Chapter 175: Crispy Noodles
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Hugging this white-nosed coati, Li Du felt that the situation was strange. The storage unit door had been shut tight—how could an animal stay in there? Also, he had thoroughly searched through the storage, so how could he have missed it?
He then went into the storage unit to look, and after hearing Rick and his men speak, he finally understood what had happened.
It turned out, that there was a hole at the corner of this storage unit. It could have possibly been dug by rats or some other another, but it connected the storage to the outside.
This white-nosed coati had found the tunnel, and then nested amongst the storage.
Previously, when Li Du sent the bug in to search, the coati had probably been out. Now, it was back and it had, unfortunately, met Rick and his men while they were tearing its home apart.
The items near the corner of the storage unit were ripped to pieces, with many others contaminated with the coati’s defecation. With that, the storage value dropped.
This made Rick extremely enraged; he shouted irately, "Put down that piece of trash—I’m gonna step on it until it’s dead! That mutt! I’m gonna kill it!"
Seeing Rick so angry, Mr. Li was elated. To get this unit, he had joined forces with the Immigration authorities to start trouble with Li Du; how deplorable.
Even if it were just to spite Rick, Li Du wouldn’t let the coati down; the coati had developed some special liking to him. It sat heavily in Li Du’s arms.
Thus, he didn’t care what Rick said, and replied coldly, "I think you should hurry up and continue clearing up your trash. Good luck, guys. I have, indeed, learned quite a few things today."
Rick blocked his path, and said viciously, "Put down that raccoon—that thing was in my storage, so according to the rules, it belongs to me!"
Li Du nodded to Godzilla, and he entered the unit and stood there.
"Oh, this guy here is in your storage too. According to the rules, he’s yours as well."
Rick glared at Li Du and said, "Chinese man, you wanna do things the hard way, huh? You better not regret what you’ve done…"
"Do I look like I’m full of regret?" Li Du asked in disdain.
Rick gritted his teeth, nodded his head and then laughed. "Alright, I really like this fearless attitude of yours—it’s your choice to do things the hard way, b*stard—you’ve picked today to be your funeral!"
Li Du said, "Alright, are we done with the threats? If so, I’m leaving. Sayonara."
"I’ll gift that raccoon to yo. Hopefully it will guard your grave in the future!"
Li Du waved his hand without looking back. "No, it’s not good at guarding, but it knows how to make holes, so I’ll let it dig your grave in the future. You might not know, but it’s also good at grave robbing."
As they watched his retreating form, Lil’ Rick spat on the ground angrily and said, "F*ck you, son of a b*tch. Dad, how should we take care of him? It seems that Immigration can’t do anything about him."
Rick coolly said, "Of course Immigration can’t do anything about him, but I have a friend who can."
Lil’ Rick stared blankly for a moment, and asked, "You want to let Uncle Haris deal with him?"
Rick grimly nodded. "Haris will be interested in that guy. He’s been making quite a bit in the recent months, right?"
Lil’ Rick was overjoyed, and smiled. "Now, it’s going to get interesting. Hope he doesn’t get pushed to the brink of suicide. Last time, a Chinese b*stard was pushed to the point where he offed himself."
After carrying the coati back, Li Du placed it on the ground.
The little coati was afraid. Its eyes stared fearfully at Ah Meow, and then it ran back to Li Du, stuffing itself between his legs.
Hans laughed, "This fella has made you its mother."
"Screw off—what’s this thing anyway? A raccoon?"
Raccoons were common animals in America. When he first arrived in Flagstaff, he had met quite a few of them on campus. In winter last year, there was a raccoon that went into Hannah’s backyard, looking for food, and ended up being chased away by her.
"Yeah, it is; but to be exact, it’s a white-nosed coati. Look at its long nose—aren’t there white spots?" Hans said.
Li Du picked the little coati up. The fella’ did have a long face, with white fur all over the area around its mouth, and around its eyes were rings of white fur as well.
Due to its long face and watery, wide eyes, the little coati looked like a sobbing child, which amused Li Du.
Hans continued, "Their main habitats are in Mexico and Central America. They are quite uncommon in America, which means only states near Mexico, like Arizona, would have them. They won’t be around if you go further North."
Because of its long, white nose, this kind of raccoon was also called a hog-nosed-coon. It liked to stay in forests and semi-arid regions.
Just like other raccoons, the white-nosed coati was not aggressive. It was used to appearing at human-populated areas, frequently scavenging for food at rubbish dumps. They were easy to domesticate.
Hans recommended to Li Du that he abandon it, but Li Du felt that fate seemed to have brought him and the coati together. Also, it was suffering an injury; its nose and mouth were still bleeding, so it would easily die off if it were let into the wild.
"You can’t be planning to keep this thing?"
Li Du asked, "Is it illegal to keep raccoons as pets?"
Hans shrugged, "Of course you can, but then I can only wish you good luck. Ocelots and raccoons don’t get along."
Indeed, Ah Meow kept staring at the little coati with a suspicious look. The little coati clung to Li Du’s legs with teary eyes.
"I can manage both of them. For now, I’ll take care of this fella. It is probably just a baby, right?"
Hans said, "Yeah, it’s not fully grown yet, or else it would be at least a foot and a half long. Since you’re going to raise it, how about giving it a name? I have a suggestion—"
"No need, I’ve thought of the name for it. Let’s call it gan-cui-mian: Crispy Noodles." Li Du said joyfully.
Hans looked dumbfounded. "Huh? Did you just speak in Chinese?"
"Yeah, it needs to have a Chinese name," Li Du said.
When he was young, his favorite snack had been the crispy noodles that had a raccoon as its brand logo. Now that he was raising a little coati, he had to give it that name.
Crispy Noodles raised its head, moved its long nose around and stared at Li Du with its watery eyes. It then leaned on Li Du’s leg.
Carrying Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles, Li Du went up the truck. The Iron Knight left the storage company.
Although their profit today was not that much, the unit was easy to pack up. The motorcycle’s parts were all packed into the boxes.
Hans and Godzilla went to pack up the parts, and Li Du alighted mid-journey to go to St. John Red Cross Hospital.
Sophie was participating in a surgery, so Nurse Kanali let him wait at the office.
Seeing him carrying a little coati in his arms, the female nurse smiled and said, "I think you will become an animal rights activist soon."
After about half an hour, an exhausted Sophie returned to her office. Seeing Li Du, she smiled and said, "Hi, Kanali said that you brought a new —Oh, it's this baby? A raccoon?"
Li Du said, "Yes. But it doesn’t seem to have many issues. Actually, I’ve just come to see you since it was on the way."