Chapter 809: Here, Dig
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du took out his cell phone and called Bob. When Bob picked up the call, Li Du asked, “Do you know Blanchette? He said he is your buddy.”
Bob, who was in Hobart with his son to treat his son’s brain injury, listened to Li Du and quickly said, “Stay away from that b*stard. He’s a jerk.”
“What’s the matter?” Li Du asked calmly.
After the initial indignity, he had now cooled down. He only had been robbed of $550,000. He could earn more than that in a day just harvesting black gold abalone.
“He’s a sly bastard,” Bob said.
“Why?”
“You helped me find my child, but he and I are enemies. I could not bear him deceiving people before, and I have exposed him a few times. Because of this, the two of us have fought in the mines!”
Li Du sighed. He asked about the child’s situation out of courtesy, then hung up.
This time he was frustrated. He had been carried away by Blanchette’s enthusiasm, and because there was not much money involved, he had not been careful enough.
There were a lot of bugs in Blanchette’s trap. Li Du ought to have been careful about looking into the situation, and he ought to have taken what Aubrey had told him about being wary of this bastard seriously.
However, he was new to the town, and he didn’t know anyone, and things happened so quickly from the time he had gone to inspect the quarries until the deal was over.
Blanchette’s scam had no technique. It was just quick. Everything was handled so quickly that Li Du had no time to discover the problem until it was too late.
The owner with the sunglasses guessed the general situation. He looked at Li Du and said in commiseration, “Were you cheated?”
Li Du said, “Yes. Blanchette, that b*stard, told me that they were selling me mine number 114. What we bought was mine number 115.”
The owner asked, “When you went through the formalities, didn’t you pay attention to the land number of the mine?”
Li Du shrugged. Blanchette had helped him with the formalities, and Li Du had been playing with his mobile phone at the time.
The number 115 mine was a derelict site. The owner continued to ask him, “Do you still need to rent these tools? If you don’t use them, I can give you a discount on a return.”
“How much discount can you give me?” asked Li Du.
.
The owner said, “How about 20 percent?”
Li Du smiled. This boss still had some conscience.
The boss then said, “I’ll give you a 20 percent rebate.”
Li Du really wanted to curse. D*mn it again, the people in Lightning Ridge had really bad hearts!
The delivery cost 80 percent of the rental fee. Li Du said angrily, “Put down the tools, I would be really d*mn stupid if I accepted that.”
The boss smiled lazily. “Wasn’t it stupid enough for you to be cheated into buying a shabby mine?”
With a single movement, Brother Wolf lunged at the boss and shoved him into the front of the truck.
The boss’s face turned red.
Li Du frowned and said, “Forget it, Brother Wolf. Let him go.”
Brother Wolf released him and said to the owner coldly, “Mind your mouth!”
After being picked up by Brother Wolf, the owner was more polite. He unloaded his tools and drove away without saying a word.
Lu Guan asked, “What shall we do, Boss?”
“It’s a disused mine, it’s useless. What do you say?” said Li Du.
Godzilla said gruffly, “F**k the son of a b*tch!”
“Of course, I can’t lose money like this, but I can’t be reckless. Let’s go to him first and ask him for an explanation,” said Li Du.
Sophie pulled him down and said with concern, “Don’t be impulsive, Li. Be careful, he might have other traps waiting for you.”
Li Du smiled and said, “Rest assured, I am not being impulsive, I’m just going to kill him. Brother Wolf, do you have a gun?”
Brother Wolf drew his pistol from under his arm. His expression was cold.
Sophie was frightened, and Li Du was startled, too. “Why are you carrying a gun?”
Brother Wolf said, “Australia is very dangerous. I have to guard against it.”
Li Du waved his hand and said, “All right, pack up your guns. I’m just kidding.”
Sophie looked pale and said, “God, I thought you were going to kill him!”
Li Du smiled wryly. “I just wanted to amuse you. Let’s go and find him, and see how he explains it. Don’t worry. We won’t hurt him.”
Blanchette had a house in town. He had lived in Lightning Ridge for more than 20 years.
It was easy to find out where he lived. They drove up, and Li Du knocked on the door. An old woman with a child opened the door.
“Is Blanchette home, please?” asked Li Du.
The old lady shook her head. “No, he’s not here. He left here last night. He might have gone to Burke. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Burke, a city in New South Wales, was a crossing point for rail and river traffic. There was a famous sheep farm area there and an area for the production of wool.
Li Du believed that Blanchette was still at home, because he had just come to the small gate, not far from the town’s police station.
Apparently, someone had called the police when they arrived, and Li Du believed it was Blanchette.
He sent the little bug into the house, and sure enough, in an upstairs room, Blanchette was sitting on a chair drinking coffee.
Seeing him at ease, Li Du laughed and said to the old woman, “It’s nothing. Just please thank him for transferring the number 115 mine to me. I have made a good discovery in this mine.”
He turned away, leaving his last words with her, “Be sure to thank him for me, and I’ll come back to thank him when I get something.”
Returning to the 115 mine, Lu Guan scowled and asked, “Why are we back here, Boss? Let’s go and buy another mine.”
Li Du said, “No, let’s work here. Who told you this mine had no gems?”
Shocked, Lu Guan asked, “I don’t think this abandoned mine has any value. Are there any precious stones in it?”
Li Du did not say a word. He squatted on the east-south boundary line between mine 115 and mine 114, and placed his chin on his hands.
The two mines were separated on the surface by a fence, but the underground was connected.
He remembered that the only vein of gemstone in the mine was to the southeast of mine 114.
Blanchette did not know that this vein existed, nor did he know that it was very close to mine 115, only 20 meters across.
Since Blanchette was unkind before, then he couldn’t blame Li Du for being unrighteousness after!
He probed the ground with the little bug, then hired engineers to make a drawing of the mine. He eventually called Godzilla and Brother Wolf to him and waved, saying, “Here, dig down!”
