Chapter 190 Old Property Auction (1/2)
Chapter 190: Old Property Auction
Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After sitting down, Hans shouted, ”Alakba, two spicy chicken fried rice, two grilled lamb sticks, one fried lamb meatball.”
A man wearing a little white hat and a thick, large beard turned his head toward them. Speaking in broken English, he repeated, ”Chicken fried rice, spicy. Lamb stick—what flavor?”
”Spicy!”
”Okay, spicy!” The man turned back, and with two middle-eastern children, began working.
Hans said, ”The fried rice and grilled meat from this stall have quite an authentic middle-eastern flavor. The lamb meatballs are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Trust me—later you’ll fall in love with the food here.”
Li Du smiled. ”We’ll see.”
This night market could remain in such good business mainly because the side stall owners didn’t have to pay taxes for it, since the employees from the tax agency had already left work.
To many of the stall owners, saving those taxes would greatly improve their quality of life. Thus, gradually, the number of stalls increased in this market.
Li Du asked, ”They don’t pay taxes because the people from the tax agency don’t work at this time? I don’t think so. If the tax agency wants to check these stall owners—who have been evading taxes—they should be willing to check up on them at night.”
Hans said, ”This market has been around for a long time, since World War II. During that time, this was a place where the less well-off did bartering. Everyone bartered so that they could evade paying taxes.
”Then, those who stuck to the tradition became fewer. Even though more people started using money again, the tax agency had already gotten used to skipping the tax collection from here, so this place became a small, tax-free area.”
The fried lamb meatballs were served; the plate of small balls was fried to a golden crisp. All over the plate was cream, tartar sauce, tomato sauce, and spicy seasoning made of spices like chili powder and cumin.
Li Du dipped one into the spicy seasoning and had a bite. The meat inside was very tender and fragrant.
Watching the people passing by, he asked while munching on the meat, ”It’s quite chaotic here. Wouldn’t the cops be concerned about people doing some illegal trading?”
”You mean drugs?”
”Yeah.”
”This market has another reason for being able to survive until today: all the merchants have to sign a contract first. The contract states that if something threatening the existence of the market appears, all the merchants will have to step up to fight against it.”
Li Du finally understood. ”Which means that if any drug peddlers or underground gambling occurs, all the merchants will have to chase them out?”
”Right.”
Hans grabbed a stick of grilled lamb as he spoke. The oil on the lamb was still sizzling. When he opened his mouth and tried to rip a large piece of meat off, he exclaimed while getting scalded by the oil: ”Heavenly!”
Li Du still had some questions. ”Back at home, we have a proverb: ‘A snake can’t bite without its head.’ If no one took the position as leader, would the merchants take the initiative to fight against those evil forces?”
”Of course—it’s a tradition here. With one call, a hundred will respond.” Hans was starting to get annoyed. ”Why are you so worried about this? Just eat your food.”
Li Du said, ”Of course I want to know about this. I have an idea, buddy.”
Hans wolfed down the meat on the stick. ”What idea?”
”Every time we attend auctions, we end up with some trash. It’s troublesome dealing with trash, so why don’t we make an old goods market similar to this?”
Hans blinked his eyes in confusion and said, ”I don’t understand.”
”What I mean is we can find ourselves an empty lot, and then put the trash and old goods that we find there.
”If anyone is interested in our old goods, then they can take it away for free, but they would also have to take away the trash together with the old goods.”