Chapter 1560 The Hospitable Mayor (2/2)

Li Du nodded. ”That's right. I'm only here to look for something that could benefit me.”

He thought a bit, then laughed. ”What mine could there be here?”

Violence was not the answer when it came to dealing with the common people; small bits of charity and compassion were the way to go. He barely spent anything at all to coax them into leaving — all he did was give each of them about ten thousand Kyat, the equivalent of one or two hundred RMB.

Through his interaction with these people, Li Du understood one thing, and that was that Maung Kyaw Zin absolutely did not want Li Du to open a mine here. It seemed as if the mayor knew something. These people were definitely not here because of Feng Shui. Right from the very start, the old man had warned him against opening a mine here. He entreated him to not dig in the earth. When Li Du said he would dig for something his ancestors had buried here, the old man should have objected to that if he were really concerned about the Feng Shui and his ancestors' graves.

The mechanical arm was not fixed yet so the engineers got to work first. He had the engineer plan out a route to let the workers dig downwards, reinforcing the hole along the way to ensure it was still safe. Because the destination and path were clear, the digging was not too difficult a task even though they were working through rock. They would progress about four to five meters a day, and the engineering team would need to work for a few days before they hit the deposits.

On the second day, Maung Kyaw Zin arrived as he had promised. He carried a bag on his back and in it were the tools that were on the list Li Du had given him. He handed the tools over to Li Du and smiled. ”Here, as promised, Boss Li. These are quite the rare items you've requested. I had to search through all the shops in our town to find them.”

Li Du shook his hand and thanked him. ”Thank you so much, mayor, you've been a great help.”

Maung Kyaw Zin eyed the Markelov brothers and said, ”It's my duty. Your friends once saved my entire family and some of my people, and I will forever be grateful to them.”

”Looks like I've made the right friends,” Li Du said as he chuckled. He suddenly realized something: was Maung Kyaw Zin refraining from involving the government and the police in order to protect the Markelov brothers? If they were arrested, the Markelovs would be punished too. Perhaps the mayor thought he'd be biting the hand that had saved him and so refrained from resorting to such extreme measures?

Maung Kyaw Zin had no idea what was running through Li Du's head, so he said, ”That's not all, actually. I owe them a lot more than this. What's a couple of tools? Oh, right! It's not good for you guys to be eating on the mountain. I've asked my wife to prepare some food, so leave the meals to me from now on.”

Li Du waved his hands. ”How could I—”

The mayor interrupted him, ”How could you what? Unless you think my wife is a terrible cook, don't reject my offer.”

Li Du said, ”Your wife is an excellent cook, I just think we'd be imposing on you too much.”

Maung Kyaw Zin chuckled. ”You're too polite, Boss Li. This is nothing. Besides, I'm not doing this out of sheer benevolence. I just want to do some business. I said I'd take care of your three meals, but I never said I'd do it for free.”

Li Du nodded in agreement. ”That's no problem, just tell me how much.”

Maung Kyaw Zin nodded, too. ”It's settled, then. You get to do what you have to, while I make my rounds on the mountain and go down after.”

Li Du then went to look for Driver to have the mechanical arm repaired. Maung Kyaw Zin had his hands clasped behind his back as he circled around the mining area, occasionally stopping to chat with the engineers and miners. Not long after, he shook his head and descended.