Hans was pleased with himself for getting a set of carriages and horses without spending any money.
Li Du shook his head. "Buddy, it's not a good thing to take advantage of others."
Hans pursed his lips. "You're saying I like to take advantage of others? You're saying that a person who donates half of his income to welfare homes and orphanages likes to take advantage of others? "
Li Du was speechless.
That was true. Hans had single-handedly propped up Mother Mesa's home.
Now the welfare home had even opened an orphanage to take better care of the children. Most of the funds had been provided by Hans.
Not only did Hans donate to Mother Mesa's home, but when he earned a lot, he would also donate to other welfare organizations. Li Du could not help but admire him for this.
Li Du was more stingy in this regard. He would not simply donate money unless he could see some benefit from it. For example, the charity auction he organized last time was to punish those who maliciously hurt him.
As the last ray of light fell below the horizon, the auctioneer, Sayder, appeared. He raised his arm and shouted, "Welcome to Hoffman's Auction House. I'm your favorite old friend, Sayder …"
As usual, there were boos from the audience.
Li Du stood outside the crowd and listened to the boos. He laughed. "This guy is really interesting. Why does he always start like this when he knows he'll be booed?"
Hans crossed his arms. "Because this is the auction mode. It's considered the opening interaction. Actually, it's not that everyone dislikes it. They just think it's interesting."
As the two of them were chatting, a white man in his fifties or sixties walked up to them and asked, "Good evening. Are you Big Li and Big Fox?"
Li Du looked at him in surprise and said, "Yes, hello. How can I help you?"
The old man said, "It's like this. I'm the mayor of Highland Town. You can call me Steve Jordan. Nice to meet you both."
Hans whispered to Li Du, "Highland Town is a small town near Flagstaff. It's a very old town with about one to two hundred families."
Li Du nodded and looked at the old man.
The old man continued, "I'm not sure if you've been to Highland Town. It's a beautiful place, and the people are very kind."
Hans nodded. "I've been there before. The service at 'Farm to Table' is very unique. Corn chips with green tomatoes, flying bacon, and finger-sucking roast chicken are all great."
Jordan smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment. I'm sure you'll know if you've been there. Our town has a lot of old wooden buildings."
Hans nodded again.
Jordan continued, "For old-fashioned wooden buildings, they are very easy to catch on fire. Fireproofing must be done and fire fighting must be prepared at all times."
"But there's a problem with our town's fire truck. It can't be used anymore. We have to buy another one. Unfortunately, our town doesn't have that much money."
Cars in the United States were cheap, but this referred to family cars. Special vehicles were also very expensive. A brand new fire engine would cost at least 100,000 dollars.
Jordan said, "We saw your fire extinguisher. It was taken from the fire truck. Do you have any more?"
Li Du said, "It hasn't been sold yet. It will appear at the auction later."
Jilton smiled bitterly. "No, is there anything else besides this? The price of a fire extinguisher won't be low at the auction. We don't have that much money to buy it. "
Hans asked, "Not necessarily. How much money do you have?"
Jordan said, "About 2,000 dollars."
Hans shrugged helplessly. The money was indeed too little. It was only 2,000 dollars. The starting bid was at least 5,000 dollars, and the final price was likely to be around 10,000 dollars.
Jordan sighed. "So, I wanted to ask if you have another set in private. If you do, I'd like to see if I can pay in installments."
Li Du also smiled bitterly. "Mayor Jordan, your town can't be that poor, right?"
Jordan said, "It's mainly because it's not the autumn harvest season yet. If it's after the autumn harvest, we'll have more money."
Hans whispered into his ear, "The economy of Highland Town is not developed. It's a small-scale farming economy. Most people don't have money."
Li Du didn't know what a small-scale farming economy meant, but looking at the mayor's clothes, he knew that they really didn't have much money.
He asked, "Don't you have a fire engine in the neighboring town? Or did the state government and Washington not give you any money? "
"No, there's no money, and we're 40 miles away from the neighboring town. I'm afraid it's not convenient to share a fire engine," Jordan said helplessly.
Li Du thought for a while and asked, "Can I cancel the auction of something that's been put up for auction?"
Hans said, "Yes, but you have to have a good reason. Otherwise, the auction house won't be willing to work with us in the future."
Li Du said, "What good reason? There's a town that needs a fire extinguisher, and we have one. Now we want to donate it to them. "
"Donate?" Hans emphasized.
Li Du said, "Yes, donate. This fire extinguisher belongs to a fire engine. If that's the case, then let it go to where it belongs."
Hans said, "Good suggestion. I'll go negotiate with the auction house."
Jordan listened to their conversation, and his face lit up with surprise. "Gentlemen, are you serious?"
Li Du said, "Yes, if this fire extinguisher can play a role in protecting the safety of one side, then we're willing to let it carry out its duty."
Since he'd received a horse carriage as a gift, then he should also give something away.
In addition, he had another reason for making this decision. In his opinion, donating the fire extinguisher to a poor town was more useful than exchanging it for a few thousand dollars.
He didn't lack a few thousand dollars, but he lacked a good reputation. If the news of him donating the fire extinguisher to Highland Town got out, he would have a higher evaluation among the treasure hunters.
Of course, if the fire extinguisher could help Highland Town, that would be even better.
After Hans negotiated with the people from the auction house, someone went up and whispered a few words to Sayder. Sayder nodded, and the auction continued.
When it came to the fire extinguisher, Sayder shouted, "I know a lot of people are attracted by the fire extinguisher, but I'm sorry, I have to apologize to all of you …"
Hearing this, someone below the stage complained, "Don't tell me this thing is not for sale."
"Did someone buy it at a high price in advance?"
"I'm guessing there's no such fire extinguisher. It's a fake gimmick created by the auction house to attract people!"
Hearing this, Li Du understood why the auction house didn't allow items to be taken down. This affected the reputation of the auction house.
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