Chapter 795: Cross Street Flea Market
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du was surprised by Christie's presumptuous request. She wanted to cooperate with them.
"I talked to Hans, and I've learned that you came to catch black gold abalone, not for profit, but for fun, right?"
"You could say that, but it does make a lot of money. It's a good business to make money in," said Li Du.
She nodded. "Yes, it's a good business. I could make between $800,000 to a million per year for my ex-husband.
"Now, obviously I can't work with him anymore. I want to work with you, or for you, diving for black gold abalone."
Li Du frowned at her request and said, "Do you still want to continue diving?"
"I don't know what else I can do except this," she said wryly.
Li Du said, "In that case, why don't you buy yourself a black gold abalone harvesting permit? You have five million dollars, so you can buy one, right?"
Christie shook her head and said, "The black gold abalone permit is the favorite target of all Australian robbers. Even if I could buy one, it would be difficult for me to keep it, so I might as well not take the risk."
She paused and added, "And I can only buy a permit to use during the harvesting season. Now that the season is over, only your permit will allow me to go out to sea."
Li Du said, "It's winter right now. The water temperature here can be very low."
"I grew up in Hokkaido." She laughed. "Actually when I was a kid, and I was fishing for seafood, it was cold. This is nothing. I can wear a thicker diving suit."
Hearing this, Li Du was quite attracted by her proposal.
If he wanted to continue catching black gold abalone, Christie was the most suitable collaborator. She had superb diving ability, and she had been catching abalone since childhood. Her rich experience made her a very strong black gold abalone harvester.
Li Du couldn't decide. He said, "Why not let Hans decide? I will leave here in a few days. He will be the one using the black gold abalone permit."
Li Du had received Bob's diary about the black opal ore from Lightning Ridge and was going to New South Wales to see if he could find any gems.
As the water cooled, he could not bear to continue diving for black gold abalone.
Besides, as Christie had said, harvesting black gold abalone was mainly just a matter of interest for Li Du, not something he did to make a fortune.
After a night of festivities, the party ended at dawn, and the fishermen were ready to go on vacation.
However, there was one more thing to do before the fishermen could go.
Every black gold abalone season was a battle of nerves with fishermen preparing for battle with an abundance of diving suits, boats, tools, and more.
Now that the battle was over, they had to get rid of those things.
It was a waste because many of the items they bought were new at the beginning of the season and could be used for a long time.
However, Australia, unlike the United States, had a warehouse lease deal. The fishermen were mostly rich, so they didn't care about the minor cost. When it came to the harvesting season, they were more than willing to buy new equipment.
Diving suits and other supplies needed to be maintained when they were not in use, but the fishermen were busy taking vacations and enjoying life during the off season.
Diving was a dangerous activity, so they were more than willing to use a brand new set of tools at the beginning of each harvesting season in order to keep themselves safe.
With a black gold abalone permit in hand, making money was only a matter of time.
After the big party, the cross street became a big market again. Many people set up shop there, but this time they did not sell black gold abalone. Instead, they sold second-hand goods.
At this time of year, some visitors, island residents, and owners of dive rental stores came to dig for treasure. Much like with American flea markets, one could make money.
Hans called Li Du to go to the market, which had been their old business.
When he arrived at the cross street market, Li Du found that there were not only diving supplies but also many other second-hand goods including some bicycles, motorcycles, and even cars. The cross street market was no longer simply a place for fishermen to sell their old stock.
This was the result of the development of the cross street market. In previous years, only fishermen sold diving gear. Now the market attracted more people, some of whom sold many other types of things other than diving gear.
Li Du came to the market and let out the little bug to look for valuable things.
Flying close to a booth, the little bug hopped into a cabinet.
The cabinet was only half a meter tall and one meter long. It had four legs supporting a table with a drawer, a bit like the single desk used in Li Du's primary school.
From its appearance, it could be seen that this cabinet was handmade. Someone had polished the wood and assembled it. It wasn't pretty, but it was strong and durable.
In the drawer was a jumble of things including several boxes, each containing a small vehicle. These vehicles attracted the little bug.
The vehicles were a collection of motorcycles, tricycles, and all-terrain, four-wheel-drive vehicles the size of a child's palm. There were mini and cute, but they were not ordinary vehicles. Li Du looked carefully and found that they were made from the accessories of watches.
For example, the wheels were made from the back of a man's wristwatch, the wheels' rims were secured by a wristwatch strap, the headlights were made from a dial cover of a woman's watch, and the tires were made from a watch chain.
The vehicles were small and well made. Li Du used the ability to reverse time, and a series of images emerged.
The first image was of a snow-haired old man sitting in a room with clocks on the walls. There were several tables in the room, and there were watches on each table.
On some tables were books, some of which were thick tomes, and on top were drawings depicting watch designs.
Looking back, the old man was surrounded by small boxes full of watches, which either had broken chains, cracked dials or broken parts.
These were old watches.
The old man wore special glasses, which Li Du recognized as glasses that only a professional watch repairman would use. The old man patiently disassembled the watches and made them into vehicles.
Apparently, the cars in the desk had been carefully constructed by the old man. Li Du paid attention to the sign on the back of the watch's dial. All of them had the gold crown sign and five letters that spelled, ROLEX!