Chapter 103: Give You The Gun
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After they got the units, the next step was to clean up.
They had to clean up the four storage units in one day. Hans bewailed, "Sh*t, we have to stay up all night!"
Li Du shrugged. "We have a saying in our hometown, which is: ‘Making money is difficult and feces are disgusting.’ Since we want to make money, we have to work hard."
Hearing this saying, Hans nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense. Yes, feces are really disgusting. D*mmt!"
Mr. Li stared at him, stunned.
Hans reacted and laughed, "Why are you looking at me like that?
"Do you mean you have eaten feces?" Li Du asked in surprise.
Hans snorted, "Who hasn’t been young and frivolous?"
"Do you mean we have to eat feces to be young and frivolous? Sh*t, you were a kid who ate feces. Ah Meow, let’s stay away from him!" Mr. Li said in a disgusted tone.
Ah Meow also showed a disgusted facial expression.
"F*ck!"
Prescott had a reputation for cowboy antics, and grumpy locals. But after observing the attitudes of the people at the storage auction, Li Du believed they actually have a good temper.
"None of them stayed to have a look at what we got. They all left. These guys simply desire nothing." Mr. Li looked at the desolate area outside the door of the unit.
Hans opened the door of the last storage unit and said, "Of course, no one would be so silly to stand under the rain? Also, do you really think the local people have a good temper?"
"Yes. It was not competitive during the auction."
"First of all, these are rubbish storage units, and nobody will compete for these. Second, they are not "cowboys". If you attend a livestock auction or an agricultural auction, you will know who the real cowboys are!"
The golden rule of cleaning up units was starting with something valuable. This was because people tended to be impatient, and it was easier for them to clean if they found valuable items at the beginning.
Li Du had said there was something valuable which worth a photo-taking in the last storage. Therefore, Hans started to clean up this storage with enthusiasm.
His enthusiasm was quickly rewarded. Soon, he found the safe deposit box in the corner; he exclaimed excitedly and carried out the safe deposit box.
"How do we open it? We don’t know the password," Li Du said.
Hans said, "I have no idea, but fortunately some of our new equipment might help."
He went to the second unit and opened it. It was filled with a complete set of tools, and he carried back a sledgehammer. Then, he smashed it onto the password-lock of the safe deposit box.
The sound scared Ah Meow while it was washing its face. "Meow-oo!"
The password-lock was destroyed. Li Du pulled the door and shook his head regretfully. "What the h*ll? That was a good safe deposit box. You just destroyed such a useful thing!"
"Well, we wouldn’t be able to open the safe deposit box if I didn’t. Stupid kid." Hans threw the sledgehammer and tilted the safe deposit box forward. A pile of documents and a couple of handguns dropped out of it.
He exclaimed immediately, "Sh*t, we’re lucky! We got handguns! "
Handguns were not so valuable in the United States. Normally, a new handgun cost a few hundred dollars. Some good handguns—such as the Desert Eagle or HK series—could sell for thousands of dollars.
However, Americans have extraordinary enthusiasm toward handguns. They would be very happy if they got a gun from a storage auction.
Hans took off the holsters and he saw two dark, smooth-shaped handguns; they were almost exact replicas. A complicated pattern was carved on the walnut gunstocks.
Seeing these patterns, Hans cried happily, "We are so lucky! This is the M1911 Crown, which is the collective edition. Also, they are double-barrelled!"
"What?"
"Do you know the M1911? It represented the image of the United States Armed Forces. It was widely used by military forces from 1911 onwards. It was replaced and phased out in 1985 after being used in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. It was probably the handgun which was most widely produced in the United States."
"Do you mean it has no value?" Li Du asked.
"Yes, an ordinary M1911 is worthless, but this is a double-barrelled M1911 Crown. You see, there is a mark on the stock. This is the left handgun and this is the right handgun..."
Li Du approached Hans and had a look. There were 'L' and 'R' marks on the gun stocks.
"These two guns are part of a collective edition, which was produced by Browning North America company in order to celebrate the end of the Persian Gulf War. In order to help people use dual wielding, its recoil momentum was reduced. I saw them in a video called ‘the power of firearms’ when I was a kid. These guns are really amazing!"
Hans could not help kissing them.
Li Du asked, "Do you like them?"
"Of course, they are my sweethearts!" Hans said instinctively.
Li Du patted his shoulder and said, "Well, they belong to you now. You can use them to decorate your room."
"What?" Hans looked at him surprisingly.
"Don’t you remember our promise? If either of us comes across something that he really likes, then the item will belong to him without consideration of the price." Li Du said.
Hans was very touched by this, and looked at him. "Li, I don’t want to say ‘thank you’ again, but I really thank God for having you as my partner in my career!"
Mr. Li felt ashamed because he was actually tricking him…
To save time, the two of them started to clean up the storage units separately. Li Du went to the fifth unit and opened the leather bag. He took out the stack of papyri from it.
He could feel the thickness of these papyri when he was holding them with his hand, so he took a closer look at them. He found that they felt quite similar to the grass mat he had used during summertime back at home.
The text written on the papyri was crooked-looking, and he could not understand it at all. Inside the leather bag, there were some photographic films but they were exposed; so, they were something useless now.
He found a box to store the papyri carefully in. He then found Hans and said, "Have a look at these papyri. Can you recognize the writing?"
Hans walked over. "Let me see. Hey, these could be something good. If I'm not mistaken, these are the papyri from ancient Egypt. Do you know about papyri?"
Li Du shook his head.
"I remember that the Chinese used to write on bamboo sticks, right?"
"You mean bamboo ‘slips,’" Li Du corrected.
"Yes, these are the bamboo slips of Egypt. But the production method was more complex and advanced. These are made using papyrus, which is an aquatic plant that grows in the Nile Delta. The plants grow upright, they are hard and tall, and the shape of one is like a reed. Their leaves can grow to one meter long."
"The growth of the stalk is amazing—it can grow taller than four meters. The stalk has a triangular cross-section. What does this remind you of?"
Li Du asked, "Hmm, the stability of a triangle?"
Hans rolled his eyes. "No, an Egyptian pyramid! Papyrus is an important part of the Egyptian civilization. They used papyrus to produce paper, which was one of the earliest writing materials in history. It was used by Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, and Arabs for more than thousand years. "
"Are these antiques?" Li Du patted these papers.
Hans shook his head and laughed, "Perhaps, but I believe these are fake. At least the words written on them are fake."
Li Du frowned and asked, "Why?"
"Don’t tell me that there was a pen in Egypt thousands of years ago. Can’t you see it? These words were written with a pen, haha!" Hans laughed.
Li Du identified it carefully. Indeed, the words looked as if they were written in pen.
This was even better. Li Du patted the papyri, saying, "I like them so much. I think they are mysterious."
Hans shrugged his shoulders. "The guns belong to me, and these papyri belong to you. I know what are you thinking. Do you think that the words refer to treasure information?"
Li Du said, "No—I like them simply because I like mysterious things."
"My sister is actually a mysterious girl," Hans said immediately.
Li Du gave him the middle finger and laughed, "Hannah is a simple girl. If she knew about your comment, she would use a knife to cut your eyelashes off!"