Chapter 207 The Feeling of Trus (2/2)

Li Du noticed a familiar face from the group of men. It was their neighbor, Tomasson.

Tomasson also remembered both Li Du and Hans. ”Nice to see you again,” he laughed. ”So, both of you are the men that Ashley told us about. I should have known better. There aren’t many Oriental faces here.”

Li Du shook hands with him and replied, ”Yes, Mr. Tomasson. It’s nice to see you too. Please take a look at the items we brought.”

Tomasson then introduced Ashley’s husband to Li Du. His name was Ricky Tacoma, a bearded blonde with green eyes.

After shaking hands with Li, Ricky seemed embarrassed and said, ”I need to apologize for something I said earlier: After knowing that my wife had given the specimen to you before you fulfilled the requests, I doubted her decision, and felt that it had been foolish of her to do that.”

Li Du laughed and said, ”I understand your concern. There are people who don’t keep their word.”

He started to like these Amish people. If Ricky had kept silent about this, he wouldn’t have known about that anyways. But yet, Ricky chose to be truthful and apologize to him.

Hans gave his thoughts as well: ”Pal, you were right to think this way. Your wife might be too trusting of others.”

Ashley was a lucky woman. If she had met someone of a doubtful character, they would have taken the specimen with them and not come back.

An Amish man checked the young horse carefully and smiled. ”Ricky, you just got yourself a strong, healthy filly.”

The little boy, Nicholas, declared excitedly, ”I want to ride it! I want to ride it! This horse is mine now.”

The little girl opposed her brother’s declaration loudly: ”No, this is a filly—she’s a girl just like me, and she’s going to be my friend. I’ve already thought of a name for her. She shall be called Irene.”

The Amish were very pleased with the items: good quality rawhide parchment, a complete set of handmade woodworking tools, a strong, healthy filly, and an old but well-maintained foot-treadle floor loom.

Ricky invited Li Du and friends to his house. ”The weather’s getting warm; we shouldn’t let our guests stand under the hot sun. Please come inside and enjoy some iced tea.”

Hans winked at Li Du in a teasing manner. ”Wow, good begets good. God is so right about that.”

Li Du was baffled. ”What do you mean?”

”The Amish may be friendly toward outsiders, but they are wary of them too,” Hans explained. ”They allow outsiders to take pictures or film their houses and their buggies, yet they seldom allow outsiders into their houses.”

When they were about to enter the house, Tomasson said, ”My friends, please do not take any pictures—is that fine with you?”

Li Du nodded. ”We understand, we won’t take any pictures.”

”Thank you for your kind understanding. Tomasson wore a grateful smile, showing a row of teeth.

The wooden house was spacious. The floor was covered neatly with a clean rug. There weren’t many decorations in the house, only two vases with fresh-looking wildflowers.

Ricky brought some chairs out so that everyone could sit together. Ashley went to prepare tea for them. She drew some cold water from a well, and placed the metal pot of tea she brewed onto the cold well water to chill it.

Li Du noticed that there were a couple of gas lamps hanging at the entrance of the house, but there were electrical lightings and bulbs present as well. It meant that the Amish did use electricity.

Tomasson saw a puzzled look on Li’s face as he stared at the lamps.

”Do you think we are a primitive group of people?” he smiled. ”Actually, we have adopted some modern technology. As you’ve already guessed, we do use electricity.”

Li Du waved his hands and said, ”No, no, no—you misunderstood. I didn’t think that. I am just puzzled because since there’s electricity, why don’t you use electrical tools like an electrical loom?”

Ricky explained, ”Our electrical energy is generated from wind energy and solar energy. We need to conserve it. As for why we don’t use an electrical loom: my wife doesn’t know how to operate one.”

Li Du tried to utter something but nothing came out of his mouth.