On his way to the trading floor, Li Du met Wright, Ulysses, Kidd, and others, all of whom were neighbors.
After Li Du had thrown the feces and urine into the pits that had been dug into the number 122 mine, his neighbors didn"t overreact, and when he went to Sydney, they didn"t bother him.
Someone might have been looking for trouble, however. G.o.dzilla said that Hubert, an angry man, had taken men into the mines, so Aubrey took a shovel and tools and beat them up.
Hubert and his party were bloodied. They could have called the police, but the police did not care. They had broken into someone else"s mine, and the law gave mine owners the power to fight back. This was a knock on the tiger. The owners of the mine were afraid of Aubrey and did not dare to come back.
Seeing Li Du, the men showed their displeasure. Li Du ignored them. He knew a lot of mine owners at Lightning Ridge, especially after rescuing Marcos. When he showed up with Steve, one of the mine owners said, "I haven"t seen you in a while, man. What have you been doing? Or have you found a big vein and are busy getting rich?"
Li Du punched the mine owner playfully and laughed. "We went to Sydney, and we had a jewelry showcase with Harry Winston. I went to see it."
"Wow, that"s a fancy occasion. I heard about this jewelry show. It is held at the Four Seasons, right?"
"That"s so enviable, Li. I heard that a lot of s.e.xy female stars go to that. Haha, you know what I mean." The mine owner winked at him.
"I read on the news that Miranda Kerr was at the jewelry showcase. D*mn it, that chick is so hot! It"s said that she and Orlando Bloom are getting divorced. I"ll take her!"
When the mine owner said this, there was a laugh. "Ha, Eddie, you"re dreaming. You would not have a chance, even if Miranda got divorced a hundred times."
"It"s cruel to say it, but it"s really true. Do you know Evan Spiegel? He"s dating Miranda," said Li Du. That was what Sophie had told him, and of course, it wasn"t cla.s.sified.
Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom had been rumored to be divorcing shortly after having a baby, and the pair had graciously admitted they were currently in the process of getting a divorce.
Someone asked, "Evan Spiegel, who is that?"
Li Du did not know. Sophie had told him that Miranda said the boy was very interesting. He seemed to be young but not a star.
Steve, who had been quietly listening nearby, nodded. "Evan Spiegel, I know who he is, a genius kid from Stanford who created Snapchat. He was financed by one of my father"s investment companies, and he"s going to be a billionaire."
Li Du was surprised, "You know him? Is he that good?"
"He"s really good. He has two partners, both good. The investment company is really looking forward to his next project," said Steve.
Li Du laughed. "I"m sure it is."
Steve shook his head and said, "I noticed his project because recently the company was in the middle of two rounds of financing to invest $10,000,000 for him."
"Who invested $10,000,000 in their company? Man, was it you?" asked a mine owner curiously.
"Have we started a bragging contest? Ten million dollars, my G.o.d, I"ve never seen $10,000,000 in my life."
"Hey, pretty boy, how about investing some money in my mine? H*ll, no more gems to dig up, and my mine will be auctioned off."
Wright, Ulysses, and the others gathered around, not pleased by Li Du"s popularity.
Ulysses said, "We have to teach this b*stard a lesson."
Hubert was livid. He touched his forehead and said, "Of course, it"s better to give him a memorable lesson. Does he think just because he saved Marcos once, he"s now the hero of Lightning Ridge?"
Someone walked slowly behind them and said, "You don"t like him, do you?"
It was true that Li Du had been very unpleasant to the group, but they were talking in secret and did not want word to get out.
At this, the group turned their heads, and then Wright laughed. "Ha, Blanchett, what are you doing here?"
Behind them was Blanchett, who had grown thin in a dozen days. He looked sick and unhealthy. He stared at Wright and the gang, and then he said, "You want to finish off that Chinese boy, don"t you? You hate him now, don"t you?"
Wright shrugged and said, "Maybe. We don"t really like him, but we don"t have to finish him off. Of course, we know that you really dislike him."
Blanchett felt more than dislike toward Li Du. He wanted to chop him up.
"There"s no need to hide it. Why don"t we be straightforward? This guy has some tricks. We have to be careful when dealing with him," Blanchett said.
Ulysses asked, "What do you mean?"
Blanchett replied, "You know he got a lot of gems a while ago. It made a big splash in the town."
Ulysses said, "Yes, but it was all from Harry Winston, right? We all know that he cheated you with those ores."
Hubert laughed. "Ha ha, you as an old scammer being cheated by someone else. To tell you the truth, what happened to you doesn"t deserve sympathy."
"Yes, we are not the same. You provoked the Chinaman, and we were provoked by him."
Ignoring the taunts, Blanchett said, "No, it wasn"t something he got from Harry Winston, it was something he dug up. I found a new tunnel at mine 115, which leads to number 114…"
"You probably dug it yourself," one of the mine owners interrupted.
"You don"t know anything, and you don"t know anything about this Chinese boy. He might have a unique way of judging where the stones are!" Blanchett stared at him hatefully.
Davis said, "It"s a joke. n.o.body has that skill."
"No, that"s what he"s got. His ore must have been dug out of number 115. I have a hunch, absolutely!"
After buying back the number 115 mine, he re-examined the mine, and found it had been backfilled. He found traces of gem mining in the rubble from the hole the miners had dug, so he guessed that Li Du"s gems had just been dug up at Lightning Ridge, and that he had dug up the vein of his number 114 mine!