12 - Embarking On A New Journey
Hearing those words, Chen Yuanming didn't hold back anymore. He placed his bag down on a clean, empty spot on the ground next to him and strode towards the truck.
What he had said previously weren't lies. His car skills were indeed learned from a retired veteran, and later on, he had also run 2 years of long-distance cargo transports. His skills were quite good, but that was something that should only happen 6 or 7 years later, not now. However, driving this kind of thing was just like riding a bicycle, with the conditioned reflexes in his consciousness, it wouldn't be difficult for him to pick up those skills again.
With two steps he climbed into the driver's seat, and a strong smell of engine oil and sweat entered his nose. Chen Yuanming sniffed a little, and a sense of familiarity immediately returned to him. When his teacher had taught him back in those years, he would beat and scold him, and his requirements were extremely strict. Most of the day would be spent in the driver's seat, and eventually he'd get tired from being surrounded by this kind of smell all the time.
Taking a deep breath, he turned his head and waved to the scarface, "Move away, I need to get out of the parking space first."
Actually, in these years, people didn't pay much attention to issues with parking, after all, there still weren't many people driving cars yet. There wasn't any problem with just parking randomly on the side of the road, and there wouldn't be any traffic police issuing fines to you either, so many drivers were used to driving recklessly, and disordered stopping and parking were just a matter of course. However, Ma Lei's small courtyard wasn't suitable for doing that as the space was too limited. There were buildings all in the front and back, leaving only a small, empty area for the cargo- unloading space and the parking space in the middle. Who'd dare to just carelessly drive such a big truck around here? It would take truck drivers a while to get used to the area after they've arrived, so it was inevitable that the newcomers would bump into each other.
The scarface crossed his arms and leisurely took two steps back, standing to the side to wait and watch the kid make a fool of himself. If that kid dares to scratch the car, then it would be better to deduct his wages from work to pay off the debt first, it takes manpower to move cargo anyway, and free work would still save money, no matter how little. As soon as the truck started, the looks on his and Ma Lei's faces both changed. The car was driven so damn skillfully, and was reversed and parked on the side of the road. There was no rubbing or scraping, there weren't even many extra movements either, and in the blink of an eye, he had driven to the small square for unloading goods.
"Motherfucker, what expert!" The scar opened his mouth and said with some disbelief. It's not that he's never seen this kind of skill before, it's just that these kinds of old, experienced drivers could only be found 30 kilometers away, having all been swallowed up by those big bosses in Zhuhai to go and transport cars. The ones who'd actually come back to make long-distance trips were basically none.
"He shows promise." Ma Lei nodded slightly, and shouted at the man next to him, "Fool, what are you standing around stunned for, go run a few laps in the city with this kid!"
The scarface finally awakened from his state of just standing there and watching, and without the slightest hesitation, walked a few steps and climbed into the seat beside the driver. He raised his hand and patted Chen Yuanming's shoulder with great strength. "You're good! I didn't think that you'd have some skills, let's go, go with your big bro and have a try at driving around the city."
Filled with a sense of excitement, the scarface didn't notice Chen Yuanming's expression, nor did he discover the teenager's pale face, the sweat that was tumbling down and the palms that were clenched so tightly they turned ghastly white.
In fact, driving for the first time again in this lifetime wasn't as easy as Chen Yuanming made it appear to be. In his previous life, he was already over 24 years old when he learned how to drive, and his height had reached at least 180 cm. After working in construction for a few years, his waist and arms became a lot stronger, and driving a large truck was just like playing to him. However, in this life, Chen Yuanming was only 15 years old currently, and his height hadn't reached 170 cm yet. His wrists were as thin as a stalk of hemp, so when he was driving the car, it was inevitable that he'd feel slightly overwhelmed, and be over-cautious.
However, the problems that he faced in his mind were a lot more deadly than the differences in his body. When he sat in the driver's seat, he couldn't stop himself from recalling the scene of him dying in a car accident from his previous life. That tremendous impact, the terrible and disastrous accident that had caused his violent death, smashing all his bones and sending his head flying.
If a person still has their memories after death, then what would leave the deepest impression for them? Chen Yuanming now had an answer to this kind of philosophical question. The horror of death was far superior to anything else, it could almost destroy a person's willpower.
But... Taking a deep breath, Chen Yuanming showed a self-deprecating smile and relaxed his grip on the steering wheel a little. So what about death? Wasn't he still able to crawl out of the underworld anyway?
"Okay then, please give me a direction."
His voice was ordinary and calm, as if nothing had happened. Under the guidance of the other person, the big blue truck drove out of the gates.
Half an hour later.
The truck re-entered the gate, and as soon as it stopped, the scarface hopped down from the car and raised his thumb.
"I have nothing to say!" He was smiling so much that his gums were showing, "He was a little when we first left, but after five minutes of driving, it was like he was at home. His driving was both stable and accurate, he didn't knock against the edges of the road at all, and his turns were also very smooth, he's a real expert!"
While he was talking, Chen Yuanming also climbed out from the driver's seat. His thin undershirt was completely soaked, just as it had just been fished out of water. Wiping the sweat on his face, he stood in front of Ma Lei.
"It's that hot?" Ma Lei looked up and down at the boy, and opened his mouth to ask. The days in April definitely haven't reached that extreme level of temperature yet, but the muscles of the kid's face were almost frozen stiff.
"I still have to get used to the new car." Chen Yuanming replied lightly. The man in front of him didn't have a fierce outward appearance like the scarface, but underneath his straight, slanted eyebrows, his gaze was very sharp, revealing shrewdness and calculation. He's met a lot of people like him before in his last life, and he knew how to communicate with them. There was no need for any trickery over such trivial matters.
Hearing that the kid simply admitted that he was nervous, Ma Lei raised his eyebrows and looked at his thin body for a moment, then suddenly sneered, "Since your skills are so good, why didn't you go to the car stalls? The salary there is higher, and they're also recruiting for a lot of people."
The scarface didn't expect his boss to say something like this, and he almost panicked. He's never seen someone actually trying to push away help, and right now they were lacking drivers! The other person's eyes swept over, and his anger was instantly suppressed. Instead, he impatiently looked at the youth who currently had no expression on his face.
This time he only hesitated a little, and Chen Yuanming replied, "I don't want to only be a driver forever."
The scarface slapped his leg, "Right! What's the point of driving an old car around, motherfucker, trying to act cool... "
"Scarface!" Ma Lei sharply spoke up, interrupting his cousin's big talk, but his eyes didn't leave the teenager's face, "You came here to drive anyway! If you don't want to drive, what do you want to do?"
This time he hesitated a little longer. After a while, Chen Yuanming slightly lowered his head, "I want to try to smuggle some goods, I'm short on money."
"Yo ~~ " The scarface was amused, "Kid, you haven't even hit the road yet, and you already want to smuggle goods? You even directly told us this?"
"Oh," Ma Lei also slightly raised the corners of his mouth this time, "We won't make room here for you to transport smuggled goods."
"It won't take up any space." Chen Yuanming simply shook his head, "I only want to do things on a small scale, it won't clash with your things, nor will it affect any serious business. I just want to... Give it a try."
Ma Lei and the scarface looked at each other, and they had some clear understanding in their eyes. This kid really has some ideas, he didn't only want to earn a few measly wages. You should know that in these years, there were too many idiots who'll feel pleased with themselves after earning a few thousand dollars, and for those kinds of rubbish, the rest of their lives would only be worth a few thousand dollars. Sooner or later, someone else will come along and push them out of the water and become squeezed onto the riverbank and left to die. But then there were some, like the two brothers, who were born to do big things, and won't care about the slight gains and losses at the start.
And if someone wanted to learn how to smuggle goods, then what would be more convenient than a smuggling transport pool [1]? Ma Lei suddenly felt that he was a little more interested in this kid. Just from where did he want to start, and where would he eventually go?
"A monthly salary of 500 dollars, plus 200 of overtime pay for every trip you make, are you willing?"
At this time, the monthly salaries of the employees from the proper factories in Zhuhai were only a little over 100, and salaries from the midwestern cities would only be lower, but this number didn't cause the other person to be too shocked. The teenager just nodded gently, "Thank you. By the way, my name is Chen Yuanming, the "yuan" from "far away", and "ming" from "bird call." [2]
What an interesting kid. Ma Lei smiled.
Three days later, loaded full with sets colour TV's, Chen Yuanming and the scarface set foot on the journey of selling goods.
After moving around a few times in the front passenger seat, the scarface retrieved a small radio from underneath the seat and placed it upright in front of him.
"The signal on the road isn't that good, and there are many places where we can't receive any radio broadcasts. I specifically brought a few tapes to help pass the time."
After rummaging through them for a while, he inserted one of the tapes, and a strong drumbeat sounded out from the radio. A deep male voice started singing, and the lyrics were very fast, it was like rock music but with rap.
"Do you know Cui Jian [4]? The meaning of this song, wait until we get to《Nothing to My Name / I Have Nothing》[3], that one's good!"
As he said that, he started to sing terribly off-tune, the melody was miles away from the original, and he shouted out, "Oh ~~ When will you go with me?!!!", it wasn't that much different from a wolf's cry.
Not paying much attention to all the noise the other person was making, Chen Yuanming's gaze lingered on the worn-out radio for a moment. He revealed an indescribable smile, and stepped on the accelerator. On the radio, the tape was still rattling on endlessly, and the song was full of anxiety and confusion:
The future I had imagined in the past wasn't this right now,
Only now does it seem to be clear what the future is,
Oh...
I can't tell the difference between the good or the bad that I've done in the past,
I can't remember clearly the rush of time from the past,
I don't understand the things that I once thought were simple anymore,
I suddenly feel like the world in front of me isn't where I am,
After more than 20 years, I seem to have only learned how to be patient... [5]
At dawn, the whole city was silent. Accompanied by this song, a big blue truck emitting black smoke drove on forward.
The author has something to say:
Note: Cui Jian's album 《Nothing to My Name / I Have Nothing》 was released in 1989. The song in the chapter is his first rap-rock track, 《It's Not That I Don't Understand》.
Footnotes:
Smuggling transport pool: I'm assuming he's referring to the whole driving a truck and transporting smuggled goods thing. To be quite honest, I'm actually not too sure what exactly they're doing, but I'm hoping the author will explain it later on.Chen Yuanming: 陈远鸣, the "yuan" (远) is from "遥远" (yaoyuan), meaning "far away", but the "yuan" on it's own also means far/distant/remote. The "ming" is from "啼鸣" (timing), meaning bird call, and "ming" on it's own means the call of a bird, animal, or insect, or to make a sound/ring. So I guess Chen Yuanming's name means "distant calls" or something? I don't know lol.Cui Jian: Born in Beijing on August 2, 1961, is a male singer, musician, and filmmaker in mainland China. His musical styles are rock, folk, blues, reggae, funk, rap, and Chinese traditional folk music.《Nothing to My Name / I Have Nothing》: The title is an idiom, which basically translates to "nothing to my name" or "I have nothing". Cui Jian sang this song for the first time in 1986, and it was later included in the 1989 album 《Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March》, the overseas version of the album being titled, 《Nothing to My Name / I Have Nothing》.Song lyrics: Welp, I tried translating it the best I could lol. The song is 《It's Not That I Don't Understand》 (as stated in the author's note). The link to the entire album is , this song in particular starts at 39:57 (there's a list of timestamps in the description of the video). I tried listening to it and I didn't like it that much, but I guess that's just my personal preference.