sbdcsierra Chapter 1 - 1 1 Yan Sanfen's Journey to Wealth_1
Chapter 1 - 1 1 Yan Sanfen's Journey to Wealth_1
1: Chapter 1: Yan Sanfen’s Journey to Wealth_1 1: Chapter 1: Yan Sanfen’s Journey to Wealth_1 The scorching sun of August was suspending over the Sancha River town, causing smoke to rise from the streets.
In three old, tiled houses side by side along the street, only the middle door was opened to the high street, where Yan Fei hid behind the door.
He lay on an old rattan chair with a worried and bitter expression, his bare feet raised high, watching the bustling crowd on the street.
Every now and then, when he would see people carry shiny, brand-new farming tools made by factories, Yan Fei would feel extremely unhappy.
This was because the stall that he placed in front of him, propped up by several long benches, was fully stocked with kitchen knives, hoes, and sickles.
The tools he sold were all manually hammered by his household.
Leaving aside the issue of which tools were more durable, just in terms of presentation, his products were far behind those produced by factories.
He felt frustrated by the lack of sales, and the occasional acquaintances passing by would say with a teasing smile: “Yan Fei, why are you setting up a stall today?
Do you even know the prices?”
Yan Fei would not even bother to lift his eyelids, keeping a wooden expression.
Having grown up in this small blacksmith shop, the now twelve-year-old Yan Fei had never cared so much about his family business before.
Half a month ago, he was still sitting not far behind, tugging at the bellows, as his over fifty-year-old grandfather stood by, hammering.
The sound of iron pounding resonated throughout half the street.
He was still talking to his grandfather about his transition from elementary to junior high school when suddenly, his grandfather’s hand slipped, the hammer fell to the ground, and he fell sideways.
His grandfather’s hand was already pulling his on the road, unable to utter a single word.
By the time the neighbors had sent him to the hospital, the man they used to call an iron tough man was already gone.
Yan Fei’s parents, both working at a fertilizer factory in the county, rushed back upon hearing the news.
After weeping and mourning, they buried their early-widowed old father together with their mother and planned to take Yan Fei to the county.
But Yan Fei would not go under any circumstances.
From a young age, he had led a different life with his grandfather and hardly interacted with anyone else except his grandfather.
Not to mention, his parents now had a five or six-year-old younger brother.
Besides, if he went to the county, he would have to squeeze into a two-room dormitory with his parents.
He would not have as much space as at home, where he had seven or eight rooms.
Yan Fei had only one way to deal with his parents.
Whenever they talked about taking him to the county, he would pretend to be an idiot, leaving his parents helpless.
Fortunately, it was still the summer vacation.
His parents had no other choice but to leave him some money to let him try to live alone at home.
As soon as his parents left, Yan Fei felt uncomfortable sitting alone in the house.
The emptiness of the house without his grandfather made him feel particularly upset.
Then he let loose: he bought chickens from one place, fish from another, used the daily-laid eggs from his own chickens to make instant noodles with chicken soup.
He even tried a few sips of the wine his grandfather had stored previously, but he found it too spicy and didn’t like the taste.
He ate and drank during the day, and spent his nights in a small video hall in the town watching action films.
Ha!
His behavior almost caused his grandfather, who came from the countryside to see him, to spit blood in frustration.
Anyway, after messing around aimlessly for six days, on the seventh day, which was yesterday, he encountered a problem: his pockets were empty!
He was out of money!
The money his parents left him was not little.
Even in those days, as long as he had food and drink, it would be enough for a month.
But with his spending habits, the neighbors had only one comment: “Yan, you fool, are you planning on not living anymore?”
“Not living anymore” meant that he was preparing to squander all his family’s resources, and then die of gluttony.
Yan Fei smiled, cursing in his heart: “You’re all fools, country bumpkins who have never stepped outside.
Do you know that I see the sea every day?”
Then he turned his head and arrived at a cave entrance in the middle of a cliff.
Although the sun was a bit hot, when he looked into the distance, the view was spectacular: on one side were towering ancient trees, on the other side were beaches, ocean waves…
and dinosaurs…
Flocks of Pterosaurs flew past in the sky, preying on the boundless sea surface.
From time to time, strange-looking heads would emerge from the water, and the mouths the size of a house would suddenly burst out, attacking the Pterosaurs fishing stealthily.
In the forest behind, there were small Compsognathus shuttling between the woods.
The mountainside cave was actually a small crevice in the rock, but the inside was quite spacious.
Yan Fei had
Yet none offered ideas on how to earn money.
He turned back when he saw the wall of the village at the end of the street.
Upon returning to his house and continuing west, he came across a major construction site at the beginning of a small alley.
This used to be a veterinary clinic, now moved behind the site.
They were going to build a big shopping mall here.
The midday sun did not slow down the workers.
Yan Fei watched for a while, and his eyes lit up.
He spotted a familiar face in the crowd: “Uncle Ming, Uncle Ming…”
A young man supervising the work turned his head and then went back to instruct the workers briefly before walking over, “Xiao Fei, what is it?”
Yan Fei eagerly blurted out his thoughts, “Can I work here?
How much do you pay per day?”
Uncle Ming instantly lost his cool, “Get lost.
Can’t you see I’m busy?”
He was about to leave but came back, pulled out a handful of money from his pocket, separated a five-dollar note, and shoved it at Yan Fei, “I told you to save money.
You ran out of money for food, didn’t you?
Get by with this.
If you need more, come to me.”
Yan Fei shamelessly took the money, “Actually, I still have money, but I thought it would be wise to think ahead, you know?”
Uncle Ming laughed and called out from distance, “You stay away from this place.
Don’t hurt yourself in the chaos.
And who’d have thought you, a low-scoring student, know idioms like ‘look beyond the present’.
Impressive…”
The mention of his test scores rendered Yan Fei unable to gloat.
He was always an on-and-off student during his primary school, dismissed as slow by everyone, with teachers hardly bothering about him.
Then when the exams came, his grandfather also passed away.
Although Yan Fei started the exam, he merely scribbled a few strokes before leaving.
When the results were announced, even the teachers were surprised.
Out of a total of two hundred-plus, Yan Fei scored just three points.
One in languages and two in mathematics, totaling three.
A stain on life, indeed!
Yan Fei sighed, looked at the money in his hand, and murmured: taking someone’s money like this is called ‘shamelessly content’, right?
Don’t let the low exam result fool you.
I can indeed use idioms, so shamelessly content he tucked the five dollars into the back pocket of his pants and continued his journey west along the street, in search of ways to wealth.