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

Chapter 87: Bought a scrapped small excavator for 8,300 yuan

After returning to Duan Dahai's scrap metal recycling station, Yu Dawei briefly recounted the incident involving the rotary excavator that morning to Brother Duan.

Hearing that someone had bought a used rotary excavator for 80,000 or 90,000 yuan and ended up losing everything, Duan Dahai suddenly realized that the machinery industry was not without its tricks. If his son really went into this line of work, he would need Yu Dawei to help him out.

Then, when Yu Dawei mentioned buying a car and signing a contract, and asked him to be a third-party witness, Duan Dahai readily agreed without hesitation, since this wasn't the first time such a thing had happened.

After the two agreed, they chatted for a while. Duan Dahai then started complaining that his son and daughter-in-law looked down on his job as a garbage collector, especially his son. There was a sports meet being held in town recently, and his parents could go.

But the child refused to let his father go, insisting that it was too shameful for a garbage collector.

Yu Dawei had heard Duan Dahai complain about being discriminated against in the industry quite a few times. Duan Dahai would often complain about it when he, Duan Dahai, and Boss Liang had a private meal and drinks together at the scrap metal recycling station one night.

“You two, what’s wrong with collecting garbage? The clothes this kid is wearing, they’re worth four or five hundred! Did I even flinch when he said he wanted to buy them? Everything this mother and son eat, drink, and use, I earned it all by collecting garbage!” Duan Dahai finished the wine in his jar, pointed to the garbage in the yard outside, “I’m not bragging, but to start collecting garbage in the village, go all the way to the town, and even buy such a big yard, in the entire Luhe Town, no one but me can do that.”

"Hey, Lao Duan, you can't blame the kid for this. Don't you realize you're quite insecure yourself?" Boss Liang, getting a little tipsy, launched into his signature lecturing style. "Tell me, after all these years in town, who have you really gotten close to?"

"Honestly, if it weren't for Brother Yu coming over, you'd still be stuck with that inferiority complex." Boss Liang patted Duan Dahai on the shoulder. "Old Duan, if you want others to look at you differently, you have to respect yourself first. You have to believe in yourself first before others will think you're capable!"

Yu Dawei ate the food and drank without saying a word. These two were natural drinking buddies. Before drinking, they were so polite to each other, but after drinking, one became a gossipy old woman and the other became a schoolteacher, spouting one long lecture after another.

But it was all for naught.

Brother Duan has some business acumen, but his personality is too timid and he can't stand up for himself. Yu Dawei could tell from how Duan Dahai managed household affairs that if it were his eldest son who dared to look down on his father for being a car mechanic, he'd beat the shit out of him!

Did I raise you so you could go against my wishes?

Fortunately, my daughter Muyu has always been very sensible since she was a child. However, she is too sensible, and she has been bullied a lot since she was a child. This is also due to Yu Dawei's overly domineering personality at home.

He gradually came to understand a principle about raising children: if parents are too domineering, the children will inevitably be weak and even have low self-esteem.

If both parents are gentle and reasonable, the child will become very unreasonable. To put it bluntly, the parents are too lenient and cannot control the child's personality. It is very difficult to reach a balance.

Yu Dawei was very suspicious that, given the personality of Duan Dahai's unruly son, the future explosion of Duan Dahai's flour mill might be related to this kid.

It's hard to say.

The three of them slept on the same kang (a heated brick bed) that night. There weren't enough blankets, but Boss Duan didn't care. He just covered himself with his clothes and fell into a deep sleep.

The weather is much warmer now that it's late June, but it's still chilly at night. In the latter half of the night, Boss Liang finally got so cold that he unconsciously started fighting with Duan Dahai for the blanket, and they ended up sleeping under separate blankets until dawn.

The next day, Boss Liang went back to his parts shop. Yu Dawei and Duan Dahai drove a four-wheeled vehicle, first went to the bank to withdraw money from their savings accounts, and then came to the village where the small wheeled excavator was located, intending to buy it.

Inside the house in the courtyard, the slightly overweight man saw Yu Dawei arrive and hurriedly put on his clothes, opened the door, and came out of the courtyard: "Oh, brother, you've finally come! I thought you weren't coming."

"Something came up in town, so we're a little late," Yu Dawei said with a smile. Actually, they weren't late at all; they arrived around seven or eight o'clock.

However, compared to the daily routine in the countryside, it is still very different. In the summer, people in the village generally get up at five o'clock, some as early as four o'clock, and some even wake up before dawn at three o'clock.

The first thing to do upon waking is to prepare pig feed. Chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs, just like people, have been hungry all night and need to eat breakfast before their afternoon meal. This is the routine for ordinary households. If a family has a surplus of grain, they might prepare three meals for them as well.

"Hey buddy, what's your decision?" Yu Dawei walked outside the yard. "If it's not going to work out, just give me a straight answer. Don't be shy."

"Don't rush, let's talk inside." The slightly chubby man chuckled as he opened the wooden gate and welcomed the two people in.

Yu Dawei and Duan Dahai exchanged a quick glance, realizing there was potential, and followed the man into the courtyard.

The man's yard wasn't large, with two gardens, one in the front and one in the back, and beyond that, a large grove of poplar trees. "And who is this?" the man asked curiously.

“This is the third-party witness I found, Duan Dahai. There have to be some rules in business, right?” Yu Dawei walked behind the man and smiled at him. “If you’re not comfortable with that, you can find someone from the village to be a witness. That would be safer.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.” The man listened and led Yu Dawei and the other man into the house. After pouring two glasses of water, he finally spoke up, “Brother, actually, I definitely want to sell this car. I thought about it a lot yesterday, and I still think eight thousand yuan is too little. Do you think you can add a little more?”

Yu Dawei raised an eyebrow, having anticipated this response. He took a sip of hot water from the white mug in both hands and said, "Brother, let me put this to you: this car isn't worth scrap metal while I have it. If I leave, it'll just end up at the junkyard."

Yu Dawei pointed to Duan Dahai beside him and said, "See? I've brought you the owner of the town's scrap metal recycling station. You can ask him about today's scrap metal recycling price."

"Sixty-one cents. It's been sixty-one cents for the past few days, which is a relatively stable price these days." Duan Dahai didn't try to rip the guy off; he told him the price honestly. Actually, he felt quite sorry for the guy; he'd been ripped off pretty badly.

Duan Dahai, however, was clear about his position and didn't say much. He fully supported Yu Dawei's cooperation.

“I know, but I’d be devastated if I sold it for eight thousand. Even if you don’t want to raise it by ten or twenty thousand, a thousand or two would be fine.” The man pulled up a stool and sat down, sighing as he looked at the two of them. “To be honest, the money I used to buy the excavator was borrowed from my sister’s family. I don’t dare let my brother-in-law know about this huge hole. If you could give me a little more, I’d scrape together some more. I don’t expect to pay it all back, but half would be fine too.”

"Sigh, you're really putting me in a difficult position." Yu Dawei put down his cup and mimicked the other person's sigh. "Actually, I don't really need this excavator because the bucket is too small and it doesn't do any work. Tell me, which project around here needs one of these?"

"I'm really losing money buying this thing, mainly because I really don't want to see this wheeled excavator end up as scrap metal, it would be such a waste." Yu Dawei glanced at the other party, then stood up and said helplessly, "I can only offer 8,300 at most. If you think it's okay, give it to me. If not, we can still be friends even if the deal falls through, right? We can still be good friends when we meet again."

Yu Dawei glanced at Duan Dahai casually.

Duan Dahai understood immediately, then put the cup on the kang (a heated brick bed), got up and walked to the man's side: "If he doesn't want to buy it, so be it. He must be heartbroken to have lost so much money. Why don't you wait and see if some clueless fool in the village will come and buy it? It's okay if no one buys it. You can come find me then. My scrap metal recycling station is on the back of town, the first one on the national highway."

"Shall we go then?" Seeing that the atmosphere had been built up enough, Yu Dawei spoke up and was about to leave with Duan Dahai.

"Don't go, don't go." After a long silence, the man finally made a difficult decision when Yu Dawei pushed open the door to leave. "Sell it. Eight thousand three hundred it is."

Yu Dawei let out a long breath, and a relieved smile finally appeared on his face.

The subsequent process was much simpler. Yu Dawei had prepared a handwritten contract well in advance, and the man also found a fellow villager he was on good terms with. The four of them had two contracts, and each contract had four names on it.

Yu Dawei carefully put the contract away before handing over the money to the other party. During this time, Duan Dahai drove his four-wheeled vehicle back to the city to help him call a small flatbed truck and a small crane from the rental market.

The engine of this wheeled excavator is now completely scrapped, and other parts also have some hidden problems. It cannot be started at all and can only be lifted onto a trailer by a small crane.

Taking this opportunity, Yu Dawei complained to the man about being poor, saying that this car might look small, but it caused too much trouble. Look, it just takes two cars to take care of it.

The man agreed wholeheartedly, even feeling that he had made a small profit by accepting the 8,300.

After all, I won't be able to see this troublesome thing anymore. Otherwise, every time I look up from home, I'll see the excavator outside the yard, and a feeling of frustration will get stuck in my chest and make me feel terrible.

Thankfully, it's finally time to say goodbye. He'll never get involved in car maintenance again. He only got a car because he believed the lies of his childhood friend from the same village. In the end, his friend ran away, leaving him with a mountain of debt and making him the biggest sucker.

When Yu Dawei and Duan Dahai left, they saw a middle-aged woman go to the man's house and shout at him, as if she had heard something very sad.

However, this had nothing to do with him. What Yu Dawei needed to do next was to diagnose the illness, then have Boss Liang procure the parts, and he himself would have to weld a frame to lift the engine.

Fortunately, Brother Duan's scrap metal recycling station has all kinds of scrap steel pipes, so we can use materials from the spot.

Yu Dawei suddenly realized that he seemed to owe Brother Duan quite a few favors without realizing it. After using the venue this time, he should give him some money or buy him something.

He still needs to go back to Laotun to bring over the old man's tools again.

(End of this chapter)