Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 11 "Declaration"

Yan Hui felt a little regretful. When he saw that Uncle Gao was exhausted, he naturally wanted to come over to help, but he didn't expect Uncle Wang to be lost at this time.

Uncle Wang's legs were not in good condition, and Yan Hui believed Uncle Gao's statement of half an hour, so he probably couldn't walk far, and if it was a mountain road, it wouldn't be more than 1 kilometer.

Not only that, Uncle Wang definitely didn't go in the direction of the forest farm because everyone just came from there.

Yan Hui thought about it and went to look for the dog, but found that the dog was also gone. He immediately told Gao Bo about it.

"That's good news. The dog was worried that Lao Wang would get too far, so it took the initiative to follow him," Gao Bo said, feeling relieved. "I'll have everyone call out to the dog later, and it'll wake up. Dogs have sharp ears, so they'll definitely respond if they hear it."

"That's good." Yan Hui felt a lot more at ease. With two big yellow dogs, at least he didn't have to worry about the lone wolf like before. After all, he had seen how smart these dogs were.

"Wait a moment, I'll go find Lao Sun. Lao Sun has a very deep affection for the dogs in the forest farm, like his own sons. Let him take the dogs to find them, there will definitely be no problem." After saying that, Uncle Gao quickly walked towards the lumberyard.

Sure enough, with good luck, someone found Lao Wang in less than 20 minutes. Fortunately, the dog followed him, otherwise it would be difficult to find him, because Lao Wang did not go up the mountain, but chose a way out across the mountain.

Lao Wang was carried back by someone. After he came back, he looked like a child who had done something wrong, but no one blamed him and just let him eat something.

As soon as he returned, the stir-fried cabbage and pork were immediately put into the pot. Everyone acted as if nothing had happened, and the atmosphere suddenly returned to the festive mood. This year's logging season went smoothly! No one died, not even the horses. It was a blessing! We hadn't been this lucky in recent years!
Yan Hui was in the period of growth. He had eaten sweet potatoes in the evening and was now hungry. He ate some more with everyone else, and someone even gave him a lot of meat.

After eating, most of the others were drinking and chatting. Gao Bo came over and called Yan Hui to go outside.

It's only around 0 degrees outside, which is not cold.

"It's a good thing you're here today. If you hadn't been here, Old Wang might have been out for a few hours, and it would have been difficult to find him," said Gao Bo.

"I am still responsible. I should have locked the door from the outside when I went out to help you today."

"Locking the door won't work. If Old Wang can't get out, he might be more likely to get into trouble. We understand him. We can't suppress him, we can only coax him. He has pretended to be stupid all his life, and now he is old, alas..." Gao Bo could only admit that Old Wang is really a little stupid now.

"He made this choice and I think it would have been better for me to go back to my hometown in Qilu." Yan Hui was a little confused.

Born after the reform and opening up, he had no desire for a job, especially one like the one at a forestry farm. He was not interested in manual labor like logging. What was there to fight for? He was no match for the glory of his uncles!

"It's useless to say these things. If he hadn't been engaged here, he wouldn't be like this. He can't get married by pretending to be stupid, and if he doesn't pretend to be stupid, he will be sent back and still can't get married. He kept thinking about delaying it, and as a result, he is 60 years old." Gao Bo said, taking out the cigarettes he rolled himself, and then took out the matches.

After taking a look at the matchbox, Gao Bo thought for a moment and said to Yan Hui, "Wait for me."

Yan Hui didn't know what Gao Bo was going to do. He just saw Gao Bo go back to the house with his pipe, kneel under the stove, light the cigarette with the remaining fire under the stove, take a big puff, make sure the cigarette is lit, and then come out to chat with Yan Hui.

"Where were we talking about?" Gao Bo took a breath and thought for a few seconds. "Oh, right, I was telling you. Sigh."

After Uncle Gao explained some of the things, Yan Hui finally understood why Uncle Wang was always staring at Yan Hui's bag. This was only cleared up after Uncle Wang came back and Uncle Gao asked him again.

Back then, Uncle Wang also had a bag like this, and he gave it to his fiancée.

At that time, there were actually no particularly expensive gifts. A cup or a bag was already a very good gift.

After Lao Wang lost his mind, the woman returned almost all the things he had given her, except for this bag, which was a token of love between him and his fiancée.

Lao Wang and Lao Gao talked about this bag, and it was this bag that Lao Wang always thought about.

Until the girl got married and Lao Wang became disheartened, it became difficult to tell whether he was really stupid or just pretending to be stupid.

"This bag was left to me by my grandfather, otherwise I could give it to Uncle Wang." The bag that Yan Hui was carrying had a story behind it.

Yan Hui understood that the woman returned all the things, which showed that she was a sensible and polite person, but the woman did not return the small backpack, which meant that she was truly loyal.

"If you gave it to him, he'd miss it even more. He went out today and went to the place where he got engaged. Of course, they moved a long time ago, but we never told Lao Wang."

"Alas," Yan Hui sighed. He didn't know how to evaluate Uncle Wang.

"It's no big deal. Of the brothers we fought with back then, some are dead or injured. Old Wang is the lucky one. At least as long as one of these brothers is here, Old Wang won't starve or freeze." Gao Bo was very casual. "By the way, come in, I have something for you."

"Ah?" Yan Hui followed him into the house.

The people in the Mu Gang have little contact with people outside. They are smelly and sour, and they don’t take a bath all winter. So every year when these people in the Mu Gang go down the mountain to the bathhouse, they have to pay special money and book the bathhouse for a whole day, otherwise others won’t have to take a bath.

There are not many outsiders in the forest farm, and even fewer young people. In recent years, Yan Hui is the first young man to make friends with the wood gang, and everyone likes him very much.

After entering the house, Lao Gao took out a piece of moss and opened it, revealing two small ginseng roots wrapped inside.

"What is this for?" Yan Hui was a little surprised.

"It was you who told me today that we should go and talk to the forest farm. To be honest, when we encountered such things in the past, everyone just made do with it. This is a gift from me for you. Go back and take it to your parents' bar." Gao Bo said with a smile.

"This ginseng..." Yan Hui's heart was pounding. "Isn't this too expensive? I can't take it."

"It's not worth much, only a few dozen yuan, but it's indeed wild ginseng, and it's good for making wine." Gao Bo said, "Although it won't sell for much, it's the ginseng we picked ourselves, so it's not adulterated."

"Thank you, Uncle Gao," Yan Hui no longer refused and accepted the delicacy.

...

When he returned to his residence, Brother Shan still hadn't come back. Yan Hui cleaned up the moss and went to sleep. He was very tired today.

For the next two days, Brother Shan did not return to the mountain, while the members of the Mu Gang had already gone down the mountain. Before leaving, Uncle Gao gave Yan Hui a large pile of dried sweet potatoes and a small can of kimchi.

Before these people went down the mountain, they did buy a lot of things from the convenience store, so the convenience store was basically empty.

Then, Xiaobianzi and others left, and there was no one playing cards in the store. As the weather turned warmer, the stove in the store was turned off. If Yan Hui wanted to buy something, the store would only open at mealtime.

Finally, two days after the Mu Gang members left, Shan Ge finally came back.

"Okay, you're not bad," Brother Shan was very happy to see Yan Hui here safely. "Your fourth uncle's goods are selling well. Come back today and order another batch of 600 cubic meters."

"That's good," Yan Hui was very happy and did not mention that Mu Bang had left early a few days ago.

"This is the money your fourth uncle asked me to give you," Brother Shan took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Yan Hui, "He said the information you provided was very useful and saved at least 20,000 yuan." Yan Hui took the envelope excitedly, opened it and took a look. There was a small dozen new 50-yuan bills inside, which looked like 1000 yuan!

"Thank you, Brother Shan, thank you, Fourth Uncle." Yan Hui was very excited. Just getting a thousand was already beyond his expectations!
You know, he worked diligently for more than a month and was exhausted. In order to save money, he ate steamed buns and slept at the train station, and he only saved 600 yuan!
"Next, you have to stay in the mountains, at least..." Shan Ge picked at his fingers, "at least half a month, you have to stay here and keep an eye on the wood shipment."

"Me?" Yan Hui pointed at himself.

"Just consider it a training exercise for you," Shan Ge said with a smile. "I've checked all the wood in this forest farm. There's nothing wrong with it. The boss won't do anything like passing off inferior wood as good. Just stay here and be honest."

"oh, I understand now."

"I'll give you another 200 yuan for food," said Brother Shan, and took out another 200 yuan and gave it to Yan Hui.

After paying the money, Brother Shan took Yan Hui to meet the second in command of the forest farm, the one with the broken arm, and made the handover. Then Brother Shan drove down the mountain.

Although he got the money, Yan Hui was still a little uneasy.

It seems like Brother Shan has become a hands-off boss?
Ever since Yan Hui learned that Shan Ge was a released prisoner, he'd become a bit more cautious. Presumably, Fourth Uncle was wary of him, too. Now, Yan Hui had no idea of ​​Shan Ge's whereabouts, which wasn't a good thing.

How to do?
Go give Fourth Uncle a call?

The forest farm had only one phone, and Yan Hui knew how to contact his fourth uncle, but Yan Hui didn't know the relationship between Shan Ge and the forest farm, nor did he know whether Shan Ge and the forest farm had given any instructions, so he didn't dare to try.

I just gave myself the money, and I don't trust him. Once Shan Ge finds out about this, given his temper, he might go against me, and I will definitely not end up well.

But he had to tell his fourth uncle about these things. No matter who was more important between Shan Ge and him in the eyes of his fourth uncle, in Yan Hui's eyes, his fourth uncle must be the most important. Yan Hui must be clear about this matter.

There is only one way now, to go down the mountain by myself.

It takes at least five hours to walk down the mountain from here to the town outside.

The people from the wood gang led their horses down from here.

If Yan Hui went alone, he might even encounter wolves along the way. This was no joke. The idea that Yan Hui was afraid of both wolves and tigers was amusing to adults because adults had their own defenses against them; they always had advantages in numbers or machinery.

Yan Hui can't do it.

After thinking about it, he decided that he could ask strangers for help, which would be the safest way.

Yan Hui didn't dare to contact the person in charge of the forest farm to borrow a phone because he was worried that Brother Shan had given some instructions. However, Brother Shan couldn't have given more instructions to more people, so he could go find the driver of the Jiefang car and find a way to follow him down the mountain.

Yan Hui had become quite familiar with these drivers. That afternoon, as the Jiefang truck was coming down the mountain, Yan Hui gave the driver a pack of cigarettes and followed the truck down the mountain. He told the driver he wanted to buy some good food, and the driver was, of course, happy to oblige; a pack of cigarettes was a great profit.

The only problem is that the driver won't be back until tomorrow morning.

Yan Hui thought about it and decided that nothing would happen at the forest farm tonight, and he didn't believe that Shan Ge would come back at night, so he decided to stay at the foot of the mountain for one night and take a shower.

Once Shan Ge knew that he had gone down the mountain, he said that he was a young man who got the money and wanted to enjoy it secretly, and Shan Ge had nothing to say.

It is not easy for a fully loaded Jiefang truck to go down the mountain. The noise is very loud. Drivers who have been driving for many years have become slightly hard of hearing. Yan Hui rubbed his ears after going down the mountain. It was really painful and his body was almost shaken apart.

Yan Hui was very familiar with the area near the train station at the foot of the mountain. After he came down the mountain, he first looked around.

The white Jetta was easy to spot. He looked around for a long time but couldn't find it, so he felt relieved.

Then he ran to a store with a telephone and paid to call his fourth uncle's store. As expected, it was his fourth aunt who answered the call.

"Aunt, I have something to say to Fourth Uncle. Where is he now?" Yan Hui asked, looking up at the second hand of the quartz clock. Phone calls were too expensive, so he tried to finish within 55 seconds.

"If you have anything to say, just tell me and I'll tell him." Fourth Aunt's voice sounded quite happy.

"Aunt, this matter is quite complicated. I'd better talk to Fourth Uncle directly." Yan Hui emphasized.

"It's not like I don't understand," Fourth Aunt suddenly became unhappy.

Fourth Aunt's words really put Yan Hui in a difficult position. It wasn't that he couldn't tell the truth to Fourth Aunt, but Fourth Aunt didn't take him seriously at all. Not to mention that he was just a cousin, even if he was the same as Yan Yan, Fourth Aunt would still be wary of him.

"These are some wood parameters," Yan Hui said. "Aunt Si, do you have a pen and paper? They have parameters for 13 batches of wood, such as density and humidity."

"These?" Fourth Aunt thought for a moment, then finally said, "What's your phone number? I'll contact your Fourth Uncle and have him call you."

"Okay." Yan Hui breathed a sigh of relief, told Fourth Aunt the number written on the store's landline, and quickly hung up the phone.

Then, Yan Hui began to wait.

Fourth Uncle returned the call very quickly. When he heard that it was Yan Hui looking for him, he called back quickly.

"Where is Dashan? Why did you call me?" asked my fourth uncle.

"Uncle, this is the situation." Yan Hui briefly explained the key points and continued, "I think I should tell you this."

Fourth Uncle was silent for a moment, thought for a moment, and then said with a slightly dissatisfied tone, "Luckily you're here this time. I asked Dashan to get 2000 yuan for you. Did he give it to you?"

When Yan Hui heard the number two thousand, his heart began to beat wildly. His fourth uncle actually gave him so much!
Yan Hui was about to speak, but he finally held back and replied, "Fourth Uncle, Brother Shan gave me the money."

Yan Hui did not tell Brother Shan that he had given less money.

"Yeah," Fourth Uncle calmed down a bit and thought for a moment, "but it's not good for him to run around outside. Dashan is still reliable, but if he drinks and drives, something bad will happen. Luckily you're here this time. So, I'll go to Baishan to find you in a few days."

"Are you done with your work?" Yan Hui felt much more at ease.

"The negotiations here went relatively smoothly. Actually, the deal isn't that difficult. If you hadn't told me in advance, the deal would still have gone through, but I'd have made less money," Fourth Uncle said with a smile. "As for Dashan's matter, just pretend you don't know."

"Yeah, I understand." Yan Hui hung up the phone.

(End of this chapter)