Seeing that Li Du was interested, Wang Zhongshi said, "If you are interested in going to South Africa, you can contact me. I can bring you around the Congo and Zambia."
Cao Fan added, "Brother Li, if you really are intending to head over to the Congo for a vacation, it would be best to contact Old Wang. He still has some power in the Congo."
Wang Zhongshi smiled. "Yeah, even though it doesn't compare to the power Er Gou has in San Francisco and throughout California, the power I have in the Congo is still substantial."
"The power that Er Gou's family has is not only limited to California. It extends to the entire west coast," someone commented.
Cao Fan waved his hand and said, "Ha, people will misunderstand and think that I'm currently some sort of gang member. The Cao family has long been law-abiding, and I am currently earning my income through a legitimate job."
Li Du very quickly understood that Cao Fan's background was not an ordinary one, and that the Cao family most likely had a lot of power in America.
After revolving around Cao Fan, the topic of the conversation finally returned to Africa.
Everyone was interested in the lifestyle and jobs in Africa. Even though Africa, which had a large landmass, was poor, it was filled with opportunities. If one was brave enough to give it a shot and was able to survive, they would definitely be able to make it big.
Since Wang Zhongshi was an expert in this aspect, he gave everyone an explanation.
Besides working in the Congo, Wang Zhongshi also worked in Zambia. As both the Congo and Zambia were located on a stretch of copper-rich land, they frequently clashed over issues regarding copper.
"Similar to the copper-rich land, there are also diamond-rich lands that span across both countries. Despite that, both countries have different situations. Even though Zambia contains more diamonds than the Congo, they are located relatively deeper underground.
"In the Congo, quite a number of diamonds are out in the open and can be mined by the public. Furthermore, the number of diamonds in the Congo is very high. At times, one is able to harvest several diamonds just from a single river."
After hearing Wang Zhongshi's explanation, a young woman with hair reaching to her shoulders and exquisite makeup asked in a feminine manner, "Brother Wang, what do you mean by mined by the public?"
Wang Zhongshi conveniently placed his arms around her and smirked. "Give me a kiss, give me a kiss, and I will tell you."
The woman gave him a shove and said in a half-declining, half-accepting manner, "How annoying. I don't want to. You are embarrassing me."
The people around shouted simultaneously, "Quickly, kiss him so we can continue listening to his story."
"It's just a kiss. Old Wang has a lot of treasures in his possession. Are you not interested in his treasures?" someone joked.
After a round of shouting and laughter, the woman gave Wang Zhongshi a kiss.
Wang Zhongshi laughed loudly and said, "Public mining is a unique policy created by the government of Congo to solve the Congo's unemployment problem.
"The locals are able to apply for a manual mining license. So long as they are able to afford the small application fee and a shovel, they can go to mines to search for diamonds and dig for copper."
The woman, who was still at Wang Zhongshi's side, asked, "In that case, we are also able to do that?"
Wang Zhongshi looked sideways at her and replied, "Yes. However, you have to be able to ensure that you can survive. For such a beautiful girl like you, consider me wrong if you are able to survive in the Congo for more than 24 hours with no one protecting you."
"It's that scary?"
Wang Zhongshi sighed. "Didn't Boss Song say so earlier? Even though he is a tough fella and a mine owner as well, he was easily robbed."
"Have you seen something like that?" Li Du asked.
Wang Zhongshi nodded. "Yes, there was a huge incident in the past. A woman, a very naive Caucasian woman from a rich family, went to the Congo to take pictures for National Geographic magazine. In the end, after leaving her room at night, she never returned. Guess what became of her after she was found?"
"She was dead?"
Wang Zhongshi shook his head. "Not an ordinary death. Every orifice in her body had been violated, and she suffered lacerations all over her body."
A few women, who had terrified looks on their delicate faces, gasped in shock.
Wang Zhongshi said, "I'm not going to scare you guys anymore. Let's continue talking about public mining. There are quite a number of families in the Congo relying on it to survive. After selling us the ore, they would go to a supermarket to purchase food."
It was not possible for the Chinese in the Congo to form an alliance. Wang Zhongshi explained that besides the Chinese, people from other countries had also spotted the opportunity to get rich in Africa.
Take the Congo for example. In the past, its mining industry was dominated by the Indians and Lebanese people. After the Chinese came over, they took over the industry with their guns and fists.
However, once they managed to take over the industry, making money became a lot easier. Wang Zhongshi's current net worth was not low. From their conversation, Li Du suspected that Wang Zhongshi's net worth was billions of US dollars.
Before coming to Sydney, Li Du felt rich. However, it was only after arriving in Sydney that he realized he was narrow minded. With so many rich people in the world, there was still a long way for him to go.
The purpose for Cao Fan bringing him over this time was to get familiar with him and for him to meet more people.
Everyone was drinking, chit-chatting, and laughing together. Even though they did not understand much about one another, they at least knew one another and could introduce each other to money-making opportunities.
After staying at the restaurant until the wee hours, they began to leave.
Since most of the beautiful women at the gathering were brought there by the men, they left with the men after the gathering ended. As for what they were going to do after, everyone was well aware.
Some of the women were brought there by other women for the purpose of meeting these rich people. Everyone was also well aware of why they wanted to meet these rich people.
As Li Du was refined and courteous, had good looks, a strong physique, and a high net worth, he was the first choice of all of the women, which was clear from how they treated him.
Li Du was considered the man of the hour. Everyone treated him in a very friendly manner and kept a low profile when in front of him.
This made him curious. When it came to net worth, his was probably only more than a billion but less than two billion. In the eyes of ordinary people, he was considered a magnate. However, he was insignificant in the eyes of these people.
Despite that, everyone treated him in a unique manner, as if they were certain that he was some extremely powerful person, or that he represented some wealthy organization.
Li Du guessed that it could be Cao Fan's attitude towards him that caused such speculation from others. As everyone else was sharp, they probably realized that Cao Fan respected Li Du the most and as a result, wrongly estimated his net worth.
Towards the end of the gathering, there were quite a number of women following Li Du and asking him questions regarding black opals.
Those women were most likely overseas students studying in Australia. As they would usually visit various parts of Australia during the holidays, some of them had been to Lightning Ridge before. With a high EQ and rich experiences, they were extraordinarily great at chit-chatting. They very much enjoyed chit-chatting with Li Du.
Li Du originally thought that those women were high-class call girls. After chit-chatting with them, he realized that this was not the case, and that those women were opportunists seeking opportunities from rich people like him.
When the people at the gathering began to leave, a few women dropped hints to Li Du that they were interested in him.
Despite that, Li Du knew that what they were interested in were his money and resources. Reasons such as, "You are very interesting,""You know so much," and, "You live such a fulfilling life," were all nonsense. Why did no beautiful women say those words to him when he was an overseas student in the past?
As such, even after those women expressed their interest in developing a relationship with him, Li Du did not respond to them. After quietly leaving the gathering, he got into a car and headed back to the hotel.