Chapter 31: Hodu Exchanging Pounds
"When they die, they turn into a pile of ashes." Hagrid said with unusual seriousness.
Hodu's eyes lit up instantly: "Then do you have any Boggart corpses on hand?"
Hagrid shook his head slowly: "I certainly don't. That kind of magic creature is really hard to like, and they aren't worth much money anyway, let alone many people selling them on the market. But if you really want one, I can help you ask an old friend."
He paused and added: "I remember that fellow wrote to complain to me before, saying he didn't know how to chase away those damned Boggarts."
The mood that had gradually cooled down with Hagrid's words suddenly turned around.
Hodu hadn't expected there would be such a turnaround to the matter.
"Then I'll trouble you, Hagrid, thank you so much." He said quickly.
"It's no big deal." Hagrid waved his hand with a smile on his face, "I just didn't expect you to care so much about magical creatures. If you encounter any problems in the future, feel free to ask me."
Speaking of this, he showed a bit of regret: "It's just that you can't enter the Forbidden Forest yet. Otherwise, I could take you to meet a few old friends, and I think you would definitely be interested."
Hodu's expression stiffened on the spot.
Old friends in the Forbidden Forest?
It wouldn't be that group of Acromantula, would it?
If it really were them, not being able to go in wouldn't count as any loss at all.
The problem at hand already had a solution, so Hodudidn't continue to disturb Hagrid, and left the hut after saying goodbye to him.
As for the Boggart corpse, Hagrid still had to spend some time looking for it, so there was no rush for the time being.
Before that, let's make do with Galleons for now.
After returning to the dormitory, Hodu opened his suitcase, took out a black robe and draped it over himself.
After pulling up the hood, most of his face was hidden in the shadows, making it at least not easy for people to recognize him at a glance.
He prepared to make a trip to Gringotts.
Mainly because he was afraid of running into acquaintances, especially Hannah.
In case she bumped into him at a time like this, that would be troublesome.
Having concealed himself well, Hodu's figure disappeared directly from the dormitory.
The next moment, he had already appeared on the street outside Gringotts.
There were quite a few Wizards coming and going on the street, but no one paid attention to his sudden appearance.
Even if someone saw it, they just pretended not to see it and couldn't be bothered to care.
Hodu stepped into Gringotts, found an empty seat and sat down, then fished the vault key out of his money pouch and slapped it onto the counter with a smack.
"Get me two thousand Galleons, convert all of them into pounds."
The Goblin quickly led him into the vault.
Two thousand Galleons filled a whole cart, but what he finally got in hand was only two stacks of banknotes, each note being fifty pounds, adding up to exactly ten thousand.
Paper money was still more convenient, at least it saved trouble to carry around.
Hodu complained inwardly, took his pounds and left Gringotts, then returned directly to Hogwarts.
The next two days happened to be the weekend, and he planned to spend all of it back home.
To adjust to the jet lag in advance, Hodu lay down on the bed early, preparing to have a good sleep.
But sleeping was not the kind of thing where you could fall asleep immediately just because you wanted to.
After tossing and turning for a while, he had no choice but to hurry to the Hospital Wing, putting on an appearance of insomnia, and begged a small bottle of Dreamless Sleep Potion from Madam Pomfrey.
Madam Pomfrey didn't refuse, but casually advised him: "Don't push your studies too hard. You first-year students have been trying too hard lately; you can also walk around the school when you don't have classes."
She thought for a moment and continued: "A few days ago, there was also a first-year student in your House who was busy all day long and looked much haggard. Students nowadays are really not the same as when we were young."
From her words, Hodu quickly guessed that the student was Hermione.
As expected of an academic elite, secretly working themselves to the bone behind the scenes.
After getting the Potion, Hodu immediately returned to the dormitory, lay down and gulped down the whole bottle of medicine.
As soon as the liquid went into his stomach, his face scrunched up into a ball.
This taste was truly special enough.
Not long after, a heavy drowsiness pressed down.
Hodu closed his eyelids and quickly lost consciousness.
The Dreamless Sleep Potion lived up to its name; there were no dreams all night long.
Of course, after falling asleep, it wasn't that he couldn't hear any movement at all.
Shouting and yelling came from Ron's side from time to time, and during that time someone seemed to try to wake him up, but Hodu completely ignored it.
When he opened his eyes again, there was not a trace of light outside the window, and only the snoring of Ron and the others rose and fell in the dormitory.
Hodu sat up and stretched his body, his spirit fuller than ever before.
Sleep without the disturbance of dreams was indeed much more comfortable.
From a certain perspective, the Dreamless Sleep Potionwas quite scientific.
He tiptoed out of bed, got dressed, pushed open the dormitory door and slipped out.
Arriving at the washroom, Hodu changed into a suit.
Immediately afterwards, his figure disappeared out of thin air once again.
The foothold he chose this time was very concealed, appearing directly on the rooftop of a building.
The external light suddenly flooded into his perception, fortunately Hodu had prepared in advance and closed his eyes tightly the moment he appeared.
After gradually adapting to the sunlight, he walked down the stairs and came to the street.
With a full day to stay here today, Hodu decided to buy himself a set of clothes first.
It was still September, and the sun was just right.
Not long after walking down from the rooftop, his back was soaked with sweat.
There was still money left over from selling silver dollars yesterday in his pocket, so he turned and entered a supermarket building.
When he came out from inside again, his appearance had completely changed.
T-shirt, shorts, a pair of skate shoes on his feet, and black sunglasses perched on his face.
This outfit cost two hundred yuan in total, which was definitely considered expensive in this era.
It wasn't that the clothes themselves were all expensive, but rather that the things in this supermarket were generally not cheap.
After buying the clothes, Hodu went back to the gold shop from yesterday.
That scrawny boss raised his eyes to take a look, immediately recognized him, and said with a smile: "Little boss, this air of wealth on you is too eye-catching, it's hard not to recognize you."
Yesterday, he had guessed that Hodu was a child from a wealthy family.
Seeing that brand-new set of clothes today, especially the brand on the clothes, his inner judgment instantly became even more certain.
These clothes looked expensive at a glance; perhaps they were bought with the money from selling silver dollars yesterday.
But if his family really had no money, who would dare to use newly acquired cash to buy clothes?
If it were his own son doing this, he would definitely beat that kid's backside to a blossom.
Hodu didn't take up the boss's flattery, but casually turned his head and scanned around.
Confirming that there was no one else in the shop besides the boss, the old man, and that brawny man, he lowered his voice and asked: "You said yesterday that you could help exchange money?"
Hearing this, the smile on the boss's face deepened instantly: "Of course you can. What kind of notes is the little boss bringing this time?"
"Pounds." Hodu replied softly.
"Pounds? Good stuff." The boss's eyes narrowed, "Which kind do you want to exchange for? You can exchange it directly for cash, or exchange it for Foreign Exchange Certificates. However, the price of Foreign Exchange Certificates is quite a bit higher."
After listening to the boss's explanation, Hodu finally figured out what Foreign Exchange Certificates actually were.
Here, pounds could not be spent directly; they had to be exchanged for Foreign Exchange Certificates first to be convenient to use.
But he had come over via Apparition, completely a black-market resident without even a household registration in the Muggle world.
Although the boss didn't know the specific origins of these pounds, Hodu didn't go to the bank and instead ran here to exchange them, which didn't look like someone with a completely normal origin no matter how you looked at it.
Of course, it couldn't be said that everyone was in this situation.
The black market originally had business bypassing banks for exchange.
At such times, the price for exchanging Foreign Exchange Certificates was not much different from the bank; if directly exchanged for cash, the price offered would actually be slightly higher.
Chapter 32: Exchanging Ten Thousand Pounds for Cash
"Then let's exchange it for cash."
Hodu answered straightforwardly.
Once these pounds were converted into cash, it wouldn't be so easy to convert them back into pounds or US dollars later.
However, he didn't care about that for the time being.
Boss Huoke nodded, and the wrinkles on his face moved along: "How much does the little boss have in hand?"
This business was just right for him.
He collected foreign exchange from the black market and then gave it to those who wanted to go abroad but lacked foreign exchange in their hands, making a profit from the intermediate price difference.
The more cash there was, the more he earned.
Hodu did not answer immediately.
The amount of pounds in his hands was indeed quite a lot, and in this era, it was definitely not a small sum that could be casually taken out.
Boss Huoke saw his hesitation and immediately patted his chest with a smile.
"Don't worry, I can take however much you have."
"Then ten thousand."
As soon as his voice fell, Boss Huoke's expression stiffened for a moment.
Behind his reading glasses, that pair of somewhat turbid eyes clearly held a few more points of surprise.
"You mean... ten thousand yuan?"
"Not RMB," Hodu corrected, "Ten thousand pounds."
The atmosphere in the shop suddenly paused for half a beat.
Boss Huoke took a breath, re-examined the child in front of him, and couldn't help guessing his background in his heart.
Being able to take out so many pounds at once, could he really be a foreigner?
But guessing aside, precaution still couldn't be lacking.
"The amount is a bit large," he gave a dry laugh, "Take the things out first and let me see."
Hodu didn't talk nonsense either, raising his hand to take out two stacks of banknotes, placing them neatly on the table, with one hundred sheets in each stack.
Seeing those banknotes, Boss Huoke's gaze finally changed slightly.
He reached out and touched one of the stacks, but his mouth still maintained a smile.
"There really is this much."
He sighed softly, and then regained his composure: "However, this is Modu, and there are plenty of ten-thousand-yuan households."
Although ten thousand pounds is not a small amount, it hasn't reached a terrifying level.
It's just that this sum of money is too large, I need to find a few more places to gather the cash."
"What about the exchange rate?" Hodu asked.
"Calculated at one to fourteen point five two," Boss Huokestretched out his fingers to gesture, "The bank gave one to fourteen point three five today."
My price is sincere enough, right?"
Hodu didn't even move his eyebrows: "Okay."
This little price difference, he really didn't take to heart.
Seeing him agree, Boss Huoke's face blossomed into a smile all at once.
He stood up, walked a few steps towards the door, and then raised his foot to kick the brawny man guarding there.
"I'll go out for a while first. Xiaohu, you entertain the distinguished guest well, take out that tea cake I hid, and let the little boss have a taste."
After arranging these, he hurriedly left the shop.
Hodu sat in his original place, drinking tea while waiting for someone to return.
He had certainly thought about whether Boss Huokewould become greedy.
More than 140,000 yuan could definitely be called an exaggerated fortune in this current era.
Whoever it was changed to, it was possible to have crooked thoughts because of this sum of money.
It's just that Hodu's unwillingness to casually expose his identity as a Wizard doesn't mean he would continue to have scruples when truly encountering danger.
Today's Apparition was already like an instinct; with just a thought, he could directly return to Hogwarts to sleep.
As for the trouble left in this shop, it would naturally be handed over to the local Ministry of Magic to clean up.
Speaking of the magic society in this place, Hodu was actually completely in the dark.
His father in this lifetime clearly originated from the magicsociety here.
By all rights, he could also be considered a Wizard here, but Hannah had never proactively mentioned related matters.
Whenever Hodu asked in the past, she always avoided it and refused to answer directly.
However, based solely on the existing information, Hoducould still guess a few things.
The International Secrecy Law was also signed here, and isolation must inevitably exist between Wizards and Muggles.
Those Wizards should be hiding in some place, living a life similar to the Peach Blossom Spring.
Wanting to find their gathering place was not too difficult for Hodu.
He had Treasure Perception; as long as there were sufficiently special treasures nearby, it would be hard to escape his detection.
Thinking of this, he held the teacup and his gaze slowly swept across the surroundings.
The moment Treasure Perception was activated, the world before his eyes seemed to be covered by a layer of fluorescent light.
Hodu first excluded those treasures in the Muggle society, and the originally dense light spots immediately decreased by more than half.
But this ability was ultimately just perception, not a ready-made map.
It could tell Hodu what direction the treasure was in and how far away it was from him roughly, but it couldn't directly mark those positions on a map.
Unless the positioning ability of Apparition was also added in.
As soon as the two characteristics combined, it was as if a three-dimensional planet had unfolded in Hodu's mind.
The surface of the planet was distributed with quite a few faint light spots; following the contraction of his thought, his field of vision rapidly zoomed in, leaving only that vast land of his hometown.
Fluorescent light could be seen almost everywhere on the map, but the vast majority of places were very scattered.
On the contrary, some areas gathered a large number of light spots, looking from afar like someone had sprinkled a patch of stardust over them.
Those places were mostly gathering settlements of Wizards.
And the number was really quite a lot.
Come to think of it, his hometown had a large population and a huge territory, so it was naturally impossible for Wizards to all squeeze into the same place.
Hodu concentrated his attention on the larger-scale areas, counted carefully, and found a full six places.
The largest one among them was actually right in Beijing.
Modu also had one, and the remaining four were located in the central, coastal, southwest, and northwest regions respectively.
Hodu originally thought the Wizard gathering places would be hidden in uninhabited deep mountains and old forests, but now it seemed not necessarily the case.
Wizards also had to live and exchange some things with the outside world; the so-called isolation from the world ultimately could not achieve complete severance.
What was even more coincidental was that this gathering place in Modu was not far from his current location.
Hodu lowered his head and took a sip of tea; the tea was scalding hot.
He put down the teacup, and a thought flashed through his mind: Should he go over and take a look?
But rushing blindly into a completely unfamiliar place always carried risks.
Especially since he was an illegal immigrant without even reporting, if he really ran into an inspection, it wouldn't be convenient to explain.
After a moment, Hodu still suppressed this thought.
Not going for the time being.
When the progress of fusing with the Dragon moved forward a bit more, the situation would be much safer.
By that time, although he still wouldn't use attacking magic, his body at least wouldn't be so easily broken through.
Towards the abilities given by the system, Hodu still had a bit of confidence.
This wait lasted a full hour.
Several cups of tea had been drunk, but Boss Huoke still hadn't returned.
Hodu waited until he gradually lost patience, and almost even suspected whether the other party had been caught and could never come back completely.
Just at this moment, movement finally came from outside the shop door.
Boss Huoke walked in with a few people.
Those people had sturdy figures and looked like temporarily hired bodyguards.
As soon as they entered the shop, their gazes swept across everywhere and finally all landed on Hodu.
"Kept the little boss waiting long," Boss Huoke said, covered in sweat and panting, "Gathering the one-hundred-yuan denominations really takes some time."
In his hand, he carried a white woven bag, the bag weighing down heavily, clearly containing quite a few things.
Boss Huoke waved his hand at Xiaohu.
Xiaohu immediately walked to the door and grabbed the shop door, pulling it downward.
The room suddenly became much darker, but the door wasn't completely shut, still leaving a gap of about one-third.
Hodu's eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze paused on Xiaohu for a moment.
At that moment just now, he almost thought what was packed in the woven bag wasn't cash, but bundles of machetes.
Fortunately, Treasure Perception had already given the answer, and the inside of the bag was indeed full of money.
"Don't misunderstand," Boss Huoke took out a silk scarf to wipe his forehead, then turned on the electric light in the shop, "The amount is too large, it's better to be a bit careful. Closing the door also avoids anyone coming in to disturb midway."
"Understood."
Hodu's tone was plain and flat, calm to the point of not looking like an eleven-year-old child at all.
Next came the turn of inspecting the goods and counting the bills.
He took out those two stacks of pounds again, placed them on the tea table, and then raised his chin slightly.
Boss Huoke grinned: "The little boss is indeed straightforward."
Saying it straightforwardly with his mouth, his subsequent movements were not fast at all.
Two hundred sheets of pounds were held in his hand, checked one by one, earnestly to the point of being even more exaggerated than a Gringotts Goblin.
By the time this stack of money was truly counted, it was already more than an hour later.
Chapter 33: Plans After Getting the Cash in Hand
After finishing checking the final count, Boss Huoke smiled and said, "Spot on. The young boss is truly an honest man."
He could tell that Hodu was already getting a bit impatient.
But business was just like that; the larger the amount involved, the less sloppy one could afford to be. Who knew when someone might exploit a loophole?
"There is a total of 145,200 yuan in the bag. You had better count it yourself. Once you walk out this door, nobody will acknowledge it if you say the money is wrong."
With that, Boss Huoke handed the woven bag over to Hodu, making his meaning crystal clear.
"Is there any need to count this little bit of money?" Hodutook the bag, his tone clearly carrying a hint of impatience. "No need."
He spoke so casually because Treasure Perception had already informed him of the situation inside.
He was crystal clear on how many banknotes were in the bag, and they were all 100-yuan bills with no issues whatsoever regarding the amount.
Boss Huoke was momentarily stunned, then advised, "It is better to be clear about it. Once you leave the shop door, we will not be responsible. If there are any issues, clearing them up face-to-face in the shop will save everyone trouble."
This child's tone was simply too arrogant.
However, bold as he was, he was also truly carefree.
With over 140,000 yuan, he couldn't even be bothered to count it.
If it were any other boss, if even a few or dozens of bills were missing, they would probably find a way to spin it as a 'discrepancy in the count'.
It was only because he himself acted with a fair bit of propriety that he didn't harbor such crooked thoughts.
"I understand the rules." Hodu replied with just that single sentence, still showing no intention of counting it.
Seeing his insistence, Boss Huoke could not say anything more and could only nod helplessly.
Previously, he had thought that although Hodu was young, he was very steady, and age was not an issue at all.
Now it seemed this young boss still had a bit of childish temper after all.
"Then I won't keep you for a meal." Boss Huoke pushed the woven bag slightly toward him. "The next time you come back, I will definitely treat you well. Would you like me to have someone send you to the bank? Xiaohu is my man, you can use him without worry."
At this point, there was indeed no need for him to keep Hodu.
The other party was taking away over 100,000 in cash, and he himself still held 10,000 British pounds.
If any unexpected situation happened on the road, no one could say for sure.
Taking the initiative to offer an escort was also out of concern that Hodu might run into trouble after leaving.
"No need." Hodu flatly refused, "I am not going to the bank."
As soon as those words fell, the eyes of the three strong men standing nearby lit up simultaneously.
Their expressions changed rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they feigned nonchalance once again.
Boss Huoke wanted to persuade him a bit more.
He himself had no other intentions, but these three men were not his subordinates; rather, they were sent by several other bosses to escort him.
Who knew if they were as honest as he was?
But Hodu wouldn't listen at all, picking up the bag and preparing to leave.
Seeing that he couldn't be persuaded, Boss Huoke could only sigh, walk personally to the shop entrance, and pull up the rolling shutter door.
"Then I won't see you off. Young boss, be careful on the road."
Hodu did not look back, quickly vanishing into the crowd of people outside the shop.
No sooner had he left than the three strong men immediately bid farewell to Boss Huoke, saying, "Boss Huoke, since the matter is done, we should be going too."
The eagerness on the three men's faces was almost impossible to hide.
How could Boss Huoke fail to see what they were planning to do? He immediately reached out and blocked their path.
"What, you want to wash your hands of this halfway through escorting someone?" He put on a stern face and said, "The money in my hands has a share for your bosses. If I get robbed halfway, whose responsibility will it be?"
These words sounded upright and awe-inspiring, yet they were indeed quite reasonable.
The three strong men looked at each other, unable to continue walking outward for the moment.
In the end, they had no choice but to stay.
However, one of them turned his head to glance at a figure flashing past outside the shop, his gaze flickering briefly.
On the other side, Hodu carried the woven bag as he walked down the street.
After walking a distance, he casually swung the bag over his shoulder like ordinary luggage, swaggering right through the bustling crowd.
Who could have imagined that a bag carried by a child actually contained over 140,000 yuan?
Because of this, Hodu was not worried at all that passersby would spot any anomalies.
But just because passersby didn't know didn't mean everyone else was in the dark.
Hodu could not be certain whether anyone was following behind him, nor did he know if anyone intended to take the risk and make a move.
However, based on his understanding of human nature, it was entirely fine to guess in the worst-case direction first.
Even if it turned out to be just him being overly suspicious in the end, it was still better than actually being cornered on the road.
He did not return directly, but instead turned into a nearby residential complex.
Commercial buildings had already been erected here, but the floors were not yet very tall, nowhere near as exaggerated as having thirty-plus stories like in later times.
Just as Hodu entered the unit of a building and walked to the stairwell corner on the first floor, his entire person vanished into thin air.
The next moment, he appeared on the rooftop of another skyscraper.
The woven bag was still casually clutched in his hand.
Hodu sat down and looked down, overlooking the scenery of Modu.
If someone really had been tailing him all the way, they would have their hands full from now on.
The other party would either have to search that apartment unit house by house or else wait outside the building until the end of time.
Hodu pulled the money pouch out of his pocket and began stuffing the stacks of banknotes from the woven bag into it.
The money pouch had been expanded through the Undetectable Extension Charm; never mind this hundred-odd thousand, it could hold even more.
Besides, while this money looked intimidating, it didn't actually take up very much space.
Once all the banknotes were stowed away, he originally intended to throw away the woven bag in his hand directly, but his movement suddenly paused.
He lowered his head to look at the bag.
There were no printed words on it, nor any messy patterns, and the fabric and workmanship were fairly sturdy, making it quite suitable for continuing to hold money.
Thus, the woven bag was also stuffed into the money pouch along with everything else, with plans to cast the Undetectable Extension Charm on it later so he could use it to hold the underground treasures of Modu.
Exchanging cash had consumed too much time, but now he could finally get down to business.
Hodu hadn't forgotten the purpose of his trip to Modu today; the task was what mattered most.
He started wandering around the city again, specifically searching for slightly larger mutton restaurants.
Simple stalls casually set up by the roadside were not within his consideration.
Throughout the entire afternoon, he kept running back and forth between streets and alleys, seeking out bosses one after another to talk business.
By the time the sky grew completely dark, Hodu finally stopped his steps.
Exhausted, he went into a grocery store, bought a bottle of soda, and drank it down in one breath.
Despite all the tossing and turning this afternoon, the harvest was quite substantial.
First, he figured out the meat yield of a young lamb, which was around ten jin per animal.
Calculated this way, the amount of mutton he originally needed to prepare instantly decreased by three times.
In addition, relying on banknotes to pave the way, he had also negotiated deals with several mutton restaurants.
He ultimately selected three, which together could procure one hundred lambs for him every day.
Placed in front of the number ten thousand, fifty lambs obviously didn't count as much.
But Hodu was already quite satisfied; he never intended to pin all his hopes on a single shop anyway.
With so many cities back home, as long as every city could secure one hundred per day, the combined quantity would definitely be enough no matter what.
Chapter 34: Hodu Finds an Agent to Arrange for a House and Lambs
After the matter was settled, Hodu specifically sought out an agency that handled affairs for foreigners.
His biggest trouble right now was the issue of identity; after all, he did not have any true and valid identification documents, and he could only use English throughout his communication with them.
Hodu spent a little money to have this company help him rent a house. Outwardly, he just claimed that all his identification documents and the like had been lost, while the identity papers needed for renting the house would be figured out by the agency.
When all is said and done, this was just a matter of spending more money, and the trouble of being an unregistered resident was bypassed just like that.
Money makes the mare go, so Hodu simply hired an agent as well.
The other party was even a top student, and his name was Gao Lin.
Hodu paid him a salary of one thousand yuan per month. Placed in this era, this could already be considered a high salary.
With a local agent, subsequent matters became much more convenient. Whether it was the factory building or the contacts on the side of the mutton restaurant, Hoduhanded them all over to Gao Lin to handle, and he only needed to be responsible for providing the money, instantly becoming a lot more relaxed.
It was just that these things could not be rushed, and he still had to wait for a period of time.
Waiting until the sky over Shanghai grew completely dark, Hodu finally returned to Hogwarts.
Having been busy for a full day, he was somewhat tired. After returning to the dormitory, Hodu found that Harryand the others were gathered together playing wizards chess.
"Hodu, you're finally back! You didn't show your face the entire day today, could it be that you discovered some fun place?"
As soon as Ron saw Hodu enter the door, he immediately asked with curiosity. Harry also put the wizards chesspiece in his hand aside, raising his head to look at him as well, his face similarly carrying a look of inquiry.
"Actually, I sneaked out."
Hodu lowered his voice and said mysteriously, as if this matter could not be heard by others.
This words weren't entirely a lie either. He had indeed left Hogwarts, except that where he returned to was his old home.
Moreover, he would definitely leave often in the future. The few people in the dormitory lived together, and after a long time, they would definitely notice something was amiss. If he made up lies every time, sooner or later he would exhaust that bit of basic trust and eventually be ostracized by them.
Therefore, finding a plausible reason in advance would instead save more trouble.
"Really? How is that possible!" Ron clearly didn't believe it, "Fred and George both said that you must be a student above the third year, and you also have to get your parents' consent, in order to leave the school."
"The school also stipulates that night wandering isn't allowed."
Hodu curled his lips, his face full of indifference: "Aren't school rules things meant to be broken? Isn't this common sense in Gryffindor?"
After hearing this, Harry's expression immediately changed, clearly having believed it somewhat.
"Then how on earth did you get out?"
"There are some secret passages hidden in the school, you just need to sneak through them." Hodu answered offhandedly.
Ron's eyes lit up instantly: "Is it fun outside?"
"It's just so-so, not much different from Diagon Alley."
Hodu deliberately described the outside as very ordinary, lest these guys really get their interest piqued and sneak out to play.
Of course, there really wasn't anything particularly fun there in reality. It's just that compared to being cooped up in Hogwarts all day, the commercial street outside was already considered quite decent, provided that one had money in their pocket. As for this point, Harry was completely lacking nothing in that regard.
"Where on earth are those secret passages?"
Harry widened his eyes, clearly already persuaded by Hodu.
He and Ron stayed in the dormitory every day playing wizards chess not because this thing was so much fun, but because other than playing chess, they really couldn't find anything else to pass the time.
"This I can't tell you." Hodu spread his hands with a helpless expression, "It's not that I'm stingy, it's that I heard from others that exploring the Castle and finding secret passages by oneself is originally a signature feature of Hogwarts. Don't you think this is more interesting?"
Of course he didn't tell Harry the real reason.
Because he himself didn't know the location of the secret passages either.
Relying on the trait of soil excavation and stone digging, he actually had a special perception of the entire Castle's architecture. Under normal circumstances, finding a few secret passages was not a difficult task at all.
The problem was that this was a magical Castle.
Many passages couldn't just be entered by digging them open; some required a password, and some had to meet special conditions. Just like the passage leading to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, it had to be opened using Parseltongue, and most other secret passages couldn't be opened casually either.
Hodu himself could forcefully open them relying on soil excavation and stone digging, but Harry and the others clearly didn't have this ability.
"What you said makes sense!"
Ron completely took these words seriously. He tossed the chess piece in his hand, leaped right up, grabbed Harry and said: "Harry, let's go look for them right now!"
Not long after, Harry, Ron, and Neville left the dormitory together.
Only Hodu was left alone in the room.
"They really are easy to fool."
Hodu looked at the direction they left in and couldn't help laughing.
In this way, the problem of him often not being in the dormitory in the future could be considered solved.
The dormitory quieted down again. Hodu, who had been busy for a day, couldn't hold on either, yawned, and fell fast asleep.
When he woke up again, it was still deep in the night outside.
Hodu didn't delay, immediately running off to Shanghai again, and subsequently heading to the agency to find Gao Lin.
This contact method was indeed troublesome, but he temporarily didn't have a better choice either.
Mobile phones had not yet appeared, but in this era, there were already big brick mobile phones. It's just that thing was ridiculously expensive, completely incomparable to later generations' Apple phones, and even the cheapest big brick mobile phone cost twenty to thirty thousand.
Placed in the present, this was already a quite exaggerated amount of money.
What was even more troublesome was that applying for a phone number required waiting in line, and just thinking about it gave one a headache, so Hodu quickly gave up this idea.
As for pagers, he instinctively rejected them even more. That feeling was just like some elderly people resisting learning smart phones.
It was still not as convenient as his own owl.
Hodu muttered inwardly, but Gao Lin still gave him a phone number; if he really encountered an emergency, he could contact him through this number.
"Mr. Huo, this is the house found according to your requirements, please take a look first." Gao Lin handed over a stack of materials, "It needed to be quiet, a detached building, and must also be in the city center; basically only villas met the conditions."
These real estate materials were picked out by Gao Linovernight, and the contents on them were also all in English.
Hodu took the materials and flipped through them, his brow lifting slightly.
It was written quite detailed inside, with location, area, and price, not a single one missing. A single-family villa only cost several hundred thousand, cheap enough to make him somewhat tempted.
Unfortunately, he had no identity.
If it was just renting a house, the price wasn't considered expensive, two thousand yuan per month.
Hodu casually selected one of them: "Just this building, get it sorted out as soon as possible."
"No problem." Gao Lin immediately patted his chest in assurance, "As long as the funds are in place, it can be settled today."
Money of course wasn't a problem.
Gao Lin received the banknotes handed over by Hodu with both hands, his movements obviously becoming a bit more cautious.
After putting away the money, he remembered another matter and quickly said: "That's right, Mr. Huo, the matter you instructed yesterday has also been handled by me. I've contacted a few more shops, and we can add about another one hundred lambs."
Hodu didn't expect Gao Lin's efficiency to be this high.
In just the span of a single night, the matters instructed yesterday already had results.
"Very good." Hodu nodded, "Once the house is rented, you go contact those merchants. According to the address, have them deliver the things every night. At that time, you will be responsible for receiving them, putting them into the house, and then leaving will do."
"No problem, Mr. Huo."
Gao Lin naturally wouldn't have any objections. Finding a time every day to go over and receive things, this job was truly overly relaxed.
Hodu suddenly thought of something else and added: "Also, you keep a close eye on it for me. What I want are young lambs; if someone tries to palm off other goat meat to fool us, tell them that once I discover it, they shouldn't expect to get a single cent of the money."
"Alright, I will pay attention."
Gao Lin honestly agreed to it.
Chapter 35: The Villa, Mutton, and Hermione's Snitching Controversy
After the money was handed over to Gao Lin, the two of them went about their respective tasks. Gao Lin took the money to handle the rental affairs, while Hodu stayed in Shanghai, wandering around everywhere like a sightseeing tourist.
Fortunately, he was well-off now, and when he encountered things that interested him, he didn't hesitate much when spending money. By comparison, life in Hogsmeade Village was truly monotonous; this place was much more interesting indeed.
It wasn't until it was almost dark that Hodu returned to the agency. Sure enough, Gao Lin had already settled the matter of the house, and even arranged for them to move in that very day.
"Mr. Huo, I will take you to take a look right now."
Gao Lin's face was full of excitement after successfully getting things done, and speaking, he prepared to lead Hodu over.
After the two went downstairs, Hodu saw a motorcycle. Gao Lin didn't know where he had gotten it from, but he mounted it directly, had Hodu sit in the back, and drove him toward the villa district.
It took quite a bit of time on the road before the vehicle finally stopped near the destination. Looking out, this place was full of villas; although the location was close to the suburbs, it wasn't too far from the urban area, making traveling back and forth quite convenient.
Upon seeing the rented house, Gao Lin immediately entered the state of a real estate agent. He took out a bunch of keys, and while opening the door, introduced the layout of various parts of the villa to Hodu.
The house's decoration style leaned towards foreign styles; it might have been novel to others, but Hodu had seen far too much of it in the past, so it was hardly a surprise at all.
After the introduction was almost done, Gao Linremembered the mutton arrangements and hurriedly said: "Mr. Huo, the lambs you requested should be delivered immediately. I have already told them the address; one hundred head will be delivered today, and starting tomorrow, it will be increased to two hundred head per day."
He actually very much wanted to know why Hodu needed so many lambs, but since this matter was work and related to a monthly salary of one thousand yuan, Gao Lin, with great professional ethics, didn't ask too much.
"Fine, well done."
Hodu nodded, extremely satisfied with this result.
Of course, what he wanted wasn't whole sheep delivered one by one, but mutton, specifically the kind that was already cooked and sliced thin.
Not long after, people from the first mutton restaurant rushed over riding a pedal tricycle. The cart was loaded with basins of mutton, and they carried the iron basins into the villa, placing them inside the house.
Gao Lin had contacted three shops in advance, and they delivered the goods at almost the same time, not making Hodu wait very long before and after.
Calculated down, one hundred lambs amounted to nearly one thousand catties of cooked mutton, which instantly piled up and filled a space in the villa.
After the goods were fully delivered, Hodu told Gao Lin to go back first, closed the door himself, and began processing this mutton.
He grabbed the cooled slices of meat in the iron basin and shoved them straight into his mouth. Before the mutton had even completely entered his mouth, it was already decomposed completely by the devouring power.
There were no outsiders in the house, so Hodu couldn't be bothered to care about anything, his hand movements getting faster and faster. With one thousand catties of mutton, he wished he could just pour the basin straight into his mouth, but unfortunately his mouth wasn't big to that extent.
Even so, it didn't take much time for this batch of mutton to entirely enter his stomach.
At the same time, the progress of fusing with the Dragonsuddenly surged upward by a chunk, directly increasing by over a hundred points.
Feeling this enhancement, Hodu's mood instantly improved. Calculated according to the supply volume of two hundred lambs per day, in at most a little over a month, he would be able to completely finish fusing with the Dragon, a speed that was already quite fast.
However, he could still push the time forward. Next weekend, he planned to make a trip to Beijing, find an agent as usual, and arrange the supply over there. As long as Beijing could also provide enough mutton, the date of completing the fusion would be advanced even further.
The only trouble was that the money had to be resolved as soon as possible.
Two thousand catties of mutton a day would cost seven thousand yuan a day. The one hundred forty thousand yuan in his hands looked like a lot, but at this rate of consumption, it wouldn't last long at all.
After finishing handling matters here in Shanghai, Hodudidn't linger and returned directly to Hogwarts.
No matter how comfortable life outside was, homework ultimately still had to be written.
The homework was still headache-inducingly difficult. Aside from Charms, which he could barely manage to finish, he had almost nowhere to start with the other subjects.
With no other choice, Hodu had to bring his homework and shamelessly go to the Library. Sure enough, Hermione, who refused to relax even on weekends, was still studying there.
Hermione's personality nowadays was indeed somewhat unlikable, but since a classmate put on an attitude of seeking humble instruction, she would still earnestly help. The only problem was that she explained far too much.
Clearly only asking for the answer to a single question, Hermione could expand and explain it from beginning to end. The content Hodu actually wanted to hear, all things considered, only accounted for twenty percent of her entire speech.
He couldn't show impatience either, and could only sit there and listen slowly. If Hermione were provoked into anger and she simply stopped explaining, it would be even more troublesome for him.
As for Harry and Ron, they hadn't shown their faces all afternoon. Evidently, the two of them were still tricked by what Hodu said yesterday and were searching everywhere around the school for secret passages.
This week passed quickly, and Friday noon arrived once again.
No other events happened these past few days, and everyone attended classes as usual. Every day before dinner, Hodu would make a trip to Shanghai, clear away that day's two thousand catties of mutton, and place the prepared money on the living room table, waiting for Gao Lin to come and take it away the next day.
Harry and Ron had spent the first few days constantly searching for the Chamber of Secrets, but later feeling that this approach was too foolish, they stopped continuing. They shifted their attention to Hodu, wanting to trick the location of the secret passage out of his mouth.
To cope with them, Hodu had spent quite a bit of effort making up stories to muddle through temporarily. But the longer it dragged on, the worse the effect became.
After coming out of the Great Hall, Ron immediately sidled up, his tone full of anticipation: "Hodu, are you going to... this afternoon?!"
Harry also followed alongside, looking at him longingly.
Being stared at by the two of them, Hodu instantly felt a bit of a headache. It seemed this matter could hardly be kept hidden anymore; if he didn't give them an explanation today, they would probably stare at him all afternoon.
In that case, he wouldn't even have time to go to Shanghai to process the mutton.
Just as Hodu was about to speak, Hermione's voice suddenly came from beside them.
"You are knowingly breaking the rules! If you get caught, Gryffindor will definitely have points deducted!"
Hermione said aggressively, but her gaze fell upon Hodu. It was very obvious she already knew some things.
This matter wasn't let slip by Hodu himself. A few days ago, when Harry and Ron were searching everywhere for secret passages, it had long since been seen by Hermione. Later, when the two weren't paying attention while talking to her, they let slip related matters again, so Hermione also knew that Hodu had constantly been sneaking out of the school.
Facing her questioning, Harry and Ron unusually didn't talk back, only looking guiltily toward Hodu. They could swear that they definitely hadn't intentionally blurted things out, let alone ever thought of revealing it to Hermione.
"I am going to see Hagrid this afternoon. Going to see him shouldn't count as breaking school rules, right?"
Hodu spread his hands, his face written full of helplessness. Being targeted by Hermione was clearly not an easy thing.
Hermione didn't relax at all because of this, and instead warned him even more seriously: "I will keep watching you! If I find you sneaking out, I'll go tell Professor McGonagallright away!"
In Hermione's view, the school rule stipulating that students below the third year could not go to Hogsmeade Village was to protect students' safety. Her staring at Hodu so closely was also entirely out of concern for a classmate.
But before Hodu had time to respond, Ron completely exploded.
"Then go ahead and snitch! You little snitch, no wonder nobody is willing to play with you, not even your roommates like to bother with you!"
Ron shouted through gritted teeth. That sentence was like a sharp thorn, fiercely stabbing into Hermione's heart.