In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 40: Construction Begins, Rental Market Encounters Problems with Excavator Rollers

With mid-April approaching and the start of work just around the corner, Yu Dawei drove his four-wheeled truck early in the morning, carrying Yao Jinfu, towards the recycling station. (Author's note: "Four-wheeled truck" refers to a four-wheeled vehicle without a cargo bed.)
"Brother, hurry up, it's already eight o'clock, the tow truck driver has been here for a while." Yao Jinfu said anxiously, "Should I come instead?"

"No need, there's still time." Yu Dawei glanced at the nervous Yao Jinfu. "Brother, remember what I said: don't rush things, take it slow. Nobody can become fat in one bite."

"Brother, you can't drive a four-wheeled vehicle like you're paddling through water." Yao Jinfu felt the speed of less than 40 miles per hour. At this speed, he estimated that it would take more than ten minutes to get to the town.

"You drive, you drive. You're so good at it, you drive." Yu Dawei parked the car on the side of the road, and the two switched places.

"Brother, just you wait and see." Yao Jinfu's expression turned serious. He stepped on the gas and launched the car into the road. Yu Dawei was so frightened that he gripped Yao Jinfu's seat tightly with both hands. On the bumpy road, he was jolted so hard that his internal organs felt like they were being displaced.

Fortunately, the two soon arrived at Duan Dahai's scrap metal recycling station. As they passed through the excavator rental market outside, Yu Dawei clearly felt that there were more excavators and various engineering equipment on the market.

I reckon the surrounding towns all know that a construction project is about to begin here.

However, he didn't care. The scale of this highway construction project was enormous, and the timeframe was extremely tight. Even if all these vehicles were added, it might not be enough.

"That's the courtyard up ahead." Yu Dawei pointed in a direction and patted his buzzing head twice.

Seeing that there were construction vehicles all around, Yao Jinfu didn't dare to drive too fast and slowly moved past the various excavators: "Brother, there are so many excavators here, it's almost like the rental market in Hohhot."

“There’s been a lot of work lately, you hardly ever see any on weekdays.” Yu Dawei, sitting on the front of his four-wheeled vehicle, could already see a large semi-trailer truck parked in Duan Dahai’s yard.

Just then, Yu Dawei happened to catch a glimpse of a small excavator under a willow tree out of the corner of his eye.

Unlike common excavators, it doesn't use tracks, but instead has four wheels. It has a very narrow cab, but it does have a boom, boom, and bucket, although they are all small, or even miniature.

In his past life, Yu Dawei looked down on this kind of wheeled excavator the most, simply because it was too useless and couldn't handle heavy work.

At most, you could dig up a cable or bury a fiber optic cable, but that's impossible now. The earliest cable laying in China was back in the early 2010s.

Planting trees and digging holes is possible, but currently it's mostly done by the men, women, and children of the village, who use shovels to dig holes and plant trees.

The cockpit window had the words "For Sale at a Low Price" written on it.

Below was a line of handwritten black text: Engine broken, everything else intact.

When Yu Dawei saw this, he sighed helplessly. The owner of the rotary excavator probably thought that there was not much work to be done and that it would cost money to repair it, so it was not worth it. He might as well sell it and buy a bigger one so that he could work on the Luhe Town expressway project.

This idea can be considered very wise.

"Brother, can you pick up some scraps with that small wheeled excavator?" Yao Jinfu also saw the wheeled excavator with the broken engine. He had studied various types of excavators when he was in technical school.

"What's the point of picking up a bargain? I can't survive without it. I wouldn't even take this little piece of junk for free." Yu Dawei's mind was completely focused on that old Hitachi machine, and he had no time to consider anything else.

When the two arrived at the yard, they saw the trailer driver chatting with Duan Dahai.

Fortunately, I met someone with a good temper who was willing to wait.

The rest was left to Hitachi's dedicated driver, Mr. Yao.

When Master Yao first sat in this old Hitachi car surrounded by several people, he looked a little embarrassed and even a bit green.

It's been several years since I last handled an excavator, so I'm still getting used to it.

But as he started up the old Hitachi machine and became more familiar with its operation, the feeling of operating an excavator day and night for several years returned to him, and the initial trepidation on his face was instantly replaced by confidence and seriousness.

Engage gear, raise the boom, retract the boom and arm, retract the bucket, move the vehicle body, adjust the angle, and load the trailer...

The series of movements were fluid and seamless. Yao Jinfu turned off the engine, got out of the car, and stood on the trailer, staring blankly at his future partner.

He thought he would never touch an excavator again in his life, but unexpectedly, at his most desperate moment, his older brother gave him the chance to operate an excavator again.

"What are you daydreaming about! Get down here! Don't think I won't beat you up just because you're good at it." Yu Dawei's expression was serious yet tinged with amusement. "Let's go!"

"Okay." Yao Jinfu grinned and jumped out of the car, following behind Yu Dawei.

"You were in a hurry on the way here, but now you're not in a hurry anymore, are you?"

"Hehe, I was worried that the driver would get impatient while waiting, but I didn't expect this driver to be so good-tempered."

"Stop flattering him, he won't hear you no matter how much you flatter him, just hurry up and catch up."

The two men drove a four-wheeled vehicle closely behind the large semi-trailer truck, arriving at section nine of the construction site one after the other.

There is currently only one excavator in section nine because the work is relatively easy and one large excavator can handle it.

In addition to excavators, there are also road rollers, dump trucks, water trucks, and fuel trucks that work together to refuel these vehicles.

Of course, construction sites have no shortage of workers, but the number of workers is not as large as that of places building houses.

"Let's go, I'll find you a place to stay in the dormitory." Yu Dawei paid for the tow truck, glanced at the excavator, and turned to lead Yao Jinfu towards the dormitory area.

It's neither near nor far, about three miles away.

For the workers in Section 9, the dormitory is very close by; for those in other sections, they need to take a bus to get to work.

Usually, once the dump truck driver has started work, anyone who wants to go somewhere can just wave their hand, and the driver knows they are all coworkers from the same area, so they open the door and let them on.

The dormitory was a simple prefab house made of a few sheets of iron and steel pipes. Each room was ten square meters and had eight bunk beds. There were a few small stools at the door.

“These are the dormitories for excavator operators. Further ahead are the dormitories for other construction teams.” Yu Dawei placed the package in his right hand on the lower bunk near the door. “I think this bed is fine. It’ll be breezy in the summer and won’t be too hot.”

"You can stay here for now. If you don't like it, just let me know." Yu Dawei sat on the opposite bed. "I'll ask my second uncle later if there are any single rooms available."

"Brother, this is perfect. Back when I was working in the mine, we lived in thatched huts. We didn't dare turn on the heater in winter for fear of setting the hut on fire, haha." Yao Jinfu laughed as he opened the package. Inside were a quilt, a change of clothes, a towel, a water tank (an iron water cup), and a washbasin.

Before leaving home, my second sister-in-law specially bought herself a new washbasin, a large tub, and a towel.

"Alright, just make do for now. If you stick with me, you'll definitely have your day." Yu Dawei patted him on the shoulder.

Yu Dawei could sense that Fu Zi had truly opened up his heart, and that was good.

In the following days, Yu Dawei stayed with Fuzi until the day the work started.

My second uncle originally said there would be a groundbreaking ceremony, but it was canceled in the morning, and construction started directly.

My second uncle was so busy that he had no time to pay attention to Yu Dawei, nor did he ask him any further questions.

At first, the old Hitachi UH03 was moving rather slowly, and Yao Jinfu knew it was an old car, so he didn't dare to make any big movements.

As the various newly replaced parts began to break in, Yao Jinfu gained a stronger sense of control over the excavator, and the entire excavator began to enter normal working condition.

(End of this chapter)