Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 18 Big Brother

Let’s talk about Sigang Village.

There have always been rich and poor people in the village, but the gap was not that big before. In the past ten years since the reform and opening up, the gap has suddenly widened, and the disputes have also expanded.

Disputes have always existed and have become more and more numerous in recent years.

Yan Hui's parents went out to work early, and Yan Hui relied entirely on his sworn brothers in the village.

Of course, only the third brother is from the same village as him, the others are from nearby villages.

The third brother is quite nice. Thinking about this, Yan Hui slowly fell asleep.

Three years ago, Yan Hui was 13 years old. One time, he went to the village of the fourth brother with his eldest brother, the third brother and the fourth brother.

Lao Si's village is on the coast, where you can pick up a lot of good things, including clams and crabs.

That day, Yan Hui was extremely lucky and caught a blue crab weighing at least one and a half kilograms. The eldest brother, the third brother, and the fourth brother were all envious. They were so greedy that Yan Hui finally decided to eat it together.

At that time, the third brother brought matches, and everyone found a sheltered place, lit the branches, and put the crabs on them to roast.

The four of them shared a crab and a handful of shells. Although it wasn't a complete feast, it was incredibly satisfying! It was the best seafood Yan Hui had ever tasted!
Yan Hui had been thinking about that crab for three years, but every time he went there again, he never caught one that big.

Because Yan Hui was the one who caught the crab, everyone unanimously decided that Yan Hui would eat the crab roe and half of the crab meat. I don’t know what the crab legs of such a big crab taste like.
That night, Yan Hui dreamed of crabs. He dreamed of a big pot of crabs, eating them with his grandparents at his home in his hometown.

The dream was so fantastic. The crabs just wouldn’t be cooked through. The firewood under the stove was all burned out. Half an hour had passed, and when I opened the lid of the pot, the blue crabs were still blue.

Grandma said that the firewood at home might be gone and they needed to go out to get some. Grandpa said that there was no firewood at home and they needed to go out to chop firewood.

So grandpa went out, and Yan Hui waited at home. He secretly lifted the lid of the pot and took a look. He found that the crabs were starting to turn red, but the stove was getting colder and colder. This couldn't go on.

He was anxious, so he ran out, only to see that his grandfather was about to come back, but was stopped by the family in front of the door.

The reason was that the firewood grandpa took was said to be from the Xiao family's tea trees.

Yan Hui looked at the firewood. It was all dead branches and leaves. How could it possibly be from the Xiao family's tea trees? So he immediately went back to the house to get his weapons and start a fight, but he couldn't find any suitable weapons no matter how hard he looked.

Yan Hui couldn't find any farm tools, sticks, or other things in the house. He was so anxious that he almost sweated. After searching for a long time, he picked up the pot lid and ran out.

The Xiao family was one of four in the village, all headed by the same grandfather, making them considered the most powerful in the village. As for Yan Hui's family, while his eldest uncle and fourth cousin were also powerful, they no longer lived in the village. Yan Hui was outnumbered, but he still rushed forward with the pot lid in hand.

"What are you doing!" Yan Hui pointed at the firewood his grandfather was holding and shouted, "These are all dead branches! Who cut down your tea trees?"

"Even if they're just dead branches and rotten leaves, they belong to our family!" Xiao Delin, the eldest son of the Xiao family, stood in front of Yan Hui. He looked at Yan Hui's "weapon" and laughed. "Are you trying to start a fight by holding a pot lid?"

"So what!" Yan Hui took the lid of the pot and pushed it hard, then pulled his grandfather and ran home.

These people didn't catch up, so Yan Hui brought his grandfather back home. However, when he looked into the pot again, the crabs had already gone rotten and were inedible.

Yan Hui burst into tears, crying loudly.

Ahhhhhhhh.
Then I woke up.

Yan Hui sat up suddenly and saw Shan Ge next to him still sleeping soundly. Only then did he realize that it was a dream.

This is a dream, but not a dream.

Without turning on the light, Yan Hui grabbed the letter from his third brother, as if he could see every word on it clearly.

He turned on the light and looked at the clock. It was only four o'clock.

But he couldn't fall asleep. In fact, he had been feeling depressed since reading the letter today, and he didn't have the mind to think about anything else after going to the store.

Thinking of this, Yan Hui wanted to write back to his third brother, but he couldn't find paper or pen at this hour, so he just sulked. Feeling helpless, Yan Hui paced around the room in worry.

Another half hour passed in a daze. Yan Hui was tired, so he went back to bed and fell asleep again.

At seven o'clock in the morning, after Yan Hui got up, he first went to the front desk of the guesthouse to ask about the location of the post office.

The post office is a bit far, so I have to go there when I drive back.

After asking the front desk for another piece of free paper and borrowing a pen, Yan Hui prepared to write back to the third child. He had no other way to help his family, so he just wanted to send some money home.

Giving your family 1500 yuan should be of great use.

As Yan Hui wrote, he thought of Qu Xiaoqin's beautiful handwriting yesterday, so he became more serious and his handwriting became more and more neat.

"Xiaohui? What are you doing here?" Yan Hui was writing when suddenly a familiar voice came.

"Fourth Uncle?" Yan Hui looked up. "Good morning! You're up so early?"

"I went out to talk to a client yesterday. My god, people from Northeast China can drink a lot here. I only drank a little less because I told them I had to drive and take Chinese medicine." Uncle Si was still terrified when he thought about what happened last night. "It's a good thing you didn't go. If you had, I would have had a hard time carrying both of you!"

"Ah? Brother Shan drank so much, was he trying to block the drinking for you?" Yan Hui asked back.

"Yeah, thank goodness for him. Let him sleep in today. I'm going out to buy breakfast. I was thinking of bringing you some too." Fourth Uncle asked, "By the way, what do you want to eat?"

"I'm fine with anything, as long as I have a stutter." Yan Hui suddenly realized that Brother Shan didn't let him go because he was protecting himself. Before, he always thought that there was some good thing that didn't let him go.

"What are you doing here?" Fourth Uncle came over.

"Didn't I receive a letter yesterday? I thought of writing back to my family."

"If you have any questions, why not just call? Writing letters takes so long." Uncle Si said, pulling out a large black thing from his small bag. "I just finished this thing yesterday."

"It's okay, there's no rush," Yan Hui explained. "Besides, it's not convenient in the village. Huh? Fourth Uncle, is this a mobile phone?"

"Well, you can't do business without this thing. Pagers should be eliminated." Fourth uncle was also happy when looking at his big cell phone.

“This is too expensive.”

"Well, it's a Motorola 3200. This thing cost me 19,000 yuan," said the fourth uncle. "I heard they're going to release a smaller version this year, but I think a bigger one would look better!"

"This is amazing." Yan Hui exclaimed. He also wanted to be able to afford a mobile phone in the future!
"You will have it in the future." Fourth Uncle said with a smile.

"Well, I'd better write a letter now." Yan Hui knew that this thing had nothing to do with him.

"Okay, whatever you want." Fourth uncle was about to go out.

Yan Hui suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, Fourth Uncle, I want to send some money home. I need to go to the post office before I leave. Is that convenient?"

"Send money? The post office can't send money. You have to go to the bank to transfer money." My uncle stopped and explained. Then he asked, "You want to send money home? What's going on? What happened? What happened to my uncle?"

"Grandpa, there's nothing to do. I just wanted to send some money home when I make some. Oh no, that's not right. I'm sending money."

"How much money do you have now?" Fourth Uncle suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Yan Hui didn't expect his fourth uncle to ask this question, so he could only answer truthfully, "About 1800."

"Didn't I give you two thousand?" Fourth Uncle was stunned.

"I spent 600 yuan on ginseng yesterday."

"What?" Fourth Uncle was so angry that his nose was about to be crooked. "You bought ginseng? You got cheated!"

"No, Fourth Uncle, I know what I'm talking about."

"I don't know shit!" Fourth Uncle was still furious. "I've been in Northeast China for several years. Although I've seen a lot of ginseng, I wouldn't dare claim to be proficient in it, let alone buy it casually. You have 600 yuan? Where did you buy it? Is there a store?"

"Fourth Uncle," Yan Hui knew that explaining was useless and put away the paper and pen. "How about you come upstairs and take a look? I promise there's nothing wrong."

"Come on, come on, take a look. How could you make such a big decision without telling me? You don't even know how many scammers there are when you go out!" After saying this, Fourth Uncle hurriedly walked towards the stairs.

"Hey, hey, hey," the receptionist shouted at Yan Hui, "Give me back my pen!"

Yan Hui returned the pen, followed his fourth uncle upstairs, and showed his fourth uncle the ginseng he had just bought yesterday.

Uncle Si opened the moss, picked it up and examined it for a full minute, looking left and right, frowning all the time. Finally, he said uncertainly: "It looks worth the price. If it is real, it will probably be around 1000 yuan. But how can you buy something like this on the street?"

Fourth Uncle was at a loss for words.

"Fourth Uncle," Yan Hui pointed at Brother Shan who was still sleeping soundly, "Let's go downstairs and buy some food first. I'll explain the process to you and you'll understand."

"Okay, tell me quickly." Fourth Uncle called Yan Hui out of the house and closed the door.

Yan Hui recounted everything that happened yesterday, and Fourth Uncle immediately understood what was going on. "If the police are willing to take 500 yuan, then there's no problem if you can catch him. This can't be a setup. There's no need for such a small amount of money."

"Yeah," Yan Hui said proudly, "I think so too!"

"But you have to be careful about this matter in the future. It's nothing here in Baishan, and you won't have any dealings with this policeman in the future anyway. If you are in an area you are familiar with, don't say this thing like that, there is no need to offend people." Fourth Uncle still gave him a teaching.

"Yeah, I understand." Yan Hui followed suit.

"So what do you think? Send some money home, and then when you return to Fengtian, find a place to sell this ginseng?"

"Well, I plan to send 1500 yuan home."

"It's not a small amount, but from what you just said, and from what I heard about that guy surnamed Xiao, I'm telling you, the 1500 yuan you sent my uncle is just saving it for you and he won't use it for anything." The fourth uncle thought for a moment and said, "If you keep the money, you might be able to start a business or something. Look at the ginseng yesterday. If you didn't have money, this good thing would have been out of your reach."

When Yan Hui heard this, he was suddenly in a dilemma.

In fact, my parents have always given money to the family. Although it is not much, there are at least several thousand yuan in savings at home. This money is left for Yan Hui to marry a wife.

Just as my fourth uncle said, if I give the family 1500 yuan, my grandparents will definitely save it, and it won't change the family at all. If he really wants to help the family, he might as well go back and stay.

But if that's the case, why did I come out in the first place? When I came out, I made great promises!
"Xiaohui, there are some things an uncle shouldn't say, but the money you give me is really useless," the fourth uncle finally advised. "I think you have the talent for business. Just follow me and work hard. I will take you with me when I have the chance. As long as you work hard, by the time you are 20, you can have at least 30,000 or 40,000 yuan! Then I can go back and renovate your house so that it won't be hit every time it rains."

"Hmm!" Yan Hui felt that what his fourth uncle said made sense. He took the letter in his hand, tore it into pieces and threw it away, waiting to write another one later.

Fourth Uncle had basically ordered everything for breakfast: soy milk, fried dough sticks, and a sugar cake for Yan Hui. The guesthouse wasn't far from the market, and after buying everything, Yan Hui looked around and saw the man selling tobacco leaves yesterday. He spent another four yuan and bought five more. The ones he'd bought yesterday were already half-finished, and it wouldn't look good if he showed them around.

Yan Hui explained Uncle Gao's situation, and his uncle nodded. "Yes, it's necessary to maintain this kind of relationship. Last time, it was thanks to their information. If you pass by their place later, I'll drive to your place and stop."

"Thank you, Fourth Uncle."

"What's this?"

The two were walking back while chatting, and suddenly they ran into "Sister Hua" whom they met yesterday.

Sister Hua was "patrolling" with three people. When she saw Yan Hui and his fourth uncle, she slowly surrounded them.

"Isn't this a little hero?" Sister Hua stretched out her strong arms, expanded her chest, and then shook her shoulders. "Come, come, come and see, this is a big hero."

Fourth Uncle frowned when he saw this scene, but even without saying anything, he knew that this person was related to the ginseng from yesterday. This should be the local gangster that Yan Hui mentioned.

"What's the matter?" Yan Hui was not afraid. His fourth uncle was there. How could he dare to hit someone across the street?

"Nothing, look at the young and cheerful girl, come on, let's play. I heard that you bought some ginseng yesterday? Tsk tsk, I still have quite a lot of ginseng here, do you want some? Come with me and have a look, they are all at a cheap price." When Sister Hua said this, the three people around her had already cooperated with her and surrounded them.

Sister Hua's words revealed too much information, but Yan Hui was not afraid. He was used to being bullied and knew that it was absolutely impossible to be timid: "You"

Fourth Uncle suddenly pulled Yan Hui, and Yan Hui swallowed what he was about to say.

"I bought the ginseng. Who told you he bought it?" Fourth Uncle said calmly, "Why, do you have some good stuff?"

"You?" Sister Hua looked up and down at Fourth Uncle.

Although Fourth Uncle was wearing ordinary clothes, his temperament was indeed different from Yan Hui's, and he didn't look like an ordinary person.

Sister Hua was undecided and continued, "I have whatever you want."

"Okay, since your goods are strong, you have to see my sincerity first." Fourth Uncle pointed to the side, "I'll go back to get the money, you wait here for me."

After saying this, Sister Hua's rhythm suddenly became a little chaotic. How could she not let the other person go back and get the money?
"Tell him to keep this guy!" Sister Hua's think tank suddenly shouted, "Go get it, there's no rush!"

Sister Hua turned around and glanced at her younger brother. She didn't expect that there was such a quick-witted one among them. She nodded immediately and said, "Yes, let this guy stay."

Fourth Uncle laughed: "I thought you were a businessman, but it turns out you're just used to being the king of the mountain. Who would do business with you if you're like this?"

Fourth Uncle's words overwhelmed the other party with his momentum, and he continued, "From the looks of it, you seem to have some connection with the police station. The deputy director of this branch, Li Dewei, is my buddy. How about this, I give him a call and we can find a suitable place to do business."

As he spoke, Fourth Uncle took out his mobile phone.

I rub!

Yan Hui suddenly felt that Fourth Uncle's mobile phone was so damn handsome!

!

(End of this chapter)