Yang Jian never imagined that Yang Huailin would ask him to intervene in gang affairs, especially since he had strongly opposed his cooperation with Li Xiang back then.
"Uncle, what do you want me to do? Teach Xu Zheng a lesson?"
"How can I let you go fight? That would be harming you. If anything happened, I couldn't bear the responsibility."
"It's okay. Dealing with a small-time thug like Xu Zheng won't cause any major trouble."
"No, no, no. If I let you go fight, what would be the difference between me and gangsters? Besides, Xu Zheng isn't a small-time thug anymore. He runs a casino and contracts rural roads. He's making a fortune, and he has twenty to thirty subordinates. He's already established himself, which is why he's so arrogant."
"Is that so? I underestimated him. But dealing with him isn't that difficult."
"I know it's not difficult for you to deal with him. After all, even ruthless characters like Liu Ming were crippled by you. Xu Zheng is far from being comparable to him. But I still can't let you go fight him."
"Then what do you suggest? If you don't need me to take action, why did you call me?"
Yang Jian actually knew that Yang Huailin wouldn't want him to get involved in a fight, but he was teasing him.
Yang Huailin thought for a moment before saying, "Er Jian, why don't you take on the job of repairing this road? No one in the village dares to contract it. If Xu Zheng contracts it, the villagers won't agree. Not only do they dislike his arrogance, but they also don't trust the quality of his road construction."
"Didn't you disagree with me participating in road construction, saying it wouldn't make money?"
"You child, why are you arguing with me? Things are different now. Besides, you use this road the most. Your factory's incoming and outgoing goods are transported by large trucks. If Xu Zheng contracts it, he'll definitely cut corners and build a shoddy road that will collapse in no time. How will your transport trucks get in and out?"
Yang Jian slapped his forehead. "That's right! I completely forgot about that. Jiang Bin mentioned this to me a couple of days ago, saying that the current road is not conducive to the factory's development. I even said that the village was about to repair the road, but I didn't consider the quality issue."
"Exactly. This is such an important road, and you're willing to let someone else build it?"
"Alright, I'll contract this road. How much money will be allocated from above? What are the specifications for the road?"
"This road is two kilometers long. The standard from above is 130,000 yuan per kilometer, with a width of 3.5 meters and a thickness of 18 centimeters, including roadbed treatment. If strictly built according to specifications, this amount should be insufficient.
However, village-level road inspections are not that strict. A few bribes to the inspecting cadres from above, and as long as the thickness reaches 18 centimeters at fixed points, a general thickness of 12 centimeters in other areas would be considered relatively good quality."
Yang Huailin explained the current situation of rural road contracting and observed Yang Jian's reaction.
"How can 3.5 meters width be enough? I have large trucks going in and out every day. 3.5 meters only allows one vehicle to pass, and no oncoming traffic. This road needs to be at least six meters wide, let alone a thickness of only 12 centimeters. I think even 18 centimeters isn't enough; it needs to be twenty centimeters."
"But the allocation from above is only this much. To upgrade the standard, we need to raise funds ourselves, and the village has no way to raise money."
"Then how much more money is needed?"
Yang Huailin smiled slyly. "According to your standards, it will cost at least 500,000 yuan. Due to the road widening, it will also encroach on villagers' farmland, so an estimated compensation for young crops and land occupation will be needed. About 600,000 yuan should be enough."
Yang Jian scratched his head. "600,000 yuan? The allocation from above is only 260,000 yuan, leaving a shortfall of 340,000 yuan. You mean you want me to cover this cost?"
"If you don't, who will? If you're unwilling, I'll have to contract this road to Xu Zheng. A road that's 3.5 meters wide and 12 centimeters thick. If you think it won't affect your factory's access, I don't mind."
Yang Huailin had a firm grasp of Yang Jian's personality. He knew that Yang Jian had hired an exceptionally capable factory manager from outside, and the factory was working overtime after resuming production, clearly planning for greater development. The access road had a significant impact on him.
Even if Li Xiang had contracted this road, Yang Huailin had planned to discuss raising funds with Yang Jian to widen and thicken the road. However, before it could be finalized, Li Xiang was attacked.
"Uncle, you planned this all along, to get me to fall into this trap."
"Stop dawdling. In one word, do you agree or not? If you don't agree, I'll immediately have Xu Zheng come over to sign the contract and start construction."
"Since you've put it this way, how can I disagree? When can we sign the contract, and when will construction begin?"
"We can go to the village to sign the contract now. However, before construction begins, we need to get the villagers along the road on board. Widening the road will encroach on villagers' farmland, which is quite troublesome."
Yang Jian's head ached at the thought of having to persuade villagers one by one. "Uncle, you handle the villagers' work. Just compensate them according to your proposed amount, not exceeding 100,000 yuan."
"Alright, I'll take care of this. Who do you want to sign the contract?"
"Let my cousin Yongli go. Regarding the villagers' compensation, you can communicate with him directly. I still need to go to Hancheng to raise money."
Yang Jian was telling the truth. He hadn't been to the casino for almost twenty days. Their plan was to settle accounts once a month, and the time had long passed. Because he hadn't gone, it was temporarily put on hold.
The first thing he would do after settling the accounts and bringing back the money was to arrange a second surgery for his sister. Wei Xia had already contacted the top brain specialists in China to perform the surgery in Hancheng.
This sudden road project required full upfront investment. Government projects usually received allocations at the end of the year.
His brother-in-law's building was about to have its roof poured, which also required a large sum of money. Although Lu Qian guaranteed that they could defer payment until the end of the year, Yang Jian knew the rules of construction sites. It was impossible to pay nothing. Both labor and material costs needed to be partially paid, and renovation also needed to be started.
After arranging for Jing Yongli to liaign with Yang Huailin, Yang Jian drove to Xunsi River.
He first went to Zheng Guangyao's construction site to see Liu Yong hand over the formwork.
"Xiao Yang, the first batch of your formwork is really poor quality. Look, they've already cracked before the foundation is even finished. Will this batch of formwork have problems?"
When Yang Jian arrived at the construction site, the trucks brought by Liu Yong had not yet unloaded. Zheng Guangyao had stopped them because Liu Yong said this batch of goods was also produced by their factory.
"Mr. Zheng, if this batch of formwork has problems, I won't take a single cent from you. Moreover, I guarantee that the formwork produced by our factory will have a turnover of no less than eight uses. If it falls short of this standard, I won't charge you either."
According to Jiang Bin, the formwork he produced could be used more than ten times. However, Yang Jian was not confident enough to promise ten uses. A conservative estimate of eight uses should be fine.
"You said it yourself. I don't need your promise of eight uses; six uses would be enough. If it reaches this standard, I will purchase all my future formwork from you."
"A promise is a promise. If it doesn't meet the standard, you won't pay a cent. Hurry up and arrange for people to unload the trucks. The drivers need to rush back to load more goods, and they have to deliver formwork for Dongsheng Company tomorrow morning."
Yang Jian was quite confident about a turnover of six uses.