Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 575 - Chapter 575 575. The excavator will arrive at Location 1

Chapter 575: 575. The excavator will arrive at Location 1 Chapter 575: 575. The excavator will arrive at Location 1 The people who drill wells on the mountain have arrived–it’s not that efficiency at home is slow; it’s just that these days, since running water has reached the village, many wells have been gradually abandoned.

The well drillers had no work to take, so these old hands each kept themselves busy with their own things, waiting all this time because they still had to gather a crew.

Fortunately, they finally managed to assemble three people. Early in the morning, they went up the mountain to check out the marked spots, then came back and quoted a price while bringing the equipment:

“Not easy to drill! One is at the top of the mountain, all rocks, we’ll have to use a drill first. The other two are on other hilltops, very tricky angles… It’s not just about getting water, you also have to repair the water tanks and wells, so it’s going to be expensive!”

“Plus, you want to find a water outlet every so often, with upstream and downstream connections for aqueduct construction… All in all, that adds up to over a dozen places.”

It was Wu Lan who negotiated with the locals, and all it took was an exclamation from her: “The locations are all set by you, so that saves trouble! We’re all folks from the same township, how about a fair price?”

The locations weren’t fixed but roughly delineated–Professor Song had been here for several days, and had already drawn up the basic planning with Yan Ran and the others; the route for digging the aqueduct was all laid out.

Within this route, having several outlets at the top of the mountain would be more convenient.

The three big guys huffed and puffed in discussion, then gave an honest quote: “The one on the mountain top, that’ll be 1000! We’ll cover it! Including fixing the tank… If you find good spots yourselves, it’s cheaper, 500. We’ll look around for the others in the next couple of days, 600 each.”

“Too expensive!” Wu Lan cut in decisively: “The other villages paid you only 400 to drill before!”

“But as you said, those were village requests, on flat land, all soil, not like the mountain! Just talking about our machinery, just hauling it up there is a labor…”

“I have a tricycle, I can deliver your machinery with it… You have to give a discount! Let’s do this, the rest at 400…”

Back and forth the two sides went, engaging in a fierce skirmish, until a price was finally settled to Wu Lan’s liking.

It was only after the workers went up the mountain that Wu Lan smiled with satisfaction: “This price isn’t bad, fair.”

And yet you still looked as though you were grudgingly conceding out of sheer necessity?

“What do you know!” Wu Lan glanced dismissively at a group who had no idea how to live: “That’s all their labor cost, fluctuating with no standard. When you put on such an act, it makes them feel their price is justified, and they’ll be in a better mood when working.”

Song Tan: ……

Right at that moment, she also got a phone call–

[Super Affordable Excavator Guy]

Huh? Huh? Huh?

On the other end of the line, Excavator Guy’s voice was a bit shy and somewhat bashful:

“Um, sis, about that mountain of yours. Are you still going to need an excavator anytime soon?”

Of course, she needed it. How could she not? She had hundreds of acres of mountain land! Without an excavator, she’d be working on it forever!

But still…

“It’s so hot these days, can you manage?”

“Sure can, sure can!” Excavator Guy sounded invigorated: “We’ll start working at dawn, around four or five, and finish by ten. Then we restart at five in the afternoon and stop by seven or eight. We can get a solid shift in each day, definitely eight hours!”

“And how much do you charge?”

Her new mountain wasn’t any better than this back mountain; at least the back mountain had hardly any stones. The other slopes were full of high and low rocks, shrubs, small trees, and weeds. Just starting the excavator from the suburbs would cost a thousand.

“Not much, not much!” the other party chirped happily: “Just cover food and lodging, 1500 a day, how about that? Can you do it?”

How about that? Song Tan couldn’t help but laugh and cry, symbolically bargaining:

“Isn’t that a bit expensive?”

“Not expensive, not expensive at all, sis! There are rocks on your mountain, and I have to do earthworks. I’ll bring a Komatsu and add a breaker, and it’s only 1500 for a shift! The daily fuel cost alone is over a thousand, then there’s maintenance and labor costs… I’m not even charging extra for the breaker!”

When work first started on the back mountain, Song Tan had specifically looked into excavator prices, and she quite liked this sincere guy and trusted him. At this moment, she wondered:

“Komatsu? Didn’t you drive that… what’s it… Kobelco the last time you came?”

Although she sounded knowledgeable, she had actually learned about the brands during a chat with the head of the construction team.

But the excavator guy didn’t know that, and he just marveled, “Sis, you really know your stuff now. Last time, I was driving my cousin’s excavator. He’s not in the business anymore, so he pawned it off to someone else, and I bought a secondhand one myself.”

In fact, he had wanted his cousin’s machine, but his cousin was deep in online loans, practically obsessed with money… In the end, he gave up on it.

“Wow, you’re pretty capable!” Song Tan was somewhat surprised: “A secondhand one must still cost several hundred thousand yuan, right?”

On the phone, the excavator lad just giggled: “Yeah, the market hasn’t been great these past two years, and with the rapid advancement in excavators, the prices aren’t that high anymore.”

“I only needed a down payment of over thirty thousand, which I could afford.”

“Brother Xu said I could buy it, I work steadily, and he still calls me when there’s work to do.”

Brother Xu is the head of the construction team, and over the years, the excavator lad went from apprenticing to covering shifts in their team. When there was no work, he would fill in wherever needed; he learned a bit of everything and was quite reliable.

It’s hard to find young people like that these days! Hence, the head of the team quite liked him.

As it happened, Song Tan also appreciated this reliability.

At that moment, she chuckled: “Turns out you’re looking for work with me to make your monthly payments! Alright, then come over. I’ve got over two hundred acres here that need some serious work.”

“Alright, sis!”

On the other end, the excavator lad was even happier: “I love working for your family; the food is great, and you never delay the salary. I’ll be there tomorrow!”

His words couldn’t have been more sincere.

A few years back, when excavator business was booming, someone would hire an excavator for more than two thousand yuan per shift, just like the job he’s taking now.

But in recent years, it’s been tough, and many people couldn’t find work. Quite a few in their excavator group couldn’t continue and had sold their machines to switch trades.

Even when they did get work, getting paid was a problem.

Over the years, when he was covering for others, he had run into issues with delayed payments and reneged deals, or people changing their minds about agreed prices after the job was done…

But working for Song Tan’s family was a real pleasure!

Even though the excavator he initially operated was small, it used less fuel, and he charged less for it.

Song Tan always paid the quoted price without hassle and settled accounts quickly and clearly, which was far better than others.

And… and the food at her place was really delicious!

Just thinking about it made the lad’s mouth water.

Song Tan was straight to the point:

“Okay! Then come over in the next couple of days. But we don’t have room for you to stay at our place; you can stay at my grandfather’s.”

The planning wasn’t fully done yet, but that wouldn’t affect starting to dig and till the earth under the blazing sun.

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