Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 122 First Meeting with President Teng

Yan Hui took the money without any hesitation and placed it on the table, not a penny more or less.

They come so many times in a short period of time that there's no need to even ask about the price.

The store manager saw the money and didn't know whether he should take it or not. He decided to wait for General Manager Teng to arrive.

Yan Hui had achieved his goal. Seeing that the store manager wouldn't accept the money, he collected all the receipts, gathered them into a stack, and then stood up and placed all the money and receipts on the front desk.

"Boss, our General Manager Teng will be here soon, please don't leave." The store manager was a little anxious when he saw Yan Hui get up to pay the bill.

He called the boss over, but Yan Hui wasn't there. Would the boss think he'd been tricked?

“I’m not leaving. It’s raining today, and you don’t have many guests. All six rooms upstairs are empty. I remember there’s a coffee table in the Qinhuai Hall that’s good for discussing business. I’ll go there and wait for President Teng.” Yan Hui pointed upstairs.

The store manager seemed unsure. "I don't recall you going upstairs."

The store manager had a deep impression of Yan Hui. The first time they met, Yan Hui asked about President Teng, and he asked the same question every time he came afterward. It hadn't been long, and the store manager had a good memory. If he remembered correctly, Yan Hui always sat in the lobby on the first floor, whether he came alone or with a girl. How could he know so much about the rooms upstairs?
“I used to come here with my family, and I didn’t pay the bill, so of course you wouldn’t know,” Yan Hui said, and it was indeed the truth.

"Oh, you're right, it's a good place to talk business upstairs," the manager waved and called over a waiter, "Take the boss upstairs and pour him a pot of good tea."

"Mmm." The waiter nodded immediately and ushered Yan Hui upstairs.

After Yan Hui went upstairs, several more waiters surrounded him and asked the manager about Yan Hui.

“This guy is no ordinary person. Let’s hand him over to the boss. Let’s stop talking. He seems to know our store so well. I really don’t remember him coming here before. Do you remember him?” The store manager was unsure.

"I think I recognize you." One of the waiters thought carefully. "You look familiar, but I can't quite remember."

"Forget it then. You guys keep quiet, don't cause trouble, and especially don't mess with this boss."

"Mmm." The waiters didn't dare to chat too much. It was raining today and there were few customers, so they gathered together and started gossiping.

Yan Hui went upstairs, took a sip of tea, and then took out an exquisite box from his bag.

This is a fine wooden tea box that he asked his cousin to buy from a friend in Putian. The tea is also high-quality Da Hong Pao from Fujian Province. He has been preparing it for more than a week and is just waiting for today.

The tea the waiter poured, though the manager had instructed it to be "good tea," was just so-so. Yan Hui knew the truly good tea was definitely Teng's own private stash. Since he was visiting today, he still needed to prepare a box of tea.

Yan Hui went upstairs not just to have tea and discuss business, but because he needed a third party to act as a go-between.

To gain Mr. Teng's initial trust, this third person is very important.

Of all of Mr. Teng's contacts, Yan Hui only knew this store manager. So when he went upstairs and Mr. Teng arrived, he didn't need to face him immediately.

Mr. Teng will definitely talk to the store manager to find out about his situation.

Will the store manager offend Yan Hui? Will he deliberately speak ill of Yan Hui?
That's impossible. Yan Hui knows the second floor so well, yet he comes to the first floor to dine every few days. Plus, Yan Hui said things like "I'm eating with my family." How could the manager know what kind of family Yan Hui comes from?
In short, even if the store manager doesn't praise Yan Hui, just expressing himself accurately can add a layer of mystery to Yan Hui.

Therefore, Yan Hui went upstairs for this main purpose: to have the store manager introduce him to the store.

There was no one on the second floor. Yan Hui went to the bathroom to clean up his inventory, washed his hands, and returned to his room with a relaxed attitude. After waiting for more than ten minutes, someone knocked on the door.

Yan Hui, who was sitting near the door, quickly opened it and greeted President Teng, extending his hand directly: "Hello, President Teng, I am Yan Hui from the trading company. Sorry to bother you."

"Do you know me?" President Teng shook hands briefly with Yan Hui, looked around the room, then glanced at the store manager behind him, and waved to indicate that the store manager could leave.

He hadn't quite heard what Yan Hui had said.

Mr. Teng is a local from Jianye, and is said to have a very forthright personality—a fact Yan Hui had learned after asking around. He had also inquired about his physical features, so he recognized him at a glance.

"I saw you once before, at the Century Garden construction site south of the tree-lined road, but I was young then, so you probably wouldn't recognize me." Yan Hui incorporated the information Brother Lü had given him into his own account. Anyway, President Teng had no way to verify it.

"Oh, over there, so your family is also in the construction industry?" Mr. Teng asked, slightly puzzled. At this moment, he didn't know where Yan Hui came from, but he wasn't impatient.

He had just spoken briefly with the store manager downstairs for five minutes, learning some basic information about Yan Hui, which left him quite puzzled and completely clueless. Usually, people contacted him through connections. However, he usually only gave them a perfunctory response, and sometimes he would simply refuse them outright. This was the first time he had encountered a situation like this.

In society, no matter how well you do, you should always keep a low profile. In this timber market, there are a few people from Putian who are exceptionally powerful, and Boss Teng wouldn't easily provoke them. In Yan Hui's eyes, he and the Putian people are from two different places, but in Boss Teng's and the shop manager's eyes, they are all Fujianese businessmen, and probably all part of the same group.

"Let's leave my family aside for now. I mainly deal in timber. I'm sorry to have bothered you so much today. I invited you here, Mr. Teng, mainly to find an opportunity. I hope you won't be offended. Come, if it's convenient, let's sit down and talk." Yan Hui gestured to the coffee table and chairs beside him.

"Okay, let's sit down and talk." President Teng sat down with Yan Hui, like a guest, wanting to hear what Yan Hui had to say.

"Your manager and staff were very polite just now, and they even poured me tea. There's a saying that goes, 'It's impolite not to reciprocate.' I happened to bring a box of tea from Fujian Province. I just don't know if President Teng is used to drinking Da Hong Pao." Yan Hui said, handing over the gift first.

It must be said that the people of Putian have reached the stage of refined wood processing. Their wooden gifts and tea boxes look very high-end, and can be reused even after the tea is finished.

Mr. Teng took the tea leaves and couldn't help but open the container and smell them.

Da Hong Pao tea is really famous; it's said that the good ones are so hard to find.

"I still don't know your surname, brother? It was a bit noisy when I came in, so I didn't hear you clearly." Boss Teng put down the tea leaves. At this moment, he no longer blamed Yan Hui, but instead felt that the store manager was a bit inconsiderate.

He had just seen the stack of receipts and had also heard the store manager say that this person might have often come upstairs to eat with his elders, and that this person had come looking for him many times.

Why didn't the store manager tell me sooner that someone like this was looking for me?

The store manager was actually a little aggrieved, because General Manager Teng had already told him not to tell him if anyone was looking for him.
"My surname is Yan, and my given name is Yan Hui, Yan as in color and Hui as in brilliance. I just established a timber trading company in Jianye. Actually, I've been doing timber business in Northeast China before," Yan Hui gave a brief self-introduction.

(End of this chapter)