Xiao Shan's father was already waiting for everyone at the entrance of the steel factory. He waved when he saw Lu Yuan's car arrive.
"Uncle, I really don't know what to say!"
"You brat, why are you being so polite with me? Are you even planning to marry our Xiaoshan?"
Lu Yuan scratched his head sheepishly.
"Alright, let's go inside and talk. All the machinery is ready. If you want to have it transported by truck, it might cost you more money, but I still suggest you use the factory's vehicles!"
Lu Yuan looked at the people around him, and the others nodded in agreement. After all, at this time, most cars were out of fuel, and even those private car owners who had some fuel were charging extremely high prices. The cost of transporting goods was often more expensive than the cost of the goods themselves.
So the four of them followed Xiaoshan's father to the factory.
As soon as I arrived at the factory, I heard clanging and banging sounds. It was the sound of various heavy machinery pressing steel. Standing on the ground, I could feel the vibrations.
The temperature outside the factory is acceptable. The continuous high temperatures have allowed everyone to adapt somewhat. Although it is still around 40 degrees Celsius, everyone can still tolerate it.
However, upon entering the steel plant area, everyone felt a wave of heat, and their hair and backs became damp.
Xiao Shan's father led everyone to an office, where they were greeted by Section Chief Chen.
"Oh, Xiao Lu, you're finally here! Come in, come in, it's hot outside, come on in!"
After Chen Ke and the others went inside, Section Chief Chen smiled at Lu Yuan, who whispered in his ear, "The vegetables at home are almost ripe, I'll deliver them to your house in a bit!"
"Oh, Xiao Lu, you're too kind. Your aunt was saying she wanted you to come over for a visit. It's a good opportunity to have a home-cooked meal together!"
As she spoke, she pulled Lu Yuan into the office.
Section Chief Chen took out a pack of cigarettes and handed it to a man who was reading documents at his seat.
"Section Chief Hu, look, I've already brought them all. They're all family members, and they don't need much. Just name your price!"
The other person looked up at Lu Yuan and his group, then took a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and said, "You should have heard about the current price of steel. I believe you investigated it before you came!"
"The price of finished steel is around 20,000 yuan per ton right now! The price of scrap steel is not low either. It is usually sold to other merchants for 15,000 yuan per ton, but now the authorities don't allow it to be sold, and the price is still rising, so I will sell it to you for 15,000 yuan per ton!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard the number 15,000.
"This...this is too expensive! Fifteen thousand yuan a ton! Before the disaster, it was only around three thousand yuan. Now it's increased fivefold!"
"Yes, we don't have much money here. We don't know how much scrap material we can get. We also need to process it, so there will definitely be some waste. Some of the smaller scraps might not even be usable."
However, Section Chief Chen smiled obsequiously and said, "**Hey, I told you we're all family, how can you charge us this price? Make it cheaper, we're all young people, it's not easy for us to afford these clothes!"
As he spoke, the other person subtly made a three-point gesture under the table.
Section Chief Hu was a shrewd man; he glanced down, his face expressionless, stubbed out his cigarette, and went to close the door.
"Well, it's not impossible. Since you're already here, to save you from making a wasted trip, and since the factory also needs to deal with this batch of scraps, and remelting them would consume a lot of raw materials, I'll give you a cost price, 13,000 yuan per ton."
Lu Yuan calculated in his mind that if he wanted to turn this batch of scrap steel into finished steel, it would probably require a lot of resources. Not to mention electricity, cutting fluid and various other consumables would also be necessary.
Of course, there will also be manpower; we will definitely need help from people in the vicinity during the processing.
The price of 13,000 yuan per ton is not bad. After all, we are in the apocalypse now, and everything is expensive. This price is quite reasonable.
A mousetrap weighs around 50 pounds, since it can't be lighter than a mouse if it's trying to catch a mouse that weighs 20 or 30 pounds.
So, one ton is two thousand catties, and each cage weighs fifty catties. One ton of steel can make about forty cages. Of course, this does not include the loss of steel.
This means that forty dragon sons would cost 13,000 yuan excluding processing fees. If you add in various labor costs, losses, electricity, etc., the price would be even higher.
However, compared to the rats destroying food and threatening lives, this amount of money is not much. If the rats really bite the food or destroy the food, it will be too late to say anything then.
After discussing it, everyone agreed to the price. However, since they didn't have enough funds, they only bought fifty tons to use for the time being.
After excitedly bringing all the steel back to the factory, everyone started loading and unloading, working busily. Several hours later, they finally finished unloading all the steel.
After finishing all that, Lu Yuan called Chen Gang, the job applicant he had found online. Because of the power shortage, Chen Gang was perfectly capable of handling the job by himself.
After a busy day, it was already past 10 p.m. when Lu Yuan got home. His family was waiting for him to come home for dinner, so the food had been sitting on the table untouched.
After taking a shower and changing his clothes, Lu Yuan sat down at the dining table with his family to eat.
Mr. Lu picked up a bit of greens and stuffed it into his mouth, saying indistinctly, "I saw a news report online today that said after these rats mutated, they developed particularly strong drug resistance. No biological research institutes across the country have been able to develop a rat poison suitable for widespread use. It seems that this rat plague will have to be delayed for a while longer."
"Yes, that's right. The rats these days are really something. I heard from people in the neighborhood yesterday that someone else got bitten, but luckily it was an adult, who is more resilient than a child. After running a high fever for a few days, they recovered! If it were a child, it would be a real disaster!" The old man sighed.
"Haha, Grandpa, Dad, don't worry too much, it's alright. Our rat traps will be in production soon, and they should be ready for use in no time."
"Haha, that's great! Oh, what a pity, my mousetrap really isn't good enough. I didn't expect it to be able to keep this big rat out!"
The old man took a sip of his wine and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
The whole family burst into laughter.
The next morning, Lu Yuan's phone kept ringing. He picked it up and saw that it was a call from Chen Gang.
"Mr. Lu, hello, I've arrived at my destination!"
"Okay! Just a moment, I'll be right there at the factory!"
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