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

Chapter 83 Village and Township Leaders Gather

The next day, Yu Dawei went to the excavator rental market in town early in the morning. However, to his surprise, the wheeled excavator that he had placed under the tree was gone.

He couldn't understand it. Could someone really want such a broken-down digger? Could it be that they, like him, had heard about the village's electricity project?

Yu Dawei turned around and went to the scrap metal recycling station to find Duan Dahai to find out what was going on. He learned that the owner of the small excavator had moved the vehicle a week ago, apparently because he couldn't sell it and was planning to tow it back to repair it so he could continue using it himself.

Yu Dawei lowered his head and pondered, recalling that small wheeled excavator. He felt that if it needed repair, the excavator owner might not be able to find a suitable mechanic. He should be able to find out the whereabouts of the wheeled excavator by making inquiries from various sources.

He wasn't fixated on that wheeled excavator, but excavators were rare in the town, and small wheeled excavators were even rarer. If he could find that wheeled excavator, he estimated he could save a lot of effort.

He had initially thought that such a broken thing, which was completely useless, would not attract any interest, but he was proven wrong again.

Yu Dawei was planning to look for Xiaobai to see if he could talk to the higher-ups and get a portion of the Ackerman repair costs settled in advance. But now it seems the car is nowhere to be found, so asking for money is pointless.

Duan Dahai knew that Yu Dawei needed a rotary excavator, and since he wasn't too busy, he took him to various repair shops in town to inquire if any excavator owners had recently contacted them to repair rotary excavators.

However, things were not that simple. The scrapped excavator seemed to have vanished without a trace, as if it had disappeared into thin air.

Duan Dahai comforted Yu Dawei for a few words, and he wondered if the rotary excavator might have been taken to the village and left there.

He went back and asked some of the garbage collectors in the village to keep an eye out for it.

Yu Dawei was very grateful for Brother Duan's help and insisted on taking him to find Boss Liang for a free meal.

Recently, Mr. Liang replaced some of his agricultural machinery parts with excavator parts, and made a few more small business deals.

Yu Dawei had some things to do in June and didn't repay the money, and Yao Jinfu's salary wasn't paid either. All of this had been explained to them in advance before the commissions were paid.

Needless to say, Yao Jinfu's relationship with Yao Jinfu was closer than that of brothers. The key was that he was always on the construction site, never having to worry about food or drink, and had no need to spend money. He had saved up a single penny of his salary from last month.

Boss Liang had been working with Yu Dawei for quite some time, and after learning about Yu Dawei's difficulties, he didn't pay too much attention to whether or not the money would be repaid.

Old Liang is an outgoing person, and he is grateful to Yu Dawei for helping him open up a niche in the excavator market.

When the two arrived at Boss Liang's place, he was busy calculating in his ledger. Upon seeing Yu Dawei, he launched into another round of complaining about being poor.

Yu Dawei was speechless. This guy always complained about being poor, but when it came time to pay him back, he was very generous and only took a portion.

After some laughter and chatter, Boss Liang led Yu Dawei and Duan Dahai to a small Northeastern restaurant not far across the street.

It was said that Boss Liang would treat everyone, but in the end, Yu Dawei secretly paid the bill while he was in the restroom.

After all, the two older brothers had really helped me a lot, and a home-cooked meal didn't cost much. If I didn't insist on paying, I would feel really bad.

The three of them talked a lot about antique dealers, as well as about getting electricity to the village. Boss Liang didn't seem to care, since his wife and children were in town now.

Duan Dahai was somewhat tempted to help the village after hearing this, but like Yu Dawei, he hadn't even seen the village chief in all these years, so he decided against it.

After lunch, it was already afternoon, and Yu Dawei took a bus back to Laotun.

Yesterday, Uncle Yu Quan asked me to come to his house tonight. I've seen my uncle's temper before, so I went home early and started waiting for dinner to pass.

After calculating the time, Yu Dawei carried a bag of apples he had bought from town and headed towards Uncle Yu Quan's house.

The old man helped me a lot yesterday. The apple isn't worth much; it's just a simple way of expressing my gratitude.

Yu Dawei had been very familiar with the older generation of his clan in the village since he was a child. He would often go to other people's homes to eat and drink for free, and he always went empty-handed.

I brought apples in my bag today, which is quite unprecedented for me to visit someone's house.

When they arrived at the small shop in the front yard, Yu Dawei went in to see Yu Dazhi and gave him an apple.

Yu Dazhi took a bite, and the sourness made him grimace; he almost cursed.

Yu Dawei chuckled and turned to go to the backyard.

The backyard is now where Yu Quan lives with his eldest son and daughter-in-law, but when you walk from the garden to the backyard, you can't see the couple.

Yu Dawei didn't care about anything else and went inside after opening the door.

First, we arrived at the outer kitchen room, and then we opened the door to go into the inner room.

To the left of the inner room is a large kang (heated brick bed), and wardrobes and other furniture are placed under the north wall.

Then, on the west side of the room, there is a thick wooden pillar supporting the main beam above. On the westernmost side of the kang (a heated brick bed), there is a thin wall, the main body of which is a thin wooden board, and below it is a small stone platform like a window sill.

On the other side of the partition was another kang (heated brick bed), where the old man probably slept on the other side of the partition.

At this moment, several people were sitting in the room. Grandpa Yu Quan was sitting in a chair against the west wall, with the chair and the thick black wooden pillar as his backdrop.

The sun had long since set. A few candles were lit in the room, and curtains were hanging on the windows. Upon entering, one would be struck by the darkness, but the candlelight gradually replaced the darkness.

"Want some apples?" Yu Dawei asked as soon as he entered the room, noticing everyone staring at him. He grabbed two apples from the bag.

Several people in the room looked surprised; some were seeing Yu Dawei for the first time and were astonished by his youth.

This kid is probably only in his early twenties.

"Hehe, the main character has arrived." Yu Quan slowly opened his eyes. As people get older, they tend to get sleepy when waiting for others or when they are not interested in the topic.

However, when they saw the outstanding younger generation of the Yu family enter, they not only looked more energetic, but also had a smile on their weathered faces.

The old men sitting on either side of Yu Quan all instinctively stood up from the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and their stools, some even displaying a hint of respect. Yu Dawei was dumbfounded. What was this all about? Was it Zuo Shandiao (a notorious bandit leader)? He had never seen anything like it before! A sense of unease crept into his heart.

"Let me introduce you." Yu Quan leaned on his cane and pointed to the little old man closest to him on the right side of the kang (a heated brick bed). "His name is Sun Heming, the village chief of Heshan Village."

“The rest of these are all village chiefs. You definitely know the one from our village, your brother Baosheng.” Yu Quan deliberately tapped the old man’s thigh with his cane.

Zhang Baosheng understood immediately and quickly stood up: "Brother Dawei, sit here with me, next to Uncle Da. I'll sit on the kang."

"Good evening, everyone." Yu Dawei nodded to everyone first, then smiled at Zhang Baosheng without being polite.

The Zhang family of Yujiatun has always been in charge of accounting in Yujiabao. Even now, they treat people with the surname Yu in Yujiatun with kindness and respect.

Although the other party was over sixty years old, in terms of seniority, Yu Dawei had to call him Brother Zhang. His son, Zhang Suozi, was not much younger than him and had to call him Uncle.

Yu Dawei wanted to share the apples with these people, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that some of the elderly people were almost toothless, so he quietly placed the apples on the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Don't be shy." Yu Quan glanced at Yu Dawei and briefly explained, "These people all came from Yu Family Fort back then. The village chief's father, Sun Youcai, was my subordinate back then and also my childhood companion."

"The others are similar. Although they don't have the surname Yu, they have followed the Yu family for generations and protected the family business. They can be considered half Yu family members." Yu Quan then introduced the relationship between these people and the Yu family for generations.

Sitting next to Yu Quan, Yu Dawei was increasingly shocked as he listened. It turned out that all these people were tied to the Yu family, and that Yu Quan was the real person in charge behind the scenes!

He finally understood why Uncle Yu Quan had agreed to his request so confidently back then. He truly lived up to his reputation as Uncle Yu Quan; he was indeed formidable.

I bet very few people besides him know about the relationship between these people and the old man.

"Dawei, pour me some hot water. I haven't talked this much in a long time, I'm thirsty." Yu Quan stopped talking, sat down in a chair, and panted with his hands on his cane.

"Okay." Yu Dawei hurriedly got up, walked to the head of the kang (heated brick bed), and poured a cup of water for Grandpa Yu Quan from the thermos. "By the way, Grandpa, where are my elder brother and sister-in-law?"

"Hehe, that granddaughter-in-law came back from Old Wang's house yesterday, and she looked at me like a mouse seeing a cat. This morning she packed her things and went back to her parents' house first thing in the morning. I told Dachengzi to go back to his mother-in-law's house with his wife, so she won't cause me any trouble here." Yu Quan took the teacup that Yu Dawei handed him, blew on it gently, and took a small sip of hot water.

Yu Dawei nodded. That's good. The fewer people who know about the village getting electricity, the better. Otherwise, if the news gets to other villages, their village won't have much of an advantage.

There's nothing we can do. There were only a few spots available at the beginning. If you don't compete or fight for them, who knows when your village will be selected in the next batch?

"Alright, let me tell you about the village's electricity situation. These people are tight-lipped, so feel free to speak." Yu Quan sat quietly to the side.

Yu Dawei didn't mince words and provided him with a combined list of people from all the villages, including how many households were in each village, how many people were in each household, the total number of people in the entire village, and its approximate size.

After the integration is complete, he will go to the town with the village chief to submit the report for review in advance.

Other villages will probably follow the same process in a few days, but the first one to be approved will definitely have the biggest advantage.

Yu Dawei also reiterated that things might not actually work out, but he did increase the chances of passing the first batch, so that everyone would have some peace of mind.

The group had a general understanding of the situation. Then, village chief Sun Heming gave a simple analysis and summary of the matter of bringing electricity to Dawei Village, including one of Heshan Village's advantages and one of its disadvantages.

The advantage is that Heshan Village is not far from the town, and is even close to other villages. The disadvantage is that it is the only way to get to the town, and you have to pass through Yongjun Village.

The leaders aren't stupid. Yongjun Village is right next to the town, so it's impossible that they wouldn't prioritize Yongjun Village. If they did, Heshan Village would be in a very passive position.

The first batch only had three villages with slots, which were considered experimental villages for this electrification project. With villages supporting the military blocking the way, the chances of these slots going to them were slim.

Yu Dawei remained silent for a long time: "In my opinion, we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate."

"Compile the list as soon as possible, and then highlight the most advantageous aspects of each village. As for the villages that support the military, don't mention them or worry about them for now."

With so many villages and hamlets under Luhe Town, and so many eyes watching, it's unrealistic to try and cultivate relationships.

Moreover, Yu Dawei felt he had neither the mood nor the obligation to do so. If it weren't for Uncle Yu Quan's immediate agreement, he wouldn't have bothered with the matter at all.

Why waste time dealing with this kind of thing? Wouldn't it be better for him to just go get his car fixed?

"Yes, all we can do now is try our best." Sun Heming agreed, then turned to Yu Quan, "Uncle Quan, do you have anything to add?"

“No, you two have analyzed it very well. If Heshan Village can get electricity ahead of schedule this time, you, including everyone in the village, should thank Dawei.” Yu Quan glanced at all the elderly people present and said in a calm tone, “Dawei is from my sixth uncle’s branch. You should help him out more in the future.”

“Sixth Master?!” Sun Heming had clearly heard of Yu Dawei’s grandfather’s name. He turned his head and carefully examined Yu Dawei’s face with thick eyebrows and big eyes. “It really is true. My old man always said that Sixth Master was the most handsome young man in the surrounding area when he was young. After seeing Dawei today, I really believe it.”

Tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, strong and powerful... these have always been the descriptions that Sun Heming's father used to give to Little Six.

The village chiefs nearby also changed their gaze towards Yu Dawei; they had naturally heard the older generation mention the name "Sixth Master" before.

"My sixth uncle goes without saying, and Dawei is doing quite well now as well." Yu Quan calmly looked at these familiar faces. "If I'm no longer around, you can listen to Dawei more often."

These words confirmed the old men's initial thoughts, and when they looked at Yu Dawei again, their eyes held a deeper appreciation.

"Alright, alright, it's about time. Don't disturb this old man's sleep." Yu Quan tapped the ground with his cane, making a gesture to shoo people away.

"Then we'll be going now." After saying goodbye, Sun Heming and the other village chiefs left.

Yu Quan followed behind them, standing outside the house, watching them leave through the front door and gradually walk away: "They used to be naked kids, but now they're all old."

"Not old at all, you're even younger than them." Yu Dawei stood beside him with a grin, showering the old man with compliments.

“I can’t take it anymore, I’m leaving too.” An old man limped out from the landlord’s shadow. It was Yu San the Cripple. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to give Yu Dawei a disdainful look. “I still prefer your unruly self from before.”

(End of this chapter)