1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 112: It’s too late to buy fresh vegetables
"That's right. I do this business because I'm always on the move and have these eyes. I can see everything that's happening in the market."

Curly Cabbage Head was not at all humble. He seemed to be in high spirits and squatted down like Chen Jiazhi.

"It's only because of you that I've been repeatedly humiliated. The monk was right. You'll make it big sooner or later."

"The monk's vision is not as good as yours."

"He doesn't buy your vegetables anymore, that's why you say that. Actually, he wants to buy your vegetables, but Yunshan has his own base."

"He still has no vision. He only focuses on Yunshan's small business. If I were him, I would have developed other customers long ago."

"It's not that easy."

Curly sighed, "Small restaurant owners are used to buying their own groceries. Most restaurants also have their own purchasing department. Factories and schools also need connections. The monk can deliver to Yunshan because his sister is the general manager."

"Is there such a relationship?"

"What do you think? There aren't that many people who rely on their own abilities. Most of them are just connections."

Chen Jiazhi turned his head and asked curiously, "What about you?"

Curly-haired man, with a rather thin face, smiled and said, "In the beginning, I relied on connections to get orders from factories and schools, but not entirely. Now I've developed delivery services for a few small restaurants on my own."

Chen Jiazhi also smiled: "See, I was right, the monk just doesn't have as good vision as you~"

Curly: “…”

After choking for a while, Curly said: "I thought you always looked down on me~"

"How could that be? We're all trying to make a living. In fact, among all the people buying groceries, the one I admire the most is you. You're the first one to come, yet you often get leftovers. If you keep going, you can make it big and strong."

"So you tricked me twice?"

"Only twice?"

"..."

"And that wasn't a joke, it was just a courtesy at best. From my perspective as a vegetable seller, your behavior really ruined my impression."

"..."

"Probably not in the future."

"I'm looking forward to you coming again."

Under Curly's horrified eyes, Chen Jiazhi stood up. He saw Old Wu coming and the market gradually became lively.

Seeing Chen Cainong busying himself, Curly also stood up and left. He never thought that Chen Cainong had such a high opinion of him.

He is also a man of vision.

Yi Dinggan and the other two also arrived a while later and started selling vegetables with worm holes.

When someone asked him about it, he talked about the words that Chen Jiazhi taught him.

"What's wrong with insect holes? Insect holes mean not enough pesticide was used. With all the noise about excessive pesticide residues these days, you have to buy some vegetables like mine!"

But no one bought it.

"You can pull it down!"

“How many people would eat vegetable leaves with insect holes?”

After suffering several setbacks in a row, Yi Dinggan became obedient and started to lower the price. It turned out that this trick worked.

When he was free and looked at Chen Jiazhi, he found that the tricycle was empty again.

"Jiazhi, sold out again?"

Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang heard the noise and looked over with a look of surprise. It’s not even three o’clock yet?

Chen Jiazhi nodded. His reputation had improved, but there weren't many vegetables in the market, so selling vegetables was just so boring.

Just go through the process every day.

"I won't wait for you. I'll go back early."

"Oh, okay."

The three of them woke up as if from a dream.

I looked at my vegetables again. With the new leaves coming out, there were fewer insect holes than before, but why didn't the sales improve at all?

The three of them were a little touched.

Is this what is called word of mouth?
There are all kinds of people in the market, including mobile vegetable farmers and wholesale stalls, but how many of them have a good reputation?

Especially for small vegetable farmers like them, many people have doubts when buying vegetables.

Some people even asked directly: Have you applied pesticides in the past two days?
Suspicion was almost written on his face.

Therefore, there are quite a few small vegetable farmers in an alley, but their vegetable sales are actually sporadic, and they have to work until dawn to sell all the vegetables.

There was only one exception.

The purchasing agent came a little late, and I didn’t see him for several days.

Someone passing by the corner sighed: "Even Chen's vegetable farmers have their days when they don't have any vegetables."

Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang were either standing or squatting, all silent.

But a curly-haired man passed by again and said, "You are late. There are still a lot of old vegetables, but they were sold out long ago."

The three of them looked up in surprise again and confirmed that it was indeed Curly. How could Curly also speak for Jiazhi?

...

In fact, the catering industry has been turbulent these two days.

Radio has limitations and only reports on more serious pesticide residue incidents.

But similar incidents have occurred in various places.

In addition to factory canteens, restaurants and private households were also involved, but the number of victims was relatively small and the incident was only reported in local newspapers.

However, the impact is not small.

Early in the morning, Chen Yaobang took the newly published newspaper to the restaurant and found his son Chen Ze.

"A-zai, have you seen the news? Are there any problems with the vegetables you bought?"

"Don't worry, Dad. I've been getting my vegetables from Chen the vegetable farmer lately. If there was a problem, it would have happened a long time ago. Besides, I've visited his vegetable fields and talked to him. He's different from other small vegetable farmers."

"That's good. There can't be any problems with the vegetables. Since Chen's vegetables are fine, don't easily change them in the future."

"OK~"

...

Curly Mao Liangcai also encountered the same situation, and the factories and schools he delivered to came to ask similar questions.

He also dares to give people guarantees with confidence.

In addition to their long-standing trust, he also knew that Yunshan had conducted professional pesticide residue testing on Chen's vegetables. Heshang's evaluation was that the base was better than Yunshan's.

at the same time,

Xu Wenxiang also arrived at the hotel office early and called Liu Xiaoying.

"Mr. Xu, there's no problem with the pesticide residue test on the vegetables, but some customers have complained that the vegetables don't taste as good as before."

"Well, safety comes first right now."

Xu Wenxiang waved her hand and Liu Xiaoying walked out. She picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"Mr. Huang, are you free these two days? I'd like to invite you to go to Jiangxin Vegetable Market together."

Huang Jianyuan is a Hong Kong businessman, a Hong Kong investor in the Spruce Hotel, and the largest shareholder of Jiangxin Vegetable Market.

"Is it because of the vegetable pesticide residue issue?"

Xu Wenxiang said, "That's not entirely true. Jiangxin Vegetable Market has been operating for almost a year and is not only suffering heavy losses, but the supply of vegetables to Yunshan is also not good. Selling vegetables to Xiangjiang is even more unrealistic."

"Mr. Xu wants to?"

"Look at where the problem lies. It's not good for anyone if we keep losing money and falling behind."

"Okay, I'll come over in a couple of days."

...

The days passed with full enthusiasm for another two days.

In the last three days of June, Chen Jiazhi earned 1804 yuan, 1791 yuan and 1768 yuan respectively.

The overall market trend is going down.

Chen Jiazhi remained strong.

How strong is it?
Because of the addition of a big customer who came early, plus Chen Ze, he had to buy nearly 400 kilograms of vegetables every day before he even entered the market.

Looking at the dwindling number of vegetable baskets on the tricycle, his loyal customers also became a little panicked.

So, some people started to buy vegetables from the old vegetable farmers first before buying other vegetables.

At least you have to settle the money first.

For example, Mr. Wu, the first thing he does when he arrives at the market every day is to place an order and pay.

Chen Jiazhi also closes his stall earlier and earlier every day.

The stall closed before 3 o'clock this morning, and the shoppers who were a little more reluctant to go to bed had just left.

At first, many people thought he had run out of vegetables, but there were always enthusiastic people who told them that Chen the vegetable farmer had been there and they were just late.

Gradually, a saying spread in the market: Damn it, you’re too late and you’re not even qualified to buy aged and farmed vegetables!
While having breakfast that day, Yi Dinggan told Chen Jiazhi this sentence with a sour tone.

When Li Xiu heard this, stars seemed to appear in her eyes.

Chen Jiazhi also smiled happily.

Chen Jiafang, who had just come out of the kitchen, also looked a little surprised.

The few of them took a while to digest it.

I guess this sentence will become a funny topic in the vegetable market again.

Yi Dinggan asked again, "Jiazhi, is there any news about the stall you wanted to rent?"

Chen Jiazhi shook his head: "The stall is quite popular right now. I haven't received any news yet, so there's no rush for the time being."

Chen Jiafang asked again: "How much does it cost to rent a stall?"

Chen Jiazhi replied: "It depends on the location. It ranges from two to three hundred to over a thousand a month. You might also have to pay a transfer fee."

Chen Jiafang said, "It's too expensive. Why spend that money? It's pretty good like this now. The entrance fee is not expensive."

Yi Dinggan shook his head: "What do you know? If you can afford to rent a stall, you must rent it."

"But it's hundreds a month, that's not a year!"

"What's wrong with a few hundred dollars?"

"A few hundred yuan..."

Chen Jiafang looked at Jiazhi and Li Xiu who were eating quietly, and choked back her words halfway through.

Yeah, what’s wrong with a few hundred dollars a month?
It was a lot for her and Yi Dinggan, and also for others, but it did not include Jiazhi and the other two.

After a pause, Chen Jiafang asked, "Do you also want to rent a stall?"

Yi Dinggan didn't say anything, but his expression clearly showed that he really wanted to rent it.

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "No need. When I have a stall, you can sell your vegetables there too."

Yi Dinggan put down his bowl and said thoughtfully, "If you want to stay stable in this business, you must have your own long-term customers."

In fact, you don’t have to rent a stall, there is no shortage of places to sell vegetables in Huacheng.

There are temporary wholesale markets under overpasses, along the riverside, at transit points, and even in villages and towns.
There are also many guerrilla vegetable farmers~
But the closer to the city, the higher the price will naturally be.

At the same time, Yi Dinggan realized the importance of word of mouth in the past two days, and also knew how comfortable it is to be trusted by customers.

"I'm late to the market, so I don't even qualify to buy old, farm-grown vegetables!"

How impressive it is to say this!

How face-saving!

Too bad it has nothing to do with him.

He didn't even want to mention it.

What do customers in the market say when they mention him, Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang?

Chen Cainong's gang, Chen Cainong's followers, Chen Cainong, etc.
What does wait mean?
Don't they have names?

Hey, most market buyers may have an impression of them, but there may not be any need to remember their names.

Because they are dispensable.

There is never a shortage of small mobile vegetable farmers like them in the market. When one batch disappears, there is always another batch.

"But how can we afford the rent of several hundred yuan a month?"

"Besides, we don't have that many dishes."

Chen Jiafang's eyes were full of doubts, as if in just a moment, Jiazhi had completely shaken them off.

Even though the two families have been together for a long time, she still feels uncomfortable with this change.

(End of this chapter)