1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 128 The Only Still Standing, Vegetable Farmer Chen

The fate of vegetables, like everything else in the world, has its rise and fall, which can evoke a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of mixed emotions or reflections) about life.

For three consecutive days, torrential rains often came with great force, accompanied by strong winds, sweeping through every corner of the city and sparing no vegetable field.

It was under these kinds of weather conditions that stall number 56 went from opening to operating smoothly.

Although the daily transaction volume is not large, Chen Jiazhi is a vegetable farmer, not a vegetable transporter, so the daily transaction amount is his income.

1780 yuan, 1750 yuan, 1800 yuan, that's not bad. Wholesalers may have more transactions than him, but their profits may not be as high.

Another batch of vegetables in the field has been cleared out, and the temporary alleyway is about to be renovated.

The future looks promising... well, that's just his opinion.

For most vegetable farmers, the endless rain is simply unbearable.

That morning, it was drizzling again. Chen Jiazhi, wearing rain boots and holding an umbrella, had just finished inspecting the fields when he saw Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang sitting on small stools by the door, one hand supporting their heads and the other holding a cigarette, their faces showing their worries.

At each house, women would occasionally lean against their doors, watching the rain lines outside.

When he approached to clean his rain boots, Yi Dinggan and the other two sighed in turn.

"Ugh!"

"Ugh!"

"This rain is awful!"

Chen Jiazhi raised an eyebrow, looked over, and said, "Why are you sighing at me?"

Yi Dinggan: "I saw you were sowing seeds a few days ago, so everyone followed suit and sowed leafy vegetables. Now look what's happened, we don't even know if we'll harvest anything."

Guo Mancang: "Judging from the current situation, it should be gone, and even if it were, it wouldn't fetch a good price."

Li Mingkun shook his head: "If I had known, I would have planted bitter melon. Alas, it's too late to switch now."

Chen Jiazhi didn't like hearing people sigh and complain, but he was helpless at the moment.

It's really miserable.

Even his vegetables, battered by this weather, were teetering on the brink of decay, yet they were still a notch or two better than others'.

But it's just this one or two floors that allow him to never worry about selling vegetables and still get a good price.

These days, the vast majority of vegetables in Huacheng are supplied by the suburbs.

The model of producing and supplying locally has been in place for decades, and has only changed slightly in the last two years, but it is far from taking off.

The same applies to leafy greens. In more remote leafy green producing areas, leafy greens may still be found in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong.

Beyond that lies Yunnan and Guizhou, where transportation becomes another obstacle.

Agricultural production must indeed respect the laws of nature. The best quality vegetables can only be grown under suitable climate and soil conditions. However, Chen Jiazhi still relies on his technical skills to make a living.

The rain came quickly, but it lingered until the afternoon before clearing up. The raindrops longed for the earth, the azure sky lingered, and the vegetable farmers bent over their fields.

The land is uncultivable, seeds cannot be sown, pesticides cannot be applied, and fertilizer has already been used; only light work can be done.

Or rather, most people can only stare blankly, hoping that it won't rain in the next few days.

They didn't start harvesting vegetables until nightfall, and the other farmers filled their baskets even smaller. They would transfer the vegetables to metal crates before setting off in the early morning. Even so, the vegetables squeezed in the metal crates were extremely prone to rotting.

But there was no other way; the small vegetable farmer only had bicycles, and at most, he could carry three iron frames on one bicycle.

Chen Jiazhi also reminded us not to use too much force when pinching vegetables.

If you pinch the heart of the cabbage too hard, its head will soften and rot more easily.

At first, Qi Yongfeng and his friends found it troublesome, but after the vegetables rotted once, they were severely reprimanded by Chen Jiazhi and fined as a group, and then they behaved themselves.

But they were very careful and awkward when harvesting the vegetables, and probably had a lot of complaints in their hearts.

For this reason, Chen Jiazhi had several 'iron fingernails' custom-made: a blade that can be put on the thumb to pick vegetables.

It can protect both your fingers and the heart of the cabbage.

That evening, after he received the 'iron fingernails,' he delivered them to several people. After a brief trial, they became very popular, especially among the female workers, including Huang Juan, who praised them highly.

"Mr. Chen, your brain is really sharp."

"That's right, that's right." "Don't worry, with this blade, I can guarantee that every single vegetable will be perfectly fine."

He showered her with compliments.

At times, they have to pick tens of thousands of bok choy hearts a day. With iron nails, their fingers no longer have to feel the burning pain.

To ensure the quality of the bok choy, Chen Jiazhi has done everything in his power.

The base fertilizer, composed of fermented pig manure and compound fertilizer, gives vegetables basic resistance. This is further enhanced by auxiliary measures such as shade nets, insect nets, imported pesticides, harvesting at night, small-batch, multi-basket harvesting, and iron nails.

His dishes aren't particularly good, but they only stand out because of the quality of his competitors.

Not only are the people at the stall the most attractive, but the food is too.

At midnight,

Hearing the noise outside, Chen Jiazhi, who had slept for two hours, groggily got up.

Third sister Chen Jiaying and Xue Jun went to eldest sister's place. Since they were already there, they definitely wanted to visit, and maybe they would come back.

Li Xiu was also startled awake by him and reminded him to be careful. Chen Jiazhi quickly touched her forehead with his lips before leaving the house.

Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang were all transferring vegetables from the small basket to the large iron basket.

Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and Ao Deliang were also loading vegetables. None of the baskets were full. Each basket weighed about 30 to 40 kilograms. When the baskets were stacked, they were suspended in the air, leaving at least 20 centimeters of gaps for ventilation.

Yi Dinggan and the others were very envious.

These kinds of dishes definitely last longer than theirs. These past few days, they've been getting yelled at by customers almost every day.

The market is the same, often filled with phrases like "you son of a bitch," "scoundrel," and "bastard."

Many people have rotten vegetables, but Jia Zhi's vegetables are always delivered smoothly, which means that his vegetables are not rotten before they are put into the kitchen.

But there's nothing we can do about it; we can't learn it at all. This is a complete crushing defeat of the vegetable growing and selling system.

What's even more infuriating is that after sleeping at home, he can still set off earlier than them.

Watching the tricycle disappear before it could go, Li Mingkun sighed again.

"Old Li, you've been sighing all the time these past few days. You need to cheer up."

"I get scolded every day when I go to sell vegetables, it's really upsetting."

"So what if I get scolded a few times? Those people who can't buy Jiazhi's vegetables in the market will eventually have to hold their noses and buy ours."

"Speaking of which, the people who buy groceries must be furious. They'll probably get a good scolding when they get home."

"Why do you think people in Guangdong have to eat vegetables every day?"

"You ask me, I'll ask who goes."

In the still of the night, with lights dim and all things asleep, Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang set off a little later than usual.

It was Jiazhi who taught me that if the vegetables arrive at the kitchen later, they'll get to eat less and I'll get scolded less.

I always felt like he had a whole set of theories.

But what he said makes a lot of sense, and there is a lot of knowledge and experience in it.

However, when the three arrived at the market, they saw Chen Jiazhi driving out of the market entrance again, and their eyes met.

"Sold out?"

"Ah."

"Oh."

"I'm going back first. You can sell at my stall to avoid wasting resources, and it should sell faster that way."

It's not that it should be, it's that it's certain.

Everyone knows that Chen Cai Nong has moved to stall number 56. People who want to buy his vegetables will go out of their way to make a detour, especially since the location isn't remote.

And that was indeed the case. Yi Dinggan went straight to number 56, but the first customer made him feel a deep sense of malice.

"Hey you, where's handsome Chen?"

(End of this chapter)