Chapter 434
Oak Bar.
Luke had been in New York for a while, and it was the first time he had been to a bar in New York.
New York was more crowded than Los Angeles, but it was also more lively than Los Angeles, and the nightlife was more colorful.
Luke and his party entered the bar, which was already packed, the bar’s decoration was very special, the tables and chairs were made of copper, very old, the walls were decorated with pieces of oak barrels, and the walls were surrounded by liquor cabinets, rum, tequila, wine, armagnac, which stored the most whiskey.
Luke’s party consisted of six people, a black agent and a Chicano agent in addition to Michael, Amir, and Lois.
The six sat around a semi-circular couch and Lois looked at Amir next to her, “Are you sure you can drink?”
“Of course, I think I’m well enough, strong enough to eat a goat.” Amir flexed his right arm showing off his not-so-obvious biceps.
A young white youth waiter with a menu in his hand approached and asked, “Good evening, what would you like to drink?”
“Come here for whiskey, of course. I’ll have a McCallum, 12 year, on the rocks.”
“Bourbon, no ice.”
“A Chivas Regal, please.”
After the crowd ordered their drinks, Michael checked out and gave the waiter a ten dollar tip.
Michael spread his hands, “Man, what do you think of this bar?”
Luke’s eyes scanned around, “The bar has a nice décor and atmosphere.” Luke looked at the rows of liquor cabinets, “Does this bar specialize in whiskey?”
“Yes, the owner of this bar is a whisky lover, it is said that his original intention of opening the bar is to taste and collect all kinds of whisky in the world, and the variety of whisky here is claimed to be the most abundantly stocked bar in New York.”
Amir revealed a curious look, “Counselor Li, how did you find Zhou Tiancheng?”
Luke explained, “Zhou Tiancheng found the plastic surgery clinic through one of the leaders of Wo Sheng Tang, Wo Sheng Tang’s base camp is in Chinatown, I have Chinese blood, isn’t it normal to have some connections in Chinatown?”
Michael said, “Anyway, this time, thanks to you, if you didn’t find the plastic surgery clinic where Zhou Tiancheng was in time, there’s a real possibility that this guy could get away.”
The young white waiter came over with a black tray and placed several glasses of whiskey and a plate of cornflakes on the table.
Michael raised his glass and suggested, “Guys, let’s toast to Counselor Lee.”
Lois was the first to lift her glass, “To Counselor Lee.”
Several other people also raised their glasses to toast Luke.
Luke also smiled and raised his glass, “The capture of Zhou Tiancheng could not be done without everyone’s efforts, here’s to everyone.”
“Cheers!”
Luke took a sip of whiskey, tasting the flavor in his mouth, the smell was refreshing, with a fragrance of oak.
Reminiscent of the name of the bar, Oak Bar.
Michael looked at Luke, “How does it feel?”
“It tastes good, a little more mellow than I expected.”
Amir introduced himself, “You asked for whiskey on the rocks, the specialty of this bar is that it doesn’t add real ice, but a frozen metal block, so that it tastes cold and refreshing, but retains the mellowness of the drink.”
Luke glanced down at his glass, the drink did have two pieces of silver metal of unknown material in it, “That’s interesting, I’ll try that later.”
Amir was curious, “What’s a bar in LA like? I’ve never really been there.”
Luke said, “Actually, the bars are pretty much the same, they just incorporate some of the local flavor, however, the bars in LA close early and are usually only open until two in the morning.”
“Then New York wins, you can drink here until four in the morning. Those people who see New York at four in the morning all the time are actually a bunch of drunks, haha.”
Luke asked rhetorically, “You’ve really never been to LA?”
“Yes, although I’ve always wanted to go, I’ve never had the time or opportunity.”
Luke invited, “If you’re ever in L.A., remember to call me and I’ll buy you a drink.” Luke pointed to the others again, “You guys too.”
Amir trailed off, “You planning on going back to L.A.?”
Actually, he wasn’t the only one curious about that question, everyone in the room wanted to know.
“That’s right, I’ve already bought a ticket back to L.A. I’ve got a bunch of things waiting for me to take care of over there, and if I don’t go back, I’m due to be fired from the LAPD.”
Michael asked, “Why don’t you stay at the Fobler office in New York? I’m sure Negan would be more than willing to keep you around if you asked.”
Luke laughed to himself, “Because I still like to yell ‘LAPD!’ when I’m in law enforcement.”
“Haha.”
The crowd laughed, drawing sideways glances from those around them.
Lois asked, “Will you be back? We’re going to miss you.”
Luke glanced at Michael next to him and snickered, “I’ll be back when Michael is officially the leader of the group.”
Michael shook his head and laughed bitterly, “Hey man, leave me out of this.
But then again, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”
“Me too, I’ll miss you guys.” Luke picked up his glass, “Guys, let’s have another toast.”
“Cheers.”
Michael took a big gulp, the glass was almost at the bottom, “If we get a tough case, can we ask you for advice?”
Luke nodded, “Even if I leave New York, as much as I’m a criminal investigation consultant for Fobler, that won’t change, and you’re welcome to harass me at any time.”
Help was mutual, relationships were made, and it was inevitable that Luke would use the Fobol relationship at times.
Lois asked, “When are you leaving, we’ll see you off.”
“Come on, don’t make it seem like a parting of the ways, it’s not like I’m not coming back, you guys will wrap up the case more than anything if you hurry up, I’ll come back to see you guys this summer at the latest.”
Amir’s eyes rolled back in his head and he surmised, “You’re married with kids?”
“No, but I have a brother who’s still in school and, well, he and you have one thing in common.”
“Let me guess, it’s knowledge, academic ability, or good looks.”
Luke laughed and snickered, “It’s obnoxious.”
“Haha ……,” the crowd erupted in laughter.
Amir wasn’t offended, if Luke really hated his brother, he wouldn’t have had to wait until summer vacation.
The crowd finished the first round of drinks and the second round was on Luke.
Just after settling the bill, a familiar voice rang in his head, “Congratulations to the host for successfully solving the ‘King of Gamblers series of cases’, rewarded with 120 points.”
Luke was happy in his heart, it seems that not only does detecting LAPD cases give rewards, but detecting cases in Fobol is just as rewarding, which is good news for him.
Luke started to inventory the cards used in this case.
Among them, Luke used 2 encounter cards, 1 footprint identification card, 1 bullet avoidance card, 1 precision card, and 1 detection card.
In total, Luke used 6 feature cards in this series of cases.
Among them, there was only one bullet avoidance card left, which had to be replenished, and this one could save his life at critical moments.
There are only two of these cards left, and they must be replenished as well.
There were only three Precision Cards left, and they had to be replenished as well.
The rest of the cards don’t need to be replenished for now.
This case newly rewarded 120 points, and the Divine Detective System had sixty points left over from before, totaling one hundred and eighty points.
Bullet Dodge Card Redemption, 30 points.
Adventure Card Redemption, 20 points.
Precision Card Redemption, 20 points.
Luke thought about it and redeemed 2 bullet avoidance cards, 1 encounter card, and 1 precision card, spending a total of 100 points, the system still had 80 points left for a rainy day.
Luke consumed six cards this time, adding up to exactly 120 points, waiting for a penny without earning, he looked forward to Negan and Zhou Tiancheng’s negotiation to bring some surprises.
When people get along for a long time, it’s easy for them to look at each other.
When it came time to part, they remembered each other’s good qualities.
Knowing that Luke is going to leave, a few of his colleagues, who are also regarded as having been killed together, are a bit reluctant to let go and have poured Luke a lot of wine.
Luke returned home, sleep in a daze, the next day woke up is more than eight o’clock in the morning.
Li Zhaofeng has gone to work, the restaurant left Luke breakfast, fried dough, salted eggs, salted vegetables, milk.
The salted eggs were pickled by himself, and the fries were fried by Luke’s aunt.
While Luke was eating, he received a call from Negan asking him to go to Fobler’s New York office.
After dinner, Luke simply packed and left.
He did not drive, but chose to travel by subway, New York’s subway is more developed than Los Angeles, it is convenient and fast to take the subway, on the contrary, the car is easy to block.
More than nine o’clock, Luke arrived at the Fobol New York office, first went to the office of the Criminal Investigation Department, Michael, Louise, Amir three people are not in the office.
Michael and Amir had gone to the hospital to interrogate Mo Shaoxiong.
Louise, on the other hand, went to the New York Police Department; after all, Zheng Lagong was an informant for the NYPD, and there were some things that needed to be communicated with them in advance.
Luke said hello to the other agents and went to Negan’s office on the seventh floor.
Negan was in a good mood, and when he saw Luke, he invited him to sit on the sofa and poured him a cup of coffee.
Luke took a sip of the coffee, put down the cup and laughed, “It seems that you had a good talk with Zhou Tiancheng yesterday.”
Negan nodded, “He’s a smart man, knows what his greatest value is and how to get the best return.”
Luke asked, “What conditions did he offer?”
Negan lit a cigarette and took a drag, “He hoped to get bail now and medical parole after sentencing, but I refused.
I promised him that if he voluntarily turned over his illegal property from online gambling, he could be sent to New York to serve his sentence in the Democrat Model Prison, the most coveted place for prisoners in the entire United States.
He still has a portion of his ‘legal income’ in his hand, which is enough for him to live a relatively nourishing life in there.
That’s the best thing that could have happened to him.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.” Luke revealed a curious look, “How much illegal property did Zhou Tiancheng account for?”
“He has a total of more than a billion dollars in assets, most of which are illegally obtained, he has been frozen after being wanted by the Southeast Asian countries for nearly a billion dollars in assets, the remaining nearly three hundred million dollars was hidden by him, one hundred million dollars of which was hidden in a Swiss bank, and nearly two hundred million dollars of assets were in the United States.
The assets stashed in the U.S. don’t have much cash, most of them are fixed assets and collectibles, all of this loot needs to be sold and disposed of, and this job has fallen into Fobler’s hands as well.”
Negan took out a piece of information and handed it to Luke, “There are some assets on here that need to be auctioned, let’s see if you need any.”
It was a list of assets.
There were luxury cars, yachts, mansions, luxury goods, and collectibles.
Each item had a starting price and a market price.
The most expensive one was the yacht, the market price was about thirty million dollars, the starting bid was ten million dollars, the photos of the yacht were quite beautiful and suitable for driving in Los Angeles, but Luke couldn’t afford this price.
Luke went through all the auction items, with the stolen goods starting at about a third of the market price.
“If I’m going to buy the swag up there, how do I do it?”
Negan flicked his cigarette ash, “You can just buy it at the starting price.”
Luke laughed, “Is that sort of a perk for Fobler?”
“It’s also considered a reward for you, without your assistance, the capture of Zhou Tiancheng wouldn’t have gone so smoothly, take your time to look at it yourself and let me know when you see it.” Negan went back to his desk to check the files.
Luke picked up the list of stolen goods and scrutinized it, first filtering out the luxury items and collectibles.
For one thing, these things didn’t fit Luke’s identity, for another these things were bought based on personal preference, if you like it, it’s worth that much, if you don’t like it, it’s not worth that much.
Although Zhou Tiancheng’s luxury goods and collectibles were expensive, there was nothing that Luke particularly liked, and there was nothing else to buy them for other than pretending.
Not practical.
Zhou Tiancheng’s fixed assets were mainly distributed in three cities, New York, Los Angeles, and Hawaii.
There were a total of four luxury cars, including a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, a Porsche, and a Ferrari.
Luke had already bought a Mercedes Benz G500 and was not short of luxury cars for the time being.
Finally, Luke locked his purchases on top of real estate, Zhou Tiancheng had two sets of real estate in New York, one set in Los Angeles, and one set in Hawaii.
New York’s two sets of real estate is a two-block townhouse together, two sets of villas were hung in the name of different people, Luke felt that the goods to buy these two sets of villas should have another purpose, however, these two sets of townhouse yard is very small, Luke is not very like.
The set of villas in Hawaii is not bad, but Luke will not live in Hawaii for a long time, and go to a temporary cleaning, usually have to take care of, the practicality is not strong.
Even if he occasionally traveled to Hawaii, it was more convenient and comfortable to stay in a hotel.
The Los Angeles set of property is the largest area, the location is also good, but the shortcomings are also obvious, the house is older, some dilapidated, need extensive repair or knock down and rebuild, can not immediately move in.
The market price of that villa in Los Angeles was around nine million dollars, and the starting auction price was three million dollars.
This price is also a little high for Luke, if he wants to buy it, he may have to take out his entire fortune, including the 300,000 dollars given by his father, gold coins worth more than 100,000 dollars, and the reserves of the Sleuth System.
Luke considered carefully in his mind, if he bought it, Luke’s economy might be strained for a while.
If he gave up, Luke was not willing to do so, he also wished to have a property of his own in Los Angeles, under normal circumstances, he could not afford a villa worth nine million dollars in any case, which amounted to a pure profit of six million dollars.
This is the benefits that Fobler gave him, don’t want it for nothing, after this village, there is no such store.
Luke gritted his teeth and made up his mind.
“Supervisor, I have been renting a house in Los Angeles, and now I happen to have some savings in my hand, so I want to buy a house.
Can I keep this LA mansion for a while?”
Negan just swept a glance at it and agreed with alacrity, “No problem, I can keep it for a month and sell it to you at the starting price of 3 million dollars.”
“Thank you, when the house is fixed, I’ll invite you as my guest.”
Negan laughed, “Reimbursement for airfare?”
“No problem.” Luke took down the address and information about the house and prepared to go back to Los Angeles to check it out on the ground.
The two chatted for a while longer before Luke offered his farewell to Negan, “Supervisor, Zhou Tiancheng’s case is closed, and I’m planning to go back to Los Angeles as well.”
Negan was a bit reluctant to leave, and retained, “You really don’t intend to stay, but I’ve reserved a good position for you.”
“Thank you for your appreciation, but this isn’t the right time for it, my real job is still Captain of the Robbery-Murder Division of the LAPD.
If Fobler’s New York office needs my services, feel free to call me.”
Negan nodded, “Give my regards to Anthony.”
“I will.”
Luke left the supervisor’s office and went downstairs to the Criminal Investigation Department’s office, Mo Shaoxiong had already confessed under Zhou Tiancheng’s identification and Michael had already taken Mo Shaoxiong to identify the scene and look for Zheng Lagong’s body.
Luke originally wanted to say hello before leaving, but since he didn’t run into it, he just forget about it.
In the evening, Luke is going to his grandparents’ house for a get-together, which is also considered his farewell dinner.
Before going, Luke and his father went to the Volvo Supermarket to buy some things, a box of Moutai, a box of bird’s nest, and a basket of fruits.
When Luke and his father arrived, his uncle Li Zhaonian’s family was already here.
Luke’s grandfather was burning charcoal, Will was carrying out the grill from the garage, Li Zhaonian was cutting meat and preparing ingredients, and Luke’s grandmother and aunt were threading skewers.
Luke got out of the car, greeted his elders, and rolled up his sleeves, “What do I cook?”
Luke’s grandmother said, “It’s all pretty much packed, you sit down and rest, you’ve been busy out there all day.”
Luke carried out the bird’s nest from the trunk, “Grandma, this is what I bought for you, I heard that this brand of bird’s nest is good, eating it is good for your health, how does it taste?
I’ll buy more when I’m done.”
“Aigoo, why did you buy this, it’s so expensive, it’s a waste of money.” The old lady scolded on her lips, but her face was smiling.
Luke moved out another box of Maotai from the trunk: “Grandpa, knowing that you love drinking Maotai, I bought you a box.”
“Why are you buying wine again, didn’t you bring a case of Wuliangye last time you came? Every time you come, you don’t come empty-handed, I won’t be happy if you buy something again.” The old man likes Maotai is not false, but his own family members always buy things would seem to be foreign, and the young people have big expenses, he is worried that Luke himself is not enough to spend.
“Grandpa, I can’t come a few times a year, take advantage of being in New York to do more filial piety, otherwise, I can’t live with this in my heart.”
The old man waved his hand, “Young people are just fighting for their career, being busy is not a bad thing, I still have your father and your uncle by my side, don’t worry.
In a few more years, you won’t have that energy even if you want to be busy.”
Will came over with a case of cold beer, “Brother, drink a bottle, quench your thirst.”
Luke took the bottle and took a sip, admonishing, “Will, I’ll be back in Los Angeles tomorrow, remember to call me if anything happens at home.”
“Brother, don’t worry, I’m here at home.” Will beat his chest with a ‘thump’.
Luke took another bottle of beer and handed it to Li Zhaonian who was preparing to grill the meat.
Li Zhaonian waved his hand, “I can’t drink this, give me a room temperature one. You guys also drink less chilled ones, your stomach can’t take it when you’re old.”
“Good.” Luke answered and handed his uncle a bottle of room temperature beer that he just took out from the house and said, “Uncle, Blue Hair’s matter has been resolved, he won’t go to the restaurant to make trouble again, you can just get down to business.”
Li Zhaonian took the beer bottle and touched it with Luke and took a sip, “How was it settled? How much did it cost? I’ll take it to you.”
This matter Luke was helping from beginning to end, it would be wrong to let him spend money again.
“It didn’t cost any money, I just found him privately, brightened up Fo Boller’s identity, and gave him a lesson, he already doesn’t dare to trouble you anymore.”
Li Zhaonian has experienced a lot of things in Chinatown in these years, and knows that these gangsters are the most difficult to deal with, consistently holding high and stepping down, smiling at you today, and may turn the other cheek tomorrow.
Luke suddenly want to go, he was a little uneasy.
Luke saw the uncle’s uneasiness and said: “You don’t have to worry. Although I’m leaving, I still have friends in the New York Fobler office, if Blue Hair looks for trouble again, just call me directly, I’ll find a friend to deal with him.”
Li Zhaonian nodded, “Your dad has to work tomorrow, have Will take you to the airport.”
“No need, this side of New York is prone to traffic jams, it’s quite convenient for me to take the airport bus.”
A car parked outside the yard, Aunt Luke stepped out of the car, carrying a red wine bag in his left hand and a vegetable bag in his right hand, there were tomatoes, cucumbers, and choy sum all of which were simple coleslaw or quick dishes.
Will ran over to take the things and asked, “Auntie, why are you the only one here?”
Li Wan said, “Julia went to school as well, your aunt had a case today that she couldn’t get away from, she has to go to court early tomorrow morning.”
Li Wan looked at Luke, “I heard that you’re going back to Los Angeles tomorrow?”
“Yes, tomorrow morning’s flight.”
“Your aunt was planning to come over today, and said he wanted to have a few good drinks with you, but something came up at the last minute and he couldn’t make it today.
He said that when you brothers come back next time, he’ll treat you to a big meal.”
“Okay.” Luke agreed painfully without showing the slightest bit of displeasure.
Since Luke’s two brothers came back, this aunt hadn’t shown up, more or less inappropriate, but this matter was not easy to pick on, there was no reason to let an elder come to send off the younger generation.
Besides, Luke and this aunt did not have much contact with him, and it is not considered close, so it is not important for him to come or not.
Luke just want to get together with his family more before leaving, feelings are all out.
There are no outsiders here, they are all close relatives, and a burst of laughter soon came from the courtyard.
Dinner is mainly barbecue, there are a few vegetarian dishes, fruit platters, beer, wine, tea.
Everyone ate and chatted before breaking up at 9pm.
Driving home at night, Luke found two extra cases of wine and two cigarettes in the trunk, a case of high-grade red wine, a case of whiskey, a Chinese cigarette, and a box of cigars.
“Dad, who put the stuff in this car?”
“Probably your uncle, I see he took the car keys.”
“What about these things?”
“Since he gave them, let’s keep them, it’s a token of his appreciation.
If you don’t take it, he’ll feel bad about it.”
Luke didn’t make a fuss: “OK, I’ll give my uncle a call later.”
If you can’t take it with you, consider it a tribute to your father.
Luke took a shower and saw his father packing his luggage, a few tea boxes, some dry goods, cigarettes, cigars, and a piece of bacon were put in the suitcase.
“Dad, there’s no need to take so many things, and I don’t cook often.”
“It’s okay, these things keep for a long time and you can’t buy them well in LA.”
Luke blew dry his hair, “Dad, let me tell you something.”
Lee Siu Fung was almost done packing, and pressed down hard on the overflowing box before zipping it up, “Go ahead.”
Luke told his father about the auction of the stolen goods.
Li Zhaofeng frowned and pondered for a moment, “How is this starting price so low? And can you really buy it at the starting price?”
“No problem, just think of it as a benefit for Foppel.”
“Do I need to pay normal taxes?”
“Of course, all the formalities are legal and there is no problem.”
As an accountant, Li Zhaofeng was considered knowledgeable in this area, and even if he hadn’t personally gone through the process, he had heard that there were some privileges and special benefits for Fobol as a strong law enforcement department.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many people who would want to join Fobol.
He just didn’t expect that his own son would also be able to get a piece of the pie from this, and judging from the percentage of profit sharing, Luke was definitely not a small player.
Don’t look at the King of Gamblers, Zhou Tiancheng, who had a lot of property, but there were even more people eyeing him.
Most of his property was frozen in Southeast Asia, a small portion of his property was hidden through illegal channels, of which the cash was directly detained by the federal government, and what really went to Fobler to deal with was that portion of the loot to be sold.
The value of that Los Angeles villa ranked high among all the stolen goods.
Li Zhaofeng looked at his son with pride in his eyes.
This is no longer a matter of money, the meaning behind it is much greater.
It was not easy for Chinese to survive in the U.S. His own generation could obtain higher material conditions through hard work, and even barely squeezed into the middle class.
However, Chinese people do not have a high status and cannot enter the mainstream society.
Li Zhaofeng does not have a strong sense of belonging to the U.S. In his heart, the far East is his home.
His son’s current identity has been recognized by the mainstream society, allowing Li Zhaofeng to live in this land with more confidence, at least, no longer have to worry about being bullied by those white and black people.
Li Zhaofeng returned to his senses and revealed a solemn look, “This is a good opportunity, you should buy it, even if you don’t live in it yourself, you can make six million dollars by reselling it.
I will consolidate most of your assets and prepare the funds for the purchase, however, I estimate that it may still be a little short of three million.”
Luke nodded his head, in fact, his total assets were already close to three million dollars, it was just that one hundred and eighty thousand dollars of them were reserves within the Sleuth System that had not yet been liquidated, and there was no way to tell Lee Siu Fung about this part of the money.
The good thing was, Negan would keep the house for a month, and he still had time to prepare the funds.