Chapter 1527: Blackmail
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There were many good things in the Damakan market, but Li Du was not impressed with the value of them.
There were too many stone fragments. Even if there was jade hidden in them, they were small, hardly worth above ten thousand dollars, so it was not worth the effort for Li Du.
However, Da Mao regarded these things like a treasure. He and the other two entered the night market, and he would stop at each stall for a long time, turning the stones over and over and getting excited over every stone that might contain jade.
Li Du followed and watched for a while. He was testing Da Mao’s ability.
Da Mao was indeed talented in evaluating stones. It was because he was influenced and taught by his family since he was young, and later got in touch with more of the same in his job when he was older. Jade was his life, so he had grown very capable.
He was particularly good at picking stones, probably thanks to his previous work. He was used to handling small stones in Ruili.
After observing for a while, Li Du felt confident enough and said, “You all can continue looking. I will go shopping and browse for a bit myself.”
He walked along the street, and in a while, had circled around the whole market area.
Turning around, he was ready to take a closer look when he accidentally b.u.mped into someone. An old lady suddenly fell to the ground with a shriek after backing about a meter.
Li Du was stunned. d.a.m.n, was this blackmailing? He turned around slowly, not in a rush. He did not even feel he touched the old lady, and she skidded so far before falling.
He was stunned. He was just a young man of slight build, not a moving car, and he did not even touch her. Even if he did knock into her, the consequences couldn’t possibly be so grave!
The old woman lay on her side and moaned. Li Du did not understand what she was saying because she was speaking Myanmar.
The surrounding crowd suddenly backed off, and people watched from a few paces away.
Sellers from nearby booths stepped out to help old lady immediately, but she moaned louder whenever someone touched her.
“Are you all right?” asked Li Du.
A big man raised his head and roared, “Are you the one who knocked into her?”
Li Du said, “I didn’t knock into her, I just turned around…”
The old lady raised her trembling hand to wipe her face, but when she did, she looked at her wrist with wide eyes. She looked stunned. Then she quickly struggled and moved her body. Under her body, there was a bracelet that was broken in half.
The bracelet’s color and l.u.s.ter were very good, and the quality of the material was pure. It was translucent green. The surface had a sheen that suggested this bracelet was carved from good gla.s.s seed emerald.
Such a bracelet had a high value and could easily sell at a starting price of a million RMB.
Looking at the broken bracelet, the old lady began to cry piteously.
The big man stood up and pointed at Li Du angrily. “Oh no, you are in trouble!”
The young man beside him said, “Brother, let me speak, I speak good Mandarin!”
He turned to look at Li Du and asked, “Chinese?”
Li Du said, “Yes.”
The youth said angrily, “Don’t you look around when you walk? How did you do that? How can you be so careless as to knock into someone? In addition, her bracelet broke when she fell. Tell me, how do you want to settle this?”
Now Li Du could not fail to understand what this was about. He was caught in a blackmailing situation, with the other side wanting to extort him.
He smiled wryly and said, “Brother, let’s speak frankly. What do you want me to do?”
At this time, there was no point to continue arguing. The other side was there to blackmail and would not reason with him.
The young man said, “It’s good that you’re not denying what just happened here. You b.u.mped into this lady and caused her bracelet to break. You have to compensate her for the physical blow. She is an old lady and her body is weak, and who knows if this will cause any side effects. So, you should offer her a million. About the bracelet, I do not know how much it was worth, but you had better prepare about ten million.”
The ferocious man roared, “Did you hear that? Money! Are you okay with that?”
Li Du smiled helplessly and said, “All right, a total of 11 million, is it? I’ll give her the money. This means the bracelet should be mine now, right?
Seeing that Li Du did not argue, the ferocious man and the youth were a little surprised. They were greedy and now felt that the sum they had stipulated for was not enough. The youth thought he encountered a silly cowardly wealthy man and said, “I mean at least 11 million. Anyway, you can’t leave, we have to negotiate.”
Li Du said, “I don’t have that much money on me right now. I have to ask my friends to send money, or go and get money from them.”
The young man pointed at him and said, “Don’t play tricks. Let your friends come and give you the money. You stay here and don’t think about leaving.”
Li Du made a phone call. The market was not big, and Zhong Dapao and the others already noticed that there was a conflict.
They came, and Da Mao, who walked in front, asked, “Master Li, what is the matter?”
Li Du said, “Who has 11 million Kyat? I need cash.”
G.o.dzilla took a stack of cash out of his pocket and said, “How about dollars?”
That was the money he won betting in Longken’s Canton a few days ago. Li Du and his bodyguards set out a hundred thousand chips each and each of them won 500,000.
11 million Kyat was slightly more than 8,000 dollars. Li Du did not count the money. He took a stack, handed it to the young man and said, “This is 10,000 dollars, more than 14 million Kyat. Consider the extra money as a tip, you do not need to give me any change, just give me the bracelet.”
“What?!” the young man was confused at first, and then he reacted with a sudden outburst of anger, “b.i.t.c.h, are you teasing me? I said RMB! 11 million RMB! Dig a mine right here and get the compensation if you don’t have enough money!”
Zhong Dapao came up from behind and leisurely said, “Eleven million RMB? What’s that for? The price of your life?”
The young man showed a fearful expression when he saw Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi, he said, “Ahem, Master Pao, Master Liu? Do not interfere in this matter. This has nothing to do with you, so please excuse me…”
Liu Zi said angrily, “Any Chinese people’s business is our business. We are compatriots. Besides, d.a.m.n it, Master Li is our guest of honor, so what the h.e.l.l do you mean?”
His tone of voice was very rude, and the youth felt uncomfortable after listening to this. “Master Pao, this is Damakan, not your Chinese village. Don’t you be too arrogant and try to bully us.”
Liu Zi went up to poke the youth in the chest and said harshly, “I, bullying you? Who is the bully? d.a.m.n you, you b.i.t.c.hes are bullying our guests. Who’s being arrogant?”
When the young man retreated, Li Du intervened and said, “Forget it, it seems that everyone is familiar with each other here. Master Liu, Master Pao, let’s leave.”
If it had been his way, the affair would not have ended there. He would have given the other side a hard time.
However, he was not in China or the United States, but in Hpakant, so he realized it was better to keep a low profile in a foreign lawless land. Even if he had few friends, it was better not to make enemies.
Zhong Dapao spat and pointed at the young man, saying, “You are lucky that you encountered our guest of honor when his temper was good, or you would be sorry!”
He then said to Li Du, “Young Master Li, you should teach these people a lesson. They always bully the Chinese!”