Chapter 1112: The Best Thing
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The villa’s bedroom was very well-equipped. Li Du arranged for the Martins to stay in
that room. Having the entire family in the same place would be more convenient for all
of them.
Two days later, at the beginning of December, the Martin couple got ready to hunt in the
desert. Li Du planned to accompany them.
Li Du brought Brother Wolf with him to accompany Mr. and Mrs. Martin while Sophie
and the rest stayed behind.
Their real motive was not hunting, but the wish to discuss family matters.
Desert hunting was a common branch of hunting in the southwestern United States.
Most people would think that there was no life in the desert. In fact, many animals lived
there, such as desert rabbits, desert foxes, and deer. Those were all animals they
hunted.
There was a desert south of Phoenix. It had weeds and low shrubs growing on the
surface of the earth.
The Martins were dressed in their hunting gear. James was an expert in hunting. Back
in Flagstaff, he often went to the mountains to hunt for wild beasts with his buddies.
Upon entering the desert, with his gun in tow, he looked around eagerly for prey.
Mrs. Martin had a mild interest in killing. As opposed to her husband, she was a devout
churchgoer. Sophie was just like her mother, but even more pious.
Seeing that her husband’s eyes were all lit up with excitement, Mrs. Martin glanced at
him and said, “Wasting your time on insignificant things!”
“Are you calling hunting insignificant?”
Li Du smiled but stayed silent. As the son-in-law, it was more appropriate for him not to
interrupt or make it seem as though he thought he knew better than the elders did.
Old Martin remembered his motive for coming to the desert. He said, “I am here to
demonstrate married life to Li Du. In fact, marriage and hunting are pretty similar.”
He looked around and said, “First of all, you have to look for prey. Not all animals are
suitable. You only have one shot. After you shoot, other beasts will run away, so you
need to cherish that opportunity…”
Li Di nodded. “You’re saying that Sophie is my prey and I should cherish the opportunity
to treat her well, right?”
Old Martin stared at him. “Rubbish. How can my precious daughter be your prey? I am
teaching you how to resolve problems post-marriage!”
Li Du amended, “Oh, I see. You’re saying that resolving marriage problems is just like
hunting. You can’t take a casual shot, you can’t resolve a problem without putting
thought into it. You should find the core problem and then take a good shot to resolve
that.”
Old Martin said, “Your comprehension skills are excellent. However, what I want to tell
you is that all that is useless. If a conflict crops up after marriage, you must first
apologize. Man, don"t worry about who’s right, just apologize. I know Sophie, that girl is
very kind. If you apologize, no matter what you do, she will forgive you…”
“Can you be more serious?” Mrs. Martin was starting to get frustrated.
Old Martin put his hands in the air. “I am being very serious.”
Li Du and Brother Wolf caught each other’s’ eye and both of them stifled their laughter.
Mrs. Martin decided to broach another topic. She asked, “Li, regarding your nationality,
what do you think about it?”
Li Du replied, “I wish to retain my Chinese citizens.h.i.+p. However, I wish to apply for
permanent residency in America. After all, my career is here. I have no opinion on
Sophie’s nationality. As for our children’s nationality, I will leave it up to them to choose.”
Mrs. Martin nodded. “That’s fair. How about three, five, ten years down the road? What
plans do you guys have in store?”
Li Du said, “We have plans. In three years, I want to buy a small island in Australia. At
the same time, I will develop the diamond mine that I contracted in South Africa. After
that, with the funds from diamond mining, I would develop the island. There are also
mineral deposits on the island…”
Other than about the little bug, there was nothing he could not tell them.
Li Du had never thought about hiding his financial situation from Sophie and her family.
Even more so, he had never thought about hiding anything from his own parents.
However, he felt that he could now tell Sophie and her family, but he still was unable to
tell his parents about his a.s.sets all at once.
He had to reveal the information about his a.s.sets slowly to allow his parents to take it in
bit by bit. Otherwise, they would definitely be worried and afraid if they knew that he was
suddenly worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
His parents would not only be concerned as to how he got his riches, but more
importantly, they would fear for his safety.
At the end of the last century and at the beginning of this century, Li Du’s hometown
experienced two kidnapping cases. The victims were both wealthy individuals. From
then on, the wealthy have been keeping their wealth private and secret.
The Martins opened their mouths in shock and stared at him blankly. Although both of
them were older, more knowledgeable and have had more experience, they were still
shocked.
The Martins were considered upper middle cla.s.s in the United States. They did not lack
money and led a prosperous life, but they did not have excessive wealth or much spare
cash on hand.
Additionally, most of the people they interacted with in school were their colleagues and
students. They hardly crossed paths with rich people.
It was even rarer for them to interact with people like Li Du, with so much acc.u.mulated
wealth.
The old man tried hard to swallow, and said, “That, Li, you are not… are you not doing
warehouse auction work? Are warehouse auctions so profitable?”
Mrs. Martin egged him on, “You should resign and join him too.”
Li Du started to laugh. “Warehouse auctions are indeed pretty good. I earned my first
big win here, it was more than a few hundred thousand.”
He started to give them an explanation about his career. In terms of warehouse auction,
he picked the top examples to describe. For example, he talked about the Batman
chariots, the Dodo skeleton, and the two famous paintings by Van Gogh.
Then he talked about his experience of looking for fire opals in the fossil park. He
continued telling about how that became an opportunity for him to first connect with
Harry Winston, Inc. before he became a shareholder.
After that, he once again explained the reasons he went to Australia and described what
he found there. He talked about how he eventually went to Africa and saved a Pygmy
tribesman there. He told them about how the Pygmies helped him to discover a
diamond mine.
As he was telling his stories, the Martins reacted animatedly. Sometimes they gasped,
then they were surprised and awed. Towards the end of narrating his experience, Li Du
felt like he was retelling a novel.
Fortunately, the audience who was listening to his stories was very good and
cooperated with him as he spoke.
The couple felt that they were watching a blockbuster movie. After listening to his
narration, Sophie’s father exclaimed, “Unbelievable, Li, what you have experienced in
the past two years!”
Mrs. Martin started to worry. Her eyes looked uncertain as she said, “Li, your
achievements, they came too quickly. Oh, it’s not that I’m doubtful about you or
anything. I just wanted to say, you’re really too impressive. Sophie, uh, Sophie is a very
ordinary lady…”
“She’s the best of G.o.d’s creation,” Li Du said earnestly. “I am not saying that just
because you guys are her parents. I feel that I have met with good luck since I came to
America. But the luckiest thing that happened to me is Sophie.”
He looked ahead, thinking back to the first time he met Sophie. He could not help but
smile, and emphasized, “Meeting her, falling in love and making her fall in love with me,
that’s the best thing that happened to me in America. In fact, it’s probably the best thing
that happened in my entire life!”
Mrs. Martin grinned. “No, you guys will experience even better things in the future. I
wish you guys every happiness.”
Her husband nodded his head and Mrs. Martin gestured for him to say a few words. Old
Martin was silent for a while before he asked with a serious face, “Can we hunt now?”