America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 133 Ancient City of Santa Fe
Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is also the oldest of all state capitals in the United States.

Chen Jianqiu was riding on the horse, his ears were listening to Hanif's words, but his eyes were on the surrounding buildings.

Unlike Denver, Santa Fe is not so much a city as it is a large town.

The roads in the city are very narrow, and the styles of buildings on both sides are also very strange. There are English-style buildings with white fences that can be seen in other towns in the west; there are also Spanish-style Catholic churches with fine lines and exquisite carvings. .

But the most is a unique building with local aboriginal style.

The wall is made of grass mud, showing a kind of earthy yellow under the sunlight; the roof is flat, the lines are straight, and only the corners are smooth curves.

Chen Jianqiu was in a trance for a moment, as if he was in a Cubist abstract painting by Picasso.

This style of architecture is unique in the world, only in the dry and rainless state of New Mexico.

"Boss, how about I first notify the butler to prepare the ransom, and then hand over the money and the person?" Hanif said.

"Okay." Chen Jianqiu turned around and shouted to Astor, "Hey, master, can I trouble you to give me a personal token first."

With a reluctance on his face, Astor took out a pocket watch from his close pocket and handed it to Chen Jianqiu.

It was an exquisite pocket watch with a portrait of his mother on the inside of the cover.He had hidden it so well that Hernandez hadn't found it.

"I'll take the young master around the city of Santa Fe, and we'll see you under that stele later." Chen Jianqiu pointed to a tall obelisk not far away.

Hanif happily took the pocket watch and headed for the butler's temporary residence in Santa Fe.

The butler's residence is near the city council. It used to be an office of the chamber of commerce, and now it has temporarily become his residence.

After coming out of Hanif's hotel, the butler returned here directly, and not long after, Sergeant Van Cleef of the Santa Fe Police Department appeared in his reception room.

During the time when Little Astor disappeared, his father Astor III was not idle. He used his relationship to find a local big shot in Santa Fe.

The bigwigs expressed their full support and provided all available resources, including Sheriff Van Cleef who was on call.

The butler had been thoroughly disappointed with the two bounty hunters, so he had the sheriff called.

While he was still describing what had happened to the sheriff, there was a knock on the door of the reception room.

"Come in!" the butler shouted towards the door.

The door was opened, and it was an attendant who was guarding the gate. He glanced at the sheriff sitting opposite the butler, and hesitated to speak.

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

"Um, sir, there is a man named Hanif outside who said he was looking for you urgently. He said he had found Master Astor, and he asked me to give this to you, saying that you would understand after reading it."

After speaking, the attendant put a pocket watch on the table in front of the butler.

The butler dubiously took the pocket watch and opened it. When he saw the portrait of the hostess on the inside cover of the pocket watch, he was extremely shocked.Then, a smile came to his face.

"Sheriff Van Cleef, thank you very much for coming, but it seems that there is no need to trouble you." The butler said to the sheriff with an apologetic face, "But I have prepared some gifts for you, and I will ask them to bring them to you. I want to say 'thank you' to you."

Sheriff Van Cleef glanced at the pocket watch and frowned:

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. How about this, you talk to him first, and then tell me the result of the chat."

The butler thought for a moment, stood up, and opened the door of the inner room.

This is a suite, in which is his bedroom,
"May I trouble you to go in and listen first."

Van Cleef nodded and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

After a while, Harif swaggered in and sat down on the chair opposite the housekeeper.

"Huh? Why is the chair cushion still hot?" Harif felt a little strange and said to himself, but his mind was not on that.

"Well, did you see that pocket watch?"

"Well, I see, it does belong to our young master. Where is he now?"

"Hey, let me tell you, it's not easy. In fact, I haven't figured out the identity of the kidnapper until now, but my informant has great powers. As a middleman, he came here today with this pocket watch and said he could Guarantee your young master's safety."

"Well, so when can people be released?"

"I also negotiated with them. They said that as long as the money is in place, it will be fine tonight."

"How much is the ransom?"

"$8000, in cash."

"Where? How?"

"The church in the west of the city pays the money with one hand and the people with the other hand, but don't worry, I will show up with a gun to ensure the safety of your young master."

"Okay, but I still have to prepare to deposit money. It should be fine at night. Or at 8:[-]."

"I will definitely convey it." Hanif nodded, but then he asked tentatively: "Have you told the local police in Santa Fe about this?"

The butler thought for a while, then shook his head: "No, as I told you at the beginning, we were afraid that this matter would have a bad impact, so we didn't let the police come forward."

Hanif gave an "hmm".

After Hanif walked out of the room, Sergeant Van Cleef also came out from the bedroom in the back room.

"What do you think?" the butler asked.

"There are many doubts. First, why didn't the hostage show up sooner or later, but when you forced these two bounty hunters to take action?"

"Second, the transaction can be made tonight, which means that the hostage is near Santa Fe, but the place where Master Astor disappeared is far away from Santa Fe."

"I boldly guess that Master Astor has been transferred here long ago, and those two bounty hunters have already discovered it, or that those two bounty hunters are simply accomplices of the kidnappers."

After listening to Sheriff Van Cleef's speculation, the butler found it very reasonable, and asked eagerly:
"Then what do you think we should do next?"

The sheriff straightened his cuffs, and said slowly: "The deal for the night remains the same, but you don't need to show up, our people can come; in addition, I will send all the other police forces to search the suburbs of Santa Fe, Until we find Master Astor and the gang of kidnappers."

Hanif, who came out of the butler's office, brought Downey to the base of the obelisk.

Along the way, he also cautiously watched for anyone quietly following them behind him.

When he arrived, Chen Jianqiu was already there with Astor.

"Young master, look, this monument is used to commemorate your 'heroic' warriors who drove the Indians out of this land." Chen Jianqiu put his hands behind his back, facing the monument, he watched quietly The writing on the stele.

Astor was speechless and fell silent.

"Well, let me interrupt."

Hanif moved closer to Chen Jianqiu, and whispered in his ear the agreement between himself and the housekeeper.

"You and Donny go first at night, we can't show up at the same time." Chen Jianqiu still put his hands behind his back, without turning his head, "I will take Master Astor with me then. Remember, don't show anyone who knows us look."

Hanif seemed to see a large sum of dollar bills waving to him, so he turned and walked towards the hotel with Downey.

"Donnie, I'm going to sleep, call me when you're having dinner!"

Hanif stepped into his room.

He suddenly felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell where it was.

"Never mind him." He lay on his back on the bed, sound asleep.

　Thank you for the monthly ticket of Muyu Landshui, thank you for subscribing and recommending tickets, the second update.

　　PS: The obelisk in this chapter is real and was knocked down in half by a group of passionate protesters during an event in 2020 (I can't breathe).

　　
　
(End of this chapter)