My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 330 Watch Me Conduct a Big Investigation

So Wei Dong had no choice but to adopt a nonchalant attitude and say, "Let me ask about the situation."

Take the ship information and photos to Chi Shiming, whisper a few words to him to investigate, and HK guy's eyes immediately lit up. He took them downstairs and left.

Old Geng's expression remained indifferent, but he secretly gave him a thumbs-up, meaning "very good!"

He emphasized in a low voice: "Even without carrying people, a two-ton freight elevator can greatly improve the efficiency of transportation. It's very useful, extremely useful. One elevator can do the work of a whole company!"

He likes to use this as a measure.

Excluding family members, his subordinates numbered roughly a regiment.

The construction of the dormitory area at the back of the zoo required about a battalion's worth of equipment, while the renovation of the main gate only required a company.

This elevator is a weapon in the making!

Wei Dong silently blinked to indicate that he understood.

Then they come back and continue to exploit. When it comes to doing business, I had to go through all sorts of hardships to win over the construction team and get the moving company on board.

It wasn't easy to provide them with dormitories, find them jobs, and buy minibuses for their operation.

These all require cost-benefit analysis and return on investment.

"I'm just sending someone to see if there's any possibility of making a profit using a fleet of ships in Steel City. If it works, I'll give you a maximum of 200,000 as a favor to help you out. If it doesn't, then forget it."

What I was thinking was, at worst, I'll dismantle the ship, smelt it into steel, and bring it back to repair my house!

Aren't there shipbreaking yards?

Steel is currently in very high demand.

Yu Qili's eyes were filled with the thought, "You son of a bitch, have some decency! How can you kick someone when they're down like this!"

Wei Dong, however, adopted a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.

I've had my hand broken for forty years and haven't been treated kindly by anyone. It's already a miracle that I haven't become psychologically twisted.

Anyone with a cynical view of the unfairness of fate and the feeling that their talents have been buried would have become incredibly gloomy long ago.

Yu Qili said with difficulty, almost as a growl, "I need one million to tide me over! You're also a shareholder of the company!"

Wei Dong remained unmoved: "That's right, I can take over the elevator for you. Whether it's 400,000 or 500,000, it doesn't make much difference to you if you need a million. What else can you sell for money? Old You, you actually concealed the fact that this barge can't come to Jiangzhou. Do you think I'd be soft-hearted because of that?"

Right? When it comes to business, let's talk business. Why talk about feelings?

You weren't well-intentioned just now; this is just you giving them a taste of their own medicine.

This finally shattered You Qili's illusions. Helplessly, he pulled out a folder next to him: "Take a look for yourself, but the neon light factory, bamboo weaving factory, and screen printing factory are already profitable. I won't sell them to you cheaply..."

Wei Dong retorted mercilessly, "What's a neon light factory worth? Bamboo weaving crafts are everywhere in Shangzhou. Screen printing... Ha, you've got screen printing sorted out?"

Yu Qili said irritably, "This technology isn't complicated, is it? Didn't you carve wax paper and print ink when you were in school? I just collected it from the craftsmen they introduced and turned it into a factory assembly line."

That's right. Students in the 1980s all knew about using a fountain pen to cut stencils. This involved writing and drawing holes in the paper, then stretching it flat and rolling out ink with a roller to quickly print test papers.

Even in the days before photocopiers and printers, students still faced the challenge of endless practice problems, which were mostly created by teachers. Almost every grade had its own ink printer, so they were very familiar with it.

That smell of ink is really strong.

However, if this method, known as perforation printing, is further evolved by replacing wax paper with silk fiber mesh or similar materials, and using a chemical method similar to developing an image to create very fine holes on silk fabrics, then various patterns can be printed on various items.

The product most familiar to later generations is the T-shirt!

A significant portion of the designs on the chest of T-shirts are produced using low-level screen printing.

The slogans on those red banners and the printed words on souvenirs are mostly printed using this extremely cheap printing method.

Some highly skilled screen printing masters can even use the same plate to print four times, creating colorful four-color prints that are as lifelike as photographs.

Even in the later era of advanced technology, this inexpensive method still thrived.

Several arts and crafts factories within the Shangzhou tax system are quietly making money, and the old security guard has often gone to these factories to get tax-related slogans, T-shirts, event flags, and the like.

This thing is quite simple; the difficulty might lie in mastering all the techniques and materials in the 1980s, and having skilled craftsmen...

Wei Dong suddenly remembered that Liujin Arts and Crafts Factory seemed to have this technology as well, at least they could definitely handle the screen printing technology.

But what's readily available is a group of more than twenty people who have already settled in the dock wholesale market, specializing in making small advertisements, slogans and banners for each household, and even writing words on porcelain.

This made Wei Dong laugh out loud: "You're going to sell longevity bowls? How much are you planning to charge? How much does the screen printing factory cost? Don't try to fool me. I know this stuff is very simple. I can find someone to figure it out myself. I'll just help you get a ready-made one." Because he owns a clothing factory!
That casual wear store is going all out on polo shirts this summer, which are also known as collared T-shirts, plus crew neck T-shirts.

The former has stripes and patterns based on the fabric, so there's not much to worry about. It's marketed as elegant and high-end, and sells for only nine yuan a piece.

The latter sells for five yuan, but its actual cost is about one yuan and eighty cents.

We're figuring out how to create patterns on it.

In Hong Kong, manual screen printing has been skipped, but setting up machines is quite expensive. They also have various high-cost methods such as heat transfer printing and lamination, mainly targeting the high added value of T-shirts sold to Europe and America.

This made Wei Dong forget about this cheap model that required a lot of manpower.

This is it!
Yu Qili still wanted to ask for an exorbitant amount: "One hundred thousand!"

Wei Dong scoffed, "Giving you 20,000 is too much. Ask yourself honestly, can you open a screen printing workshop for 5,000? Stop talking nonsense, 50,000 is the price."

You Qili was annoyed by his vast knowledge of everything; he seemed to know a little about everything: "Take it away, take it away!"

Wei Dong opened the door and said to the person outside, "Who's in charge of the screen printing factory? You, come and gather all the people and equipment. Lao Geng, you keep an eye on things and make a call to send a vehicle and people to pick them up and transport them over!"

Old Geng is a regimental commander or higher, so he can handle this kind of small matter with ease. In particular, his stern face gives him the air of a fierce leader.

The person in charge of the screen printing factory immediately fell silent and came over to take over.

Let Wei Dong go back to playing the role of Huang Shiren with relish, and examine You Bailao's meager assets: "The neon light factory has already completed a few deals. Oh, I remember, there are a few neon lights near the dock facing the river recently. You guys set them up? Not bad, not bad. How much?"

You Qili had already given up and was at their mercy: "400,000, we invested 200,000, and now we can make a profit of 30,000 to 50,000 every month. I really didn't want to run a factory, but I only started this factory because of what you said. I didn't expect you to have your eye on it!"

It's just like the most beautiful daughter in the family being coveted by a landlord, leaving one feeling helpless and angry.

The landlord said smugly, "I'm helping you with your tuition. I used to clean up after you when you were picking fruit and carrying sand and gravel. Now you're having financial difficulties and need to rob Peter to pay Paul. The responsibility is yours, don't blame me!"

You Qili was practically dead, slumped in his chair staring at the ceiling: "850,000, what else? Take whatever you want! Just make up a million."

Wei Dong laughed instead: "Alright, these four items will cost one million. I'll keep 20% of the profits for you as dividends. You might need to pay tuition fees sometime, so I'll save it for you here first."

Yu Qili, who was in his forties, looked at the young man who was only half his age and was both amused and exasperated: "Don't do this! You're making me lose confidence in doing business. How come I'm just doing all this for your benefit!"

Wei Dong burst into laughter: "We're destined to meet!"

Just as he went out to peek and notify the neon light factory to relocate and evacuate, Chi Shiming ran back, his face covered in sweat. He reported to Wei Dong, "I called and asked. The moving company said they've delivered a lot of large items to Steel City. They transported equipment from Jiangzhou Steel Plant to help with construction more than ten years ago. They know that road very well. They can tow 25-meter boats one by one. They saw these boats at the factory back then and even joked that they could tow them back!"

Wei Dong almost burst out laughing.

Jiangzhou Steel Plant is very famous. Its predecessor was the Echang Steel Plant, the earliest and largest steel plant in Asia before the War of Resistance against Japan. When the Japanese invaded, Chiang Kai-shek desperately requested that the plant be moved to Jiangzhou.

That shipping magnate, at the cost of sinking dozens of his ships, rescued 1.5 million people and hundreds of factories along the Three Gorges towards Jiangzhou, making him a national version of Dunkirk and laying the foundation for Jiangzhou's heavy industry.

Even the zoo was established in the 1950s to provide entertainment and cultural activities around the nearby steel mill.

Therefore, when carrying out the Third Front construction in the 1960s and 70s, it was only natural to seek support from the nearest Jiangxi Iron and Steel Group. And the team that could transport super-large factory equipment was almost the only one!
It turned out that it all ended up in Wei Dong's hands.

It's probably really difficult for ordinary people to have the basic knowledge of transporting large items.

Who would have thought that this kind of knowledge would become entertaining fodder for meals forty years later?

Then, amidst a rumbling throng of vehicles from "Dongsheng Automobile Transportation Company" painted in the same light blue, they arrived and began unloading people and vehicles.

Wei Dong left Chi Shiming to meticulously review each transfer contract, and notified Dong Xueying to send someone to escort a cash deposit certificate of one million yuan over. Wei Dong then took the draft agreement and went with Lao Geng to the elevator factory to pick up the goods.

Before leaving, I thanked You Qili.

Boss You didn't want to talk to him, couldn't laugh, but couldn't get angry either, so he could only sigh to the heavens.

Then I decided that I was done working in Jiangzhou and had to get rid of this guy's shadow and go south!
Wei Dong had no idea that You Qili was so depressed.

He and Lao Geng couldn't help but look at each other and burst into laughter as soon as they got in the car.

Wei Dong felt that buying at the bottom was a great idea, like he had struck gold.

Old Geng is upgrading his equipment at Kaixin Construction Site.

This is equipment that is far ahead of the rest of the country.

I am now more confident in building a good house.

(End of this chapter)