Riverdale, the Bronx.
Anya flopped onto her large, pink princess bed. Phone in hand, she tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable position.
Her finger hovered over the phone screen for a long ti. She would open the chat, type sothing, delete it, and repeat the cycle over and over.
[’Congratulations on being #1 in the nation! I knew you could do it.’]
’No, no, that makes sound like so cheap girl who only latches onto people after they beco successful.’
[’Hey! How have you been?’]
’That’s no good either. Would that make him think I don’t pay any attention to him at all?’
The thought sent a gust of wind through Anya’s heart, as chaotic and unsettling as the late autumn gales blowing across the Hudson Bridge outside.
Her long, slender legs kicked unconsciously at the air, wrinkling the pink silk sheets she was tossing and turning on.
"Ugh, this is so annoying," she mumbled, smothering her face with a pillow as if to suffocate herself. "No, wait... what’s the right way to say this?"
After hesitating for a long ti, a brilliant idea suddenly struck her.
She opened Li Wei’s chat window, typed a single "?" and sent it. Then, she quickly closed the chat, unconsciously opened Instagram, and started scrolling endlessly through posts and stories, trying to distract herself.
It was already 3:00 AM. She had assud Li Wei would reply the next morning—or maybe not even reply at all! After all, he had never ssaged her first, so it would be perfectly normal for him to find this strange.
But in the very next second, her phone screen lit up with a faint glow. A new ssage!
Anya tapped on it almost instinctively. Only when she saw the encrypted plug-in for JPMorgan Chase Private Bank did she realize it was a Q3 settlent notice from her offshore trust in Switzerland. Another 2,150,000 USD had been transferred into her JPMorgan Chase territory card account.
"Why is money showing up now of all tis..."
Anya pouted, deflated. This wasn’t the reply she had been hoping for.
A few seconds later, however, the screen lit up again. This ti, she saw it clearly—it was Li Wei’s profile picture!
Li Wei: ?
Li Wei: Wrong person?
Anya bit her lip, grabbed her phone, and her fingers flew across the screen.
Anya: Who said it was a mistake! I just wanted to congratulate you, #1 in the United States of Arica.
Li Wei: Thanks, but it’s just a ranking put together by a few organizations. It’s nothing special.
’He’s so humble!’
Anya: What are you doing this weekend?
Li Wei: The weekend? Nothing planned so far, but I might wander around the city.
Anya read the words "nothing planned" and rejoiced inwardly, but she wasn’t about to give an inch in her ssages.
Anya: What a coincidence. I have sothing very important to do this weekend, so I’m afraid I’ll be very busy.
She felt a pang of regret right after sending it. ’Did that make sound like I was showing off?’ She was just about to retract the ssage when she saw that Li Wei had already read it.
Li Wei: ?
Li Wei: Did you ssage in the middle of the night just to brag about how full your weekend is? If so, then congratulations.
Inside the spacious Riverdale apartnt, Anya was so mad she sat bolt upright in bed, grabbed a stuffed animal, and punched it hard twice.
Anya: What I ant was... if you don’t have anything to do, there’s an art gallery opening in Brooklyn this weekend. I don’t really want to go, but my college admissions advisor recomnded I visit more charity events and art-related exhibitions. You know, and then maybe try to host so myself to pad my resu for a good university application, um...
Li Wei had actually planned on using the weekend to thoroughly explore New York, but then it occurred to him that he’d never been to a place like an art gallery before. Maybe it could unlock new locations and missions.
In truth, the train of thought above was just an excuse Li Wei made for himself. When a girl as beautiful as Anya asked him out, Li Wei couldn’t bring himself to say no. She was, after all, stunningly beautiful.
Li Wei: When?
Anya’s reply ca back almost instantly, telling him to be ready on Saturday afternoon. A driver would co to pick him up.
Li Wei: OK.
After seeing Li Wei’s reply, Anya tossed her phone aside, grabbed a giant stuffed animal next to her, let out a satisfied sigh, and fell into a deep sleep.
...
"You’re saying Mr. Stanford wants to give the job of decorating the community for Halloween?"
When Don Quixote got up the next morning, Li Wei told him about it.
He simply said that he’d run into Mr. Stanford while out for a walk and had a brief chat with him.
"Yeah, I ntioned it to him," Li Wei said with a nod. "I know it’s not your main line of business, but can you handle a job like this? I get the feeling the profit margin is pretty big. Otherwise, the Italians, being the Mafia, wouldn’t be doing it so earnestly."
"’Pretty big profit’?" Don Quixote scoffed. "The profit margin is huge."
"He must be in a hurry, right?" he said. "Halloween is less than a month away."
"Definitely in a hurry," Li Wei said after a mont of thought. "Seeing as he was up in the middle of the night, not sleeping and drinking strong tea, it seems like he was mulling over this exact problem."
"That makes sense. If he sses this job up, he might get voted out of his position as head of the hoowner’s association," Don Quixote said. "A middle-class community like Bei Ling Ridge puts the highest value on keeping up appearances."
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