Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 113, "Story Collection"
Yan Hui wouldn't refuse his cousin about such a thing; he took the money and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Brother, is there anything I can do for you today? Do you need me to deliver the larch trees?"

"No need, I'll go find Lao Lü after I finish my porridge. I arranged their cart yesterday. After I'm done, I'll go see Chen Dong to see if we can reach an agreement on what we discussed yesterday." My cousin thought for a moment, "You can come if you want."

"I won't go unless I really need to."

"Okay." My cousin nodded and picked up the porridge to continue drinking.

At that moment, Yan Hui's pager suddenly went off.

"Hmm? You already have business?" My cousin glanced at Yan Hui, somewhat curious. "So fast?"

"Huh? Let me see," Yan Hui picked up the pager, glanced at the numbers on it, "It's not business, a friend asked me to meet at 12:00. Xinhua Bookstore."

"Oh, oh, oh," my cousin didn't want to ask any more questions, and glanced at the time. "Then you should hurry up and go."

"Mmm." Yan Hui washed up, put on clean clothes, and went straight out the door.

In March, Jianye is lush with greenery and the wind is gentle. Yan Hui walks along the road with light steps, and it seems that he arrives at Xinhua Bookstore in just two or three minutes, or even less.

Today is Saturday, and the bookstore is quite crowded. Yan Hui went in and looked around, only to find that "Story Club" Volume 2 was indeed out of stock, which made him both disappointed and relieved.

Since he had already paid for his books, and reading inside might cause misunderstandings, he took his bag and went outside to read them from the doorway.

He still had about half a book left to read. Although he had finished reading the serialized part, there were still many stories he hadn't finished.

"Hey, you're so engrossed!" Su Jin appeared behind Yan Hui and gently patted Yan Hui's shoulder.

She had arrived a while ago and had been watching Yan Hui for about half a minute, but Yan Hui hadn't noticed her.

"Huh? You're here," Yan Hui shrugged, "Why did you hit me?"

"You're being unreasonable, and you call this hitting me?" Su Jin said, somewhat unconvinced.

"Haha, just kidding," Yan Hui pointed to the book, "Wait a minute, there's still one more section."

As he spoke, Yan Hui quickly skimmed through the last two or three hundred words of the story, then closed the book and handed it to Su Jin: "We agreed that I'd lend it to you today."

"Have you finished reading?" Su Jin did not take the book.

"No, but I've finished reading the part I most wanted to see. I'll show it to you first, and I mean what I say." Yan Hui handed the book to Su Jin. "You can give it back to me next week."

“I don’t read as slowly as you. I can give it to you tomorrow. Let’s set a time like this again,” Su Jin said with a smile.

"No, I went out with my brother to discuss business last night until two or three in the morning, and I got up late this morning. I only spent three or four hours reading the first book here yesterday," Yan Hui explained immediately.

"Are you in business?" Su Jin asked curiously. "My dad is too. Sometimes he comes home very late after dinner, and I don't know what he's busy with outside. By the way, I'd like to ask you, why do you sometimes stay up so late when you're doing business? What kind of things are only convenient to discuss so late?"

"The main thing is that once you start drinking, there are a lot of things to talk about. And after drinking, time seems to slow down, and a few hours can fly by." Yan Hui was also experienced in this.

"Do you like drinking?" Su Jin looked at Yan Hui, her eyes gleaming slightly.

"I don't drink. My main job last night was to carry my brother back home," Yan Hui shook his head.

“It’s good that he doesn’t drink. My dad is really annoying when he drinks; he smells like everything,” Su Jin said, a little annoyed, but then explained, “However, my dad is very good to me.”

“He was doing it for his family,” Yan Hui added.

"Mmm, I know." Su Jin clearly had a good family upbringing; she understood many things about her family and simply nodded. "I saw you wearing your high school uniform yesterday. What grade are you in?" Yan Hui asked curiously.

"I'm a junior in high school, and I'll be a senior this summer."

"You're in your second year of high school," Yan Hui said with a sigh of relief. "If you were in your third year, you'd be going to college soon."

“Yes, I see that all the senior students are under a lot of pressure right now. I probably won’t even have time to read these books next year at this time.” Su Jin said, stroking the cover of “Story Collection”.

"Then you can come to the bookstore often and look at some study books. If I have any questions, I can ask you." Yan Hui was unusually talkative today for some reason.

"Sure, you can do it."

"I graduated from junior high school and studied high school on my own," Yan Hui said immediately.

"How did you know what I was going to ask?" Su Jin was surprised.

"Haha, I can read minds."

"You're such a chatterbox! Just like my dad, all you do is talk nonsense!" Su Jin laughed as well.

"So, are you planning to go home and read Story Magazine today, or read a book here?" Yan Hui asked with a hint of anticipation.

"I'm not in a hurry to read the story; I'll look at something else."

"Okay, have you had lunch yet?" Yan Hui pointed to the side, "There's a pretty good noodle shop over there."

"I haven't eaten yet. Come on, let's go together. You lent me a book, so I'll treat you to noodles." Su Jin said, putting the book away.

"You're treating? Okay." Yan Hui nodded. "I'll treat next time."

“No problem.” Su Jin nodded happily. She thought Yan Hui was a very genuine person.

The two entered the noodle shop, and Su Jin ordered two bowls of noodles, adding extra noodles to Yan Hui's bowl. Then they found seats and started chatting about the contents of "Story Club".

Su Jin is a loyal reader of "Story Club" magazine, having read almost every book in recent years, while Yan Hui only reads it intermittently and doesn't even know some of the stories.

The stories at this point are very engaging, with many captivating tales, especially the folk tales. The feeling of wanting to read them while also being a little scared is particularly thrilling.

It's a blessing to have a good listener. Su Jin enthusiastically told Yan Hui several classic stories from the past, and Yan Hui listened attentively.

The noodles had been served long ago, but one of them was engrossed in conversation, while the other was absorbed in a story. By the time the story was finished, the noodles were almost soggy.

"Eat first, eat first," Yan Hui finally realized, then exclaimed in amazement, "You have such a good memory, you can even remember this story."

"I've secretly watched it several times!" Su Jin stirred the noodles with her chopsticks.

"Why are you secretly watching?" Yan Hui asked, puzzled.

"I was scared, so I would take a flashlight and watch from under the covers!"

"Wouldn't that waste a lot of batteries?" Yan Hui felt a pang of heartache.

"Huh?" Su Jin was taken aback by Yan Hui's sudden remark. It was like, "I say I kill without blinking, and you ask me if my eyes are dry?" The sentence made Su Jin inexplicably laugh. "Hahaha, what does this have to do with batteries!"

(End of this chapter)