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

Chapter 102: The Village-to-Village Electrification Project Commences, Revenue Received
Moreover, during this trip to town, my third uncle informed me that construction would begin the day after tomorrow, with three routes proceeding simultaneously. I absolutely had to be there to keep an eye on Huang Man.

When the commission is settled next month, with the small excavator earning 200 yuan a day and 6,000 yuan a month, his income will reach 21,000 yuan a month. If you don't count the value of the two excavators, even in Luhe Town, few people can compare to him, let alone in the village now.

But for some reason, Yu Dawei always felt that the more money he made, the poorer he became. It seemed that after working hard for the past few months, he still only had the money he had saved for his wife. But when he thought about it, he was now the owner of two excavators, something he would have never dared to dream of in his previous life.

In his previous life, it took him fifteen or sixteen years to partner with someone to buy an excavator, and he even had to borrow money from his aunt.

Although he still has debts, he is not worried about not being able to pay them off. He has income every month, and sooner or later he will be able to pay off all his debts.

While his eldest son was fast asleep, Yu Dawei and his wife spent some more time together on the kang (a heated brick bed), chatting quietly and casually.

"Wife, do you want to live in town?" Yu Dawei suddenly turned his head, and by the moonlight outside the window, he could clearly see Han Jingfan's fair face. "If you come to town with me, I will rent a house there."

"Do we really have to go to town?" Han Jingfan turned her head, her eyes blinking as she looked at the other person.

"No, the decision is yours. You can go if you want, or I will respect your decision if you don't want to." Having learned his lesson from the past, Yu Dawei now discusses everything with Han Jingfan.

If Yu Dawei hadn't forced his wife and children to accompany him to Hohhot in his past life, she wouldn't have been so anxious because he wasn't home, and he wouldn't have ended up divorcing her later. The company might not even have gone bankrupt.

Respect is essential between husband and wife; he would remind himself of this from time to time.

“Actually, I think our lives are already pretty good. Take my second brother, for example. He lives in town and works at the grain depot. It looks glamorous on the surface, but I can tell that his life isn’t easy.” Han Jingfan lay in bed with Yu Dawei, her eyes fixed on the ceiling covered with newspaper. “The grain depot’s salary is so low, probably not even a fraction of what you make. I don’t feel happy working so hard in town. It’s really better to raise chickens or ducks in the village.”

Han Jingfan speaks in a soft and pleasant voice. She is more relaxed when talking to her family than before, especially when talking to herself.

Yu Dawei really enjoyed listening to Han Jingfan speak; her voice was like a light veil, soothing to the touch.

This was an experience he had never had in his previous life. Yu Dawei tightened his grip on Han Jingfan's small hand in the blankets. He cherished it very much.

"I'll listen to you, as long as you like it." Yu Dawei turned around and hugged Han Jingfan. "Actually, I've known for a long, long time that you've never liked city life. What you love most is taking care of your family's vegetable garden and feeding the pigs, dogs, and chickens at home."

You prefer a quiet atmosphere with a touch of everyday life, rather than a noisy environment filled with loneliness.

Han Jingfan leaned against Yu Dawei, her petite back completely enveloped by his broad chest. She listened quietly to him speak until the last sentence made her tremble, her heart pounding as if it had been pierced.

This feeling is like someone suddenly opening your heart, walking into your soul, planting a seed in your heart, and it quickly sprouting and growing.

Han Jingfan's breathing became slightly heavy, her excited heart unable to be contained. She turned around and gazed at the man she loved most, passionately offering him a kiss.

At this moment, she presented a stark contrast to her usual gentle and elegant personality.

Yu Dawei felt the warmth Han Jingfan was conveying to him, and he tried his best to respond, trying to tell her in this way that he would love her well and cherish her for the rest of his life, and would never hurt her again or cause her any harm.

Silent all night.

The next day, Yu Dawei, dragging his aching body, drove his four-wheeled vehicle and reluctantly left home.

He first went to the site of Section 9 to pick up Huang Man, and then took Huang Man to his third uncle's project office. Under Yu Dawei's scrutiny, Manzi successfully operated all the instructions of the wheeled excavator in the cab.

Only then did Yu Dawei feel relieved enough to let him go with him that afternoon, driving the wheel excavator to Heshan Village. The project was starting tomorrow, and the equipment from all departments had to be in place a day in advance, as Qi Dadu had instructed.

My third uncle never showed up for these matters, and he rarely acted as the person in charge. Like other migrant workers, he worked on his own small plot of land.

In my third uncle's words, when I have nothing to do, I can take on another job so that I can supervise the work of the people below me and get double the pay. Why not?

Upon hearing this, Yu Dawei could only give this amazing person a thumbs up. He knew that if the workers heard this idea, they would be moved to tears. Not only would the man steal their work, but he would also indirectly make them do the work.

As the project manager, Qi Dadu held a meeting with the employers of the equipment the day before construction began. Although he was usually very polite to everyone in private, he became extremely serious when it came to business, completely unlike his usual joking self. He was not only clear-headed but also decisive and efficient, which explains why his third uncle trusted him so much to handle such a mess.

The main purpose of the meeting was to reiterate some details of the contract when it was signed.

For example, neither excavators nor transport trucks need to refuel themselves; the company will provide free refueling. However, the drivers do not receive three meals a day; they need to take care of their own meals.

Another issue is accommodation. The project office in the town will provide each worker with a dormitory, but it is not recommended that you go back to sleep every day, because time is precious in the summer and traveling back and forth between the town and the village will take up a lot of time.

Qi Dadu suggested that the bosses should find accommodation for their workers in the village, whether it's the village committee or somewhere else. If that's not possible, they can stay in the town, but they'll need to find their own transportation, as the project site doesn't provide dedicated vehicles for personnel.

This incident sparked a discussion among some of the bosses. After all, they had prepared dormitories, but there wasn't even a shuttle bus. Wasn't this a clear indication that they didn't want people to live at the project site?

However, some bosses can understand that the Northeast is not like the South, where you can work all year round. When winter comes and the temperature drops to minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius, the soil freezes solid, and it becomes virtually impossible to continue working.

Therefore, mechanical work in the north has two characteristics: one is that general construction machinery has a very long service life, and the other is that the resale price is very high.

Secondly, the wages are not low. After all, the wages in the summer have to include the part for not working in the winter. Otherwise, if you do nothing in the winter, the whole family will starve. So, compared to those who work in machinery, whether they are drivers or mechanics, their wages are generally slightly higher than in the south.

After hearing what Qi Dadu said, Yu Dawei also began to think about Huang Man's accommodation. However, no matter where he stayed, Manzi had to be given a dormitory in the town's project department. Qi Dadu also said that every worker had one.

After the meeting and the assignment of employee dormitories, it was already noon. Yu Dawei planned to have lunch and take a nap with Huang Man before leaving the project site with Manzi.

After finishing his meal, he saw Huang Man sitting in the driver's seat, excitedly fiddling with the gear lever, cup holder, toolbox, and other items... like a child who had just received a favorite toy, completely oblivious to the scorching heat under the blazing sun.

"How does this cab compare to your old Hitachi, Brother Axe?" Yu Dawei smirked as he walked over to the PW40 wheeled excavator.

"This is much better than Brother Axe's driver's cab. It even has a cup holder and a towel hanging here." Huang Man turned his head, took the towel off the iron hook next to him, and wiped the sweat from his face.

"The water bottle and towel on the cup holder were provided by me later, in case the cab is too small and you get heatstroke while working." Yu Dawei touched the metal sheet outside the cab with his right hand, and a stinging sensation came from it, making Yu Dawei quickly withdraw his hand.

"No, it's not hot in here. A breeze blows through occasionally, and it's quite cool." Huang Man chuckled twice, then pointed to the ceiling, "Except for the area right above your head."

Yu Dawei took two steps back and looked at the roof of the car: "It's okay, I'll find some black netting to put on it for you."

Without further ado, if there was nothing available, they would go directly to Qi Da Duzi. Third Uncle would definitely not want to bother with them over such a small matter, and Qi Da Duzi would certainly know better than Third Uncle where to find black netting or cloth.

Sure enough, there was no grid, but Qi Dadu found a piece of black cloth. The project team also had welding equipment and steel bars, so they found a few short steel bars and welded four steel bars on the roof. They then welded a screw cap onto each of the bars.

The final step is to use wire to tie the four corners of the black cloth together with four screws.

When Huang Man went up again, the intense heat on the top of his head was gone.

You're done!

It looks a bit ugly, but oh well, it's my own car anyway, I can mess with it however I want.

At worst, we can use an angle grinder to disassemble the four rods in winter.

Yu Dawei didn't care much about the appearance of his excavator. It wasn't for sale, and his two uncles, the bosses, knew how well the machine performed, so there was no need to waste energy on its appearance.

Yu Dawei had previously considered repainting the car, like that old Hitachi, but then thought better of it, realizing it wasn't necessary.

We can sell it whenever we want.

(End of this chapter)