Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 228 Delivery (Two chapters combined)

In the afternoon, a buzzing sound came from the north of Daying Village.

Four excavators appeared in the leveled field. Old Li and Wang Rongsheng stood not far away directing the operation, while Li Zhe, Party Secretary Wang, and Jin Baiwan chatted idly to the side.

Li Zhe took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed it to Wang Tietou and Jin Baiwan: "Uncle Wang, how much reserve land does our village still have?"

“Our village has a large population and a lot of land. After the policy allows us to contract most of the farmland to the villagers, the village collective can still keep 5% to 10% of the farmland for reserve purposes. If we only count the farmland and not other land, it is about 500 mu.” Wang Tietou took the cigarette, and Jin Baiwan lit it for him. He took a puff.

"What, you want to keep renting the land?"

Li Zhe nodded: "That's the plan. The land in our village is quite scattered. It's not just in the north of the village, but also in the south and east. Lin Xiaohu's land is in the east of the village. The land is too scattered, in one piece here and another there. It would be difficult to manage if we built greenhouses. I think it would be better to build the greenhouses together."

Li Zhe also took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "Of course, that's not absolute. For example, my brother's land is right next to mine, and next to Brother Zhu's greenhouse. He can use his own land if he wants."

Furthermore, after our company was established this year, the first batch of off-season vegetables hit the market in November, which will allow us to initially recoup our investment. At that time, we will definitely continue to expand our greenhouses.”

Li Zhe lowered his voice and said, "I have a little selfish motive. I'd like you to keep an eye on some reserve land for me. Once our company expands, we can rent all of this land from the village collective, which would be a stable source of income for the village." Li Zhe had his eye on the village collective's reserve land, but he couldn't afford to do it all at once; he had to take it one step at a time.

Wang Tietou thought for a moment and said, "You can rent the village's land, but the price can't be too low, otherwise I won't be able to explain it to the villagers."

"No, that won't do. If I rent the land at a low price, wouldn't that put you in a difficult position? The villagers would talk behind my back." Li Zhe smiled.

Land is the least valuable asset; compared to the profits from off-season vegetables, the rent for land is negligible. What Li Zhe cares about is whether the rented land can be used stably and long-term.

As long as Wang Tietou is the village party secretary, coupled with his relationship with Mayor Chen and the influence of his own company in the village, Li Zhe felt there wouldn't be much of a problem.

Old Li walked over, took the cigarette Li Zhe offered, and said to Wang Tietou, "Secretary, let's have a drink tonight."

"Sure," Wang Tietou smiled, pointing in the direction of the excavator. "Has the permafrost thawed yet?"

Old Li shook his head: "It hasn't completely melted yet. Luckily, we started work this afternoon. The sun was shining brightly for half the morning, otherwise it would have been really difficult to dig."

Wang Tietou said, "Why don't we wait a little longer? If we wait another ten days or half a month, the frozen soil will thaw completely, making construction easier and saving on labor costs."

Li Zhe chimed in, "I've thought about that too. It would indeed be easier to dig later, but by then the factory and construction teams would also be starting work, and excavators would be hard to find."

There's one more thing Li Zhe didn't mention: off-season vegetables have a growing cycle. If they're planted too late, the harvest season will also be delayed. Once the weather warms up and open-field vegetables mature on a large scale, off-season vegetables will become worthless.

Li Zhe asked, "Dad, you need to keep a close eye on the recruitment. We need to hire not only temporary workers, but also some long-term greenhouse growers. Expanding the greenhouses by ten acres at once will definitely leave us short-handed."

Old Li nodded: "I'm already thinking about it." In Old Li's opinion, hiring temporary workers is easy, but hiring people to work in the greenhouse long-term requires careful selection. He still wants to find someone from his relatives and friends.

Wang Tietou coughed lightly: "Brother Li, what do you think of my Daqing? If he's alright, let him come and help out in the greenhouse."

Old Li replied, "Why not? I've watched Daqing grow up since he was a child. He's hardworking and sensible. As long as he's willing to do it, let him come."

Wang Tietou laughed and said, "He's willing to do it. This kid said last time that he wanted to work with Zhezi and he really admires Zhezi."

The four excavators were divided into two groups, with two excavators working together to dig a large shed, and as before, they dug up the topsoil layer and placed it on the south side of the foundation.

However, the construction drawings this time are somewhat different from the previous ones. A small hut will be built on the easternmost side of the greenhouse, which can be used as a living space or a storage room. The reason why no building was built on the previous greenhouses was mainly due to cost considerations.

Now that Li Zhe has money, he no longer needs to be as stingy as before, and the vegetable greenhouses he has built are much more complete.

"Click." The sound of a camera shutter rang out from the side.

Li Zhe turned his head and saw Bai Yunsheng standing not far away with a camera in his hand.

Li Zhe walked over and asked, "Wei Min didn't take the camera with her?"

"No. She left the camera so I could take some valuable footage." Bai Yunsheng pointed to the excavators in front of her: "Are these excavators building greenhouses?"

"Yes, they are expanding the greenhouse. First, they will dig the foundation, and then build rammed earth walls. On the rammed earth walls, they will build frames to cover the greenhouse with plastic film and straw mats."

"Brother Li, I heard that the greenhouses you built at the beginning were all dug by hand?"

“Yes, even my mother didn’t support me when I first started building the vegetable greenhouses. Nobody else knew what they were, and we couldn’t find any connections to get an excavator. When I built my first greenhouse, I hired 20 people to dig the foundation. When I built the second and third greenhouses, we dug them together and hired 40 people.”

Bai Yunsheng thought for a moment and said, "Dozens of people working together, that scene must be spectacular, right? If we were to make a movie, I think manual excavation would be more interesting."

Li Zhe nodded: "We can film a scene of manual excavation then. How's the script for Cinematographer Bai coming along? Any progress?"

"There's been progress. I had no inspiration before and couldn't put pen to paper because I knew little about rural areas and vegetable greenhouses. Now that I've seen vegetable greenhouses and made many friends, and I'm doing farm work with them, inspiration is flowing out like a fountain."

Bai Yunsheng raised his hands, making a fountain gesture, and said with a smile, "Not only have I found inspiration for the script, but I've also finalized a few interesting roles."

For example, Lin Xiaohu, this young man is very clever and interested in making movies. I think we can arrange a role for him, and also let him assist in the filming of the movie.

Then there's Zhou Qinghe, a college student willing to come to the countryside to grow vegetables—that in itself creates dramatic conflict. I think this character would be very interesting to write into a movie.

Li Zhe showed an expression of approval: The two people Bai Yunsheng found are indeed quite unique, and they are both young people who are more open to new things.

"Besides these two, there's also Li Jiugang. I heard he's your cousin. His character is very distinctive; he's content with alcohol, quite controversial, and very interesting. He can enrich the movie's plot." Bai Yunsheng, getting excited, pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through it as he spoke:

"And there's your uncle, Wang Rongsheng, who was forced to separate from his wife and daughter due to some special reasons. Many people had similar experiences in that era. I think that can also resonate with the audience."

"Wait!" Li Zhe interrupted him. He had no idea that this kid was trying to be sentimental. "Wouldn't it be inappropriate to make a movie about my uncle's life? After all, it's about that era. Wouldn't that be taboo and difficult to pass censorship?"

"It's alright, the censorship standards for movies have been relaxed in the last two years. As long as it's not overly sensationalized, there shouldn't be a big problem. As long as the ending conforms to mainstream values, it's fine." Bai Yunsheng looked confident.

Li Zhe still felt it was inappropriate: "It's not just a matter of censorship. My uncle has some lingering resentment about things he did in the past. I'm worried he'll be unhappy if we film his past."

"Brother Li, don't worry. If we really want to make this story into a movie, I will definitely get his approval first. I'll let him read the script before we start filming." Bai Yunsheng's tone was very sincere.

At this point, Li Zhe was also a little puzzled: "Photographer Bai, who told you about my uncle's situation?"

“Uncle Wang told me himself,” Bai Yunsheng explained. “This morning, I was chatting with Lin Xiaohu and we talked about the Hong Kong TV series ‘Chen Zhen.’ I said that I had not only seen the movie ‘Chen Zhen,’ but I had also met Chen Zhen in person. Lin Xiaohu didn’t believe me, so I told him about the time when Beijing TV went to Hong Kong Island to exchange ideas with ATV.”

At this point, Bai Yunsheng revealed a smug look: "Hong Kong Island is really great, full of tall buildings and cars everywhere, even more than in Beijing. The people's clothes are also beautiful, everyone is very fashionable..."

Seeing that Li Zhe wasn't very interested, he continued, "Uncle Wang knew I had been to Hong Kong Island, so he asked me about Hong Kong Island. I told him everything I saw and heard in Hong Kong Island, and he listened very attentively."

I noticed his particular interest in Hong Kong Island, so I asked him why, and he brought up this experience. When I heard it, I felt a little uneasy…

I promised him that if I had the chance to go to Hong Kong Island again, I would try to find out where his family was.

Hearing this, Li Zhe sighed. He hadn't told Wang Rongsheng about Wang Jianjun's reunion with his aunt. The reason was simple: Wang Jianjun's mother had remarried, which wasn't good news for Wang Rongsheng.

The two brothers had discussed it, but neither knew how to bring it up, so they could only wait until they were able to go to Hong Kong Island in the future. Bai Yunsheng suggested, "Brother Li, I have another idea. I think you should not only make a promotional movie, but also a documentary. Film the process of building vegetable greenhouses, cultivating seedlings, and selling off-season vegetables. It will definitely be very meaningful to watch it later."

Li Zhe thought this was a good idea: looking back on this experience in a few years or a decade or so will definitely be very interesting.

"Then you should write the script as soon as possible. Once the script is approved, I'll find a camera and we can start shooting the documentary."

The promotional film is for outsiders, aiming to attract more farmers to grow vegetables in greenhouses.

Documentaries, on the other hand, offer greater authenticity and depth, showcasing a company's core values ​​and development history to the outside world. Internally, they can also unite people and pass on the company's culture; the longer a documentary is preserved, the greater its value becomes.

Bai Yunsheng patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get it done within a week."

In fact, Bai Yunsheng already had a choice for the male lead in mind, but his idea was a bit bold. Probably no one would have thought that he would choose this person as the male lead. He still had to write the story first and see if the character could be believable.

……

Early morning on December 2th.

365 Vegetable Store in Beijing.

A faint voice could be heard reading aloud from inside the store: "Welcome! Can I help you?"
We have tomatoes, carrots, and broccoli today.
The total is 50 yuan.
Thank you! Come back again……”

The neat English voices were easy to hear, and people passing by couldn't help but glance inside.

A truck stopped in front of the store. Li Zhe got out of the truck and had just reached the store entrance when he heard the sound of English being read. He glanced at his watch and then pushed open the door to enter the vegetable store.

Everyone in the store turned to look at him, and Sun Tao quickly stood up: "Brother Li, you've arrived. These are three new sales clerks I've hired. Lin is teaching them English. Although their English foundation is average, they are all learning very diligently."

He then said to the three female shop assistants, "This is Mr. Li, the owner of our vegetable shop."

"Hello, Mr. Li." The three female sales clerks had different expressions; some were nervous, and some were curious.

"Hello," Li Zhe greeted them with a smile, sizing up the three new female shop assistants.

Li Zhe had seen their resumes before. The three of them were all quite young, the youngest being seventeen and the oldest twenty. One had graduated from high school, and the other two from junior high school. Their educational backgrounds were sufficient, and they could be given some training.

Even if only one of the three can be trained to be useful, that would be quite good.

"You all continue studying English, don't worry about me." His main purpose in coming today wasn't to see the staff; they were new and he couldn't tell what was going on yet. He turned his gaze to the meat section, where one of the original shelves was gone, replaced by a refrigerated display case.

The display case is about 1.5 meters long, covered with transparent glass, and is entirely white with a blue snowflake pattern printed on the right side. Meat products are already displayed inside, and they certainly look more appetizing than those on the shelves.

Sun Tao also walked to the display case. "This was delivered yesterday morning. A technician came with it and explained to me how to use the refrigerator. I was afraid I would break it, so I asked him to teach me how to use it. I didn't let him leave until the temperature was right."

Li Zhe nodded. "Is it working alright? Have you encountered any problems?"

Sun Tao patted the refrigerator with his hand, "It works very well. I take a thermometer and measure the temperature every now and then. The temperature is within the standard range and there is no fluctuation. Moreover, I have written down their factory's phone number. If there is any problem with the equipment, I can just make a call and they will send someone to repair it."

Li Zhe asked, "I remember the glass cover on top could be removed?"

Sun Tao replied, "Yes, but the technician said that removing the glass cover would consume more electricity. So, we usually leave the glass cover on and open it when the customer takes the meat. This way, the electricity consumption is lower, and it also reduces the shop's costs."

Li Zhe stroked his chin, offering a different perspective: "Your intentions are good, but sometimes customers are 'lazy.' If the glass cover is removed and there's no barrier, they might just take the meat and buy it directly; if there's a glass cover, they might just glance at it and leave."

Sun Tao frowned slightly and whispered, "Brother Li, it can't be that bad, can it? The glass doesn't affect the view, and it's easy to push it aside to get the meat. How could it have such a big impact?"

"Well, it's more like a psychological suggestion. Sometimes people buy things impulsively. Even if you just slightly increase the barrier to entry, the other person might not buy it."

If that's the case, why should we create barriers for our customers?

Li Zhe opened the glass cover and immediately felt a cool breeze coming out. "Of course, what you said about saving costs is also correct. We can take the glass cover down during peak hours for selling vegetables and put it back on when there are fewer customers."

Sun Tao took out a small notebook and carefully wrote it down. "Brother Li, your idea is good. Let's set the time to remove the glass cover between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM and between 4:30 PM and 6:30 PM."

"Okay, roughly around this time, but don't set it too rigidly. If the guests arrive early today, open the glass cover as soon as there are many people. Similarly, if we are particularly busy today, we can close the glass cover later."

"Okay, I got it." After chatting for a few more minutes, Sun Tao went to get busy.

Li Zhe stayed in the store until after 10 a.m.

He had been observing the new employees. All three were quite diligent. Unlike the part-time college students who were only responsible for selling vegetables, they also did other tasks, such as restocking, cleaning, and carrying things, which were more cost-effective.

Around 10 o'clock, Li Zhe strolled over to the Mona Lisa Restaurant.

Several foreign customers were sitting in the coffee shop on the first floor. Li Zhe asked a waiter, "Where is your boss, Mr. Shen?"

"Hello, Mr. Li." The waiter recognized him and replied politely, "Our boss hasn't arrived yet."

Li Zhe ordered an iced Americano and went straight up to the second floor.

There weren't many customers on the second floor yet. Li Zhe found a seat by the window. The waiter brought him an Americano, and Li Zhe sipped his coffee while gazing out the window, lost in thought. The sunlight streamed through the window, warming him and making him feel a little sleepy.

After a while, Shen Yanan came upstairs with her bag on her back. "Brother, have you been waiting long? Something came up today and I was delayed."

Li Zhe yawned, "It's quite comfortable to sunbathe here for a while. I would have fallen asleep if you hadn't come soon."

Shen Yanan joked, "You're still sleepy while drinking coffee. Anyone who didn't know better would think that the coffee in my shop is watered down."

“We haven’t even started yet.” Li Zhe took another big gulp of coffee, then took out a document from his briefcase. “Second Sister, we’ve already bought 20 tons of canned goods. Here are the types and prices of the canned goods we purchased.”

Shen Yanan sat down across the table, picked up the documents and looked at them: 8 tons of pickled cucumbers, ex-factory price 2 yuan; 7 tons of green beans, ex-factory price 2 yuan; 5 tons of canned tomatoes, ex-factory price 1.7 yuan.

She glanced at the purchase price again; indeed, it was the three canned goods with the best value for money. "Where are these canned goods?"

Li Zhe took a sip of black coffee: "I was just about to tell you that we've rented a warehouse in the suburbs of Beijing, and the canned goods are temporarily stored there. We can deliver them anytime, but you haven't told me exactly where they'll be delivered to yet."

Shen Yanan said, "I contacted my friends in the foreign trade company. The warehouse for canned goods exported to the Soviet Union is the Manzhouli border port warehouse, and the goods are transported to the Soviet Union via the Trans-Siberian Railway. However, we can transport them directly to the Beijing Railway Freight Warehouse, which is a transit warehouse jointly managed by the Ministry of Railways and the foreign trade system."

Li Zhe pressed further, "When will you send it over?"

“Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to deliver the goods and introduce you to that friend from the foreign trade company.” Shen Yanan seemed to have thought of something and said in a low voice, “Brother, there’s something else I want to discuss with you.”

"What's the matter?"

"The method of payment for goods."

(End of this chapter)