Chapter 19 What is most valuable in the 20th century? Talent!

  Li Weidong was stunned, his mouth agape: "You mean... did we just receive a 'big red one'?"

  Ye Haodong nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, I estimate that this small piece of paper, no bigger than a cigarette roll, can sell for at least 2 million!"

  Inspired by the 'big red one', Ye Haodong became even more devoted to the treasure hunting business, but unfortunately, luck was not on his side. Most of the copper items were large copper basins, but none had patterns, and the workmanship was often rough, clearly ordinary household goods. Finally, there were the porcelain bottles, with piles of various white wine bottles filling the backyard. After days of intense searching, Ye Haodong rubbed his eyes, which were dazzled by the reflection from the bottles, and gritted his teeth: "Damn it! So many wine bottles, but they all have labels on them! Can't you see that none of them are antiques?" He immediately announced that he would get rid of them all at once.

  The bottles were handled quickly, and the winery's buyers came to collect them several times. However, this newly established purchasing station, which seemed to be quite large in scale, refused to sell. Today, it finally opened for business, with three large trucks full of wine bottles. Ye Haodong and a few others worked with two men from the winery to load the bottles all afternoon. When it was time to settle the account, Ye Haodong's eyes widened in surprise.

  The winery owner was very polite: "According to what we agreed on earlier, the total is 2,700 yuan. Please check it, brother."

  Ye Haodong took it without thinking, obviously very disappointed, and handed it to Li Weidong: "Don't bother checking, just get the goods on board and hurry back."

  The winery boss left, and Li Weidong held 2,700 yuan and asked: "After deducting the principal, he made a net profit of over 1,200. Is it accounted for?"

  "Get out of here, damn it! You're taking up so much space and in the end, you only give me two bucks? From now on, I'm not collecting bottles anymore."

  Baoli Gang Li Weidong chuckled to one side, Ye Haodong rolled his eyes: "Still laughing, nothing's wrong? Do you need me to find something for the two of you to do?"

  The two immediately shut their mouths and became serious in expression.

  Yehao Dong felt unenthusiastic: "Anyway, it doesn't matter about these three melons and two dates. This two hundred yuan, keep three hundred, later when we eat, the remaining Li Ge you two split it."

  "After waiting for a while, he scolded again: 'Damn it, several of us worked hard all afternoon and still have to count the wages. This way we lose even more. It seems that we need to think of a way to make big money.'"

  Li Weidong chimed in: "Brewing wine can make a lot of money, right?"

  Ye Haodong gave him a white eye: "Technology, venue, raw materials, equipment, acquisition station changed to brewery, you are not afraid of flavor overflow, people who drink wine are still afraid, it's amazing that you can think of this."

  "Then you don't need technology and equipment for that yogurt machine project you mentioned earlier?"

  Ye Haodong: "It's doable! But that thing will have national technical support, and once the product is out, the state-run paper mill will give priority to purchasing it. Moreover, there are policies in place for obtaining low-interest loans when buying that set of equipment, so setting up a pulp workshop is much less risky than opening a winery."

  Li Weidong: "Will you stop doing business at that acquisition station?"

  Ye Haodong was furious: "Nonsense, where did the raw materials for making steel come from? Moreover, with such huge profits in iron and copper now, we set up a purchasing station in such a unique location, if we don't continue to do it, aren't we stupid?"

  A few days later, outside the city post office, Ye Haodong handed over that large red one.

  That precious large red was bought by a southerner with a Cantonese accent for 350,000 yuan. The middleman was Li Weidong's uncle, and after the transaction, Ye Haodong gave him a commission of 10,000 yuan. The old man was very happy and praised Li Weidong for following a good boss.

  In the acquisition station, in the only relatively clean small house. Ye Haodong and his two brothers laid out a table of cash.

  Ye Haodong picked up two bundles of money: "Here, one million per person, take it back home to your family first, and in the future, this trip will be at most three months, we'll have another chance."

  Li Weidong and Bao Lijiang didn't push it away either. Both of their families had difficulties, and this money could solve a lot of problems.

  Li Weidong said with some concern, "Hey Dongzi, aren't you planning to buy a set of pulp equipment? Can we afford it? Otherwise, let's just split the cost 50/50, five thousand each, and that way we can also explain it to our families."

  He Hao Dong smiled: "We use a lot of money on our side, the few thousand yuan we gave you two is just a small amount of money, even if we add another 10,000 yuan it won't make much difference. I've seen introductions to that kind of machine in related magazines, it's quite troublesome, several processes, each link has its own set of machines, de-inking, crushing, separation...it's pretty complicated, I don't fully understand it myself."

  Li Weidong: "How come I feel like this doesn't make sense? You don't even understand, later on the three of us will be caught off guard."

  Ye Haodong had a determined look of "the mountain people have their own wonderful plans": "This is just like Li Tianyu not knowing how to scrub and massage, but still opening a bathhouse. You guys don't know how to operate those machines, but there are others who do, right? Now the efficiency of state-owned enterprises is generally not good. Our Shagang upstream paper mill has a technical staff member. I told you two days ago that I invited someone to dinner, it was him. Tonight, Gangzi won't drink and will stay behind to watch the house. You come with me, if we succeed, we'll have taken the first step. Later, I'll even ask him to take us to buy equipment."

  Li Weidong suddenly realized: "You don't even know where to buy the equipment, and you want to open a paper mill. I ask you, who do you plan to sell our products to?"

  Ye Haodong said carelessly: "Originally, I planned to sell it to the Hekou Paper Mill. Now, it seems that there is no chance. My family's front yard clock big mother told me that the paper mill has not paid wages for almost half a year. The products can't keep up with the situation, and nobody wants them. The technician I told you about is the son of that big mother."

  Li Weidong worried: "Say, where are you planning to sell it?"

  Ye Haodong slapped the table with confidence: "Sell it to Liao City! There are over a dozen paper mills along the upper and lower reaches of the Taizi River, and the raw materials for making paper are still mainly wood. The more trees that are cut down on the mountain, the fewer there are, and the price of wood is getting higher and higher. Our pulp has low cost and is environmentally friendly, and the country has policies to support paper mills in using this material. With such obvious benefits, I'm not worried that they won't rush to buy it."

  Li Weidong looked at him with a strange gaze, and although he was already used to it, he couldn't help but mutter: "I really can't figure out how your brain grew like that, where did you learn all this?"

  Ye Haodong laughed complacently, with a hint of nostalgia: "Gan Luo was twelve years old when he became an official, and I'm such a big man doing this kind of thing, what's so strange about it? When I was young, my grandfather was still alive, and every day he would force us three brothers to study and practice calligraphy. At that time, I was small and couldn't sit still, and I didn't get fewer beatings, but I did develop a good memory and reading habits. Later, after the old man passed away, whether it was books he allowed us to read or not, I read them all from cover to cover. As for the principles, of course, they were understood by myself through the books. However, this business of making paper pulp is something I occasionally saw in those discarded newspapers you brought back."

  Li Weidong was shocked: "You occasionally see it, and you dare to make such a big decision?"

  "So you're saying that you have eyes but can't recognize gold and jade. There are many opportunities in this world to get rich and achieve success, so why do only a few people succeed? In one sentence: these successful people all possess the qualities of winners!"

  Li Weidong smiled and asked: "Are you saying that you have such a quality?"

  Ye Haodong: "It's not necessarily so, if we become successful in the future, it will naturally prove that I have this trait."

  Li Weidong smiled wryly: "It seems like what you said is so lively, but it's still the same old theory of 'the winner becomes king and the loser becomes a bandit', which means you don't have any real plan either, right?"

  Ye Haodong: "Whoever does anything beforehand doesn't dare say they have 100% grasp, what I mean is that back then Wang Yongqing, even if he hadn't managed a rice shop before, but when he went to do something else, he could still achieve what he has today. This isn't just a matter of fate, it's also related to some qualities he has, those qualities decided whether he would succeed or not."

  Baoli Gang: "You're being so mysterious, what's the special quality?"

  "Insightful and determined, unyielding and reliable, intelligent and extraordinary, enduring hardships without changing one's ambition!"

  Li Weidong's face showed disappointment: "It's a bit ordinary, I also know these things, and I thought it was some kind of mysterious thing."

  Ye Haodong was somewhat annoyed: "These qualities only prove that you have them when you get things done, otherwise it means you don't have them."

  Dinner at the unique dumpling house in the old town district.

  Eight cold dishes and four hot dishes were arranged on a table, Ye Haodong sincerely ordered a bottle of Wuliangye.

  Zhong Zhimin is thirty-two years old, has been working for nine years, and has always been a technician at the Hekou Paper Mill. In this small factory with only sixty or so people, he has always been a technical expert. Even when the factory was doing well and didn't lack money, he would often go out to eat and drink with the factory director. It can be seen that Ye Haodong showed great sincerity today.

  Ye Haodong: "I'll get straight to the point, call me Brother Zhong from now on. This is Li Weidong, my business partner. The two of us are planning to start a soy milk factory together, but we lack the technical expertise. So I'm being straightforward with you - I've invited you over today to come work for us."

  Li Weidong was very mature: "Li Weidong, I've heard Dongzi mention you many times, no need to say more, let's first toast a cup to Brother Zhong."

  Zhong Zhimin's drinking capacity was quite good. Li Weidong's words were somewhat hypocritical, but out of politeness, Zhong Zhimin still followed him and emptied his cup.

  Li Weidong refilled his glass, wanting to say more, but Zhong Zhimin stood up and waved his hand to interrupt him: "I understand what you both mean, but I really didn't plan on leaving the Hekou Paper Mill. After all, it's still a state-owned enterprise, and as a national cadre, I have a certain status. If the company's performance isn't good, we cadres need to come up with solutions. If we just abandon ship, that would be too unfair to the country and the workers at the factory."