Chapter 443: Doomed
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The outside consisted of sample houses, which were used for tourism purposes. There were no people living inside, just some household items to show what the Hopi used for everyday life.
Under the circumstances, they couldn't make any trades—they had to enter the residential area first.
However, there were barriers surrounding the residential area. Hence it came to Hans to figure out what to do next. He took the two feathers from Li Du and walked to the entrance where Hopi guards were on duty.
When the guards saw him coming, one big guy stepped forward and waved at him, "Sorry sir, you can't go inside anymore. This is not where you can sightsee, please respect the rules."
Turis murmured under his breath, "Ha, so now these guys know how to chase away the outsiders? That's an improvement."
Hans took out two colorful bird feathers and said, "Hey bro, we're friends. Friends!"
The feathers caused the Hopi to lower his guard down; the big guy checked the feathers and let them in, "Alright, welcome you guys. I have no idea where you guys got the Feather of Friendship."
"Of course we got it legally," Hans smiled. "By the way bro, do you people need any household items? We brought some here and thought you guys might be interested in it."
After hearing what he said, the big guy became alert. "Oh, so you're here to trade? I'm sorry, I can't make that decision. You'll have to talk with our tribe secretary."
The Hopi were friendly, gentle, and easy to talk to, but they were conservative as well. The big guy brought them to a waiting room and asked them to rest while he went to search for the tribe secretary.
"I always thought that the person in charge would be the tribe leader," Li Du said.
"No, no, no," Hans said, starting his introduction. "The Oraibi Village is big, and was divided into a few areas. Basically the tribe leader is in charge, but most of the time he won't be handling things by himself. If you have any problems, you'll look for the person in charge in that area to help you to solve them."
The group listened to him carefully.
"Not only a secretary, but the tribe also has a person in charge of the tribe's finances, one for security, a vice chief, and so on. The leadership organization in the tribe is very different than in the past."
The Hopi had more than one village; they were in one of the three main platforms belonging to the Old Oraibi Village. The Barkawi, the Upper Moenkopi, Kykotsmovi Village, and many more were also part of this residential area too.
After a while, the big guy whom they first met came into the room with a woman in black. He introduced her to them, "This is our tribe secretary, Marsali Hananie, the Ice Stormer."
Li Du came forward and shook hands with her. Marsali smiled and asked them, "May I know how you got the Feather of Friendship?"
The Feather of Friendship was not something rare, or else the woman in the beverage shop wouldn't have given them two feathers after receiving the tip.
Li Du explained honestly how they got the feathers. After hearing what he said, Marsali took out her phone and made a call. After speaking on the phone, she said, "I guess you didn't lie to me. You're speaking the truth."
Li Du was shocked when Marsali used a phone and thought, So now these Native Americans have started to use phones too. Does this mean that this primitive village has reached the modern world?
He looked at Hans and realized he and the others were in shock too. Apparently they were not familiar with the Hopi. Li Du was suddenly annoyed. Since the products they brought were all in handicrafts, the Hopi might not be much interested in them.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen." Marsali said, "You are friends of us Hopi, but I'm afraid that I can't let you go inside to trade with our people. I'm worried that you might try to con some of us."
"Friends don't cheat each other, Marsali," Hans said. "Please trust that we're true friends of your tribe. We are your friends!"
Marsali replied, "I'm afraid I can't tell just from you." Hans took out his phone and showed her a video.
Li Du didn't know what kind of video he was showing her, so he walked forward and watched the video too. It was a recording of when he'd fought the Navajo. It started from when Hans came in, until all of them left the place.
The video was blurred because of the low resolution, plus Had been shaking a lot when taking the video. However, they could still manage to see what was going on.
While watching the video, Marsali's smile brightened and became more sincere than before; especially when Li Du shot down the huge rock, she shouted, "Yeah that's right!"
Only now did Li Du understand how the relationship was between these two tribes.
After watching the video, Marsali asked, "May I copy this video to my phone? I believe our people would love to watch it too."
"Of course you can," Hans said generously. "After all, we are friends."
Marsali nodded in appreciation. "You're right, we are friends. You can now enter the village and trade with our people. I believe you won't take our traditional way of life for granted."
"Absolutely won't," the crowd swore.
Marsali waved her hand to the big guy and said, "Shinkuah, prepare some Feathers of Love for them. They are our good friends."
Each of the outsiders held a feather in their hand. With this, every Hopi would warmly welcome them wherever they went.
The men went back to the car and Li Du laughed, "There's one saying: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"
Turis said in agreement, "When we heard that Boss Li was fighting with the Navajo, we didn't know why. But after seeing things for ourselves, we understood."
Hans was proud of himself. "Well, you guys have me to thank. Luckily I was fast enough to record the scene when I realized that Li was fighting with them." Without this video, they would probably still have been able to do business with the Hopi, but it would have required more persuading and brainstorming.
The Hopi lived in cottages scattered around the land. There was no clear road; someone could get lost without guide from the locals.
They drove the pickup truck into the village. Like Li Du, it was also Hans's first trip to the village. Both of them were very curious of everything there.
One thing was certain: the products they brought had low value, and there might be difficulties when trading with the Native American Indians. Like the Amish, the Hopi preferred exchanging goods. However they didn't prefer old tools like hay cutters or dandy looms.
Ferris was upset. "We should've known that when the federal boarding school at Keams Canyon was built, the Hopi had learned how to use modern tools too."
They stopped in front of a primary school because Hans wanted to see if the school had anything to trade. He went inside and asked a teacher.
The teacher answered, "Well, one of our projectors is broken, so do you have one that we can trade for?"
Li Du crumbled. "Oh sh*t!"