Chapter 206 Bid for the Loom (2/2)

With an earnest look, Li Du explained his decision: ”Big Fox, the lady placed her trust in us, and we made a gentleman's agreement.”

Hans shrugged his shoulders. ”You’re the boss; you decide.”

They chose a filly with a pure brown coat, and decided to leave her with Jones until they managed to get the foot-treadle loom.

The foot-treadle loom was proving difficult to find. Li Du had scoured the internet for the traditional loom; he searched everywhere from Amazon to Alibaba, but had found nothing.

In the end, he had to rely on Hans to help with the search.

Hans spent hours making lots of calls. Finally, he heaved a sigh of relief and laughed, ”Bud, we’re in luck! There’s an old foot-treadle loom that will be put on auction at Hoffman’s Old Goods Market this weekend.”

”What a coincidence!” an overjoyed Li Du exclaimed.

Hans nodded, ”Exactly! Looks like God wants you to have the bird skeleton too. Oh yeah, while we’re at it, have you figured out the species of the specimen?”

Li Du shrugged and replied, ”Not yet. We’ve been so busy finding all the items that I haven’t tried to find anyone to appraise it.”

It was not important if the specimen was valuable or not—Li Du simply wanted to do some research on the little bug’s ”Relive the Past” ability, as it seemed that the ability did not work well on the specimen.

After the old house auction, and the past two days of legwork, the weekend had arrived.

That was why Hans said they were lucky, as the auction would be held the next day. If they had missed this opportunity, who knew when they would be able to find another foot-treadle loom?

Li Du had wanted to purchase the loom directly from the owner, but the owner told them the loom had already been printed on the promotional brochures. According to the regulations of the market, no private transactions were allowed for any item that had been printed on their brochure.

On the last day of the week, when it was evening, they drove to the Hoffman’s Old Goods Market to attend the auction.

Blacktooth was talking loudly with a rowdy group of men. Their boisterous laughter could be heard every now and then. He seemed to be chewing on something.

Blacktooth saw the duo and waved to them. ”Hey Big Fox, we meet again. Are you planning to snatch away our business?”

Hans took out a dozen cans of cold beer and tossed one over to Blacktooth. ”I came here to support your business—we’re here to bid for an old loom.”

Blacktooth spat out the thing he had been chewing. Li Du recognized it as a betel nut. No wonder his teeth were reddish black and his cheeks had looked so big.

The orange-red sun slowly set in the horizon and soon the lights of the market were lit up; the auctioneer appeared on stage.

”Hello my dear brothers and sisters. Welcome to the weekly auction of Hoffman’s Old Goods Market. I’m your old friend, Sayder...”

Li Du had heard these lines before, and just like the previous time he was here, the lively crowd made a commotion: some held out their middle fingers while some bantered with the auctioneer.

The first item on auction was a slot machine. A middle-aged black man won the item with a bidding price of 2,000 dollars.

Blacktooth yelled, ”Stewart—you’re preparing to become a casino tycoon?”

Stewart laughed in response. ”Yeah, and I’m going to win all of your money, you rascals. Come to my place tomorrow to play slots—I’ve prepared a bunch of sausages and sandwiches.”

”As you wish, pal!”

One by one, the items on auction found their new owners.

Finally, a huge triangular-like foot-treadle floor loom that looked like a grand piano appeared.

The auctioneer gestured for the lights to be turned on the huge loom and spoke loudly. ”This traditional foot-treadle loom is much older than me or you. It might have been made the same year our grandparents were born.

”It has been very well-maintained and is still in good working condition. This loom is definitely a valuable item to have.

”The starting price is 1,200 dollars, my friends, bid for it if you want this great item!”

Li Du bid for it. ”Me!”

”One thousand three hundred dollars.”

”One thousand four hundred.”

”One thousand six hundred!”

”Two thousand dollars!” Li Du placed his bid again, increasing the bid by 400 dollars.