sea of clinking glasses and flowing wine. Of the hundreds of people there, everyone was holding a drink—except for the three of them.

Li Wei circulated through the garden, chatting with a few teammates, making small talk with a Nike executive, and getting pulled into a ten-minute conversation with a Fox producer about shooting a documentary.

Anya was on his arm, mingling alongside him.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, spent most of her time with Jin Heon, occasionally exchanging business cards with a couple of people who looked like they were from the world of finance.

The recipients were often stunned upon receiving Elizabeth's card, repeatedly asking if her last name was a coincidence or if she was from *the* Mellon family.

About an hour and a half later, Li Wei had made all his obligatory rounds.

Everyone wanted a word with him, eager to show their love and passion for football, and he'd finally managed to get through them all.

"That's about it for me," he said. "I'm ready to go."

As if she'd been waiting for those exact words, Anya immediately seized the opening and nodded.

"Where to?" she asked.

"Let's go to my place. It's plenty spacious," Elizabeth said, walking over. "It's quieter, and we can actually drink there."

Anya thought for a moment. "Okay," she said. "I'll go tell Auntie Kaja."

Li Wei said his goodbyes to Don Quixote, who waved him off, saying that he and Chen Haisheng would stay a while longer and that the "youngsters" could go on ahead.

Jin Heon also stayed behind at the party. She had a few potential future suppliers to network with and would leave later with Don Quixote and Chen Haisheng in the NFL-provided car.

For once, Kaja was merciful and didn't try to shadow Anya's every move.

"Today has been chaotic enough," she said. "I won't intrude on you young folks' fun. Just be safe, take the bodyguards with you when you leave, and let me know where you're going, alright?"

Ultimately, Elizabeth had her Bentley Bentayga and Range Rover SV brought around, and the three of them departed from Beverly Hills.

Late at night, the traffic on the Los Angeles freeway was sparse. It was about a thirty-minute drive from Beverly Hills to Pasadena.

The Bentley drove down a lane lined with old oak trees, stopping before a white, cast-iron gate.

An estate security guard glanced inside the car and waved them through, and the large gates slowly swung open.

As the headlights swept past, a white villa nestled among palm and oak trees was gradually revealed.

Spanish Colonial-style arched colonnades, a terracotta roof, and exterior walls covered in climbing bougainvillea.

Elizabeth pushed open the heavy main door of the house, and motion-activated lights flickered on in the foyer.

Dark oak floors, a cast-iron chandelier, and an imposing, clearly antique oil painting hanging above the fireplace.

"The wine cellar is downstairs," Elizabeth said, kicking off her high heels. She walked barefoot down the hall. "I've got wine, liquor, everything. What do you guys want?"

Back on her home turf, Elizabeth seemed much more at ease. She led Li Wei and Anya to a small sitting room. It wasn't the main hall, but it was just the right size, with a very cozy furniture arrangement.

"The clear stuff," Anya said, slipping off her own shoes as she walked in. "Got any vodka?"

"I'm good with whatever," Li Wei said.

Elizabeth disappeared down the end of the hallway and returned a moment later carrying two bottles and three glasses.

A bottle of Burgundy Pinot Noir and a collector's edition bottle of Tsar vodka.

The house maids discreetly withdrew from the sitting room, closing the door behind them.

Elizabeth opened the bottles and poured each of them a glass.

"To the Super Bowl," she said, raising her glass.

"To the Super Bowl," Anya also raised hers.

"To 134 million," Li Wei said.

"Don't say that," Anya said, giving him a mock-reproachful look. "You'll earn ten, a hundred times that 134 million," she said. "There are plenty of billionaires in the world, but there's only one nineteen-year-old Super Bowl MVP, and that's you."

"True enough," said Li Wei. "To a hundred times 134 million, then."

Anya burst out laughing, then downed the chilled vodka in her glass in one gulp. "Sss," she hissed.

"I was dying having to drink ice water at that party," she said.

Li Wei leaned back on the sofa and looked toward Elizabeth.

"Oh right, Liz," he said. "The Rihanna thing... you arranged that, right?"

Elizabeth swirled the Pinot Noir in her glass and smiled.

"It wasn't a huge deal," she said. "You know how I got that twenty percent stake and an independent board seat after Christmas?"

Li Wei and Anya both nodded.

"I've been spending all my time taking over and managing things," Elizabeth said, setting down her wine and folding her hands in her lap. "The Free Port circle is, at its core, a web of connections—who has storage where, whose goods are moving in or out, whose asset structure needs a reshuffle, things like that."

"Rihanna's management team needed to restructure some of their overseas music royalty assets through the Free Port system. It's a pretty common move in the industry. They needed a reliable holding and a trustworthy custodian, and they happened to come to me," Elizabeth said with a smile. "So I did them a small favor and, in return, made one tiny request: that she give Li Wei a shout-out during the halftime show."

She spoke of it nonchalantly, but both Li Wei and Anya knew that getting a global superstar to break the long-standing tradition of guest neutrality on a stage as massive as the Super Bowl halftime show was far from a "small favor."

"Thanks, Liz," said Li Wei. "That was a hell of a surprise."

"You've helped me more," Elizabeth replied quickly, raising her glass to cover her expression. "But let's not talk about that. Today is your big day."

The three of them chatted for a while longer, their conversation drifting from the game to the beverage sales, and then to their plans for the upcoming six-month offseason.

Anya mentioned she might go to New York to handle things for the early spring haute couture collection. Elizabeth said she needed to fly to Geneva again to study their Free Port operations. And Li Wei said he needed to negotiate an expansion of his beverage production capacity.

Soon, the bottle of vodka was finished, and more than half of the Pinot Noir was gone.

Li Wei stood up.

"I'm going to use the restroom," he said.

"End of the hall and to the right," Elizabeth said. "Second door."

After Li Wei left, the two women fell into silence.

Elizabeth glanced at the nearly empty bottle of Pinot Noir and the drained vodka bottle.

"We're out of alcohol," she said, wobbling to her feet. "I'll go get... two more bottles."