Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 30 First Employment

Southern Fujian, moderate rain.

"Xiao Lan, here!" The third brother waved the thing in his hand, "I'll show you something good!"

"Ah?" Yan Qinglan held up the raincoat he had made from a woven bag with one hand and stretched out his other hand to cover his forehead. Only then did he see the person coming and a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "Third brother! Why are you here?"

"Come here, I have an umbrella," said the third brother, and walked over with an umbrella.

Holding the same umbrella, the third brother handed the letter in his hand to Qinglan: "I just went to the village entrance to get the mail, and saw that the fifth brother sent me a letter, and there was also one for you. It happened that you were getting out of school, so I came to pick you up."

"Thank you, Third Brother." Yan Qinglan's face instantly blossomed with joy when she heard that her brother had written a letter to her. "Let me see!"

Yan Qinglan took the letter and wanted to open it, but she was afraid of getting it wet in the rain, so she put the letter in her arms and said, "I'll read it when I get home."

"Well, that's perfect. I'll take you home." The third brother was walking with Yan Qinglan when he suddenly remembered something. "Xiaolan, are you going to junior high school soon?"

"Yeah, we still have a week left before our holiday! In September, I'll be going to junior high school!" Yan Qinglan looked at the third child, "Third brother, this is the school you and my brother go to!"

"Okay, then you must study hard and don't be like your brother."

"You are not allowed to talk about my brother!" Yan Qinglan was a little unhappy.

"Don't say anything, your brother is good, the best." The third brother laughed.

The third brother was very lonely during the months that Yan Hui was away.

Of the five brothers, the eldest and second oldest are both in high school, with the eldest even getting into a key high school. The fourth oldest followed his family to the north to do business right after graduating from junior high. He only came back a while ago, but didn't stay long.

In fact, since graduating from junior high school, only the third and fifth brothers were left in the village. At the beginning of this year, the fifth brother also left, leaving the third brother alone.

So lonely!

"Third brother, when will my brother come back?" Yan Qinglan looked at his third brother with hope.

"I don't know either. I haven't read the letter yet. Go back and read it carefully. If you're ready to reply, bring it to me after you've written it and I'll mail it to your brother for you."

"Okay, thank you, Third Brother."

"Why are you being so polite to me? After this period of time, I might have to go to school too. We'll still be close by then, so feel free to come to me if you need anything."

"Third brother, are you going to high school?"

"No, I'm going to a medical school. A technical secondary school is also fine. After I finish medical school, I'll come back and continue to be a doctor."

“Third brother, you are also very powerful.”

"Hahaha." The third brother laughed. He would never tell Qinglan that he went to the medical school mainly because there were so many beautiful girls there.
As he was talking, the third brother quickly sent Qinglan back home.

When grandma saw the third child bringing Qinglan back, she was very happy and stuffed a handful of dried sweet potatoes into the third child's clothes.

Yan Qinglan said goodbye to the third brother and immediately went back to the house to open the letter.

Before I could see the contents of the letter, a large blue banknote came into view.

这 是
Is this money?

100 yuan!
Qinglan paused for more than ten seconds before he finally understood that this was 100 yuan!

My goodness!

青岚从爷爷奶奶这里拿的钱，也就是1毛、2毛、5毛、1块。对青岚来说，1块钱就属于很大的钞票了。要知道一根最便宜的冰棍只要1毛钱。

The largest banknote she had ever seen was 10 yuan, which was the huge sum of money Qinglan had always dreamed of!

If you have 10 yuan, no, 5 yuan, you will be the coolest guy among your friends!
100 yuan, 100 yuan. Xiao Qinglan felt her heart beating faster for the first time. She guessed that no one could remain unexcited when faced with such a huge sum of money.

My brother is so capable!
Qinglan took a few minutes to recover, and then she suddenly thought, was this money given by her brother or for her grandparents?

She looked at the envelope carefully and found that it was a letter from her brother.

After she felt relieved, she read the letter carefully.

Yan Hui's letter was written in one breath. He just talked about his own situation, saying that everything was going well, that he had enough food and clothes in the north, that no one bullied him, and that he made money. Then he expressed his concern for his sister, saying that if she was bullied, she could go to her third brother, because no one else could be trusted.

Finally, Yan Hui mentioned the money. He told his sister that it was inconvenient to send money in an envelope, so he sent 100 yuan this time and asked her to tell her grandparents, who would then change it into small change and put it all with her, so she could use it as she pleased!
He also said that if grandparents didn’t believe it, they could show the letter to them.

Qinglan was an obedient child. After reading the letter, he immediately took the letter and money to find his grandfather.

Grandpa was a little surprised. He asked Qinglan to read the letter to him. Then he took the 100 yuan and thought for a while: "It's too much."

After thinking about it, Grandpa decided to give all the money to Qinglan: "I'll give you 20 yuan in change first. When you have spent it all, you can ask me for more."

After saying that, Grandpa was still a little serious: "It's not easy for your brother to make money, you can't spend it carelessly!"

Originally, Qinglan didn't feel anything and was just immersed in the joy of getting rich. But when he heard his grandfather say that it was not easy for his brother to make money, he immediately became serious and nodded.

Soon, Qinglan got the change given by his grandfather.

Of course, knowing that it’s not easy for my brother to make money is one thing, but spending the money for the first time is another!

Qinglan wants to buy so many things.

Mechanical pencils, pencil cases, hairpins, popping candy
Holding the money, Qinglan didn't care whether it rained or not, and skipped to the convenience store!

Consumption!

After a while, Yan Hui received a reply from Qinglan, which was three pages long. Yan Hui was a little surprised. How could such a young child write so much?
After reading it bit by bit, Yan Hui felt very happy. He decided to send money directly to his sister when she entered junior high school. By then, his sister would definitely be the happiest little girl in the school!

As July approached, Fengtian became increasingly hot, and it became uncomfortable for Yan Hui and his colleagues to move wood. During this period, his neck was tanned black, and he had to buy several sets of clothes.

Cheap clothes are of really poor quality and get scratched easily, but you can’t not wear them. If you don’t wear them, it won’t just be the clothes that get damaged.

Second Brother's job has been relatively stable, and Fourth Uncle basically doesn't need to go there anymore. He hasn't seen me in a long time. Fourth Uncle has been out doing business lately, so Yan Hui can't see him.

Every time Fourth Uncle came back, Yan Hui would still take the initiative to go over and chat with Fourth Uncle. Fourth Uncle would not shy away from him and would tell him some of the latest wholesale prices of timber, which was very important to Yan Hui.

He'd recently been having trouble bargaining at some stores. Although he'd been successful a few times at first, the drivers hadn't bothered to approach him much. They knew the approximate price and could always help negotiate down the price, so they'd just bypassed Yan Hui. So, the best solution was for Yan Hui to proactively seek out customers, but that was far too difficult for someone who had to work every day.

But Yan Hui was not discouraged. On the one hand, he always tried his best to record more latest information. On the other hand, he would try whenever he had the chance.

He has a foreign accent, and it is difficult for him to build trust with customers. He urgently needs someone to help him, but Lao Guo, Lao Song, and Lao Wu are not capable of doing so.

Yan Hui had a good relationship with all three of them, but it wasn't a trusting relationship, unlike the sworn brothers back home. Once there was a significant conflict of interest, it was hard to say whether they could be relied upon.

After thinking about it, Yan Hui finally came up with a candidate, Song Zhiyuan, the boy who sold dogs.

Yan Hui had seen Xiao Song a few times recently, but they hadn't really interacted at work. Xiao Song had been selling baskets at the market entrance, and they were still selling well.

As for dogs, Xiao Song doesn't have that many to sell.

Thinking of this, after finishing his work at noon that day, Yan Hui went to look for Song Zhiyuan near the Dongmen Market. Sure enough, he found him at the edge of the market. It must be said that this kid was quite perseverant. He didn't rest at all in the hot weather and kept staring at his stall.

"Brother Hui!" Song Zhiyuan's eyes lit up when he saw Yan Hui, and he immediately stood up. "Why are you here?"

"Why didn't you come to play with me in the past few days?"

"Ah?" Song Zhiyuan looked embarrassed. "I'm busy weaving baskets, and I don't want to bother you."

"What's the trouble with this?" Yan Hui thought Song Zhiyuan was a good person. He knew he was trustworthy after selling a dog to him for 5 yuan last time.

"That's right." Song Zhiyuan scratched his head, "Hehe."

"I came to see you because I have something." Yan Hui went straight to the point and told Song Zhiyuan what he was going to do.

Although Song Zhiyuan looks younger than him, he is a local after all, and his words and deeds sound more reliable. Working in the market, it is easy for people to mistake him for the child of a boss.

Of course, the problem now is that he still needs to be cleaned up a bit, after all, he is still too dirty and torn.

"I will take a shower! I also have clean clothes!" Song Zhiyuan immediately expressed his opinion when the conversation got to this point.

"Okay, then you sell the baskets first. Do you have any baskets at home? We'll talk after you've sold all of them."

"The day after tomorrow, then."

"Row."

It was too sunny outside, so Yan Hui left after chatting.

It is extremely difficult for Yan Hui to acquire customers on his own now. He has to move wood. Previously, his only stable customer acquisition channel was the driver.

With Song Zhiyuan around, he could keep an eye on the driver's movements and prevent him from working alone, since there was a verbal agreement in place. Even if the driver often worked alone, he would still have a rough idea of ​​the price he could negotiate.

In addition, Xiao Song is not very shy and may be able to attract customers or other drivers.

In short, Xiao Song now earns a maximum of a dozen yuan a day by weaving and selling baskets, which is not as promising as Yan Hui's method.

However, what Yan Hui didn't expect was that the next morning, Xiao Song came to his second brother's store to find him.

Song Zhiyuan changed into clean clothes, cleaned his clothes, and shaved his hair. He looked very energetic. Although he was only 14 years old, he was almost 1.7 meters tall.

"I don't have a car right now, so I'll take you to see the driver I mentioned. Remember, we can't tell anyone about our business." Yan Hui instructed.

"Don't worry," Song Zhiyuan patted his chest.

Like Song Zhiyuan, Yan Hui was extremely thin, a simple consequence of malnutrition. In contrast, Yan Hui appeared relatively robust due to long-term physical labor, while Song Zhiyuan was frail.

The two soon met the driver.

"This is Xiao Song. I've been very busy with work lately, and sometimes I can't get through to you when you need me. From now on, let Xiao Song accompany you to talk to clients. If you have anything, let him come to me," Yan Hui explained.

"How old is he?" the driver asked worriedly.

"16." Yan Hui is 18, Xiao Song is 16, nothing wrong with that.

"Hmm," the driver thought for a few seconds, "Okay, so he knows all the lumber prices, too?"

"It's okay, he runs fast, just come and ask me anytime."

Yan Hui found out all the latest timber market prices bit by bit. He also had to be wary of Song Zhiyuan and it was impossible for him to leave his notebook with Song Zhiyuan every day.

Fortunately, these orders are all traded in the market, so it is not difficult to ask Yan Hui at any time.

"Then don't delay things?" There was some doubt in the driver's words.

"Don't worry, that won't happen. Xiao Song is very smart." Yan Hui would definitely take action himself.

Bargaining is not that simple. It is definitely not possible to let Song Zhiyuan go. Yan Hui has to do it himself.

But there are two advantages to having Xiao Song around.

The first is to prevent the driver or the driver’s nephew from encountering a customer without notifying Yan Hui or being too lazy to notify him.

Secondly, when Song Zhiyuan came to the store to look for Yan Hui, he could leave him at the second brother's store and call him if there was any new goods. After all, for Yan Hui, working at the second brother's store was his top priority. Even if he didn't make any money from the client, he could still help close the deal quickly.

Yan Hui himself didn't realize that this was the first time in his entire career that he'd considered the concept of "employing people." No one had taught him, so this was a completely natural step.

The driver has had both success and failure in negotiating deals recently. Sometimes he also thinks about calling Yan Hui over. On the one hand, he is too lazy to run, and on the other hand, he wants to earn more money himself, but his success rate is indeed not as high as Yan Hui's.

In short, this is a state of anxiety. Now that Yan Hui has arranged for someone to come here, and Xiao Song is responsible for notifying Yan Hui, the driver has no reason to refuse.

"You try it first. If you fail to reach an agreement within three days, I will give you 20 yuan as wages." Yan Hui called Song Zhiyuan aside and gave him a few instructions in private.

"No need, brother, I will definitely do my best!"

"Okay, this matter mainly depends on experience. Your advantage is that you are familiar with the area around the timber market and know the way around, but you don't know enough about the timber itself, so you need to take it slow." Yan Hui patiently gave some instructions and then went back to his second brother's place to move the wood.

Song Zhiyuan was somewhat shy, so he just stayed with the driver and the others. The driver felt a little uncomfortable with him being around. After all, he wasn't the only driver here, and it was inevitable that others would find out about this scheme over time. So, he had to find a way to win over Song Zhiyuan and remind him to keep it a secret.

Yan Hui's request for Song Zhiyuan to keep the secret was meant to be a market secret. He actually hoped Song Zhiyuan would attract new clients, but Song Zhiyuan hadn't grasped this yet. His key task now lay in cooperating with the driver. In short, the two of them hit it off immediately, chatting enthusiastically and preparing for the secrecy.

(End of this chapter)