HLM – Chapter 1080 Who’s Stirring Up Trouble

Tister’s family had immigrated from Australia to New Zealand less than two years ago. They stayed in Auckland for about half a year, then moved to Sunset Town after learning more about it.

In their family, Mr. Tister was an excellent mechanic. He opened a car repair shop in town and, with four or five employees, was doing quite well.

Mrs. Tister, on the other hand, was a top student who graduated from the University of Sydney. She now worked as an accountant and had just been hired into the Sunset Limited Liability Company led by Juan, holding an important position.

New Zealanders liked to mock Australians as barbarians, but as far as Wang Bo knew, the Tister family were well-educated, well-mannered, civilized people. They might have some racial biases, but they would never say such things openly—at most, they would mutter in their hearts.

Leaving the hospital, Wang Bo stopped by Tister’s repair shop first. At the entrance, he saw Atulu puffing away at a cigarette and asked suspiciously, “What are you doing here?”

Atulu hurriedly tossed away the cigarette. “Fixing the Jeep, boss. Our Jeep keeps acting up lately. Should we replace it?”

A burly white man poked his head out. “You’re retiring your M151E2 Jeep? I’ll take it—how much?”

This man was Tister. Wang Bo patted the car and signaled for him to come out.

Tister removed his grease-stained gloves and smiled. “Here to see me, Town Mayor? Is it because of the fence issue?”

No need for pleasantries. Wang Bo held absolute authority on his own turf. Only an idiot like MacGee would let Jackson talk him into provoking Wang Bo.

Wang Bo took Atulu’s cigarette and handed one to Tister. “I want to know—where did you learn that word ‘red-fellow’ you used when referring to Mr. and Mrs. Li?”

Tister led him to the office—too much engine oil vapor in the workshop to smoke there. As they walked, he asked in confusion, “Is there something wrong with it? I specifically asked someone to teach me that term.”

Hearing this, Wang Bo instantly understood—someone had set Tister up. Exactly what he had suspected from the start. He knew Tister wasn’t stupid enough to openly take the risk of racial insults and personal attacks.

“You clearly don’t understand, buddy. ‘Red-fellow’ in Chinese is an insult. In Mr. Li’s hometown, it’s one of the nastiest things you can call someone—worse than ‘fuck’ or ‘shit.’ Normally, if Mr. Li’s eyesight was fine and he heard you say that, he’d challenge you to a duel.”

He intentionally exaggerated it. Australians were rather thick-skinned—unless something sounded serious, they wouldn’t take it to heart.

Sure enough, hearing there might be a duel, Tister was shocked. “My God—how could that be? Damn it, I had no idea!”

“Who taught you to say that?”

Tister hesitated. “Sorry, Mayor. I promised the person I wouldn’t reveal his involvement.”

Wang Bo said, “He obviously set you up, and you’re still protecting him?”

Gritting his teeth, Tister said, “I’ll take revenge on him myself. But a man’s promise is a promise. I can’t reveal it—I can’t break my word.”

Australians were stubborn too. Since he insisted, Wang Bo couldn’t force him.

After a cough, Tister added, “Mayor, since your explanation, I now understand why Mr. Li has been so hostile toward us. I’ll apologize—I promise I’ll apologize and ask for his forgiveness.”

“And what about the fence issue?”

“What fence issue?”

“Weren’t you very upset about him replacing the fence?”

Tister spread his arms. “How could that be? Mr. Li replaced it with a brand-new fence. The color doesn’t match our house well, but who cares about that?”

Wang Bo thought for a moment and asked, “That day—the day the new fence was put up—you went to the Lis’. You weren’t going there to argue?”

“Of course not. We went to congratulate them. But we barely got two sentences out before the couple blew up at us… Shit, now I get it—we called them ‘red-fellow,’ so they got angry.”

Exactly as Wang Bo suspected—someone was stirring up trouble behind the scenes. He asked again, but Tister still refused to reveal the person’s name.

Wang Bo said, “Let me guess. If I’m right, don’t say anything—just let me leave. Was it Mr. MacGee? The guy from the post office?”

Tiste shook his head. “No, not him.”

That really left Wang Bo without a suspect. If it had been Ben MacGee causing trouble behind the scenes, it would’ve made sense—he wanted to run for mayor and needed to win hearts while undermining Wang Bo’s reputation. But if it wasn’t him, then who?

Since Tister refused to say, Wang Bo had no choice but to leave. Luckily, at least the matter was resolved. After work, Tister took his wife and children, along with gifts, to the Lis’ house to congratulate them on their newly completed home.

At the end of August, New Zealand was preparing for the national election. To prevent cheating or misconduct, election sites were arranged by city-level governments. Sunset Town also had a polling site—in the government hall. Voting machines had already been delivered. On election day, people would line up, pick their candidate, and insert their ballots.

Wang Bo, however, couldn’t stay in Sunset Town for now—he needed to go to Christchurch to attend the New Zealand Winter Horse Racing Competition.

There had been a preliminary event in July—a qualifying round—but Wang Bo didn’t attend because Lancaster, Princess Eugenie, and others happened to visit at the time, so he stayed to accompany them.

That preliminary wasn’t really a race—more like inspections: checking bloodlines and health, weighing, creating records, and so on.

But the Winter Horse Race was different. This was an official event, a Grade 1 race under the speed category. From this race onward, the season officially began.

Tuhao Jin and Malong had already flown to Christchurch. Wang Bo and Eva followed shortly after. This year, Black Horse King would not compete yet—it was still in training.

Because Black Horse King was growing more elegant and majestic by the day, Malong wanted to prepare it for dressage competitions. After all, it was slower than Tuhao Jin; with Tuhao Jin around, it had no hope of winning speed races.

The helicopter descended into Christchurch. As they stepped onto the streets, the winter racing atmosphere hit them straight away.

Large promotional posters for the race hung along the streets, including a full cast “All-Star Family Portrait.” Wang Bo looked for a while—Tuhao Jin wasn’t in it.

“Damn it, they have no taste. Tuhao Jin will show them what ‘not recognizing a treasure’ really means.” Wang Bo grumbled.

Eva smiled and comforted him. “These are all horses with outstanding performance over the years. Our Tuhao Jin hasn’t shown its brilliance yet, so it’s understandable that it hasn’t earned their respect.”