Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1130 - 578: Never-ending_busyness_2

Chapter 1130: Chapter 578: Never-ending_busyness_2

So around here, there really are all sorts of strange and curious old things. And no one understands them, it’s like the nearsighted meeting the farsighted; you can’t see clearly, and neither can I. The pricing is all over the place, too. Take, for example, someone brings in a copper incense burner, how do you value that? It’s so simple, this thing weighs several catties of copper, so it’s definitely got to be more expensive than a small copper coin—what’s the price of copper per catty now? This is at least an object, it’s got to sell for more than scrap copper, right?

Yan Fei had last looked at Heizi’s ’collection’ at least two or three months ago, in any case, back then Heizi had stored several half-full sacks of copper coins, and also quite a few other strange and curious items, occupying a whole empty room for them. Yan Fei really couldn’t be bothered now to check how many items there were inside... There should be more, right?

As soon as Old He heard about this, he got anxious: "Are they really stored in bags? Can they be preserved well like that? The way you store them, it’s just ruining good stuff... Do you really understand antiques at all?"

Yan Fei accepted the criticism with an open mind and honestly replied, "Really don’t understand!"

One person was anxious and another was remarkably calm. Even Professor Qi, standing by, chuckled at the scene, finding the pair utterly amusing together...

So Old He was persistently pestering to see the antiques, but Yan Fei insisted on continuing the tour for the two visitors. The old and the young argued as they walked, and Professor Qi watched with glee, not bothering to intervene, just letting them bicker.

Not long after, Ma Yongming came running over, greeted the two professors, and then complained to Yan Fei, "In broad daylight, you’re not doing anything shady, so why is your phone switched off?"

Yan Fei felt wronged: "Isn’t it because as soon as I got back, the calls wouldn’t stop coming in, and the phone battery that was full in the morning is already dead. What’s going on?"

Ma Yongming had encountered this kind of thing before, since he had bought a used phone with an even worse battery. So without further complaints, he grumbled, "It’s about the materials again. I think for our own stuff, and now you’re not short of money, we should use solid materials. Those students insist on sticking to the blueprints, thinking using more materials is wasteful. It’s our own stuff, what’s wasteful about it?"

Yan Fei felt helpless; it wasn’t the first or second time this issue had come up. It’s the difference between a scientific talent and a local rustic, those students believed that the blueprints drawn up under the personal guidance of Professor Shu were utterly faultless in every respect. But Ma Yongming felt that since it was his own property, it had to be built to last, and thus used more materials.

This issue had been there since the bridge-building began. The students said the bridge piers built this way were definitely fine and it wasn’t a bridge frequented by heavy vehicles every day. Ma Yongming believed the bridge should be as sturdy as possible, preferably not even a flood or an earthquake should be able to damage it.

Yan Fei just played peacemaker, finding a middle ground between the two opinions was fine.

The main issue was still that Ma Yongming’s own foundations were not up to par; for instance, the area would definitely need electricity in the future, so they couldn’t muddle through with wooden poles like Yan Fei had done in the past. When the electric poles were delivered a few days ago, the ten-plus meter poles quivered like springs on both ends when they were hoisted up, making onlookers anxious.

One worker felt the quality might be inadequate and wondered if they might break if subjected to more force. This question angered the boss of the pole company who had delivered them, who pointed out and said, "I’m not sure about anything else, but if there’s the slightest issue with what I provided today, I won’t take a penny for it. If you don’t believe it, go ahead and hug it and swing from it as much as you like—any problems, it’s on me!"

To the uninitiated, the electric poles seemed hollow in the middle, and there was a standard wall thickness; despite being so long and seemingly slender. But the boss was very confident, telling Heizi and those receiving the shipment in private: these were for private use, how could we deliver something subpar? Go ahead and use them; as long as they aren’t deliberately rammed into, no matter how many years they last, if they break, we’ll replace them with new ones...

Actually, as long as the mix didn’t have a major problem, it’s really quite durable. Even for government deliveries, he’d dare to make the same promise—but saying this to people like Heizi and others would make them think the quality of these poles was even better. As for why, everyone knew but it was one of those things you can only imply and not say outright.

Just like with bridge repair, a bridge designed by someone like Professor Shu, who was even more of an old-hand than the old-timers, as long as it was constructed to standard, it was guaranteed to last a hundred and eighty years. As for other bridges that collapsed on the road, apart from some that were indeed jerry-built projects, most failed because of the heavy overloading of the traffic.

At this moment, faced with Ma Yongming’s complaints, Yan Fei could only offer reassurance, "Just go over there and say, wasting materials is our business, compromise with their opinion a bit. Don’t insist on using materials so vigorously, nor strictly follow the blueprints. It’s fine to use a bit more materials, we can afford it. You’ve worked hard, Uncle Ming, look at you these days, getting darker and thinner. Come over for lunch in a bit, I’ll make you something nice to make up for it..."

Ma Yongming was really just upset, but he couldn’t argue too much with the students, so he could only vent to Yan Fei, the big boss. But now, persuaded by Yan Fei’s kind words, he perked up and went back to work with renewed energy.

Growth is like that, step by step. Yan Sanfen, who used to run to Boss Ma for consultations at the outset, now has Boss Ma coming to him with grievances after encountering problems. It’s been a while since anyone questioned whether this boss, who’s not even eighteen yet, was