Chapter 89: Iron Essence Powder Exchanged for Iron Ore

  After dinner, Hei Zi and his family started shopping on the street. They had too many things to buy, as Chinese New Year was approaching, and they needed to send gifts to leaders of iron ore and steel companies with whom they had business relationships.

  Hei Zi handed a list to Zhuo Xiao Fei, listing dozens of people who needed to be given gifts. What they were given was up to Zhuo Xiao Fei, but something had to be given.

  At night, Hei Zi returned to the farmhouse and met Da Kui. Da Kui told him that the matter of pulling iron powder from Lao Zhao had been settled.

  The ore processing plant and the mine entrance have always been watched by Xiao Fei and Da Kui. Hei Zi explained in detail how to exchange iron powder for minerals, and Da Kui curiously asked: "Hei Ge, we won't make much money from this exchange, why bother?"

  Xiao Fei patted Da Kui's head and said, "What kind of brain do you have? Can't you see that it's not possible to exchange one ton of iron powder for thirteen tons of ore?"

  "Didn't we agree on this exchange? Why are you asking for more, Chen Yitian can give it to you?" Da Kui still didn't understand.

  Hei Zi said: "Da Kui, Xiao Fei, we still have to work hard for a few more days. Before the New Year, we will pull out the first batch of ore. At that time, we must go to the scene to supervise it. In addition, give each driver who pulls the ore 10 yuan per car, and they will pull faster."

  Now Da Gui understood, the amount of ore to be pulled depends on the driver and the number of cars pumped. If the ore is not counted at night, it will be given away for free. Chen Yi Tian knows this kind of thing very well, he won't investigate how much ore was actually pulled. As for the workers in the mine, no one would say anything if they knew, because they only get bonuses when they complete their tasks, otherwise they would suffer losses.

  The open-pit mine sent ore to Heizi's own concentrator, which couldn't operate without enough ore. If people were stealing ore everywhere every day, it was impossible for the open-pit mine's concentrator not to lack ore. Heizi decided to spend the last few days of the year taking his brothers to live in the open-pit mine for a few days, and he planned to help manage the order of the open-pit mine.

  Hei Zi wouldn't tell the leaders of the iron mine about this kind of thing, not even Chen Yi Tian knew, he simply made some arrangements and took everyone to the open-pit mine.

  Due to concerns about insufficient manpower, Hei Zi handed over the task of delivering gifts to Liu Pengfei and Zhao Bin, Wu Mei. Liu Pengfei knew all the people in the county town who needed to receive gifts, and Wu Mei could handle those at the iron mine and the town. Hei Zi had great trust in them.

  Yin Le brought his few younger brothers to the open-pit mine with Hei Zi for the first time, and it wasn't until they arrived that he realized how vast Hei Zi's industry was. Not only were there two high-yielding yellow sand mines, but also a large-scale ore dressing plant and a pelletizing plant.

  Yin Le had originally planned to make some money for himself at the Hong Mine and Bus Company for a few years before striking out on his own, but now he realized that his idea was too naive. The money made from the Hong Mine and Bus Company was just small change, and Hei Zi didn't even take it seriously.

  Yin Le began to worry that Hei Zi knew he had embezzled money from Hongmei Kou and the bus company.

  Hei Zi actually knew about Yin Le's affairs, and it was easy to estimate how much money the bus company could make each year. Hei Zi didn't say anything because he didn't want to embarrass Yin Le, and he didn't want to lose a brother over such a small amount of money.

  In the open-pit mine, Heizi and his men lived in the dormitory. During the day, they had nothing to do. Xiao Fei led Da Kui, Er Cheng, and several younger brothers to patrol the ore dressing plant and two mine mouths. Yin Le and his younger brothers were arranged by Heizi to drink with the security personnel of the open-pit mine. The people from the open-pit mine, Er Cheng, and Da Kui were familiar with them. Heizi wanted Yin Le and his younger brothers to get familiar with these people first, so that they could handle things better in the future.

  Hei Zi took Wu Yu, Wang Peng Cheng, Hu Chang Fu and Hai Man to drive around and mix with others. They drank with the mixed gangsters near the open-pit mine every day, then told them to take a few days off. Hei Zi had been mixing in the open-pit mine for some time, and most of the local gangsters still gave him face. When he met some who didn't want to give him face, he would scare them a bit. The big gangsters had all run away in the past few days, and those who came back recently were very low-key, not having taken action yet. These small-time gangsters were easy to deal with.

  Hei Zi was invited out for a drink by Qian Yongping. After they had a few drinks, Qian Yongping teased Hei Zi: "Brother, why do you make things so complicated? Can't it be settled with just one sentence?"

  Qian Yongping is a big shot in Xinglong County, so it's no big deal for him. Hei Zi is different, he's not from Xinglong County, and he's afraid some of the big shots won't take him seriously.

  Heizi didn't elaborate on why he stopped others from stealing ore, but Qian Yongping knew that Heizi did so to avoid conflicts with the mixed gangs. So he simply took out his phone and notified the big mixed gangs who had a good relationship with him, telling them to spread the word: no one should go to the open-pit mine to steal ore before the New Year.

  Heizi owed Qian Yongping a favor, Heizi wanted to return the money to Qian Yongping, Qian Yongping smiled and said: "Heizi, am I short of money? I just want to be friends with you."

  Once the security personnel at the nearby open-pit mine were dealt with, it was easy to catch ordinary villagers who came to steal coal at night.

  In the morning, the fleet of trucks from the open-pit mine transported iron concentrate powder from Heizi's concentrator to the open-pit mine's powder warehouse. At night, the drivers on the night shift pulled ore for Heizi's concentrator all night long. The truck couldn't pass through the pump, and the person responsible for counting the number of trucks was taken away by Heizi to drink. Xiao Fei held onto the money at the entrance of the concentrator, and every time a truck came in, he would give out 10 yuan. In one night, the ore piles in the concentrator were like small mountains.

  The first night, after hauling back a large quantity of ore, Hei Zi realized that he had underestimated the amount. He hadn't expected to haul back so much in just one night. At this rate, three nights' worth of ore would be enough for his own smelting factory to use for a month. It seemed that these ores needed to be processed quickly, or else there wouldn't be any place to store them.

  The next day, Hei Zi hastily found Zhuo Xiao Fei to discuss and asked him to hand over the task of distributing money at night to someone else. The two must rush out to find a private ore processing plant to deal with the minerals in their hands.

  Bai Tian Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei drove out to the ore processing plant separately, this time they won't let anyone owe them money again. Those who want to buy ore from the processing plant must first put down a portion of the funds in Hei Zi's hands before they can transport the ore.

  After a day of hard work, Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei found three ore processing plants. The open-pit mine produced high-quality ore, and the price they set was reasonable. On the second day, two more owners of ore processing plants came to find Hei Zi. The matter of selling ore was settled. From then on, Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei's daily work was running between ore processing plants and calculating accounts. Their funds were growing rapidly. By the 30th of December when they stopped mining, they checked their income and found that in ten days, they had earned over 40 million.

  During the Chinese New Year, the mine and the ore dressing plant were closed, and Hei Zi and his brothers also took a break. After being busy for ten days, everyone was tired. Hei Zi saw off Hu Changfu and Hai Mantian when it was already dark, and he returned to Zhu Xiaofei's hometown with Zhu Xiaofei and Wang Pengcheng. They still spent the Chinese New Year at Zhu Xiaofei's hometown this year.