"What do you mean, *her* doorstep!" Don Quixote’s angry voice erupted. "I’m the one who bought that house! I—"

Li Wei immediately hit mute and gave Catherine a smile.

"See, this should be enough to prove who I am, right?" he said. "After all, Uncle Don Quixote hasn’t seen Lily in a very long time. Even though they’re divorced, he still has visitation rights for the holidays, doesn’t he?"

"I’m not stopping him from visiting," Catherine said coolly, crossing her arms. "It’s just that he could easily come up with 2,000 USD a month for child support when his income was low. Now that he has a stable job and a better life, I have the right to request an increase in those payments according to New York law."

Li Wei frowned. ’Easily 2,000 USD a month? Is this woman serious?’

To scrape together that 2,000 USD, Don Quixote had been living in a basement, working two jobs, and even resorting to selling blood and collecting recyclables. He relied on food banks to eat. Most people wouldn’t have lasted more than a year or two, but he had endured it for over a decade, all for the chance to see his daughter.

"Ms. Catherine," Li Wei sighed. "You probably don’t realize what Uncle Don Quixote had to go through to scrape together that 2,000 USD."

"Then how did he come up with 5,000 USD for that training camp?" Catherine’s voice rose an octave. "Don’t tell me that after scraping together 2,000, he could just easily come up with another 5,000?"

"I lent him more than half of that 5,000," Li Wei said, struggling to maintain his politeness. "He’s really had a tough time. He just managed to get back on his feet, and all he wants is to see his daughter today..."

Catherine gave her signature right-eyebrow raise, her expression a mixture of languid and dismissive.

If Don Quixote were here, he would have known she was cooking up some malicious idea.

"Ohhh," she drawled. "Fine. I’ll call her down. Lily!"

A moment later, a timid, frail little girl came walking down from the second floor, clutching a giant pink unicorn plushie.

Li Wei immediately recognized her as the little girl from the photos Don Quixote had shown him.

"Lily, your father sent someone to pick you up," Catherine said, gripping Lily’s arm tightly. "Right, what was your name again?"

"I’m Li Wei, Ms. Catherine," Li Wei answered.

"Very good, Li Wei." Catherine glanced at Anya behind him, then at the Cadillac Escalade parked by the curb. "Since you can front so much money for Don Quixote and drive such a nice car, you must be a rich kid from the Celestial Dynasty, right?"

"If that’s the case, then you can pay this 1,000 USD for him," she said, pushing her daughter forward. "If you pay up, I can add an extra day each month for her to spend with Cervantes, on top of what’s legally required for visitation."

"That’s your own daughter!" Anya couldn’t hold back any longer. "How can you treat her like a piece of merchandise!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Yes, she is my daughter," Catherine nodded. "And right now, I’m her legal guardian."

"I want to spend Thanksgiving with Daddy..." Lily said, turning her head to look at her mother. "Mommy..."

Li Wei cleared his throat and took a step forward.

"Ms. Catherine," he said, "are you aware that New York has a strict review process for child support adjustments... and that Uncle Don Quixote’s current legal income doesn’t meet the threshold for an increase?"

He activated Glib Tongue, attempting to warp Catherine’s perception.

With a soft DING, Catherine’s gaze went slightly out of focus.

"Really?" she said, confused. "There’s a rule like that? I don’t remember that..."

"Yes," Li Wei said patiently. "That’s why your demand is completely unreasonable. If he were to sue, no jury would ever side with you."

"So," he said, reaching for Lily, "just let them have Thanksgiving together for now. We can discuss this further later if necessary."

However, to his surprise, even though he could clearly tell his words had convinced her, Catherine still kept a tight grip on Lily’s arm.

"But there are other ways," she said. "I can’t just let Lily go with you."

Fack.

’This woman really is obsessed with money.’ Since being upgraded, Li Wei’s Glib Tongue had only failed once, on Travis. While it hadn’t technically failed this time, on someone as money-grubbing as Catherine, it might as well have.

Li Wei had some spare cash now, but giving 1,000 USD to this woman... not only would it not sit right with him, it would be even more humiliating for Don Quixote.

Perhaps seeing how difficult the woman was, even the system decided to chime in.

[Mission Received: The Greedy Goblin’s Entanglement]

[This greedy goblin’s lust for money surpasses even Leon’s. It seems there is no solution besides force or stealth.]

[Find a way to rescue the hostage under its control.]

[Mission Reward: +0.1 Free Attribute Point]

He and Anya returned to the car.

"It looks like she isn’t going to let her go," Anya said, turning to Li Wei. "What’s your plan?"

"My plan is," Li Wei said after a moment’s thought, "to rush in when she isn’t looking, jump straight to the second floor, and carry Lily away."

Knowing he was joking, Anya giggled. "Who do you think you are?" she said. "Granny Yaga? Or Spider-Man?"