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

Chapter 182 Friends Gather, Wine Named Dragon Soul

After organizing the recent price list, Yu Dawei carefully copied it again on a brand new piece of paper. His handwriting was ugly and hadn't changed much over the years, so he could only write each stroke carefully, making sure they were straight and level. This was the way his grandfather, Yu Laonian, had taught him to write.

"It's okay if you really can't write. Just write straight lines. The more you write, the better your strokes will become. Practicing calligraphy is just a matter of practice makes perfect." The old man said this when he was a teacher.

After preparing the two repair service fee schedules, Yu Dawei placed the nicer one on the kang (a heated brick bed) and the less nice one in the red lacquered cabinet on the north wall, keeping it as a backup in case he needed it later.

Next, Yu Dawei put on his thick repair clothes, took his set of tools and went out. There were still several vehicles outside that needed repairing, and lately he hadn't even had time to repair the road roller.

Two more days passed in this busy way. At the beginning, Yu Dawei and the other two were so busy that they forgot to eat, but later they were able to rest. Finally, on the third day, the need for sticking to the fetus to replenish qi was significantly reduced.

Lao Ji once suggested to Yu Dawei that they should get an air pump. Although inflating tires doesn't cost much, the sheer volume of work makes it worthwhile. If they had an air pump, they could earn more money.

After careful consideration, Yu Dawei ultimately decided to abandon Lao Ji's suggestion.

There are three people in the factory now. If he has other things to do, it will be just him and Axe. Although Axe can disassemble and assemble, it is unrealistic to say that he can repair cars. At least he is definitely not good at diagnosing diseases.

Judging from the level of the repairman, Axe is at most a senior apprentice.

In that case, Old Ji would be the only one left in the entire repair shop. Even if he had three heads and six arms, he couldn't possibly handle everything at the same time: repairing trucks, construction equipment, cars, buses, and finally patching and inflating tires.

It's not that Yu Dawei can't afford an air pump right now; Boss Liang also sells air pumps. But if he actually bought one, he would have to start inflating tires in his car, and with cars coming and going, he would need an extra person to handle the traffic. Just thinking about it gives him a headache.

If there are more people in the factory later, Yu Dawei will definitely put this matter on the agenda, but now he can't let Lao Ji be so busy that he suddenly dies in the snow, that would really be letting down the old man.

Now, Fanfan Repair Shop is operating normally. Aside from the initial surge in customers when it first opened, by the third day, it had reached four or five cars a day. Excluding minor issues, one or two cars required disassembly and repair.

Even if Yu Dawei isn't around, Lao Ji can handle this workload himself. If he recruits two more apprentices next year, he can support three people based on the current normal customer flow.

Since Yu Dawei first opened the factory to repair cars, he has been earning an average of 500 yuan a day, not counting the cars that are still sitting in the yard and haven't been repaired yet.

In short, he would make at least 500 yuan in net profit. As for the rent for the courtyard, it was negligible at the moment, but Yu Dawei knew that he owed Brother Duan a favor.

Yu Dawei also made a special "Team Leader's Repair Manual" for Lao Ji. Every day, he would make a simple record of what kind of car he repaired and what model it was. The manual was very thick, and he could also write down some repair tips in it. If there were any apprentices later on, they could also flip through it and learn from it.

Currently, his repair shop is just a makeshift operation. He plans to develop a complete system once it matures.

This was something he had wanted to do but hadn't done well when he started the company: a specialized machinery repair company would definitely be more efficient if it had its own unique system.

After the repair shop's maintenance work stabilized, Yu Dawei finally had time to ask Boss Liang about the availability of road roller parts.

The shed for repairing the BMW BW160 in the yard has been set up. Now it only needs a few important parts and can be overhauled at any time.

With Lao Ji assisting him at the factory, Yu Dawei was even more confident that he could fix the car before spring.

The red car stopped at Boss Liang's parts shop, only to find the door closed. He knew without a doubt that the guy had gone to Duan Dahai's place. So he drove to the scrap metal recycling station on the south side of town.

After some time away, the entire waste recycling station has become more presentable. A wide passageway has been built in front of several brick houses in the distance, paved with bricks, and extends all the way to the south gate.

Several grid-style sorting areas were set up on the west side, with a wooden sign in front of each sorting area bearing words painted in red.

The handwriting was crooked, but still legible: scrap metal section, scrap copper section, old clothes, wine bottles, general merchandise section...

Each area occupied a long stretch, wide enough that even an excavator could move freely within it. There were quite a few items in each area, and along the boundary of the houses, the eastern side of the yard was piled high with unsorted scrap, resembling three or four small mountains. Yu Dawei's car parked next to Boss Liang's beat-up pickup truck. As soon as his car stopped, Boss Duan and Boss Liang came out together.

When the two men saw Yu Dawei in the car, they couldn't help but grin, as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time.

"See? I told you this kid would come looking for us as soon as he finished these last couple of days." Boss Liang boasted about his prophetic words again, raising an eyebrow at Duan Dahai.

“I actually hope he can stay busy. It’s good to be busy.” Duan Dahai glanced at Yu Dawei’s car and couldn’t help but exclaim, “This car is much better than my old tricycle, and it’s many times better than Lao Liang’s old pickup truck.”

"Tsk, no one will think you're mute if you don't speak." Boss Liang rolled his eyes at him, then quickly ran to the Fiat red car and examined it carefully, as if he were touching a work of art. "This shape, this streamline, this jet... it's obviously imported."

Yu Dawei shook his head with amusement: "Old Liang, take it easy. This old car hasn't been washed for days. Don't get your clothes dirty."

"It's alright, it's alright. I had my eye on a used white one of these cars a few years ago, but it was too expensive and too small." Boss Liang reluctantly turned his gaze to Yu Dawei, "How much did you pay for it? Was it new?"

"It's kind of new, not something I bought. This trip to Qingcheng...it's a long story." Yu Dawei gave a wry smile. "I have a story to tell. Do you two brothers have any wine?"

"Of course!" Boss Liang's eyes lit up, and he looked at Old Duan. "Old drunkard, why don't you bring out your good wine and have Dawei cook a couple of good dishes for us? I'm going to the small shop in the south to buy some ingredients."

It was past two o'clock in the afternoon, and it was still light out. There was still plenty of time before lunchtime, so Boss Liang couldn't wait to leave the compound.

"This guy has been eyeing the good wine I brought back for a while now." Duan Dahai was also a bit of a headache, but he didn't care too much. Good wine is more fun to share with good friends. "It's been a long time since I've had your braised sauerkraut. You'd better show off your skills this time."

“No problem! Our expert is a master at fixing cars and cooking.” Yu Dawei grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, and then leaned closer to Duan Dahai. “Brother, I really had to overcome many obstacles this time. Last time I went to Lao Liang’s place, I only gave him a general overview. Come inside and I’ll tell you the details.”

"Oh right! I've been meaning to bring you some liquor from our village, but I kept forgetting." Yu Dawei ran to the car and took out a small bottle of baijiu from the back seat. "It's the liquor my uncle drank. I spent some money to have a guy from our village brew a new batch."

Yu Dawei led Sanbai into the house, explaining how difficult the winemaking process was.

Duan Dahai followed behind with a smile, glancing at Dawei's back and then at the liquor the other party had brought. Wasn't this better than the Moutai he had brought back? After all, it was liquor that his little brother had brought him specially.

In fact, Duan Dahai was right. Yu Dawei brought the wine to the town after leaving the village. However, he had to repair the cars in the factory, inspect the Ackerman excavator in the oil city, and go to Taixian to find someone. He was too busy with too many things to do.

Before going to Qingcheng, Yu Dawei had discussed this wine with Yu Dajiu. However, the raw materials were hard to find, and the brewing process was quite demanding, requiring a period of preparation. It was only a few days ago that they finally managed to make it.

A 50-liter barrel of baijiu, weighing 100 jin (50 kg), cost Yu Dawei 500 yuan, including labor and raw material costs. Normally, the ordinary bulk baijiu sold by Yu Dawei in the village only costs 9 mao (0.9 yuan) per jin, while it normally costs about 1.2 yuan outside. Compared to this, the baijiu that Yu Dawei asked him to brew is of very high value. This is only because Yu Dawei, considering that they are from the same village, only charged some labor costs.

Yu Dajiu also showed Dawei some wine recipes passed down from the Yu family ancestors. They were all locked in a small elm wood box, but unfortunately some of them were damaged and the recipes were soaked with some unknown liquid. Some of them had been passed down, but unfortunately, the method of making distilled liquor was not explained. Yu Dajiu tried them a few times, but the taste did not meet his expectations.

Yu Dawei knew that Yu Dajiu wanted to use all the old wine recipes passed down from their ancestors to recreate those old wines, but not only were the ingredients hard to find, but the cost of trial and error was also too high.

For example, one of the wine recipes is called Bear Soul Wine, and one of the ingredients requires bear bile, and not just any bear bile, but the extremely rare golden bile! How do you get that?
Moreover, putting aside the fact that they are rare, they are now protected animals. If they were caught, it would be a very serious matter.

Are we supposed to go to the Russians to get it? Even the most passionate drinker wouldn't risk their life for a baseless recipe.

After much persuasion, Yu Dawei managed to get Yu Dajiu to let go of some of his obsessions before he left with the newly brewed wine.

This wine also has a name; the recipe calls it "Dragon Soul".

(End of this chapter)