Chapter 1378: Centennial Studio

Li Du said to Lu Guan, “We have been very busy in the past year. Everyone has been working, so we need to rest, and we’re taking a holiday from it all.”

“I see. To hell with the news then,” Lu Guan laughed.

Li Du smiled too. “As you understand, the boss has his responsibilities. Say, what’s the news? Is there an auction coming up?”

Lu Guan only looked shiftily.

The news did relate to a warehouse auction which was due to take place that weekend, in four more days. The theme of this auction was photography.

The city, which was founded in 1796, initially became a manufacturing center thanks to the intersection of canals and railroads. After the collapse of big industries, the emphasis shifted to finance, insurance, and health care.

Besides that, there were some art-related industries in the city, such as photography.

Cleveland’s photography industry had started quite early, and the city was home to the oldest surviving photography studio in the United States.

Founded in the 1860s, the studio, called Bourne and Safford’s Eyes, was once famous across the US for its portraits.

In 1910, the studio moved to a building owned by what later became the Ohio Life Insurance Company.

The studio has been leasing the building, and due to space and rent issues, they could no longer reach an agreement with the landlord.

“The studio has been open for 150 years, and they have their warehouse,” said Lu Guan. “The auction itself is divided into two categories: office and warehouse. Both belong to the studio.”

Once Li Du heard that there were still four days left, he said, “Take a rest, there’s no pressure. Still, pay attention to the relevant information occasionally, inquire whether there are good things in the warehouses.”

One admirable thing about both Hans and Lu Guan was that they were good at finding valuable warehouse auction information, and had a sort of sixth sense for good things just waiting to be picked up.

Li Du trusted that if Lu Guan deliberately mentioned this warehouse auction information to him during the holiday, then the information should be valuable.

Li Du asked him to follow up occasionally. They were now, after all, at a resort with the main purpose of relaxing and resting.

They were warned about brown bears in the surrounding woods, but because of their long-time interaction with tourists, the bears were somewhat domesticated and not very fierce.

Watching the bears was, in fact, one of the attractions of the resort, and as long as one didn’t mess with local bears, it was usually safe.

In addition, brown bears would usually stay in the woods and did not appear too near the resort area. The ones who would come nearer to the resort to get some food were the younger bears.

The resort had a nature exhibition room, which included samples of the local wildlife, birds, fish and so on, and offered tourists information on which species could be hunted or fished legally, and which were protected.

There are plenty of activities around, including lots of independent homesteads and open tourist areas where people could camp, swim, fish, hunt, build treehouses and ski in winter.

However, before going fishing, one had to get a fishing license from the bureau of fisheries outside the resort. For two dollars, one was allowed to catch eight fish a day.

The exception was Asian carp. One didn’t need a license to go fishing for Asian carp in the lake, and Asian carp could gain one an extended fishing qualification. Catching two Asian carp specimens allowed one to fish for a native species.

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Asian carp were so widespread in America’s rivers and lakes that the government had allocated a budget of 200 million dollars to reduce their population, but with little effect.

The carp, which were used to dispose of freshwater waste, had no native predators and spread rapidly up the river and into the great lakes.

On the way, Li Du saw some fish leaping from the lake. That was the beauty of Asian carp, which was a large, impressive fish.

Surrounded by green trees and glittering sand, Li Du put on suntan lotion and went to the beach by the lake to sunbathe.

The lake was very lively. Some people in a yacht towed under the surf. There were people with a parachute attached to the yacht and flying through the air. Another popular activity was to float in a large floater in the lake and swim following the gentle waves.

Li Du saw that there were children in the big floater and asked, “What if it turns over?”

Lu Guan said with a shrug, “It won’t turn over. Look, the floater has buoyancy balls underneath, similar to a boat.”

Li Du said, “But still, what if it happens? Some of these floaters have no adults in them.”

“The child must be able to swim, and since everyone is responsible for looking after their child, the resort does not take the blame for any accidents,” Lu Guan said casually.

Li Du nodded, still thinking it was stupid and irresponsible to let children play alone on the lake. These people are so careless.

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There was a hearty lunch of coconut and lime-flavored scallop ceviche, buttermilk waffles with braised duck legs, spicy octopus ramen, fried chicken, fish, and Li Du’s own fried bologna and trout sandwiches.

Sitting on the beach by the lake, with a picnic cloth, the group gathered to eat lunch, enjoying the cool breeze from the lake and the delicious food, relaxing both physically and mentally.

The little ones also gathered to eat and drink on the edge of a forest. Li Du saw mushrooms and suggested that everyone should collect mushrooms in the afternoon.

Both Ah Meow and Ah Bai were jungle animals. When their tummies were filled, they ran into the woods.

Sophie, who was afraid they might get in danger, said, “Stay close to us and don’t go too far, you know?”

Ah Bai climbed up a pine tree with ease. It spotted a bird’s nest, dug out two eggs and offered them to Li Du.

Li Du shook his head and asked the monkey to put the eggs back. They were not in the wild now and there was no need to eat birds’ eggs.

Seeing that Li Du was not interested, Ah Bai tilted its head for a moment and went into the woods again.

They were still in a populated area, everything was safe and there were no dangerous wild animals, so Li Du was not worried.

More than half an hour after Ah Bai entered the forest, Ah Meow, who was dozing on the branch of a tree, suddenly got up, stared into the depths of the wood and cried, “Meow, meow!”

Li Du took off his sunglasses and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Soon, the tree branches swung and a little white figure jumped out. When Li Du saw Ah Bai was back, he put on his sunglasses again and leaned back to rest.

At that point, however, some small trees in the woods behind began to sway too. Ah Meow’s calls got more and more panicky and Ah Ow and the others looked wary.

Li Du felt that something was not right, and he went into the forest with Brother Wolf. Then, he saw a big hairy head.