Chapter 204: Integrity
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Hans rode fast up to the house on the motorcycle. There was a lot of dust on the road, and he looked cool when the dust cloud formed as he rode by.
Li Du saw him and said, "You should ride slower. This is a motorcycle for God’s sake! Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"You think I was riding too fast?" Hans laughed cheekily. "There are many carriages that use this road—that’s why there’s so much dust. "
He saw Li Du about to argue, and quickly said, "Okay, brother, calm down. Let’s have a look at the goods. You asked me to come quickly. Is it because you saw something great?"
Li Du said, "It might not be great, but I like it very much. It’s a specimen of a big bird."
"What big bird is it?" Hans asked. "Is it an emu, an ostrich, an Andean condor?"
Li Du brought him to the front yard of the Amish household. He pointed toward the skeleton specimen and said, "That’s the one—I have no idea what bird it is."
Hans stared at the specimen and blinked; he asked, "Why are you interested if you don’t even know what kind of bird it is?"
Li Du said, "Have you heard of ‘love at first sight?’ I had no idea what kind of person you were when we first met, but I decided to work with you from the very beginning. This is because I believe in fate. "
Hans opened his arms and said, "Fine, you win. I’ll ask about it. "
He went to the Amish lady and spoke with her. They started talking about the farm and the onions they were growing. Then, he got into the topic: "What species of bird is this? It’s very large. "
The lady shook her head. "I’m sorry, I don’t know. This was one of the things left by my grandfather—some of his things are from Africa, and I guess they are quite valuable. "
Hans said, "Alright, my friend is interested. He wants to have it. What do you need?"
The lady said, "My roof is leaking, so I need a rawhide—at least 100 pounds of rawhide."
"Got it!"
"My husband likes carpentry, but he lacks many tools. He doesn’t have a hand mill, a hand drill, or a hand plane. "
"Okay!"
"Our horse is too old to till the land. It would be great if we had a young horse…"
As the lady’s request continues, Hans started to get nervous. "Excuse me, madam, but are you out of your mind? This is just a bunch of bones—how many things do you want in exchange for it?"
The lady laughed, "Although I have no idea about what bird it is, I know that it’s valuable. My grandfather followed a British adventurer to East Africa when he was young, and this was what he brought back."
Hans said helplessly, "But they are just bones. It looks like an ostrich specimen. It can’t be that valuable."
The lady shook her head. "That’s impossible—it’s at least a hundred years old. It’s very valuable! Look, my grandfather kept it in good condition."
"A hundred years?" Han was dumbfounded. "A hundred-year-old specimen? Madam, are you kidding me?"
The lady said seriously, "No, I’m not joking. My grandfather said he got this from an African chief. This was in one of the chief’s collections, and the chief had told him that every collected item was at least a hundred years old."
Hans told her to wait and he returned to Li Du. "I met a vigorous opponent today. She’s good at bargaining."
Li Du understood what he meant, and said, "I must have this specimen, no matter what it takes."
Hans rolled his eyes and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Okay—I got you."
He returned to the lady and said, "Fine, I agree to your conditions... I must be insane—"
"I’m sorry, sir," The lady said. "That’s not the last of my requests."
Hans felt a lump in his chest and he felt hot under the collar of his shirt. "That specimen of yours is just bird’s bones! It’s not gold!"
The lady shook her head. "I want to exchange it for the things I want. If you can’t agree with me, I’ll wait for the next person."
Hans squatted down on the grass. "You’re just my nightmare! Fine—continue your request—would you like the moon?"
The lady shook her head again. "No, why would I want the moon? I want a sewing machine—my sewing machine is broken."
Hans asked, "What else?"
The lady thought about it and said, "That’s all. I think this is a fair deal—don’t you think so?"
Hans said, bitterly, "What else can I say? Can’t you see that I’m desperate?"
With the deal made, now they needed to fulfill her request.
Li Du was worried; he told the lady, "I’ll get you what you want, but this will take some time—don’t sell it to someone else."
The Amish lady quickly promised that she wouldn’t. She brought out a big box and put the specimen inside. Then, she gave the box to him.
Li Du was shocked. "What do you mean by this?"
"You can have this now," she said. "Once you get everything I want, send it all here as soon as possible."
Li Du was surprised. "We don’t know each other. Aren’t you worried that I might disappear after I take this?"
The lady said, "Let’s swear to God; then there’s nothing to be worried about."
Li Du didn’t know what to say; should he praise her attitude toward the agreement? Or should he laugh at how naïve she was? Or should he be surprised at how sincere she was toward her religion?
No matter what, he was impressed by how forthright the lady was and by her trust in humanity.
He did not say anything. He asked Godzilla to hold the specimen. "One week—I’ll get you everything in one week."
After he got in the car, he told Hans, "Please help me, brother. I need to get all that stuff as soon as possible."
The lady trusted him, therefore, he had to pay her back with integrity.
Hans said, "The horse, the rawhide, and the carpentry tools are simple. I can get all that in one day. But that sewing machine is difficult."
"What’s difficult about a sewing machine? There’s plenty of them on eBay."
"Come on, my friend—those are the modern, electric sewing machines. The Amish don’t use electricity. She wants a mechanical, foot-pedal sewing machine."
On their way home, they passed by a leather shop. They bought the rawhide, which cost them 1,000 dollars for a hundred pounds.
Looking at the rawhide parchment, Hans asked, "Don’t you think this stuff looks familiar?"
Li Du doubted it at first, but then asked, "Could this be the stuff that we sold with the antique clock?"
They got some rawhide parchment before and they sold it to this leather shop for the price of 500 dollars.
Hans sighed, "I guess so."
Li Du scolded, "He was an unscrupulous shark!"
They had sold two hundred pounds of rawhide parchment to the shop, and the shop earned four times the profit now by selling them for the price of 1000 dollars per hundred pounds!
But at least they found one of the four items.