C9 Price

The next morning, Zhang Yuehua made sure her son was dressed in a respectable outfit: a mature-looking shirt paired with polyester pants and a pair of canvas shoes. Though the style was a bit dated, it was how most people dressed at the time.

Yang Chenxuan advised his mother to discuss the land lease with the sand diggers. It would be more convenient, as people in the village might be more inclined to negotiate if they saw familiar faces. Plus, if any disputes arose later, having a group involved would be beneficial. However, when it came to management, their family would have the final say since they were the ones paying the rent.

After giving his advice, Yang Chenxuan headed to the village entrance to catch a ride.

The nearby town was still quite small, mostly consisting of a couple of main streets and a few alleys. Everything from furniture and appliances to groceries could be found there. Yang Chenxuan wandered around but couldn't find any store selling large machinery. He did come across a shop with a dehulling machine, which seemed the closest to a conveyor belt store.

With a hopeful attitude, he asked the shop owner, but unfortunately, it was a dead end. Left with no choice, Yang Chenxuan decided to head to the city.

There were only three buses a day from the town to the city, and he managed to catch the second one. Unlike the air-conditioned buses of twenty years later, this one felt like a steam room. Everyone was drenched in sweat, and the mix of body odor and strong-smelling items some passengers carried made the air inside the bus almost unbearable.

Due to the heat, nearly all the car windows were open. Whenever a car passed by, dust would swirl inside, making the entire cabin feel unbearably stuffy. After enduring over four hours, they finally reached the city.

After some inquiries, they found the place selling large equipment. When Yang Chenxuan saw the conveyor belts, he felt a surge of excitement.

The owners selling this kind of machinery didn't seem to actively attract customers, and there were few shops of the same kind. There were only two stores selling conveyor belts.

Yang Chenxuan walked into one of the stores. "Hey, boss!"

The owner, a middle-aged man dressed sharply in a short-sleeved shirt tucked into dress pants with a red tie, looked up from his martial arts novel. "Hey there, looking to buy a conveyor belt?"

His attire, like driving an Audi A6 down the street twenty years later, marked him as someone well-off, at least middle class.

Yang Chenxuan nodded casually. "Yeah, I need a few!"

The owner's eyes lit up at the mention of multiple units. A big customer had arrived!

He extended his hands. "Sir, which company are you with?"

At that time, any factory buying several conveyor units at once was definitely state-owned, especially in a smaller inland city like this. There weren't any private owners with that kind of purchasing power.

Yang Chenxuan shook hands with the owner without revealing his identity. "We're looking for a conveyor system that's strong and can handle heavy loads."

For a quarry, factory assembly line equipment won't cut it, and it's rare for factories to use such equipment nowadays. The owner perked up at this request.

"If you need powerful equipment, you'll need a good motor, which naturally means a higher price," the owner said excitedly. "You've come to the right place. Our store has the best equipment in the city..."

The owner went on to boast about his products, but Yang Chenxuan, with his experience in the system, just nodded noncommittally. The owner couldn't quite gauge what Yang Chenxuan was thinking, especially since he never asked about the price, focusing only on the product details.

After being shown several models, Yang Chenxuan realized the only difference was the conveyor belt; the motors were all the same. Most of these models weren't even in stock and would need to be custom-made.

Yang Chenxuan examined the conveyor belts for a while. The craftsmanship was simple enough that with a welder, some steel, and conveyor belts, he could make one himself.

"What's your name?" Yang Chenxuan asked politely after figuring things out.

Back then, business owners weren't as savvy as they would be in a few decades. It's not that people weren't smart, but many business tactics hadn't been developed yet. For instance, handing out business cards and introducing oneself right away—this owner hadn't done that, so Yang Chenxuan had to ask himself.

The boss quickly said, "Mr. Hu, what's the leader's last name?"

"No need for formalities, it's Yang," replied Yang Chenxuan without mentioning his first name. "Mr. Hu, can you give me a price and your contact information?"

Hu Zhizhong jotted down his pager number and handed it to Yang Chenxuan. "Mr. Yang, the models I just showed you are priced at thirteen hundred, sixteen hundred, and eighteen hundred. The more expensive ones are, of course, better."

Yang Chenxuan smiled softly. "We also have a machine with a broken motor. How much for one of those high-power motors?"

"Eight hundred!" Hu Zhizhong quoted.

Yang Chenxuan wasn't sure how much a motor would cost twenty years from now, but he knew that eight hundred dollars was nearly a year's salary for a worker at this time. By 2019, even a factory worker could earn three to four thousand a month, around forty thousand a year, and a motor for conveyor equipment certainly wouldn't cost forty thousand.

However, technology had advanced rapidly over the decades, and motor technology was no longer cutting-edge.

After thinking it over, Yang Chenxuan said, "Alright, I'll discuss it with my team. If we decide to proceed, I'll give you a call, Mr. Hu."

After leaving, Yang Chenxuan immediately went to another shop, where the prices were similar, with the motor being twenty dollars cheaper.

After getting the second shop owner's pager number, he headed to the steel market. After some inquiries and calculations, he realized it would be cheaper to make the conveyor belt himself, with the only challenge being the technical aspect.

After searching around the market, I couldn't find anything suitable. It was already late when I got to the city, and after asking around for over an hour, it was past 3 p.m. I had to rush to the station to catch the bus.

By the time Yang Chenxuan returned to the village, it was already past 8 p.m. If he'd been any later, he wouldn't have been able to catch a ride back. He had considered staying overnight in the city, but after thinking it over, he realized there were only two places selling conveyor belts, and the prices weren't that different. Staying another day wouldn't help, so he decided to head back.

When Zhang Yuehua saw her son return, she quickly brought out some dishes. "Did you eat anything on the way? Come on, have some dinner!"

Yang Chenxuan hadn't eaten much all day and was starving. He grabbed a bowl and filled it with rice. "Mom, have we leased the land yet?"

Zhang Yuehua brought out all the dishes she had saved for him, along with leftovers from last night's gathering. "Yes, we leased it. The price is reasonable. We agreed to pay with grain at the end of the year, but when it's time to pay the agricultural tax, we have to give them the grain for the tax first."

The agricultural tax won't be abolished until 2006, so farming still comes with taxes, and they're not light. Many families find that after paying taxes, there's barely enough grain left to feed themselves.

Yang Chenxuan took a bite of the food, which had a slight sour taste. Without a fridge and with the hot weather, this was just how it was. As he ate, he asked, "How about Dad?"

Zhang Yuehua sat down beside him. "He's talked to three families, and we've already got the money back. Uncle Jun helped as a guarantor. There are two more families considering it. After dinner, he went to the next village to find that contractor named Jiang. Hopefully, he can get a few more."

Having a guarantor is pretty standard. Even though everyone knows each other, they're not exactly close. It's not unreasonable to ask for a guarantor when you're handing over a few hundred bucks, but it does mean owing Zhou Jun a favor.

If each place costs $250, then three places will be $750. The cheapest machine is $1,300, so negotiating with two more places should cover it. If we can strike a deal with more, even better.

Yang Chenxuan felt that their family's rise was just beginning!