Chapter Ninety-Six: Agreed on One Word

Lan glanced over with a hint of embarrassment, feigning complete innocence. “No way. Let me see...”

She walked up to the television and pointed at a square frame beside it.

“I told you so. If you don’t put this on, of course there won’t be any color.”

As she spoke, she hung the square frame before the screen.

The moment it was in place, something miraculous happened.

The black-and-white screen suddenly turned colorful. The colors looked as if they had been brushed on by hand and seemed unnatural no matter how one looked at them, but they were still far better than black and white.

“Huh?”

Zhang Mingyang leaned in curiously toward the set.

“Old Four, you have to admit, this thing is really amazing.”

Xu Fei nodded.

“Thank you.”

Lan smiled. “Then I’ll go for now. Call me if you need anything.”

With that, the girl turned and ran out of the room.

“Why is she running?”

Zhang Mingyang pointed after her.

“This isn’t a color television.”

Xu Fei said as he walked into the bedroom.

“Isn’t it?”

Zhang Mingyang had never seen a color TV before, so of course he had no idea. On the screen, a martial-arts film from Hong Kong and Taiwan was playing.

He sat down in the chair with great interest.

Xu Fei looked around the bedroom. There were two single beds in it.

He put his backpack on one of them and lay down.

Xu Fei was already making plans. It seemed he would have to have a chat with the proprietor out front in a little while.

“I say, Old Four, aren’t you going to watch? This movie is great.”

“No. You watch. I’m going out for a walk.”

Xu Fei tossed his coat onto the bed and stepped out with his cup in hand.

He followed the corridor toward the front desk.

There were about a dozen rooms in the building, and every door was shut, but Xu Fei was certain there were people inside.

“Everything arranged?”

When the proprietress saw Xu Fei approaching, she set down the melon seeds in her hand and asked with a smile, “Everything arranged, right? Our Spring-Bloom Inn is the best in Nanjing.”

Xu Fei smiled and nodded.

Inside, he could only laugh bitterly.

“Do you have hot water, Madam?”

He placed the cup on the counter.

“Of course.”

The proprietress glanced toward the back kitchen.

“Fatty!”

“Coming!”

A short, stout man hurried out from the back kitchen. He was young, but fair-skinned and rather clean-cut.

“Go get him some hot water.”

The fat man eyed Xu Fei, then took the cup and went back into the kitchen.

“You’ve got quite a few staff here, don’t you?”

“Not bad. With a place this big, it can’t all be left to me to handle alone.”

At that moment the fat man came back out.

“Here.”

As he spoke, he slammed the cup down hard on the counter, splashing water across the table.

“Watch it. Why are you always so clumsy?”

The proprietress shot the fat man a glare.

But the man gave Xu Fei an unfriendly look in return.

“What are you staring at?”

Seeing that his expression was off, the proprietress kicked him squarely in the backside.

The fat man jumped at the blow.

As he went into the kitchen, he still glanced back at Xu Fei.

“Don’t mind him. His older brother sent him here to keep an eye on me.”

Xu Fei paused.

“Keep an eye on you?”

“Oh, his older brother is my husband. He’s always worried about me, a woman, running a hotel by myself, so...”

She gave a cold sniff as she spoke.

“He ought to think it over. If I were really that kind of woman, would such a little brat be able to watch me?”

That was certainly true.

Xu Fei was startled by her frankness too.

This woman really was not someone to provoke!

“Oh, by the way, Madam, I haven’t asked your surname yet.”

“Mine?”

The proprietress smiled at him.

“Why are you asking so carefully?”

Xu Fei hurriedly said, “To make a friend. I can tell you’re a woman of the world, and I like women like you.”

“There are indeed quite a few people who like me.”

She lifted a strand of hair from her temple.

“My surname is An. My name is Yi.”

“An Yi?”

Xu Fei nodded.

“What a good name.”

“Is it? And what makes it good?”

As she spoke, An Yi leaned against the counter. Her finger came to rest on Xu Fei’s cup and traced small circles around it.

“Good, of course it’s good.”

Xu Fei, somewhat awkward, reached out and picked up the cup.

“You sure know how to sweet-talk,” she said. “Come to think of it, I didn’t ask you just now either. What brings you to Nanjing?”

Xu Fei’s mind stirred.

So this was where the main subject was beginning.

He smiled. “We came to buy television sets.”

“You’re purchasing agents from East Sea?”

“Yes, yes.”

“I remember East Sea just hauled away a batch not long ago. And those purchasing agents, I know all of them. Why am I meeting you for the first time?”

An Yi’s eyes swept back and forth across Xu Fei’s face.

“Oh, we’re buying on our own.”

“On your own?”

An Yi clearly had never heard of anyone coming to buy televisions themselves. She gave a cold laugh.

“Let me tell you, do you think this is some kind of wholesale-and-retail place? The Nanjing Television Factory only sells wholesale. They don’t sell single sets.”

Xu Fei saw that she thought he meant buying just one set, and quickly explained with a smile, “That’s not what I mean. We’re buying in bulk too.”

“An individual buying in bulk?”

An Yi looked astonished.

She sized Xu Fei up from head to toe.

“What do you plan to do with them after you buy them?”

“Sell them.”

“Sell them?”

Her expression grew even more shocked.

“This... do you even know how much a television set costs? And if you want to get goods straight from the factory, ten or eight sets won’t be enough.”

Xu Fei nodded with a smile.

“I do know that. This time, we’re probably looking to buy around a hundred sets.”

“What! A hundred sets?”

“Yes. Why? Does the factory not even sell a hundred sets?”

An Yi looked at Xu Fei and slowly shook her head.

“No, that’s not it.”

Only then did Xu Fei nod.

“That’s good.”

Seeing that the talk had reached this point, Xu Fei simply followed the momentum.

“I heard that getting goods from the television factory is especially difficult now. I wonder if Madam has any channels that could help us get the sets out as quickly as possible?”

“This?”

An Yi thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Actually, I do know one of the factory leaders. If it were three or five dozen sets, it might require some waiting. But a hundred sets—such a big deal—I might be able to help you.”

“Really?”

Xu Fei acted delighted.

“Madam, if you can help us, that would be wonderful. Don’t worry, I won’t let you help us for nothing.”

At that, An Yi looked at Xu Fei.

“For nothing? What do you mean by that?”

“For every set, I’ll give you five yuan as a token of appreciation. Would that be all right?”

As soon as those words left his mouth, An Yi was stunned as well.

“What did you say?”

Xu Fei lowered his voice. “As long as I can get the goods quickly, I can give you five yuan for every set.”

An Yi looked at the five fingers Xu Fei had held out.

Then she smiled, seized his hand, and said, “Then it’s a deal.”