1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 8 Buying Meat
Take out a handful of neatly arranged cabbages from the iron frame and put them in a large plastic bag, still in layers. Then weigh them with a beam scale to see if there is more or less.

Finally, tie it tightly and the bag of vegetables is ready.

Starting from around 3 a.m., Chen Jiazhi has been repeating this action, and his clothes have never been dry.

At the same time, I forgot to bring a pen and notebook, and I also had to remember which pile of goods belonged to whom, so as not to get them mixed up.

Some customers will pick up the goods themselves, while some customers need the seller to deliver the goods to the buyer's car. Wholesale markets also have people who are responsible for delivery, but they are generally hired by large stalls.

They are just temporary wholesale vendors on the outskirts of the market.

It was already past 5 o'clock, and Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang had already gone back. They even helped him deliver a batch of goods before leaving.

At this time, Chen Jiazhi had also finished loading the goods for the last buyer. There were still some last goods left in the iron frame, including more than 20 kilograms of Shanghai green.

Call ~
Exhaling, Chen Jiazhi felt his pocket, wanting to smoke a cigarette, but only felt a handful of change.

After he was reborn, he never carried cigarettes with him, and it was always Brother Yi who gave him cigarettes.

Only then did he remember that neither Li Mingkun nor Guo Mancang had smoked the whole night. Damn it, they really could hold back in order not to smoke!
Chen Jiazhi knew how much money he collected today. There was a hundred-yuan note for the Four Great Men, a fifty-yuan note, and the rest were ten-yuan notes and change.

He did some mental calculations and figured it out to be about two hundred and twenty or two hundred and thirty yuan.

Without a waist wallet, Chen Jiazhi kept all the 100-yuan and 50-yuan bills close to his body. Although there were not as many people stealing money as there were stealing vegetables in the wholesale market, they were all ruthless characters when they showed up.

Even more than 20 years later, there were still people who stabbed vegetable vendors to death after failing to rob them in wholesale markets.

So you can never be too careful.

After a short break, a man with curly hair came over and asked, "Have you dealt with the Shanghai Qing 8-cent coin? It's almost dawn."

"I can't handle it. It's one yuan per pound, no less." Chen Jiazhi squatted on the ground without moving. It would be dawn soon. The city people who came to the wholesale market to buy bargains would arrive soon.

During this period, retail prices are at least 50% more expensive than wholesale prices.

Just at this moment, a man about ten meters behind the curly-haired man heard the noise, quickly walked over, picked up the iron frame, and smiled with relief.

"I want all the Shanghai greens. Let me weigh them and see how much they weigh."

"It's 21.3 kilograms without the skin. I'll charge you 21 yuan." After Chen Jiazhi weighed it with a beam scale, he was ready to pack it in a bag. The curly-haired man had already left in a bit of resentment.

"Okay, I'll give you the money. Give me the Foton five-star three-wheeled vehicle behind you. The license plate number is..."

"It's just a bag of vegetables, just take it away." Chen Jiazhi took the money but didn't want to deliver the goods. It's not 20 years later, so he can't be so aggressive.

"Help me, pretty boy. I got up late today and the goods are still a little short."

"Do you have cigarettes?"

The middle-aged man lit a cigarette for Chen Jiazhi without saying a word. After packing up his things, Chen Jiazhi rode his bicycle to deliver the vegetables, just for the sake of calling him handsome.

After delivering the vegetables, Chen Jiazhi rode his bike to the fresh meat area, bought two pounds of pork belly, and went back to the market to buy some green peppers, eggs, carrots, etc. before going home.

Pork belly is already 4.2 yuan per catty, and eggs are 3.1 yuan per catty. The prices are rising a bit too fast.

However, Chen Jiazhi knew that in the next few months, the prices of meat, grain, and vegetables would continue to skyrocket. Not only food, but also agricultural supplies and other materials would skyrocket.

Now that he has money in his pocket, Chen Jiazhi plans to go to the agricultural supplies store today.

...

Dongxiang vegetable market.

Guo Mancang, who was sitting at the door eating, was asked about today's market and inevitably talked about Chen Jiazhi.

Everyone saw it last night. Among the several families selling vegetables, Chen Jiazhi had the most vegetables.

"Jiazhi was a bit bold today. He raised the price to one yuan per catty as soon as he arrived. Luckily, not many people ordered much food today, otherwise he might have lost money."

Hearing this, everyone who had gathered looked at each other in surprise, "The scholar is so powerful!"

Someone else asked in surprise, "Mancang, from what you're saying, not only did the scholar raise the price today, but he also sold out all the vegetables?" "Not yet when we left." Guo Mancang paused, then added, "But there weren't many vegetables left in the market at that time. If the scholar hadn't raised the price again, he would have sold out without any problem."

"You're raising the price! This alone should make the scholar secretly happy. In my opinion, you and Mingkun both lost money."

At this time, Jia Suzhen, who was passing by to fetch water, looked disdainful.

"What's there to lose? Mancang and Mingkun have high vegetable yields, and Xiucai can only harvest that much with his seedlings. He was just lucky, so he sold it at a high price. If he gets unlucky one day, he'll have to pay it back."

Suddenly, the discussion turned into various regrets.

"Yeah, that's right. Xiucai harvested the vegetables too early, which is a bit of a loss. Today's weather looks like it will get better, and they will grow a lot in one day."

"Scholar, there's not much profit to be made from selling like this, except for the seeds, fertilizer, and land rent."

"Oh, yes, it looks like it will clear up soon."

Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang also pricked up their ears to hear the noise outside the house. They felt relieved at first, but then they heard the discussion that took a different turn.

"Xiu, why don't you just not harvest the vegetables today."

"I have to listen to Jiazhi. I can't persuade him."

"..."

"Hey, the scholar is back, and it's quite early. It seems that they are really sold out."

"Oh, they even have pork belly and eggs. Not bad, not bad. The price of meat has been going up so much lately, and I can't afford it anymore."

Hearing the noise, Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang came out. Chen Jiazhi had just parked the car and was taking out the meat, vegetables and eggs he had bought from the car.

Chen Jiafang took all the things and said a few words about wasting money, but there was a smile on her face. It had been a while since she had seen any meat.

Chen Jiazhi added, "I'll cook for lunch. I'll show you my cooking skills. Twice-cooked pork with green peppers. I guarantee it's delicious."

"Scholar, do you know how to cook? Don't waste such good meat." Fellow villager Qi Yongfeng joked.

Chen Jiazhi held his head high and said, "Just wait and see. The aroma of this twice-cooked pork at noon will surely make you drool."

After this conversation, everyone in the market knew that Chen Jiazhi bought some pork belly today. No need to wait until noon, they were already craving it.

After entering the house, Chen Jiazhi took out all the money and counted it. He sold a total of 256 yuan, or 256 kilograms of vegetables.

Then Chen Jiazhi ordered another 50 yuan and gave it back to his second sister, which naturally caused another round of complaints, but he finally accepted the money.

"Xiu, I won't give you the money. I plan to go check out the seeds and pesticides today."

"Okay, take it. Go take a shower quickly. The water is ready. Take a shower so you can catch up on some sleep."

Yi Dinggan was eating noodles at the table when he asked, "Jiazhi, it doesn't look like it's going to rain today. Are we still going to harvest the vegetables?"

Chen Jiafang and Li Xiu both looked at him. Chen Jiazhi did not hesitate and responded firmly: "Collect!"

"I'm going to take your money, you big shot, and you're still not satisfied. Once the rain stops, the vegetables will start growing. Now I have money, and I've bought the meat and eggs. If you wait a few more days, you'll die!"

Chen Jiafang started muttering again, and her voice was quite loud. Almost all the villagers nearby heard it and spoke out to persuade Chen Jiazhi.

Chen Jiazhi also tried to persuade his fellow villagers to harvest the vegetables early, but no one could convince anyone else.

"Jiazhi, you think you're the Monkey King. Whether it rains or not is up to you."

"You'll know in a few days."

After chatting for a few sentences, Chen Jiazhi felt bored and went to fetch water for a shower. When he finished showering and had breakfast, people were still nagging him, so after breakfast he rode his bike to the agricultural supplies store.

That morning, Chen Jiafang made Li Xiu an extra poached egg, adding a little sugar. "Jiazhi still has a conscience and thinks of you."

(End of this chapter)