Chapter 808: Mala Ge Bazi
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The boss's explanation was thought up at the last minute. While Li Du was walking over to the store, he saw another tool leasing store next door.
Consequently, he said, "I'm not interested in this set. If you guys don't have anything better, I will have to go over to the adjacent store and take a look."
The boss started laughing. Two miners, who were repairing an electric drill, also started laughing.
"What's the matter?" Li Du asked while frowning.
In a relaxed manner, the boss replied, "If you do go over there, mate, you will realize that there isn't even broken metal waiting for you there. There's only air. That rental store had already shut down."
Li Du released the little bug and flew it quickly to the adjacent store. Earlier, he did not notice anything and only saw a sign hanging on the entrance of the store's workshop.
This time around, the little bug flew into the store and took a look inside. Indeed, there was no one there.
Despite that, there was something inside the warehouse, a helicopter that had a beautiful design with a pale blue and white body.
When Li Du saw the helicopter, he subconsciously thought that there was someone inside it. However, after a brief search by the little bug, not a single person was found. The inside of the store only had a helicopter in it.
The boss, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses, explained, "The neighboring store went out of business a long time ago. All of his machines are here with me. Truth be told, even the workshop and warehouse are not his anymore. He sold those to the owner of the mine at the back."
A miner added, "An old man's mine. From what I know, the mine seems to have been closed, and the government is planning to auction it off. It has already been a very long time since there was someone managing the mine and paying taxes for it."
The boss said, "Yeah. I know what happened. That boss is an idiot. When his company in Sydney encountered financial problems, he took the company's money and ran."
Just like that, both parties started chit-chatting about the mine. Having seemingly gotten Li Du in his grasp, the boss no longer cared about him.
Seeing this, Li Du smiled and told Lu Guan, "Let's leave and go take a look at other rental stores. We will gather the tools ourselves."
Li Du and his group turned around and walked away. Seeing that Li Du and his group were really going to leave, the boss finally became anxious and walked over to them to stop them. "Mate, do you guys have a problem with this set of tools? What do you not like about it?"
Li Du replied, "Replace the balls in the ball mill with new ones. Also, replace the rock hand drill machine's power supply with a new one. Replace the belt on the conveyor system as well. With those changes, I can, reluctantly, be interested in the set."
Now the boss finally understood the situation. Instead of trying to cheat him, Li Du was truly knowledgeable about this industry.
The boss responded grudgingly, "Seems like I did something silly. I have misjudged you. You are an expert."
Although some time was wasted, Li Du ultimately managed to obtain the tools that he wanted. Even though the tools that the boss took out afterward did not have a nice appearance, they were extremely sturdy and durable, which was exactly what mining required.
Li Du handed over the money. As the boss had a truck, he would deliver the tools.
With Li Du and his group's off-road vehicle leading the way, they drove to the mine that Blanchett had introduced to Li Du yesterday.
Having reached the mine's entrance, Li Du felt that something was amiss. Why are there people working in this mine?
When they drove their cars to the mine, a tall, burly miner walked out and asked, "Hey, mates, what are you guys doing?"
Li Du got out and replied, "This is my mine. I should be the one asking that question. What are you guys doing here?"
The miner started laughing. In a relaxed manner, he said, "This is a pretty interesting joke. However, I don't have time to joke with you guys. This is not your mine, unless you are saying that to cause trouble."
A miner popped his head out from a small cabin and asked, "Billy, what's going on?"
The burly miner shouted, "Someone came over. He's the Chinese guy who recently became famous at the Planet Star Bar. He says this mine is his."
The miner in the cabin started laughing and said, "No, he's joking."
As Li Du had brought along the land lease, he took it out, showed it to the miner, and said, "I'm not joking. Maybe you guys don't know, I bought this place yesterday."
"You are a really rich man, d*mn," the miner said in admiration after seeing the brand new land lease.
After opening the land lease and taking a look at it, the miner pointed towards the southeast and said, "You're wrong. Mr. Li, your mine is over there. It's not this mine."
The boss, who was transporting the tools, got out of his truck, took a look at the land lease, and said, "Yeah, this is mine number 114. Yours is number 115, it's located to the south."
Feeling that something was amiss, Li Du asked, "How is this possible? I came here to have a look yesterday. Tell me, who is the owner of this mine? Is it Chris Bates?"
"No, it's Blanchett," the miner replied.
The boss nodded and said, "This mine belongs to crafty Blanchett. The mine that you bought also belongs to him. This is very interesting. You bought this mine, how did you not know about this when you bought this mine from him?"
All of a sudden, Li Du's expression underwent a drastic change.
He had been scammed by Blanchett!
Li Du kept the lease and returned to the car. With a dull look on his face, he said, "Drive over to the mine to the south."
He had taken notice of the mine to the south yesterday. Even though the mine to the south also had an area of over a square hectare, like the number 114 mine, it had been mined to a greater extent and had uneven pits everywhere.
After the car drove over, Li Du released the little bug and sent it underground. What he saw through the little bug's vision made his heart sink.
Just like the movie "Tunnel War," which he watched when he was young, the underground section of the mine was left a mess from being mined and had a countless number of pits.
The pits were scattered all over the place like stars in the sky. Although some areas did not have any pits, they were filled with shattered rocks. This type of mine had less value even compared to excavated mines. Li Du knew this was a trash mine that had been backfilled with shattered rocks.
There was no hope of finding gemstones here. With the underground section of the mine left a mess after being mined, even going down would be very difficult, let alone continuing to mine the underground section and searching for gemstones.
The boss caught up to them and asked, "What's going on? You bought this mine?"
With a dull look on his face, Li Du finally cursed using his hometown's dialect, "Cao, mala ge bazi!"
As he had been scammed by Blanchett, the boss's words would also, not surprisingly, anger him. He had been too trusting of Blanchett. Without having understood clearly the many procedures involved, he carried out his first deal in a muddle-headed manner.
He was even touched by Blanchett's help in settling the paperwork for the deal. In truth, Blanchett was scamming him.
When Li Du asked the boss about Chris Bates, the boss shook his head and told him that there was no mine owner called Chris here. However, Blanchett had a brother-in-law named Chris Bates.
What else could Li Du say? The truth had been uncovered.
Blanchett had worked together with his brother-in-law to scam him by selling him an abandoned mine.
As the previous owner of a mine would only sell it after they felt that there were no more gemstones in it, the selling price would generally be discounted.
For a mine like the number 115, no one would buy it, even after its price had been discounted. Consequently, Blanchett was forced to keep it... until Li Du came along.