Fang Bai had Zhang Guoping drive to Chen Fumin's auto repair shop. He saw the shop was still open, and Chen Fumin was there.
After turning off the car, Fang Bai got out and walked towards the shop, calling out, "Master Chen, come help me take a look!"
"Boss Fang, it's you! Do you need a car repair?"
Chen Fumin saw a truck parked in front of his shop and thought it was there for a repair. He came out and saw his acquaintance, Fang Bai.
"Not the truck, but a motorcycle. Please help me take a look first."
"Oh?"
Chen Fumin looked around but didn't see a motorcycle.
Fang Bai had Zhang Guoping open the cargo door. A dilapidated motorcycle, along with some parts, was revealed at the very front of the cargo area.
Master Chen walked over to look and saw the old motorcycle. He glanced at Fang Bai again, a bit suspicious: You think too highly of me, asking me to fix this?
If I had that much skill, I'd go fix airplanes directly. Why would I open an auto repair shop?
He had witnessed Fang Bai's skill at finding overlooked treasures.
He thought that last time was luck. Now, Fang Bai wanted to rely on luck again to find a treasure in a motorcycle?
He must be joking.
If he had that kind of luck, there was a lottery event in T City a few days ago, and the grand prize was a motorcycle. He would have just tried his luck there. Why bother with a dilapidated motorcycle?
At the same time, he was still very happy that Fang Bai came directly to him for a repair, which showed that he was quite capable in Fang Bai's eyes.
Master Chen thought of many things the moment he saw the motorcycle.
Fang Bai looked at Master Chen's puzzled expression and said with a chuckle:
"I want you to help me refurbish this motorcycle."
"Boss Fang, to be honest, refurbishing this bike isn't a big problem, but fixing it up might be impossible. Look how dilapidated it is."
Master Chen spoke frankly. He wanted to earn money and couldn't just refuse. Boss Fang was quite wealthy, having made a lot from finding that drilling machine.
But he had to make it clear. He wouldn't earn money against his conscience.
Fang Bai tapped the engine area of the motorcycle and smiled, "Hey, don't worry about that.
I've checked it; the engine has no problems at all, only the gasket is broken.
Other key components, like the axle and chain, are fine. This bike just looks old.
But its age isn't long; it's only been driven a little over ten thousand kilometers. It just wasn't well-maintained."
"Even then, I can't guarantee I can fix it. I think it's more likely I can't fix it. If I had that skill, I'd be tinkering with used motorcycles myself."
"It's okay if you can't fix it. It is indeed very difficult to fix. You just need to help me refurbish it, to the best of your ability. I've bought the parts that need replacing, and I'll buy the remaining ones.
Just tell me how much you'll charge. Give me a price.
If you don't do it, I'll take it to another shop. It's just refurbishment: cleaning the dirty parts, polishing and refurbishing the rusty parts, and finally painting the body. All components need to be cleaned."
This time, Master Chen didn't directly refuse. He carefully examined the motorcycle again, while also considering how many days it would take to complete.
After about two minutes, he said, "Refurbishing isn't easy either. I estimate it will take about ten days, as many parts need to be polished and painted. The workload is very large."
"Okay, give me a quote."
Chen Fumin said awkwardly, "200 yuan. I suggest you just sell it. Even if it's refurbished, it's highly likely it won't run. Don't waste the repair fees."
Fang Bai didn't waste words. He took out four 50-yuan bills from his backpack and handed them to him, "You just help me refurbish it first. I already said, it's not your problem if it can't be fixed."
He estimated the workload. If things went smoothly, it would take at least seven days to refurbish. If not, ten or more days would be normal. For him to quote 200 yuan for running his own business was very reasonable.
Master Chen hesitated for a moment but still took the money: "Since you put it that way, I'll take this job."
After receiving the money, he and Fang Bai together moved the motorcycle out of the truck.
Zhang Guoping saw that the two were having difficulty moving it and came over to help lift it down. After two collaborations, he and Fang Bai had become familiar. Fang Bai was quite polite to him, offering him cigarettes, and he was loyal and courageous.
And, there was also a rooster.
So, if the amount of goods was small, he would help if he could.
But if there was too much cargo, he couldn't help; his hands would be soft after moving goods, making it difficult to drive.
The 130-kilogram behemoth was still very strenuously lifted down from the truck by the three of them.
When it was lifted up, professional movers, four people, lifted it up in an instant.
After all the motorcycle parts were moved down, Master Chen asked everyone to come into the shop to wash their hands.
After washing his hands, Fang Bai gave Master Chen a rough explanation, telling him to start with disassembly and cleaning. He would come over to check when he had time and left his pager number.
After giving instructions, Fang Bai and the driver drove away from Master Chen's auto repair shop. A little while later, they arrived at Fang Bai's shop.
Before Fang Bai arrived in T City, he had told his parents and the staff at the shop that he might return in the afternoon and would need their help moving goods. Besides their regular wages, everyone would receive one yuan for handling fees.
If he couldn't return before 7 PM, he told the students to go back to school and not wait for him.
If the unloading was done tomorrow, Zhang Guoping would only be able to drive back tomorrow, which would incur extra vehicle fees, something Fang Bai was unwilling to do.
Having money was one thing, but in business, every step had to be carefully calculated to reduce expenses and lower costs.
As soon as the van stopped, the shop staff came out, and his parents, who were at home, also came out.
Fang Shi saw his son get out of the passenger seat, walked over to him, and patted his shoulder: "You're back. You worked hard."
"It's alright. Let everyone help unload the goods, or it will get dark soon." Fang Bai told his father, then called out to the part-time college students in the shop, "Everyone, let's move the goods first. We'll eat and drink together after we're done."
"Okay!"
Hearing about free dinner and drinks, everyone became even more enthusiastic. After the driver opened the door and set up the boarding steps, they began moving the televisions.
Fang Bai took out a cigarette for the driver: "Brother Zhang, you should rest for a bit. You've been driving all afternoon without a break.
After we finish moving the goods, let's eat together before you head back.
If you're worried about driving in the dark, staying overnight at my place is no problem. You can even have a drink tonight."
Zhang Guoping chuckled, "Haha, I'll pass on staying overnight. I need to go back tonight. We can drink together when I have time."
He was more focused on slaughtering that chicken and making a potato stew with chicken tomorrow.
Ah, eating someone else's chicken, that's truly satisfying.
"Then suit yourself. Anyway, you have my pager number. Whenever you come this way, come to my place for a drink." Fang Bai nodded.
He would still look for him for future transportation needs. The more he interacted with him, the more he felt this driver was good.
At 7 PM, the unloading was complete, and Fang Bai treated everyone to dinner.
After eating, everyone dispersed.
Fang Bai returned to his rented place, looking at the piles of televisions in the two shop fronts, filled with excitement. If this batch of goods sold smoothly, he would earn even more than with the first batch.
He heard his father say that it rained yesterday so they couldn't set up the stall, but today the weather was clear, so they did.
He returned to the bedroom and opened the Golden Finger's virtual panel.
His personal wealth was still 85,000 yuan, unchanged.
This was normal. His parents hadn't given him the money yet. His personal wealth would only increase once he received the money; this was an experience he had discovered last time.
His father had drunk a little, his face flushed and slightly tipsy, walking behind him.
Upon returning home and seeing his son, he took the money from his backpack and placed it on his son's desk. There were dozens of stacks of money, 100-yuan and 50-yuan bills bundled together.
10-yuan bills were bundled in stacks of 100, and 5-yuan bills in stacks of 200, with each stack being 1,000 yuan. There were also some smaller banknotes.
After selling out this afternoon, he and his wife had organized the money and also calculated how much the first batch of goods had sold for in total.
After figuring it out, the two elders constantly sighed, earning over 100,000 yuan in less than a month, like robbing money.
Looking at his son's joyful expression, he said, "Your mother and I have sorted it all out. We sold 60 televisions today, and all your televisions are sold out.
There are also some spare parts. I don't know if they're still useful, so I didn't dare to dispose of them."
"Dad, you've worked hard."
Fang Bai chuckled as he accepted the money and asked, "How much money is this?"