1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 87 Fun is back

early morning.

The moon is not bright tonight and there are not many stars.

Chen Jiazhi had less vegetables as well. He sold 80 kilograms to Ah Hao last night, and he had to transplant cowpea seedlings tomorrow morning, so Chen Jiazhi left Qi Yongfeng at home.

A man used a tricycle to pull seven or eight hundred kilograms of vegetables to the wholesale market.

Yi Dinggan and the other two also had dishes.

Due to local customs, the market is still quite busy even after the Dragon Boat Festival.

But it wasn't as frenzied as before the holidays, and Chen Jiazhi could handle it all on his own.
After arriving at the market, old customers no longer came to wait in advance. When the vegetables were unloaded, people started asking prices, and the speed of serving the dishes was relatively steady.

Some old customers also placed pre-orders yesterday, so he needs to pack the goods in advance and is basically very busy.

By two o'clock, old customers gradually showed up.

After the cooperation in the past two days, the trust between the two sides has been further deepened.

The monk’s cabbage has been reduced to 120 kilograms, but it still costs 360 yuan a day, which is still very good.

The amount of food ordered by other old customers also decreased, but the impact was not significant. The amount of food ordered by Chen Jiazhi today was almost halved.

When most of the orders from old customers were processed, only the choy sum was left.

There are not many loofahs and bitter melons, so they are sold out very quickly every day and are in great demand.

Moreover, Chen Jiazhi felt that production was declining.

There are only 35 kilograms of loofah today.

There are only 30 kilograms of bitter melon.

The main reason is that the weather is too hot and we were too busy in the past few days. We neglected management and some plants withered. Chen Jiazhi is considering pulling out the seedlings after June 6.18th.

"Chen, the vegetable farmer, how much is it? Hey, the vegetables are selling so fast today?"

Old Wu came to stall No. 18.

Come to pay the bill.

Chen Jiazhi had already delivered the dishes in advance.

"I don't have a lot of vegetables today. I estimate there are less than 700 kilograms of Chinese cabbage, and the amaranth is also a few dozen kilograms less than yesterday, so it sold out quickly."

As he spoke, Chen Jiazhi also looked at the notebook.

“今天60斤排菜心180元，20斤苋菜48元，一共228元。”

Old Wu paid and said, "I was wondering, a stall brought in Kunming choy sum today, and they're super cheap. You sold them out so quickly, I guess you're short on vegetables!"

Chen Jiazhi asked in surprise, "Kunming choy sum?"

Old Wu nodded. "It's a dollar cheaper, Mr. Chen, why don't you lower the price a bit?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "Let's see what happens. He's selling it cheap today. I guess the goods were supposed to arrive yesterday, but they were delayed until today. He's probably selling it cheap because he's worried about it rotting. If they ship again in two days, I guess they won't sell it cheaply anymore."

"That's great, Chen Cainong. Your analysis is well-reasoned and well-founded," Old Wu praised. He then asked, "Then can you guess why there was a delay?"

"I can't guess. There are too many possibilities."

"Actually, the goods arrived at Huacheng yesterday, but we couldn't agree on the price and there was a conflict, so the owner switched to our market."

"I thought I met a vegetable tyrant."

"Hey, it's similar to the Vegetable Tyrant, but Huacheng has been much better in the past two years. The police only took down the 'Fish Tyrant' last year, and the management of medium and large wholesale markets is relatively strict. Now the Vegetable Tyrant in Huacheng can only bully out-of-town trucks."

Because vegetable bullies have been bullying the market for a long time, the vegetable basket project was implemented in 1988, and Huacheng began to crack down on bullying in 1990, but the efforts were not very strong at the beginning.

But outsiders have learned to stick together for warmth.

Fighting fiercely with local bullies every year.

The authorities launched another round of crackdown on vegetable tyrants.

The vegetable tyrant makes a comeback.

Then hit again.

The official is coming out again~
After a few cycles, the vegetable masters couldn't bear it anymore.

Not only were they beaten to death or injured, but the authorities also arrested them, so they rarely provoked these outsiders who formed a group.

Yet conflicts still break out every year.

Because although they no longer use violence, the stalls will work together to lower prices.

It has little impact on those vegetable farmers who move around the suburbs and form gangs. It targets vegetable bases in the far suburbs and foreign trucks.

However, this behavior is not far from being dealt with.

The middlemen at the stalls are not destined to last long in the Flower City as they lower the purchase price while raising the wholesale price.

Chen Jiazhi had no intention of clashing with the vegetable bully; he would just wait for the authorities to make their decision. He glanced at Old Wu's slightly bulging belly and jokingly asked, "Old Wu, were you also a vegetable bully before?"

Old Wu laughed and said, "I want to, but I'm in business and I earn my money through hard work."

Chen Jiazhi: "Do you think I believe it?"

"..."

"I don't want to chat with you anymore. I'm going to buy groceries." After taking two steps, Old Wu turned back and said, "I'm such a good person."

"Haha, just kidding, good people will have a peaceful life."

Chen Jiazhi didn't ask about the results of the dragon boat race, and since no one else mentioned it, he estimated that the results were average.

In the wholesale market, apart from transaction trust, Chen Jiazhi will not take it seriously.

In my previous life, I had many regular old customers, some of whom I had cooperated with for more than ten years, but after leaving the market, we had very little interaction.

It's hard to know what's really going on behind the scenes with these people.

Generally, no credit is given.

It’s good for someone like Lao Wu who has a fixed stall and can always find someone.

In the future, some purchases will rely on gaining the trust of vegetable farmers, selling on credit, and then changing markets or running away and refusing to pay to earn more purchase fees.

After Old Wu left, Chen Jiazhi didn’t have many dishes left.

Yi Dinggan and the other two had finished selling their vegetables and started sitting in a row in the market again, smoking and muttering to themselves.

Chen Jiazhi was farther away and couldn't hear clearly.

But he knew that the three of them were talking about him again.

It wasn't until he finished selling and started to pack up that Yi Dinggan came over and said, "Jiazhi, it seems that Curly Cabbage Head isn't here today."

Chen Jiazhi was stunned.

It really is.

Forget about this.

He thought for a moment and then checked his notebook. All the regular customers who had picked up their vegetables yesterday had come back today. Only the curly cabbage head hadn't come.

He was amused and smiled: "No, he didn't come. I guess he went to buy Kunming choy sum. He really has a keen sense of the market."

Although the behavior of the curly cabbage head is disgusting, the other person has not broken the law or cheated you. It all depends on his own ability.

And Chen Jiazhi doesn’t have to worry about selling vegetables.

So I faced the "betrayal" of Curly Head with a funny attitude.

Yi Dinggan: "Now that Kunming vegetables are available, I guess he will go get the goods from Kunming later."

"Just take it. I'll teach him a lesson next time I come back."

On June 6.18, the Beijiang River collapsed and traffic was blocked. Chen Jiazhi felt happy when he thought about this. It cannot be said that he was bad, but that Cabbage Head was unlucky.

There are not many people who specialize in growing leafy vegetables nowadays.

The vegetable industry in Yunnan Province has not yet developed and transportation is not convenient.

Choy sum is transported in foam boxes and ice packs and currently has a shelf life of only 7 days. Apart from transportation, the time left for wholesale and retail is very short.

So we can’t compete with the vegetable farmers in the suburbs.

Ningxia Province and Lanzhou in the north are farther away, and the shelf life is also about 7 days. The north-south transportation is more inconvenient, and it is more difficult to sell in the south.

That is why Ningxia Choy Sum failed to be supplied to Hong Kong before and after Hong Kong's return to China. In addition to the obstruction of large vegetable stalls, it was also related to transportation and long shelf life.

Later, breeders in Ning Province developed more storage-resistant and cold-resistant varieties of Chinese cabbage through generations of breeding.

The shelf life of Ning Province’s choy sum has been extended from 7 days to 10 days, and then to 14 days, while the taste has also been maintained.

Therefore, Ning Province choy sum can be found in supermarkets of all sizes in the Pearl River Delta.

Now is still the era of vegetable farmers in the suburbs of cities.

There is nothing to worry about leafy vegetables from other places.

The traffic disruption on June 6.18th is just an ordinary microcosm of the times.

This kind of natural disaster is not something Chen Jiazhi can change.

He had no plans to change. He would just do his best, embrace the harvest, and then wait to bully the cabbage head for his own fun.

After selling the vegetables, the few of them did not stop and rushed back.

As a result, the three people who were waiting for him were left behind by Chen Jiazhi. The three old vegetable farmers followed him and pedaled hard, but they could only eat dust behind him.

Chen Jiazhi didn't move away either, and kept a similar distance.

There’s nothing I can do about it, the fire tricycle is just awesome.

It doesn't require any effort or sweat, and you can still enjoy the fresh air, so in his opinion it's not expensive.

After crossing the Luoxi Bridge, Chen Jiazhi filled up a tank of diesel, about 20 liters, at 2.2 yuan per liter, for a total of 44 yuan.

Because we often climb hills with heavy loads and need to change gears frequently, we can only travel about 200 kilometers on a tank of gas.

Refuel once every seven or eight days.

5 to 6 yuan a day.

It’s quite expensive for most people, but Chen Jiazhi feels it’s just a drop in the bucket.

He also calculated the amount in his notebook this morning and sold a total of 2353 yuan.

There were 260 kilograms of premium Chinese cabbage. In addition to the monk and Lao Wu, Chen Ze also ordered 100 kilograms of choy sum.

403 kilograms of ordinary Chinese cabbage, 35 kilograms of loofah, 30 kilograms of bitter melon, and 123 kilograms of amaranth.

With this income from a few hundred kilograms of vegetables, even in later times, the profit is very good.

After arriving at the vegetable market, I felt it was even more worth it when I saw the envious looks on the tired bodies of Yi Dinggan and the other two.

During breakfast, Chen Jiazhi mentioned the issue of them quitting drinking again in front of Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang.

Facing Chen Jiafang's suspicious look, Yi Dinggan said that it was true.

He wants a tricycle.

With the comparison, riding a bike is too tiring.

We had breakfast very early today because we had to transplant the cowpea seedlings, so Li Xiu got up early and cooked.

But they were still not as early as Ao Dehai and his friends.

When returning to the vegetable market, Chen Jiazhi saw someone wearing a headlamp walking among the vegetables.

After entering the door, Li Xiu told him that when she got up, Ao Dehai should have gone to water the fields.

It is hot and sunny at noon and in the afternoon, so transplanting can only be done in the morning and evening. The survival rate of transplanting will be higher after the soil is moistened.

Chen Jiazhi now truly thinks Ao Dehai is very good.

But they began to worry about not being able to retain such workers who can endure hardships, think and have subjective initiative.

He couldn't help but think of himself in his previous life, Yi Dinggan and Li Mingkun.

After accumulating technical experience with their boss in Shanghai, they returned to their hometown in the provincial capital and rented land to work on their own.

The boss tried every way to keep the three of them but failed. Even after they left for several years, he was still calling them to ask them to come back.

The treatment has actually been good.

Especially him and Yi Dinggan, who love to gamble. Once they have identified a category, they will invest ruthlessly as soon as they sow the seeds. They often hit on super big market trends and often get a lot of bonuses and commissions in a month.

But it's too far away. The reason they return to the provincial capital is not only because they love freedom, but also to take care of the elderly and educate their children.

Although Guo Mancang and his family did not get together later, he returned to the provincial capital to farm with his family.

Therefore, if you want to retain people, it is not enough to just give them high salaries, you also have to play the emotional card. Not many people want their children to become left-behind children.

Even the vegetable workers in Guizhou Province, who are famous for their diligence and loyalty, may not remain loyal after they become capable.

Fortunately, there is still a long time.

Before 2000, this issue did not need to be considered.

After eating and giving the money to Li Xiu, Chen Jiazhi noticed that she had put her bag away and was ready to go out with him, taking the small hoe used for planting seedlings.

Chen Jiazhi was surprised and asked, "You're not counting money today?"

Li Xiu: "I won't count it anymore. I'll have to spend it again soon. There's no point in counting it. I might as well go help with some work."

Chen Jiazhi: "Are you tired of counting?"

Li Xiu followed him, in good condition and full of energy: "I want to wait until I have saved more before counting."

Chen Jiazhi: "Then I'll try harder and save more for you to count."

"..."

Li Xiu couldn't help but stop.

(End of this chapter)