Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 152 Reencounter with Cousin
After dropping Su Jin off at home, Yan Hui hailed a taxi and went straight back to the hotel.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Yan Hui went back to his room to tidy up the bedding and prepared to take a shower when his pager went off. Yan Hui initially thought it was a message from Su Jin, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was from an unknown number, and a mobile number at that.

Yan Hui's pager had been switched off for a long time, and it was only reactivated on the way to play ball with Su Jin in the afternoon. There probably aren't many people in the entire Jianye who know his number.

Although Yan Hui always wrote his number on the door of his company, logically speaking, no one would contact him at this time.

After thinking for a while, Yan Hui went downstairs, gave the hotel owner a dollar, and dialed the number back. To his surprise, his cousin answered the phone.

"You came back today without telling me. Where are you staying?" my cousin asked.

“I’m staying at a hotel, don’t worry about me,” Yan Hui said.

"I've tidied up your room for you, you child. You don't know how to save money. Are you coming over tonight?" my cousin scolded.

"No, no, I'm already in bed. Brother, I have something to do these next few days. I need to go talk some business first. Are you free next Monday?" Yan Hui immediately put his cousin aside for next week.

"Hey kid, you're busy, aren't you? Where are you now? What are you lying around for? I'm coming to find you, let's grab a late-night snack." It's rare for Yan Hui to be back, so his cousin wasn't going to let him off the hook.

"Oh? I'm at the inn near the timber market. Are you home?"

"Okay, wait for me, I'll be right there." My cousin said and hung up the phone.

Yan Hui hung up the phone, went upstairs to change his shoes, and waited for a few minutes before his cousin arrived on his motorcycle.

"Get in the car, let's go." My cousin greeted Yan Hui as soon as he saw him.

"Okay." After getting into the car with his cousin, Yan Hui noticed that his cousin had gained some weight recently, but his overall condition was pretty good.

My cousin hadn't been drinking that night, and he rode quite fast, so the two of them soon arrived at their destination.

"This is the first Northeastern barbecue place around here. Come and try it to see if it's authentic." My cousin led Yan Hui into the store.

"Jianye has developed so fast, they even have Northeastern barbecue now?" Yan Hui found it quite novel. He looked around and found that it was completely different from the Northeastern style; it was just a name.

"How's it going? Your business is doing even better than I expected," his cousin said, gesturing for Yan Hui to sit down and casually ordering some food. "Can't you drink alcohol?"

"Hmm, I can't drink that much. Brother, how have you been lately? Are you able to take on big business deals?" Yan Hui got straight to the point.

"Me? Hehe, I'm living a much better life than before. Look what this is." With that, my cousin pulled out a cell phone. "I just got it set up today! Haha, of course I'll be doing big business from now on!"

"You have a cell phone now! No wonder, I was just wondering why this number looked so unfamiliar, you're amazing, bro!" Yan Hui said excitedly.

As soon as my cousin took out his phone, the eyes of several tables around him turned to him.

Is this a cell phone? This is the salary of an average person for two or three years!

"This is the newest one, a Motorola!" My cousin opened the flip phone and handed it to Yan Hui, explaining in detail, "This is called Motorola GC87C, the Chinese enhanced version! Come on, take a look."

Yan Hui took it with both hands and examined it carefully.

This phone is much larger than the one my uncle had. It has a flip design and a retractable antenna. Most importantly, it is almost entirely covered in Chinese characters. Most of the 19 buttons are also labeled with Chinese characters. It has many functions!
"Brother, how much is this phone? Does it have a SIM card slot?" Yan Hui handed it back to his cousin after looking at it. "A little over ten thousand, not much, you can afford it," the cousin said, enjoying the envious looks from those around him. He picked up the phone, removed the SIM card in front of Yan Hui, and then put it back in.

Cell phones of this era could hold an entire SIM card—a card as big as a bank card.

I, Yan Hui, was also a little envious, but after thinking about it carefully, I said, "Just wait and see. If my company hires someone next year, I'll provide them with a cell phone."

"You're running such a big business, why aren't you buying a phone? What's wrong? Do you have a partner to split the profits with?" my cousin asked, somewhat puzzled.

In his cousin's eyes, Yan Hui should have a partner, otherwise he couldn't do it alone.

"It's mainly because we don't need it right now, we'll talk about it later." Yan Hui was also embarrassed to say that he was afraid of affecting his cash flow.

"Yeah, we'll have to get one sooner or later." My cousin put his phone on the table, looking all proud.

The two chatted on their phones for more than ten minutes before finally getting to know each other about business.

Yan Hui moved closer to his cousin and whispered, "Brother, how much capital do you have now? Can you get into the railcar business?"

"Huh? My money's still tied up in goods, the railcar you mentioned, is that right?"

"A whole truckload of logs will do, or if you need other types of wood, I can help you with that too. Or perhaps you require special processing methods."

Before Yan Hui could finish speaking, his cousin waved his hand to interrupt him: "It's not a problem with my money, it's mainly a market problem. I don't have your luck; I can't find clients like President Teng. I bought an entire train car, and I still can't sell it. The relationships I've maintained over the years have only reached this level; any more and my cash flow will be in trouble."

“That’s true. You don’t use timber yourself, and you can’t eat too much of it.” Yan Hui nodded and didn’t bring it up again.

"By the way, how are you doing over there?"

"This season is quite nice. It's 35 degrees Celsius here, and it's only 26 or 27 degrees over there. It's very comfortable. Sometimes we go to the river to catch fish. There are so many fish there, and sometimes I catch and grill them," Yan Hui said, recounting his leisure time.

In reality, Yan Hui had very little time to play. Although he had free time after each shipment was sent out, he wasn't always playing. He was usually busy understanding the market situation.

"That sounds great! Are there lots of fun things to do over there? I've heard there's a lot of fun stuff in Northeast China! I heard the nightclubs there, you can even do 'that' right there in the rooms!" My cousin said, looking around. "By the way, a new and nice one just opened across the river. I'll take you there tonight, just the two of us, so you don't have to feel shy!"

"Brother, no, I have something to do tomorrow morning. I need to grab something to eat and then I have to go back." Yan Hui refused repeatedly.

"Then tomorrow night?"

"I have plans with Mr. Teng tomorrow night. How about this, next Monday, when I'm free, let's go to karaoke, it's on me." Yan Hui also felt that standing his cousin up was a bit too much.

"Okay, Monday it is. You can't postpone it any further."

The two chatted until around midnight before Yan Hui returned to his hotel. After lying down, he pondered the events of the evening, a slight sigh escaping his lips.

My cousin clearly didn't have enough money saved up; he probably didn't even have 20,000 yuan on him, so his business couldn't continue.

(End of this chapter)