The exchange was a win-win for both of them, as Bryant bought fine black opals and could have a custom-designed set of jewelry made for his wife. Li Du made money and got information about a storage unit auction.
When the results came out, the gems were natural black opals with high ratings.
Bryant bought six for a total of $1.2 million, which was expensive but well below market value. The six black opals were about 200 carats in total, as all of them were large. Of course, the bigger a black opal was, the more expensive it was.
Li Du also helped him to contact Harry Winston"s top jewelry designer. The following issue had nothing to do with him. Bryant and the designer could communicate personally.
After taking the helicopter, Hans had not returned, so Li Du went online to check the information Bryant had given him about the storage unit auction. The information was easy to find. The storage company was called Indiana Pacers Storage Company.
When Hans came back, Li Du told him the news. After a brief discussion, they decided to fly to Indiana to see what was going on at the auction. It was only three days before the auction began, not because Bryant didn"t tell them about it in time, but because the storage unit auction had been announced a week ago.
Just as their helicopter arrived, Hans went to immediately register, and Big Ivan applied for the flight plan, which took half a day to complete. Finally, the helicopter was ready to take off.
It had to be said that there were more airports and planes in the United States, but there were fewer flight restrictions. Thus, it was easier to fly or land a plane there.
The storage facility was in Indianapolis, a city in the eastern part of the United States, halfway across the map from Los Angeles on the diagonal. The helicopter took off at noon, and they arrived in the evening.
It was a rush to get to the auction, and when they arrived in Indianapolis, they had only two days to prepare.
Indianapolis was the largest city and capital of Indiana, the fourth-largest state capital in the United States after Atlanta in Georgia, Denver in Colorado, and Phoenix in Arizona. The city was in the middle of Indiana, and when they could see a long river from the air, Hans said, "Here we are." The river they saw was the White River. Indianapolis was located to the east of the river and extended around it.
Indianapolis was less prosperous than Phoenix or Los Angeles, and the city was calm at sunset, with fewer skysc.r.a.pers and less traffic.
"It"s a nice city, not too impetuous," Li Du lamented.
Hans laughed. "Could this even could be called a city? This is the big Indianapolis village."
Compared to some other large cities, Indianapolis was doing well economically, but mostly because it was so big that some people called it a rural area. However, there was no way the economy of this city was bad, historically.
It was founded in 1820, built in 1847, and was developed in 1825. The state of Indiana moved there in January of 1825. When it was founded in 1847, the first railroad in Indianapolis was opened, the Madison-Indianapolis Railroad. With the railroads and a reasonably developed highway network, Indianapolis began to grow economically. However, at the time, even with convenient transportation, Indianapolis was used only as a transportation hub for immigrants to the United States heading west.
By the end of the 19th century, with the rise of industry, the acceleration of urban development, and its proximity to Chicago, Indianapolis had become a major industrial center in the central and eastern regions, an important grain market, and the largest livestock market.
When the helicopter landed, Hans said to Li Du, "Don"t go alone on streets without bringing along me or Brother Wolf. Race relations here are very bad."
Li Du roughly understood the local situation, which had begun in the second half of the 20th century with the rapid deterioration of local ethnic relations with the large-scale use of land by suburbanization. The relations between races had become worse over time.
There were a large number of black, yellow, and minority races in the United States. In many cities, there were a few white people who occupied the traditional dominant positions of society, but Indianapolis was an exception. Currently, more than 70 percent of the city"s population was white, according to the census, and whites still held the upper hand in society.
Another anecdote about this was that in the late 1960s there was a big event in America when Martin Luther King, the leader of the black civil rights movement, was a.s.sa.s.sinated.
There was a near riot in the United States. There were black people marching in groups, there was a direct attack, there was looting in all the big cities, but Indianapolis was the exception…
"So serious?" asked Li Du after hearing Hans" words.
"The local white supremacist ideology is very radical. Yellow skinned people like you could be easily robbed if you walk on the street alone at night," said Hans with a heavy expression.
Brother Wolf said coldly, "Who would dare?"
Hans burst into laughter. "Haha, of course, Indianapolis is very safe. It is mostly whites. There are few conflicts, and the auction scene is more peaceful than elsewhere."
Li Du humphed and said, "Your words also sound like racial discrimination, however, I will not bother arguing with you."
After the helicopter landed on the tarmac, Hans went to check into the hotel. Big Ivan checked the helicopter. Li Du and Brother Wolf strolled around the streets.
There were few cars and people in the city, and the pace was slow, with many people walking their dogs or running in the sunset.
Feeling the pace of the city, few would have believed it was the venue for a 500-mile race. Indianapolis was famous throughout the country for the Indy 500 auto race. Every year when it came to racing, the atmosphere of the city was wild and hot. Li Du only saw it on the news and had not experienced it in person.
However, he felt the resistance of city residents to people of color as he walked along the road. Some of the runners coming by would subconsciously avoid him. Eyes swept over him as if they had not seen anyone, and they would not stay around for a second.
"This is a really cold city," said Li Du, shaking his head in frustration.
No one responded, so he continued to exclaim, "Brother Wolf, why have you become so cold?"
Brother Wolf said, "Huh?"
"I said it was a cold city. Why didn"t you respond?" said Li Du with dissatisfaction.
Brother Wolf dug in his ear and said, "Is it cold? I don"t feel anything. Isn"t everything all right?"
Li Du no longer spoke. How could this cold city compare with Brother Wolf"s cold att.i.tude when he would not speak a single word for the whole day?