Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 4 Fourth Uncle
Yan Hui wasn't worried about his muscles shaking.

The electric blanket was effective after all, and the food he had at noon was high in calories, so Yan Hui didn't feel cold while lying there.

He had been away from home for five days, and now, for the first time, he began to think seriously about what to do next.

He looked at his hands and found that he had been pricked by splinters seven times today.

He is not the only one who gets pricked. Others get pricked too. Labor protection gloves are not prick-proof at all. Sometimes, there are even sawdust on the gloves, and people will get pricked when taking them off.

The others were obviously used to it. On the one hand, when picking up the wood, they knew how to follow the cutting grain. On the other hand, their hands were not as tender as Yan Hui's, who had a thick layer of skin.

Yan Hui rested until after six in the evening. When it got dark, he slowly began to feel that his body belonged to him.

After all, young people recover quickly, so he believes he can still go tomorrow.

Yan Hui knew that in a shop like his second brother's, many people had to deposit several days' wages, and the reason Yan Hui was able to get the money today was all because of his fourth uncle's favor.

Not only did he get the money, but he also got quite a bit of it. Others would definitely have complaints. What the second brother said today seemed to be out of concern, but in fact, he also hoped that Yan Hui would give up.

Gritting his teeth, at seven o'clock in the evening, Yan Hui climbed out of bed, put on all his clothes, and walked step by step to the market entrance.

The entrance of the market was very busy at this time, with all kinds of food and drinks available. Yan Hui looked at the 40 yuan he had earned today and drooled at the barbecue at the entrance.

A skewer of pork costs 3 cents, and with his income he could actually buy more than 100 skewers, but Yan Hui still chose steamed buns and dumplings.

One large vegetable bun and two steamed buns cost 7 cents in total.

He budgeted himself 2 cents for breakfast and 4 cents for lunch and dinner, so today was considered a luxury.

After dinner, Yan Hui returned to his second brother's side.

Today's loading work has come to an end. The last truck has been loaded and the porters have all left. When Yan Hui came over, his second brother was cleaning up the warehouse.

"Why are you here?" The second brother was a little puzzled when he saw Yan Hui.

"I just finished dinner and was thinking I could come over and help out," Yan Hui said. Without waiting for his brother's reply, he picked up the broom and began sweeping the floor. The floor was covered in sawdust and wood dust, which Yan Hui had cleaned up last night.

"Okay, remember to lock the door when you're done." The second brother didn't say anything, nodded, and went back to the store.

Although he was exhausted, Yan Hui could still handle this kind of work. With his experience doing farm work since childhood, a little exercise at this time would actually help with recovery.

While working, Yan Hui felt warm all over. He put the wood chips and wood powder into a large sack, then checked the warehouse again. After making sure that everything was fine, he turned around and left the warehouse, locking the door.

The second brother was in the store, looking out through the glass of the store door. He watched Yan Hui leave, then stood there and watched for a while before going back into the house.

Yan Hui actually preferred staying here because his cabin was too cold. On the way back, Yan Hui kept wondering if there were any opportunities here, but he couldn't come up with any ideas after thinking for a long time.

He knew very little information.

Information Information
This phrase was something my uncle mentioned when he came home for the Lunar New Year. To make money in business, you need to have an information gap. But to have an information gap, you first need to have sufficient information.

Where in this market is the most information? Yan Hui thought for a long time but still couldn't find any answer.

Yan Hui returned to his room and lay there pondering, his thoughts constantly interrupted by the sound of someone playing cards in the next room. One of the voices sounded a lot like the bald man who had taken a shit in the backyard yesterday.

Yan Hui, who was in urgent need of some information, put on his clothes, took out a small bag of tea from his bag, and went over to knock on the door.

The person who opened the door was a strange man who looked at Yan Hui with suspicion.

Yan Hui peeked in and saw the bald man from yesterday. He said, "Brother, I have nowhere to stay here alone. Can I come over and watch you play cards? I'd like to learn how to play cards here."

"It's you," the bald brother explained to the older brother at the door, "This man is from Brother Hang's side, he should be a relative from our hometown, let him in."

Yan Hui responded and went into the house. After a brief chat, he learned that the bald brother was called "Shan Ge", but he didn't know what he did specifically.

The man who just opened the door for Yan Hui was not tall, his surname was Wang, and he was also a porter.

Yan Hui was very quick and went over to fill the stove with wood and made a pot of tea for everyone with boiled water.

This time he came with white tea from his hometown. It was very fragrant when brewed, especially in such a large pot. Brother Shan smelled the fragrance and said with a smile: "Xiaohui, your tea is good. Did you bring it from home?"

"Yeah, I brought some tea from my hometown to my Uncle Hang. If Brother Shan likes it, the rest is all yours." Yan Hui could see that Brother Shan's status was not low, so of course he was willing to invest.

"No reward without merit. Okay, I'll ask Brother Hang for it later. There's no difference between his and mine." Brother Shan didn't care at all and continued playing cards.

"Given your relationship, there's no need to be polite," Yan Hui didn't allow Shan Ge to refuse. He put on the coat given to him by his fourth uncle and left the house. He went back to his own room and brought over the remaining tea leaves.

After returning, Yan Hui didn't take the tea seriously. He put the tea on the table and went to pour tea for the four people.

The card game here is called "Four Clash," with four players playing in pairs, using four decks of cards. There are both open-card and hidden-card styles. In the open-card style, teammates are allowed to see each other's cards and discuss their plays.

Today Shan Ge and his friends are playing hidden cards.

The brother Wang who opened the door for Yan Hui was just a porter, but he was lucky today. He and his boss won more than 200 yuan from Brother Shan and his friends.

"My cards are pretty bad today," Shan Ge said after losing another hand. He shuffled the cards, feeling very unhappy. Then he looked at Yan Hui and said, "Xiao Hui, come on, draw the cards for me next time."

Yan Hui just wanted to sit back and watch, and of course he didn't want to get involved in this card game. After all, someone loses in every game, and it would be bad to blame him for it.

"Ah?" Yan Hui slightly expressed his unwillingness.

"It's okay. It's none of your business if I lose. Come on, just help me draw a card." Shan Ge's words could not be refused.

"Brother Shan," Yan Hui said a little embarrassedly, "I'm having really bad luck today, so please don't let me come. Come, have a cup of tea to cool down, it works."

Seeing Yan Hui say that he had bad luck, Shan Ge didn't know what to say and could only drink a sip of tea. As a result, his luck really came.

Yan Hui can pour tea and water here and also get some free melon seeds and peanuts, so it's quite profitable.

Shan's partner was the spectacled shop owner, Four Eyes; Wang, the porter, was in a group with his boss, Lin, who owned a timber retail store. They played cards and chatted, their conversation mostly focused on market matters. Yan Hui listened for two or three hours without feeling sleepy.

At the beginning, Brother Wang and Brother Lin won more than 200 yuan, but now they are about to lose it all.

This time, Brother Wang and Brother Lin lost another 30, so Brother Shan and the others immediately returned the money. Brother Shan laughed and said, "Boss Lin is very generous."

"Boss Lin is still the one making the most money," Siyan said with a smile. "I heard that the retail of boards is the most profitable right now."

"Listen to their nonsense," Boss Lin waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care about the 30 yuan. "Retail competition is so fierce. Look at this market. Eight out of ten companies are engaged in retail. Retail is all done by people like us who have no connections!"

"Boss Lin, that's not right," said Shan Ge, clearly an expert. "Wholesale prices are transparent. Everyone knows the price at the forest farm. Everyone knows how much shipping costs. Retail is different. Most people who buy the boards are laymen. How would they know the exact price?"

"It's hard to find customers," Boss Lin shook his head. "If I had more customers, I'd rather make less money on each order. It's better when the turnover and reputation are up."

"Reputation." Shan Ge said with a hint of sarcasm, "Boss Lin's reputation is quite good."

"Brother Shan is making fun of me again. Our stores are well located and have the most expensive rents. It's not easy for us to make ends meet. Don't you agree, Brother Shan?"

As the four of them chatted, Yan Hui summarized a lot of information.

It's obvious that Mr. Lin isn't a reputable businessman. He's known for ripping off nearly every customer he meets. Furthermore, he has connections with several nearby shops, so if a customer visits a second shop, he'll always get a higher price than the first. This back-and-forth pricing means that customers who want to buy some lumber will have to empty their pockets.

Siyan's convenience store is located on the same street as Boss Lin. Because Boss Lin and his people are rather unscrupulous, there are not many customers on this street, so naturally his convenience store has fewer customers as well.

Siyan had some complaints about Boss Lin.

The game lasted until after eleven o'clock in the evening. Yan Hui was really sleepy, so he said goodbye to his brothers, went back to his room to pack up, and soon fell asleep.

That night, Yan Hui was woken by the cold once, and it was already past seven in the morning when he got up. After breakfast, he rushed to his second brother's place. The porters in his group saw him coming and immediately came to find him.

"Boy," said the porter, a strong man, who spoke without a trace of politeness, "there are several more truckloads of goods to be delivered today. If you are still as delicate as before and move so slowly, you will have to pay less."

"Brother, how much do you think I should take?" Yan Hui did not refute.

Yan Hui's words made the porter a little stunned. He thought for a moment and said, "If you move the same way as yesterday, you can only get 15 yuan per truck."

"Okay, 15 is 15." Yan Hui felt that this elder brother was fair, so he didn't say anything.

"Then it's settled."

For the next few days, Yan Hui's routine was rather monotonous: he would move wood during the day and watch Brother Shan play cards at night. He became quite familiar with Brother Shan and his card-playing buddies. Since Yan Yan started school, he had only visited Fourth Uncle once.

For some reason, Yan Hui always felt that Boss Lin was a bit hostile towards him. Maybe it was because Boss Lin would lose money every time he went there?

Over the next few days, Yan Hui became more sensible, buying sunflower seeds and peanuts from "Four Eyes"'s store before going over. These sunflower seeds and peanuts were more expensive than his dinner, but Yan Hui didn't feel bad at all, because he ate the most anyway.

He bought it with his own money, so he can eat it however he wants.

Yan Hui learned a little trick from the porter Brother Wang, which is that when carrying larger pieces of wood, you can use a torn towel to cushion your hands, which can effectively reduce the probability of being pricked.

Although this slightly reduces efficiency, the effect is significant. Yan Hui was originally worried about being criticized by other porters, but because his share of the money was small, it was difficult for others to say anything.

On March 9th, Fourth Uncle finally came back. Yan Hui now had almost 300 yuan in his hand. He asked Brother Shan about a tobacco and liquor store, spent 170 yuan to buy a bottle of Moutai, and took it to meet Fourth Uncle.

Although two bottles of wine must be given, Yan Hui is a minor, so this is already very sincere.

Fourth Uncle was originally a little unhappy about business matters, and was very shocked to see Yan Hui bringing Moutai, and hurriedly asked Yan Hui to return it.

"Uncle, I just arrived and I don't know anything. I don't have any money, so I can only buy one bottle. When I make money in the future, I will definitely give it to you well." Yan Hui said very politely.

"You're a good businessman. Your dad and my eldest brother called me to tell me you were coming here, and asked me to take care of you. But I've been out the whole time since you came here." Fourth Uncle was a little embarrassed. "By the way, how are you doing with the second brother?"

"Uncle Li is good to me. I can adapt."

"Okay, you can train over there first. My business talks haven't been going well recently. When I come back, I'll have the chance to ask you to come and help me with something." Fourth Uncle made a blank check.

"I'll listen to you."

"The cabin I arranged for you will be yours from now on. You can live here comfortably." As Fourth Uncle was speaking, he suddenly noticed something and reached behind Yan Hui, waving, "Lihong, come here."

Yan Hui turned around and took a look, realizing that this was his fourth uncle's wife. His fourth uncle and the previous fourth aunt had divorced several years ago, and Yan Yan had always been with his fourth uncle. This Li Hong was the current fourth aunt.

"Yuanhang, this is your nephew, right?" Fourth Aunt's tone was a little strange. "He came to the store a few days ago to ask if you had returned. I saw him once, and this is the second time."

"He and you haven't met before, and it's not easy for him to come here." The fourth uncle changed the subject and looked at his wife. "How is the store lately?"

"It's still the same. The price of raw materials has increased this year, but we still have to pay the same price as before. If it's any higher, no one will want it. We have to save money at home."

"We have to save what we need to. I'll just have to come back and negotiate a deal with the forest farm in Baishan."

"Xiaorong is already in the first grade of junior high school. Don't forget to leave me some money. I need to find him a tutor. He came back yesterday and told me that some of his classmates have hired foreign teachers."

"What is a foreign teacher?" Fourth Uncle was a little confused.

"Foreigners! If we hire foreigners to teach English, how can our children compare with them?"

"There are foreign teachers in Fengtian?" Fourth Uncle thought for a moment and said, "I'll leave you 3000 yuan. Spend it sparingly."

"Originally, all our cabins have been rented out. I won't say anything about Dashan living there. You should let me rent out the others later. It will at least help supplement the family income."

"Xiaohui only occupies a small room. The rest is a warehouse with a lot of leftover materials." Fourth Uncle looked at Yan Hui and said, "Xiaohui, when you have nothing to do, go and pick up the leftover materials. Sometimes others unload goods in the front yard, so you can go and clean them up."

"I understand, Fourth Uncle." Yan Hui nodded, said goodbye, and left.

(End of this chapter)