Chapter 830: Eight Burly Men
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As miners were rugged people, the party that they organized was also very rugged.
Marcos booked the entire Planet Star Bar and invited mine owners, miners, and a few familiar town residents to celebrate his surviving the great catastrophe.
Similar to what Li Du saw during his first time at the bar, there was all sorts of beer, cocktails, pizzas, sandwiches, hamburgers, and roasted meat as well as various kinds of music playing loudly. However, there were no strippers.
It just so happened that miners loved strippers the most. With a bottle of beer in hand, someone found Marcos and asked, "Where are the ladies at? How come there aren't any ladies coming over?"
Marcos gave a warm smile and replied, "Hey, Big Kane, my good friend. There won't be stripteases for you to watch today, just quietly drink your beer."
Big Kane patted him on his shoulders and said in a displeased manner, "God, are you teasing me? Isn't inviting a group of miners to a party implying that there will be strippers?"
Marcos responded, "Since there are women among the VIPs, I think that having strippers should be avoided."
Right after Big Kane left in disappointment, someone else walked over and asked, "Why are the ladies who are performing the stripteases not here yet?"
Marcos smiled and replied, "There won't be any stripteases today…"
After Marcos handled the inquiries from several people, Aubrey ultimately shouted, "There won't be any stripteases today. We will only be drinking beer today."
Hearing his words, the miners let out a sigh of disappointment and finally stopped pestering Marcos.
Despite that, Marcos did not feel that he was being pestered. As he was in an exceptionally good mood, he handled any inquiries with a huge smile on his face.
Li Du specially complimented him. "You are a really good-tempered fella."
In a carefree manner, Marcos said, "I was extremely bad tempered in the past. When I was in the tunnel, I realized how precious life was, that every day and every hour was very precious, and that I ought to treasure them and treasure life. As such, why would I want to be angry?"
Aubrey responded, agreeing, "Yes, Boss Marcos. I swear that I will also become a good-tempered fella. Now…"
From behind, someone splashed a bottle of beer onto the top of Aubrey's head. Before finishing his sentence, Aubrey's face suddenly turned red, "F*ck, who the f*ck wants to meet God and have a chat with him? How dare you provoke me?"
Li Du and Marcos simultaneously burst into laughter. Following which, Marcos raised his cup at Li Du and both of them toasted each other.
There were people constantly coming over to pat Li Du on his shoulder and toast him. In less than half an hour since the party started, there were already at least a dozen groups of people coming over to toast Li Du.
Marcos brought Li Du to the bar counter. A bartender asked, "Marcos, 12 barrels of our home brewed beer have already been emptied. Still want to continue serving?"
"Why not?" Marcos responded, "Continue serving the beer to make everyone happy, happy!"
"Oh yeah!" The people nearby, who had heard his words, cheered.
Li Du said, "Seems like there will be a huge hole in your wallet today."
Marcos responded, "Happiness is the most important. Furthermore, this is my last party in Lightning Ridge. I hope to make it as grand and spectacular as possible."
Taken aback by his words, Li Du asked, "What do you mean? Last party?"
Marcos took a sip of beer, leaned on the bar counter, and said, "Oh, I want to leave Lightning Ridge. It's too noisy here. Let's go out and talk?"
With Brother Wolf faithfully and diligently following five meters behind Li Du and Marcos, the two of them squeezed out of the bar.
After Marcos sat down on a step in front of the bar, he said slowly, "I thought about a lot of things when I was trapped in the tunnel. It's funny when I say it out loud. I actually thought about the meaning of life.
"Where am I from? Where would I go if the rescue was to fail? What is life after death like? If I was to survive, how should I live life and cherish it?
"In the end, I decided to leave Lightning Ridge. I'm even going to leave Australia and head over to you guys' Asian countries, China, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand.
"Go to America, Europe, and the Arctic. Regardless, I want to travel the world and see this magnificent planet. I don't want to work so hard for money anymore. It's a waste of life."
Li Du asked, "Is this your dream?"
Marcos placed both hands behind his head, leaned back against a wall, looked up at the sky, and replied, "Yes, that's my dream. I have always wanted to become an explorer since my teenage days. Now, I'm going to make it a reality."
Li Du smiled. "Do you know what my dream was? My dream when I was a teenager?"
"What?" Marcos asked while beaming.
Li Du raised his head to look at the radiant sky and replied in a carefree manner, "An astronaut. I want to go to space. Walk in space, look down on Earth, look out over the Milky Way..."
Marcos burst into laughter and said, "My dream is still kind of easy to achieve. Yours is too difficult. Nonetheless, I cannot mock you as we are at the same starting point."
After speaking, he raised his beer bottle and wanted to toast again. "A toast to our adorable and pathetic dreams."
Marcos was prepared to sell off all three of his mines. He was not a very wealthy person and still had unpaid bank loans. After selling his mines to pay off his loans, he would use the remaining money to travel.
Nonetheless, he was also not poor and owned a small farm and villa in Sydney. Even though those two things might not be able to make him into a magnate, he would not starve.
As Li Du did not want to put Marcos in a difficult position, he did not bring up the matter of buying his three mines. After all, since Li Du was his savior, what suitable price could be quoted for the three mines?
After a brief moment of silence, Marcos looked at Li Du and said, "Li, I have a bold request to ask. I'm not sure if I can say it out loud."
Li Du responded, "Of course you can. If you want to get an explorer's guide for China, I will definitely do my best to help you."
Marcos said, "Thanks, but this request is much more demanding. I want to ask if you have any interest in hiring Aubrey and those fellas."
Li Du muttered something to himself before asking, "What do you mean?"
Marcos sighed, "Aubrey and the others have worked for me for over ten years. We have been together since the days when we could only brag and chase women. As those fellas don't know how to manage their finances, I am not able to stop worrying about them."
Li Du responded, "You don't have to give yourself so much stress. They are all outstanding adults. Who knows how many mine owners in Lightning Ridge are waiting to hire them?"
Marcos shook his head and said, "I'm not their boss nor their leader. I'm their big brother. I understand those rascals."
He drank a mouthful of beer and said helplessly, "Maybe there are a lot of mine owners eyeing them for their ability to do work. However, after really interacting with them, the mine owners will realize that those eight rascals are very hard to manage. I think it won't take long before those rascals become notorious in Lightning Ridge.
"You are different, Li. You will definitely be able to manage them. So long as they are properly managed, those eight rascals will be a great help to you in Lightning Ridge.
"They are really outstanding in this industry. I'm not some d*mn salesperson randomly recommending my products to you. What I have said is true. Hire them, they will be of great help to you."
Li Du began pondering after hearing Marcos's introduction.