Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Of course, that was a small amount of money. Li Du pulled out a fifty-dollar note and said, “Twenty of those.”
The young lady immediately smiled. Her smile was pure and sweet and she said, “Alright, please wait for a while, I will start making it now. It’s tastier if it is made on the spot.”
As she said that, she pocketed the money and switched on her popsicle machine.
There were popsicles inside, but only about ten of them. That would not be enough to sell to Li Du. However, the girl had said that it was tastier if it was made on the spot and did not phrase it as insufficient stock available. Li Du could not help but laugh. The young lady was smart.
Li Du took a dark red popsicle. It had the sour-sweet taste of hawthorn candy and was quite tasty.
The girl pulled open a compartment of the machine in a practiced manner and looked in. Then she poured some ice inside and sprinkled it with salt. There were some openings within the compartment that had clean cups inserted. She would just have to pour some soft drink into them.
The drink barely filled half of the cups. Then, she covered the compartment again and started shaking the machine. That made Li Du think of his old neighbor’s trishaw. Every time it was started up, the trishaw would shake vigorously.
Seeing that the soft drink came from a huge coke bottle, Li Du asked, “Where is this drink from? Is it clean?”
The lady nodded fervently. “It’s clean, and there’s no preservatives or artificial coloring. This is hawthorn juice, orange juice and carrot juice that my granny made. It’s very sanitary.”
“You granny made this? How about your dad and mom?”
The girl said quietly, “They were killed by a bomb, along with my brother.”
Li Du froze for an instant and then asked, “Did it happen in the mine?”
The girl shook her head. “No, in a war.”
Li Du stopped his questions. It seemed like there was a sob story behind this.
However, Godanwei decided to take over. He asked, “Little girl, you had lost all your family. How much did the government compensate you?”
The girl did not reply but pointed to the manual popsicle machine.
Li Du did not understand. Godanwei explained, “They spent the compensation money on this popsicle machine. Such a machine costs around six or seven hundred RMB. Do you understand now?”
“Is that all the compensation they give for the loss of innocent lives?” Li Du was shocked. He could not be blamed. Such compensation was beyond comprehension.
Godanwei said, “Previously, there was a war. A bomb landed in a village in your country and killed some people. We paid up 20,000 RMB for each casualty. However, the people in your country criticized us badly. But what about our own people? They are all human, they all have lives. The compensation the government offered amounts to 40,000 Kyat. That amount, when converted, is just two hundred dollars!”
The Big Mouth King started to share his two cents’ worth. Godanwei had started to analyze the injustice of government policies and society. His face was full of frustration.
Li Du looked and him and said, “You made six hundred today. How about donating a day’s earning to this poor child?”
The keyboard warrior stopped talking. He picked up a popsicle and walked over without paying.
After shaking the machine, the girl lifted the cover and stuck bamboo sticks into the cups that were not frozen yet. Then she filled the cups to the brim and put on the cover again to continue shaking the machine. She was perspiring furiously as she did so.
All in all, that batch of popsicles took half an hour to prepare. The girl was so tired that she was panting, trying to catch her breath. However, as she held the fifty-dollar bill in her sweaty palm, her face was full of joy.
Li Du waved for Brother Wolf and the rest to come over and get their popsicles. Then Brother Wolf quietly slipped a hundred-dollar bill into one of the cups. He patted the girl’s head and said, “Go home earlier today. It’s my gift to you.”
The girl did not understand English. Hence, Li Du translated his words and told her to go home.
Hundred-dollar bills were a rare sight in Hpakant. However, the girl seemed to know what was in the tin. Her excited face turned red and she passed the rest of the popsicles to Li Du and his men. Then, after closing the machine, she said, “Time to go home!”
Li Du said to Brother Wolf, “Be careful, we’ve offended some people.”
Brother Wolf smiled. “Not a problem for me.”
Watching them from behind, Young Markelov sucked his and said, “Brother Wolf is so kind.”
Li Du smiled and said, “When you become a father, you will be like this too.”
Young Markelov burst into laughter. “Haha, I won’t have kids in this life.”
“Idiot,” Big Markelov laughed coldly.
Now that he had settled down in America, Big Markelov was keen to save up to marry and have children. Hence, he despised his younger brother’s flippancy.
Since they had arrived in Hpakant, Li Du would be lying if he said that he did not want to purchase any stones. Li Du had rejected Zhong Da Pao’s request to work together for two reasons. One, he did not trust him. Two, he did not see any need to work with Zhong Da Pao.
However, after staying at the hotel for two days, he came to the realization that he needed to find someone to work with.
The area of the stone farm and the security in the area did not allow strangers to enter, even if they had money. The military was even stricter. Regardless of whether they were strangers or familiar faces, as long as they were foreigners, they would not be allowed in.
In those two days, Li Du hung around the town in Hpakant. It. There were not many places to eat, drink or visit. He only managed to consume many popsicles. Altogether, including the tips he gave, he ate the equivalent of two or three hundred RMB in popsicles every day.
The young girl now treated him as her VIP customer. She would send batches of popsicles to the hotel for Li Du.
As Li Du could not eat so many popsicles, he started to give them out casually and began to build up his relationship with others in that simple way.
It was quite a good strategy. Very soon, he became familiar with the staff at the hotel, the lobby manager and even some other Chinese people who were also staying there.
The hotel staff knew all about the young girl and her pitiful background. Hence, when they saw Li Du helping her out, they felt that he was a good person and were willing to interact with him.
Through his conversations with those people, Li Du managed to understand the local situation.
Hpakant was a famous town but did not have anything impressive in itself. As there were many field districts nearby and each area had its own main town, businessmen, jade trades, miners and their families lived in those town centers. They would rarely visit Hpakant, so the town could not develop.
The three areas of Xiangdong, Hpakant, and Longken were close to each other. That was considered a main district that attracted many jade businessmen from around the world.
Li Du wanted to purchase jade, so he would have to enter those three districts. However, the problem was that he was not allowed to!
Cole managed to get him a travel pass, allowing him to get around Myanmar with the officials’ permission.
However, that pass was not valid in Hpakant. The military was okay to let him be. However, the security men at the field district were very strict and did not allow him to enter.
After going around several times, Li Du realized that if he wanted to purchase the stones, he would really need the help of a local who had some influence.
At the very end, he decided to give a call to Zhong Da Pao. That was because he had gotten some information on the man over the past two days and realized that he was actually quite interesting.
Just as he made the decision to ring him up, someone rang his doorbell. After opening the door, he smiled. It was Zhong Da Pao himself, who ended up looking him up first.
Seeing Li Du, Zhong Da Pao said, “Brother, your patience is really impressive. I, Old Zhong, admire you. This time around, don’t feel pressured. I just wanted to bring you out, do some sightseeing.”
He was worried that Li Du would reject him and began to get ready to say goodbye.
In the end, Li Du waved his hand and said, “Please, come in.”
Zhong Da Pao blinked. His words of farewell remained unsaid.
