Chapter 1274: Song Yunhui

The train chugged along, chuff-chuff-chuff, woo...

With a burst of steam, the train slowly came to a halt at Anyun City station.

In the sleeper car, Song Yunping disembarked with some light items, followed by Wang Yan, who was carrying a large sack, all intended for Song Yunhui.

Mother Song had made clothes and prepared some meat dishes at home; additionally, Wang Yan had brought candies, biscuits, and the like, plus numerous cans of food and other snacks, so this chaotic pile naturally gained considerable weight.

The process of exiting the station was far from peaceful, as the railway station was teeming with pickpockets, whom Wang Yan had once specialized in catching.

This time, he did not specifically hunt for thieves, merely grabbing two who had actively approached him.

To speak of their audacity, while Wang Yan was apprehending the first thief, passengers spontaneously formed a circle to watch the spectacle; it was precisely then that another thief mixed into the crowd, attempting to steal a bystander's bag, only to be yanked out directly by Wang Yan, who delivered two slaps and a kick to the solar plexus, knocking him flat immediately.

Station police noticed the commotion, rushed over to resolve the situation, and escorted Wang Yan, Song Yunping, and the two thieves to the police office to clarify the circumstances.

The two thieves did not even attempt to argue, since they were found with stolen goods; otherwise, they would certainly have tried to bite back.

However, matters did not conclude so smoothly...

"Wang Yan..." Song Yunping tugged at Wang Yan, who stood motionless, looking at the seven or eight people opposite them, "Run quickly, why are you just standing there?"

This was the bus stop outside the railway station, where the two were examining bus routes; not far away, seven or eight individuals with fierce expressions were walking toward them, exerting quite an oppressive presence that caused everyone else waiting for the bus to scatter.

Wang Yan patted her hand: "Have you forgotten how no one dared to provoke me in the county? Relax, there's no problem."

"They have knives!"

"Just watch."

After patting Song Yunping's head to briefly comfort her, Wang Yan walked straight toward the hooligan-looking group opposite.

"We brothers are just trying to earn a living at the train station, you..."

"Stop pretending, you motherfucker!"

Wang Yan, now right in front of them, slapped the speaker so hard he spun twice before flying away, several bloodied teeth visibly tracing an arc through the air before hitting the ground.

Then, before Song Yunping's incredulous eyes, Wang Yan quickly knocked down all of them, leaving them lying on the ground wailing in pain.

He waved the knife in front of Song Yunping, then casually tossed it onto the thigh of the ringleader.

"Ah!"

"Oh dear, look, I didn't notice." Wang Yan tapped the knife handle with his foot, causing the ringleader to scream in excruciating pain.

Thus, they fetched the station police again, registered the incident once more, and only then departed for a second time.

While waiting for the bus, Song Yunping eyed Wang Yan with surprise and suspicion.

Wang Yan shook his head amusingly: "Don't recognize me?"

"A little bit."

"I told you before that I've practiced martial arts since childhood and possess rich combat experience; dealing with these little hooligans is child's play? I have never bullied anyone, or I would have been arrested and executed long ago.

Are you worried I'll get into fights? Rest assured, think about it: I'm already a deputy factory director, with over eight hundred people relying on me to lead them to a better life; how could I have the mind to pick fights? Besides, if fighting were truly necessary, would I need to do it myself? One word from me, and all five hundred men in the factory would beat whoever I tell them to."

"Don't say such things; if this gets out, you'll definitely be in trouble." Song Yunping gently patted Wang Yan's arm.

"I'm only telling you; you wouldn't spread it around, would you? The bus is here, let's go, let's go."

So Wang Yan and Song Yunping squeezed onto the bus, and after half an hour of travel, arrived near Anyun University.

They first found a guesthouse to book two rooms, tidied up briefly, and then, carrying their belongings, entered the campus of Anyun University, asking directions toward the Chemistry Department dormitories.

It was noon, the rest period after lunch, and the campus was quite lively: some strolled in pairs, some played ball on the courts, some recited vocabulary by the lake, and others sought quiet spots to read.

"University is wonderful," Song Yunping remarked with such sentiment, her eyes revealing longing.

Wang Yan smiled: "Next year you'll be here; we'll aim for Beijing, to attend an even better university."

"I'm not picky about schools; as long as I can get in, I can learn knowledge." Song Yunping smiled brightly, saying, "Actually, I know I'm not a genius like Xiaohui; when we learn something, Xiaohui always learns faster than me. So I never aimed for a top-tier university; I likely couldn't keep up with the academic pace, as they are all geniuses."

"Even geniuses need diligent sweat to nourish them; diligence can make up for clumsiness. Although the upper limit may be fixed, the lower limit can still be raised; besides, among so many people, who has truly touched that upper limit?"

Wang Yan comforted her, "You're not stupid, so don't discourage yourself. No one knows whether someone is a genius; even if one is, there's the precedent of Shang Zhongyong. Aim high in the exams, aim for a good university; anyway, I believe in you, and you will definitely get into university."

"You just know how to say nice things to coax me."

"We've known each other for over three months; when have you ever heard me tell a lie? I always speak the truth."

"Then tell me, are you a genius?"

"Definitely a genius. You know very well that people in the county secretly say I'm the reincarnation of the God of Literature."

"Doesn't anyone say you're the God of War?"

"They do."

Wang Yan laughed heartily, "But ever since I led the textile factory to prosperity, people hardly mention my past fighting days anymore; they all say I've been excellent in studies since childhood."

Chatting and laughing, the two walked leisurely through the campus until they reached the student dormitory building.

After asking the elderly gatekeeper downstairs for the specific room number and explaining their purpose, they took their belongings up to a dormitory on the second floor.

Song Yunping knocked on the door, which was opened by a middle-aged man: "Who are you looking for?"

"Is Song Yunhui in this dormitory?"

"Little Song, someone's here for you."

In fact, no introduction was needed, as Song Yunhui, who was reading inside the room, had already heard the commotion and stood up to approach.

He looked at Song Yunping with delight, then embraced her: "Sister, why have you come?"

"You haven't been home for a year, and you only report good news while hiding the bad, so the family has been worried; I thought I'd come to check on you." Song Yunping pointed to Wang Yan behind her, "This is Wang Yan, you should call him..."

"Just call me Brother Yan is fine." Wang Yan nodded toward Song Yunhui, then smiled and asked, "Are you just going to let us two stand at the doorway?"

Song Yunhui realized his mistake and quickly ushered them both inside.

"Sister, Brother Yan, let me introduce you: this is Ding Zhou Jianguo, Tian Jiachang, and Yu Shanqing."

Song Yunping nodded to the three, while Wang Yan shook their hands; Song Yunping expressed her gratitude, thanking them for looking after Song Yunhui, to which the three responded politely, stating that everyone helps each other, and even shared some embarrassing anecdotes about Song Yunhui that Song Yunping did not know.

Afterwards, Song Yunping pointed to the pile of belongings they had brought: "These are all delivered for you; Mom made you two pairs of shoes and knitted a sweater..."

Originally, Song Yunping had not intended to mention the food items, but Song Yunhui had already opened the sack and pulled everything out to examine them.

Then he saw the meat dishes inside, and also noticed a pile of various canned goods, candies, and biscuits placed at the very bottom.

His eyes widened in surprise: "This is..."

"He brought them; he took quite a lot home, and since he was coming to see you, he bought some more."

"Brother Yan, this is truly too wasteful." Song Yunhui looked serious, gazing earnestly at Wang Yan. He wanted to criticize a few words, but since they were not very familiar, he found it difficult to say much.

Wang Yan naturally understood his meaning and waved his hand with a smile: "Food that enters the mouth, how can that be wasteful? Look at you, thin and dry, your face sallow from lack of meat; your strength must be insufficient. The body is the capital of revolution; the consumption of studying and learning is no easier than manual labor, so one must also have a good body.

Additionally, there is a major matter: during the New Year, your sister and I discussed it, your parents agreed, and we will get married this summer. Isn't this just me coming to curry favor with my future little brother-in-law?"

"If I don't agree, will you still not marry her?" Song Yunhui's face was full of unhappiness.

"Your disagreement is useless; there are four people in your family, and now it is three against one; the minority obeys the majority."

Wang Yan laughed heartily, then let out an "Ouch!" as he pulled two boxes from his pocket: "I completely forgot the meeting gifts I specially prepared."

"I don't want them."

"Xiaohui, don't act like a spoiled child." Song Yunping slapped her biological brother.

"This is a Parker fountain pen; American five-star General MacArthur used this very model to sign the Japanese surrender. These glasses are just ordinary ones, bought from the Friendship Store; I didn't know your degree of myopia, so I had several lenses fitted."

Song Yunhui naturally accepted them anyway, and looking at Wang Yan, he said: "You are a deputy factory director; the salaries of cadres in our county aren't that high; you haven't been embezzling, have you?"

"He Xiaoping, you really need to scold this brother of yours properly; he doesn't wish me any good at all, opening his mouth with 'embezzlement,' and next he'll be asking if I should be executed by firing squad, won't he?"

Wang Yan shook his head amusedly, "I hold great power in the factory; the rules were set by me. The factory's performance is good, and the state has issued new policies, so after discussions within the factory and with relevant leaders in the county, the county ultimately agreed to let our factory raise wages and benefits. This applies to the factory's leading cadres as well as advanced and active workers... we raised the base salary and provided some bonus subsidies."

【66】 "Are you trying to implement distribution according to work?"

"Are you asking for distribution according to work?"

"There are no clear policy directives yet, but that is indeed the preparation; we will wait and observe for a while before proceeding."

Song Yunhui nodded, stopped making things difficult for Wang Yan, distributed a box of canned meat to each of his three classmates, and after simply tidying up, he took Wang Yan and Song Yunping for a stroll around the campus.

"Sister, the university campus is nice, isn't it?"

"Very nice."

Glancing at Wang Mou, who was smoking a cigarette and lounging leisurely, Song Yunhui asked: "Sister, how is your review going?"

"I understand now; you little rascal are actually speaking to me."

Wang Yan smiled, "Rest assured, going to university is a good thing; how could I not want your sister to improve? Our county lacks people with knowledge and culture; once your sister attends university, she can return and help me build our Jin Ling County together."

Song Yunhui snorted: "I'm afraid you say one thing and do another."

"Little brother-in-law, is there not even this much trust between people? Do I look like that kind of person?"

"You do! Very much so!"

Song Yunping treated this biological brother extremely well; naturally, Song Yunhui had deep feelings for his sister, so he displayed two parts hostility toward Wang Yan, worried about his sister's future. Thus, he showed his aggressiveness to make Wang Yan dare not easily bully his sister.

Wang Yan understood very well, so he did not mind Song Yunhui's slight aggressiveness.

He smiled: "Your sister's review materials were all prepared by me; when we return, I will even teach her English. Let me put it this way, little brother-in-law, as long as your sister performs normally, she can apply to any good university in the country as she pleases."

"Just keep boasting."

"Xiaohui!" Song Yunping glared at her biological brother.

"Sister~" Song Yunhui pretended to be aggrieved, "You must review diligently; don't let him deceive you. If he doesn't let you go to university when the time comes, I will fight him to the death."

Song Yunping shook her head amusedly: "Stop worrying about me; one must study seriously, but also pay attention to one's health."

"I know, don't worry. Sister, since you two are here this time, how many days will you stay?"

"Five days; mainly to see you. Originally, I wanted to leave tomorrow, but he insisted that since we've come all this way with great difficulty, we should walk around and take a look."

"Exactly, it is best to look around more. I didn't expect you to have such ideas."

"I have plenty of ideas." Wang Yan looked at the library ahead, then took a camera out of the bag he was carrying on his shoulder, "Come, let me take a photo of you two siblings."

"Did you buy this camera yourself?" Song Yunhui asked in surprise.

"Using public tools for private purposes." Wang Yan shrugged.

"Leading cadres should set an example!"

"At your young age, don't escalate things to such a level. The camera was borrowed from the factory, but I paid for the film myself with my own money. When shooting what I want to shoot, I use my own film; when shooting the factory or things belonging to the county, that gets reimbursed with public funds. Since I intend to go far and want to lead the people of Jin Ling County to live good lives, how could I possibly leave myself an opening for attack?"

Seeing that Song Yunhui did not understand, Wang Yan put his arm around his shoulders and said cheerfully, "Right now, I am an outstanding Party member and an advanced leading cadre in the county. However, what I currently control is the county's most profitable factory, even better than the steel mill; there are many people jealous of me.

Including the issue of relationships with some leading cadres in the county: I rely on the second-in-command, so do you think the first-in-command will be happy? Regarding leaders related to our factory, they all receive gifts during holidays and festivals; although other leaders also receive some, relatively speaking, they receive less; do you think they will be happy?

Currently, the textile factory is just starting up; once I have built the factory up sufficiently, inevitably someone will come to pluck Miss Miss Taozi. You understand this principle, don't you?"

"You think too badly of people." Song Yunhui shook his head.

"I heard your sister mention that business about Old Huhou; do you think the probability of encountering another person like that is high or low? You need to ponder these matters, but since you have Ji De Xiang Fa, I cannot force you. After you start working and suffer a few losses, then you will know."

Song Yunhui was somewhat dismissive and condemned Wang Yan: "The atmosphere is being ruined by people like you."

"Xiaohui! Do not speak like that."

"It's fine." Wang Yan laughed heartily, "Do you think he is stupid? If I weren't his brother-in-law, would he speak like this? Go on, go on, let me take a photo of you two siblings."

The current Song Yunhui was not mature; he was quite idealistic and possessed a certain degree of childishness.

This was his little brother-in-law, also an old acquaintance from the past, and they had never been on opposing sides, always on the same front, so Wang Yan remained very tolerant.

After strolling around the campus like this, Wang Yan used up three rolls of film; Song Yunhui asked his teacher for leave, missing afternoon classes, and together with Wang Yan and Song Yunping, they went to eat at a state-run restaurant outside the school.

Hui cuisine is legitimately one of the Eight Great Culinary Traditions, with many famous dishes. Wang Yan directly ordered a set of Eight Rough Bowls, plus a bottle of yellow wine; the three of them ate and drank just right.

"You really haven't embezzled?" Seeing Wang Yan pay the bill and get the receipt, Song Yunhui still found it hard to believe.

"Would I bother doing that?" Wang Yan shook his head amusedly, "This was all exchanged before we came. We are out here for fun anyway, and since this is our first meeting, we must certainly eat and drink well; mainly to fatten you up a bit. Come, eat more."

Wang Yan picked up a piece of braised pork for him with his chopsticks, and of course, he did not forget Song Yunping: "You eat too; if you eat too little, you won't have the strength to study."

Watching Wang Yan's self-satisfied appearance as he sipped his wine, Song Yunhui asked: "What is the current situation at your factory?"

"Over eight hundred workers, monthly production of more than eighty water-jet looms; for machine orders, full payment is required upfront, and the money collected so far has exceeded one million." Wang Yan did not hide anything, "Currently, we are racking our brains and begging everyone to purchase new production equipment, while also improving our existing production equipment, and we have even manufactured several pieces of equipment ourselves. We are constantly expanding the factory buildings, optimizing production processes, and increasing manufacturing capacity..."

After listening to Wang Yan ramble through it all, Song Yunhui nodded, pushed his glasses with his hand, and said: "I have roughly looked into textile machinery equipment; for you to independently research and develop more advanced machines without anyone else's help, catching up to foreign levels in this aspect and filling the gap in our domestic industry, is truly not easy."

"You sound like my supervisor, affirming my work achievements? Hurry up and eat; talking doesn't interfere with eating, so don't stop using your chopsticks every time you speak."

Song Yunhui obediently began eating, then asked, "So what are your plans for the next step?"

"Textiles are a systematic undertaking; from raw materials to finished product, many steps must be traversed. These are further subdivided into different crafts and uses, involving dozens of distinct machines.

Currently, we have achieved success with looms, so naturally, the next step is to consolidate this advantage. At the same time, we will increase capital investment to conduct research encompassing the entire textile industry chain. Our ultimate goal is to master the technology for every link in that chain.

I can reveal this to you: before arriving here, we already discussed merging with the county's shoe and garment factory and planned to engage in export trade. After I return, we will discuss this further and then dispatch an inspection team to Shanghai and Guangdong Province to take a look. Following that, what I intend to do is merge with the county's chemical plant, establish a synthetic fiber project group, and research high-purity viscose fiber and synthetic fibers, thereby mastering the source technology."

"I must admit, you are very imaginative and far-sighted. However, difficulties abound; given the scale of your county enterprise, lacking both funds and personnel, it will be very hard to succeed. The more likely outcome is that all the money you invest in research and development will go down the drain."

"It all depends on human effort," Wang Yan said with a chuckle. "You specialize in chemistry; why not return with me to help build Jin Ling County? If you agree, I will make you the director of the chemical plant."

"I do not wish to return; I want to display my talents in a larger place."

"I understand; you find our county factory too poor, lacking everything one could ask for."

"I will not refute you, but let me explain: it is not disdain, but rather my belief that places with better conditions allow one to exert influence more quickly, instead of spending all one's time searching for money, equipment, and people."

Song Yunhui's thinking was not flawed; one cannot hold developing one's hometown over someone as leverage. After all, strictly speaking, the hometown had not treated the old Song family particularly well. They had been suppressed and looked down upon for many years, and even now, it had not ended.

"You have ideas and independent judgment; that is very good." Wang Yan nodded with a smile, raised his wine cup, and said, "Shall we drink one?"

"Let's do it." Song Yunhui raised his cup, clinked it against Wang Yan's, tilted his head back, and drained the vessel. "Yellow wine tastes bad; in fact, any alcohol tastes bad."

"Then will you drink in the future?"

"I know you are mocking me; I will certainly exercise restraint in the future. Discussing matters while drinking is simply wrong."

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "I will remember that."

"Stop teasing him." Seeing Song Yunhui pouting unhappily, Song Yunping scolded Wang Yan irritably, "He is a grown man; why do you keep teasing him?"

"Eat, eat." Wang Yan raised an eyebrow at Song Yunhui and began eating with large mouthfuls...