Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 219 High-end Channels
Daying Village.

Outside the Li family's greenhouse.

Li Jiugang lit the fire on the stove. Although there was a small kitchen in the greenhouse, he still preferred the feeling of cooking outside.

He carried a large iron basin filled with cured meat out of the greenhouse, took out a piece of coarse cloth and vigorously scrubbed the surface of the cured meat, and then changed the water in the basin to continue soaking it.

Li Zhe walked over carrying a box: "Brother Wine Jar, what are you doing?"

"Curned pork, we're having southern-style cured pork tonight!" Li Jiugang lifted the cured pork out of the basin. "Look at it, this crystal-clear texture is so different from our northern-style cured pork."

Li Zhe placed the box next to the stove: "I'll go to greenhouse number 14 later and get some garlic sprouts. We'll stir-fry them tonight; they'll definitely taste good."

Li Jiugang chuckled: "That's right, that's what I think too. This stuff is a great snack to go with drinks."

Li Zhe, who had eaten southern cured pork in later generations, found it to have a unique flavor: "Brother Wine Jar, where did this cured pork come from?"

"Teacher Chen brought these back; I heard they were a gift from his students in the south." Li Jiugang leaned closer to the box and looked at it. "Wow, why are there so many canned goods?"

Li Zhe replied, "These canned goods are samples provided by the factory. We'll heat up one can of each to add some dishes for everyone. If there's anything wrong with the canned goods, please let me know."

Li Jiugang took the canned meat out of the cardboard box: "Tonight will be easier. With these canned meats, we can just stir-fry some cured meat, and we'll be all set."

"Oh, right, there are still canned tomatoes in there. Make some scrambled eggs with tomatoes," Li Zhe instructed, then asked, "Brother Wine Jar, where did Teacher Chen go?"

"I heard he went to the new shed to check on the experimental fields." Li Jiugang picked up a can of food and began to read the instructions on it.

"You're busy, I'll go take a look." Li Zhe said, and walked towards the newly built greenhouse.

Li Zhe met Chen Shougeng and Zhou Qinghe in greenhouse number 19. The two were standing beside the experimental field recording data. Seeing that they were busy, Li Zhe did not disturb them and turned to Ge Qingshan, who was standing next to him, and said, "Qingshan, when Teacher Chen is finished, please ask him to go to greenhouse number 3."

"Okay," Ge Qingshan replied. After Zhu Yimin's reminder last time, he had figured it out. His mother-in-law was pregnant with her fourth child because she wanted a son. If his father-in-law really had a son, what would he, as the son-in-law, be?
The Li family are legitimate relatives, and he feels more at ease working for Li Zhe. It's just that he doesn't know how to answer his future father-in-law's question.
Inside greenhouse number 3, a bag of canned food was placed on a table, with two little girls, Li Na and Zhu Wen, sitting around it.

Li Na pointed to the yellow can: "Is that a pineapple?"

Zhu Wen nodded: "Yes, my dad bought it once before. It was both sour and sweet, and it was delicious."

Li Na pointed to the canned goods next to her: "There are also yellow peaches, oranges, pears, and apples. Why did my second brother buy so many canned goods?"

Jin Baiwan, holding a teacup, smiled and said, "These canned goods weren't bought; they were a gift to your second brother. Which one would you like to eat? I'll open it for you."

Zhu Wen said, "Uncle Jin, the pineapple is delicious."

Li Na nodded, "I'd also like to try the pineapple."

"Alright." Jin Baiwan put down his teacup, picked up a can of pineapple with his chubby hand, twisted it open with a 'bang!', and placed it on the table. "Eat up."

Zhu Wen squinted and swallowed hard. "Thank you, Uncle Jin."

Li Na took out three pairs of chopsticks from the drawer, handed one pair to Zhu Wen, and another pair to Jin Baiwan, saying, "Brother Jin, you eat too."

Jin Baiwan didn't like eating fruit and wanted to decline, but then he thought that these canned goods were meant for tasting, so how could he know how they tasted if he didn't try them?

"You guys eat first, I'll eat the rest."

The two girls each picked up a piece of pineapple and ate it with relish.

The curtain of the greenhouse was lifted, and Li Zhe walked in: "Wow, they've already started eating."

"Uncle Li," Zhu Wen greeted him with a smile.

"Second brother, you eat too." Li Na took out another pair of chopsticks and handed them to Li Zhe.

Li Zhe picked up a piece of pineapple with his chopsticks, took a bite, and found it both sour and sweet. Seeing that Jin Baiwan had also eaten a piece, he asked, "Brother Jin, what do you think?" Jin Baiwan praised, "Pretty good, sweet and sour, tastes great."

Li Zhe looked at the two little girls: "Do you think it's delicious?"

"Second brother, it's delicious!"

"It's so sweet." The two little girls nodded repeatedly as they ate.

Li Zhe said, "It does taste good as a snack. But eating a whole piece is a bit too sweet. The weather is cold in the Soviet Union, and people eat a lot of meat. Would it be better if the pineapple were a bit more sour to cut through the richness?"

Jin Baiwan laughed and said, "Brother, your reasoning is correct, but sweet pineapple is the mainstream. Products that are too acidic are prone to spoilage, while sweet formulas are more stable. If you make it too sour, people might think it's gone bad."

Li Zhe thought about it and felt it made sense. He said to the two girls, "You can open whichever can you want, but I have one request—after you finish eating the can, each of you has to say one good thing and one bad thing, and also rate the can."

This was exactly what they wanted, and the two little girls readily agreed, sitting around the table discussing which can of food they would eat next.
Li Zhe said to Jin Baiwan, "Brother Jin, I have to go to Beijing tomorrow. I'll need you to keep an eye on the Wan'an Town cannery."

“Go ahead, I’ll take care of things here.” Jin Baiwan thought for a moment and continued, “Brother, there are other canneries in Langfang. I’m thinking of visiting them in the next couple of days. What do you think?”

"Alright, please take good care of things here in Langfang. When I get to the capital, I'll also ask around to find out about other canneries near the capital."

For Li Zhe, both canned food and foreign trade are new industries, so it's definitely worthwhile to inquire, learn, and study more.

After chatting for a while, Chen Shougeng arrived at greenhouse number three, which immediately became even more lively.

Li Zhe recalled that when they had dinner at Jianguo Restaurant last time, the purchasing manager, Chang Cheng, wanted to place a long-term order for roses, and casually remarked, "Teacher Chen, you have no idea how popular your roses are. We priced them at three yuan each, and they were sold out by the vegetable shop in just one morning."

Other restaurants catering to international customers have also heard about this and want to order roses from us, hoping we can provide a stable, long-term supply.

Chen Shougeng thought for a moment and said, "The ideal growing temperature for roses is between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius. They will stop growing if the temperature is too high or too low. If they are grown in a greenhouse, there shouldn't be any major technical problems."

Jin Baiwan, who was listening nearby, asked, "It's warm in this greenhouse in winter, but you just said that the roses don't grow when the temperature is too high. Our summer temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius. Won't that affect the growth of the roses?"

Chen Shougeng laughed and said, "In summer, just as we humans need to cool down, plants can do the same. For example, by setting up shade nets and wet curtains to cool down, the temperature can be kept below 30 degrees Celsius during the day and below 25 degrees Celsius at night without much problem."

Even though slightly higher daytime temperatures might somewhat affect the growth rate of roses, this shouldn't be a major problem if this is taken into account beforehand and the planting time is arranged appropriately.

Li Zhe asked, "Teacher Chen, can you guarantee a stable output of roses?"

Teacher Chen said, "Yes, but it needs to be planted in batches. Also, the growing period for roses is relatively long, so we need to plan ahead."

Li Zhe nodded: "In that case, after we return to the capital, I will study the flower market and then determine the varieties and quantities to plant. However, I think we definitely need to have roses."

Chen Shougeng thought for a moment: "As far as I know, there are specialized markets in the capital that grow and sell flowers. Will we compete with them by growing flowers? If we start a price war, we might not have much of an advantage."

Li Zhe had also considered this: "What you said makes sense. So, I decided to develop flowers using the model of off-season vegetables. Take roses as an example. Their growing temperature is 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. After November, outdoor roses will stop growing. By December, roses are rarely seen in the north."

"If we start selling roses now, we'll have virtually no competitors. We can seize this opportunity to establish long-term partnerships with high-end venues like international hotels and friendship stores. These places have high profit margins and high standards for flowers, so we can focus on selling through these high-end channels in the future."

High-end sales channels mean higher product standards and diversity, which is also the future development direction for Li Zhe's off-season vegetable customization.

The off-season vegetable market is huge, and Li Zhe has been able to dominate it for the past two years. However, within three years, with the government's support, greenhouse vegetable cultivation technology will spread rapidly, more and more people will grow vegetables in greenhouses, prices will rise, and off-season vegetables will gradually shift from a situation of supply falling short of demand to one of supply exceeding demand.

At that time, the importance of distribution channels will become increasingly apparent.

The low-end market and low-end sales channels will become increasingly competitive, and may even result in losses; conversely, the high-end market represents higher quality, has certain technical barriers, and commands higher premiums.

As long as Li Zhe continuously develops new technologies, improves product quality, sets higher standards, and keeps abreast of the needs of high-end customers, he can guide market development and trends to a certain extent and control the sales channels for high-end vegetables and flowers.

(End of this chapter)