Chapter 180 Brother Li, Help! (2/2)

Li Du’s parents agreed to whatever he said as well, but Li Du would be a fool to believe them. He knew far too well about his parents’ thriftiness…

In the late evening, he received a call on his phone. He picked it up suspiciously and asked, ”Hello, who is this?”

A voice that was out-of-breath came through the phone. ”Brother Li, Brother Li, it’s me, Xiao Lin Zi—I’m Lin Ping, can you hear me?”

”Lin Ping?” Li Du remembered him, so he said, ”Why can’t I recognize your voice? What’s wrong, Xiao Lin Zi? Where have you been after leaving school?”

Lin Ping was a countrymate that he met at National University in Flagstaff. The two of them were from Northwest China, and spoke a similar dialect, so they clicked well.

Because Lin Ping had a similar name to Lin Pingzhi from ”The Smiling, Proud Wanderer,” the Chinese students liked to call him ”Xiao Lin Zi.” After some time, he had taken a liking to the nickname, and called himself that as well.

But soon after, Li Du and Lin Ping’s friendship turned lukewarm, and though they didn’t exactly go their separate ways, their relationship turned fairly normal.

Li Du had a somewhat stubborn personality, but when interacting with friends, he was still quite easy to hang out with. His tolerance toward his friends was quite high.

The reason why he couldn’t sustain his friendship with Lin Ping was mainly that the guy liked to gamble.

Unlike Li Du’s down-to-earth family background, Lin Ping came from a relatively wealthy household.

Most people born with a silver spoon tended to have some uncommon hobbies. Liu Jin Long, whom Li Du met previously, loved guns; he chose to study here because of America’s Gun Laws. Lin Ping chose to study here mainly because gambling was illegal in most parts of China, and America had legal casinos.

Liu Jin Long was good at studying. Li Du, to some extent, was good at studying. Lin Ping however, was terrible. He got in through money, and said that he was going to buy himself a certificate. Thus, he came to the diploma mill, which didn’t bother to look into their educational histories.

The two hadn’t contacted each other in half a year. To suddenly receive a call from Lin Ping, Mr. Li felt that something was off.

Indeed, people don’t seek a temple unless they are trouble. Lin Ping said anxiously on the phone, ”Brother Li, you’re still in Flagstaff, right? I’ve read about you in the papers.”

Li Du wanted to tell him that he had already left Flagstaff, and even left Arizona, but hearing what Lin Ping said about the newspapers, he had to admit it. ”Yes, I am, what’s up?”

Lin Ping heaved a sigh of relief. ”That’s great, Brother Li. Can you help me out? I’m in some trouble.”

After some hesitation, Li Du asked, ”What kind of help? If it’s related to the casino, then to tell you the truth, Lin Ping, Brother Li is…”

Hearing the reluctance in his tone, Lin Ping desperately called out, ”Brother Li, help me—please help me! Besides you, there’s no one else in Flagstaff that I can trust—please help me, save me!”

Li Du sighed. He didn’t want to poke his nose into any troublesome business, but both of them were Chinese men in a foreign country; if they don’t help each other, then who else could they count on? Americans? They often didn’t treat him as a citizen of this country, so why would they help him?

”Let me hear about it. The important thing is that I might not be able to help you.”

Lin Ping heaved a sigh of relief. ”No problem, Brother Li, I’m sure you can. As long as you promise.”

”Talk.”

”It’s like this, Brother Li: I’m currently in Comanche Casino. I’ve met the people from Immigration, they’ve asked me for my documentation, but I didn’t bring it. It’s in the motel.”

Li Du felt suspicious, and said, ”Then just go and get it from the motel.”

Lin Ping said, ”No—if I go to the hotel, then I’ll have to give up this round of poker. I’m sure to win this round! I was hoping to trouble you to help get the documents for me? I trust you, but I’m afraid that other people would throw away my documents after getting them, and then I would be screwed!”

The request wasn’t that difficult. Li Du resigned and said, ”Sure, but I don’t have the keys.”

Seeing that he agreed, Lin Ping was elated. ”No problem—my room has a number lock, I just need to tell you the code for it. The documents are under my pillow.”

”Send me a text stating that you’re asking me for help to get the documents.” Li Du wanted to make some precautions. He was afraid of encountering any trouble that he couldn’t explain if he were to enter Lin Ping’s room by himself.

After hanging up, he sent a text.

In the casino, with a flat-top hairstyle and a skinny frame, Lin Ping said to the Native American opposite of him, ”Mr. Haris, I’ve done as you asked.”

The Native American revealed a generous smile, and said, ”Thank you, Chinese friend. Here, let me tell you what to do next.”