I'm reborn and I'm an international student again?

"Coal mine drones? What are those?"

The group heard an unfamiliar word and didn't immediately recognize it.

"Before mining operations begin, geological surveying and tunnel management are needed, as well as mine safety monitoring, intelligent inspections, and equipment maintenance. All of these can be accomplished using drones. In the past, we relied on people to conduct surveys, but that's an old-fashioned approach. Now, we're paying more and more attention to safe production. You're all wealthy bosses, so you probably don't want to risk losing more than you gain. In the early years, coal mines in Shanxi Province were mostly privately contracted. We've taken back quite a few of them over the years, and the remaining ones are all living in fear, worried that something might happen and they'll find an excuse to exploit them..." Chen Xi said in a low voice.

These were things Dongdong had told him before; the coal bosses had indeed lived a carefree life for a while. With policy changes, most of the coal mines in Shanxi Province became state-owned, and the remaining coal bosses worried about when their mines would disappear.

So these people started investing their cash elsewhere, since without the coal mines, their source of income would be cut off. Even if they had mountains of gold and silver, their descendants would eventually squander it all.

"I've heard of agricultural drones, but what exactly is a coal mining drone? Could you explain it to me?" one of the young men asked, showing interest.

Seeing that someone had taken the bait, Chen Xi immediately launched into a passionate introduction: "Drones can be equipped with laser methane sensors to hover in goaf areas and detect 3D gas distribution. Thermal infrared imagers can detect abnormal tunnel wall temperatures, and combined with intelligent analysis of water seepage risks, the accident rate can be greatly reduced. SLAM laser modeling can build centimeter-level precision 3D tunnel models in environments without GPS, and using high-pixel zoom cameras, roof delamination index can be calculated through crack recognition algorithms..."

The things he mentioned are not actually produced by Xiaojiang yet. Instead, they are a combination of things from Chen Xi's previous life. It wouldn't be difficult to create them.

These young people were not highly educated, and Chen Xi's words were like gibberish to them, leaving them somewhat dizzy. However, this did not diminish their interest in drones; on the contrary, they took the initiative to offer to invest in their manufacture.

Of course, Chen Xi wouldn't agree so easily, because he had other ideas in mind.

Just as they were eating, a man on the roadside not far away was looking at his car and complaining, "What a godforsaken place! I've had several flat tires on this trip. No wonder Shanxi Province is so poor; they don't even bother to repair the roads. The North is definitely not as good as the South..."

The young man who was squatting on the ground checking the tires looked up and said, "Boss, I'll go fix the car first. Why don't you find a place to eat first?"

The man shook his head: "How can I be in the mood for food? This journey has almost made me throw up my lunch, and besides, all I see here is noodles..."

After saying that, he pointed to the repair shop not far away, indicating that the other party should fix the tire first.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Xi, who had been traveling all day, finished his meal and planned to return to the hotel to rest.

At this moment, Zhang Youting looked at the mud on the car and said, "Let's wash the car first, and fix the bumper while we're at it."

"Heh, getting your car repaired out of town is probably asking for trouble. Getting it washed is necessary, though, since I have to meet someone tomorrow," Chen Xi said, hiccuping.

Because Dongdong had drunk too much, they had moved him to the back row.

Those coal mine owners were really rich and powerful. They heard that he came from the south and had done a lot of big business, and they all wanted to invest.

In fact, Chen Xi had dealt with coal mine owners before. These people did have a lot of spare money and were very worried about their mines being taken back, so they invested all their money in other places.

As for why these coal mine owners don't invest locally, it's because Shanxi province really doesn't have much to offer for development besides coal.

The road was poorly maintained, and the terrain was treacherous. If a car wasn't careful, it could fall off a cliff. In fact, those coal mine owners all wanted to settle down in other provinces.

“Why didn’t you agree when those bosses said they wanted to invest in DJI?” Zhang Youting started the car.

“JiangX doesn’t need this kind of investment anymore,” Chen Xi yawned.

"So, you came here on official business, didn't you? Have you figured out how to solve this problem?"

"Ah."

He hadn't figured out a solution when he arrived, but after seeing those coal mine owners, Chen Xi came up with one.

There was a car repair shop nearby, and the two quickly parked their car in front of it.

Zhang Youting got out of the car and looked at the cars parked around him: "Heh, the people here are really rich, there are nice cars everywhere. How come there's not a single person here? It doesn't seem like the shops are closed."

Several people were standing in front of the repair shop manager's office.

"You two out-of-towners aren't leaving today without paying me for my emotional distress. How dare you accuse me of scattering nails on the road and puncturing your tires..."

“I didn’t say that. I said that I had several tire blowouts along the way and I suspected that it was done by the repair shop staff.”

"That's not what you just said. Are you implying that I have hearing problems?"

"I...I..." The driver was so angry that he couldn't speak.

"We just wanted to get a tire repaired and a car wash. Everything before was a misunderstanding. Asking for 100,000 yuan in compensation for emotional distress seems a bit outrageous. Also... the tire repair and car wash together cost 2,000 yuan. We thought it was too expensive and wanted to go to another shop. Couldn't we just leave? This is a society governed by law. If you need compensation for emotional distress, you can sue me. We can sit down in court and talk it over. Here's my business card. Keep it." The man pulled out a small card from his pocket.

"Zhou Sheng, General Manager of Huodudu... What the hell... Never heard of him... Huh? A company from Hong Kong, are you kidding me? Am I supposed to travel all the way from Shanxi Province to Hong Kong to sue you? You're not leaving here until you pay me back." The repair shop owner was furious and threw his business card on the ground.

Seeing this, Zhou Sheng got angry and muttered that he would not give a single penny today.

After all, no one who loves gambling is willing to back down.

"Hey, I thought everyone was off work. We need a car wash, are you still taking orders?" Just as the two sides were arguing fiercely, Zhang Youting suddenly shouted.

He had originally planned to find another place to argue, but Chen Xi grabbed him instead.

"I have something to do today, come back tomorrow." One of the waiters waved them away.

"Isn't this President Zhou? I can't believe I've run into you here..." Zhang Youting immediately jogged over to shake hands with Zhou Sheng upon seeing him.

Zhou Sheng stared at the unfamiliar man in front of him, completely unable to remember who this guy was.

However, having met too many people in the business world, he felt he might not be able to recall them for the time being, so he still politely shook hands with Zhang Youting.

"I don't care if you're a Mr. Zhou, Mr. Zhang, or Mr. Chen. You're not leaving until you pay today." The boss was a tough guy. The car repair shop was quite well-known in their small town; otherwise, so many bosses wouldn't send their cars here for washing.

Two out-of-towners dared to speak rudely to him today. If word gets out, won't his reputation be ruined?

"What a coincidence, President Chen and President Zhang are here today too. We're not going to give you the money today, so what can you do about it?" Zhang Youting shouted arrogantly, hands on his hips.

"Where are you from? You have such a sissy accent. Do you even know where you are? Close the door. Let's see if you're still so stubborn in a bit." The boss waved his hand, and several employees prepared to pull down the roller shutter door, trying to trap Chen Xi and the others inside.

"Beep beep." At that moment, a car horn sounded outside, and a blue and white car slowly drove into the repair shop.

Soon, two uniformed men got off the bus.

Chen Xi turned around and saw that it seemed to be the same two people from earlier in the day. "Did you make the call?" One of them looked up at Chen Xi, but the latter ignored him.

Seeing this, the man became somewhat angry and questioned Zhou Sheng again.

“It’s me, these people…” Zhou Sheng’s driver raised his hand and briefly described the situation.

"In this situation, we can only mediate..." the uniformed man said seriously after understanding the situation.

His words were similar to what he said on the highway during the day: let Zhou Sheng pay some money, 100,000 yuan is obviously too high, it would be better to pay 10,000 yuan.

Zhou Sheng was not happy about this situation, and the two started arguing again.

Chen Xi snorted coldly in his heart.

Here you go again, trying to smooth things over. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were bricklayers.

Dongdong, who was in the car, was woken up by the noise. He drunkenly pushed open the car door and walked over: "What's going on..."

The boss, upon seeing Dongdong, put on a smiling face: "Oh, isn't this General Manager Xu...?"

People in the real estate business usually have connections in both the legal and illegal worlds. Dongdong's family is quite well-known locally, so the boss naturally wouldn't dare to offend them.

Seeing that someone had taken care of things, Chen Xi walked up to Zhou Sheng and greeted him with a smile: "Long time no see, Boss Zhou."

"You are..." So much time had passed that Zhou Sheng had clearly forgotten about Chen Xi.

"Back in the Crown, at the Texas Hold'em tournament, do you remember?"

"Oh, it's you."

Gambling buddies are usually quite enthusiastic when they meet, especially since the other person had helped him out of a predicament. Zhou Sheng smiled and shook hands with him.

"Looking for a place to chat?"

"Okay, I haven't eaten either, how about I treat you as a way of thanking you for your help?" Zhou Sheng took the initiative and offered his services in response to Chen Xi's invitation.

Half an hour later, inside a local restaurant.

"So you're the boss who went to pick up the goods." After chatting for a while, Zhou Sheng looked at him with a wary gaze.

Today's events happened so suddenly that he suspected that everything at the repair shop was a setup by Chen Xi.

"Ha, what's with that look? You're making it seem like I'm deliberately getting close to you." Chen Xi saw through Zhou Sheng's little scheme.

"Isn't that right? What are the odds of such a coincidence in the world?"

"Then tell me, why would I deliberately approach you? Besides, how could I possibly know in advance that you were coming to Shanxi Province?"

"There are all sorts of methods in business competition. It's not surprising that you can easily find out my whereabouts from my company by spending a little money. The reason you're getting close to me is obviously related to the logistics business. Although Huodudu is still in its early stages of development in the mainland, it will definitely threaten some large companies once it grows. I guess you want to acquire my company!" Zhou Sheng took a few bites of food, put down his chopsticks, and began his analysis.

“You’re right. I did have that idea before, but after thinking about it, I felt the success rate was basically zero!” Chen Xi lit a cigarette.

"Oh? Why?"

His words piqued Zhou Sheng's curiosity.

"You're a gambler, and gamblers never give up. Everyone says that nine out of ten gambling games are rigged, and gamblers will eventually go bankrupt. Yet gamblers still go without hesitation because they are very confident in themselves. Many big bosses go to casinos because they believe they can do what others can't. Although Huodudu is still in its infancy in mainland China, you think no one can stop your expansion. I bet a lot of people have come to you to talk about acquisitions or investments, but you probably haven't agreed to any of them yet. Even if I offered to spend a lot of money to acquire you, you wouldn't agree because you're full of confidence!" Chen Xi smiled as he looked at his competitor.

“That’s right. Doing business is like playing cards. As long as I calculate all the possibilities accurately, the probability of losing is very low,” Zhou Sheng said smugly.

"Haha, you won money playing Texas Hold'em, but it wasn't all about calculations. Otherwise, with so many mathematicians and actuaries in the world, which one wouldn't be better than you?"

"Then tell me, what do I rely on?"

"Teamwork!" Chen Xi winked at him, and Zhou Sheng did not refute it.

Rumors circulate that Zhou Sheng is like a gambling god, having won tens of millions playing Texas Hold'em in Macau, all thanks to his genius-like mind and precise calculation abilities.

However, Chen Xi knew that this was only one point. The most important point was that Zhou Sheng had a very strong playing partner. In Texas Hold'em, you can't win consistently just by relying on calculations and psychology; to win consistently, you need to replace most of the people at the table with your own people.

"After saying all this, is what you're about to say next: 'How about we cooperate?'" Zhou Sheng's lips curled into a smile.

“I do want to cooperate with you, but you probably won’t agree.” Chen Xi shrugged.

"Haha, you're right. Big corporations want to swallow us up, and small and medium-sized enterprises want to strangle us in our cradle, but I'm determined not to let them have their dreams. Huodudu will definitely gain a foothold in the mainland!"

"Did you come to Shanxi Province this time to explore the northern market?"

“That’s right! Logistics here isn’t very developed, and many companies are unwilling to take orders from here. But our Huodudu model is different; all orders are matched by the system…” Zhou Sheng didn’t hide anything and spoke frankly.

Chen Xi nodded.

The logistics characteristics of Shanxi Province are that orders are highly fragmented, but the absolute volume is huge.

Taking the provincial capital as an example, a large number of trucks operate and transport goods every day, but there is a lack of professional intermediaries for the very fragmented demand for wholesale goods.

In its previous life, Huodudu invested heavily in developing the Shanxi market.

In other words, they attracted a large number of drivers and users by paying them to start at just 1 yuan.

They even provide a special extra subsidy of 3-7 yuan per order for agricultural vehicles transporting Chinese medicinal herbs. It is through this strategy that the order density in the entire agricultural and pastoral area of ​​Shanxi Province has been accelerated.

However, agriculture is naturally Chen Xi's main business, so how could he let Zhou Sheng take the lead?
"Ha, I bet your investment in Shanxi Province will go down the drain!"

"Sure, then when Huodudu wins a victory here and holds a celebration banquet, President Chen must be there!" Zhou Sheng's eyes gleamed with confidence. (End of Chapter)