The villa's bedroom was very well-equipped . Li Du arranged for the Martins to stay in
that room . Having the entire family in the same place would be more convenient for all
of them .
Two days later, at the beginning of December, the Martin couple got ready to hunt in the
desert . Li Du planned to accompany them .
Li Du brought Brother Wolf with him to accompany Mr . and Mrs . Martin while Sophie
and the rest stayed behind .
Their real motive was not hunting, but the wish to discuss family matters .
Desert hunting was a common branch of hunting in the southwestern United States .
Most people would think that there was no life in the desert . In fact, many animals lived
there, such as desert rabbits, desert foxes, and deer . Those were all animals they
hunted .
There was a desert south of Phoenix . It had weeds and low shrubs growing on the
surface of the earth .
The Martins were dressed in their hunting gear . James was an expert in hunting . Back
in Flagstaff, he often went to the mountains to hunt for wild beasts with his buddies .
Upon entering the desert, with his gun in tow, he looked around eagerly for prey .
Mrs . Martin had a mild interest in killing . As opposed to her husband, she was a devout
churchgoer . Sophie was just like her mother, but even more pious .
Seeing that her husband's eyes were all lit up with excitement, Mrs . Martin glanced at
him and said, "Wasting your time on insignificant things!"
"Are you calling hunting insignificant?"
Li Du smiled but stayed silent . As the son-in-law, it was more appropriate for him not to
interrupt or make it seem as though he thought he knew better than the elders did .
Old Martin remembered his motive for coming to the desert . He said, "I am here to
demonstrate married life to Li Du . In fact, marriage and hunting are pretty similar . "
He looked around and said, "First of all, you have to look for prey . Not all animals are
suitable . You only have one shot . After you shoot, other beasts will run away, so you
need to cherish that opportunity…"
Li Di nodded . "You're saying that Sophie is my prey and I should cherish the opportunity
to treat her well, right?"
Old Martin stared at him . "Rubbish . How can my precious daughter be your prey? I am
teaching you how to resolve problems post-marriage!"
Li Du amended, "Oh, I see . You're saying that resolving marriage problems is just like
hunting . You can't take a casual shot, you can't resolve a problem without putting
thought into it . You should find the core problem and then take a good shot to resolve
that . "
Old Martin said, "Your comprehension skills are excellent . However, what I want to tell
you is that all that is useless . If a conflict crops up after marriage, you must first
apologize . Man, don't worry about who's right, just apologize . I know Sophie, that girl is
very kind . If you apologize, no matter what you do, she will forgive you…"
"Can you be more serious?" Mrs . Martin was starting to get frustrated .
Old Martin put his hands in the air . "I am being very serious . "
Li Du and Brother Wolf caught each other's' eye and both of them stifled their laughter .
Mrs . Martin decided to broach another topic . She asked, "Li, regarding your nationality,
what do you think about it?"
Li Du replied, "I wish to retain my Chinese citizenship . However, I wish to apply for
permanent residency in America . After all, my career is here . I have no opinion on
Sophie's nationality . As for our children's nationality, I will leave it up to them to choose . "
Mrs . Martin nodded . "That's fair . How about three, five, ten years down the road? What
plans do you guys have in store?"
Li Du said, "We have plans . In three years, I want to buy a small island in Australia . At
the same time, I will develop the diamond mine that I contracted in South Africa . After
that, with the funds from diamond mining, I would develop the island . There are also
mineral deposits on the island . . . "
Other than about the little bug, there was nothing he could not tell them .
Li Du had never thought about hiding his financial situation from Sophie and her family .
Even more so, he had never thought about hiding anything from his own parents .
However, he felt that he could now tell Sophie and her family, but he still was unable to
tell his parents about his assets all at once .
He had to reveal the information about his assets slowly to allow his parents to take it in
bit by bit . Otherwise, they would definitely be worried and afraid if they knew that he was
suddenly worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars .
His parents would not only be concerned as to how he got his riches, but more
importantly, they would fear for his safety .
At the end of the last century and at the beginning of this century, Li Du's hometown
experienced two kidnapping cases . The victims were both wealthy individuals . From
then on, the wealthy have been keeping their wealth private and secret .
The Martins opened their mouths in shock and stared at him blankly . Although both of
them were older, more knowledgeable and have had more experience, they were still
shocked .
The Martins were considered upper middle class in the United States . They did not lack
money and led a prosperous life, but they did not have excessive wealth or much spare
cash on hand .
Additionally, most of the people they interacted with in school were their colleagues and
students . They hardly crossed paths with rich people .
It was even rarer for them to interact with people like Li Du, with so much accumulated
wealth .
The old man tried hard to swallow, and said, "That, Li, you are not… are you not doing
warehouse auction work? Are warehouse auctions so profitable?"
Mrs . Martin egged him on, "You should resign and join him too . "
Li Du started to laugh . "Warehouse auctions are indeed pretty good . I earned my first
big win here, it was more than a few hundred thousand . "
He started to give them an explanation about his career . In terms of warehouse auction,
he picked the top examples to describe . For example, he talked about the Batman
chariots, the Dodo skeleton, and the two famous paintings by Van Gogh .
Then he talked about his experience of looking for fire opals in the fossil park . He
continued telling about how that became an opportunity for him to first connect with
Harry Winston, Inc . before he became a shareholder .
After that, he once again explained the reasons he went to Australia and described what
he found there . He talked about how he eventually went to Africa and saved a Pygmy
tribesman there . He told them about how the Pygmies helped him to discover a
diamond mine .
As he was telling his stories, the Martins reacted animatedly . Sometimes they gasped,
then they were surprised and awed . Towards the end of narrating his experience, Li Du
felt like he was retelling a novel .
Fortunately, the audience who was listening to his stories was very good and
cooperated with him as he spoke .
The couple felt that they were watching a blockbuster movie . After listening to his
narration, Sophie's father exclaimed, "Unbelievable, Li, what you have experienced in
the past two years!"
Mrs . Martin started to worry . Her eyes looked uncertain as she said, "Li, your
achievements, they came too quickly . Oh, it's not that I'm doubtful about you or
anything . I just wanted to say, you're really too impressive . Sophie, uh, Sophie is a very
ordinary lady…"
"She's the best of God's creation," Li Du said earnestly . "I am not saying that just
because you guys are her parents . I feel that I have met with good luck since I came to
America . But the luckiest thing that happened to me is Sophie . "
He looked ahead, thinking back to the first time he met Sophie . He could not help but
smile, and emphasized, "Meeting her, falling in love and making her fall in love with me,
that's the best thing that happened to me in America . In fact, it's probably the best thing
that happened in my entire life!"
Mrs . Martin grinned . "No, you guys will experience even better things in the future . I
wish you guys every happiness . "
Her husband nodded his head and Mrs . Martin gestured for him to say a few words . Old
Martin was silent for a while before he asked with a serious face, "Can we hunt now?"
Chapter end
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