Lu Guan was good at gathering information. Soon, he figured out the situation at the Sunshine Jazz Manor.
The previous owner of the manor was Black Crocodile Piccolo, also known as the Devil. He controlled the largest gang in Santa Monica, the Dripping Blood Gang.
At the beginning of this year, the police raided the Dripping Blood Gang's office building and found drugs, firearms, and a lot of smuggled goods. They also found a lot of evidence of tax evasion. Then, the gang leader, Black Crocodile Piccolo, was sent to prison.
Black Crocodile Piccolo was actually involved in a murder case, but he was cautious. The police could not find anything against him, so he escaped.
In Santa Monica, many people were afraid of this guy. The house-pickers were just ordinary businessmen. They did not dare to provoke Black Crocodile Piccolo and the Dripping Blood Gang. So, after receiving a warning, they gave up their ambitions for the manor.
During the auction, Li Du did not leave anyone around the manor, so he did not get the news in time.
However, after getting the news, he was not afraid. At first, he did not know what was going on. Because of the unknown, he was confused. Now that he knew the cause and effect, he did not feel afraid anymore.
Li Du was not afraid of the so-called gangs. He had fought with many gangs and even warlords over the years. The other side was nothing to be afraid of. They could only scare the people.
Snyder helped him with the property procedures. Bank loans could not be used for auctioned houses. They had to be bought in full, which was one of the reasons why the price was low.
Li Du had enough money on hand. His account balance was maintained at more than 100 million dollars all year round. Especially with the production of diamonds, the account balance grew faster.
He mainly spent money on two things: Seagull Island and Remonin.
Lightning Ridge produced black opal, the Amengda Mine produced diamonds, warehouse auctions, the ivory and whale tusks obtained from adventuring, and the gold treasure he found this time, as well as the cooperation with the Tavisi tribe. He had made money from all of these.
The procedures for auctioned houses were handled quickly. The government gave special treatment in this regard. It was probably to convert the house into money quickly. Soon after paying, Li Du received a pile of property certificates.
Snyder advised him not to rush to sell the house, but to renovate it first and then rent it out for a year and a half before selling it.
The decor of these auction houses was relatively poor. Before the owners left, they would smash the decor even if they didn't destroy the pipes.
Therefore, it would be difficult to sell it at a high price if it was directly resold. It was best to renovate it first, rent it for a period of time after the renovation, and then sell it. At this time, the renovations were new enough, but there were signs of use, so it was the most popular in the market.
Li Du left these matters to Snyder. The process of helping him with the procedures was very smooth. He was an experienced and well-connected expert. Li Du was willing to hire him to help him deal with the house that he had obtained.
The manor was not for sale. He opened the door and prepared to move in with a group of his men.
Li Du hired a housekeeping company to clean up the house. The lawn needed to be mowed, the woods needed to be trimmed, and the vineyard and farm needed to be tidied up.
This was not a small amount of work. Just cleaning up the entire manor would cost 12,000 yuan. This amount of money could buy a poor auction house.
The packing process would take a week. During this time, Li Du went to deal with something.
Before the auction, besides being interested in the manor, Li Du was also interested in a bungalow. Or rather, he was interested in something in the basement of the bungalow.
It was a statue, a combination statue of two people. To be specific, it was a marble floor, a marble basketball stand, and two basketball players wearing numbers 34 and 8 respectively.
The statue was almost a 1: 1 ratio. The two statues were very big. Those who were familiar with basketball would know that the statues were the two superstars of the NBA, Shaquille O 'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Los Angeles had a super team in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers. O 'Neal and Kobe used to be the ace of the team. The two of them had teamed up to win three consecutive championships for the Lakers.
However, both of them were superstars with lofty ambitions. In the end, because of the tricks of the team's owner and their personalities, they eventually parted ways and the team was broken.
Previously, when Li Du was checking out the bungalow, he found the statue in the messy basement. The sculptor was definitely a master. The marble statue was extremely realistic and was very valuable. It was even more valuable than the house.
The sculptor did not want to use it to make money. Otherwise, he would not have sold it after the carving was finished. Instead, he sealed it in the basement.
There were some words engraved on the marble floor, describing the origin of the statue and the reasons for its subsequent neglect.
The sculptor was a fan of basketball. As a Los Angeles native, his loyal team was naturally the Los Angeles Lakers. His favorite players were naturally the Lakers' ace duo, Kobe and O 'Neal.
After the Lakers won their third championship, the sculptor had the idea of making a statue for the duo, wanting to celebrate the team's creation of a dynasty.
As a result, just a year later, before the statue was finished, Kobe and O 'Neal had a falling out. The latter was sent to another team, and the Los Angeles Lakers fell into a slump.
As a loyal supporter of the team, the sculptor was very sad, but he endured the pain and finished the statue, hoping that one day his two favorite stars could bury the hatchet and reunite.
He left a message on the marble floor, hoping that when that day came, he would give the statue to the Lakers and make it a legend.
However, for some reason, the sculptor did not return, and the statue was left in the dark basement until it was discovered by Li Du.
Li Du guessed that the sculptor was too sad because O 'Neal had retired, and he and Kobe had not been able to reunite.
In addition, Kobe tore his Achilles tendon in a game against the Golden State Warriors in the first half of the year. It was a very serious injury, and the outside world speculated that he might also retire.
Li Du also called to comfort him when he was injured, but Kobe was stubborn and paranoid and did not need these things, so he was not clear about Kobe's actual situation.
After getting the statue, he felt that he could give it to Kobe or O 'Neal. The two used to have a big fight, but with O' Neal's retirement, the relationship between the two began to move in a positive direction.
It was not easy to take the statue out of the basement. Li Du rented a crane to take out the four statues.
When assembled, the statue looked like a basketball stand on the marble floor. Kobe broke through sideways, O 'Neal raised one hand high, and looked like he was going to jump. His next step seemed to be a pass, and O' Neal received the ball for a slam dunk.
The statue was very tall. Kobe and O 'Neal were carved in full scale. One was 1.98 meters, and the other was 2.16 meters. They were extremely precious.
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