He imdiately scrambled out of his swivel chair and rushed to the window. One look, and his blood pressure nearly shot through the roof.
His black rcedes-Benz E-Class, bought with maintenance funds, was now slumped to one side—all four tires were gone, leaving only four pathetic brake discs resting on the pavent.
Huge, crooked pink words had been spray-painted across the car’s body:
"Blood Cock Sucker!"
And the BMW next to it, the White Agent’s car, was in an even more wretched state.
The windshield was shattered into a dense spiderweb, and a giant, mocking phallus was drawn on the hood in green spray paint.
"FACK!!!" White let out a shrill, off-key scream and, like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on, knocked his desk aside and rushed to the window.
Down below, two burly guys in baggy hoodies were putting on the finishing touches.
Travis swung a baseball bat he’d gotten from who-knows-where, landing a perfect hit right on the BMW’s side-view mirror.
"Hey! What do you think you’re doing!" Principal Herman shoved open the window. In his agitation, his fat neck got caught on the fra for a mont, making his voice co out high and thin. "Police! Security! Get them!"
He squinted. Although Craig was wearing a ski mask, his exposed dark skin and shoulders, twice as broad as a normal person’s, gave him away.
"Omarie Craig!" He felt like he was going mad with rage. "Don’t think I don’t recognize you! Don’t you run!"
After roaring at the top of his lungs, Principal Herman felt a sudden lack of oxygen. His vision swam with stars, and his corpulent body collapsed to the floor.
Li Wei also walked over to the window. Looking at the pink artistic lettering, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
’That idiot. Didn’t I tell him to et at the stadium?’
’How did he interpret my instructions?’
"Li Wei! Aren’t those your teammates! Did you put them up to this?" The White Agent was trembling with anger. He pointed downstairs, then at the contract on the desk. "You’re condoning a cri!"
"Mr. White, I have no idea what you’re talking about," Li Wei shrugged. "Besides, I don’t see any evidence that those are my teammates. Finally, if I were you, I’d be more concerned about whether the dashcam was smashed, not standing here discussing such pointless questions with ."
Li Wei pointed downstairs, where Travis was trying to pour a load of leftovers he’d dug out of a trash can into the cracks of the BMW’s shattered window.
"FACK!"
White could no longer care about any five-star player or a business deal worth hundreds of thousands of USD. He snatched his car keys and bolted out of the office like a madman.
"Principal Herman," Li Wei said, looking at the man who was on the verge of fainting. He stood up and politely adjusted his collar. "It seems our conversation will have to end here for today."
With that, under the helpless gaze of Secretary Laura, Li Wei strolled leisurely out of the office.
He deliberately walked a little slower on his way downstairs.
By the ti he walked out the main entrance of the school building, Travis and Craig had vanished. All that remained at the scene were two wretched-looking luxury cars and the White Agent, who was so heartbroken he could barely breathe.
"One of your teammates is nad Omarie Craig, right?" he said, turning back and speaking viciously. "I’ll make him pay. He’d better pray he has enough connections in juvenile hall."
However, perhaps neither luck nor skin color was on the White Agent’s side.
In the afternoon, after two shabby tow trucks had hauled the rcedes and the BMW away, a police car pulled in.
The White Agent was in the office, roaring hysterically. "Evidence! What more evidence do you need! Herman, you told the police with your own mouth that you recognized that kid Craig! His build, his height, his skin color—is there another Black guy with that kind of physique in all of Franklin High School?"
"Mr. White, please calm down," the Black police officer sitting behind the desk said, closing his notebook with a sigh. "Principal Herman did provide a statent, but the problem is, your school’s surveillance system was ’offline’ at the ti of the incident. And the suspect wore a ski mask the entire ti. Legally speaking, ’a large build’ and ’dark skin’ cannot be the sole criteria for identifying a suspect, especially when this school has dozens of football players."
Principal Herman’s expression was absolutely foul. He knew, of course, why the surveillance caras hadn’t recorded anything.
But considering the White Agent’s current state of extre agitation, he kept his mouth shut.
Outside the door, Li Wei and Craig were standing in a corner.
Craig had taken off the baggy hoodie and changed into a statent T-shirt printed with the slogan, "Oppose Prejudice! Black Lives Matter." He was also holding a copy of the *Fourteenth Andnt to the United States Constitution*.
"Look serious!" Li Wei said. "No smiling!"
Craig, who had been grinning happily from ear to ear, rubbed his face after hearing Li Wei’s words and put on a solemn expression.
"Rember what I told you?" Li Wei patted his shoulder. "Your brain works a lot better than Travis’s. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ve observed him, and the cop who ca this ti is also Black."
Craig nodded seriously. "No evidence, oppression of Black people by white people, insulting accusations, the school emphasizes diversity, and the principal is leading the charge on a presumption of guilt based on skin color."
"Very good," Li Wei said. "Go on!"
Craig took a deep breath and walked into the office.
...
「Three days later.」
An open letter of apology, personally signed by Principal Herman, was posted on the school’s bulletin board, completely clearing Craig of suspicion.
Later, according to what Craig told Li Wei and Travis, when the damages were assessed, the repair costs for Principal Herman’s rcedes were between 8,000 and 12,000 USD. Furthermore, for making inappropriate and potentially racist remarks, he was forced to waive Craig’s lunch and miscellaneous fees for the sester.
The White Agent had it even worse. His BMW’s windshield and side-view mirrors were a total loss, and the interior, filled with leftovers, required a cleaning so extensive it was practically a write-off.
In addition to the repair costs, he was also forced to pay 5,000 USD in ’compensation for emotional distress.’
"Hey! Unfair!" Travis cried out when he heard. "I was part of it too, why don’t I get any compensation money!"
"Because you’re not Brother Ni~" Craig said. "Brother Ni’s life matters too~"
Still, he later generously gave Travis 100 USD as a reward for bringing him along to smash the cars.
Otherwise, as a cautious, Catholic, model Black student, he would never have done such a thing.
Although the incident was never formally filed as a case and no news of it spread, the White Agent’s fate had a profound impact on other agents with ill intentions. The contract to buy out 70% of Li Wei’s earnings for 100,000 USD had already been completely destroyed by a paper shredder.
A few more uneventful days passed quickly.
On Friday night, Li Wei suddenly realized that tomorrow was the day he was supposed to go to that art gallery opening with Anya.
At that mont, Don Quixote was rattling on to him about how he’d found out the industry-standard kickback percentage from soone in another neighborhood, and was explaining his plan.
"Next week, after the decorations from Yi... wu! Is that it? After the ones from Yiwu arrive," he said, "I’ll team up with Susan’s asset managent company—mainly to borrow her company’s construction license—and have Jose and his guys do the installation. I’ve done a rough calculation. After everything, I should be able to make about 40,000 USD."
He noticed Li Wei’s distracted look and suddenly asked, "Kid, why do you look so out of it? What are you thinking about? A woman?"
"Uh, sort of, I guess," Li Wei nodded. "A girl I t a while ago."
The mont he heard the word "girl," alarm bells went off in Don Quixote’s head.
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