Li Du's current situation was truly miserable.
However, at the end of the day, not only did a part of the house belong to Hans but at the same time, he was still Hannah's brother. Now that Hans was back, as well as because according to their contract, Li Du's lease was almost up, perhaps it was time to move out.
Nearing sunset, Li Du wanted to take a walk, however, just as he neared the door, he heard the sound of an argument coming from the yard.
"… Isn't that Chinese boy's lease almost up? Just kick him out then!" That was Hans's voice.
"Kick him out, kick him out, kick him out, how can you say such a terrible thing in such a relaxed tone? Do you know what kind of hardships he had to endure in the recent weeks?", came Hannah's frustrated reply.
"What does that have to do with us? Sister, you are too innocent, you don't know the harshness of today's world…"
"I say, Hans, did you finally remember that you have a sister? And I do know of the harshness of the outside world which is exactly why we need to have a kind heart. According to Jesus Christ…"
"Oh please spare me, you know that I don't believe in God," Hans interrupted Hannah while cradling his head, "Can you really not ask that Chinese boy to just leave?"
"I know what you are thinking of doing Hans. I need to go to my night shift right now, but if I come back only to find that Li had left, or that he's emotionally down, then I swear that I'll drive you out as well, and you know that I can carry out that promise!" Hannah said.
"Why are you treating him so well? Don't tell me that you're starting to like that nerd," Hans asked with a helpless voice.
"You know that it's not like that. Alright, to tell the truth, Li's facing a tough time right now and is stressed with a lot of things on his back. I don't want this issue to be the final straw for him, that isn't how we of the Fox Family treat others!" Hannah replied.
Hearing the two people's conversation, Li Du also quietly returned to his room. To avoid an awkward encounter, it was not the best time to appear at that time.
Hannah's care for him really touched Li Du, and a poor man had very few aspirations. However, Li Du was still a very upright Chinese guy, so at the end, he didn't want to accept that without giving anything back.
"Dammit, little bug, tonight I'm taking you to retrieve coins from the sewage!" Li Du said to himself as his sight turned to the little bug whose head was currently poking out of his palm.
In the circumstance where he had no available principal, what's the fastest way to make money? It's picking them off of the ground!
With that little bug avatar, there were actually many things that he could do. A coin collection was probably one of the most tiring methods, but it was also the one that would have the biggest payout in the least amount of time so he could save enough living expenses.
After Hannah drove away in her Ford, Li Du took his bag and prepared to go out.
On his way out, he saw Hans. That guy was like a homeless guy, sitting crookedly on the floor while playing with his phone seemingly without a care in the world.
Hearing his footsteps, Hans said without raising his head, "Hi Chinese boy, after sleeping for so long, you should be starving right now, right?"
Li Du really didn't know if he had a good or bad impression of Hans. Although that guy gave off a hippie vibe, he had never actually done anything wrong, or at least, nothing that was particularly harmful towards him.
Shrugging, he replied, "Somewhat, what about it?"
Hans immediately got up and said with a smile, "I'm also hungry, how about we share a pizza?"
"Your treat?"
"S*it! Weren't all of you Chinese people supposed to be rich? When I was in Los Angeles, I often heard news of Chinese buying up all of the mansions in the city."
Li Du took out his wallet without any hesitation and showed the $1 coins inside to Hans under his shining eyes.
"I just have these. You decide, how should I treat you?"
Hans just rolled his eyes before padding down his clothes to take out a green Alexander Hamilton.
The $100 bill had the portrait of Franklin, while this Alexander Hamilton, who was America's first Secretary of the Treasury, had his portrait painted on the $10 bills.
"Oh, look, we've got $15, enough for a black pepper and beef strips pizza from Pizza Hut." Hans proudly laughed. "And according to our contributions, I get three quarters while you get a quarter."
Li Du shook his head while looking at Hans, "No wonder your business went bankrupt, your calculation skills are truly pitiful, I get a third while you get two thirds, ok?"
Hearing that, Hans let out an angry expression, "Who said I'm bankrupt? I'm only facing some financial difficulties! Speaking the truth, I've only returned to Flagstaff this time to attend an auction, I'll soon be able to earn a lot once more!"
"Attending an auction?" Li Du replied with shock in his voice, "You actually have money to buy collectibles?"
In his mind, auctions were events only for the wealthy, as they had nowhere else to put their money.
However, looking at the sight of Hans padding down his entire body only to find $10, he didn't think that this guy had enough money for that type of artistic hobby.
Hans rolled his eyes again; it seemed that this was one of his habits, "What collectibles? I'll be attending the auction for a public storage!"
"Auction for a public storage?"
"Yep." Hans nodded his head. "This weekend, Flagstaff has about eight storages that are being auctioned. I've got inside news that this time, there's even a Kasrrow massage chair, if I can get my hands on it, hehe…" As he got to this topic, he almost began to drool.
Li Du's time in America wasn't long, so he didn't have a great amount of understanding of the way of life there. However, he had heard of public auctions but didn't really know anything else about them.
Compared to the rest of the world, America was somewhat different. This country had a unique culture revolving around the market for public storage.
As the country didn't have any particular population issues, young Americans didn't like to buy their own house early in life, and they would often prefer to lease instead. However, every time they moved, dealing with their possession could sometimes be a hassle, so as a result, the market around public storages was born. In that business model, the storage company buys up a piece of land to build warehouses and lease it to their customers, while the costumers would use those storages to deposit their stuff.
However, if the one leasing one of the warehouses did not pay their lease within the designated time period, then according to the law, the stuff in the storage would belong to the owners of the warehouse to deal with.
Usually, the most common method of dealing with them were auctions.
The people in that line of work were called "Treasure Hunters." Li Du only knew that Hans had his own business, but he had never thought that it would be that kind of business.
Li Du did not have full knowledge of that type of business, so he curiously asked, "How are you planning to operate? Is it only you that know of the massage chair being auctioned by the storage firm?"
Hans shook his head, "No, many people know of this news. This time, there's a total of eight storages being auctioned, and the chair is in one of them. As for which one, no one is completely sure, so I've got a one in eight chances of making the right choice."
"One in eight chances?! What difference is this from winning the lottery?"
"The difference is huge, the chance of winning a lottery is one in eight million chances, Okay?"
Li Du was really unable to understand that way of thinking, and that was one of the differences between Hans and him. While he was someone who liked to walk the stable path, Hans was a risk-loving adventurer.
As such, he merely shrugged and prepared to leave. However, at that moment, his eyes landed on the tattoo of the little bug, and an idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Hey buddy, is it true that no one knows which warehouse the chair is in?"
"Of course!"
"And if I can find which warehouse that chair is in? Are you completely certain of being able to buy it?"
"Of course!"
"In that case, how about we cooperate? I'll help you locate the right storage while you try to buy that storage, and after which, we'll split the money."