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

Chapter 436 Case Excavator

"Sit on the bed, there's only one chair here." After placing the cardboard box in the principal's office, Teacher Zhang pulled out a small stool from under the bed and plopped down on it, completely unaware that the two people opposite him were much taller than him.

Mr. Lu was embarrassed. This teacher never cared about his image. He remembered that just a few days ago the principal had said he wanted to get a few broken chairs from the classroom and send them to the office.

Why is it that after all this time, there's still only this little stool?

Yu Dawei was also surprised by the small stool. This technical school principal was really... incorruptible.

"What brand are you planning to collect?" Teacher Zhang asked directly after sitting down, without even offering Yu Dawei a glass of water.

“Any brand is fine. I’m a car mechanic, so I can tell the difference between good and bad by taking a good look. The chances of getting a rip-off are very small,” Yu Dawei explained.

"Is that so?" Teacher Zhang looked Yu Dawei over carefully, her interest seemingly growing stronger. "How many years have you been repairing cars?"

"I've been repairing cars with my dad since I was a kid. I've handled farm machinery, excavators, and even imported ones." Yu Dawei lied without batting an eye.

When I was a child, I learned how to repair cars from my grandfather, but it was only the most basic tricycles and four-wheelers.

Teacher Zhang fell silent, then suddenly asked a completely unrelated question: "How many people work in your factory?"

"About twenty people, including apprentices and repairmen." Yu Dawei was telling the truth this time.

Teacher Zhang fell silent again, but this time the silence lasted longer, as if she had been hit hard.

He also majored in maintenance, having studied at a technical school in Harbin. After graduation, he worked for his brother-in-law. Although his life has been ordinary for many years, he has never had to worry about food or clothing.

But he didn't want to remain mediocre. Now that he saw young men younger than himself achieving so much, it was impossible not to feel jealous.

"Teacher Zhang? It's about the distribution channels." Yu Dawei noticed that the other person was staring at him, making him feel uneasy, and finally couldn't help but remind him.

"Wait a moment," Teacher Zhang said, then turned and quickly walked out of the office.

Teacher Lu looked very unhappy at that moment, feeling that Teacher Zhang was so embarrassing, utterly disgraced.

You're usually so energetic and decisive, but now that there are outsiders here, how can you be so rude!

"I'm sorry, Mr. Yu, Teacher Zhang has always been like this, she's used to doing things her own way." Teacher Lu quickly took a cup from the old principal's cabinet, poured a cup of water from the thermos, and handed it over.

"It's alright, waiting won't hurt." Just as Yu Dawei took the teacup with both hands, Teacher Zhang rushed back from outside. Upon closer inspection, some sweat was already forming beads on the other man's temples.

"The three northeastern provinces, including Inner Mongolia, import a lot of excavators, such as Caterpillar, Komatsu, Wacker Neuson, Ackerman, and Daewoo, but not many," Teacher Zhang said breathlessly, flipping through his notebook.

"Don't go to auto parts markets. The excavators sold there are often overpriced and mostly old excavators that have been refurbished into new models."

“I have a few contacts here. They were all people who wanted to sell their cars back then, but it’s been a long time. If you want to contact them, you can write them down.” Teacher Zhang said, handing over the notebook.

Yu Dawei took the notebook and flipped through it. It was mostly about the three northeastern provinces, and there were many imported excavators, while domestic ones were only mentioned a few times.

"Is our school that rich?" Yu Dawei wondered, looking up at Teacher Zhang.

Upon hearing this, Teacher Zhang was taken aback at first, then blushed deeply and said somewhat embarrassedly, "The principal originally said that we had enough funds and could look at imported excavators, as long as they were still operational regardless of how many times they had been used. I guess he thought it wouldn't cost much."

"After inquiring around in many places, I found that basically none of the ones that could work properly were cheap. In the end, I finally managed to get a few domestically made excavators." Teacher Zhang sighed with some melancholy.

He actually wanted to bring back two imported excavators so that he could explain the differences between domestic and foreign models when disassembling and lecturing.

"Okay, thank you, Teacher Zhang. If you have time, you can bring your students to visit our factory. After all, we repair excavators and such." Yu Dawei felt that this was essentially a way to contact them, and he could try to reach out later.

Since the other party had helped him, he felt embarrassed to simply steal their work, so he simply exchanged a few polite words.

No sooner had these words left his mouth than Teacher Zhang's eyes lit up, and he subconsciously licked his chapped lips: "Really? Do you have any imported excavators?"

Yu Dawei was startled by the other person's expression and nodded blankly: "Yes, but the brands are quite varied."

"That's great, thank you." Teacher Zhang nodded excitedly.

He had long wanted to explain to his students the various intricate structural details of imported and domestically produced excavators. He had already covered everything in the books, but theory alone was not enough.

I didn't expect this young boss, Mr. Yu, to agree so readily. He's a good person!

Seeing the harmonious scene, Teacher Lu breathed a sigh of relief. Teacher Zhang had done a good job; she must have found a topic that interested her, which was why her expressions were so lively.

But it's better than always having a long face.

"There's something else." Teacher Zhang hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I've graduated quite a few students from my excavator training class, but some of them want to work near home. If you take in an excavator, will you sell it or use it?"

"If you're looking for someone to do the work, do you think our school's students are up to the task?" As soon as he finished speaking, the entire office suddenly fell silent, the atmosphere becoming somewhat eerie.

Teacher Lu was at a loss. He turned to look at Yu Dawei and then secretly gave Teacher Zhang a wink, but the other party ignored him completely.

"To be honest, I actually had the idea of ​​cooperating with your technical school to recruit people before, but some unpleasant things happened later, so I gave up the idea." Yu Dawei hesitated for a moment, but finally smiled sincerely at Teacher Zhang. "I'll think about it."

Now that Teacher Lu, who had introduced Tang Chenwu, was sitting next to him, Yu Dawei didn't dare to say anything more.

The incident with Tang Chenwu caused him to lose 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. Although he eventually recovered some of it, Yu Dawei still couldn't suppress his anger when he thought about it.

Seeing that Yu Dawei did not immediately agree, Teacher Zhang did not say anything more, and the group chatted briefly for a while afterward.

Yu Dawei copied the contact information that Teacher Zhang had written down into his own phone book before leaving.

Back at Fanfan's repair shop that evening, the three of them slept in the small brick house.

Duan Xiaowu was very familiar with this little room. Back in junior high school, he used to argue with his dad in this very room.

Seeing that Duan Xiaowu was somewhat sentimental, Yu Dawei quickly seized the opportunity to tell him about the hardships his father had endured.

Then, before evening, Yu Dawei used the factory's landline to call each of the phone numbers he had written down in his notebook.

As time has passed, many car owners have already sold their cars and replaced them with other ones, while others have gone into other businesses.

Besides individual investors, there was also a large machinery factory headquartered in Liucheng, called Liucheng Liugong. It seemed that the person who called Yu Dawei was a market manager.

Yu Dawei chatted with the other party for a few minutes, explaining his desire to buy used excavators, and then hung up after a few polite words.

“Liugong…” Yu Dawei raised his head as if thinking. If he remembered correctly, it was a brand that could stand on its own in China.

At least in terms of technical capabilities, they are much stronger than private temporary workers.

If I remember correctly, it was this year that Lingong partnered with Komatsu to produce a joint venture excavator.

Unfortunately, I'm not buying any new equipment. I thought about erasing the other party's contact information, but then I decided to leave it for now.

What if it comes in handy in the future?

After that, Yu Dawei contacted several more people, and finally this is how he met someone who sells excavators.

However, it wasn't him. He had already sold his excavator two years ago to a friend of the other party.

Yu Dawei only found out after making some inquiries that the excavator the other party wanted to sell was actually a Case excavator.

His first instinct was to refuse.

The reason is simple: the maintenance cost of Case excavators is among the highest of all excavator brands. Not counting labor costs, the cost of parts alone can sometimes be enough to kill an ordinary person.

You can think of it as the Volvo sedan in the world of excavators: it's cheaper to sell than BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi), but the parts for repairs are much more expensive.

Yu Dawei recalled that Volvo's after-sales service was later rectified, seemingly resulting in significantly lower repair costs.

Overall, Yu Dawei was hesitant about the Case excavator, caught between looking at it and not looking at it.

CASE, a brand from the United States, was founded sometime in the 1800s if I remember correctly.

It must have a history of at least a hundred years.

Yu Dawei heard on the phone that the Case excavator being sold was an old relic, but not too old; it belonged to the early hydraulic excavator class.

Located in the northern part of Qiqihar, the location isn't far, but getting it back for repairs is a problem.

Just then, Yu Dawei suddenly noticed two children playing chess.

This broken chess set was left behind by Brother Duan when he was collecting scraps. He didn't take it with him when he moved, and it's been sitting here ever since.

Who knows where Duan Xiaowu found it?

A-Gui had never played chess before and was listening to Duan Xiaowu explain the rules.

"Sigh, let them go. Consider it an opportunity for these two kids to broaden their horizons." Yu Dawei shook his head and sighed.

However, before confirming his trip, Yu Dawei planned to call all the remaining contacts. If he couldn't find a suitable excavator, he would go to the northern part of Qiqihar to look at the Case excavator.

(End of this chapter)