After various experiments and tinkering from the two, they finally accepted the fact that the massage chair was indeed broken.
"S*it, that insurance salesman is really wicked. I bet that if it weren't for the fact that this chair is broken, he would still be using it right now," Hans angrily said.
"Does that mean that this thing has become worthless?" Li Du asked.
Hans shook his head before replying, "Not exactly, it's just that we'll have to drop our price by about a half. I estimate that we could have originally sold this chair for about ten thousand dollars, but now it's only worth five or six thousand."
"Didn't you say that this is worth twenty thousand?"
"I was talking about a new one, this is second hand, okay? It's worth about a half of that!"
Hearing that his original ten thousand dollars had just been reduced to three thousand Li Du's excited mood immediately frosted over.
However, this was still not enough for him to entirely give up. "Can't we try to fix it ourselves? Also, is your pickup really worth only twenty-five hundred?"
Ford F150 was America's most famous pickup. The asking price for a new one was at least twenty-six thousand, so he felt that it should have been mortgaged for at least ten thousand.
"First, my pickup already has twenty thousand mileage, plus I do a lot of heavy work with it, so its value has depreciated a lot. Besides, I didn't sell it, I only mortgaged it. Mortgage estimates have always been very low, but when I go reclaim it, that cost will also be meager," Hans explained.
"Then can we take a loan to fix it?"
"Do you have friends who're willing to lend you money? I don't," Hans bluntly stated.
"I only have Hannah that I could lend money from," Li Du replied as he glanced at Hans from the side.
Hearing this, Hans immediately stood up and firmly said, "Absolutely not! We'll just sell it in its current broken state. Despite everything, we'll still be able to make some money. It should be enough as starting fund."
Li Du didn't try to argue. Hans' protective attitude towards his sister left Li Du with a good impression. If that guy had actually tried to borrow money from his sister, then this cooperation would also have been the last.
Li Du didn't want to socialize with people who were even willing to take money from their sister.
That night, while Li Du slept in his bedroom, Hans directly slept on the massage chair.
The chair was truly luxurious and high tech. With the ability to lie flat, along with the backrest that hugged the body, sleeping on the chair was even more comfortable than sleeping on a bed.
When Hannah got back from work, she got quite the scare, but when she realized what she was seeing, she happily exclaimed, "God bless, you guys actually managed to get that massage chair?"
"En, did God also tell you that your dear brother would like a bottle of beer when he wakes up?" Hans, in a half-awake state, said as he got up.
"There is no beer, but we do have two glasses of warm milk," Hannah replied as she glared at him.
As Hannah washed up, they carried the massage chair outside. After a quick breakfast, they immediately left, leaving Hannah a quiet environment to rest.
"Alright, now where do we go to sell it?" Li Du asked.
Hans slapped his chest as he replied, "Leave that to me, Mr. Fox has a great social network!"
He actually wasn't boasting when saying that. Before noon, they contacted the truck company from yesterday and took the chair to a second-hand shop.
America's second-hand market was very well developed. Be it second-hand vehicles, second-hand computers, or even second-hand clothing, they could all be found in secondhand shops. Also, those shops didn't just sell stuff, they also bought stuff from others.
Seeing Hans, a slim faced elder with silvery hair came out smiling, "Yo Mr. Fox, my little buddy, didn't you go to Los Angeles? Why are you back in this tiny place?"
"I went to Los Angeles to broaden my horizons, my roots are still in Flagstaff," Hans mocked.
"You're not here to borrow money, right?"
"Of course not!" Hans exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, "I'm here giving you money, old chap, and I'm not joking here, look what I have here!" Saying that he opened the back of the truck, showing him the sight of the massage chair.
Seeing the chair, the boss smiled, "Very nice, Kassrow's multipurpose electrical space capsule, is this second hand? You lucky guy."
"Then can you tell me some more about this chair? I want to learn more about these things," Hans happily asked.
Nodding his head, the boss continued, "I'll skip the history of Kasrrow and directly explain the background of this chair."
"As we know, quality chairs were first motorized in 1956 while integrated circuit technology was first introduced into the heavy industry, military, telecommunication, and other markets in the 1970s."
"Kasrrow got their idea from these inventions. They then successfully developed and entered the market with their motorized massage chairs and integrated electronic control massage chair."
"In 2008, Kasrrow even added integrated memory microcontroller technology to their massage chairs, evolving them into micro computerized massage chairs, in other words, first generation multipurpose electrical space capsule."
After introducing the technology, the boss plugged the chair in before continuing, "That model of massage chair also integrated both Bluetooth and LED technology, which, along with its space cradle design through the use of the SL type guide rail, makes it very similar to a space capsule, giving it its name."
"Compared to the first generation, the second generation perfected some of the flaws found in the previous one such as the addition of a foot massage, adjustable lower back massage, better style of lower leg massage, and other features."
While saying this, he moved and started operating the LED display, however, while doing this, he began to frown. "Oh dammit, this one's broken."
"It's not too bad, only the motors have some problems. With Uncle Kevin operating the tools, I bet it could be fixed." Hans immediately came to the rescue.
"Of course I can fix it, but the price won't be as ideal as you have had though," Kevin proudly said.
"You are willing to buy it?"
Nodding his head, Kevin said, "Yes, if it were new I would have been willing to pay ten thousand, however in its current condition? How about five thousand?"
"No Uncle Kevin, you can't trick us like this, I think that this is worth at least eight thousand, right?"
"Eight thousand? Can you help me fix it? How about fifty-five hundred, I can't pay any more."
"I'm willing to take a step back, seventy-five hundred and this chair is yours. When you fix it, you can sell it for at least seventeen thousand five hundred!"
"You really can bullsh*t, considering the friendship between our families, six thousand."
"Alright, it's already lunchtime, so let's not drivel around. How about this, I'll sell you this for seven thousand, but you'll have to invite us to lunch and let my buddy here try your BBQ lamb chops!"
"Sixty-five hundred, and you can eat however many lamb chops as you want."
Hans looked towards Li Du and asked, "Brother, what do you think?"
Li Du became speechless by their style of negotiation. If it weren't for him knowing what's happening beforehand, he would have thought that he was at a Chinese farmer's market watching the farmer and an old housewife bartering back and forth.
Hans' question dragged him back to reality; nodding, he replied, "I don't have any objections, what you said is fine."
While they moved the massage chair into the shop, Kevin gave them a stack of green bills before guiding them into the backyard and setting up the BBQ.
"Kevin's BBQ lamb is famous in our Flagstaff. All the lamb is from his own farm, so feel free to eat your fill," Hans introduced to Li Du.
"As long as you don't mind." Li Du grinned.
The lamb chops had already been marinated, and each of them was perfectly marbled and dripping with juice. One could tell how delicious it was just by looking at it.
Americans are very good at BBQ, especially using backyard grill, something that has almost become a necessity for American families.
Kevin carefully watched the lamb chops while occasionally flipping them with his tongs. It wasn't long before the juice and oil started to seep out, glistening under the light, giving the lamb a golden shine. Along with the "zizi" sound and the delicious fragrance. Li Du soon began to salivate.
When the first plate of lamb chops was ready, Hans ate two ribs while the rest were all finished by Li Du.
When another plate of lamb chops was ready, Hans ate one piece while Li Du finished the rest.
When yet another plate of chops was finished, they were all finished by Li Du.
After the fourth plate of lamb chops were fished by Li Du, Kevin started to sweat, "Hey buddies, if I give you guys another two hundred dollars, can we finish this lunch right now?"