American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote

"No, you don’t have to!"

Jin Heon was startled and instinctively refused Li Wei.

She glanced at the 39.2 on the thermometer gun, hesitated, and then said, "Uh... I just took my temperature. It’s 38.5. It’s already coming down."

Li Wei could hear the hesitation in her voice. Her actual temperature was definitely higher than 38.5.

"Jin Heon, I’m now officially ordering you as your boss," he said. "Take three days off. Just rest and don’t worry about work."

"Also, since you handled that matter so brilliantly," he paused, "I just sent you a bonus of 100,000."

"What?!"

Jin Heon shot up in bed, but the sudden movement made her vision go black, and she collapsed back down. She gripped the headboard for several seconds to steady herself before stammering:

"One hundred thousand? Isn’t that... a little too much?"

"You’ve earned it," Li Wei said gently. "Get some rest. I need you back in good shape to keep working for me."

It felt different from a raise. A bonus seemed to have a more personal touch, representing Li Wei’s approval of her as Jin Heon, the person, not just Jin, the PR specialist. This subtle distinction actually made her feel a little bashful.

’Refusing again would be putting on an act.’

Jin Heon let out a chuckle, which was immediately followed by a wave of dizziness. She felt like she couldn’t even hold her head up.

"...Thank you, Boss," she said, struggling to stay coherent. "Should I hang up now?"

"Mhm."

"Goodbye, Boss."

After she hung up, she flopped onto the bed, feeling like she was about to pass out.

After a few dazed seconds, she opened her banking app. She looked at her six-figure USD balance, which was now close to starting with a three, and the fresh deposit of 100,000 USD.

’Is it gratitude?’ she wondered, trying to make sense of her feelings for Li Wei. ’It feels like that, but not entirely.’

She wanted to take a screenshot to commemorate the moment, but she found her body aching and her limbs weak. She didn’t even have the strength to take the screenshot before her vision went black and she slipped back into a feverish delirium.

...

Li Wei had given her three days off, but by the next day, Jin Heon’s fever had broken, and she was already sitting in front of her makeup mirror.

She still felt a little weak, but the idea of "doing nothing" was more of a burden than a relief. She found that whenever she was idle, she would start to feel anxious.

So, she got up, applied some light makeup to hide her pale complexion, and drove her 911 slowly to Li Wei’s Horizon Holding Company Limited.

As she pushed open the door, Li Wei was at his desk, his fingers clattering away on the keyboard.

"Bo— *COUGH COUGH COUGH* —ss!"

Jin Heon jumped at the sound of her own voice. ’Why can’t I affect my usual tone today?’

After clearing her throat for a moment, she managed to find her usual voice.

Li Wei glanced up at her, his brow furrowed.

"Why are you here?" he asked, clearly displeased. "Are you all better?"

"My fever broke!" Jin Heon said, puffing out her chest. "I was bored staying in my dorm all by myself. My roommate is never there these days, so I figured I might as well come here."

Li Wei could clearly hear the nasal congestion in her voice. He was about to ask why she didn’t go home, but then he remembered that in all this time, Jin Heon had never once mentioned her family, so he held his tongue.

Besides, his [Knight’s Aura: First Sequence (Silver)] could slowly restore the condition of allied units; he’d tested it on Chen Haisheng before.

For minor aches and illnesses in ordinary people, the aura’s healing effect should be much faster than normal recovery.

’Letting her stay here for a while is better than her toughing it out alone in her dorm, anyway.’

"All right, then," Li Wei said. "Since you’re here, there’s something I was planning to discuss once you’d recovered. We can just talk about it today."

Jin Heon stood opposite him, looking perfectly obedient.

"Have a seat." Li Wei gestured to the sofa across from him.

Jin Heon murmured her assent and sat down opposite Li Wei.

What she found strange was that, being less than two meters away from Li Wei, her spirits seemed to gradually lift. Even the pain from the friction of her clothes against her skin didn’t hurt as much anymore.

’Oh my god,’ she thought anxiously. ’I’m not falling in love with my boss, am I? Is this the Power of love?’

She’d never felt anything like this and assumed it was the so-called "power of love" making her forget her pain.

Li Wei, of course, was oblivious to her thoughts. He just stared at Jin Heon for a few seconds, looking like he wanted to say something but was hesitating.

"Um..." Li Wei paused. "I’ve discussed this with Uncle Don Quixote."

Jin Heon’s heart leaped into her throat.

"Effective immediately," Li Wei continued, "I want you to shift your focus away from PR. Let’s stop pursuing endorsements and commercial contracts after the LV deal. Of course, you’ll continue to receive your 10% commission."

Jin Heon felt as if her brain was filled with a dial tone.

She froze on the sofa, her lips trembling slightly. Within two seconds, her eyes had turned red.

’It’s over. Is he firing me?’

’Is it because I’m sick? Or because I seemed greedy when I refused the raise? Or does he think we’re getting too close?’

"I want to offer you a new position," Li Wei continued. "I’ve discussed it with him. I’d like to invite you to be the Chief Operating Officer—the COO—of my sports drink brand, LW."

Huh?

Jin Heon’s mouth fell slightly open, her eyes widening.

"In addition to a corresponding salary adjustment," Li Wei continued, "I’m going to give you 1% of the company’s stock. Uncle Don Quixote will have a lawyer draft the specific equity agreement. It’ll have a four-year vesting period, which means you’ll be working for me for the next four years."

Huh??

"Considering your future workload," Li Wei said, making sure Jin Heon heard every word clearly, "I’m giving you a headcount of ten to start building your own team. I also looked into the office space next door; it’s available and we can lease it anytime. So, your mission now is to run this startup."

Huh???

"And one last thing," Li Wei added with a smile. "I trust you don’t think I’m a stingy boss. So, if LW’s valuation reaches over 5 billion USD, I’ll grant you an additional 1% in founder’s stock."

Huh????

Jin Heon opened her mouth, about to say something, but all that came out was a single, dazed, "Huh?"

Seeing Jin Heon’s stunned expression, Li Wei couldn’t help but feel a little pleased.

After all, who wouldn’t be pleased with a female employee who was so beautiful she could have debuted as an idol on her looks alone, and was also hardworking and a smooth talker?

Besides, judging by her performance, she had already proven her worth from the moment she dared to step up and block that NFL drug test (Chapter 231).

"What’s the matter?" Li Wei chuckled. "You think it’s too low?"

"No, no, no..." Jin Heon said instinctively. "I was just thinking... 2% of a 5 billion USD valuation... how much is that?"

’100 million USD... how many zeros is that again?’

And even if they didn’t hit 5 billion USD, based on their current operations and market expectations, LW’s valuation was already at least 300 to 500 million USD.

In other words, Li Wei had just given her stock worth several million USD.

"I..." Jin Heon hesitated. "I’m a little scared, Boss. Can I really do this?"

"Go for it," Li Wei said, patting her on the shoulder. "I believe in you."

On the one hand, Li Wei had seen Jin Heon’s work ethic. On the other, he had complete confidence in his sports drink.

Besides, he wasn’t particularly interested in managing the company’s day-to-day operations himself.

His ultimate goal had always been simply to improve his stats.

But he couldn’t explain any of this to Jin Heon. So, from her perspective, it was simply a profound display of Li Wei’s trust in her.

Time slipped by, and soon it was January 29th.

「9:50 AM, New York Time.」

A long line snaked outside the LV flagship store on Fifth Avenue. The surrounding red velvet ropes were nearly overwhelmed by the crush of onlookers.

People had started lining up at 6:00 PM the previous evening, wrapped in down jackets and carrying canvas folding chairs. By 10:00 PM, the line already stretched around a second corner.

The crowd was a mix of professional resellers, fashion bloggers, and curious middle-class housewives hoping to get lucky. There were also international students and local personal shoppers.

Today marked the first drop of the three-way collaboration between Li Wei’s LW, LV, and Julian de Lacroix: the top-of-the-line version of the sports water bottle, featuring a colorful interlocking LW and LV logo print.

Although it was a limited edition of 100, only 80 were being released to the public in the US. The remaining 20 were kept for Li Wei and internal LV use.

Of those 80 units, the flagship stores in New York, Los Angeles’s Beverly Hills, and the Miami Design District each received an allotment of ten. The remaining flagship stores, spread across more than twenty other cities, were allocated only one or two units each.

Despite this, not a single person in the crowd at the Fifth Avenue LV store was willing to leave. Even though the "stupid water bottle" cost a staggering 2,999 USD, everyone knew its price would gain an extra digit the moment it left the store.

At 10:00 AM sharp, the doors of the LV flagship store slowly swung open.

The young woman at the very front of the line, wrapped in a Canada Goose jacket and wearing Saint Laurent sunglasses, trembled as she walked into the flagship store after having her identity verified by a doorman.

Even though she was a nationally known fashion blogger with over three million followers on TikTok, she had been forced to start queuing at 1:00 PM herself to ride the wave of Li Wei’s popularity. She had even paid a hefty 5,000 USD to buy the spot at the front of the line, all to be the very first person to get her hands on the water bottle.

Her assistant followed behind, live-streaming the event while squealing into the phone:

"You guys! You guys, do you see this? We’re the first ones inside! We’re the first people in the entire country to get the collab piece!"

The live chat exploded:

"YASSS QUEEN!"

"I’ll give you 8,000 USD for it!"

"I’ll pay 10k! I’ll even take it used from you, sis!"

...

「Meanwhile, in Los Angeles.」

It wasn’t even 7:00 AM on the West Coast yet, but the LV flagship on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills also had a massive line. It was, however, at least half the size of the one in New York.

It wasn’t because people in Los Angeles lacked vanity. On the contrary, this was one of the most dramatic and vain places in America—if not the entire world.

But the resellers knew perfectly well that the vast majority of the stock at the Los Angeles store would be claimed by major celebrities before it even went on sale.

For instance, they could only watch helplessly as a tall, blonde woman in her thirties walked out the back door carrying two gift boxes and climbed into a black Maybach—it was Taylor Swift’s assistant.

A few minutes later, Rihanna’s assistant emerged with a gift box as well.

And all of this was just a preview of the storm to come.

By that afternoon, angel investors and financial analysts were just beginning to get a vague sense of the true scale of Li Wei’s commercial influence.

A single, routine collaboration between Li Wei and LV (the designer, Lacroix, was so unknown they automatically ignored him) had managed to set the entire North American internet ablaze.