Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 42 Preparing to travel
Yan Hui certainly didn't expect Lao Guo to be so serious and ignore everything else. When the two returned to Lao Guo's shop, they found that Lao Guo's father was not there, so they immediately sent a pager to his father.

In less than 20 minutes, Lao Guo's father came back.

"Hello, Uncle Guo," Yan Hui had met Uncle Guo's father many times and took the initiative to greet him.

"What's the rush for you to talk to me about?" Uncle Guo was a little puzzled.

"Dad, look at this, what do you think of the carving?" Old Guo handed the sculpture to his father as if he were presenting a treasure.

Uncle Guo was naturally an expert at identifying the goods. He took it, examined it, and touched it carefully. His expression quickly grew serious. "Who is this engraver? Where did you buy it from?"

"This was carved by a master craftsman that Lao Yan met when he went to the forest farm before. It is said that this person particularly likes to carve wood, and there are a lot of them in the shop." Lao Guo explained.

"Where is the forest farm? This person must be invited over!"

"Dad, I told Yan Hui that if we can invite this person here, I will give Yan Hui 3000 yuan as a thank-you fee." Lao Guo said.

"3000?" Guo's father was stunned. He didn't expect his son to be so generous. But he carefully played with and stroked the grain of the wood carving, thought for a moment, and said, "It's worth spending 10,000 yuan to dig this person up. I can offer him 2000 yuan a month."

"Okay, Dad, leave this matter to me. I'll find a way to invite someone over for you." Old Guo said, patting his chest.

"You?" Father Guo was a little puzzled. "We're in need of a good master right now. Can you help us negotiate?"

"Why don't I just take Old Yan with me? Otherwise, why should I give him a thank-you fee? From what Old Yan said, this guy is a bit old-fashioned, and I feel he's wronged Old Yan," Old Guo said, looking at Yan Hui. "Old Yan, tell my dad about this guy's background."

"Yeah." Yan Hui told Guo's father again.

This person really loves wood carving, but he is not willing to make a profit from it. When Yan Hui wanted to buy it, he refused to sell it. It was because he knew that he had been forced to do something wrong to Yan Hui before that he was willing to sell it.

If a stranger like Lao Guo were asked to talk to this kind of person, the other person would definitely not be willing to follow him.

"Moreover, to poach people from the forest farm, Old Yan has to find his uncle and ask his uncle to call the director of the forest farm first. Otherwise, poaching people directly will offend people." Old Guo explained again.

"Okay, then it's safe if you put it that way." Father Guo nodded and took out 2000 yuan from his handbag. "Take Xiaoyan with you and rent a taxi for the next two days."

"No problem!" Lao Guo happily took the money, pulled Yan Hui away without looking back.

After leaving the house, Yan Hui finally came to his senses: "Old Guo, I find that your business methods are so complete that I am not as good as you."

"No way, I can't make any money now. I don't have any resources. All the resources are from my father. Finally, there is something I can do, and I must do it well." Lao Guo said with certainty.

"So the first thing to do is go find my uncle?"

"Well. I'll go do business with him, and I'll give this money to your uncle." Lao Guo said seriously.

"How much?"

"Twenty dollars."

"Ah? So little?" Yan Hui thought that since his fourth uncle was worth so much, Old Guo would be very generous.

"The person we want to dig out is actually a marginal figure in the forest farm. He's useless. Your fourth uncle is just saying hello and asking, there's no need to use up any favors. The most difficult part of this matter is convincing this person. This depends on you, so you are the most important."

Lao Guo's arrangement undoubtedly taught Yan Hui a lesson. Yan Hui simply nodded after hearing it: "I can only say that I will do my best in this matter. If we can't reach an agreement, there is nothing I can do."

"I believe you."

As they were talking, the two of them arrived at their fourth uncle's place. His fourth uncle was not there, only his fourth aunt was there.

"Is there anything urgent?" asked Fourth Aunt.

"I need help with something small," Lao Guo took the initiative to take over the conversation, "ask him to help contact someone. My dad said he would give 200 yuan for the phone bill."

As he said that, Lao Guo took out 200 yuan.

"Why is the phone bill so expensive?" Fourth Aunt was a little suspicious.

"We'll know when Uncle Yan comes back."

"Okay, I'll call him." Fourth Aunt immediately walked to the phone.

Because the market is relatively quiet now, my uncle usually prepares to go out for social events at this time. He hasn't left yet and drove over quickly after receiving the call.

The Jetta stopped at the door, and when Fourth Uncle came in, he asked, "What phone costs 200 yuan?"

Old Guo didn't need to explain this. Yan Hui took the initiative to say, "Uncle, there was a shopkeeper at the forest farm I went to before. He was very skilled in wood carving. He carved the peace locket I gave to Yan Yan. Old Guo's family wants to invite this person over. I want you to call Director Li to ask if this is appropriate. If Director Li refuses, we won't go."

"Is that it?" Fourth Uncle was a little confused. "Isn't this something that can be done easily?"

"Uncle, you're different," Lao Guo said, handing over 200 yuan to Fourth Aunt. "Although this matter doesn't require you to use any favors, Director Li still has to consider your face. If I were to say, I'm taking advantage of you."

"The young man knows how to talk," Fourth Aunt also understood and quickly put 200 yuan into her pocket.

After Fourth Aunt received the money, Fourth Uncle had no choice but to find the phone book and call Director Li.

The woodworking gang on the mountain was about to go up the mountain. Director Li was naturally at the forest farm and quickly answered the phone.

For Director Li, the forest farm is not short of people. In fact, it would be better if there was one more sufficiency so that he could arrange more of his own people. He quickly said that he had no objection as long as this person was willing to leave.

The phone call was simple, but it was essential. Lao Guo thanked his uncle and left with Yan Hui.

"Brother, is it easy for you to ask for leave now?" asked Lao Guo.

"Yes, you can hire me anytime. There are more people than cars now."

"Okay, let's find a van tonight and leave early tomorrow morning. We'll try to be back the day after tomorrow."

"Okay." Yan Hui is not a person who wastes time.

"Then let's go eat something good."

"Okay, let's eat rice."

"it is good."

The two decided on some delicious food and went to the east gate together.

After walking for a while, Lao Guo asked Yan Hui: "I find that your fourth uncle is not particularly good to you." "What do you mean?" Yan Hui thought Lao Guo was talking about collecting money.

"I rarely hear you mention him. Look at me, I always talk about my dad. And you didn't work with your uncle when you came here." Lao Guo said, "I was afraid you would be unhappy when I mentioned this before, but when I met your uncle today, I felt that he was just average."

"It's normal. He also has a son. If your father took care of a nephew, he would definitely not treat you like this." Yan Hui thought it was normal.

But in reality, he had never told anyone what was really in his heart. If Yan Hui's father was his uncle, his fourth uncle would definitely treat him ten times better than he did now.

"That's true, but you're more steady than me, and you're hardworking and serious. You'll be able to do just fine without him in the future." Lao Guo pointed at himself, "I'm just a little clever."

"That's not clever of you." Yan Hui shook his head.

The two discussed tomorrow's affairs as they walked, because the place they were going to was very far away. In fact, neither of them had been to such a far place, so Yan Hui was still a little stressed.

Fortunately, Yan Hui knew the way from the small town to the forest farm, otherwise he would not be able to get there at all. There was no navigation in those days, and everything had to rely on maps.

"I have to buy a map of the three northeastern provinces. We are crossing provinces," Yan Hui thought of this while walking on the road.

"Ah? Across provinces? Isn't Baishan in Liaoning Province?" Lao Guo was a little confused. It's so far?

"No, it's from the neighboring province. It takes about seven hours to drive there to the forest farm." Yan Hui nodded. "That's if I'm familiar with the road conditions and I'm driving a sedan. If I were driving a van and I wasn't familiar with the road conditions, it would probably take eight or nine hours."

"Ah, why didn't you say so earlier!" Lao Guo was a little helpless.

"I thought you knew. Didn't I mention Baishan?" Yan Hui suddenly felt that this boy was unreliable again.

“The problem is I don’t know.”

"So what should we do? Do you think it's unsafe for us to go?"

"I think asking my dad for 2000 yuan is a bit too little," Lao Guo said with a headache.

"If we only rent a car and a driver, it'll cost about 150 to 200 yuan a day. Let's say one trip is 600 kilometers, or 1200 kilometers round trip. A van uses 8 liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers, so that's about 100 liters. A liter of fuel costs about two yuan, so 200 yuan for gas. If we can get it done within two days, the road costs will be about 600 yuan. Add in food and accommodation, and 800 yuan will be enough. Oh, and there's also the highway toll, which shouldn't be much either," Yan Hui calculated. "Your dad gave 2000 yuan, which means he knows where Baishan is, but you don't."

"You're pretty good!" Lao Guo was a little surprised. "That's enough. Even if we spend a little more, we can still save 1000 yuan. So when we go to the forest farm, should we bring anything? We can't go empty-handed, right?"

As they were talking, they had already eaten half of the rice they bought.

Yan Hui didn't know what to bring. After thinking for a moment, he said, "He runs a small shop, what could he possibly need? If it were you, I'd say you should bring a piece of redwood. Even if the deal doesn't work out, at least give him a piece of wood. That way, maybe we can make it work next time."

"Good idea!" Lao Guo immediately thought it made sense. "This is a great idea!"

"Ah? Not really."

"You don't understand! If it's something else as a gift, I have to buy it from the 2000 yuan! If it's rosewood as a gift, I can just ask the store for it!" Lao Guo was so happy.

"Yeah, that's a deal. I won't cover any expenses on the road."

"Of course, a poor family can eat meat every meal on the road." Lao Guo is willing to spend money at times like this.

"Okay." Yan Hui nodded.

"But," Lao Guo thought for a moment, "it's still too far. After dinner, I'll go ask Lao Wu and Lao Song if they're free. If they are, we can go together. It's safer with more people. To put it bluntly, the van might slip when going up the mountain, so a few more people will be needed to push it."

"Well, that's quite thoughtful."

The two teenagers discussed it back and forth and soon finalized the plan.

After dinner, the two went to buy a map, which was then taken back by Yan Hui.

Yan Hui was in charge of planning the route tonight, while Lao Guo went to discuss the matter with Lao Wu and Lao Song. In addition, Lao Wu also had to prepare the supplies for the trip.

As for renting a car, it is not difficult. Just go to the market entrance tomorrow morning and look for one. It is the off-season now, so cars are easy to rent. It’s just a matter of price.

For some reason, Yan Hui was in a very good mood when studying the map.

Planning the route for him was like planning a major event. This was a small matter for Fourth Uncle, but a significant one for Yan Hui. Yan Hui initially considered asking Shan Ge for help; if Shan Ge was there, things would be much simpler. But after some thought, he decided against it. His total profit was only about 1000 yuan, and if he asked Shan Ge, he'd have to share most of it.

Because it was a map of the three northeastern provinces, some country roads could not be seen on the map. All that could be drawn were highways, national highways and county roads, so it was not difficult to plan. Yan Hui chose the best route and wrote it down in his notebook.

After packing up his things, Yan Hui prepared to rest.

He had a secret, one he hadn't told anyone: he now had 9700 yuan in cash on him. The closer it got to 10,000 yuan, the more reluctant Yan Hui became to spend it.

In the past two months, Yan Hui was almost exhausted, and he was only able to survive because of his youth. He received about 3000 yuan from his second brother, and earned about 1000 yuan with Song Zhiyuan, but his expenses for two months were only 300 yuan.

In fact, he took good care of Song Zhiyuan. Since Song Zhiyuan was already able to handle some simple clients independently, Yan Hui didn't ask for a penny from these people. In other words, Song Zhiyuan had earned more than 1000 yuan in the past two months. After all, Yan Hui was too busy during this period and didn't have time to connect with all the clients.

Yan Hui sewed all the money into his clothes. Winter had already arrived, and Yan Hui's clothes were very thick. He had sewn the money in six places, and conservatively estimated that he could have sewed another ten thousand.

When Yan Hui returns from the forest farm this time, he will have more than 1 yuan in funds, and it will be as high as 10700 yuan. By then, Yan Hui will probably be a little more willing to spend money.

Yan Hui had already lain down when Lao Guo came to knock on the door. He got up and opened the door, only to find three people outside: Lao Guo, Lao Wu, and Lao Song.

Although there was no stove in the house, it was better than the cold wind outside. Yan Hui invited the three people into the house, and no one took off their coats.

"It's so cold, and you don't even light a stove in your room?" Old Song jumped and rubbed his hands.

This prefabricated steel house is not high, so Old Song can jump around easily because he is short. But if Da Kai comes in, he will hit his head with a slight jump.

"I'll try to get one when I get back from this trip," Yan Hui said helplessly, "but this room is too small. If I put a stove there, you won't have anywhere to stay next time you come."

"Just sit on your bed and take off your coat. Squeeze in a little." Old Song chuckled.

"Okay, I'll take a look when I get back." Yan Hui nodded. If he had 10700 yuan, he should also buy a stove. After all, it would cost less than 100 yuan.

"You can just make a small stove. It doesn't take up much space. But you will definitely have to get up at night to add wood. If you wait until the fire is out before adding wood, it will be a headache. Otherwise, you can buy some coal. The honeycomb coal can burn for six or seven hours." Old Wu adjusted his glasses.

"Forget about coal, it's not safe." Yan Hui knew Song Zhiyuan's family affairs. He didn't understand coal stoves and he didn't dare to use them.

But in fact, given the degree of air leakage in his dilapidated house, it is quite difficult for him to get carbon monoxide poisoning.

(End of this chapter)