Chapter 1559: The Hospitable Mayor

Li Du took in their get-up and had a rough inkling of what was going on. These people were dressed in white from head to toe, evidently here to visit a grave. Perhaps they had a relative buried on the mountain.

Burial ceremonies were a practice in Myanmar and burial grounds were often in the mountains. Myanmar was similar to China in that they both believed in Feng Shui. Yet when Li Du looked around the area, he could not find a single tomb. He had searched along the perimeter of the area before that and found no traces of a cemetery. He thought about it for a while longer before saying, “Oh, I think you’re mistaken, sir. We have no plans of unearthing anything here and we won’t be starting any work.”

At the sound of this, the old man was shocked. He questioned, “You have no plans of starting work here? How can that be? The mayor…hmph! You’re lying!”

Although he managed to recover from that confusion, Li Du had a sense of what was going on when he heard the old man mention the mayor. They were not here of their own initiative; they were assembled by the mayor!

Li Du understood immediately.

The old man spoke as he pointed at Li Du, “You cannot open a mining area here. Our ancestral tombs are here! You will disrupt the Feng Shui of our family if you shift the earth. This is absolutely not allowed!”

Li Du waved his hands, trying to placate the old man. “I have no intention of shifting the earth. Besides, why would I need to?”

“To open a mine and look for jade,” the old man supplied. “Don’t think we don’t know what you’re trying to do. There are no gems or jade here or we’d have dug them up ourselves a long time ago. You’re just wasting your energy!”

Li Du said, “No, I’m not trying to start a jade mine here. Sir, please think about it. Your country has made it illegal for foreigners to start up mines. I’d be breaking the law if I decided to open up a mine here, and all the mayor would have to do is notify the police, who would arrest me.”

This was something Li Du could not wrap his head around: Maung Kyaw Zin seemed like he did not want Li Du mining for gems here, so why was he not trying to stop this through official means? Did he think that Li Du was above the law because of his connections, means, and money? Li Du could come up with no other explanation; there was no other way he could understand the mayor’s actions.

After listening to Li Du speak, the old man was stunned. It was evident he thought Li Du made sense. He blinked, then asked Li Du, “Then what are you here to do?”

Li Du said, “I’m here to look for something. My ancestors buried something here some time back; I’m not here to open a mine.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Brother Wolf. His one look sent Brother Wolf into action; the man brought over a group of bodyguards who charged over with their brows furrowed in anger. The Markelov brothers led the other towering Ukrainians with sharp daggers in their hands. Just the sight of this sent the children running to hide behind the women.

Li Du fished out a couple of bills to hand over to the people, and said, “I think you’ve all misunderstood me. I’m here to look for something, not to open a jade mine. I’ll be leaving in a few days, with or without the item. I hope for your understanding if I inconvenience you in any way.”

The women stopped crying at the sight of the money. They accepted it gleefully and spoke quietly in Burmese, discussing something. The old man hesitated a bit before accepting his share as well. He warned, “You’re not allowed to open a mine here or I’ll bring my entire tribe up. You’d be in real trouble then.”

Li Du chuckled and nodded in acknowledgment. “I swear, I will definitely not open a mine here.”

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Pocketing the money, the old man led the group and walked off. Da Mao watched as they retreated and asked, “Boss, you’re really not planning to open a mine here?”

Li Du nodded. “That’s right. I’m only here to look for something that could benefit me.”

He thought a bit, then laughed. “What mine could there be here?”

Violence was not the answer when it came to dealing with the common people; small bits of charity and compassion were the way to go. He barely spent anything at all to coax them into leaving — all he did was give each of them about ten thousand Kyat, the equivalent of one or two hundred RMB.

Through his interaction with these people, Li Du understood one thing, and that was that Maung Kyaw Zin absolutely did not want Li Du to open a mine here. It seemed as if the mayor knew something. These people were definitely not here because of Feng Shui. Right from the very start, the old man had warned him against opening a mine here. He entreated him to not dig in the earth. When Li Du said he would dig for something his ancestors had buried here, the old man should have objected to that if he were really concerned about the Feng Shui and his ancestors’ graves.

The mechanical arm was not fixed yet so the engineers got to work first. He had the engineer plan out a route to let the workers dig downwards, reinforcing the hole along the way to ensure it was still safe. Because the destination and path were clear, the digging was not too difficult a task even though they were working through rock. They would progress about four to five meters a day, and the engineering team would need to work for a few days before they hit the deposits.

On the second day, Maung Kyaw Zin arrived as he had promised. He carried a bag on his back and in it were the tools that were on the list Li Du had given him. He handed the tools over to Li Du and smiled. “Here, as promised, Boss Li. These are quite the rare items you’ve requested. I had to search through all the shops in our town to find them.”

Li Du shook his hand and thanked him. “Thank you so much, mayor, you’ve been a great help.”

Maung Kyaw Zin eyed the Markelov brothers and said, “It’s my duty. Your friends once saved my entire family and some of my people, and I will forever be grateful to them.”

“Looks like I’ve made the right friends,” Li Du said as he chuckled. He suddenly realized something: was Maung Kyaw Zin refraining from involving the government and the police in order to protect the Markelov brothers? If they were arrested, the Markelovs would be punished too. Perhaps the mayor thought he’d be biting the hand that had saved him and so refrained from resorting to such extreme measures?

Maung Kyaw Zin had no idea what was running through Li Du’s head, so he said, “That’s not all, actually. I owe them a lot more than this. What’s a couple of tools? Oh, right! It’s not good for you guys to be eating on the mountain. I’ve asked my wife to prepare some food, so leave the meals to me from now on.”

Li Du waved his hands. “How could I—”

The mayor interrupted him, “How could you what? Unless you think my wife is a terrible cook, don’t reject my offer.”

Li Du said, “Your wife is an excellent cook, I just think we’d be imposing on you too much.”

Maung Kyaw Zin chuckled. “You’re too polite, Boss Li. This is nothing. Besides, I’m not doing this out of sheer benevolence. I just want to do some business. I said I’d take care of your three meals, but I never said I’d do it for free.”

Li Du nodded in agreement. “That’s no problem, just tell me how much.”

Maung Kyaw Zin nodded, too. “It’s settled, then. You get to do what you have to, while I make my rounds on the mountain and go down after.”

Li Du then went to look for Driver to have the mechanical arm repaired. Maung Kyaw Zin had his hands clasped behind his back as he circled around the mining area, occasionally stopping to chat with the engineers and miners. Not long after, he shook his head and descended.