Chapter 20: Reborn 1987 Chapter 20: Mixed Blessings

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Jiang Wenyu

Speaking of Zhou Shi, he really is a strange person; normally he looks cold as ice, but when he gets angry he's genuinely a bit scary — even Jiang Wenyu was startled quite badly at the time.

However, just like his actions show, he is a person who distinguishes clearly between good and evil.

"My younger brother has been spoiled rotten since childhood — not by me, but by our parents — so don't take it to heart."

Jiang Wenyu said, "I can understand."

Zhou Shi nodded and continued, "After I came back I heard that a few years ago someone took him along to start a business and they made some money; I thought the kid had finally grown up, but then I heard the venture failed and he went back to loafing around. Sigh..." He sighed, then asked, "By the way, how did you and my brother meet? Has he been constantly finding ways to squeeze money out of you?"

Jiang Wenyu gave a wry laugh and said, "That's not the case. How to put it... oh right, the person who took him to start a business back then was actually me."

At these words, Zhou Shi's steps halted instantly; he looked at Jiang Wenyu with some disbelief, and the latter also gave a wry laugh and shrugged: "Indeed doesn't look like it, does it. Fair enough — I've fallen on hard times like this now, but I feel it's not bad; my relationship with my family has improved somewhat, and I can earn some money relying on this skill."

Zhou Shi took a good long while to recover, then let out a deep sigh and said, "So that's how it is. No wonder — he's a grown young man with no skills to speak of; who would be so kind as to take him into business? I still have to thank you for this. I never would've guessed you once walked the entrepreneurial path yourself."

Jiang Wenyu also felt some nostalgia and said, "But in the end it failed. After the failure, I wasn't much different from how your brother is now."

Zhou Shi said, "You two are not the same. If I'm not mistaken, after your venture failed this kid definitely didn't give you a moment's peace, did he."

Jiang Wenyu smiled without elaborating, but Zhou Shi could tell all the same.

Arriving at the warehouse, Zhou Shi finally said, "Let's not talk about the rest. Your skill is the best I've ever seen. After the work here is done, I'll give you a cut based on the sale price of each color TV."

Hearing this, Jiang Wenyu hurriedly waved his hands: "That's not right, is it? I'm just here to repair things, not a shareholder..."

Zhou Shi said, "No refusing. Without you these color TVs would've been scrapped long ago; then we wouldn't have made money and would've lost a huge sum instead. This is what you deserve. Besides, if there's anything like this in the future I'll still need your help."

He is a straightforward man who does exactly what he says — his seriousness is real, and his reasonableness is real too. A person like this is worth befriending. Right then Jiang Wenyu said no more, watched Zhou Shi leave, and began this final stretch of work.

Around noon, the last few color TVs were finally all repaired. He stretched his waist, packed the TVs into boxes, which also marked the complete end of his work at the Dianqi Cheng.

When Zhou Shi came by, he gave a cursory inspection and then said nothing more, handing a large sum of money to Jiang Wenyu. He counted it roughly — a full six thousand yuan!

It's true that last time repairing one color TV and one record player earned four thousand, but that time it was mainly because the record player was extremely valuable, and Zhou Shi was far more urgent than now, which was why he offered such a high price of four thousand. This time, though, he handed over six thousand without a second thought, and this huge sum left Jiang Wenyu a bit stunned.

In the end he still accepted it — after all, it had been agreed on long ago, and Zhou Shi is a straightforward man. Before leaving, Jiang Wenyu left the address of Li Chen's place, which also counted as indirect publicity for his and Li Chen's business.

Bidding farewell to the Dianqi Cheng, he first went to the Mall.

Today's Mall couldn't be called crowded, but it wasn't empty either. He made his way familiarly to Li Chen's shop.

"You've finally finished..." Li Chen looked a bit wilted. Jiang Wenyu got out of the vehicle and found it amusing, saying, "What's up with you? Ate something bad?"

Li Chen shook his head helplessly: "Go look in the back room and you'll know."

Jiang Wenyu curiously walked in right then. He opened the back room door and took a look — good heavens, the whole room was piled full of all kinds of small appliances! Mostly radios and black-and-white TVs.

Jiang Wenyu was startled and shouted outside: "Did you clean out this whole place!?"

Li Chen came running over laughing heartily: "Clean out what? These are all things I've collected these past few days. Rest assured, the purchase prices are absolutely cheap! Guaranteed profit!"

Jiang Wenyu was naturally happy too, but seeing Li Chen's pale complexion he couldn't help asking: "You didn't spend all your food money on purchases, did you? Why do you look so bad?"