Chapter 508: Ah Ow Dug Something Out
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du walked into the hotel, looked around and said, "Nice atmosphere. The style is unique with all the yellowish-brown bricks. What's the name of this style?"
Hans grinned. "Water shortage style."
"What?" Li Du asked, confused.
"It was a Spanish mudbrick house," Hans explained. "A very ancient style of Spanish houses.
"The yellowish-brown bricks that you see is a local feature of Tucson. The weather here is dry all year round, without any rainfall for long periods of time. That's why they used bricks dried under the sun instead of fired in a kiln."
"What if it rains?" Li Du asked. "Does that mean the house will collapse?"
Hans shrugged. "The thing is that it doesn't rain often. Even when it does, it's only a few drops and causes no harm to the already dried and hardened bricks."
Li Du had learned something new and believed that people in Tucson never bothered to take precautionary steps. If it were him living in these houses, he would worry about the house collapsing.
The hotel was famous and their service was fantastic. If the guest brought a child under 14, they would add extra bedding for free, and they even prepared dinner for the kid.
The hotel had a garden full of a wide variety of plants, which was a rare scene in a desert area.
Behind the garden was a swimming pool, and in front of it was a library. These formed a resort, where people could either drink a cup of coffee on the patio or read books in the library. When the weather was hot, they could choose to chill in the garden or swim in the pool. All of these were great activities for relaxation.
Besides that, the hotel allowed their guests to bring pets. Li Du was required to pay 20 dollars for each pet, and 40 dollars if the pet exceeded the weight of 20 pounds.
Fortunately, Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles were under this weight, which saved Li Du some money..
After using the little bug vigorously in the morning, he felt exhausted. After checking into the hotel, he went to the garden with three of his pets and found a quiet place to drink some coffee.
The was a croquet court beside the garden. Li Du watched with interest—some people were passionately playing and he had never played the sport before.
Croquet was an outdoor sport that involved hitting balls with a mallet through silver hoops embedded in the grass or flat ground. It originated from France, reached England in the 13th century, and then spread to Scotland and Italy in the 17th century.
This sport spread to America in the 19th century.
Despite the late introduction, Americans loved the sport as well. The National Croquet Association had been formed to widely promote this sport to everyone. It was actually easier to play than golf.
Ah Meow couldn't contain himself when he saw the balls flying around the court.
Right after Li Du put him down so he could take a rest, the ocelot jumped over to the court and started running around.
Li Du was so tired that he had no energy left to chase after him. He could only shout after the big cat. "Ah Meow, come back here!"
Ah Meow ignored Li Du's call and continued chasing after the balls. They seemed like fish to him. He jumped around; then he used a paw to swipe a ball and pounced on it.
The croquet balls were small: the size of pool balls. The material used was hard and heavy like pool balls as well. So when Ah Meow hit the ball with his paw it was very painful—he felt the pain in his bones. He mewled a few miserable cries and stumbled a few times running back to his master.
After that, Ah Meow sat down quietly. This didn't last long, however, because he found another thing to do: catch fish with his paw.
There was a pond in the garden. Much like a Chinese garden, they had aquarium fish like goldfish in it.
The first to notice the fish was Crispy Noodles. He cast a sneaky look at the fish and crawled quietly to the pond. He swung his paw in the water and tried to catch one.
Those poor fish were shocked by this. Normally, those who came to the pond were men and women. No one had ever tried to catch the fish for food—not to mention with their bare hands.
Crispy Noodles was excited; he put his paw into the water and when the time was right, he immediately scooped out a fish; it landed on the ground!
Ah Meow's eyes sparkled. Fish!
Li Du was tired both physically and mentally, but he still stood up and chased after the two furry rascals. "Why can't you guys stay quiet for a moment?" he scolded. "F*cking come back to me now!"
Ah Meow and Crispy Noodle thought Li Du had decided to join in their adventure, so they ran around the pond, waiting for Li Du to catch them. Li Du could only chase after them using whatever strength he had left until he finally caught both of them.
When Li Du returned to where he'd been sitting, Ah Ow was missing.
Li Du panicked and thought, Ah Ow is still a puppy. What if she was taken away by someone else? Li Du was extremely upset because Sophie could become angry about this. He was afraid that she would break up with him.
Just when Li Du was about to go to the hotel staff to ask them to show him the CCTV, Ah Ow appeared before him. The chubby little puppy had been finding spots to do her business. She'd peed happily all over the garden as if she wanted to mark her scent.
Li Du felt weak all over; he laid down on the chaise lounge and watched her run around the garden. He was upset that all of his pets loved to make him worry about them.
As Ah Ow was peeing, her nose suddenly twitched. She sniffed around, then ran to a sandy area and started to dig up the sand.
Li Du glanced at her and said, "Ah Ow, please stop digging. I am begging you, please come back right now!"
Ah Ow ignored him and in no time, she had dug a small hole.
Li Du was speechless and decided to let her do what she wanted. Since it was part of the garden, he could cover it up with more sand afterward.
Ah Ow continued digging and suddenly came running to Li Du with something in her mouth. She tried to climb onto his leg.
Li Du glanced down and noticed that Ah Ow had a bracelet in her mouth. The bracelet was decorated with bright and colorful gems; the gems seems dirty due to the long time underground.
It looked like a fake gemstone bracelet, but in case it was actually a real one he released the little bug to examine it.
His guess had been wrong.
When the little big was released, it filled with excitement and immediately flew to the bracelet. It started to suck the time energy from it.
Li Du wanted to summon it back, but he thought for a while and let it be. The bracelet had been found by Ah Ow in the middle of nowhere, so there was nothing wrong with claiming it as his own.
As the little bug continued sucking the time energy, the bracelet became duller and older; it eventually lost its shine and started to have cracks on it, and then it broke into fragments.
After the little bug had finished taking all the time energy from the bracelet, Li Du wanted to take a closer look at it. But the moment he touched the bracelet, it collapsed into dust.
Ah Ow realized that Li Du had great interest in the bracelet, so she went back to the hole she made and continue digging.
Li Du wondered why there had been a treasure buried in the sand. He decided to go take a look at the hole. As Ah Ow continued digging, something was unveiled!