Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 110 Su Jin
This was Yan Hui's first time visiting the Xinhua Bookstore in Jianye, and he felt like he had found a treasure.

There is so much to learn!

Books on wood were only part of the curriculum; Yan Hui could also understand some simple mechanical principles, since he had seen many of the machines before and had heard Zhao Ge and Wang Chao explain them to him.

Besides, setting up a company and drafting contracts are also very complicated matters. Since Yan Hui has absolutely no experience in these areas, the book seems like gibberish to him; he can only read it slowly when he has the chance later.

I'll skip the business books and read them another time.

Yan Hui spent four or five hours straight in the bookstore, and his biggest takeaway was from the section on wood processing. He didn't learn anything particularly new, but he finally gained some new understanding of what Wang Chao had said earlier, and the theory and practice validated each other.

In the afternoon, Yan Hui went out to get something to eat, and then went back to the bookstore to look at miscellaneous books.

Yan Hui was delighted when he saw "Story Collection".

These were some of his favorite books, but he had only read two of them. Back in Fengtian, there weren't many bookstores, and he could only buy books from street stalls.

Xinhua Bookstore had the first and second issue of Story Club from 1997, one with a pink cover and the other with a green cover. Yan Hui quickly picked them up and started reading.

After spending the afternoon reading, Yan Hui finished reading Story Collection 1 directly. He wanted to read 2, but after looking at it, he realized he didn't have enough time, so he decided to buy the second book instead.

Perhaps he was so engrossed in reading that Yan Hui only then realized that there was only one copy of the second book left, and the rest had all been bought.

He picked it up and flipped through it, preparing to pay the bill, when he turned around and almost bumped into someone next to him.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a girl.

The girl, wearing a blue school uniform, took a small step to the side to avoid Yan Hui, and then held onto a stack of books next to her to steady herself.

Following the girl's movement, her long hair naturally fell down, countless strands drawing arcs in the air before settling on her shoulders.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Yan Hui stared blankly for a second or two before thinking of going up to help him up.

"It's alright, luckily I was quick." The girl wasn't angry at all, and pointed to the "Story Collection" in Yan Hui's hand, "Do you still have this book?"

The girl's voice was very pleasant, with the gentle and melodious quality typical of girls from southern China, which made Yan Hui, who was used to his hometown dialect and Northeastern dialect, feel a little uncomfortable.

"Let me look." Yan Hui turned around and flipped through the pages. "This should be the only one."

"Oh?" The girl sounded a little disappointed. "I came right after class, but I didn't expect it to still be like this."

As she spoke, the girl looked at Yan Hui with a pitiful expression, "Could you give me this book?"

"Huh?" Yan Hui looked at the book in his hand, still feeling unsatisfied.

Several stories in "Story Collection 1" were serialized, and Yan Hui couldn't wait to go back and read the sequels.

However, looking at the girl, Yan Hui felt something else.
Since this girl seemed to have a tough time, Yan Hui thought for a moment and made a decision: "No."

"Huh?" The girl looked at Yan Hui with a puzzled expression. She felt that Yan Hui was about to agree, so why did he suddenly...?
"Why don't you buy it tomorrow?" Yan Hui said, as his pager went off.

Without even looking, I knew it was my cousin urging me to go eat.

"Tomorrow... As far as I know, this bookstore won't get any new books until at least next week." The girl thought for a moment, "Never mind, I can't do something that would steal someone else's favorite book. Tomorrow is Saturday, I'll go to another bookstore and take a look."

“How about this,” Yan Hui thought the girl had a good personality, and after thinking for a moment, he said, “I’ll go back tonight and finish reading it. Come over tomorrow at noon, and I’ll lend you the book.” “Oh? That’s great!” The girl’s eyes lit up when she heard this, and she pointed to Yan Hui’s pager, “Could you tell me your pager number? I’ll page you before I come tomorrow.”

"Actually," Yan Hui was about to set a time, but then changed his mind, "okay."

"Okay, I'll write it down." The girl said, putting her backpack on top of the books and taking out a pen and notebook. "Tell me, and I'll write it down."

"I'll write it for you." Yan Hui looked at the girl's hand, then seemed lost in thought for a few seconds.

"Okay." The girl handed the notebook to Yan Hui.

Yan Hui quickly wrote down his name and pager number and handed it to the girl: "My name is Yan Hui, Yan as in color and Hui as in brilliance."

"Su Jin." The girl happily picked up the notebook and looked at it. "Your handwriting is quite nice."

"It's alright." Yan Hui was a little embarrassed by the praise. In that instant, he felt that his calligraphy practice hadn't been in vain.

"That's really impressive," Su Jin said with a smile. "Anyway, thank you in advance for your book!"

"You're welcome."

"Okay, I saw your pager went off, you must have something to do. You go ahead and get busy, I still need to pick out a few more books." Su Jin waved her hand, "See you tomorrow."

"Wait a minute, do you have a pager? If so, leave me your number." Yan Hui said, his heart racing.

"I don't have one, my dad won't buy it for me. But I can give you my home phone number, you can call me if you need anything." As she spoke, the girl took out a notebook, quickly wrote down her name and phone number, tore it off, and handed it to Yan Hui.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." Yan Hui glanced at Su Jin's handwriting, happily put the paper in his pocket, and then went to the cashier to buy the book.

Yan Hui didn't look back the whole way, but when he reached the door and opened it, he glanced back unintentionally.

Not seeing Su Jin, Yan Hui pretended to be nonchalant, looked at the road, and left Xinhua Bookstore.

He got quite engrossed in the story, and it was already six o'clock in the evening. Yan Hui jogged all the way to his cousin's shop.

"What have you been up to? Why are you back so late?" When his cousin saw Yan Hui, he didn't scold him. He introduced Yan Hui to his brothers, "Xiao Hui, let me introduce you. These are my two good brothers. This is Chen Dong. His family has been doing business in this market for six or seven years. He went to Beijing a while ago and just came back today! And this is Huang Feiyu. The Putian brother who came to see me last time is Feiyu's older brother!"

"Hello Brother Chen, hello Brother Huang," Yan Hui said, shaking hands with each of them.

"This is my cousin, Yan Hui. He used to do business in Fengtian and learned a lot there. He plans to come here and start a small business. I hope you two can help him out." The cousin then introduced Yan Hui.

"Of course, your brother is my brother." Chen Dong patted his chest.

“Same!” Huang Feiyu echoed.

These two were clearly from Putian; they were wearing the same clothes, a brand called Dacron, and they looked very energetic.

Including his cousin, everyone spoke Putian dialect. Yan Hui could hear the introductions clearly, but when the three of them were talking, there were parts that Yan Hui couldn't understand.

"Come on, tonight's all set up!" My cousin waved his hand, "I'll treat you guys to a good time relaxing!"

(End of this chapter)