"You... This is robbery!"
As Li Wei drew closer, he saw a middle-aged man with a paunchy, out-of-shape build and square, black-rimmed glasses, vehemently protesting to Leon in Mandarin.
"Mr. Wang Qiang, please calm down," Leon said unhurriedly as he filed his nails. "A newer model of these headphones has been out for a long time. This pair has absolutely no resale value."
"But... it's a collector's edition!" Wang Qiang was red in the face with anger, but he was helpless. "I-I-I... I'm not selling it."
"Suit yourself. Be my guest."
Leon waved a dismissive hand at Wang Qiang, showing him the door.
Wang Qiang stuffed the headphones from the counter into his coat and turned to leave.
"Are you from the Celestial Dynasty?" he asked, turning his head back. After seeing Li Wei nod, he added in a low voice, "Don't sell your things here. He's a crooked merchant."
Li Wei stepped aside to let him pass, smiling without a word.
After Wang Qiang was gone, Li Wei stepped up to the counter, took four Gold Coins from his pocket, and laid them out in a neat row.
"I have four more Gold Coins, also pure gold," Li Wei said, activating [Clumsy Eloquence]. "Can we maybe raise the price a bit this time?"
His Spiritual Power was much higher than last time when it was at 1.0, and the skill had leveled up twice. Li Wei had a hunch he could get a better price this time.
Leon just stared at the Gold Coins Li Wei had produced, saying nothing and giving no reaction.
Just as Li Wei was starting to wonder if the skill hadn't worked, the familiar DING finally sounded in his mind.
Only then did Leon speak, slowly. "You're right. The collector's value on these is very high. The buyback price should be higher."
"Last time, the buyback price was 500 USD per coin," Li Wei said with a slight smile. "What's the highest you can offer this time?"
...
When Li Wei emerged from the pawn shop, thoroughly satisfied, he happened to spot Wang Qiang squatting by the roadside, smoking with a gloomy look on his face.
"Hey, kid," Wang Qiang said, seeing Li Wei come out after only a few minutes. He patted the dust off his pants, stood up, and spoke in the earnest tone of a lecturing elder, "I told you, that old man from France loves to cheat us Chinese folk. Why did you still go in there to sell your stuff?"
"It went okay," Li Wei replied, not mentioning that he had just sold four Gold Coins worth 1,600 USD for 3,000 USD. "I only come by every now and then."
"Ah, you young people..." Wang Qiang said with a sigh. He took in Li Wei's simple clothes and pushed his glasses up his nose. "You look new around here. Haven't been here long, have you? Here to study?"
Li Wei nodded, not saying anything more.
'As the saying goes, when folks from back home meet, one of them ends up with a knife in the back.' He had no intention of revealing any personal information just yet.
"My son is about your age. He's at Franklin High School, but he only just got here, so his English is pretty bad. He has to take extra language classes. Luckily, my wife's English is decent," Wang Qiang said. "Anyway, you don't seem like a bad kid. Where do you live? If you're studying nearby, maybe you and my Haoran could look out for each other."
"I live over by Sunset Park," Li Wei said, giving a general area. "I live with my relatives."
Wang Qiang paused. He sized Li Wei up again through his thick lenses, and the indignation he'd felt toward the crooked merchant instantly vanished, replaced by a sense of superiority mixed with pity.
He visibly straightened his back, puffing out his chest a little.
"Oh, dear. Sunset Park... that area is so filthy and chaotic. How can anyone live there?" Wang Qiang tutted. "It's nothing like the apartment we're renting in Flushing. It's a bit pricey, sure—3,000 USD a month—but at least it has windows and gets plenty of light. A person won't get sick living in a place like that."
"Still, the United States of America is a great country. A melting pot of cultures, equality for all, opportunities everywhere," he mused, completely forgetting that he'd been trying to hawk a used headset when Li Wei first saw him. "And you make money so fast here! Back home, I worked in civil engineering, killing myself for maybe eight thousand yuan a month. Here, I work for a Chinese Foreman and make over a hundred USD a day! That's almost 1,500 yuan a day back in the old country."
"Indeed," Li Wei said, subtly taking a step back to politely create some distance. "I have to get to my part-time job this afternoon, so I'll let you go."
The smile on Wang Qiang's face stiffened for a moment. But he quickly found a way to save face, waving his hand dismissively. "It's nothing to have a rough start. Young people these days just haven't endured enough hardship. Well, you take care. I have to get to work, too."
With that, he climbed into a used Ford Raptor that was about as beat-up as Don Quixote's Toyota and drove off, seemingly having extracted a great deal of emotional validation from Li Wei.
Watching Wang Qiang's retreating figure, Li Wei shrugged. He could tell the man didn't have any real malice; he was just using Li Wei to gain a sliver of pathetic superiority and psychological comfort.
...
3 AM. The sounds of sirens and gunshots still echoed across the Brooklyn sky.
Huddled in his small partitioned room, Li Wei carefully counted his cash, his pen scratching ceaselessly in a notebook as he tallied his accounts.
Now that his Spiritual Power had leveled up, he needed far less sleep than before. Even if he went to bed at 3 AM, he would still wake up at 8 AM feeling refreshed and full of energy.
His part-time job at the Dolores boutique was his only steady income. After deducting recent expenses for transportation, groceries, and his gym pass, his cash on hand now totaled just over 4,000 US Dollars. He had previously earned 3,500 US Dollars from selling five Gold Coins for Don Quixote, but that money had been spent.
If he included the 6,000 in his bank account, his total assets had finally broken the 10,000 US Dollar mark.
However, if he wanted to rent an apartment in a slightly safer area and escape his basement-dwelling situation, this amount of money was still not quite enough—in fact, it was far from it.
In the safer neighborhoods of Brooklyn that would allow him to escape his current semi-bankrupt, semi-homeless existence, places like Bell Ridge or Bensonhurst, rent for a 2B2B (two-bedroom, two-bathroom) apartment was typically over 3,200 USD a month.
On top of rent, there were broker's fees, electricity, gas, internet, and other miscellaneous expenses. Even if Li Wei covered the rent and Don Quixote paid for everything else, they would probably still struggle to make ends meet.
Moreover, to rent an apartment in the United States of America, many landlords require a credit score from a bank or credit card company. For someone like Don Quixote, who was practically off-the-books and frequently missed payments, his score was definitely not going to be high enough.
To get around the credit score requirement, their only option was to offer more money upfront. With a three-month security deposit, the first month's rent, and a broker's fee equal to half a month's rent, Li Wei would need to have at least 20,000 USD ready just to begin thinking about moving out.
Just as he was wondering if he could wash his clothes at the gym to save the 3 USD daily fee for the laundromat, Li Wei heard Don Quixote's snoring abruptly stop.
It was time for the Lonely Knight to ride out again.
He still had 17 Gold Coins to claim from his Knight's Path missions. If he could complete this quest, he'd have enough money to move out!
Stepping out of his partitioned room, Li Wei saw him: Don Quixote, standing with his eyes closed, already clad in his armor.
The moment he saw Li Wei, he boomed, "Attendant Li Wei! Follow me to battle! We ride to vanquish the Witch!"