Short on Money

The next day, after eating breakfast, Zhang Yi went to Zhu Gang's factory. Although they had agreed on it yesterday, the contract hadn't been signed yet, and the processing fees hadn't been discussed either.

So, he came over today to talk to Zhu Gang and also to take some raw materials back with him later. He wasn't sure how big Zhu Gang's order was this time.

After arriving at Zhu Gang's factory, Zhang Yi went directly to his office, where Zhu Gang was already waiting for him, as this was something they had agreed upon yesterday.

"Boss Zhu! I'm here. How big is this order?" Due to what happened last night, Zhang Yi and Zhu Gang were much more relaxed with each other now.

"Xiao Yi! Didn't I tell you yesterday not to keep calling me Boss Zhu? Although the quantity for this order I'm giving you today isn't large, the profit is considerable.

However, in terms of precision and other grades, this batch is one level higher than the previous one, and the complexity of this part is also much higher. Even using ordinary CNC machines to process such parts is very difficult, and the scrap rate is very high. Even the most precise CNC machine in my factory would have some difficulty.

Xiao Yi, although the processing difficulty is relatively high this time, for Master Xiao Hua in your factory, this difficulty is not very high.

But there's one thing I'm very curious about: what is Master Xiao Hua's skill level? And during our chat last night, I found that Master Xiao Hua doesn't just understand turning; she also understands a lot about fitting, planing, drilling, and other areas, and she's very deeply involved. Her skill level must also be quite high. I really don't know how you managed to find such a treasure. If my factory had such a treasure, my factory would definitely be able to develop even bigger, but I don't have that kind of luck.

You know, the highest skill level in my current factory is only a Level 6 turner, and I spent a lot of money to poach this turner from a large machinery factory in Zhou Tai City. To keep him, I treat him like a treasure, and I usually don't dare to speak loudly to him, for fear of making him angry and leaving, which would be a huge loss for our factory," Zhu Gang said to Zhang Yi with a look of admiration.

Zhu Gang might not think much of Zhang Yi in other aspects, but in terms of poaching talent, Zhu Gang truly admired him. You know, masters like Xiao Hua are often out of reach, as these people have eccentric personalities. Even if Zhu Gang encountered such a master, he wouldn't be confident in poaching them, but Zhang Yi did it. This couldn't help but make Zhu Gang sigh, feeling that Zhang Yi was much stronger than him in this regard.

After saying this, Zhu Gang continued, "Because the processing of this order is very difficult, the processing price is also very high. The processing fee for each part is as high as 110 yuan. The quantity of this batch of parts is 1000, and the required time is half a month, which is 15 days."

Zhang Yi was very happy after hearing Zhu Gang's words. Although the processing for this order was relatively difficult, the high profit made up for it. If this batch of parts was completed, there would be a profit of 110,000 yuan, which would greatly reduce the pressure on him to buy a CNC machine.

So he said, "Uncle Gang, no problem. We are confident in processing this batch of parts and completing it within 15 days."

"Okay! Good! I have quite a bit of confidence in Master Xiao Hua's skills, otherwise I wouldn't have given you this batch of orders. But Xiao Yi, you must complete this order on time and with quality. This is the first precision part order I've received from Geely. If you complete this order outstandingly, then there will definitely be more such orders in the future, and the quantity will definitely not be less than this time," Zhu Gang said.

"Okay, Uncle Gang!" Zhang Yi promised.

After chatting with Zhu Gang for a while, Zhang Yi signed the contract with Zhu Gang and then rushed back to his factory with the raw materials.

Although this order wasn't large, if completed well, it would bring in 110,000 yuan, which would increase his funds by 110,000 yuan. In reality, Zhang Yi knew that for parts like these, the processing fee Geely gave Zhu Gang was definitely much more than this small amount, possibly even twice or three times what Zhu Gang gave Zhang Yi. However, there was nothing he could do about it. His factory was simply too small, without even a proper workshop, and he didn't have a CNC machine. If he went to Geely Group to take orders himself, he would definitely be directly kicked out.

So he had to expand his factory as quickly as possible, but expanding the factory required money. After all, hiring people required money, building a workshop required money, and buying machines required even more money. In short, he was short of money, specifically a way to get a large sum of money quickly.

Of course, there were ways to make money quickly in the world, but most of these methods were illegal in the Great Hua Empire, such as firearms.

However, it wasn't impossible to make money quickly without breaking the law. Zhang Yi didn't understand these things at all, such as playing the stock market. Given his situation, if he entered, it would be a blessing if he wasn't completely wiped out, let alone making money.

So he could only focus on developing his factory step by step, steadily. Besides this, Zhang Yi didn't think he had any shortcuts.

However, this wasn't absolutely impossible. For example, selling or licensing patents. Zhang Yi hadn't thought about selling or licensing any specific patent yet, and besides, the patent he applied for hadn't been approved yet, so even if he wanted to sell it, he couldn't.

While driving, Zhang Yi was thinking about how to get a sum of money as quickly as possible to expand the scale of his factory. The small truck quickly arrived at the entrance of Zhang Yi's small workshop.

Xiao Hua, hearing the noise at the door, had already come out from inside.

"Brother! How was it? How many orders did you get?" Xiao Hua asked Zhang Yi as soon as she came out.

"Hmm! It was pretty good this time. Boss Zhu gave us an order worth 110,000 yuan. After this order is finished, we'll have money to buy a machine tool," Zhang Yi said.

"Okay! I've been wanting to try your civilization's CNC machines for a long time to see what the difference is between them and our Dwarves' automatic machines," Xiao Hua said.

"Don't worry! We'll only have more and more CNC machines in the future, and more and more employees," Zhang Yi said to Xiao Hua.

In the following days, Zhang Yi spent his days learning turning from Xiao Hua in the factory and his evenings reading various mechanical books. Every day was very fulfilling. Ten days passed quickly. Although it was only ten days, Zhang Yi's skills improved by leaps and bounds under Xiao Hua's guidance. He could now independently process some relatively simple mechanical parts. After all, he had a foundation there. Although he had become rusty from working odd jobs for the past few years, after this period of contact, he had long since recovered. Zhang Yi even felt that his turning skills were better than they were back then, and he could now use many techniques he couldn't before.

For example, the agricultural machinery main shafts that he had ruined several raw materials on last time, if he were to do them now, they would be no difficulty for him at all.