Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 65 Cuihua Tower

Li Zhe returned to his stall, arranged for Li Weidong and the other two to have mutton soup, and then rode his bicycle with Lao Li towards the south gate of the market.

Old Li, sitting in the back seat of the car, felt a little nervous when he heard that he would be having lunch with college students.

"Second brother, why does this college student want to see us?"

Li Zhe said, "They are students from an agricultural university. I guess they found it strange that we grow cucumbers in winter and wanted to exchange planting experience with us."

Old Li was quite proud. "Hey, this is really something! Even college students want to exchange planting experiences with us. It's incredible, truly incredible."

As they were talking, Sun Tao rode out on his bicycle, with a young woman with a round face riding on the back.

Old Li's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, she's a female college student. That's rare."

The four met up, Sun Tao gave a brief introduction, and then waved his hand, saying with high spirits, "Brother Li, stick close, let's go eat."

Li Zhe pressed further, "Where are we going to eat?"

"Cuihua Tower".

Zhou Qinghe said, "Hey, this is like the sun rising in the west! You're such a stingy old man, and you're willing to treat people there?"

"Brother Li is a benefactor of mine. I've been wanting to treat him to a good meal for a long time. You're just passing by. You should be secretly happy."

Zhou Qinghe punched him in the back, "Your grandma is secretly happy. She'll order abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw later. Just wait and see how much you'll be paying up."

After riding for about ten minutes, the four of them arrived at Wangfujing Street.

Li Zhe parked his bicycle next to the vermilion gate of Cuihua Tower. The three gilded characters "Cuihua Tower" on the lintel had faded, and two faded red palace lanterns hung from the eaves.

Li Zhe felt it was a bit of a pity; if they had come at night, it would have been much better.

Sun Tao also stopped his bicycle. "Brother Li, Cuihua Restaurant is one of the eight most famous restaurants in Beijing. I really wouldn't want to bring other people here."

Although Old Li had never heard of Cuihualou or the Eight Great Restaurants, he was a thoughtful person and could roughly guess what it meant. "How does this restaurant compare to Quanjude?"

Sun Tao said, "These are two different things. Quanjude sells ducks, while this place serves authentic Shandong cuisine, which has been around for at least eighty years."

Zhou Qinghe corrected, "You're talking nonsense again! Dongxingju is the old brand, while Cuihualou only started operating in the 1940s, so it's only been around forty years."

Sun Tao said, "It's all the same, the same group of chefs, just with a different name."

Zhou Qinghe retorted, "They really are different. Dongxingju still serves traditional dishes, while this place serves modified dishes. The two restaurants' cuisines have changed a long time ago."

The two men were talking animatedly, but Old Li and his son couldn't get a word in edgewise; they were two farmers from out of town and had no experience with this kind of thing.

Seeing the bewildered expressions on Li Zhe and his son's faces, Sun Tao waved his hand and said, "Hey, let's go inside and talk."

As soon as Old Li stepped onto the steps, he recalled an unpleasant experience: "This restaurant is famous, does it also have a queue?"

"No need, I booked a private room a long time ago." Sun Tao led the way into the restaurant and said to the waiter at the door, "My surname is Sun, and I booked room 205 with your manager."

"Oh, a private room is ready for you. Go upstairs and turn left to the third room."

"Alright!" Sun Tao waved his hand, with a touch of swagger. "Let's go upstairs for dinner!"

The wooden staircase creaked, the hall had carved partitions, and on the wall hung a sign that read "Authentic Shandong Cuisine" written by Boss Mei. In the corner stood a large blue-and-white porcelain vat for raising goldfish.

The four entered the private room, where a round octagonal table was placed in the middle, with a thick menu on it.

Sun Tao handed the menu to Old Li, saying, "Uncle Li, order whatever you want. Don't try to save money on me."

Old Li chuckled sheepishly. He could read, but he had never actually ordered food before. He handed the menu to Li Zhe, saying, "Second brother, you order."

Li Zhe flipped through the menu and happened to see Kung Pao Chicken. He vaguely guessed why Sun Tao had invited him to eat here.

Li Zhe ordered two dishes: Mu Shu Pork and Fried Double Crispy Meat. He then handed the menu to Zhou Qinghe.

Zhou Qinghe didn't stand on ceremony and ordered a dish of chicken slices with egg white, while Sun Tao ordered a dish of fish slices with fermented rice wine.

The waiter noted down the menu and left the private room. Sun Tao picked up the teapot and poured four cups of tea. "Qinghe, didn't you want to exchange planting experiences? While the dishes are being served, you can ask Uncle Li and Brother Li for advice."

Li Zhe waved his hand, "I wouldn't dare to ask for your advice. We can discuss and exchange ideas together."

Zhou Qinghe didn't stand on ceremony and asked immediately, "Brother Li, are your cucumbers grown in greenhouses?"

When Li Zhe first arrived at the Chongwenmen vegetable market, he was unfamiliar with the area and the people there, so he didn't mention that the cucumbers were grown by himself, which was also to make it easier to raise prices later.

When they arrived at Quanjude, the situation was different, and the story was told in a different way.

However, considering Zhou Qinghe's relationship with the vegetable market, he would not admit it, "The cucumbers are grown in greenhouses, not by me. I'm just a vegetable vendor, earning a little money by running errands."

"Hey, burning coal for heating in those greenhouses must cost a lot of money, right?"

"I don't know about that." Li Zhe changed the subject. "Zhou, you can just say what you're thinking."

Zhou Qinghe took a sip of tea to moisten her throat and repeated what she had said to Sun Tao.

Li Zhe was quite surprised to hear that Zhou Qinghe wanted to grow mushrooms in his own greenhouse, as mushroom cultivation differs from that of other vegetables.

In Li Zhe's memory, only Zhu Yimin in Daying Village had ever grown mushrooms. He had even visited Zhu Yimin's place and found that the profits were indeed quite good. Later, Li Zhe also tried growing a small amount, but due to a lack of experience and improper sterilization, the mushrooms became contaminated with miscellaneous bacteria.

In addition, mushrooms are highly dependent on the spawn. Inferior spawn has a very low fruiting rate and may even result in a complete crop failure. Li Zhe had no experience in distinguishing between them, so he eventually gave up the idea of ​​planting them.

Li Zhe asked, "Have you ever grown mushrooms before?"

"I started growing it with my teacher in my sophomore year. The teacher just talked, but I did everything from selecting the strains, preparing the nutrients, disinfecting and sterilizing, to inoculation management. I am familiar with the whole growing process."

This time, I'm planting the latest high-yield oyster mushroom spawn, which has strong antibacterial properties and is guaranteed to make money.

Li Zhe took a sip of tea. "How much spawn can you get? What is the growth cycle? What is the specific yield of the mushrooms? It would be best if you could write a detailed plan. I'll have someone take it back to the vegetable farmer. If he thinks it's suitable, I can take you to visit the greenhouse tomorrow."

Zhou Qinghe opened her backpack and took out a stack of documents. "I've already written them all. Take a look."

Li Zhe opened the documents and started flipping through them. Before he could finish reading the first page, the door to the private room opened, and a waiter came in with a plate. The first dish was Mu Shu Pork.

Sun Tao asked the waiter to place it in front of Old Li, "Uncle Li, would you like to try this cucumber? Is it good?"

Old Li originally wanted to add a slice of meat, and although others preferred cucumbers, his family had plenty. But since Sun Tao had already suggested it, he put the meat and cucumber together in his mouth. "Mmm, the meat they stir-fried is really tender, and the cucumber is crisp and delicious."

Sun Tao laughed and said, "Hey, that's definitely right. These cucumbers are from our farm. I just delivered them to the restaurant's kitchen this morning on my tricycle."

Li Zhe took a bite of the wood ear mushroom. "Didn't you complain yesterday that cucumbers weren't selling well at Dongdan Market?"

"The sales at Dongdan Market were indeed a bit slow a couple of days ago, but it wasn't because our cucumbers were bad. The people buying vegetables at Dongdan Market are mostly local residents, just trying something new. So I was thinking of finding a new sales channel."

It just so happens that a childhood friend of mine works as a chef at this restaurant, so I asked him to help me make the contact. We finally finalized the deal last night, and today is the first time we're delivering food.

Old Li asked, "How many cucumbers can he use in a day?"

"Five pounds."

How much did you pay him?

Sun Tao didn't even stumble or fall, saying, "Seven yuan a pound."

"That's good. Delivering to restaurants is easier than selling them yourself." Li Zhe is expanding his direct sales channels, but he won't take away the channels from middlemen. Sun Tao sells cucumbers, and he'll still make the most money.

He is not worried that these middlemen will seize the sales channels first, because they simply do not have that capability.

Li Zhe was interested in Quanjude, a sales channel with high demand.

Sun Tao's purchase volume was 30 jin every two days, and only 15 jin a day, which was simply not enough to supply Quanjude. Not to mention the other middlemen, each of them only had a few jin of supply per day.

Li Zhe reiterated his previous statement: "Let's all make money together. The bigger the scale, the more stable the business, the more sales channels, and the higher the vegetable prices."

Zhou Qinghe is not the female lead.

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(End of this chapter)