Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 132 Facing Trouble
What Lao Guo called a "not-too-big-but-not-too-small trouble" was a big trouble for Yan Hui.

Before coming, Yan Hui had made a few phone calls with Lao Guo, but because long-distance calls were too expensive, they always hung up after exchanging a few key points, and many detailed things were not discussed at all.

As for things like square and round seals, it's impossible to communicate about them, because Yan Hui simply doesn't know the differences between them.

"How credible is this Mr. Teng you mentioned?" Lao Guo asked.

“It’s very high. His assets are at least one or two million. I’ve asked around and he’s considered a big boss in the area, about the same level as my fourth uncle. It’s impossible that he would take a truckload of my goods and not pay me,” Yan Hui explained.

“Well, since there’s no problem over there, the problem lies with you. If you can buy a whole train carload of goods directly, this contract doesn’t matter. But if you can’t buy it, it’ll be difficult to find someone to cooperate with based on this contract. If you want to ship the goods to Fengtian, I can help you; I even do drop shipping and bulk shipping myself. But to get to Nanjing, you’ll have to rely on yourself.” Old Guo looked at Yan Hui, paused for a few seconds, and asked a question Yan Hui had just asked him, “How much money do you have?”

"Thirty thousand." Yan Hui didn't hide anything.

"Thirty thousand." Old Guo pondered for a moment. "It's quite troublesome, not too much, not too little."

Next, Lao Guo talked about some of the situations here.

Yan Hui's contract was for standard planks, not logs. At this point, it was impossible for Yan Hui to go back and revise the contract; if he sent logs directly to Jianye, General Manager Teng might refuse to accept them.

The biggest difference between logs and standard boards is that standard boards are easy to spot because they have already been cut. Even the movers can tell the quality of the wood, which is less risky for buyers.

For Yan Hui, the profit from standard boards is far greater than that from logs, since it involves more than one additional step.

At this moment, the problem suddenly became apparent. If it were logs, a railcar could only hold 60 cubic meters. Here, logs cost more than 500 yuan per cubic meter, so a whole truckload would cost more than 30,000 yuan. Including transportation costs, it would be around 40,000 yuan. Yan Hui could probably manage to do it.

However, a standard sheet of good quality might cost 800 or 900 yuan per cubic meter, and a railcar can carry 80 or 90 cubic meters. Including freight and other costs, you would need to prepare about 100,000 yuan to ensure that the whole process goes smoothly.

“If you’re dealing with logs, I’ll help you out with my own money. If you’re really short a few thousand yuan, I can ask my uncle for some. That should be enough. But standard boards are a different story. Should you tell your uncle?” Old Guo was genuinely worried.

Transporting a whole truckload of sheet metal is no small matter, and it's not something that can be "made do".

"Old Guo, I didn't come to you to cause you trouble. I'll figure it out myself. I'll give it a try first." Yan Hui looked at his contract. "After all, if this is a fake contract, it's impossible to use the official seal, right?"

"That's true, but you can try it. However, you must be careful how you speak. Let me tell you, the forest farms here are all very wealthy, so don't mess with them. Nine out of ten forest farms have guns, and the remaining one has a lot of guns," Old Guo advised.

"Thank you." Yan Hui nodded.

Yan Hui has a quality that's hard to call a strength or a weakness: he's used to relying on himself. His parents went out to work when he was very young, so he never developed the habit of depending on others. Whether it's practicing martial arts or learning boxing, it's all based on this background. "Anyway, give it a try. If it doesn't work out, go find your uncle. It's okay if the profit is a little lower. Try it for two years, and you'll gradually have the capital," Old Guo said. "I'll also try to save more money. I trust you; I can lend you money when I have it."

"Old Guo, given our relationship, I won't say much. But no matter what, I'm going to give it a try." Yan Hui wasn't the type to give up easily. Fang Zhang was just a small fry; what was the big deal?
"Yeah, that's definitely your personality. Go ahead and do it, just let me know if you need anything," Old Guo said, taking full responsibility.

The two went to a freight station, and Yan Hui followed Lao Guo around from beginning to end, finding that the rules here were no different from those in Fengtian.

Shipping timber from here to Jianye will incur higher transportation costs than from Fengtian. However, as the origin of timber for Fengtian, the prices here are certainly very reasonable.

After arriving here, Yan Hui did some careful calculations. If he bought the logs himself, found a factory to process them, and then shipped the timber to Jianye, his profit per railcar would exceed 1 yuan, and that was a conservative estimate.

This is a pleasantly surprising profit, but compared to the initial investment of 10 yuan, the profit is like the moon in the sky—visible but unattainable.

In the evening, Lao Guo bought a roast chicken and some drinks. The two ate the roast chicken and red sausage and chatted about many stories from the area.

It will take Lao Guo another three months before he can truly be independent. Once Lao Guo's uncle passes away, he will have control of the finances, and his father will transfer money directly to his account.

Here, Lao Guo not only supplies goods to his father, but he also takes care of consignment and consolidation. Some merchants who cannot come up with 10 yuan can go through Lao Guo to consolidate several people into one wagon for shipment.

Lao Guo only ships through the Fengtian line, which is considered reliable in that area, and merchants are willing to trust him.

According to Lao Guo, Yan Hui could also find someone to share the shipment, but it would be extremely troublesome. There were no direct freight forwarders from Tangwanghe to Jianye, so Yan Hui's shipment would have to be shared at least twice. The first trip would be with Lao Guo's freight train bound for Fengtian, and then a freight forwarder would be found in Fengtian to ship it to Jianye.

Here's the problem: the conflict between Yan Hui and Xiao Bao's group at the Fengtian freight station isn't over yet. Yan Hui can't show his face there; if he's discovered, he'll get into a fight. He's an adult; he can't rely on his fists everywhere he goes.

"The only advantage you can have right now is the competition between the forest farms. In our eyes, the customer comes first, and in the eyes of the forest farms, we are their customer. There are too many forest farms here, so there is competition among them. If a forest farm has some stockpiled goods recently, they might actually cooperate with you. You know, since there is a route from here to Jianye, someone must have seen Fang Zhang from Jianye. Just because I lack experience doesn't mean that the forest farms lack experience either." Old Guo gave Yan Hui some encouragement.

"Don't worry, Lao Guo, I can handle it myself. Starting tomorrow, I'll go to each forest farm one by one. Find me a map of all the forest farms within this area of ​​over a hundred kilometers, and I'll find them one by one." Yan Hui wasn't afraid of anything.

From moving the first log to today, only Yan Hui knows how much hardship he has endured.

They had reached a critical juncture. At this moment, Yan Hui heard the whistling wind in his ears, but his eyes were burning with determination.

(I'll add more chapters this afternoon or evening.)
(End of this chapter)