Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 164 The First Person

A bus stopped at the Jianguomen bus stop, and four people got off. One of the girls was wearing a white down jacket and dark blue jeans that accentuated her long, straight legs; passersby couldn't help but take a second look.

The girl looked around and saw an apartment building on the west side. She walked a distance toward the apartment building and saw the words "Diplomatic Apartments" in large characters.

After walking another hundred meters or so, I came across a row of shops: there was a fairly large bookstore with newspapers and magazines displayed at the entrance; there was a craft shop with two large blue porcelain vases at the entrance; and inside there was a green sign that read "365 Vegetable Shop".

The girl stopped in her tracks. When she first heard the name, she thought it was a bit strange, as she rarely heard similar shop names. But after thinking about it, she felt that the name was well-chosen.

"365 Vegetable Store" is catchy and easy to remember, making it especially suitable as the name of a vegetable store catering to foreign customers.

The girl walked to the shop's entrance; the glass door was ajar. She didn't go in immediately, standing at the doorway seemingly hesitant…

Just then, the shop door opened, and a young man came out. He was clearly taken aback when he saw her beautiful figure: "Comrade, are you here to buy groceries? Our shop will be having a soft opening tomorrow, and there will be discounts then."

The girl's big eyes glanced into the store: "Is Li Zhe here?"

"Yes, Brother Li is in the shop." Sun Tao opened the glass door and called out, "Brother Li, a girl is looking for you."

Hearing the noise, Li Zhe came out and saw Wang Ting standing prettily at the door. He smiled and said, "You're here. Come in."

Wang Ting walked into the store and looked around. The store was quite large, divided into several areas by shelves, and already stocked with a lot of goods: potatoes and carrots were on the vegetable shelves; there were also several cardboard boxes on the floor, containing apples, pears, and oranges.

"Your vegetable shop is doing a great job! When are you planning to open?"

Li Zhe said, "We'll have a trial opening tomorrow."

"Trial operation?" Wang Ting had just heard the man who opened the door say that it was a trial operation. Although it was the first time she had heard it, she roughly understood what it meant. This was the third time she had met Li Zhe, but she heard similar new terms every time.

It's very vivid and easy to understand.

Li Zhe introduced, "This is my friend Wang Ting, a top student from Beijing Foreign Studies University, who is here to help out at the store; this is Sun Tao, the store manager, who is in charge of the store's daily management when I'm not here."

Wang Ting nodded to Sun Tao, then turned to Li Zhe and said, "Is there anything I can do?"

“Yes. I have a promotional flyer for the trial operation here. Could you translate it into English for me?” Li Zhe took a handwritten manuscript from the counter and handed it to Wang Ting.

The title above reads: 365 Vegetable Store is now in trial operation!
Below that is the trial operation period. Further down is the product range: fruits and vegetables, meat, and groceries.

It also indicated that there would be discounts and benefits during the trial operation period.

Below is the shop's address and opening hours: 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

After reading it, Wang Ting frowned slightly: "The flyer is well written, but isn't the business hours incorrect? Should we change it?"

Li Zhe took it and looked at it: "9 a.m. to 7 p.m., is that correct?"

Although Wang Ting has never sold vegetables, she went to the vegetable market with her mother when she was a child. She said, "I remember that the vegetable market opened very early. There were vendors selling vegetables as early as six or seven o'clock. The morning market should have ended around 9 o'clock, right?"

Li Zhe explained, "The main reason is the different customer base. Those who go to the farmers' market to buy vegetables are mainly housewives and the elderly. They don't need to go to work, and they generally like to go early to buy fresh vegetables."

But our grocery store is located in the ground floor shops of the diplomatic apartments, and our customers are mostly expatriates. They're busy cooking, going to work, and taking their children to school in the mornings, so they simply don't have time to buy groceries before 9 a.m. Even when they're on their days off, they tend to sleep in. Opening the store at 9 a.m. is more in line with their schedules.

After hearing the explanation, Wang Ting thought it made a lot of sense. If it were her, she wouldn't get up so early to go to the morning market to buy groceries either.

"Your work hours are quite humane."

She had promised Li Zhe she would help out at the vegetable shop, and was worried about whether she would have to get up early. She's a rather sleepy person, and since she finally had a day off, she wanted to sleep in. Asking her to get up at six in the morning and brave the cold wind to work was something she really didn't want to do.

Li Zhe chuckled and joked, "My vegetable shop not only has a humane work environment but also good benefits. How about working here long-term?"

Wang Ting countered, "So how much salary are you planning to pay me? What benefits will I get?"

"I'll treat you to a meal, and I'll give you small gifts on holidays. That will be considered your salary. How about it?"

"Let me think about it." After saying that, Wang Ting took the flyer from Li Zhe, walked to the counter, picked up a ballpoint pen, and asked, "Where do I write the English flyer?"

Li Zhe pulled out a large notebook from under the counter: "Write it here, in both Chinese and English." Although this place is for foreigners, it doesn't mean everyone speaks English.

"I understand." Wang Ting sat on the stool by the counter, carefully translating word by word. This was also what she excelled at.

Sun Tao, standing nearby, sensed something was off. The two seemed to have an unusual relationship, not just ordinary friends.

Sun Tao was a clever man, so he didn't ask Li Zhe directly, thinking he would wait for a suitable opportunity to ask him privately.

A short while later, three stock clerks arrived. Sun Tao led them in sorting the vegetables needed for tomorrow.

Li Zhe has very strict requirements for vegetables. For example, carrots and potatoes sold in the market are usually covered in mud. But Li Zhe requires that the carrots and potatoes sold on the shelves must be clean. To sell vegetables at higher prices, the service must also keep up.

After Wang Ting finished writing the bilingual (Chinese and English) promotional leaflet, Li Zhe assigned her another task: to write the names and prices of the items on the labels. Li Zhe didn't sit idle either; he took the completed bilingual leaflet to a nearby copy shop for expedited photocopying.

When he returned to the store, two more girls came in and were chatting with Wang Ting by the counter.

One of the girls was the one Li Zhe personally recruited a few days ago.

"Chen Ju? What brings you here?"

Chen Ju smiled and retorted, "Mr. Li, are you saying you don't welcome me?"

"Welcome, of course I welcome you! I'm just a little puzzled, weren't you doing quite well at the Mona Lisa restaurant?"

"Hey! I just thought I had a bright future following you, so I came to join you."

Li Zhe chuckled and teased, "Da Zhuang always has a stern face whenever he sees me. Did he really agree to let you come?"

"Hahaha..." Hearing this name, Chen Ju couldn't help but laugh again. "Da Zhuang is busy serving dishes right now, he can't take care of me. Now that the restaurant is serving Russian food, he's indispensable!"

Li Zhe turned to look at another girl. This girl wore black-rimmed glasses, had short hair, delicate features, was somewhat thin, and had a bookish air about her.

Li Zhe asked with a smile, "Excuse me, what's your name? Which university are you from?"

"Mr. Li, my name is Lin Zhixia, and I am a student in the English Department of Beijing University."

Hearing the words "Beijing University," Li Zhe was somewhat surprised. In those days, a degree from Beijing University was highly prestigious. However, considering that the person was working at his shop to practice their spoken English and communicate with foreigners, he couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Now that everyone's here, I'll give you a brief training session," Li Zhe said with a smile, calling the three girls together.
"Your job mainly involves distributing flyers, communicating with customers, weighing vegetables, and settling accounts. Working hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Since this is a part-time job and your main focus is on your studies, you're not required to come every day. You can discuss and schedule shifts, ideally with two people in the shop at the same time. If there aren't enough staff, I can hire more people.

Li Zhe paused for a moment, then continued, "In addition, you should pay attention to your work attitude. Don't bring your personal emotions into your work. Treat customers with polite language, smile and serve them, and patiently answer their questions."

Your English is all very good, I believe that won't be a problem. Can you all do what I'm saying? If you have any questions, please feel free to tell me.

Chen Ju said, "Don't worry, Boss Li! We are model youths of the new era. Being polite and courteous to others is the most basic thing for us. It's not difficult at all!"

Li Zhe nodded: "Come on, I'll teach you how to use a pan scale..."

……

The front courtyard of No. 7 Hutong, Suzhou.

Wang Jianjun was sitting in the living room reading a newspaper. He was reading very intently and didn't turn the page for a long time.

Jinzi lay on the ground, occasionally looking up to yawn. The man and the dog ignored each other and just stayed there quietly.

"Knock knock..." There was a knock on the door. "Brother, open the door!"

Wang Jianjun put down his newspaper, got up, and went to open the door.

Jinzi wagged its tail and ran over happily, rubbing against Li Zhe's leg.

Li Zhe patted its head and smiled, "Jinzi, you're such a good boy!"

Wang Jianjun closed the door: "Have you eaten?"

"I ate, and had a bowl of mutton soup on the way back." After finishing up at the vegetable shop, Li Zhe went to the Chongwenmen vegetable market to finalize the supply channels for Qin Chuan hybrid cattle with Director Han.

How's the grocery store going?

"Great, we can start trial operation tomorrow."

“Just let me know if you need any help. Anyway, I’ll be free after I finish delivering the groceries.” After saying that, Wang Jianjun handed the newspaper on the coffee table to Li Zhe. “Take a look, you’re in the newspaper.” There was a hint of envy in Wang Jianjun’s tone. In these days, being in the newspaper was a big deal, let alone a newspaper in Beijing.

Li Zhe took the newspaper and read the headline: "Off-season vegetables break the 'vegetable shortage' in Beijing for the first time!"

"Wow, that's a bit too much." Li Zhe felt he couldn't handle it.

He sat down at the coffee table and looked at the newspaper: "Jizhou farmer Li Zhe pioneers greenhouse technology without heating, off-season cucumbers sell for eight yuan per kilogram, shaking up the vegetable basket project..."

Li Zhe read it carefully twice. Wei Min's writing was concise. Although it was only a few hundred words, he clearly explained his original intention, process, and difficulties in building the greenhouse.

This report confirms Li Zhe's status as the "first person to grow off-season vegetables," a title that will be very important for his future career development and has great potential value...

(End of this chapter)