Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 21 A Half-hearted Approach
In the morning, I used Dou Wei's landline to call and arrange to meet Mr. Hu at the entrance of Taoranting Park.

This puzzled Zhang Yan somewhat. Although he didn't say it outright, Boss Hu should be able to guess his purpose for coming. Logically, he should try to show his strength, for example, by arranging a meeting at a grand hotel or something similar.

Let's meet at the park entrance...

This feels like meeting a pen pal.

While having breakfast, Zhang Yan inquired a little and learned that Taoranting Park was originally one of the four famous pavilions in China, so he thought he might as well go and visit it early.

On the way, he even took a detour to scout out the location, preparing to go to the square early the next morning to watch the flag-raising ceremony.

When we got there, we found out that Taoranting Park actually charges an entrance fee.

Fortunately, Zhang Yan wasn't short of money. He bought a ticket at the ticket booth, which, in addition to a picture of Taoranting Park, also had a couplet: "Waiting for the chrysanthemums to bloom and the homemade wine to mature, to get drunk with you in Taoranting Park."

However, Zhang Yan felt that the most valuable item was the small print below—"Beijing Tourism Souvenir."

Figure:

Zhang Yan was about to go to the ticket gate when he saw several girls chasing and playing, rushing through the ticket gate in a swarm, and the staff guarding the ticket gate did not make any attempt to stop them.

Is this ticket price just a rip-off for out-of-town tourists?

Perhaps sensing Zhang Yan's thoughts, the ticket inspector punched a hole in the ticket while casually explaining, "That's the Beijing synchronized swimming team. They train in our park's swimming pool, so of course they don't need a ticket."

"Oh~"

Zhang Yan hadn't been taking it seriously and was about to walk in when he heard this, so he stopped and turned back to shake the ticket in his hand: "Can this ticket get me into the swimming pool?"

"What you think is quite beautiful!"

The park was quite beautiful. Zhang Yan regretted not bringing a camera or a drawing board, so that his parents and sister could also see the scenery.

As he passed by the swimming pool, Zhang Yan couldn't help but peek inside—mainly because he had never seen anyone wearing a swimsuit in real life before.

As a result, he didn't see anything and was even looked down upon by a young girl who came out to take out the trash.

Zhang Yan strolled around until after 10 o'clock before finally leaving the park. As agreed beforehand, he found Boss Hu, who was holding a copy of "Popular Fiction Newspaper," under the west wall.

EMMM……

Seeing Boss Hu's appearance, he didn't know whether he should call him "Boss" or not.

This Mr. Hu is about 1.7 meters tall. He is wearing a particularly unfashionable dark blue jacket with a bitter and resentful look on his face, and he also has some bald patches on his head.

Although he knew he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Zhang Yan still felt a chill in his heart.

At this moment, 'Boss Hu' noticed Zhang Yan looking him over and immediately came up to him tentatively, asking, "Are you Teacher Zhang Yan?"

"it's me."

Zhang Yan suppressed his suspicions and asked with a smile, "Should we check your ID?"

"No, no!"

Mr. Hu quickly waved his hand: "I was just a little surprised to see you coming out of the park."

"This is my first time in the capital, so I have to see what it's like here—I'm planning to go to the square to watch the flag-raising ceremony tomorrow."

It's true that he wanted to go to the square to watch the flag-raising ceremony, but this statement also implies to Mr. Hu that he wasn't in such a hurry to discuss cooperation.

"Haha, when I first came to Beijing when I was young, everything was new and exciting to me too." Mr. Hu said, pointing to the street diagonally across the street with the magazine in his hand, "How about we find somewhere else to talk?"

Zhang Yan had anticipated that the meeting would be held in a different location, since they couldn't just stand there and chat at the park entrance.

As the two walked towards the other side, Boss Hu sighed, "After the reform and opening up, popular novels seem to be selling better and better, but in fact, apart from going further and further down the path of vulgarity, they are just copying Hong Kong and Taiwan, and there is basically nothing new."

After last year's crackdown on vulgarity, lowbrow culture, and obscenity, the literature has become even more tasteless and uninteresting, not as enjoyable as some literary novels.

But you're different, bro. You're a true pioneer, traveling back to ancient times to use modern knowledge to show off your skills. That's so creative and immersive!
Especially the scene where they copy poems on the boat—anyone who watches it will feel like they could do it too!

When he heard him say "pioneering a new school of thought" to his face, Zhang Yan felt his face burning. He was about to say something modest when he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Two trucks were parked on the roadside not far ahead, their back beds piled high with something covered by tarpaulins, creating a blind spot with the roadside wall.

Boss Hu led Zhang Yan straight toward the blind spot.

This is too suspicious! "Boss Hu."

When they were still a dozen steps apart, Zhang Yan stopped and tentatively asked, "Where are we going?"

Boss Hu glanced back at him, seemingly understanding what he was thinking. He smiled but didn't say anything, instead waving at the car.

The drivers of both cars immediately got out of their vehicles.

Just as Zhang Yan's vigilance reached an all-time high, he heard Boss Hu order, "Uncover the canvas."

Upon receiving the order, the two truck drivers began to untie the cables. Once the dismantling was nearly complete, Boss Hu personally climbed onto the platform and ripped the canvas off with a swift, forceful motion.

shuh~
Once the canvas was removed, a mountain of books was immediately revealed!
Zhang Yan, surprised, went over and circled the truck halfway, exclaiming, "There must be tens of thousands of books here!"

Mr. Hu patted the mountain of books and said with a hint of pride, "This truckload has more than 20,000 books, and with the ones behind it, it will be nearly 50,000 books in total. There will be an event at the Ditan Book Fair next month, and these two truckloads of books are the goods I prepared in advance."

As he spoke, he jumped down from the side of the cart and invited, "How about it, Brother Zhang, come with me to the book market? After we unload the goods, I'll treat you to a feast to welcome you back."

Perhaps feeling that his move had impressed Zhang Yan, he quietly changed how he addressed him.

This direct demonstration of strength was indeed more effective in dispelling Zhang Yan's doubts than going to some high-end restaurant.

but……

"Boss Hu, didn't you say you hadn't yet entered the business world?"

Zhang Yan didn't believe that all the books on the bus were genuine.

"Haha, if I said I was a pirate, would you still want to work with me?" Boss Hu laughed heartily, and opened the car door as he said, "Since we're already here, let's get in and chat. I guarantee you won't have a wasted trip!"

Zhang Yan nodded and made a move to go around to the passenger seat. Just as Boss Hu was feeling smug, he suddenly quickened his pace and ran directly to the other side of the road.

It wasn't until Zhang Yan reached the park entrance that Boss Hu finally reacted, anxiously leaning out of the passenger window and shouting, "Hey, hey, Teacher Zhang, what are you doing? We can discuss the price!"

Zhang Yan ignored him and said to the ticket inspector, "I left something inside."

Then he rushed straight into the park.

The ticket inspector hesitated for a moment, then, considering that the person had indeed just come out, ignored him.

After entering the park, Zhang Yan looked back and saw that Boss Hu was not following, so he slowed down.

Aspiring pirates and pirates are completely different concepts. Regardless of whether Mr. Hu has made enough money and wants to go straight, or plans to engage in both piracy and legitimate products while maintaining a dual identity, he would never gamble his promising future on such a person.

Moreover, once the policy is relaxed, state-run magazines can negotiate prices. Even if they don't get as much as Mr. Hu, it's still better than leaving something to be done by pirates.

Enter through the front door and exit through the back door.

When they arrived at the nearby bus stop, Zhang Yan was about to go under the bus stop sign to check the route when he heard a young girl next to him ask disdainfully, "What, it's you again? Are you following us?"

Zhang Yan then noticed that the little girl he had seen at the swimming pool was also waiting for the train at the platform with her companion.

Girls these days really have an inflated sense of self-importance; they don't even look at themselves—while her companion is quite pretty.

While inwardly complaining, Zhang Yan casually asked for directions: "Excuse me, how do I transfer to get to the Beijing Film Studio?"

The girl clearly hadn't expected that Zhang Yan wouldn't run away when she questioned him, but instead would ask her for directions. She was speechless for a moment, her mouth agape.

Seeing this, her companion quickly gave her directions: "Take bus number 50 to Silutong Station, then transfer to bus number 18, and you'll get to Beijing Film Studio."

"Thank you."

Zhang Yan nodded politely, then stepped back and stood in the corner.

At this moment, the little girl also realized what was happening and shook her companion's arm, complaining, "Tao Hong, whose side are you on anyway?"

"They were just asking for directions."

"Ugh, you're driving me crazy!"

Watching the two seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls playfully fighting, Zhang Yan couldn't help but think of his younger sister, Zhang Fang. It was truly frustrating that they couldn't go home.

(End of this chapter)