Chapter 214: Grand Central Market
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After understanding what had happened, Hans broke into laughter and was almost going to applaud in celebration. “You got beaten up by that jerk Marlin? Interesting, interesting!”
Rick glared at him angrily but did not flare up. Instead, he contained his anger and said, “Boss Li, I admit that for this matter, I was not that upfront—”
“No, no, no,” Hans said, “don’t you tell us this. We don’t want to hear it, we don’t want to know why you are here. No matter what, I don’t want to hear it. Right now, we just want to rest.”
Rick swallowed his fury and said, “I understand. Big Fox, Li, I know you guys are very tired, but this time, we’re here to solve our differences.”
“We’re very sincere,” Lil’ Rick added. “Please don’t reject this offer of friendship.”
Hans laughed loudly again. “Solve the problem? Can the problem between us ever be solved? Offer of friendship? F*ck off. We don’t dare accept this kind of friendship.”
Rick said, “Listen, Big Fox, I admit that it was our fault at the casino. We only wanted to teach Li a lesson. It’s not like we have some longstanding feud with you, right?”
Hans pointed at him angrily. “Shut up. If Li were unlucky, he would have died because of you!”
Lil’ Rick wore a shameful look and said, “But it didn’t happen. We’re all brothers from Flagstaff. We shouldn’t be foes, but friends—comrades.”
“Go and be Satan’s comrade. Us? Not possible.” Li Du waved his hand dismissively. “Make way, we’re going to rest.”
Rick said patiently, “There’s obviously a misunderstanding between us. Li, give us a chance to explain. We really shouldn’t be enemies.”
“You want a chance to explain? Then you wait patiently. When there’s such a chance, we’ll talk again.”
Li Du left as soon as he had finished speaking. It was not that he didn’t want to talk to the father and son pair—he was exhausted and did not have any energy to speak to them.
It was night time when he woke up. He washed up and went to look for Hans. That chap was absorbed in playing games on his mobile phone, while Godzilla was working out as usual.
Shutting off Hans’s game, Li Du asked, “Before I went to sleep, did we bump into the Rick father and son pair?”
Hans looked at him shocked. “What are you talking about, bro? Do you have early onset dementia? Sperm got into your brain and made you a fool? Or is there an eraser in your brain?”
“F*ck!”
Hans laughed, “Of course—we bumped into the two Ricks when we came back. Seems like those two dumb*sses want to apologize to us.”
Li Du asked, “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do they want to apologize to me?” a confused Li Du asked. “I think Marlin and those jerks beat them up, but they wouldn’t ask them to come apologize to me, right?”
Hans said, “They would never do that—they are nasty men, not Batman. Why do you care about this? They can apologize all they want, we don’t have to accept.”
Li Du nodded. “I’m just puzzled. Alright, let’s not talk about this. Is it time to eat? I’m famished.”
On hearing this, Godzilla, who was doing one-armed push-ups, stood up immediately. “I’m taking a shower—two minutes.”
Li Du fiddled with his cellphone and Li Du’s phone beeped with an incoming short message.
He looked at his cellphone—there were an additional 72,500 dollars in his bank account.
Hans said, “When you were sleeping, I sold the gun for 120,000 dollars. I added that to the sum from the sale of the game disc. No problem, right?”
Li Du shrugged and said, “Of course no problem. You’re good—a gun for 120,000 dollars? To think an old gun is worth so much money!”
Hans said, “Many old guns are valuable. Our Winchester is no ordinary old gun: he was a gun that Winchester specially made for noblemen!”
Li Du said appreciatively, “It being sold for 120,000 dollars was also a great achievement.”
Hans, however, was not that pleased with the price, and shook his head. “It’s a shame we haven’t got any friends in the auction trade. If we had sold that gun at an auction, I think it could have fetched as much as 200,000 dollars.”
Li Du patted Hans’s shoulder and said, “Don’t be too greedy, bro. In China, we have a saying: ‘Contentment brings joy.’”
With the sale of the remaining goods and the completion of the investigation of the storage units, the three of them could only wait for the next day’s auction. So, they wanted to celebrate.
Los Angeles had the most vibrant dining scene in all of California. The food and beverage industry was very well-established, with many renowned chefs advocating the ‘farm to table’ trend as well as offering many authentic cuisines.
It was said that Los Angeles had residents from more than 140 cultures. Hence, there were many diverse cuisines in the area.
Since the night before, Li Du had been indulging on these delicacies. Little Tokyo in the city center, Chinatown, Korean City in mid-city, Thai City east of Hollywood, the Mexican food center in East LA, and Japanese eateries in the South Bay area: Hans brought them on a whirlwind trip to all these places.
Tonight, Hans had wanted to go Osteria Mozza, one of the most famous restaurants in LA. It was jointly helmed by famous and hugely popular chefs Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton.
LA in July was filled with tourists. This restaurant was too popular; they could not get a reservation at all. Hans had called to enquire and could only get a table for two weeks later.
After learning of this, Li Du shook his head. “It’s too crazy, too many tourists.”
Godzilla sniffled, “Grand Central Market?”
Hans said, “You want to go to Grand Central Market? That place is filled with cheap fast food chains. We should go to a high-end restaurant—let me search again.”
Godzilla sniffled and said, “International food stalls, good there.”
“What’s this guy talking about?” Li Du asked.
“He wants to go to the international food stalls at Grand Central Market,” Hans said. “It’s all food stalls there. Although there’s lots of variety, it’s not so good in terms of hygiene and service.”
Li Du said, “Let’s go there then. Godzilla can eat all he wants there.”
Godzilla revealed a delighted grin, obviously looking forward to it.
They were in luck tonight. Grand Central Market was hosting a reality show named “Top Chef,” and some celebrities would be appearing on it.
Li Du and party reached the place and saw that a crowd of more than ten persons deep had gathered at an area within the square.
Hans went over to have a look and said upon his return, “It’s some entertainment show. The NBA star Kobe Bryant and the movie star Keanu Reeves are here.”
Li Du was happy to hear this. “The Dagger is here? Then I wanna go see him take a shot.”
“What?”
“We only get sighs for his first and second shots, and rebounds for his third and fourth,” Mr. Li said. “You wouldn’t know what I mean.”
