Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 27 Interlude
"come on!"

“Don’t be stressed!”

"Yes! Yes!" Yan Yan assured the two of them.

Yan Hui and his fourth uncle sent Yan Yan into the examination room and watched her disappear from their sight.

"Uncle, you will be relieved when my sister Yan goes to college." Yan Hui felt a little nervous, not knowing why.

"I hope so, but I don't know where I can get into..."

The two chatted idly, each with his own thoughts. Yan Hui originally wanted to ask his fourth uncle a lot of things, but seeing his fourth uncle's expression, he couldn't ask them, so he just followed his fourth uncle and strolled back to the market.

Today is the day of the college entrance examination. Many people in the market are discussing this topic. Yan Hui is not interested. When he arrived at the market entrance, he separated from his fourth uncle.

"Yan Hui," Yan Hui was called not long after he separated from his fourth uncle. He took a look and saw that it was his fellow villager Lao Guo.

"Old Guo, what a coincidence." Yan Hui greeted him.

"Didn't you go carry wood today?"

"I'll be there soon. My sister is taking the college entrance exam today. I'm sending her there to encourage her."

"The college entrance exam," Lao Guo nodded, showing no interest at all. "By the way, have you been to Section 724 recently?"

"I went there a few days ago to mail a letter." Yan Hui was a little confused. "What's going on over there?"

"There's a boss over there who just opened a karaoke room! They use color TVs!" Lao Guo said this with a beaming smile, "Are you interested in joining us?"

"Is that expensive?" Yan Hui was a little worried.

"Same price as the little square to the east! One yuan a song. I went there to sing three songs last night! So delicious!" (Tsin ho bi means "really interesting" in Minnan dialect)

"Okay, I'll give it a try when I'm done." Yan Hui nodded. Although he and Lao Guo were not familiar with each other, they were from the same hometown and the same age, so they were naturally closer.

After saying goodbye to Lao Guo, Yan Hui returned to his second brother's place and waited for the morning bus.

"Yan Hui, do you know the Brother Bao I introduced to you last time?" Da Kai had nothing to do, so he came over to chat with Yan Hui.

"Yeah, I've seen him. He told me to get lost last time." Yan Hui's tone was obviously unhappy.

"Hey, he is just like that, but I tell you, Brother Bao is amazing! Now in the market, at least half of the goods are transported by him!" Dakai said with a beaming face.

"He has a fleet?" Yan Hui frowned. If that's the case, his strength is really strong.

"No, he was using a cart to deliver wood to people outside." Dakai explained briefly.

The market is packed with wood and carts. Except for larger stores like Erge's, most people can't bring their cars in to buy things. In these cases, someone needs to haul the wood out on a cart. Some customers don't even have a car, so they need a cart to haul the wood directly to their destination.

There's no fixed schedule for this kind of work, and it's difficult for ordinary people to do it, so there's this thing called job snatching. Yan Hui had heard before that those who do this kind of work in the market are usually small-time thugs.

Thinking of this, Yan Hui was actually a little worried, because this group of people might conflict with the business he was currently planning to do. But after thinking about it, Yan Hui didn't feel there was anything to be afraid of. It was just a fight, wasn't it? From childhood to adulthood, Yan Hui had never been afraid of anyone in a fight.

"What benefits will you get from following him?" Yan Hui asked.

"I..." Dakai was stunned for a few seconds, then looked around and said to Yan Hui in a mysterious tone, "Brother Bao makes more money, and I figured I'd have to move wood anyway, so I might as well follow Brother Bao!"

"Isn't his place as stable as Uncle Li's? I don't think your father would agree if you went there."

"No, no," Dakai leaned closer and whispered, "I do both! I gave all my money from Second Brother Li to my dad. When Second Brother Li had no work, I went over to work for Brother Bao. Isn't the money I earn mine?"

"The problem is Uncle Li, you never know when there will be work. It's fine if you're away for a short time, but how can you leave so often?"

"I think Second Brother is doing your uncle a favor. Don't you go out sometimes? So, whenever you leave, you can ask me when the next bus is, and then I'll hurry to find something to do at Brother Bao's place."

"I" Yan Hui was speechless for a moment.

He didn't expect that his plan to make money would just begin when he encountered such a stumbling block as Dakai. This was really troublesome.

"That's settled." Dakai walked away happily.

Yan Hui had no way to deal with Dakai. He couldn't just allow him to leave without allowing Dakai to leave, right?
But Yan Hui's business and Da Kai's are two different things. Yan Hui's business, as long as the store is not too far away, can be back in 20 minutes. But Da Kai's work over there, moving wood, is directly linked to his time, so working for half an hour is really not interesting.

After thinking it over, Yan Hui decided to wait and see. His business was just starting out, and he only had one driver, who only had business every few days. He decided to wait and see if Dakai would be impatient.

As expected, Yan Hui was right. The next day, Dakai couldn't help himself. After the morning move, he asked Yan Hui when the next truck would arrive, but Yan Hui said he didn't know.

Dakai asked Yan Hui to ask his second uncle, but Yan Hui said that he had nothing to do in the afternoon and was too embarrassed to ask Uncle Li.

Perhaps knowing the difficulty of this, Dakai looked around for a while and found that there was no car behind him, so he drove away directly. Yan Hui pretended not to know.

This time when Dakai left, he was lucky. Until he came back at two o'clock in the afternoon, no truck came to pick up the goods.

Yan Hui didn't pay much attention to Dakai. At noon, he had closed another deal. This time, the store owner was very adamant and refused to lower the price much, while the buyer only liked this store. To facilitate this deal, Yan Hui didn't make a penny, but simply lowered the price a little to satisfy the customer.

Customers, merchants, and drivers were all satisfied. Yan Hui didn't make any money, but he knew it didn't matter. He was the only party without any costs. Retaining the key driver was the most important thing. Yan Hui also needed this driver to help him recruit other drivers. Of course, this wouldn't be easy in a short period of time.

After a busy day, Yan Yan finished her college entrance exam and went into hiding. Yan Hui went to see Yan Yan and felt that she was in good condition, just a little stressed. She probably had to wait until the college entrance exam results came out.

Yan Hui didn't understand this. He felt that a test wasn't that important. Success in life was primarily determined by achievement, and what kind of achievement was a single score? It was even less important than his business model. Thinking of this, Yan Hui found himself amused. He clearly hadn't made any money, yet he still had a business model.

In the following days, until July, Yan Hui's life seemed to be fast-forwarded.

He and Lao Guo became closer. After all, they were rare fellow townspeople. They and another fellow townsman often went to sing at 724, and Yan Hui had the privilege of singing for free. A voice like Yan Hui's could bring many customers to the boss, and there was no boss who didn't like him.

The cooperation with the driver was also orderly, but unfortunately this driver himself did not have much work, so it was impossible for Yan Hui to introduce new drivers to him. At the end of the month, Yan Hui only earned 660 yuan on this route. Yes, Yan Hui felt that it was a little too little.
Finally, in a somewhat depressing atmosphere, Yan Yan's college entrance examination results were confirmed, and Yan Yan was admitted to a university in Beijing!

This result made Yan Zhihang disappear from the gloom that had been plaguing him for many days. He held a big banquet in the market, and seven or eight tables of friends from this place came. It was said that he was waiting to hold another big banquet when he returned home for the Chinese New Year.

"Yan Hui, I'm applying to the Communication University. Remember that," Yan Yan said to Yan Hui. "If you ever come to Beijing, remember to come see me."

Yan Hui knew Yan Yan wanted him to tell the second brother, but Yan Yan didn't say it directly. Yan Hui could only say indirectly: "Sister Yan, after going to the capital, you will definitely become very powerful."

"Of course!" Yan Yan said, taking out the wooden peace locket given by Yan Hui. "Thanks to this gift from you, when I was taking the exam and couldn't solve a number problem, I took it out and fumbled around for a while, and then I solved it!"

"That's good!" Yan Hui didn't expect that he could bring this thing into the examination room, but he was happy anyway.

In the past few months since Yan Hui came to Fengtian, Yan Yan was one of the few people who was sincere to Yan Hui. Even his fourth uncle was not as nice to him as Yan Yan.

After all, Fourth Uncle wasn't his biological uncle. He could only say that Fourth Uncle treated him well, but it wasn't anything special. He honestly realized that he was absolutely sincere toward Fourth Uncle, but Fourth Uncle wasn't so completely sincere toward him. So, for over a month, Yan Hui hadn't talked much, simply quietly completing the tasks Fourth Uncle had assigned him.

Yan Hui would go to the train station every now and then. After finishing his work, he would sing a few free songs when passing by the small square. He was quite happy.

Including the wages paid by his second brother, Yan Hui now has 4300 yuan, which he sewed into his own clothes.

The times seem to be developing very quickly. A few months ago, the large-denomination banknotes Yan Hui saw were mainly 50-yuan notes, but now 100-yuan notes have become more and more common. Yan Hui tries his best to change his change into 100-yuan notes, which are much more convenient to carry.

In the end, he didn't ask his fourth uncle about depositing money in the bank. He thought it was the right thing to do to keep the money on himself.

Just sew it. There are still many places to sew on your clothes and pants. Are you afraid that the money will disappear?

To celebrate Yan Yan's admission to a university in Beijing, the banquet was quite good. Many people drank, and Shan Ge also drank too much. Yan Hui helped Shan Ge back to his residence.

Maybe it was too hot outside. Not long after Shan Ge came out, he started vomiting while holding onto a tree. Yan Hui patted Shan Ge's back, and after Shan Ge finished vomiting, he slowly helped Shan Ge back.

When they arrived at the residence, Shan Ge actually took out the 300 yuan he had borrowed from Yan Hui and returned it to Yan Hui. This made Yan Hui overjoyed. He had been prepared to lose the money.

"Your uncle," Brother Shan, taking advantage of the alcohol, started to chatter with Yan Hui, "the ginseng deal never came to fruition. Well, it's not his fault. Why is there such a big difference between this ginseng and forest ginseng?"

Yan Hui didn't understand what Brother Shan wanted to express, but later he realized that there was still some problem with his fourth uncle.

The problem lies not with the businessman who claims to have a Hong Kong connection, but with the ginseng source. However, we cannot say that the businessman has nothing to do with it, as he was the one who introduced the ginseng source.

My fourth uncle pledged a batch of goods, which were later found to be substandard, resulting in a loss of tens of thousands of yuan.

Yan Hui could tell there was something fishy going on, so how could Shan Ge and Fourth Uncle not know? Regardless, Fourth Uncle and Shan Ge were both cautious and didn't buy too much, ultimately keeping their losses within a reasonable range.

It was only tens of thousands of yuan. During the time Yan Hui was at the forest farm, Fourth Uncle had earned at least one hundred thousand yuan.

Hearing this, Yan Hui understood why his fourth uncle hadn't spoken much to him recently. Perhaps it was just to save face. Yan Hui poured some water for Shan Ge, helped him lie down to sleep, and then went back to his room to write a letter.

The letters he had sent before had already been received twice.

The first thing was about Liu Yu. After Yan Hui had learned from various sources, he confirmed that this was true. The second brother was really capable, and the proposal of marriage was also true.

It’s a pity that she didn’t like the second one, hahahahaha.

The second matter concerned family. It had been raining heavily recently, and there had been some disputes between Grandpa and Grandma and the Xiao family. Fortunately, the fourth child had recently returned home and helped to resolve some of the issues. However, Yan Hui was not entirely clear on what had happened or how it had been resolved.

In fact, the Yan family is still very powerful in the village. I am not talking about Yan Hui's family here, but the surname Yan. The Xiao family is more united because of its small number of people, but on the surface, the Xiao family is not as good as the Yan family.

Among Yan Hui's sworn brothers, the fourth one is the only one with the surname Xiao, while the other four have the surname Yan, so Yan Hui doesn't have to worry too much if the fourth one solves this problem.

There is no rush. Just wait until the New Year to go home. By then, Yan Hui will be a millionaire and must establish his prestige in the village!
Thinking of this, Yan Hui's motivation to make money became stronger again. His consumption concept was actually very strange. He could be very frugal in daily life, but if he went back to his hometown, he would spend all the money he had at once if necessary!
The third thing was that he received a letter from Qu Xiaoqin, saying she had already decided to go to college in Fengtian and had applied to the Criminal Police University. This surprised Yan Hui. He had never thought that this girl would be so inspired that she wanted to become a police officer! In addition, Yan Hui also knew that Qu Xiaoqin's academic performance must be very good, completely different from Yan Yan. Yan Yan's family had to wait until she was accepted before they dared to say this, but Qu Xiaoqin seemed to know that she had a sure thing after the exam, and she seemed to be able to score much higher than the passing score.

Yan Hui from the Criminal Police University was not very interested. Anyway, when Qu Xiaoqin came to Fengtian, he could ask her to treat him to a meal in the cafeteria.

After replying to all the letters, Yan Hui thought about it and felt that there was nothing else to reply to, so he packed up and prepared to go to bed.

At this time, Shan Ge got up for some reason and came over to knock on the door.

(End of this chapter)