Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 158 365
Wei Min remained upset for a while before turning to Li Zhe and asking, "Brother Li, what made you change your mind? Didn't you say you wouldn't do the interview until next year?"

Li Zhe laughed and said, "Isn't it already 89 years ago?"

"Hey, that seems to be true." Wei Min's eyes regained focus, and the dejected look on her face disappeared.

Li Zhe explained, "It's like this: Chongwenmen Vegetable Market and I are going to open a vegetable store for foreigners. On the opening day, Chongwenmen Vegetable Market will invite reporters to the store to cover the event. I can't delay any longer, so naturally I'll prioritize interviewing you and let you get the first-hand news."

"Brother Li, you're a true buddy!" Wei Min gave a thumbs up: "I'll treat you to dinner another day. You can choose any of the eight restaurants, Quanjude, Donglaishun, or Ba Da Lou."

Li Zhe laughed and said, "Forget about dinner. Just focus on writing the press release and highlight my strengths."

"Brother Li, let's not dawdle any longer, let's start now. Let the two of them make dumplings, I'll interview you on some questions, and try to finish the article by this afternoon." Just thinking about the article made her feel a little heartbroken. She had spent several days like a wild man in the mountains, all for nothing.

'I'm sure I can write even better articles and report even better news!' Wei Min cheered herself up. She went back to her room to get her notebook and pen, and looked at Li Zhe sitting opposite her. Just as she was about to ask him a question, she noticed that Wu Fanghua and Wang Jianjun were looking at the two of them curiously.

She frowned slightly, disliking being disturbed at work: "Brother Li, how about we do the interview in my room?"

"This is good, it's bright." This era is different from later times; it's inconvenient for a man like him to enter a girl's bedroom. Dating is fine, but if you don't want to date someone, then don't be all lovey-dovey.

Wei Min opened her notebook, which contained some questions she had thought of long ago. The first question was: "Brother Li, what prompted you to decide to try growing winter vegetables?"

Li Zhe immediately said, "Every winter there is a shortage of vegetables. The original reason I started growing vegetable greenhouses was to respond to the Ministry of Agriculture's 'Vegetable Basket' plan so that everyone would have enough vegetables to eat in winter."

"Brother Li, what are the difficulties you face in growing vegetables in greenhouses?"

"The biggest challenge is temperature. Only when the temperature inside the greenhouse is above 15 degrees Celsius can the vegetables grow normally." At this point, Li Zhe added, "Also, because these are summer vegetables that grow in winter, I named them 'off-season vegetables'!"

"'Off-season vegetables'!" This was the first time Wei Min had heard this term. Although it was just a word, she could sense its professionalism. People without a certain level of education simply couldn't use such a term.

Wei Min re-evaluated Li Zhe; this man was no ordinary person.

Not only is it known as "summer vegetables grown in winter," but it also has a new term. Wei Min felt that this interview was very promising, so she continued to ask, "Brother Li, what were the attitudes of your family and the people around you when you were building the vegetable greenhouse?"

"Let's skip that." Li Zhe gave a wry smile. It would be too fake to say that everyone supported it; telling the truth wouldn't be good either.

Wei Min pouted: "If your vegetables are priced so high, won't people call you a profiteer?"

"Well, the costs of growing vegetables in greenhouses are very high, plus transportation and labor costs, so the profit margin isn't actually that high." After saying this, Li Zhe said helplessly, "Girl, we're friends, can you ask less politely?"

"Haha..." Wang Jianjun and Wu Fanghua, who were standing to the side, both laughed.

“Brother Li, you don’t understand. A good interview is one that hits the nail on the head and is sharp enough. Nobody likes a bland interview, and it won’t spark any discussion,” Wei Min said.

Li Zhe: "..."

Wei Min continued, "Who helped you the most in the process of growing off-season vegetables?"

“Family and friends. Without their help, this greenhouse couldn’t have been built, and there wouldn’t be any off-season vegetables.”

Wang Jianjun smiled, feeling very comforted by these words.

Wei Min pressed further, "Now everyone knows you're making money growing off-season vegetables. If someone follows suit and grows them next winter, what would you say to them?"

“Building a vegetable greenhouse is not cheap, so I suggest everyone be careful. It would be best to join our Daying Village Vegetable Cooperative. Next year, our cooperative will offer some open courses and technical support, and we can also purchase greenhouse building materials in bulk at a lower price…”

Wei Min asked very detailed questions, and Li Zhe answered most of them, making the interview go very smoothly. After the interview, the thin-skinned, generously filled dumplings were ready; the beef and scallion dumplings were bursting with happiness with every bite.

……

In the afternoon, after leaving the Jianguomen residential building, Li Zhe went straight to the vegetable store in the Diplomatic Apartments.

Yesterday afternoon, Li Zhe did not return to Daying Village. Instead, he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Service Center to sign a lease contract with Section Chief Cheng. The rent was 300 foreign exchange certificates per month, with a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent paid in advance, totaling 1200 foreign exchange certificates.

When he arrived at the vegetable store in the Diplomatic Residence, Sun Tao was wiping the vegetable shelves with a rag.

Li Zhe originally intended to buy secondhand shelves and gradually replace them with new ones once the business took off and he made some money. But then he thought that since it was a vegetable store catering to foreign customers, it should have a certain level of quality. If it was all shabby and dilapidated, it would look cheap and the foreign customers might not even like it. So he decided to go all out and buy new ones directly.

Li Zhe touched the snow-white wall: "When was this plastered?"

Sun Tao replied, "The whitewashing was done on the afternoon of the 9th. The vegetable shelves were just moved in yesterday afternoon. Brother Li, do you think my tidying up went well?"

Li Zhe strolled around the vegetable shop and saw new bamboo baskets, a scale, a blackboard, hemp rope, kraft paper, buckets, and other commonly used tools. It must be said that Sun Tao was quite meticulous; he had basically bought all the necessary tools.

Li Zhe walked around the shop and finally stopped at the entrance, where the signboard was still empty. Sun Tao said, "Brother Li, I've already contacted a workshop that makes signboards. It's not a big place, but they do meticulous work and it's cheap. I just don't know what name you want. As long as you decide, I'll go and order it tonight."

Li Zhe countered, "What name do you think would be suitable?"

Sun Tao rubbed his chin with his right hand: "Brother Li, what do you think of 'Fresh Vegetable Shop'?"

Li Zhe thought for a moment: "Using Chinese is fine. But we're an international vegetable store, so it needs to appeal to foreigners. It's best if it's easy to remember and catchy." Li Zhe pondered for a while: "What do you think of '365 Vegetable Store'?"

“365, 365…” Sun Tao muttered to himself a few times before quickly understanding the meaning of the name: “A vegetable shop that’s open 365 days a year. It also highlights our goal of selling off-season vegetables. Plus, ‘365’ is easy to remember and works in both Chinese and English.”

Sun Tao praised, "Brother Li, the name you chose is much more unique!"

“Okay, let’s call it ‘365 Vegetable Shop’. There’s not much going on at the shop right now, so you should head over early and order the signboard. The three characters ‘365’ should be bigger, and ‘Vegetable Shop’ should be smaller.” Halfway through his sentence, Li Zhe realized that the signboard was the face of the shop, and it would be best if he went there in person to choose the color, style, and size.

He glanced at his watch: "Taozi, close the door, let's go decide on the signboard."

"Alright, Brother Li!" Sun Tao quickly closed the shop door, got on his bicycle, and took Li Zhe to the workshop where the signboards were made.

……

The residential compound of the Beijing Television Factory.

The Wang family lives on the second floor.

The door opened from the outside, and Wang Ting went inside, changing into slippers.

As soon as she entered the living room, she was greeted by a strong aroma of corn, which surprised her greatly: where did the corn come from at this time of day? Then it dawned on her—could it be…

Hearing the noise, Chen Shufang came out of the kitchen: "Tingting's back. Perfect timing, quickly wash your hands and eat some corn."

We won't cook dinner tonight. We'll each have two ears of corn; it's all about enjoying its freshness. It won't taste good if it sits for too long. It's your dad's fault for having another dinner party tonight.

Wang Ting put down her backpack, quickly washed up, and changed into her loungewear. When she returned to the living room, Chen Shufang had already placed the corn on the dining table. "Tingting, come and eat! This corn is so tender, it tastes even better than in summer!"

Wang Ting responded and sat down at the dining table to obediently eat corn.

Chen Shufang looked up at her daughter and asked with a smile, "Don't you even want to ask where this corn came from?"

Wang Ting lowered her head and ate without saying a word.

Chen Shufang continued, "It was brought by your aunt. She made a special trip this afternoon for your sake."

Wang Ting's cheeks flushed slightly, looking a little embarrassed. She coughed lightly and said, "Mom, there's something I need to tell you."

"What's wrong?" Chen Shufang asked, her tone slightly displeased that her words had been interrupted.

"A restaurant catering to international customers is recruiting at our school and offers positions where students can practice their spoken English and converse directly with foreigners. Some of my classmates have applied, and someone wants to recommend me. What do you think? Should I go?"

Chen Shufang didn't understand at first: "What do you mean by providing a job to practice spoken English and talk directly with foreigners? What exactly does that entail?"

Wang Ting simply stated, "They are waitresses at restaurants catering to foreigners."

Chen Shufang shook her head: "No, no! It's not like we're short of money. I worked so hard to send you to university, not so you could work as a waitress. You can practice your spoken English slowly, there's no need to torture yourself."

Wang Ting obediently replied, "Okay, I'll do as you say."

Chen Shufang felt as if she had forgotten something, and only after taking a bite of corn did she remember: "You little brat! I was just having a perfectly good conversation, why did you interrupt me?"

Before Wang Ting could speak, she continued, "Your aunt went back to Daying Village and talked to Li Zhe's parents. They saw your photo and were very satisfied. Li Zhe invited you out tomorrow morning."

Chen Shufang then instructed, "Be smart during lunch. If you feel you click with someone and want to continue the relationship, make him pay. If you don't like him, just pay the bill, understand?"

Wang Ting, on her first blind date, asked shyly, "Mom... am I going by myself?"

“That’s definitely not it.” Chen Shufang smiled and counted on her fingers, “Me, your dad, your sister, and your grandma, we’ll all go with you.”

Wang Ting: "..."

(End of this chapter)