Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 134 Exploration
Fighting is out of the question; I don't have enough money, so I'm in the wrong.

Two or three days later, Yan Hui made preparations, left most of his things with Lao Guo, and boarded the train with only a bag on his back.

There was no security check at this time, so no one checked the knife in his bag. After Yan Hui got on the bus, he looked at the map and prepared to go to the nearest stop.

In the past two days, Yan Hui has visited several nearby forest farms and made some preliminary talks, but the feedback he received was all unsatisfactory. There aren't many forest farms near the freight station, and those that are there are generally quite capable and don't lack clients. Yan Hui was turned away after only making a few simple inquiries.

As Lao Guo said, Yan Hui could only approach forest farms that had excess inventory and lacked customers. These forest farms were either located in remote areas, difficult to deal with, or had low levels of business operation. In short, there were no such forest farms near the freight station.

Two consecutive days of failure gave Yan Hui a general idea. He needed a forest farm with boldness and vision; a conservative and stagnant one would definitely not work.

As the train slowly slowed down and came to a stop, Yan Hui felt as if this was not a train station. There was only a small door with someone checking tickets at the entrance.

Yan Hui threw the ticket into the ticket box, but the person at the door didn't even glance at it.

After exiting the station, Yan Hui carefully looked around and checked the map.

There is a road here that trucks can pass through. If you go north along the road, there are four forest farms within a 5-kilometer radius. If you go south, there are only two forest farms within a 4-kilometer radius.

Guo had heard of two other forest farms in this area, and he knew the manager of one of them. He recommended that Yan Hui go and inquire about it first.

It took Yan Hui more than half an hour to walk 3 kilometers briskly, without encountering a single person or vehicle along the way. He found the "Ergouzi Forest Farm" marked on the map, pushed open the gate, and walked inside.

This so-called gate was just a makeshift wooden structure. After walking for more than a mile, Yan Hui finally saw the leveled land of the forest farm.

The two large dogs barked at Yan Hui immediately upon seeing him. Then, a security guard approached and asked, "Who is it? What's the matter? Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, I'm here to discuss business. Is our manager here?" Yan Hui asked.

"You? Doing business?" The security guard looked at Yan Hui with disbelief. "How old are you? Coming to the forest farm to do business? Do you even know where you are?"

"I'm from Fujian Province, and I drove thousands of kilometers here specifically. I'm not here to joke around," Yan Hui said calmly.

"From Fujian Province?" The security guard looked Yan Hui up and down again, still somewhat doubtful. "Then you wait here, I'll go call the manager."

Yan Hui stepped forward, offered a pack of cigarettes, and then waited.

Three minutes later, the farm manager came out of the inner room and called out from afar. Yan Hui immediately ran over.

"Are you in the timber business?" The plantation manager sized up Yan Hui. "How do you plan to do business?"

“I have a very good client in Jianye, Jiangsu Province. We signed a purchase contract and they want to ship goods from here, but I don’t have enough money. I wonder if we can cooperate with your forest farm?” Yan Hui got straight to the point.

"Not enough money?" The manager was still somewhat patient. "How much money did you bring?"

“Thirty thousand,” Yan Hui said.

“Thirty thousand? If you had said three thousand, we couldn’t have negotiated,” the farm manager nodded. “Thirty thousand is fine too. If you want to buy larch, I can sell you 60 cubic meters of logs.”

"Here's my contract, let me show it to you," Yan Hui said, taking out the contract and handing it to the manager.

"What the hell? I can't read. Just tell me what you need." The farm manager pushed away the contract Yan Hui handed him. "What I need is lumber, a whole train carload of lumber, at least 120 cubic meters of logs. If we can cooperate, I can offer 530 for the logs." There was something Yan Hui didn't dare to say directly.

He couldn't give the forest farm 30,000 yuan; he could only give 20,000 yuan at most. He needed to process the broken boards, move them, and transport them by rail. These things couldn't be done on credit, and 10,000 yuan wouldn't even be enough. You have to understand, the freight cost for that long-distance rail transport alone would be at least seven or eight thousand yuan.

"I just can't read, not that I can't count!" The manager looked at Yan Hui. "You only have 30,000? You still want to break the planks and transport a whole train car? You're trying to mess with me because you don't have the money? Don't give me that nonsense! For 30,000, I can sell you 50 cubic meters of logs and even deliver them to the freight station! As for the rest, you can go find whoever you want! I guarantee this price isn't expensive!"

“Manager, my lines in Jianye are excellent, and they are also very good clients. Don’t just focus on the immediate problem. As long as this order is placed, I guarantee that I will get all my orders from you this year. Then it won’t just be a matter of 100 cubic meters.” Yan Hui tried to negotiate.

"Stop talking nonsense. Pay up and buy the timber. If you're not going to buy, don't bother talking to me." The farm manager waved his hand. "Are you going to buy or not?"

"Sorry to bother you." Yan Hui knew that there was no way to negotiate with this family.

He needs a manager with decisiveness, but this manager is definitely not up to the task; he doesn't even dare to take action.

Throughout the entire process, Yan Hui never mentioned Lao Guo's relationship. Given the situation of the farm manager, mentioning it would only harm Lao Guo.

After leaving the house, Yan Hui went to a forest farm, but the manager was not there, so Yan Hui went to a third one.

This forest farm was in the most remote location. Yan Hui walked from the roadside into the forest farm for more than half an hour without seeing it. The further he walked, the more remote it became. Yan Hui even worried that there was no forest farm in the area.

If it weren't for the obvious car tracks on the remaining snow on the road, Yan Hui would have thought he had taken the wrong turn.

As they walked further and further away, they still couldn't see the location of the forest farm. Yan Hui silently reached into his bag, gripped the knife handle, and only then did he feel a little more at ease.

Wolves are plentiful this season, and Yan Hui became increasingly cautious, ready to climb a tree at any moment.

In the forests of Northeast China, if you can't find the road, you're basically doomed. Yan Hui didn't dare to go to the roadside to observe, and only dared to keep walking forward along the road.

Only Yan Hui himself knew the loneliness and fear he experienced along the way.

After walking for an hour and a half, Yan Hui finally saw the forest farm.

The forest farm didn't even have a gate; you could only see a crane moving timber in the distance. There were no security guards, not even a dog.

Yan Hui could only find the crane operator and explain the situation.

"That house!" The driver was a little confused, but still pointed Yan Hui in the right direction.

"Thank you!" Following the direction the driver pointed, Yan Hui found a row of small houses, asked around in each one, and finally found a deputy farm manager.

"How did you find us? Our forest farm is undergoing restructuring; we're still processing the data, and we're not selling anything." The deputy director's words completely shut down Yan Hui's questions.

"Huh?" Yan Hui could only say helplessly, "Sorry to bother you."

By the time Yan Hui walked out and returned to the street, it was already afternoon. Hungry, he walked for another half hour until he reached the vicinity of the train station. There wasn't a single shop there. Yan Hui took out a water bottle and some flatbread from his bag and ate a bite.

(End of this chapter)