Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 232 The Fourth Brother
At 8:30, as the security guard was preparing to change shifts, someone called out to him.

"Old Wang, don't leave work yet, Boss Han is looking for you," Old Sun said to the security guard.

"They're here!" The security guard immediately ran upstairs.

Upon seeing Mr. Han, the security guard saluted: "Mr. Han, you have instructions!"

"Nothing else, just something to ask you. What time did this person arrive? Tell me." Mr. Han asked briefly.

"He arrived before 7 a.m., saying that General Manager Jiang had given his approval. He was afraid I wouldn't let him in, so he had me follow him in. He first cleaned the conference room, and then waited for General Manager Jiang to arrive. He opened the office door for him, and then went in to tidy up the office. After he finished, he left," the security guard said truthfully.

"Did he send you in to keep an eye on him?" President Han asked.

"Hmm." The security guard nodded. Just that last pack of cigarettes had given him a good impression of Yan Hui.

Offering a cigarette first is a way of building rapport, while offering one later shows respect; these are two different concepts.

"Okay, I understand. You can go ahead and get busy." President Han nodded.

After the security guards left, General Manager Han glanced at the conference room and then returned to his office.

The things on the table were untouched; the mess was still there, but other areas were indeed...
The combination of messiness and orderliness actually makes it look quite authentic.

Yan Hui didn't take the matter seriously after leaving. As long as he kept in touch with President Han, he would always have opportunities.

Yan Hui rode his motorcycle to the timber market.

According to the map, there are three timber markets nearby, and the one where Geng Zhongxing is located is the largest and the only one with a railway line.

Transporting 80 cubic meters of timber from Fengtian to Jinan would cost approximately 4000 yuan, averaging only 50 yuan per cubic meter, far surpassing road transport. However, many people are completely unaware of how to transport timber by rail.

The market remained unchanged. Yan Hui had no orders at the moment. After learning about the situation here, he went to a construction site, hoping to expand his business.

Without a foundation of trust, it is indeed not easy to accomplish anything. Yan Hui is not in a hurry and treats it as getting familiar with the surroundings.

When he's not busy during the day, Yan Hui can use up all the motorcycle fuel in a day.

During this period, Yan Hui has visited some of the construction sites three or four times.

He kept a notebook, noting down everything he said and who he talked to at each construction site. Sometimes, when people said, "The manager isn't here, come back another time," he would ask for some information about the manager, leave, and come back a few days later.

The morning passed in the blink of an eye, and Yan Hui had gained nothing.

After having a bowl of noodles for lunch, he had to go back to the warehouse to rest for a while because it was just too hot.

Even on a construction site, people need to take a break at noon.

Yan Hui was enjoying the air conditioning when his phone rang. It was his second son.

"Fifth brother! Is what happened with the third brother true or false? My wife told me that the third brother has been arrested for half a year!" The second brother was shocked.

"It's true." Yan Hui thought for a moment, "but I feel it's not very honorable, so I didn't bring it up with anyone."

"Why would you need to bring this up? The whole village knows! I'm late to the party! That bastard, Third Brother, how could he do this! Does he even respect our brotherhood?!" Second Brother cursed, continuing for half a minute without stopping. "It's all in the past, let's not talk about it. You called me just to talk about this?" Yan Hui was distressed about the roaming charges.

"What do you mean 'just this'! Is there anything more serious than this? Isn't this a big deal?!" The second brother was furious. "You didn't even tell me this! Don't you consider me a brother at all?!"

"Alright, alright, you're getting impatient. Think about how I feel," Yan Hui said, somewhat speechless.

The second brother was speechless for a moment. He paused for a few seconds and then said, "Hey, you're the fifth brother. Do you need money? I can scrape together 3 for you. Take it and use it first."

"I don't need it, I have money now. I can still afford 3." Yan Hui checked the time. "I'll hang up if there's nothing else."

"Something's up! Fourth Brother is coming to my place tomorrow. He said he's going to Jinan to find you after he leaves. We live close by now!" Second Brother said.

"Fourth brother is coming? Do you want to come along?" Yan Hui was delighted to hear this. He and fourth brother were the closest of friends.

"I really can't get away here. Let's wait a while. Let the fourth brother go first."

"Okay, call me when the time comes." Yan Hui quickly hung up the phone.

Yan Hui did manage to see his fourth brother during the Chinese New Year this year. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen his fourth brother for five years, and the fact that he finally did was during his most destitute time.

The fourth brother didn't have much money, but he offered to give Yan Hui 5000 yuan during the Chinese New Year, which Yan Hui refused.

Throughout the entire holiday, Yan Hui practically avoided talking to Lao Si about anything. Now that Lao Si was here, they finally had time to chat.

Yan Hui did not attend high school, which was related to his declining academic performance.

Yan Hui's declining academic performance is directly related to the fourth child.

He and Lao Si were deskmates and often rode their bicycles to school together. The school was close to the sea, and sometimes they would go swimming in the sea at noon. Yan Hui was too scared to go into the sea alone, but he dared to go with Lao Si; he was incredibly brave.

Sometimes they would skip class in the afternoon and catch crabs. After catching them, they would give them to the teacher as gifts, and the teacher would then ignore it.

Back then, not many people really cared about how well they studied. So, Yan Hui learned how to give gifts early on, which was something he learned from the fourth brother.

I learned to fold paper airplanes and read novels in class from the fourth brother.

The fourth brother, also the fourth child in his family, had three older brothers. He always gave him pocket money. His family was the first in the village to own a video game console, and they also had a black and white TV. When Yan Hui was in junior high school, he often went to the fourth brother's earthen building to play video games—the cartridge-based kind.

Thinking of his fourth brother, Yan Hui naturally missed him the most. His fourth brother was arguably Yan Hui's best brother since childhood. Now that his third brother was in this mess, and Yan Hui himself had just recovered, mentioning his fourth brother...
Yan Hui lay in bed, his mind filled with memories.

As Yan Hui was thinking, he fell asleep. He slept soundly without thinking about anything, as if he had returned to his elementary and middle school days.

Back then, who ever thought about going out to work and earn money? All we ever thought about was what to eat, what to do, which girl was pretty, who was powerful enough to avoid, and who we could now fight against.
I don't know which day it was, but we all got together and then never got together again.

Yan Hui always thought that one day when he had money, he would gather all his brothers together and make money together.

But since the last time we played together, it's impossible to see it again now.

My own life is uncertain, my eldest brother is in a foreign country, my second brother is just starting to make progress, my third brother has ruined his life, and my fourth brother is still wandering around.
Childhood is gone forever.

(End of this chapter)