Chapter 1152: Businessman

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Li Du stayed overnight in Remonin’s camp. He had decided to return the next day. After

all, it was no fun there and he would rather return and stay with his parents.

Remonin contacted him in the evening to discuss the issue of his soldiers working as

guards for Li Du.

He was willing to send fifty soldiers and seventy officers to South Africa for Li Du. The

monthly salary would be three thousand for the soldiers and five thousand for the

officers. In addition, there would be one commander with a salary of ten thousand.

It meant that Li Du would be forking out close to two hundred thousand dollars to

support Remonin every month.

Li Du would just have to pay up and provide food and lodgings for the men. He would

not need to worry about the rest.

Remonin promised that he would handpick the soldiers sent to South Africa, and not

only would they have outstanding combat skills, but they would also be thoroughly loyal

to him. Hence, these soldiers would never do anything to harm the diamond mine.

Li Du was willing to accept the costs. If he employed mercenaries, he could only afford

ten of them for that sum. In addition, he would have to worry about them creating

trouble behind his back.

Remonin asked Li Du for an advance amounting to the soldiers’ first six months of pay.

The soldiers would follow a roster that would station them at the mine for three months.

The fifty of them would be split into five alternating groups.

This would ensure that there would always be different people at the mine and hence,

they would not have time to develop a relations.h.i.+p with the locals. Even if they managed

to grow closer to the locals, they would have to return to the camp following their roster

before they were able to make sense of the situation at the mine.

Li Du agreed to his request and gave him 1.2 million dollars. On top of that, he also

gave Remonin an extra five million. The money belonged to two different pools. One

was for the diamond purchase later down the road, and the other was the money for

hiring the soldiers.

Li Du was forking out money to invest in Remonin. The two of them had become allies.

One of them had the money and the other was putting in all his effort and labor. In the

future, if Li Du met with problems, Remonin would do his best to help him resolve them.

When they returned to South Africa, Lion Hunter helped Li Du deal with the problem of

transnational labor output. The first twenty soldiers selected by Remonin changed out of

their military uniforms and followed the officers to South Africa, heading for the mine.

After staying in South Africa for two and a half days, they set off again, this time flying

directly to Australia.

It was summer in Australia and the weather was extremely warm. They were greeted

with a gust of balmy air upon exiting the plane.

Li Du’s parents had changed into lighter clothing on the plane, but they were still

perspiring from the heat. Noticing the heat, the two of them started sipping warm water.

After seeing them do so, Sophie asked curiously, “Why are you guys drinking warm

water? You should be drinking cold water in this heat.”

Li Du’s father explained, “You can’t drink cold water. We have transited from winter to

summer all at once. We need to drink warm water so that our body can slowly

acclimatize to the change in temperatures. It will help us force out the coldness in our

body.”

“Otherwise, even though the weather outside is warm, the body will still be cold.

Keeping the cold

in our body is not a good idea. The body would suffer in the future.”

Sophie nodded as if she understood and started drinking warm water too.

Li Du smiled to himself. He knew that it must be unusual for Sophie. Americans did not

enjoy drinking warm water, and they drank cold water throughout the year, even in

winter.

By changing her habits, Sophie displayed her respect for his parents.

The Martins did not do that. Instead, they went straight to taking photos of everything

once they got off the plane. The two of them were typical Americans and went all out to

enjoy their experience.

While Li Du’s parents were dressed in sensible shorts and t-s.h.i.+rts, Mr. Martin had

changed into board shorts while his wife put on a beach dress. Even at sixty years old,

the two of them were still having fun like children.

Li Du brought out a few bottles of Huo Xiang tonic drink and his father grinned, asking,

“Where did you get that?”

Li Du’s parents did not hesitate and immediately opened the bottle to gulp the tonic

down.

Li Du had brought the drinks over from his house. He had prepared them before

heading to South Africa. There were still a couple of bottles left in the black hole.

Sophie did not follow suit this time around. After taking in a whiff of the smell, her face

paled and she looked close to fainting.

Li Du burst into laughter and quickly went forward to support her. “Can’t take it? Then

forget about it. This is Chinese medicine, very effective against the heat.”

Sophie shook her head. “I have medicine for heat stroke. The smell of this tonic is too

overpowering.”

The five animals had to consume the Huo Xiang tonic drink. They were used to living in

America and their bodies were more suited for the northern seasons. Currently, their fur

was like winter wool coats.

To help them against the heat, Sophie had already trimmed their fur on the plane.

However, that was not sufficient. Li Du grabbed them and forced their mouths open to

drink the tonic.

Ah Meow started whining after drinking and grabbed her own neck as she squatted on

the ground. Opening her big mouth, she started shrieking, Oww Oww, and tried hard to

force the drink out.

Ah Ow wore a suffering look: What did I do? Why are you punis.h.i.+ng me like this?

Honey badgers hated the bitter taste more than anything. After all, they loved honey.

Hence, when Ah Meng drank the Chinese medicine, it looked insane as it started

spinning round and round its tail.

Ah Meng b.u.mped into a box in carelessness. It glared at the box, then grabbed it and

started to yank it as though the box had offended it or as though it was venting its anger

at the drink. Li Du’s father tried to drag the box away, but Ah Meng continued holding

onto it and tearing at it.

They had landed in Sydney. First, Brother Wolf brought Ivana to the doctor to evaluate

the progress of her recovery. That was necessary for them to prepare for the upcoming

surgery.

Li Du brought the rest to Sydney to look for a hotel. Just like the plane, the hotel had

also been arranged by JP Morgan Chase. It was one of the five-star hotels the bank

owned. There was a discount for VIP clients who stayed in that hotel.

Harry Winston Inc. had a branch office in Australia, and the southern hemisphere

headquarters were in Sydney. The regional directors and managers had come to

welcome and receive them. After all, Li Du was now the second-in-command in the

Harry Winston Group. They wanted to get on his good side.

However, Li Du did not feel like entertaining them and hence, he rejected their

invitations and offers to show him around. Instead, he brought his parents to stay in the

hotel provided by the bank.

The hotel was situated near the beach. Peering out from the window, they could see the

white sand and expanse of clear water. The view was stunning.

Just as they arrived at the hotel, Li Du got a phone call from Jesus. He asked, “Hey,

Christ, what’s up?”

Jesus said, “Have you had another conflict with George Anthony? He has been trying to

get information on you from everywhere. He even contacted some treasure hunters to

have a face-down with you.”

Without hiding anything, Li Du told him all about what they encountered in Mexico and

what he did next.

Jesus sighed. “You are both stubborn. All right, based on my understanding of George,

he sees money as his life. Losing so much money this time, he definitely won’t sit back.

You be careful, he is not easy to deal with.”

Hearing that, Li Du laughed. “Let him bring it on. He doesn’t know who he has

offended.”

Having had a discussion with Remonin, Li Du did not see George Anthony as a big

threat anymore.

Remonin was now in desperate need of funds and had even started to scheme. He

asked Li Du if he had any enemies. He would use his people to get rid of Li Du’s most

troublesome enemies.

Of course, Li Du would not agree to anything like that. However, it still gave him a

feeling of power.

As for the Anthonys, Li Du did not see them as a problem. He had never intended to

clash with the duo, and neither party actually benefited from the conflict.

Now that Li Du had become a businessman, he felt that if there was no profit in having a

conflict, it was better not to let it arise. Earning money was more important to him.

Fighting was only children’s play.