Seeing that Li Du had opened the storage unit next door and walked into it, Princeps was feeling very curious. He said, “Have you bid on a bunch of ore, too? Not bad. You do have great vision.”
Li Du turned around and smiled as he said, “I feel rather proud having heard your compliment.”
Conrad was not happy. Instead, he said indifferently, “Bidding for this type of storage unit? It’s just a bunch of garbage ore. What’s the use of buying them? To throw them at people?”
Princeps was embarrassed. Not only was Conrad attacking Li Du, but he was also attacking Princeps at the same time, as he had bought even more units full of ore.
Li Du was not bothered by it. He walked into the unit and picked up a small, flat brick. He put it under his nose to give it a sniff, and then he tested the feeling and strength of it as he tossed it in his hand.
Conrad saw that he was not answering him and felt that it did not reflect well on him, so he shouted at Li Du, “Hey, can you hear what I said? Or are all Chinese men like you so rude?”
Li Du hated these racial attacks the most. He held onto the little flat brick and then threw it at him.
Ooof! Conrad had not expected Li Du to take action just like that, so he was unprepared. The brick flew over and hit his chest. He screamed in pain and stumbled backwards as he held his chest.
Seeing that Li Du had hit someone with a brick, Princeps thought that he was looking for a fight. He jumped up and shouted, “Hey, what are you doing? Partners, come on, let’s fight!”
The treasure hunters of the Tucson Brotherhood, who were puffing cigarettes and resting nearby, stood up when they heard his order. However, they did not have any intention of joining the fight. They were instead smiling and enjoying Conrad’s misfortune of being hit by a brick.
Conrad was furious. He pointed at Li Du as he shouted, “F*ck you! How dare you hit me? Princeps, give it to him!”
The Flagstaff treasure hunters were at the storage door at that moment. When they saw Li Du taking action, they thought that he was really starting a fight. Everyone squared their shoulders and clenched their fists to get ready.
Li Du was very calm. He pressed his hands down to signal everyone to calm down. He said, “When have I ever hit you? You have misunderstood me.”
Conrad wanted to charge into the storage unit, but he was afraid of Godzilla and Brother Wolf, who were standing guard by the storage unit’s door. He could only point fiercely at Li Du from a short distance as he yelled, “How dare you hit me? How dare you start a fight and attack me? You wait and see. Princeps, go and get him!”
Li Du frowned and said, “Stop, stop, stop. Everyone, please don’t make a move hurriedly. Who said I attacked you? I was giving you a present. Who knew you couldn’t even catch it?”
Conrad picked up the brick off of the ground. He continued pointing at him as he said, “Stop arguing. F*ck you, son of a b*tch…”
“Brother Wolf, shut his mouth,” Li Du said impatiently.
Brother Wolf stepped towards him. Conrad was scared and backed up continuously.
Li Du said, “You are really ill-mannered. I’m giving you a gift, giving you some tea, and you dare to scold me?”
Conrad yelled furiously, “Stop bullsh*tting me. I will definitely call the cops. You attacked me-“
Li Du stopped him mid-sentence and said, “What did I attack you with?”
Conrad raised the brick and yelled, “The crime weapon is right here. How can you still deny it? Everyone here saw that you threw this brick at me.”
Li Du laughed helplessly. He said, “A brick? You really are a piece of stupid sh*t. How dare you join the storage auction industry with such poor vision? Open your dog’s eyes and look carefully. That is tea leaf!”
His words had piqued everyone’s curiosity. Everyone thought that he had thrown a brick at Conrad, but after hearing him say he had only thrown tea leaves, everyone was confused.
Someone reacted quickly and asked, “That is a brick of tea?!”
Li Du nodded and said, “Yes, that is a brick of tea, and it is not just any normal brick of tea. If I am not mistaken, this is an Indian black tea brick, the finest brick tea used especially for high tea.”
Conrad had followed his father around in the industry for many years, and he was considered to be quite knowledgeable. He had not recognized the true identity of this brick, as he did not think from that perspective. Now that he heard what Li Du had said, he immediately put the brick under his nose and gave it a sniff.
Hans ran into the storage unit, took a brick of tea, and gave it a sniff, too. Then he laughed and said excitedly, “Hey, it’s the scent of malt mixed with the scent of rose. There is also a hint of green apple. This is a brick of black tea. It really is a black tea brick.”
Li Du shrugged and said, “Of course this is a black tea brick. Why else would I buy this storage unit? To get a bunch of ore that nobody wanted so I could throw it at people?” The latter was to mock Conrad, but it was also aimed at Princeps, because Princeps had bought more ore than he had.
Princeps looked at Conrad in shock. Conrad nodded awkwardly and said, “This really is Indian black tea. Judging from the smell, I think this should be an Assam black tea brick.”
Assam black tea, the finest tea leaves of India, was highly prized. The appearance of this tea leaf was slim and flat, the color appeared to be deep brown, and after pressing them, they became this type of black-brown colored brick.
Upon hearing this, Princeps quickly waved his hand and said to his men, “Open up our units and check if there are any tea bricks in them.”
Assam black tea was the most famous high tea ingredient in Europe and America. The demand for it was huge, and it definitely had its market. The black tea that could be made into tea bricks had to be specially picked out by Indians to be used solely for exporting.
The exported black tea usually consisted of premium tea leaves. They were worth a few hundred US dollars or even up to few thousand US dollars per pound. It was comparable to blue mountain coffee, China Longjing tea, and so on. They were all premium drinks.
A tea brick weighed at least a kilogram. This ore storage unit of Li Du’s was mixed with a large amount of tea bricks, so its value might even be in the millions.
The Flagstaff treasure hunters came in and picked up the tea bricks to smell them. Olly said, “Brother Li, you bid on this storage unit just for these brick teas, didn’t you?”
Without waiting for Li Du to reply, Dickens quickly said, “That must be it. Brother Li’s knowledge is absolutely stunning. All I saw was just a pile of worthless iron ore. I had not figured there would even be brick teas.”
“Of course we knew that. You didn’t need to say it out loud.” Carl mocked him.
Princeps brought his men to search through his units with high hopes, but in the end, they had not even found one tea brick. They could only see piece after piece of mineral ore.
Some of the storage units had bricks in them, but those were real bricks, the kind that were used to build houses and roads… Looking at his pile of worthless bricks, thinking about the brick tea next door that was worth millions, the huge difference was enough to make Princeps so envious, he felt like vomiting blood.
Conrad was jealous of Li Du as well. He said, disgruntled, “D*mmit, you really have dog sh*t luck. You were just lucky this time…”
Hearing his words, Li Du picked up another tea brick and threw it at him. “You’re welcome, young master Anthony. Let me treat you with some good tea!”
Conrad screamed in pain, “F*ck you! You son of a b*tch, I will definitely…”
“Brother Wolf, shut his foul mouth!”
Brother Wolf quickly charged towards Conrad, and this time, he wasn’t stopped by the Tucson Brotherhood. Conrad could not dodge his attack. Brother Wolf grabbed him and then gave him a slap. One side of Conrad’s face began to swell.
Hans took the men to clean up the pile of brick tea as Li Du walked towards storage unit number ten. He took out the relevant files and evidence from Luo Qun’s parents’ murder case. This was his main focus.
