Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 848 - 470: Reading Newspapers Always Has Benefits

Chapter 848: Chapter 470: Reading Newspapers Always Has Benefits

"China has broken off diplomatic relations with a certain small country because this tiny broken nation insists that mainland China and Bay Province are two different Chinas. These kinds of tiny broken countries are just asking for a beating, hmm, but they’re a bit too far away for us to hit them anytime soon..."

"This small country has had a maritime disaster, and four hundred people died... Tsk, tsk, how tragic. The ship capsized just fifty meters from the shore; how could so many people die!"

Yan Fei was holding a stack of newspapers, flipping through them one by one, occasionally muttering to himself and offering his commentary.

Of course, in the empty room, there was only him, so he could comment however he liked, with no one to know about it.

He had arrived in the Provincial Capital in the morning, while Xu Xiaoyan was off to school. But it was just as well, as it allowed him the convenience to stuff the refrigerator with food and also to arrange his own furniture.

Since he was alone, even if he pulled out a baby dinosaur to play with right now, no one would be able to do anything about it.

After everything was in place and it was still a long way off from school ending, he went to the zoo entrance, bought a whole bunch of newspapers, and brought them back. There were a lot of different types of newspapers in the Provincial Capital, and he didn’t turn any away; he bought a copy of each, planning to take them home to read slowly.

Because he bought so many, the woman selling newspapers had never seen anyone buy newspapers like this. She asked him, "Are you buying these to paper the walls? I have old newspapers; I could sell them to you for five cents apiece."

Yan Fei was speechless. I’ve just spent two hundred thousand to build a new house, why would I paper it with newspapers? Have I gone mad...

However, since it was a kind gesture, he still explained, "No, it’s not for papering walls. I just want to understand more about national affairs. Family affairs, national affairs, world affairs, one should be concerned about everything! Mainly, I’m not from the Provincial Capital, so I can’t buy this many newspapers back in my area."

This couplet about being concerned with everything was something that had recently become popular, with the first line being ’The sound of wind, the sound of rain, and the sound of reading aloud—every sound enters the ear.’ He had heard it often and casually mentioned it.

The woman was still a bit surprised as she handed him the newspapers, saying, "Right, right, right, it’s good to understand more about major matters. Young people these days are caring less and less about national affairs. People used to love reading newspapers; now the sales aren’t so hot!"

It’s hard to tell if her lament was more about young people’s lack of interest in current affairs or that she was complaining about slow newspaper sales.

In the end, he even got several old issues of newspapers for free; the woman charged him two dimes less for those that cost money, which made Yan Fei feel a bit embarrassed.

The woman was very straightforward, "Don’t mention it, just take them. These old ones are free. There are many units in the Provincial Capital, and each one gets several copies of newspapers every day. These are brought back by my family; if I can sell them, great, if not, I won’t lose money. It’s rare to see someone who likes reading newspapers; giving you a few extra doesn’t make a difference!"

Yan Fei was speechless again; indeed, having a unit was great; they even had newspapers to sell. Is this the spirit of ownership, treating the unit as one’s home, where anything could be taken...

Although there were quite a lot of newspapers, there wasn’t much news he found worth remembering.

It’s not that he was uninterested in current events, it’s just that many things had little to do with him. He felt that if he remembered all this, it would purely be unnecessary worry over things that didn’t concern him.

As he read on, he finally found something that piqued his interest a bit.

"The inaugural China Investment and Trade Fair is being held in Fu Province... that’s not bad; there must be a lot of people coming from outside. Although I don’t need to invest, if there can be some trade, that’s not bad either!"

This is the downside of underdeveloped information access. He is only now learning about this investment and trade fair. Considering that he often reads newspapers, one can imagine how those who don’t read newspapers might not even be aware of the trade fair until the next one is held.

But this is unavoidable. For the small cattle farm owners in places like Wan City, some who deliver cattle have trouble even writing a receipt without misspellings. They might manage to get by locally, but if they go out, nine out of ten would likely be swindled out of their pants. They may subscribe to newspapers, but the problem is understanding them is too challenging; some have to rely on their children to read them out loud. It’s incredibly hard for them to develop.

"Registration for Trade City’s Third National Commodity Fair..." While musing aimlessly, he continued to flip through the papers and came across news that interested Yan Fei.

Trade City is the Provincial Capital he is currently in; this event is happening right around the corner.

Upon closer inspection, the deadline for registration is tomorrow; will they still accept registrations by then?

These two pieces of news connected were quite interesting; on the one hand, using Teacher’s Day as an occasion to hold an investment fair, and right after, a national commodity trading fair follows suit. Picking the same day as the big meeting in the Capital, they did choose the date quite well.

The big meeting in the Capital had been mentioned in the newspapers long ago; that was a matter for delegates, and it didn’t have much to do with Yan Fei. At least for now, he didn’t think it was relevant; he wasn’t even old enough to be elected as a delegate!

As for the commodity trading fair, Yan Fei thought that perhaps it was something worth considering.

Could my beef and dried mushrooms be taken out to have a look? The newspaper says the trade fair covers a wide range of goods, basically encompassing all kinds of items. Whether it’s handicrafts or clothing, whether it’s food or utilities, as long as you sign up, you can participate.

After noting down the sign-up address, Yan Fei started to blindly dig out things from that magical small bag. Business license, tax registration certificate, the company’s official seal and contract seal... anyway, he had everything he might need, so he didn’t have to worry about not being able to sign up due to missing anything.

Checking that everything was ready, he tidied up and put all back into his backpack, then checked the time, and went to the kitchen to cook.

The kitchen was now filled with vegetables everywhere, both seasonal and off-season—since he could ’bring’ such large tables and chairs, taking along some vegetables was nothing.

While peeling onions, he realized he had taken out too many. Seeing there was still time, he went out to the garden and planted them. Not stopping there, he ’produced’ several lush green Xiaozhu bamboos and even built a fence around the small garden bed.

Returning to the kitchen to prepare the meal, he couldn’t be bothered to get the beef from the fridge again, so he directly ’produced’ a large chunk of cooked beef, sliced it up, threw on some green onions, ginger, garlic, drizzled some sesame oil, and voila—a cold beef dish.

Once a few cold dishes were ready, he then prepared to stir-fry a couple of hot ones.

With culinary skills comparable to a professional chef’s, he clattered about, lifting pots and dishing out the food. Getting into it, he decided to make a few extra dishes. Although the weather was hot and there was no worry about food cooling too quickly, he still kept the steamed giant salamander, disguised as catfish with only the meat, no head or tail, warm under the pot lid.

The dishes were ready, and the girl had not returned. Yan Fei, growing anxious, simply took off his shirt, grabbed a hoe, and decided to dig up more space for a small vegetable garden in the yard.

He had just started when he heard the girl’s voice outside the gate, "Huh? I’m certain I locked the door this morning... could it be a burglar?"

"That’s impossible, right?" another girl’s voice chimed in. "Did you forget? Hurry up and check inside, make sure nothing’s been taken..."

Yan Fei jerked with a start and took long strides towards the room...

The front door had already been pushed open, and the girl, with good eyesight, saw someone dash into the room, which startled her. She was about to call out when she sniffed the aroma of the food and, recalling the person’s attire, she suddenly chuckled.

Her fellow female student behind her was still in shock, "Oh no, you didn’t lock the inside door either, we’re doomed, we’re definitely going to lose stuff!"

Turning her head to see the girl laughing foolishly, she said, "Xiao Xingxing, what happened to you? You didn’t get dumbfounded, did you? Hurry up and check inside to see if anything’s missing?"

The other female student, who was more astute, gauged the girl’s foolish laughter and suddenly understood, "Is it that someone from your family, came to the Provincial City to see you?"

As soon as the words were spoken, Yan Fei, neatly dressed, walked out from inside, his face beaming with a smile at the girl, "You’re out of school now, hurry in and eat! I’ve been cooking for half a day!"

"Hero Yan, can you only see Xiao Xing? What about us, the two big living people you didn’t notice?" A girl who had come in with Xu Xiaoyan complained, shouting at Yan Fei.

"Who do you think you are? This place is their love nest, made for two. It seems like we came at the wrong time, Hero Yan doesn’t welcome us. It’s such a pity that I once helped him find books in the library..." Another girl also ’quietly’ murmured. This voice was quite soft, so soft that even if Yan Fei didn’t have exceptional hearing, he would definitely hear it.

The one ’whispering’ in the back, who once helped Yan Fei find books in the Chinese Medicine Academy library, was naturally Zhou Peipei. As for the one at the front, it was Student Ji Yunyun, who had once helped Yan Fei and his wife buy clothes.

Yan Fei was actually quite familiar with these two girls; over the course of a year or so, he had seen them more than once. However, girls change so quickly that during their year studying in the Provincial City, he only met them occasionally, and every time he noticed changes in them that were ever-changing.

Now, after an entire summer vacation without seeing them, he felt a bit of a stranger to these two. Therefore, he didn’t bother to greet them properly, trying to blur his way through.

However, probably because of Xu Xiaoyan’s influence, these two girls clearly didn’t intend to treat him as a stranger, and started nitpicking as soon as they saw him.

Seeing his own girl’s face blush from the teasing, Yan Fei also laughed, "Well, I’ve prepared some cold beef, the kind that sells for over a hundred yuan per catty in Hong Kong, not much, just a plate. The vegetables are all homegrown. There’s also pure natural Agaricus bisporus, and underneath the pot lid lies a steamed, boneless fish. If you two keep chattering, we’ll start eating without you. Limited supply, if you want to eat, hurry up..."

"Where is it, where is it? I want to eat, I want to eat..." These two girls, who had lived quite comfortably at home, had enjoyed a great summer holiday and were now at school, had been deprived of meat for days. Hearing about tasty food, they no longer cared about teasing the couple and ran into the house, laughing and giggling.

While eating, they marveled, "There’s catfish in the restaurants outside, but why does it taste different than yours? Your fish here is much tastier, really nice. This beef is also good, not only delicious but so expensive; just this plate would be like half a month of our living expenses, right? Only Hero Yan, who raises his own cattle, could afford to eat this every day. For us poor students, we’ll probably remember this meal for a lifetime."

The other was also not idle while eating, managing to talk even with her mouth full, "Right, Hero Yan, you’re all nouveau riche now! We’re also your fellow villagers, and every time you come here, you don’t bother to look after us poor folks, content to let us drink cold water and nibble buns. That’s really not cool..."

At a critical moment, Miss Xu Xiaoyan stood firmly with her family, pounding the table and shouting, "You two, eat up or there won’t be any next time..."