Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 429 Getting Involved

The work Li Haifeng mentioned, in addition to obtaining data from these years, also includes geological mapping, deep trench excavation, drilling, and mineral processing tests, which are currently impossible to do.

But sampling isn't that difficult. Yan Hui checked the time: "Zhiyuan, go and have a good chat with that security guard."

"Understood." Song Zhiyuan understood immediately.

In the evening, Yan Hui drove Li Haifeng back to school and left him a 4GB USB drive: "This USB drive is for you. It contains some publicly available information about the mine. I don't know if it will be helpful to you. Anyway, based on what we have, I hope you can give me an analysis report as soon as possible."

"It shouldn't be a big problem." Li Haifeng nodded, took the USB drive and his bag, and got out of the car.

After Li Haifeng left, Yan Hui looked at Song Zhiyuan, who was sitting in the passenger seat: "I think Professor Wang is a good person. We can ask him to recommend a few more students to us later."

"Indeed, although I didn't pursue a master's degree, this kind of teacher is really rare. Li Haifeng is particularly calm and very solid; he's a talented person."

"If we can secure this mine, I think we can recruit this person. We can also collaborate with Professor Wang on the fine calcium oxide project." Yan Hui had a rough plan in mind.

“Brother Hui, let’s not beat around the bush. I feel that it’s not because you’re pressured by targets that you want to enter this industry, but because you’re genuinely interested in it,” Song Zhiyuan asked, turning around.

"Haha, you know me best. We have money in our accounts now, so we have to keep moving forward. I can't rush Heng Hui's R&D; I can only wait. Right now, the biggest opportunity for us is environmental protection. As long as the country continues to promote environmental protection, our polyurethane sales will get better and better. What do we do in this process? Lie back? If we lie back, we'll never have another chance," Yan Hui laughed.

Song Zhiyuan was right. A project with an investment of 5000 million yuan was very attractive to Yan Hui, especially the project in front of him, which would bring multiple benefits if done well.

“Yes, several business managers who received funding this year have said they want to earn even more next year, and they are all very motivated. If they ever earn less, everyone will definitely slack off.” Song Zhiyuan nodded in agreement.

To develop a business, you either need to continuously advance vertically, seek new opportunities horizontally, or develop both vertically and horizontally. As long as you can move forward, you can't stop.

When will you retire?
In reality, there will never be a day for retirement.

Many CEOs of large companies are busy until they become seriously ill or even pass away.

Running a business and working for someone else are two completely different concepts. "Retirement" is just wishful thinking. A professional manager can never be as good as the boss himself. Or rather, no matter how good a professional manager is, the boss still needs to be present at all times to set policies and strategies. And for the boss to set good policies and strategies, he needs to have a deep understanding of the company, the market, and other dimensions.

Paradoxically, a semi-retired boss is unlikely to have this kind of understanding.

So, can you sell your entire business and just lie low? Generally, no. When you leave this path and lose the vast social network that has sustained you, you'll find countless people eyeing your money, and that's when the danger begins. Unless your assets aren't that much, only a few tens of millions, in which case you can simply move to a big city and no one will be interested, but you'll never have the chance to achieve financial freedom in a big city in your lifetime.

“However, the feeling of doing this is actually very fulfilling,” Yan Hui said with a smile, then slowly closed his eyes. “I’m going to rest for a while.” “Okay.”

After returning to the company, Yan Hui held two more meetings to understand the current market situation. Finally, he kept Zhou Ping and Song Zhiyuan in the room to continue discussing the matter of precision calcium oxide.

“Here’s what I’m thinking: government departments need us to manufacture calcium oxide, some of which is for environmental protection purposes. So, our factory doesn’t need to produce all of it as refined calcium oxide. We can divide it into two workshops: one to produce quicklime for sale, and the other to purify it.” Yan Hui took out a piece of paper with his latest calculation formulas on it.

“This way, the risk is indeed very small, and we can get whatever we need. In this way, we can also expand our conventional calcium oxide market. Mr. Yan, judging from your situation, you will be building a large cement plant in just a few years,” Zhou Ping remarked.

"After the cement plant comes the large steel plant," Song Zhiyuan said with a smile.

"Looks like you two are still too idle." Yan Hui was somewhat speechless.

As calculated earlier, a standardized cement plant with a daily output of 5000 tons of cement costs close to 10 billion yuan, while a large steel plant with a daily output of 150 tons of steel requires an investment of approximately 1.5 billion yuan. These are things that Yan Hui currently dares not even think about.

"Mr. Yan, to be honest, I think the cement plant is a reliable option. We can't come up with a 10 billion yuan investment, but the gap doesn't seem that big. Besides, it's not like we have to do it all ourselves; we can do it together. Loans are so easy to get this year!" Zhou Ping said, a little excited.

Zhou Ping is the finance director of Heng Hui Chemical. Although he also participated in Yan Hui's steel trading and tile business, neither of these projects were as profitable as the chemical industry. Only something a level above chemicals could excite him.

“I’m not going to put all our savings into becoming a minority shareholder. We’ve always taken things one step at a time, and we’re already facing so many problems. If we were to start a cement plant, where would we get the necessary permits?” Yan Hui shook his head.

Although he has many resources related to construction, and he's even confident he can run a cement plant successfully, it's still a long way off. If everything goes smoothly, it might take him five years to reach that level.

“Look,” Zhou Ping said, looking at Song Zhiyuan, “I knew President Yan would be interested.”

“I noticed that too.” Song Zhiyuan was also a little excited. “President Yan’s gaze was always looking forward.”

"What business can you do without ambition?" Yan Hui said without holding back, seeing Zhou Ping and the other man say this. "However, if we can do well with this calcium oxide business, and if we can also acquire our mine and properly upgrade it, the company could really grow several times over in a few years, to the point where we can build a cement plant."

The cement plant Yan Hui mentioned was not the kind of small, poorly made factory, but a standardized cement plant with a daily output of 5000 tons, which is very large in scale!

“If that’s the case, then we have to find a way to secure this calcium oxide project,” Zhou Ping said, taking the initiative.

“Well, now that you mention it, I have a new idea,” Yan Hui wrote on a piece of paper and then showed it to the two of them. “Among the three things—cement, construction sites, and chemicals—there is a very important category called concrete additives, especially water-reducing agents. We should keep an eye on this recently, and we can try to become an agent for it. In any case, we should try to get a foothold in this market from the side.”

(End of this chapter)