My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 499 Selling Vegetables Again

It's one thing for Wang Juxiang to make such a fuss.

Soon, Liang Guizhen, that wretched old woman, had almost fully recovered from her injuries.

Back in the village, he carried Wang Juxiang's stinky egg around every day, buying food and drinks.

She doesn't scold anyone.

However, when talking to acquaintances, she always smiles and says, "My family will rely on my son, Chou Dan, from now on. His grandparents' money is all earned by him, and he's the only one who gets to spend it."

In such a small village, if someone farts at one end, the stench can be smelled at the other.

Clearly, the old woman was saying this so that Wang Jusheng and his wife could hear it.

I deliberately tried to upset the couple and upset them.

Even though Wang Jusheng had long been heartbroken by his biological mother, he was still furious.

He especially remembered how, in the past, his eldest son would bring things to his grandparents and come back with tears in his eyes several times.

Now she's saying this while holding her second son's son.

He even wished he could be like Chen Ling and slap his mother twice across the face.

"I'm telling you, Jusheng, why do you listen to what she says? Just ignore it and you'll only upset yourself."

Right now, the most important thing is to live your own lives well and make more money with Fugui...

"Once we make money, we can support Dandan and Datou through college, and they'll live a glamorous life. Who would care about them then?"

That day, Zhao Dahai came over again, sat in Wang Jusheng's yard, wearing large sunglasses, and tried to persuade him.

The fat man rushed over in a panic. He had recently been to a flood-stricken area and had been bitten in the eye by some kind of mosquito, causing severe pain.

It cannot be exposed to light or wind.

The medicine I got from the hospital didn't work.

Hurry up and find Chen Ling, hoping Wang Susu can come up with some folk remedy or something.

At this moment, Chen Ling was discussing with Wang Jusheng about making pickled vegetables.

Seeing that the fat man was wearing sunglasses even though it was almost dark, they thought he was trying to look cool, but this only caused a stir. Then he took off his sunglasses and showed them to Chen Ling and the others.

My eyelids were swollen, and my eyes looked like they had swollen eyes.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling quickly mounted his horse and went back to get him the medicine.

After he returned, I had him apply the ointment and put on two mint leaves to relieve the pain before we sat down to chat.

"Hey, I told you, we still have to come here, but your sister-in-law didn't believe me..."

Zhao Dahai squinted, feeling the cool sensation on his eyes, which was very comfortable. "Fugui, you weren't here just now. I was just talking to Jusheng about it. It's a pity you didn't plant many vegetables this year. If you had planted all twenty acres of land with vegetables, you would have made a fortune."

"Ha, what are you saying? You can't expect me to make all the money, can you?"

Chen Ling immediately understood what he meant, but still asked knowingly, "I saw on TV that the affected area this year wasn't too large, right? Can vegetables be more expensive than meat?"

"Hmm, you're absolutely right. The price is almost as high as meat, though meat prices have also skyrocketed."

Zhao Dahai grumbled and said smugly, "I came here this time not only to get my eyes treated, but also to tip you off."

The price of vegetables in the city and provincial capital changes every day, and all kinds of food are snapped up as soon as the delivery trucks arrive.

They were afraid that something similar would happen to us, and we'd have nothing to eat.

These words sent a chill down everyone's spine.

Everyone except Chen Ling got excited.

Wang Jusheng's brother-in-law, Zhang Erleng, suddenly stood up: "Brother-in-law, why are you still arguing with that old hag in the village? Listen to Brother Dahai, let's sell vegetables and make big money."

While Wang Jusheng was in the police station, he couldn't do business, but he could sell the grains and vegetables he grew himself, and no one could say anything about it.

Wang Jusheng then looked at Chen Ling and said, "Fugui, your family grows the most vegetables. What do you suggest? We'll do whatever you say."

Chen Ling's family does indeed grow a lot of farm-grown vegetables.

In the village courtyards, people planted things like loofah and beans at the base of the walls.

There are also some in the backyard of the farm.

There are still small vegetable gardens in the farmland.

Anyway, no empty space will be left.

But even if it's just Wang Jusheng's own produce, plus his father-in-law's, they probably wouldn't be able to gather many baskets of proper vegetables.

There's no need to take it all the way to the city to sell it.

"Alright, I'll take you there. I also need to go to the city soon."

Chen Ling thought for a moment. The zoo had written to him a couple of days ago, saying that the two tigers, Afu and Ashou, were acting strangely and asking him if he had any good ideas. They also wanted him to go and take a look if he had some free time.

"Even with the vegetables from my own farm, it's unlikely we'll be able to fill a transport truck."

"Huh? What should we do then... or should we go outside to harvest vegetables?"

Zhang Erleng frowned.

This young man is only twenty years old, just got married, and is full of youthful vigor; he doesn't really have much of a concept of money.

He was eager to make money because he wanted to avenge his sister's family.

"Even harvesting vegetables is not an option."

Chen Ling shook his head: "Most of the land in the mountains here is small, not enough to grow grain, let alone vegetables. Each family's vegetable garden is only enough for their own consumption, so you can't harvest vegetables if you want to."

Two years ago, my estate hadn't been built yet, and we mostly grew vegetables on the open space.

At that time, the floods had just passed, and vegetable prices were soaring. When people went to the early morning market to sell vegetables, there were hardly any people setting up stalls to sell vegetables.

There were some, but they were scattered, in small bundles.

The rest are all wild mushrooms.

At that time, those vegetable vendors mainly collected mushrooms and various wild vegetables from the mountains.

"Huh? Brother Fugui, you mean we can pick wild mushrooms and vegetables to sell?"

Zhang Erleng's eyes lit up.

“That’s right. As for wild mushrooms, there’s plenty in the mountains this season with all the rain.” Chen Ling nodded approvingly, thinking to himself that this kid was quite quick-witted. “Besides, there are plenty of wild vegetables this season too: earth ear fungus, wood ear fungus, purslane, daylilies, broom shoots, wild onions…”

Not to mention the mountains, just look at the wild fields outside; they're everywhere.

This year, these plants are growing like weeds, and you can easily pick a whole basketful.

The village feeds pigs and sheep all day long.

They're not worth much, but we can make up a whole truckload and sell them.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dahai couldn't sit still any longer. He hurriedly sat up and opened his eyes, with two mint leaves drifting down in the wind.

Are there really so many kinds of wild vegetables?

"Yes, there are, and many of them aren't even considered wild vegetables."

Chen Ling nodded and gave him a few simple examples: "For example, there's wood ear fungus and black fungus, as well as daylily and purslane, which are common foods in the countryside and are no different from regular vegetables."

"Really? I'm worried that people outside won't know how to cook it, and it won't sell."

Zhao Dahai's main concern upon hearing about wild vegetables was this aspect.

"It's okay, there's nothing we can't eat. We can stir-fry it, make it into a cold dish, or use it as dumplings. We can eat it however we like."

Chen Ling wasn't worried at all: "We can also sell our pickled vegetables mixed in. These things aren't worth much in the countryside, and it's not worth making a special trip to transport them. This time, we'll transport them to the city along with the vegetables and try selling them."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that."

Zhao Dahai clapped his hands: "Instant noodles, dried noodles, pickled vegetables, chili sauce, people are scrambling to buy them now."

Their back-and-forth conversation filled Wang Jusheng's family with excitement, as if they had opened the door to a new world.

The next morning around four or five o'clock, the whole family couldn't wait to get fully equipped and head into the mountains to pick mushrooms.

There's been a lot of rain lately, so mushrooms are plentiful and easy to pick.

Furthermore, protect the mushroom burrows and avoid damaging them. Mushrooms will continue to grow in the areas that have been harvested.

So Wang Jusheng's family made three or four trips in just half a day.

They didn't even have time to eat breakfast.

They were full of energy, and even came to call Chen Ling around seven or eight in the morning.

However, Chen Ling didn't go; he sent his brother-in-law and his wife instead.

The mushrooms we pick and sell will be theirs; we can't let them take care of our kids and do chores for free.

He then went to the county town to contact Little Sheep and told him to come over the next day to transport the vegetables and mushrooms.

Just then, the little lamb was looking for him.

He was told that due to the floods, salted eggs were selling very quickly recently, and Liu Jiancheng asked if he could increase the quantity.

I had just finished talking about this when I ran into Han Chuang on the way. He was also on his way to the village to look for me.

We should give him a share of the money.

Then, it was said that the canned pickled fish had been selling well recently, and at a high price, so it could be said to be very popular.

Other canned fruits were also affected.

The young man was overjoyed, and even more excited when he saw Chen Ling. He stammered several times while speaking, saying that he had finally gained some confidence in front of his wife this month and planned to go over and have a big drink with Chen Ling.

As a result, they arrived but didn't get to eat or drink. After the money was distributed, they were immediately conscripted to pick vegetables and carry baskets in the vegetable garden.

After finishing with Chen Ling's family, go do Wang Jusheng's family; after finishing with Wang Jusheng's family, go do Wang Lixian's family.

There weren't that many vegetables, of course.

Most of them are wild vegetables from the fields.

After they finished, it was already dark, and everyone finally started eating and drinking.

But the meal wasn't over yet.

They also had to turn on the lights to bundle the vegetables, and after bundling them, they had to immediately connect a water hose to a tap to spray water on the vegetables.

The watering isn't for adding more weight.

The main reason is to keep these vegetables fresh.

Wild vegetables and mushrooms, in particular, need to be thoroughly watered before nightfall, like taking a bath, so they can absorb all the moisture.

Load it onto the truck after daybreak.

Mushrooms, wild vegetables, and other vegetables were all transported away in one trip.

Also taken along were pickled vegetables, chili sauce, and salted eggs.

What made this trip different from usual was that Chen Ling, his brother-in-law, Wang Jusheng, and his brother-in-law also went along in the car.

Wang Lixian doesn't need to go. His son-in-law, Xiao Mianyang, is the driver, so there's no need for him to join in the fun.

He stayed home and continued tidying up his greenhouse.

But...

Chen Ling and Wang Jusheng left.

Liang Guizhen started acting strangely and irrationally again in the village.

That old hag is shameless and doesn't care if people laugh at her.

Wang Laishun is now somewhat regretful and wants to reconcile with his eldest brother's family, but it's too late now that things have escalated to this point.

Every time he was not allowed to enter the door, Zhang Qiaoling would kick him out.

Try to find someone to mediate, but with that kind of attitude from the mother and daughter, nobody wants to get involved.

Even members of the same family are passing the buck and refusing to take responsibility.

Wang Laishun has been having a really tough time lately. He sits under a big tree in the fields all day, smoking with a sullen face. He has no interest in doing farm work, especially after he had a heart-to-heart talk with Chen Ling. He finds his wife at home increasingly unpleasant to look at.

The trouble in his family was so bad that Gao Xiulan couldn't help but say to her daughter several times at home, "Luckily, Lingzi's mother went missing a long time ago, otherwise, according to the villagers, with her temper, you would have suffered a lot."

Wang Susu was speechless. Her mother was really something, why bring up something that had nothing to do with anything?

My father-in-law has been dead for several years. How could my mother-in-law, who went missing so many years ago, possibly be found again?

(End of this chapter)