The children’s crying attracted the attention of the people nearby and Li Du became helpless. He put down Ah Meow, then turned to nod at Ah Ow before saying, “Come on, let’s put on a little show.”

He took out a piece of beef jerky and threw it with a flick of his wrist. Ah Ow leaped up and caught it neatly with her mouth.

The children were still crying, so Li Du could only throw another piece. Before Ah Ow could jump again, Ah Meow was one step ahead and leaped up at a startling height to snatch some candied fruit. Li Du kept tossing and tossing, throwing the snacks slightly further up this time, but Ah Ow could not jump high enough. When it jumped, Ah Meow sprung into action as well, first jumping onto her back, then using the momentum to make a second jump and opening its mouth to catch the snack just as it began to fall.

The children stared at this impressive display with wide eyes; their crying had stopped. Big Markelov and Brother Wolf were also impressed. Li Du waved his hands. “What are you looking at? This is no big deal, but we have to leave now. I have no more tricks up my sleeve if they cry again.”

They returned to the hotel where the owner, Maung Kyaw Zin, served them piping-hot breakfast. “Here’s some Ciba cake my wife made, and this jellied beancurd was prepared by my brother. I added some pepper and soy sauce, try it and let me know how it tastes,” He said enthusiastically.

Li Du put his hands together in gratitude. The owner was really hospitable, giving him and his friends such a warm welcome. The Markelov brothers really outdid themselves this time; not only did they find a good place like this one, but they were even conversing with the owner during the meal and managed to subtly steer the conversation to fish for information they needed. “…Mayor, you’re not too far from Hpakant. Do you have any jade mines here?”

Maung Kyaw Zin finished off the Ciba cakes, then furrowed his eyebrows and pondered for a moment. “It’s true that we’re not too far from Hpakant, but there are limits to how far jade mines can stretch. To the best of my knowledge, we don’t have any here.”

He mulled it over for a while more before continuing, “Actually, that’s not entirely true. I’m the mayor, so I’ve seen the archives and historical records. From what I have read, it seems like we’ve used to produce jade before, but this is a taboo topic here that everyone actively avoids speaking about.”

This puzzled Li Du. “What happened?”

The mayor reached for another piece of cake. He became somber and stared down silently. Li Du did not hurry him, fully aware that the man was deep in thought. After the mayor finished his piece of the cake, he clapped his hands and said, “Boss Li, you’re an honored guest and the Markelov brothers saved my family, so we are not in the position to be hiding things from you guys. However, rules are still rules, so it’s best I stick by this town’s laws.”

Young Markelov furrowed his brows, very evidently displeased. He opened his mouth to persuade the mayor but Li Du shook his head and said politely, “I understand your position, mayor. Please forgive us if we’ve overstepped our boundaries.”

The mayor waved his hand and said, “Oh, Boss Li, it’s not that serious. It’s just that this is really something I shouldn’t be discussing, I’m sorry.”

And that was the end of the conversation. He waited for everyone to finish their meal before bringing his wife and daughter out to clear the table. They then brought the dishes to the kitchen to be washed.

Young Markelov mumbled, “Sketchy.”

Brother Wolf shook his head and said, “He just doesn’t want his village to be associated with jade.”

Li Du understood as much just by looking at Hpakant, which seemed prosperous and flourishing on the outside but was actually struggling with poverty. These gems were not the key to wealth and prosperity for a village; more often than not, they could ruin everything. The resource curse was more than just superstition, it was a paradox that remained unsolved by developing countries to this day.

After breakfast, he headed out to the streets, where the morning market was already closed for the day. Families stepped out of their houses to tidy up their area. Though the town was not huge or prosperous, its scenery was truly picturesque and the people living here were happy to some degree. If they did find a jade mine, this idyllic town would soon be ruined, and any semblance of simplicity it had would vanish.

On the other hand, Li Du came to Myanmar and Wooku Town for the sole purpose of finding a jade vein. He was so close to it, he could feel it. Judging by what the mayor said about the town never having mined for gems, it was likely that the jade vein was buried underground.

He waited until there was nobody before taking out the piece of landform jade carving, trying to gauge where the vein could be. Jade carvings existed before the detection technology of modern mining areas did, so these carvings could not tell one exactly where the jade veins were, how old they were, or how much ore they contained. The only definite thing was this: the jade carving depicted a place somewhere at the base of Dena Mountain and he could find it if he walked along it.

He had initially thought that it was impossible for information on something like that not to be passed down at all, so after he arrived, he sought the elderly to try to gain knowledge from them. He thought that if he found some stray pieces of information here and there he could eventually piece together a big picture to locate the mining area. However, the plan had gone bust. Even the mayor who was supposed to know about the local jade mine was reluctant to divulge anything.

Therefore, Li Du decided to take matters in his own hands — he gathered a group and ventured out. Wooku Town was situated at the base of the mountain, but it was some distance from Dena Mountain. Because of Myanmar’s climate and environmental issues, landslides could occur, so the town had to maintain a distance from the mountain due to safety reasons. That said, there was still a path from the town to Dena Mountain, less than 10 minutes away by car.

Dena Mountain was a small, nondescript mountain about 20 kilometers or so from east to west, standing barely 100 meters above sea level. When they reached the base of the mountain, Li Du found an empty spot to park his car, then signaled for the group to disperse. He had them search along the base of the mountain to see if they could find any traces of ore. From the message on the jade carving, he believed the mining area should be somewhere near. It was just a pity the jade carving was so small. One small dot on the carving marked out a huge plot of land, so he had no way of locating the mining area with any accuracy.

Young Markelov arrived in another car with some people. They had stayed behind at the town on their own missions, which was to continue searching for information relating to jade. After stepping out of the car, the Markelov brothers shook their heads as they said, “No go, boss. We tried asking a few people, but their faces changed immediately and they walked off the moment we brought up the topic.”

Young Markelov added helplessly, “F*ck, the only person who talked to us about jade veins was the one who warned us to keep our mouths shut. He said there were no jade veins here, only the devil’s tomb. F*cking superstitions!”

Li Du nodded and said, “Seems like this is a taboo topic in this area, so let’s stop trying to ask the locals. Let’s walk around here on our own for now and see if we can find anything.”

The group split into pairs and searched along the base of the mountain. Li Du paired up with Brother Wolf, bringing a few of the little ones along as they started climbing up. The littles ones had been cooped up in the hotel the entire time and they were about to go stir crazy. Now that they were back in the wild, they seemed revitalized and were jumping about in joy.

Ah Bai flew up a tree and grabbed on to the branches, swinging from one to another. Ah Meow followed behind as if planning something. Suddenly, it leaped up and knocked into a branch that Ah Bai was holding. The branch could not bear both their weights so it snapped with a crack. Ah Bai chirped in fear, but it was a good thing it had an innate talent for climbing. It managed to grab onto another branch nearby so it did not tumble down.

After it recovered from its shock, it quickly flared up in anger. Ah Meow was really proud of the prank it just pulled; it climbed up a branch and started meowing. Ah Bai looked around, its head swiveling left and right until it found a pine cone. It grabbed the cone and sent it hurtling towards Ah Meow.