"No... not yet," Don Quixote had spent the afternoon just keeping watch at the door. "I’ll go add the stuffing and baste it now."
"You two go together," Li Wei said, walking out behind Lily while holding a Barbie doll. "I’ll play with Lily."
...
"So," Susan began, asking casually as she brushed butter evenly over the turkey’s skin, "I didn’t get a chance to ask earlier at the door, but what’s going on with Lily? Based on what I know about visitation agreents, today shouldn’t be your day, right?"
"I was going to try and talk it over with her," Don Quixote said, the knife in his hand pausing for a mont. "Catherine is usually pretty strict."
"Actually, it’s worse than that," Li Wei chid in nonchalantly. "Lily was locked in her room from the outside and couldn’t open the door herself. So, with her permission, I got her out of there."
"Locked in her room?" Susan’s hands stilled. She turned around, her brow furrowed deeply. "Locking a ten-year-old child in the house all by herself? That constitutes substantial neglect, maybe even false imprisonnt."
"And on top of demanding 2,000 USD a month in child support," Li Wei added, "she also asked for 5,000 USD for a sumr camp, claiming Lily wanted to do horseback riding."
"Five thousand USD?" Susan’s voice rose again. "A friend of mine sent her kid to a horseback riding camp, and it was only around 3,500 USD. Besides, Don Quixote shouldn’t have to pay for the whole thing, should he?"
"Uncle Don Quixote has to sell blood once a week," Li Wei continued, "and work two jobs from dawn till dusk, just to barely cover that cost. And even after all that, Catherine still refused his request to see Lily today."
"Say no more." Susan’s brows knotted together. She wiped her hands, pulled her phone from her purse, and found a number. "I’m going to introduce you to soone—my divorce lawyer. She’s the one who handles things for every ti I get a divorce. She’s the best in all of New York."
’Li Wei knew just how formidable Susan’s lawyer was. Otherwise, there was no way Susan could have had such an unbroken winning streak, getting a massive settlent with every divorce and amassing an 8-figure net worth in just over ten years.’
"Based on what I know about your situation," Susan said after a mont of thought, "it’ll be difficult to get full custody, since judges usually favor the mother. But, we can use this incident. With pressure from the lawyer, we can absolutely force Catherine to sign a new, more favorable visitation agreent. For example, we can significantly increase your legal ti with Lily, like weekends, half of the winter and sumr breaks, and major holidays like today."
"You should probably call Catherine now," Li Wei reminded him. "Otherwise, she’s going to call the police."
Before the Thanksgiving holiday was even over, Susan’s lawyer used the leverage of "false imprisonnt of a minor on Thanksgiving" to send Catherine a strongly-worded legal letter detailing the severe potential consequences.
As expected from a top lawyer who still charged Don Quixote a 20,000 USD fee even with Susan’s connection, she completely overwheld Catherine’s defense attorney. Faced with the threat of Child Protective Services getting involved and potential criminal charges for "child neglect," Catherine knew she was in the wrong and had no choice but to compromise.
This ti, Don Quixote won. In the presence of a judge, he regained the joint legal custody that had been stripped from him. More importantly, his physical visitation ti was expanded to include every other weekend—Lily could stay at his house for a full weekend every two weeks, in addition to half of her winter and sumr breaks and rotating visitation on major holidays.
After Thanksgiving, the last month of the year arrived in the blink of an eye. It was now December.
Don Quixote took on contracts to do the Christmas decorations for the Bei Ling Ridge Community and another community in Dyker Heights. He was also responsible for so routine projects at an apartnt building in the Bronx, keeping him so busy he was constantly on the move.
As for Li Wei, besides waiting to fly out for the All-Arican All-Star Bowl after Christmas, he didn’t have much to do. His days were spent going on dates with Anya and coasting through his classes.
...
’What’s been going on lately?’
Li Wei shook his head as he watched the downed drug dealer twitching on the ground.
Since December began, the number of drug dealers and holess people on the streets at night had increased in both Brooklyn and the Bronx.
[Task: Alchemy Fanatic Completed]
[The Alchemy Fanatic before you was forcibly capturing nearby farrs to conduct cruel experints for his own purposes. As a righteous Knight, you have punished him. He can no longer force others into his experints.]
[Task Reward: Free Attribute Points 0.1]
Li Wei picked up the drug dealer’s phone and dialed 911, thoughtfully calling him a 6,000 USD ambulance and ergency service. Then, his good deed done, he slipped away from the alley without a trace.
He looked at the system panel that appeared before him:
[Na: Li Wei]
[Age: 17]
[Strength: 2.0]
[Spirit: 1.6]
[Agility: 2.4]
[Constitution: 3.0]
[Free Attribute Points: 0.6]
’I finally have enough!’
Li Wei felt a surge of excitent. After more than a month, he had finally saved up enough points for his next attribute upgrade.
Ever since the test at Yale University, after he had raised his Agility to 2.4, he had 0.3 attribute points left over.
He had gotten 0.1 points when he first drove Uncle Don Quixote, and another 0.1 for rescuing Lily. Now, he had finally collected the last point he needed.
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