Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 310 The experiment begins

As the weather gets colder, my parents and grandmother have all returned to their hometown.

Grandma had wanted to go back for a long time. Her accent was too heavy, and there was no one to talk to here. This time she stayed for quite a long time, and her main activity every day was watching TV.

Grandma was supposed to go back in October, but Yan Hui was out buying equipment and didn't have time to arrange the family's itinerary. This time, as soon as Yan Hui came back, he immediately arranged their plane tickets so they could go back for the winter.

Yan Hui is now wealthy, but the construction of the chemical plant has put immense pressure on him, and he dares not spend any money. Before his grandmother returned home, she told him she wanted to renovate their old house, but Yan Hui could only refuse.

Given Yan Hui's current ambitions, if he were to renovate his old house, it would need to be at least five or six stories high, a project that would easily cost millions. Yan Hui doesn't dare to recklessly spend millions in cash these days; who knows how much the chemical experiments will cost?

Originally, Yan Hui thought that Chen Jian's claim that the equipment would cost over a million was an exaggeration, but when he actually bought it, he found that it was a real amount, and even 100 million seemed insufficient.

He had thought that the CNC equipment in the timber processing plant was advanced enough, but now he realized how shallow his understanding was.

To help Yan Hui learn more about polyurethane, Chen Jian brought him several books, including the first edition of "Polyurethane Elastomers and Their Applications," published by Chemical Industry Press in 1994. This book contained a lot of basic knowledge about polyurethane, which Yan Hui treasured and read almost three times in two months.

For the company's boss, mastering the knowledge to this level is perfectly sufficient; going any deeper is unlikely, as Yan Hui himself doesn't understand most chemical equations. The book's greatest value lies in its "application" introduction, which will be Yan Hui's primary focus in future sales efforts.

By the end of 2003, Yan Hui had spent nearly 110 million yuan to barely set up the factory and laboratory. He had originally planned to show off a bit when he went home for the Chinese New Year this year, but now he was out of money, so he decided to give up and wait until next year, or the year after!
The rent for the factory is 15 yuan a year, paid quarterly, which isn't a big problem. The main issue is the experimental raw materials.

Yan Hui spent 11 yuan to buy enough raw materials for about five experiments. He only had money left to distribute as welfare. After careful consideration, with Yan Hui's support, the first experiment began.

This may be a historic moment, but in fact, Yan Hui was absent from the experiment. He was busy; he had to go out and earn money!
Besides plywood and steel formwork, Yan Hui is also expanding into other businesses. He also took on some hardware business after meeting that rich kid, and he still needs to handle those personally now.

Yan Hui worked for more than a week and earned over ten thousand yuan, feeling very happy.

Once a person is successful and has a reputation and credibility in a region, it is easy to make money. When Yan Hui was doing hardware business, he also came into contact with hardware businesses at several construction sites.

The core profit of hardware consumables lies in the price difference between wholesale and retail. In short, in the hardware industry, wholesale is one business, and retail is another; they are completely different businesses.

At the wholesale end, the hardware business is almost no different from the timber business, and the profit margin is very low; at the retail end, the hardware business is like running a supermarket, with most goods having a much longer turnover time than in a supermarket.

Yan Hui is quite good at cost accounting. The profit of more than 10,000 yuan he earned this time was made through cost accounting. Others quoted 93,000 yuan for a material package that cost 100,000 yuan. After running around from start to finish, he calculated the cost to be more than 79,000 yuan, including fuel costs and other expenses, and the profit reached 14,000 yuan!

Just as Yan Hui was feeling happy, he received a call from Chen Jian.

"Boss, the second experiment failed again." Chen Jian sighed. "Our product has a purity of about 85%, but the problems with bubbles and particles are still unresolved." "It's okay, just do it normally. I believe in you." Yan Hui sighed after hanging up the phone.

Two failures in one week, costing 44,000 yuan.
Chen Jian once said that if the usual process is followed, the experiment would probably have to be done dozens or even hundreds of times, and the losses involved could be millions or even two or three million.

However, even so, there is no guarantee that the experiment will always be successful.

When Chen Jian actually started operating it himself, he was under immense pressure. The synthesis process of single-component polyurethane was more difficult than that of multi-component polyurethane. Although he had the steps in the book, he just couldn't produce a product.

Despite several failures, Yan Hui didn't take it seriously. He made an agreement with Chen Jian to finish the five experiments before the Chinese New Year this year and continue next year.

Yan Hui was out running around doing business every day, making a little money from all sorts of things. Before he knew it, it was January, and the Chinese New Year was just around the corner. Chen Jian had finished all five of his experiments.

Unsurprisingly, they all failed.

That day, Chen Jian went to Yan Hui's residence to find him, and showed him several experimental reports.

"Have you been living in this warehouse all this time?" Chen Jian asked, somewhat puzzled, after arriving at his destination.

“I live here. My brother-in-law gives me 1500 yuan a month, and I don’t have to pay for water and electricity. The key point is that it’s convenient for me to keep my dog,” Yan Hui explained.

Lingling doesn't really like apartment buildings. He's hardly ever lived in the one Yan Hui bought. Even though he's a big boss now, he's used to living here.

"Huh?" Chen Jian sighed. "A few years ago, I was chatting with that Xiao Song here. I thought to myself, in a few years, you'll be living in a mansion! I never imagined that a few years later, with your income so high, you'd still be living here."

“I’ve really gotten used to it. To be honest, I can’t sleep well when I’m home. When I’m here, I always think about some things that happened when I first came to Jinan. Do you know why I don’t care that your experiment failed? Because when I came to Jinan, I had nothing. In these four years, I’ve come this far, and I’m very content.” Yan Hui didn’t look at Chen Jian’s experimental report.

Yan Hui put the lab report back into Chen Jian's bag: "I don't know anything about experiments. As bosses, we're prepared to fail fifty times from the beginning. You told me before that we needed 50 or 100 times, so I won't ask about the specific process until we've failed 50 or 100 times. You guys go home for the New Year this year, and I'll raise some funds and purchase some materials next year so we can continue."

Yan Hui had already spoken with the bank, and they could get a loan for the equipment they purchased, at least 50 yuan. Moreover, after the lab was built, leaders visited and promised many tangible benefits, which would at least be advantageous for securing a loan.

"President Yan, I've always felt confident working with you, and our factory will definitely be built! I'm so sure of it!" Chen Jian was inspired by Yan Hui's enthusiasm and became even more confident.

(End of this chapter)