Chapter 454: The Enthusiastic Brother Ma
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Advanced technology was created to make lives better.
With the fishing machine, the fishing speed was very fast; so long as the fish bit the bait, there was almost no way of escaping.
The force gauge machine was very sensitive to the feeling of the strength of the pull. It would gauge according to the level of resistance of the fish and perform the appropriate action. The machine would only reel in when the fish was really hooked, and it was as steady as it could be.
The fishing machine was a really good item. Li Du stayed with the machine for two hours straight and still felt he hadn’t gotten enough fun. But with so many treasure hunters waiting helplessly, he had to give up his seat.
When they went back on land, Li Du found a convenience store near the lake, bought another set of postcards and mailed it to Sophie.
That night the group found a nearby hotel and stayed overnight at Lake Powell.
The night scene in Lake Powell was beautiful. There were no industrial factories and no pollution. Next to it was the Colorado Plateau, where the air was thin; the light pollution was low at night and the stars were shining brilliantly.
Around the lake, there were many who set up tents to spend the night by the lake.
Li Du was chilling by the café by the dock. The cafe was built quite close to the lake. When he looked up, he could see the bright stars, and if he looked down, he could see the clear reflection of the shining stars on the lake, and it really felt wonderful.
The next day, after all the treasure hunters had got on and chilled out with the fishing machine, they put away the fishing machine and embarked on their journey home. The convoy of trucks appeared again on the highway and drove toward Flagstaff.
They had spent a lot of time outside home this round: nearly a week in total including the time spent in Page and the Hopi Reservation.
However, they had gained a lot from this trip. The treasure hunters followed Li Du to Glen Canyon Storage, where they had successfully bid for some units. Later on they went to the Hopi Reservation, where they earned even more money when they exchanged goods.
As there was practically nothing to do on their way back, the treasure hunters calculated the values of items they had obtained and were rather optimistic that if the hunting knives could be sold for a good price, they would be able to earn 10,000 dollars.
After returning to Flagstaff, Li Du was in a relaxed mood. Hans would take care of looking for buyers for the fishing machine and the lot of hunting knives. The other miscellaneous items were deposited at their old goods site for the old goods treasure hunters.
After resting in the cabin, he bought a new cell phone and wanted to go look for Sophie and check on how little Ah Ow was doing. But before he went out, his phone rang. It was Ma Zhi-an calling from Phoenix.
Ma Zhi-an had helped him a lot this time as Zhang Kai was very helpful. Although, even without Zhang’s information, Li Du would have been able to find the guns. The fishing machine information was totally useless as well.
Nevertheless, it was still a favor to him and Zhang’s information had helped save him energy after all. If he had used his energy to check all the 45 units in one attempt, he would have had no energy to brawl with the Californian treasure hunters, and, most important of all, no energy to destroy the small notebook.
Therefore, when he saw who the call was from, he hurriedly picked up his phone. “Hello Brother Ma, good to hear from you again.”
Ma Zhi-an’s hearty laughter was heard over the phone. “Xiao Li, you’re back in Flagstaff?”
Li Du was confused and paused for a while. “Yes, I just came back. How did you know?”
“Haha, I didn’t know,” he said, laughing. “I was just asking. So you just came back? That’s such a coincidence.”
“Is there anything the matter?”
“It’s like this: there are two issues,” said Ma Zhi-an. “The first is I talked to Brother Zhang two days ago, which is Zhang Kai. He should have been helpful, right?”
Li Du replied sincerely, “Yes, he’s a great help.”
“Good to hear that,” said Ma Zhi-an. “It’s like this, Brother Li, although we Chinese should help each other, didn’t our ancestors say that we need to repay favors as well?
“What I mean is, since you earned some cash, maybe you should get Brother Zhang a gift or give him a small sum of money as reward. Think you might have noticed that Brother Zhang’s not doing well.”
Li Du said, “Don’t worry Brother Ma, I’ve told Brother Zhang that I’ll be giving him a cut of my earnings. As for you, Brother Ma, I’ll also—”
“What are you saying?” Ma Zhi-an immediately interrupted him. “You think Brother Ma is hinting at you for a cut too? Don’t think too much, I don’t need anything.”
Li Du said, “No, Brother Ma, I can’t do that. That’s not appropriate.”
“I don’t want any cut, Brother Li,” said Ma Zhi-an firmly, “Brother Ma’s not standing on ceremony here, I just mean what I say. If you happen to come to Phoenix and treat me to dinner, I’ll definitely be very happy.
“But if you were to bring me presents or whatever, Brother Ma will be unhappy because that means I’ve become a middleman. Or a pimp. That’s not Brother Ma’s original intention. I just hope we Chinese can help each other out! If I can be of help, Brother Ma is already glad!”
As his tone sounded especially sincere, Li Du felt that Brother Ma was really not trying to be polite but meant what he said. Li had an even better impression of him now.
“By the way,” continued Ma Zhi-an, “the second issue is that Zhang Kai said you got some familie rose on this trip? The antique porcelain wares of the Qing Dynasty?”
Li Du wanted to say the porcelain was all fake. However, he remembered that he had just come back and had not gotten any expert to appraise it yet. If he were to directly say that they were imitated goods and Ma Zhi-an were to inform Zhang Kai, that might cause some unnecessary misunderstanding.
And so Li Du replied, “Yes, I’ve gotten some exquisite porcelain ware. Just that I haven’t gotten them appraised for authenticity. I need to get an appraisal company to do that.”
“That’s the second issue I wanted to talk about,” said Ma Zhi-an. “You can save the appraisal fee. We have a few fellow countrymen who can help with this.”
Li Du was interested and asked, “They know a lot about antiques? Is that right?”
Having possessed the little bug and its abilities, that meant there would be plenty of opportunities he would be dealing with antiques and artifacts. So he needed to know and learn this area of knowledge and build up connections in this area as well.
“Yes, they know a lot about antiques,” said Ma-Zhi-an, “and they are not amateurs. They are actually experts hired by Christie’s branch office in the West Coast.
“They’ve come to Phoenix to participate in an autumn auction in Arizona. You might have known that Christie’s autumn auctions are very well-known.”
Li Du said, “Yes, I know about that.”
“I happened to be with them when Zhang Kai called me up. When they heard about the familie rose, they were interested in taking a look at them. You may want to get them to perform the appraisal.”
That sounded good to Li Du as he would not need to search for an appraisal company.
Hearing his consent, Ma Zhi-an provided more information. “There are four of them, all our fellow countrymen. Let me know when is good for you? I’ll inform them to go to Flagstaff to meet you.
“Plus, if you’ve got any treasure from your previous auctions, you can show them too. Who knows? They might even be able to help you find a good buyer.”
Li Du expressed his thanks repeatedly; he was also wondering whether to take out Gaddafi’s dagger to get them to appraise, as well and also the papyri—he had no idea of their worth.
The two of them made arrangements over the phone. Li had plenty of time now to meet up with the four experts. Ma Zhi-an then suggested that the meetup should be as soon as possible as the four antique experts would be busy in Phoenix.
After ending the call, Li Du drove the Hellcat to pick up Sophie at the hospital.
