Chapter 832: Gang Confrontation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du purchased the number 122 mine at only 680,000 AUD, which was lower than the market price. Something must be up whenever there was an abnormality. Why would a normal mine be sold at such a low price?
The boss, who was a small old man, said that he wanted to sell the mine and retire. Consequently, he only wanted to quickly get it off of his hands and hence, was willing to sell it at a low price.
Truth be told, Li Du knew the real reason. The old man had quoted a low price because he was unable to manage the mine due to getting bullied by his neighbors.
The mines in Lightning Ridge were divided by the government according to area. Just like how a chessboard was divided, every mine was surrounded by other mines.
To the west of the number 122 mine was the number 121 mine, to the east was the number 123 mine, to the north was the number 240 mine, and to the south was the number 49 mine. Furthermore, there were still four other mines at the four corners of the number 122 mine.
The number 122 mine was surrounded. Of course, the other mines, except for those along the town's border, were also surrounded by eight other mines. This arrangement was like a formation in the game of Go.
Under normal circumstances, neighboring mines would not interfere with each other and would focus solely on digging their own mines.
However, the number 122 mine was very unlucky. It's eight neighbors were all very unreasonable and would dig into the number 122 mine's area uninvited.
In other words, even though the nine mines were divided normally when viewed from the surface, the eight surrounding mines all had underground tunnels dug into the number 122 mine.
Having discovered this problem through the little bug, Li Du had to resolve it.
As Aubrey and his group had worked in Lightning Ridge for over ten years, they were naturally very familiar with such ambiguous rules. When Li Du decided to purchase the number 122 mine, Aubrey and his group went to find out more about its situation.
What they found was just like what Li Du had seen. "The surrounding bastards are very domineering. They treat the number 122 mine as their own and have all dug underneath it."
Hearing this, Li Du frowned. "Is Mr. Anderson really so easily bullied? Why didn't he call the police? This is considered intruding, right?"
Randall shrugged his shoulders. "This mine actually doesn't belong to him, it belongs to his younger brother. However, his younger brother died in an accident, and he inherited the mine.
"When his younger brother was alive, he was a very domineering person. As such, no one dared to provoke him. Mr. Anderson's personality is opposite of his younger brother's. As he is extremely weak, those bastards around him began bullying him. Of course, they were also getting back at him for being bullied by his younger brother in the past."
Li Du said, "He is really weak. Nonetheless, mining is indeed a dangerous job. Did the previous owner die inside the mine?"
Aubrey chuckled. "No, that guy died in a woman's bed."
Li Du was dumbfounded. "There's such a thing?"
The few burly men laughed covertly and started gossiping.
The whole matter was very simple. The previous owner of the mine, young Anderson, got together with a married woman, which the woman's husband found out about. In the end, due to young Anderson's domineering personality, he ignored the husband's warnings and continued hooking up with his wife.
As such, when young Anderson hooked up with the woman again, the husband, who could no longer tolerate it, rushed into their room with a rifle in hand. Following which, the adulterous pair's blood splattered all over the bedside...
Mainly due to the eight boorish men, who were all vulgar people, describing the sexual interactions between young Anderson and the woman in great detail, even going as far as to describe the positions that they were in, Li Du listened to them with relish.
Li Du felt that listening to them was much more exciting than watching pornography.
After listening to their descriptions, Li Du asked, "How do you guys know so clearly? D*mn it, did you guys make it up to tease me?"
Aubrey raised his hand and said, "No no no, boss, I swear we didn't. It's the truth, we have all seen it."
Holiday took out his smartphone, showed it to Li Du, and chuckled. "This is recorded by Wally. He installed a camera in the bedroom. After recording them, he posted it online."
Wally was the victim in the incident and was the cuckold who ended up in prison.
Li Du became uninterested in the video after briefly viewing it. There were barely any interesting segments in the video.
Having understood the reason behind the problem, he had to resolve it.
After pondering for a while, he instructed the eight men to invite the eight mine owners to the bar to have a talk.
Six out of the eight mine owners arrived at the bar while the remaining two mine owners said that they were not in Lightning Ridge. As such, Li Du settled the six mine owners first.
As the miners were all working in the afternoon, the bar was relatively empty. Li Du sat in a corner and planned for his upcoming trip to Sydney.
It was fast approaching the end of May, which was when he had to head over to Sydney to attend the autumn jewelry showcase.
Brother Wolf and Godzilla sat on the left and right of Li Du, respectively. Later on, the mine owners opened the door and walked into the bar. They did not come alone and all of them had brought one or two people along with them.
Godzilla started laughing after seeing this sight.
Li Du asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Godzilla replied, "I thought about my life in the past. When I was in Mexico, I would frequently attend meeting like this, gang confrontations."
After Li Du looked at his side and then at the mine owners and the miners that they had brought along walking over, he also felt that it was like a gang confrontation. Similar to gangsters, most of the mine owners and miners had plump and hefty physiques.
With the six mine owners here, Li Du amicably extended his hand and introduced himself.
A mine owner by the name of York Lennon smiled. "We already know a lot about you, Mr. Li. We have seen you on TV twice."
Li Du had been on TV three times after coming to Australia. The first time was due to a shark flying onto the shore, the second time was due to rescuing the kidnapped children, and the third time was due to having saved Marcos and Aubrey not long ago.
A mine owner by the name of Wright said, "Yes, we have already heard about you. As a matter of fact, we have even met not long ago. I attended Marcos's party."
"That fella, Marcos, is such a scaredy cat. Scared after getting trapped once? Ha, even women are tougher than him," a miner sneered.
Aubrey and three other of his group members, who were also here at the bar, were initially at the door to welcome the mine owners. Now, with all the mine owners here, Li Du had instructed them to sit at the side and drink beer.
The expression on the faces of Aubrey and three others in his group changed after hearing the mine owner's words. Aubrey stood up and bellowed, "F*ck you, Ulysses, what nonsense are you saying?"
The mine owner looked at him with disdain and said, "Is this a place for you to speak? I was talking to your boss. Don't interrupt."
The other mine owners chimed in one after another, "What's the matter, Aubrey? You still think that you are Marcos's man? Don't say such words at Li's mine."
"Li, control him. You have to control your men. These miners are all wild horses. You have to learn how to control them."
"Sit down Aubrey, aren't you tired of standing? If you have any grievances, you can go find Marcos and complain to him."
Aubrey felt enraged and embarrassed. Truth be told, he was Li Du's subordinate now, and since the mine owners did not attack Li Du, it was a little out of place for him to interrupt them.
Feeling that the situation had become interesting, Li Du beamed while looking at the scene. These people are really like thugs. They are digging a pit for him to jump in.