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

Chapter 31 Hou Wanqiang Arrives

As mid-March approached, Yu Dawei had replaced most of the excavator's parts, with only the oil filter and the gaskets for the bucket and boom joints remaining.

These things are all easy to handle. Now, looking at the drafty driver's cab, he felt conflicted.

The driver's seat was in terrible condition; the yellow foam covering the black leather was exposed, and the shock absorbers underneath had been smashed by some driver. The leather was covered with cracks, and some of the leather had already peeled off, revealing a large patch of gray mesh.

Yu Dawei was thinking that if he put a cover on the seat, at least it would be usable for a while. He would replace the seat with a new one when he made some money later.

But this drafty cab definitely needs repairs; at the very least, transparent glass should be installed on the three empty sides.

The glass on the back of the chair is now cracked, but it doesn't affect work, so there's no need to replace it at the moment.

"Looks like it'll cost a lot of money again." Yu Dawei sighed deeply, truly a case of even a hero being brought down by a mere penny.

These days, even the parts shop owner, Mr. Liang, has started complaining about being broke. After all, he's spent a lot of money on repairing this old Hitachi motorcycle, including the drive motor, oil pipes, oil seals, center connectors, filters, and other miscellaneous items, which add up to nearly 30,000 yuan.

When Boss Liang was dealing in agricultural machinery parts, the cost was much lower than that of excavators. Now that he's got his hands on this thing, he's feeling a bit uneasy.

Yu Dawei was also speechless. Although he knew that imported car parts would be more expensive at this time, he did not expect it to be so much more expensive than he had anticipated.

However, seeing that although Boss Liang was complaining about being poor, he didn't actually seem to be pressing for repayment, I understood. I guessed he was worried about the money and afraid he wouldn't be able to earn it back, after all, he was a latecomer to the business.

At most, I've only heard that some big boss makes a lot of money by owning excavators.

Yu Dawei figured out the cause of Boss Liang's illness, so he began to give Boss Liang strong medicine. He sat in the parts store for two hours and kept making empty promises to him.

After finishing his chicken soup, Boss Liang felt incredibly refreshed. When he saw Yu Dawei off, he held his head high, as if he had already made a fortune.

Yu Dawei was carrying a case of 24 bottles of butter when he slowly returned to the yard. He looked up and saw a familiar Jeep parked at the gate.

"Second Uncle? What brings you here?" Yu Dawei first put the butter in the driver's seat, then turned around and opened the door to enter the house.

"Check on the progress of your car." Hou Wanqiang, wearing a black down jacket, put his hands, which had been warming them on the stove, back down and stood up. "I'll take you to the construction site later."

"You two chat, I have some things to take care of in my yard." Duan Dahai tactfully left. "Also, his second uncle, don't bring anything next time you come. There's no need for that between Dawei and me."

"These are all leftovers from last year's company gifts. Giving them to you is a good way to clear out my inventory." Hou Wanqiang smiled and shook hands with Duan Dahai, then followed Yu Dawei out of the house.

Yu Dawei brought his second uncle to the excavator and explained the current repair progress in detail. Finally, he gave Hou Wanqiang a general overview of the vehicle's condition.

After all, theoretically the other party is the renter, so it's best to briefly explain the car's basic information, production year, maximum working hours, working efficiency, fuel consumption, etc., so that both parties can feel at ease.

Moreover, even if something goes wrong, it's definitely not a bad thing for my second uncle to know in advance.

“Sure, there aren’t many new excavators available in Luhe Town, and nobody has the spare money to buy a new one.” Hou Wanqiang was very satisfied with Yu Dawei’s work attitude and patted him on the shoulder. “Your excavator is a bit old, just don’t let it do heavy work, I know what I’m doing.” “There’s still time, Dawei. In the remaining two weeks, besides taking good care of the excavator, it would be best to get it repainted.” Hou Wanqiang looked up at the dilapidated excavator. “I’m worried that if a leader comes to inspect, just a glance at your excavator from afar might not have a good impact. Let’s nip any unnecessary problems in the bud.”

“Okay, Second Uncle.” Yu Dawei patted the car body. “I was originally thinking of just changing the paint one last time. Once the inside is done, the outside has to be perfect too.”

Hou Wanqiang nodded in agreement, glanced down at his watch, and said, "That's about enough. Since we still have some time, I'll take you to the construction site for a look around."

"Okay, by the way, Second Uncle, will the construction site provide meals from now on?"

"Look at you, so unambitious. Don't worry, it's a standard two dishes and a soup. But there will be lunch and dinner, so you'll have to figure out breakfast yourself." Hou Wanqiang lifted the plastic sheet and took out a dark green long down jacket from the car. "Here, don't wear your military overcoat, change into this before you go."

Yu Dawei was taken aback for a moment, then without any hesitation, he took the down jacket and smiled sheepishly: "Thank you, Second Uncle. I wish you long life, happiness, wealth, and good health."

Hou Wanqiang laughed at the other party's words and gave him a playful kick: "You brat, where did you get those words?"

"Hehe, just like my wife." Yu Dawei quickly dodged and went into the house.

When he came out again, Yu Dawei's broad shoulders perfectly supported the dark green down jacket. Coupled with his thick eyebrows, big eyes, and tall stature of 1.8 meters, any woman would take a second look just by looking at his upper body.

“Okay, your physique is exactly the same as my brother-in-law’s when he was young.” Hou Wanqiang nodded with great appreciation.

Yu Dawei chuckled and scratched his head, then greeted Brother Duan before getting into his second uncle's car and leaving the courtyard.

"This Duan Dahai is very insightful and a very nice person." My second uncle rarely mentioned Duan Dahai in the car. "How many years has he been in this line of work?"

"It's been more than ten years, almost twenty years, right?" Yu Dawei thought to himself. He remembered hearing Brother Duan mention it once, but he hadn't paid attention and had forgotten about it.

Hou Wanqiang sighed. He had originally had some intention of recruiting them, but after thinking about it, he had no choice but to give up.

"By the way, how's it going with finding an excavator operator? You're not going to be operating it yourself, are you?" Hou Wanqiang glanced at Yu Dawei.

"I did consider driving it myself," Yu Dawei said, placing his hands on the car's heater. "But then I thought it would be better to find someone else, so I can take care of things at home, especially since the baby is due soon."

"Yes, I support you." Hou Wanqiang looked ahead, his expression somewhat sentimental. "Don't end up like me, neglecting my family for the sake of my career. Now when I come home, it seems like I have nothing to do except pay my taxes. My two children look at me with particularly cold eyes."

Yu Dawei recalled his past life. It seemed that his second uncle really did not continue to live with his aunt, eventually divorced, and married another woman.

"Does the excavator operator need me to keep an eye out for you?" Hou Wanqiang asked again.

"No need for that yet, I have someone in mind." Yu Dawei looked thoughtful. "I'll go find him later, and if it doesn't work out, we'll see."

According to my memories from my past life, this guy should be back.

(End of this chapter)