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

Chapter 192: The source of the assembled wheeled excavator has been found!

Seeing that there was no suitable excavator in Wang Yang's yard, Deng Zhijun suggested taking a few people to look for a cheaper one.

He also came to a new understanding of these poor guys: the amount of money they could offer was extremely limited, at most no more than 100,000 yuan. He had gleaned this information from them while he was looking at the other excavators in the yard.

The group started walking from south to north, passing by courtyards one by one. Deng Zhijun would take them in to take a look, but he would only give a brief introduction about which brand of excavators the store mainly sold, how many years they had been in business, and other such casual remarks.

As for questions about excavator expertise, the other party didn't say a word.

Finally, the group stopped outside the yard of a Changhai equipment rental company. The yard was also full of excavators, but both the ground and the equipment in the distance were extremely dirty and messy.

Some excavators were covered in mud, and some dismantled fenders were carelessly thrown on the ground. However, in terms of both size and the number of excavators, the entire yard was comparable to that of Wang Yang's excavator rental business.

The road from the gate to the yard was a muddy dirt road. Some of it was probably because it had snowed. The snow on the ground had melted when the temperature warmed up at noon, and the ground began to soften. The wheels left tracks wherever they went, as well as various track marks of different widths.

The main gate of the courtyard was painted with a layer of dark red paint. Perhaps because of the long time that had passed, the red paint and red rust had long since blended together, and it was impossible to tell which color was more intense. The half of the large iron gate next to it was still broken, just resting there against the place where the tracks were stacked.

Above the entrance is an arched doorway with a signboard on it. On either side of the door are an excavator, a road roller, a bulldozer, and a crane.

These vehicles were in such a dilapidated state that they were practically scrap metal, some even covered in rust, and the road rollers and bulldozers showed signs of having been dismantled.

“Brothers, this is the place I mentioned before. The number of construction machines in his house is no less than that of Boss Wang Yang in the far south.” Deng Zhijun said as he led Yu Dawei and the other two inside.

It was only after entering the courtyard that a complex mix of surprise and understanding finally surfaced in Yu Dawei's usually calm gaze.

What did he see in the yard?
It was a wheeled excavator, which looked a lot like the tracked version of the PW40. It had a round excavator body and a very narrow black bucket. The most important thing for Yu Dawei was the boom and forearm. The boom and forearm, which were not from the same excavator, were perfectly connected together.

This piecemeal feel is exactly the same as the wheeled excavator that Yu Dawei salvaged from the village.

There's no doubt about it, the master craftsman who can assemble it with these parts is definitely here!

Although Yu Dawei had a general idea that Deng Zhijun was related to that old master, he still felt a surge of excitement deep down after confirming it.

After all, if we're talking about talent alone, Yu Dawei is even somewhat ashamed of himself.

Take this wheeled PW40 excavator in the yard, for example. Replacing the tracks on the PW40 with tires, making it move on tires, is practically like combining a man's upper body with a woman's lower body. If Master Lü were here, he would definitely be dumbfounded and curse: "Damn it! What the hell is this thing? It's an eyesore!"

Yu Dawei thought for a moment and then withdrew his gaze. This was not the time to reveal his true colors. He wanted to take this opportunity to get a good look at the master he had been communicating with for so long.

“Their place isn’t as expensive as Mr. Wang’s. Mr. Chang Hai has excavators at all price points!” Deng Zhijun explained as he turned around, already getting into the swing of things. “Not only excavators, but Mr. Chang Hai also deals in all kinds of other construction equipment. He has the most complete range of construction equipment in Yushui County.”

Boss Liang and Duan Dahai both nodded in agreement, but their eyes were not on Deng Zhijun. Instead, they looked around the yard aimlessly, like country bumpkins visiting the Grand View Garden, perfectly displaying their "unworldly" appearance.

This was also an agreement among the group in the car. Boss Liang was afraid that he might accidentally say something wrong and the other party would misunderstand it, thus affecting the plan.

Duan Dahai was also somewhat worried about this, mainly because he was afraid that the other party would trick him into revealing information. A single sentence could even provoke his emotional aversion, and if the other party caught him out of the corner of his eye, who knows what might happen.

So Yu Dawei told the two of them to keep quiet and act as if they had never seen it before, and to improvise as needed.

The three had only one goal: to escape safely. If they could find a suitable excavator, that would be best; if not, their own safety was the priority.

“Boss Chang has a lot of apprentices here, so you can see his house, a total of nine large brick houses, which divide the courtyard into front and back.” Deng Zhijun pointed to the brick houses in the distance, and then to the gate next to the house. “Usually, broken vehicles are put in the back for repairs, while the front houses excavators that have already been repaired, as well as some other engineering equipment.”

“This place is really big.” Yu Dawei followed his two older brothers’ example, turning his head to look around, and even touching some of the excavators.

The garbage, the paint wasn't even dry, yet they dared to put it in the front yard. The owner of this yard must be a ruthless scoundrel. "He takes care of repairs, parking, maintenance, selling parts, and other things all in one place. It's impossible to operate in a small space." Deng Zhijun took in the expressions of the three men and thought to himself that it was nothing special. Even if there were some changes along the way, it would still be under his control.

"Is Brother Chang here?" Deng Zhijun called out as he entered the house.

"Who is it! Damn it, barking like a dog at the door in the middle of the day, can't a person even get a nap!" A young bald man, wearing a thick cotton-padded coat, came out of the house on the east side. He was dumbfounded when he saw that it was Deng Zhijun!
Especially when he saw the other person's gloomy eyes staring at him, the bald young man was so frightened that his palms immediately became sweaty. He hurriedly stepped forward, bowing and scraping, and said, "Brother Jun, what brings you here? You've come at the worst possible time. My boss just went out and said that someone was selling an excavator. As soon as he heard that, he left immediately, afraid that someone else would beat him to it."

Deng Zhijun glared at the other person and said, "Forget it, let's wait for him."

"These guys are here to buy an excavator. Please entertain them well. I'm going to the restroom first." After saying that, Deng Zhijun turned to Yu Dawei and the other two and smiled, "This guy is Boss Chang's eldest apprentice, Yang Zi. Let him show you around later. I'm going to the restroom first."

"Everyone has to go to the bathroom sometimes, I understand." Yu Dawei smiled and waved his hand. "Brother Jun'er has had a long journey, you go ahead and do your work."

“That’s right, that’s right, no need to be so polite with us.” Boss Liang echoed with a smile, his emotions no less than when he first met Brother Jun’er, his main point being to make sure you couldn’t tell he disliked you.

"Okay, wait a moment, I'll be right back." Deng Zhijun said, then turned and hurried away.

After Yu Dawei and the other two entered the house, Deng Zhijun quietly came out from behind the pile of parts and then quickly headed out of the yard.

He needed to find a place to call his thieves and check on the injured brother. He also wanted to ambush Chang Hai at the door; he couldn't let this loss go unpunished. He needed to find a way to "skin" these three.

"Where are you all from?" Yang Zi, the bald young man, turned his head and asked with a smile.

"I'm from the Northeast and I'm looking for a small excavator to process the scrap in my yard." Yu Dawei smiled sincerely, pulled Duan Dahai over, and then said to the bald young man, "My brother runs a scrap metal recycling station. Having an excavator to help with the work will make things much easier."

"I understand, I understand! We may not have much else, but we have as many of these old, beat-up excavators as you want." The bald young man smiled and invited the three into the house. Then he explained, "The workers in the east room are all sleeping. Let's go to the west room and chat first."

The bald young man dared not introduce them casually, after all, they were brought by Brother Jun. To put it bluntly, these guys were easy targets. If he didn't handle things properly, like how deep his words were or how much he was willing to pay, Deng Zhijun would definitely report him to his boss.

He wouldn't do such a thankless and arduous task.

"Sure, by the way, I heard your backyard is a repair shop, so I suppose we have a lot of repairmen here?" Yu Dawei asked as he followed behind the other person.

"Not that many, just five or six, all sleeping in the east room," the bald young man explained. "Two are the boss's brothers-in-law, one is his nephew, and then there are people like me who have been with our boss for a long time."

"Really?" Yu Dawei forced a bright smile, as if he had become much closer to the other party. "To be honest, I'm just an apprentice in Northeast China. I can't compare to you skilled experts. Can I go to your backyard to broaden my horizons later?"

Upon hearing this, the bald young man hesitated. Generally speaking, anyone could go to the backyard; it was just a bunch of broken metal lumps that no one would leave once they saw them. However, these three people were special; they were the fat sheep that Deng Zhijun had brought over…

"Since you don't agree, then let's hurry up and go out to check out the car. Didn't Brother Jun ask you to help us check out the car?" Yu Dawei, who was about to step into the west room, pulled his leg back the next second.

Behind him, Duan Dahai couldn't help but secretly give Yu Dawei a thumbs up. That tactic of retreating to advance was brilliant! You really didn't waste your time reading that book, "The Book of Plain Words," on the way here, Dawei.

With Duan Dahai's keen eye, he could naturally tell that the bald young man didn't want to take them to the yard to look at the cars. The other party wasn't deaf; Deng Zhijun had clearly given instructions before he left, and if he didn't follow them, then it must be because he was unwilling.

Yu Dawei was able to see this, which means he was far more perceptive than Boss Liang standing next to him.

"Hey buddy, we're all in the same line of work, what are you talking about? If you want to go, just go. There's nothing valuable in the backyard, just some junk." The bald young man readily compromised, after all, the other party had said he was just an apprentice, and even if he went to the backyard, he'd probably be just like a complete novice and wouldn't be able to tell anything.

"Thank you so much. To be honest, my master's skills are just average, definitely not as good as your master's." Yu Dawei said with a smile, trying to entice him. He wanted to know if the assembler was indeed Boss Chang Hai.

"My master is nothing." The young man covered his mouth as soon as he finished speaking, and then pleaded with Yu Dawei, "Brother, please don't tell him when my master comes again, please."

(End of this chapter)