Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 14 Entering Beijing
The Li family's old house.

Li Zhe entered the courtyard carrying a net bag and saw Wang Xiuying sitting under the locust tree washing clothes. "Mother, I'm back."

Wang Xiuying glanced at him, initially not wanting to pay him any attention, but looking at the bulging net bag, she asked in surprise, "Why did you buy so much stuff again?"

"Big Brother and Zhu Zi have worked so hard for us for nothing, shouldn't we give them something good to eat?"

How much did you spend on these?

"Never mind, just wait to eat."

"You spendthrift! That woman Zhang Yuzhen is as cunning as a monkey; she'll make at least half of what you're owed."

Li Zhe smiled but didn't respond. The things in Zhang Yuzhen's shop weren't expensive; some were even cheaper than at the supply and marketing cooperative. Last time, the pork he bought at the supply and marketing cooperative cost 2.05 yuan per jin, while at Zhang Yuzhen's shop it was 1.95 yuan per jin, a full 10 cents cheaper.

Let his mother say whatever she wants, as long as she's happy.

"Mother, please put these things away. I'm going to work in the fields. My sister-in-law will come over to cook lunch, and you can help look after Daya." Li Zhe said, then walked out of the yard.

"What kind of cooking can she do? What a waste of this piece of meat." Wang Xiuying snorted, took the things Li Zhe bought into the house, and placed them on the square table in the main room.

She didn't support her son growing vegetables in greenhouses because she felt it would cost too much money, and she worried that if the business failed, he would end up with a mountain of debt.

She's not stupid; why would she deliberately hold her son back?

Wang Xiuying picked out a large winter melon, peeled it, and cut it into small pieces. She quickly washed the pork, preparing the lean pieces for stewing and the fatty pieces for oyster sauce, muttering to herself, "Why did I buy so much meat again? How will it keep in this heat..."

……

North of the village, in the cornfield of the Li family.

Harvesting corn is a skill that requires finesse. If you go straight into the cornfield to harvest, the leaves will scratch your face and arms. Usually, you harvest along one side of the furrow, with one person harvesting in front and another person cutting down the corn behind. You harvest row by row from the outside in, so you don't have to go into the cornfield and avoid being scratched by the leaves.

The three men did the same thing: Zhao Tiezhu broke off corn cobs in front, Li Weidong swung a sickle to cut the straw, and Old Li was even more ingenious—he broke off corn cobs with his left hand and stomped on the straw with his right foot, doing the work of two people.

When Li Zhe arrived at the field, the four of them regrouped. Li Zhe partnered with Zhao Tiezhu at the east end. Li Zhe picked corn cobs and threw them into his basket, while Zhao Tiezhu cut corn stalks behind him.

Old Li and his eldest son started from the west end of the road, which greatly increased their speed.

The corn planted near Daying Village is autumn corn, which is harvested from the end of September to the beginning of October. It is only the beginning of September now, and harvesting the corn early will definitely lead to a reduction in yield.

This is why the Li family's corn harvest has aroused the curiosity of some people.

Old Li gave a few perfunctory words without mentioning the greenhouse project. Even if he did, others wouldn't understand, and it might even become a laughing stock.

The four of them worked and chatted, and when they got tired, they would rest in the shade of a tree. Time passed quickly.

As noon approached and the sun shone brightly, half an acre of corn had already been harvested.

Old Li stretched and used his straw hat to fan himself. "Let's stop here. It's getting hotter and hotter. Let's go back and eat first. We'll continue working in the afternoon when it cools down."

The four men packed the corn they had picked into urea bags and piled them onto the cart. Zhao Tiezhu drove the cart ahead, with the father and his two sons following behind.

As soon as the carriage arrived at the Li family's door, Zhao Tiezhu smelled a delicious aroma. He pulled the carriage into the courtyard and saw Wang Xiuying cooking around a large pot. "Auntie, what are you making? It smells so good!"

"Braised pork with vermicelli, Zhu Zi, have a couple more bowls, it's all you can eat." Wang Xiuying had watched Zhao Tiezhu grow up and knew he was a reliable and hardworking boy. She had a very good impression of him. It was so good that her second son was so easy to take care of.

Li Zhe took out a few ears of corn from the bag, peeled off the husks, and said, "Mom, look how fresh and tender this corn is. Let's boil some and eat it."

Corn is usually harvested when it's fully ripe, which increases the yield, but it's also tougher to chew. Fresh corn is the best.

"Just keep wasting food." Wang Xiuying looked at the prematurely harvested tender corn, feeling a pang of regret. It would take another twenty days or so for the kernels to harden. Fresh corn has a high moisture content; it dries flat, resulting in a huge loss of grain. The group quickly washed up and sat around the square table to eat.

Wang Xiuying first served a bowl of food to Zhao Tiezhu, saying, "Zhuzi, eat more, there's more in the pot."

"Thank you, Auntie." Zhao Tiezhu took the white porcelain bowl with both hands. Inside was a stew of pork, tofu, winter melon, and vermicelli. The oily soup looked appetizing, and paired with freshly steamed white flour buns, it smelled wonderful.

As he ate, Zhao Tiezhu's eyes reddened. The stew tasted just like his mother's. Ever since his father died and his mother remarried with his younger brother, he had never eaten it again.

Li Zhe also ate heartily. He hadn't eaten his mother's stew for many years. Wang Xiuying didn't know how to make the famous dishes on the menu, but she was very good at stewing.

Li Weidong picked up a piece of fatty meat from his bowl and gave it to his wife, Ma Laixiao.

Wang Xiuying pursed her lips and didn't say anything.

After finishing a bowl of vegetables, Old Li picked up half a steamed bun, broke it into pieces, and ate it soaked in the vegetable soup.

Li Zhe ate two bowls of vegetables and two steamed buns, then picked up a freshly cooked corn and started eating it.

"Hmm, this corn is fresh and tender, you should try some too." Compared to the sweet corn and glutinous corn of later generations, Li Zhe still prefers this flavor; it's chewy and not too sweet.

Wang Xiuying scoffed, "What's so special about it? It's something we've eaten before, something that grows in the fields."

“Mom, you may not care, but someone else will.”

Seeing the mother and son bickering again, Old Li interrupted them, saying, "Second son, hurry up and eat. After you finish eating, you can rest for a while. We still have to harvest corn this afternoon."

Li Zhe said, "Dad, you guys go ahead, I need to go to the village committee."

"What are you up to now, kid?" Old Li raised his voice, genuinely afraid of the kid's mischievousness.

"I want to rent the village committee's tractor to go to the city to sell fresh corn."

Wang Xiuying waved her hand, "Don't make a fuss. Langfang was only changed to a city a few years ago. Everyone has relatives in the village. We don't need your fresh corn."

"I don't plan to go to Langfang city; there are only a few people there. I'm going to sell it in the capital. People in the capital are rich. If they want to eat fresh corn, they can't just ask their poor relatives in Jizhou for it; it wouldn't even cover the travel expenses." What is Langfang City's biggest advantage? It's its proximity to the capital. People from Langfang may never have been to the provincial capital in their lives, but they can't afford not to go to the capital.

Old Li's face showed disapproval. "Even if you manage to borrow a tractor, what about the permit to go to Beijing?"

Li Zhe said, "If it's other goods, I can't guarantee that, but vegetables and agricultural products shouldn't be a big problem."

In the late 1980s, Beijing faced a severe shortage of vegetables, and vegetable prices were once too high. In order to solve the problem of Beijing residents having difficulty getting vegetables,

Starting May 31, 1985, Beijing introduced a policy to officially open vegetable markets. Vehicles transporting vegetables from the city's suburbs and other areas, including cars and tractors, could enter Beijing with just the vegetables they transported, without needing a permit from another region.

At the same time, the government allows farmers to freely sell their surplus products after completing their purchase orders, providing policy support for farmers to sell their crops in cities.

Fresh corn is a grain, but Li Zhe sells it as a vegetable, and the transportation and sales locations are also vegetable markets.

Wang Xiuying warned, "Second son, renting a tractor isn't cheap. Don't waste your time and end up not even making enough to cover the cost of renting it."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

In the economic market of later generations, you can find whatever you want to eat and drink; even things you haven't thought of, merchants can think of.

However, the planned economy still dominates, and people haven't had enough to eat for many years. So, these kinds of seasonal hedonistic business opportunities probably haven't been noticed yet.

Their home is close to Beijing, so they can directly sell their goods there. This largest consumer market in China is the source of Li Zhe's confidence.

(End of this chapter)