Chapter 209: The Movie Prop Warehouse Auction
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du felt embarrassed by the fact that he had already stayed for lunch, and now he was being told to pick some vegetables at Tomasson’s vegetable farm as well.
Li tried to refuse, but Tomasson was very insistent about it, and so he agreed to the friendly neighbor’s request.
Hans suggested, "Let's take some presents next time when we visit him—we can bring them some useful things they need."
"Like a filly?" Li Du laughed.
Jones added jokingly, "Remember to buy from my ranch. I’ll give you a special price."
After a sumptuous lunch, Li noticed that the Amish were not in a hurry to go out to the fields. Had they done so in the middle of the day, they would likely get sunburns, as it was summer time.
Li Du really took his hats off to Arizona’s sunshine and climate. It was still early July and the weather was already this warm in Flagstaff. Li Du thought, How hot it would be in Phoenix if it were September?
Flagstaff was located to the north of Arizona, in the Colorado Plateau, near the Grand Canyon National Park. Its temperature was lower than that of the southern cities.
Ricky and the rest of the family would usually take a nap or relax for a break after lunch.
And as they had just gotten the filly and the various tools Li had brought them, Ricky decided not to take a break but to clean up the stable together with the children to house the new horse.
His to-do-list also included helping his wife move out the old weaving machine, and make way for the new one.
During this period, Ashley showed Li Du and friends a traditional Amish wedding dress: a pair of high-topped leather black shoes and a blue linen dress with a white translucent apron over it. This, along with all their other clothing, was handmade by themselves.
Ricky loved the complete set of woodworking tools that Hans had chosen. However, he decided to give the set of tools to his cousin as a wedding gift.
According to Amish customs, a male relative would gift a set of woodworking tools to the female relative who was getting married and vice versa.
Ricky felt that such a good set of tools would make his future cousin-in-law beam with joy. Not to mention that the tools were also handmade and new.
All in all, with regards to the trade that had taken place, Ricky felt that his family had gotten the bigger slice of pie.
But Li Du felt that this was a square deal. He did not feel that he was short-changed in any way at all. Not only had he gotten the zoological specimen that he was really interested in, but he also gained the friendship of the Amish as well.
During the meal with the family, both Ricky and Ashley had mentioned that their grandfather had painstakingly taken the specimen with him from Africa. It had a long history and there were only a small number of such specimens in the world.
Upon hearing that, Li Du surmised that the little bug’s "Relive the Past" ability might have a limit that it could only reverse to a certain point in time and, at that point, the creature had already been turned into a specimen.
If what Ricky said was true in regards to the quantity of the specimen, it would be highly possible Li Du had stumbled upon a truly valuable item.
However, Li Du was in no hurry to get rid of the skeletal specimen. The priority would be the antique Winchester gun and the Blizzard game sets.
When the weather cooled down, they left Ricky’s place and set off for Tomasson’s vegetable farm.
There was a wide variety of vegetables on the farm: celery, spinach, tomato, cucumber, eggplant, bell peppers, green beans, and many more.
Li Du picked a plump, juicy-looking tomato, rubbed it on his shirt and took a bite. The Amish do not put pesticides on their vegetation. Therefore, Li felt there was no need to wash the tomato before eating them.
The ripe tomato was so juicy that the fresh tomato juice spilled onto his cheeks, chin, and nose as well.
Hans roared with laughter seeing Li in this state; he smiled creepily and said, "So you love…" Hans trailed off, whispering to him so no one else could hear. "This hobby of yours is very unique, my little brother!"
Li Du wanted to show him the middle finger but he was worried it might offend his friendly Amish neighbor, so he could only give Hans a kick in the leg.
There was no sour smell on the tomato. Instead it had a delicate scent like Mother Nature. When Li Du tasted it, there was hardly any sour taste either.
These types of tomatoes were great for making stewed beef brisket with tomato. Hence, Li picked a few of them and put them into a bag.
He also picked some celery and garlic so he could make mashed celery root with garlic, which was a great meal for summer.
Green beans were a must too. The fresh green beans plus the fresh red peppers could be stir-fried together or sautéed. They could be a side dish to stewed, fatty pork meat.
Just thinking of all this food almost made Li’s mouth water!
Li didn’t want to take advantage of the kind Amish, so he just picked an amount enough for one to two meals. However, it still amounted to a few bags of fresh vegetables.
After saying goodbye to Tomassen, the four of them went back to their own places, with Hans and Li heading back to Pine Tree Tops.
Li was packing the vegetables into the refrigerator. Hans was in the living room checking out news of any upcoming auctions.
Hans just surfed around for a short while and started shouting, "Hey, buddy! Come, there’s good news!"
Li Du asked, "What’s up? We got a potential buyer for the gun?"
Hans replied with enthusiasm, "No, it’s a big auction. There’s a movie prop warehouse auction in L.A., and it’s a major event that we can not miss!"
"A movie prop warehouse auction? The movie production company wants to let go of their own warehouse?"
Hans shook his head. "No, what’s inside a movie prop warehouse? It’s a movie production company’s warehouse, you know? Hollywood produces so many movies in a year that their warehouses must be jam-packed with equipment and props!
"The props used for shooting the film, the shooting equipment, the various materials used during the promotion of the movie—all of that will all be auctioned off!"
Li Du got what Hans was trying to say. "Okay, so we might be able to uncover valuable props used for a movie, or stumble upon a famous movie star’s poster with their signature, right?"
"Right: at the last movie prop warehouse auction, someone got the Ducati Sport Classic 1000 motorbike used in ‘Tron: Legacy.’"
"You mean it’s worth some cash even if it was just a prop motorcycle?"
"That motorbike’s not just for show. It’s powered by a very strong engine, it’s got hydraulic brakes, and a car computer installed. There’re also headlights in the back. The motorbike is so cool that it was sold at a price of 500,000 dollars!"
When Hans finished explaining all this to Li Du, his eyes were glistening. One could tell how much Hans wanted to go to the Hollywood auction.
"Okay, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!" Li said decisively.
Well, the mention of 500,000 dollars was enough to make Li agree to set off for Hollywood. Although Li Du had close to 600,000 dollars sitting in his bank account, he felt that he was still poor.
"Of course we have to go to Hollywood. We need to go there to look for potential buyers for the gun. We’re unable to sell it for a good price here," Hans reminded him.
Hans had posted pictures of the gun on eBay, Facebook, and Instagram to see if anyone would contact them.
Then he brought the games with him to look for buyers. Hans entered a game store and showed the store owner what he had brought.
The store owner was surprised to see the entire collection of Blizzard games. "Wow, you’ve got some nice stuff here. Some of these can no longer be found."
"How much would you be willing to pay for them?"
The store owner answered honestly, "I won’t buy all of them. If you’re willing to sell them separately, I would like ‘The Lost Viking,’‘Rock n’ Roll Racing,’‘Shanghai II: Dragon’s Eye,’ and ‘Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.’ We can talk about the price."
"No, I won’t sell them separately." Hans shook his head firmly. "This is a complete set, and I want to sell it as a collection."
The store owner shook his head as well. "Well, that’s too bad then. There are too many ‘World of Warcraft’ titles out there—they aren’t worth much."
Hans begged to differ. "Pal, you mean the collector’s edition of ‘World of Warcraft’ is not worth much?"
The store owner gave a sigh and explained: "Okay, they are worth some cash but who can I sell them to? There aren’t many game collectors in Flagstaff."