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

Chapter 3 Recovering the 2,000 Yuan Old Hitachi

In the middle of the night, Yu Dawei brought Dabai back to his yard. Dabai immediately crawled into the hay shed and, perhaps because it was too tired, lay down on the hay and closed its eyes.

Yu Dawei stood at the door, hesitated for a moment, opened the wooden door first, then pushed open the canvas curtain inside to block the cold wind before entering the house.

Upon entering the room, he saw a girl with a protruding belly sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) against the north wall, quietly waiting for him on the edge of the kang, with a nearly burnt-out red candle beside her.

"Still not asleep?" Yu Dawei asked.

The girl remained silent.

Yu Dawei sighed. Han Jingfan, his wife, had always been like this in her past life—taciturn and aloof.

The reason he took a liking to Han Jingfan at first sight was simply because she was beautiful.

Judging solely by her looks, she might be several times more attractive than some celebrities who have undergone postmodern micro-plastic surgery. Moreover, she is clean and doesn't eat cilantro, much like a princess in a book.

However, as time went by, Yu Dawei began to tire of the old and crave the new, forgetting who had accompanied him through the hardships when he was at his poorest, wasting most of his life, and even not having a house.

She bore him two sons, but he returned to her a strange world and a body that was no longer young.

At fifty, they divorced and went their separate ways. Three years later, he heard that she had ended her unhappy life in a rented room. Only then did he truly understand two words: the love of his life and the sinner.

"I'm sorry." Yu Dawei huddled in the blankets, staring at the dark ceiling, a chill running down his spine.

"Does it mean you raised money to buy equipment, or that you took my dowry money behind my back, or that you're never home and I have to go looking for you to eat?" Han Jingfan's tone remained as calm as ever.

To Yu's great surprise, the other person talked much more than usual today. He wanted to say something more, but was dismissed with a simple "Go to sleep."

Yu Dawei didn't sleep all night—it turned out that she had known everything all along.

The next day, at dawn, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, the sunlight and colorful clouds shone on every corner of this small village, and the cold air, carrying the fresh scent of earth, filled our nostrils.

Yu Dawei drove his grandfather's Dongfanghong 180 four-wheeled vehicle alone, carrying the equipment, towards the parts store in town. He didn't mind giving rides to villagers who needed to go to town.

Arriving at the magnificent auto parts store in town, I found Boss Liang, who was "ten months pregnant," and first took out more than four hundred yuan from my pocket and handed it to him.

"Boss Liang, I found over four hundred yuan in the cylinder liner when I got home yesterday, so I brought it to you," Yu Dawei said.

The reason I suspected the other party of stealing my equipment was because when I bought the equipment, I found more than 400 yuan hidden in the cylinder liner.

Liang Hongwei took the money, his dark face beaming with excitement: "Brother, to be honest, this four hundred yuan is my secret stash of money that I've been saving behind my wife's back. I was already prepared to lose money yesterday, but I didn't expect you to bring the money to me today. You're a really good person."

Yu Dawei smiled sheepishly: "Actually, there's something else. I'm not planning to buy those devices anymore."

Liang Hongwei looked out through the window covered with plastic sheeting and could vaguely see the equipment that had been sold yesterday.

"Haha, I thought it was something serious. I already said that you can return it anytime within three days if it hasn't been used." Liang Hongwei has been making mechanical parts for so many years, and he has his own principles and bottom line.

He never liked forced sales, and the key point was that the other party actually gave him more than 400 yuan back, which meant he made more than 400 yuan.

"Thank you, Boss Liang." Yu Dawei put the money in his pocket, finally feeling relieved.

“What’s your name, Boss Liang? You’re from Yujiatun in Heshan Village, right?” Liang Hongwei put on cotton gloves and tossed a pair to Yu Dawei. “Is your father called Yu Laonian?” “I’m also from Heshan. Call me Brother Liang from now on.” Liang Hongwei put down six cylinder covers. “Little Yu, if you need any help in the future, just ask me. I can’t speak for others, but you can get parts from me on credit.”

"Thank you, Brother Xie." Yu Dawei gave a simple, honest smile. He had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a simple, honest face, which was quite deceptive.

"By the way, Brother Liang, do you know where I can buy a used excavator around here? I'd like to take a look." After Yu Dawei finished moving the equipment, he followed the other person into the house, took off his cotton gloves, and returned them to him.

Excavators are called "gouji" here.

"You've got a good idea, kid. This stuff isn't cheap. A new one would cost at least 300,000 yuan, and even a used one would be 80,000 or 90,000 yuan." Liang Hongwei walked to the small stove and pulled two charred potatoes out of the coal ash. "What's your budget?"

“Three thousand…” Yu Dawei took a charred potato, peeled off the skin, and took a bite.

"Cough cough cough!" Liang Hongwei almost choked on a potato. His eyes widened. "How much?!"

Yu Dawei smiled shyly: "After deducting the high-interest loan and interest that I have to pay back later, I still have 2,880 yuan left in my pocket, all of which is my wife's dowry."

"Awesome!" Liang Hongwei gave a thumbs up and took two more bites. "You can go to the north of Luhe Town and take a look. There's an equipment rental market there, and next to it is the largest scrap metal recycling station in Luhe Town. You can go check it out."

"As for the rest, there's nothing I can do to help," Liang Hongwei shrugged.

Spending 3,000 yuan to buy an excavator would cost more than that even if you sold it as scrap metal, unless the owner has lost his mind.

After eating the potatoes, Yu Dawei got up to say goodbye. He then paid off the high-interest loan and drove his four-wheeled vehicle around the rental market. There were also second-hand excavators for sale, ranging from 80,000 to 90,000 yuan for the cheaper ones and over 100,000 yuan for the more expensive ones.

However, this did not deter Yu Dawei's determination to buy excavators. According to the future timeline, two months later, in early 93, a highway was to be built north of Luhe Town. All the excavators in the surrounding area would not be enough, and they would have to be transferred from other counties and districts.

This was the time when the town was most in need of construction vehicles, and also the time when the highest price was offered.

Hiring an excavator and a driver costs 500 yuan a day! And you don't need to pay for gas yourself!
At that time, the average monthly salary was only three to five hundred yuan!

Yu Dawei stood in the rental market, his fists clenched, looking at the various construction vehicles on the market. He absolutely could not miss this opportunity.

Before his rebirth, he spent his entire life repairing excavators and was extremely familiar with all kinds of models. Even excavators that were completely scrapped could be brought back to life by him.

If we seize this opportunity, we'll have enough money to repair our old, dilapidated house and build a granary. Right now, all the junk in our house is piled up in the yard.

A garden, a doghouse, chicken coops and duck coops—if you have money, you can get all of these. You can even raise a couple of pigs in the spring.

At that time, Yu Dawei will no longer be the poorest household in the village.

As he was thinking, Yu Dawei saw a flatbed cart heading towards the scrap metal recycling station, with an old-fashioned orange Hitachi excavator on it.

Half of the vehicle body was covered in hard cement, oil was constantly oozing from the hydraulic cylinders of the boom, there were no windows or doors in the driver's cabin, the old vehicle body was covered in black mud, the engine cover was missing, and some withered grass could be vaguely seen growing on it.

It looks like an old Hitachi machine that hasn't been used in a long time, but it's hard to be sure of the model just by looking at it.

But it was definitely an antique. Yu Dawei's eyes lit up when he saw it, as if he had seen a beautiful woman.

(End of this chapter)