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

Chapter 427 On the Future of Flour Mills
In the evening, a group of people drove to Fanfan's repair shop.

Duan Dahai had originally planned to set up a canteen or something in the office area, but after being scared by Yu Dawei, he immediately gave up the idea.

There was no way around it; after Yu Dawei's reminder, Duan Dahai did realize that the buildings in the flour mill were too close together.

Now I finally understand why such a large factory didn't even have a place to cook, let alone a canteen.

It seems that Director Yu was only thinking about safety and didn't intend to start the fire. The flour mill has been without any problems for so many years, so Director Yu must have unique management experience.

Since there was no way to cook, Yu Dawei simply took Duan Dahai, Boss Liang, and Lao Jintou back to the repair shop.

Old Jin went to eat with everyone in the communal pot, while Yu Dawei took some dishes separately to the small brick house. He also got some pork stew from the neighboring pork stew restaurant and the three of them drank some wine together.

"Tsk...it's been a long time since we got together." Yu Dawei sighed, recalling all sorts of messy things that had happened since the beginning of the year.

Road roller repairs, driver stealing parts, helping Lao Xu from the Eighth Bureau investigate evidence, and then there's his second uncle's situation, the trip to Shenzhen... all sorts of things kept Yu Dawei constantly on edge.

Now, being able to sit on a kang (heated brick bed), open the window, and drink a little wine is a unique experience.

The lights in the room were turned on, and a lot of moths rushed in from outside. But thankfully, Lao Ji had replaced all the screens on the windows a few days ago, so the mosquitoes and moths were just flapping their wings haphazardly outside.

Even if a few mosquitoes accidentally fly in, it's not a problem. The mosquito coils are already lit, and we're just waiting for them to walk right into our trap.

"You've been too busy lately." Boss Liang suddenly remembered the parts issue. "By the way, I saw your parts department was doing quite well today. Did you find a supplier?"

"You're so inconsiderate, Dawei. You didn't even tell me." Boss Liang curled his lips, his eyes glancing at Yu Dawei with a hint of sourness.

"I was planning to come find you today! I went to the parts store first, but it was empty. Then I went to Brother Duan's place, and wow, the yard was completely empty, and the tricycle was gone." Yu Dawei sighed helplessly. "I had no choice but to go to Sister Guiling, and that's when I found out that you two had secretly taken over the flour mill."

When the flour mill was mentioned again, both Duan Dahai and Boss Liang looked somewhat embarrassed, even a little unpleasant.

The main problem is that these two laymen were really fooled by Yu Dawei today, and they feel that opening a flour mill is a very dangerous thing.

"Sigh, I should have waited for you to come back so we could have discussed it properly. Now the contract is signed and the money has been paid in full, there's no going back." Duan Dahai sighed and downed the two ounces of loose liquor in his cup in one gulp.

Seeing that Brother Duan seemed to have been too badly hurt by his words, Yu Dawei thought for a moment and then offered a few words of comfort: "Better safe than sorry. Just be cautious. The flour mill is actually not a big problem."

“However, brother, you’re a complete novice. You definitely won’t be able to do it without someone who knows how to run a flour mill.” Yu Dawei held up his wine glass, his eyes darting around as he looked at the other man. “What do you think of Director Yu’s attitude towards this flour mill in our town?”

"That's extraordinary. Director Yu has a very deep connection with the flour mill in town. Back when the production brigade was established, he was only in his thirties or forties, and he was in charge of the flour mill all along." Boss Liang got excited when he talked about this, as he had talked a lot with Director Yu before.

"Old Yu is quite helpless. He never thought the flour mill would come to this. Now there are plenty of small flour mills in the surrounding counties and even villages. The flour mill is practically defunct. The large flour milling equipment in the factory has not been working for several months."

"But this old guy definitely has feelings for the flour mill, otherwise he would have sold it to outsiders to make a glass factory long ago. When Lao Duan and I talked to him about continuing to make flour, he was so happy."

Upon hearing what Boss Liang said, Yu Dawei fell into deep thought for a moment.

He didn't know if Director Yu had joined the flour mill in his previous life, but he thought it was very unlikely.

Given Brother Duan's temperament, he hopes to make a name for himself through his own abilities, but for now, Brother Duan has been temporarily fooled by himself.

If the flour mill is to continue operating safely in the future, it will inevitably need the help of a veteran factory manager. With Manager Yu around, things should be much easier.

Moreover, the fact that Director Yu has been able to run the flour mill for so many years without encountering any problems like those in other county towns shows that he has the ability to manage.

The fact that things turned out this way is partly due to a lack of courage and partly due to market factors.

"Dawei, you mean, poach Director Yu from the grain depot? He's the second-in-command there now. With his salary and benefits there, plus all the retirement benefits, I doubt he'll make a move." Duan Dahai poured a full glass for each of the three of them, clinked glasses, and finally voiced his true thoughts.

Mr. Liang, standing to the side, nodded in agreement: "From what I've observed, that Factory Director Yu is an extremely cautious person. He would never take the risk of coming out to work with us."

"It's all about human effort." Yu Dawei took a sip of his drink, not insisting on bringing Director Yu back. "By the way, Brother Duan, what are your plans for running the flour mill?"

“I plan to open another production line to harvest rice and process it into milled rice.” Seeing Yu Dawei looking over in surprise, Duan Dahai explained, “I’ll also get into flour, but it needs to be modified; we can’t just focus on flour.” “I have some money on hand, and I plan to take some time soon to look out for things like rice hullers and noodle machines. If I can get those sorted out, I think it might be possible to turn a profit.”

Yu Dawei nodded silently. To be honest, Brother Duan's two axe blows really did manage to chop up quite a few things.

First of all, there are dried noodles. Nowadays, every household in the village only makes their own hand-pulled noodles, and dried noodles are nowhere to be seen in the village.

Even supply and marketing cooperatives don't sell them. Since dried noodles are still a relatively trendy item, they have the potential to capture a certain market share.

If Brother Duan gets the noodles right and puts up a sign, it should generate quite a buzz, whether in towns or villages.

"The reason I was in such a hurry to acquire the flour mill is because I saw four old noodle-making machines in Harbin. I heard that someone wanted to start a noodle factory there, but it didn't work out," Duan Dahai added, sitting across from me.

“We can have a good chat, but I feel that noodle-making machines are unlikely to be cheap.” Yu Dawei shook his head and picked up a piece of blood sausage from the vegetable bowl with his chopsticks.

The blood sausage, dipped in minced garlic and soy sauce, bursts with a rare and delightful aroma that fills the depths of Yu Dawei's mouth with every bite.

He loves blood sausage and craves it if he doesn't eat it for a while.

After finishing eating, he didn't forget to smack his lips.

“It would be a good thing to get a rice hulling machine, but there are still some problems.” Yu Dawei put down his chopsticks after taking a bite and looked directly at the two of them. “Have you thought about whether there are any rice-growing areas around here? From Jiangxiagou to Chuhua, take this area where we live for example, how can we grow rice on this old, dry land?”

“Everyone knows that rice is profitable, but it’s too dry here. Not to mention here, there isn’t a single village in the entire Sui City that grows rice.” Yu Dawei rolled his eyes at the two of them.

Currently, rice varieties are relatively limited, and hybrid varieties are still in a stage of rapid development; it will be a long time before they are truly implemented.

Yu Dawei remembered that Qiqihar had always grown rice, and the current variety should be the most advanced, so the yield should be quite high.

But it takes at least three or four hours to get from here to Qiqihar, and the road is in bad shape. Besides, there are people there who specialize in buying grain, so it's not Duan's turn at all.

Thinking about it this way, Yu Dawei still felt that rice cultivation was not a viable option.

“Dawei, I heard that rice is grown in Qiqihar, right? We can go and take a look.” Boss Liang interrupted Yu Dawei’s train of thought.

Yu Dawei had just thought of Qiqihar when this guy came to his rescue. He shook his head helplessly and said, "Although rice is grown there, it seems that the grain depots are the ones buying the grain right now. We have no chance to go and buy it ourselves. Besides, the journey and the storage in the factory are problems."

"Rice is unlike other crops. If you leave it for too long, it will get moldy and infested with insects. You can't see anything after peeling off the husk, but it's not a long-term solution."

Yu Dawei was also helpless about this. The reason he understood so much was because his eldest son's wife's family was from Qiqihar, and there was a grain storage factory next to their village.

My in-laws told me that the store is filled with moldy rice every year. After being hulled, it re-enters the market. The same goes for rice in supermarkets. They even add a lot of chemical additives to make it taste more like rice.

His in-laws once told him that if he took the bulk rice from the supermarket home, it wouldn't get infested with insects no matter how long it was stored. They said that if the rice was like that, he shouldn't buy it next time, as it definitely didn't have any good additives.

Anyway, ever since he met his in-laws in Qishi, Yu Dawei has never eaten any of those illegitimate rice dishes again.

Hearing Yu Dawei say this, Duan Dahai and Boss Liang fell silent once again.

"However, I heard that there are also individual rice buyers in Qiqihar." Duan Dahai was still not giving up and looked up to ask Yu Dawei.

Duan Dahai knew that Yu Dawei had been to Qiqihar to repair cars, and guessed that Yu Dawei must have learned about the local situation while he was there.

"Yes," Yu Dawei nodded. "If we want to be discreet, we can accept it, but how would you transport it?"

"Besides, the sales channels for rice..." Yu Dawei paused abruptly, recalling his older brother Yu Daren from Shenzhen taking him to eat sushi, "...it seems there really is a market, but..."

When Yu Dawei thought about the distance from north to south, he subconsciously shook his head.

(End of this chapter)