Chapter 669: Horseshoe Town
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After speaking with Brother Wolf, Li Du approached Hans, who was on the phone, and said, "Let Victoria stay and hang out with Ivana."
Hans covered the speaker and said, "I'm trying, but Mother Mesa's stubborn. I'll try harder."
Li Du waved his hand. "Not just try—exhaust all your means. Gotta keep her, it's a political mission."
Hans stared at him blankly and then spoke into his mobile phone. "Well, Mother Mesa, for God's sake, if like you said, you regard Little Fox Fox as your son, then let your children reunite . . . "
As he spoke, he came over and pushed Li Du away so that he couldn't listen in on the conversation.
More than ten minutes later, Hans hung up and walked over. He sighed, "As per your instruction, BOSS, I've completed the political mission."
Li Du nodded satisfactorily. "Well done, Little Fox Fox."
"Who's Little Fox Fox?" asked a stunned Big Quinn, who was hard at work.
Pissed off, Hans hollered, "Shut up. I don't want to hear this name one more time, or I'll fight it out with you!"
Li Du laughed loudly; he hadn't expected Mother Mesa to give Hans such a sappy nickname.
So Victoria stayed. There were two rooms with two beds, and the two little girls would be sleeping there together.
Since the start of dinner, the two girls had begun to chatter about the activities for the evening.
Ivana showed her the toy she'd been sleeping with and also gave her a beautiful set of pajamas. Victoria was happily working on a drawing; Li Du took a peek—the lass was designing the decoration for their small room.
He spoke to Brother Wolf with a tinge of resignation. "Keep an eye on them. Don't let them bicker."
Brother Wolf smiled warmly and said, "Yes, boss."
The two little girls started to live together early December, and Li Du told Sophie about the whole matter.
Sophie was thrilled that this had a good ending. The two introverted girls comforted each other, supported each other and encouraged each other—they were good for each other.
From this period on, Li Du drove to the old goods market frequently.
Hoffman was not the only old goods market near Flagstaff and its surrounding areas. Many towns and remote areas had such markets of varying scales, and so he went everywhere to have a look.
Hans couldn't understand why, as he felt that the profits made at the old goods market were much less than those from storage auctions. Furthermore, as the two of them were more familiar with the latter, they shouldn't bother with the former.
Li Du couldn't explain that he'd gone to the old goods market not only to make money but also to replenish the little bug's energy.
He had amassed nearly 30 million dollars before accounting for taxes. That was way too much money for him to still have any interest in storage auctions.
There might be little money to earn from the old goods market, but there was time capability for the little bug to absorb—this was much better than earning money.
The city of Flagstaff was connected to the Colorado Plateau, and in the northwest was the Colorado River. On the southeast bank of this river, there was another old goods market called "Horseshoe Town."
As the Colorado River flowed through Arizona, several segments were curvy resembling a horseshoe. When Li Du had visited the Hopi Reservations, he had seen something similar—the Horseshoe Bend.
The Horseshoe Town they were going to was not directly related to the Horseshoe Bend he had previously seen. It was just a similar shape in the bend of the river, giving the town such a name.
As they drove over, Hans, who sat in the passenger seat, yawned, "Alright, let's go to the Horseshoe Bend, the faraway Horseshoe Bend. Even if there's no money to be made, at least we can get some grilled fish to eat, right?"
There were many freshwater fish in the Colorado River, salmon being the most famous.
In winter, salmon swam upstream to spawn. During this time, they were very fleshy and appealed to many gluttons.
Li Du said, "Patience, buddy, be patient. We can make money in this market. Besides, isn't it a pain to keep taking part in storage auctions? Wouldn't it be nice to have a change?"
Hans drawled, "Huh? A pain? We're working. Work may be a pain but we can earn money by working. What am I telling you this for? You're a billionaire now."
He said "billionaire" in a sarcastic voice, but his guess was correct—Li Du really was worth billions.
The two pickup trucks kept going and a few hours later, they finally entered the town.
Horseshoe Town was an old town, having been built over 200 years ago. It was the first place where the blacks and Native Americans had settled down in Arizona.
Initially, there were casinos—Native American casinos. The casinos had attracted a lot of people, and many of the early settlers were there because of the casinos.
The reason that the casinos had been built here was because the private casinos were previously not allowed in the United States. Given that the rivers, forests, mountains, and complicated terrain made it more challenging for the authorities to govern, the Native Americans built casinos there.
Later, the rise of Las Vegas coupled with the government permitting Native Americans to set up casinos within their respective tribal areas, the town fell into decline.
Casinos needed to be located in crowded places so as to enjoy more profits. Hence, many small casinos moved away.
With the relocation of the casinos, many residents who had moved here due to the casinos also moved away. Many of their items could not be taken with them and so they needed to be sold off.
Since then, there had been a huge market for old goods, and many Native Americans tribes and towns located nearby had gotten wind about this.
This way, with the passing of time, the town neither vanished because of the relocation of the casinos nor expand in size. The old goods market, however, grew larger in scale. The residents who had left were replaced by those who had visited and stayed on.
Even now, the roads to the town was hardly smooth—some were muddy paths. There were no highways for pickup trucks with huge horse power and high chassis to pass through.
After spending some time on the rugged hilly terrain, a road which had a big "U" signboard at the junction appeared. It said, "Welcome to Horseshoe Town - Make Your Fortune or Lose Your Pants."
Above the signboard was another sign showing a fishing line pulling a big fish. This was the specialty of the town—the American salmon.
Unlike Hoffman Town, old goods in Horseshoe Town were not laid on the ground in separate stalls. Here, there were many large and small old goods stores.
The bigger old goods stores were previously converted from casinos, and the small old stores were converted from homes. Along the main road, the doors to the homes were all wide open, showing all the display shelves within.
Looking at these shops, Li Du remembered the snack bars in his village back in his hometown from when he was little—they were similar and had the same display shelves.
Another resemblance was that the town was almost the same size as the village back in his hometown.
Horseshoe Town was rather small; it was less than three hundred acres in size, which was just barely more than a square mile. There were not many households here, but there were many tourists.