Chapter 424 - 272: What Do You Think of Liz?
The world’s first unboxing video was posted by the same TikTok influencer who was the first person in the world to buy the sports water bottle.
The video looked basically unedited—a simple one-shot take.
"Okay, world’s first unboxing!" she said to the camera, brimming with pride as she tore open the packaging. "You have no idea how nervous I was walking out of the store with this box."
"OMG, this is insane," she muttered, opening the box’s calfskin lining. "This is LV’s signature lining... nowadays they’re all using their own eco-friendly materials, so you see less and less leather... Anyway, the moment I stepped outside, everyone was asking if I wanted to resell it."
"The offers started at 5,000 USD," she said, showing the water bottle to the camera. "So exquisite, right? I bet you this is going to be a global sensation."
"But back to the scene outside, people were shouting all kinds of offers," she said, shaking her head. "5,000, 10,000, 15,000... Someone at the end even yelled 20,000 USD?! That’s crazy, 20,000 USD for a sports water bottle."
"But I still refused," she said, smugly placing the water bottle and its box on the table and snapping endless photos with her phone while posing for the camera. "Because I’m a fan of Li Wei, and this is his first-ever solo collaboration. No matter what, I have to support him with everything I’ve got!"
Besides the unboxing video, on the secondary market site StockX, the asking price for this simple sports water bottle skyrocketed from 2,999 USD all the way up to 12,000 USD. It was nothing short of a frenzy.
Although there were many potential buyers, there were almost no listings.
After all, only 80 were released, and more than half of them had been pre-ordered by celebrities and the wealthy, leaving very few for ordinary people.
And Zac was one of these one-in-a-million lucky few.
He was also a fan of Li Wei, as well as a local luxury goods reseller based in New York.
After seeing the confirmed release date, Zac had grabbed his tent and sleeping bag and rushed to the LV flagship store on Fifth Avenue almost immediately.
He was fast, but others were faster.
Zac didn’t make it into the top three, barely managing to get in line behind a few resellers who lived closer.
He personally witnessed the veteran reseller at the very front of the line sell his number-one spot to the TikTok influencer and her assistant for 5,000 USD because he thought it was too cold.
’How stupid,’ Zac thought. ’He completely underestimates Li Wei’s star power.’
When the doors finally opened, he was lucky enough to snag one of the water bottles and successfully drove back home.
But by noon, he found himself in a difficult position as he stared at the water bottle.
He hadn’t originally planned on selling it, but after seeing the insane prices on the secondary market, he was tempted.
It couldn’t be helped. A ten-thousand-dollar profit margin was enough to override anyone’s devotion.
But Zac was still conflicted, so he listed it at what he considered a "hands-off" price—one he thought no one would ever actually pay.
It was 12:47 PM, so he listed it for 47,000 USD.
As the only one of these rare items for sale on the secondary market, Zac’s listing immediately attracted a crowd of onlookers and commenters. Most of them said he was crazy for money or jeered that it would end up rotting in his hands.
But the result was, less than 30 minutes after he listed it, just as he was about to get some lunch, a notification popped up on his phone—
"Your item has been purchased. Please ship within 48 hours."
Wardafa? Zac froze on the spot. Who would spend 47,000 USD on a water bottle?
His first reaction was that it had to be a scammer or some new kind of trick, like a common ploy involving a stolen credit card where the payment would be reversed after the fact.
But then the buyer sent him a direct message: "Are you in New York? I’ll have my driver pick it up directly."
This statement made Zac hesitate. He ultimately decided to trust the mysterious buyer and waited at the entrance of his apartment building.
A little over half an hour later, a Bentley pulled up to the entrance of Zac’s apartment building, and a middle-aged man in a suit stepped out.
"Hello," he said with a slight nod, making no move to shake Zac’s hand. "I’m here for the pickup."
"Here..." Zac handed the leather and metal case to the middle-aged man, then hesitated before speaking. "Can you tell me who the buyer is?"
"My apologies," the middle-aged man said with a smile. "I’m not at liberty to disclose personal information."
Then he left, leaving Zac to stare blankly at the 41,360 USD that had appeared in his bank account.
The platform took an 8% seller’s commission and a 3% payment processing fee.
’Wait a minute...’ Zac suddenly realized. ’47,000... my marginal tax rate is 37%, state tax is 10.9%, city tax is 3.9%, plus around 7.6% for self-employment tax, and the platform’s 11% tax withholding... ’
He whipped out his phone and did a quick calculation, realizing he had to pay a whopping 70% in fucking taxes?!
Fuck!
Out of 47,000 USD, after filing with the Internal Revenue Service next year, he’d only be left with 13,912 USD?!
He had just been about to ask the middle-aged man if they could switch to an offline cash transaction so he could cancel the order.
But when he looked up, the Bentley was already gone, and he hadn’t even memorized the license plate number.
Meanwhile, by the market close that afternoon, Pepsi-Cola’s stock price had fallen another 1.28%, wiping out another 2.2 billion USD in market value. Combined with the previous loss of 6.9 billion, the cumulative loss had reached 9.1 billion USD.
The tune from Wall Street analysts changed once again, now filled with uncertainty about Gatorade’s future prospects:
"Our team of analysts at Goldman Sachs, based on Li Wei’s latest collaboration release and combined with previous confirmed reports, can essentially draw a firm conclusion—Li Wei is planning to launch his own exclusive sports drink brand, and his ability to monetize his brand has been validated by this collaboration."
"This is not good news for their direct competitor, Gatorade, especially given that they are currently mired in negative press."
"Furthermore, this collaboration was a complete surprise to our team. Why a globally renowned luxury brand would partner with an athlete who only debuted a year ago is something we did not foresee. Li Wei’s personal network needs to be re-evaluated, and his commercial influence and future net worth projections need to be recalculated."
On the competitor’s side, Pepsi’s CEO, Laguta, also convened an emergency executive meeting that evening.
It was said that during the meeting, he spent over half an hour yelling in the face of a certain executive, but no matter how reporters questioned their sources, they couldn’t get any concrete details.
What was certain was that by the end of the meeting, the CEO had demanded that everyone present him with a plan, emphasizing that it was an order, not a request.
The chaotic day came to an end. The sun set, indifferent to anyone’s will, and night fell.
Inside a private French kitchen in Midtown Manhattan, Li Wei and Anya sat facing each other.
It was an unnamed, 60-year-old establishment tucked away in an obscure location that only served regulars, so it wasn’t widely known.
Anya was the one who had discovered it; she had taken a liking to this restaurant recently.
"You’re free today?" Anya asked as she cut her foie gras, looking at Li Wei across the table. She was clearly in a good mood. "I thought you’d be busy."
"Nothing to be busy with," Li Wei shrugged. "It’s Jin Heon and Uncle Don Quixote who are busy. I’m actually quite free."
"You have it pretty easy for a boss." Anya let out a small laugh.
Li Wei just smiled without a word, instead retrieving a leather box from his seat—one that featured LV’s iconic trunk design and rounded metal corners—and handed it over.
"Here, I saved this for you," Li Wei said with a smile. "001/100, the very first one."
Anya raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Don’t play dumb. You know what it is."
"I want you to say it," Anya said, looking into Li Wei’s eyes and feigning a pout. "Say, ’This is a special gift from Li Wei to Anya. It’s the most precious thing in the world.’"
"This is a gift from Li Wei to Anya," Li Wei repeated helplessly. "It’s the most precious sports water bottle in the world."
"That’s more like it," Anya said, satisfied, as she took the box and wiped her hands. "Let me see."
Li Wei leaned back in his chair, watching her open the box.
"Hmm..." Anya’s eyes widened slightly. "It’s a little tacky..."
Despite her verbal disdain, as she spoke she firmly placed the water bottle in the exact center of her placemat and took out her phone.
First, she took a selfie with the water bottle, then a square-cropped shot, then she changed the angle, then she had the waiter assigned to their table adjust the restaurant’s lighting, and then she switched through several different portrait modes.
Li Wei had nearly finished the M9+ steak in front of him, and the foie gras in front of Anya had gone cold, but she still wasn’t done taking pictures.
A few minutes later, Anya handed her phone to Li Wei.
"A little closer," she directed, maneuvering Li Wei’s hand. "A little higher... Don’t let the wide-angle stretch my face!"
She directed Li Wei as he took a dozen or so photos, changing the angle several times before she was finally satisfied.
Li Wei noticed that in Anya’s photo editing app, she had deliberately placed the water bottle he gave her in the "center position," with their faces acting as its left and right Protectors.
She closed her phone, satisfied. The lock screen that flashed for a moment was a photo of her and Li Wei together.
Li Wei didn’t say anything, just smiled.
"What are you smiling at?" Anya asked, putting down her phone and asking the waiter for a fresh plate of foie gras.
"Nothing," Li Wei paused. "Does it look good?"
"It’s alright," Anya said without batting an eye. "Next time you do a collaboration, find a more famous designer."
"By the way," Li Wei said, "I’ve given a few away, but I still have four or five left. If any of your friends want one, they can just go to my place and get it."
"Does Liz have one?"
"Yes, and Lily and Jin Heon too," Li Wei said with a blink. "I also gave one to Brother Haisheng for his childhood sweetheart."
Anya nodded without a word and went back to editing her photos.
One of the downsides of French cuisine is that meals take a very long time. By the time they finished dinner, it was already past 10 PM. Li Wei drove Anya back to Riverdale in his Cullinan.
"What do you think of Liz?" Anya asked suddenly, as she was about to head upstairs.
"I think she’s a nice person," Li Wei replied, his mind racing. "Why the sudden question?"
"No reason." Anya shook her head and got out of the car with the gift box in her arms.
’Huh?’ Confused, Li Wei slowly started the car and headed toward Fortress City Apartments.