1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 105 A Better Scenery

At the Spruce Hotel Week Management Conference.

There were quite a few people present, including representatives from various departments and several shareholders.

After discussing one thing after another, they finally talked about the hotel's vegetable supply problem.

Hotel General Manager Xu Wenxiang said, "Regarding the hotel's vegetable supply, Director Tang and Director Liu are here too, so let's talk about it."

Xu Wenxiang was wearing a white top, and her every move revealed a calm temperament. She looked at the people on both sides of the long wooden table.

"Manager Liu, you go first."

Liu Xiaoying had a notebook in front of her and a pen in her hand: "Actually, the point of the dispute is very simple."

"Xu He has established some of his own purchasing channels, and Jiangxin Vegetable Market has recently started selling vegetables..."

When he said this, everyone present understood the inner meaning.

But no one said anything for a while.

The purchasing department and Xu He are both people of General Manager Xu Wenxiang, and Jiangxin Vegetable Market is invested by some shareholders of the hotel, and Mr. Tang who is present is one of them.

Gods fight.

After a while, the hotel's vice president Gou Tao laughed.

"To put it nicely, we have our own procurement channels, but to put it bluntly, they are just random people."

"Boss Xu, Chairman Tang, Manager Liu and I have visited some bases. For example, the one selling choy sum, Xu He highly recommends it, but guess what?"

"That small vegetable farmer only has about ten acres of land, and it's all scattered here and there. It looks unprofessional and unregulated."

After hearing this, many people nodded in agreement.

For a small vegetable farmer with only ten acres of land, his status is indeed a bit low.

Liu Xiaoying said: "The hotel conducted random inspections and the quality of the vegetables is still good. The diners are also very satisfied."

Gou Tao spread his hands and said, "There's no guarantee. It's qualified today, but can you guarantee he won't secretly add something tomorrow? Director Liu, am I right?"

Liu Feng nodded and said, "Indeed, pests and diseases are very difficult to prevent recently. What's more, Mr. Gou said that the vegetable farmland is scattered all over the place, which makes it even more difficult to prevent. The initial random inspections were fine, but it's hard to prevent them later. There's no guarantee that he won't increase the amount of pesticides used.

Our Jiangxin Vegetable Market is different because we know we have foreign guests and Hong Kong businessmen, so we have always been very cautious in using pesticides."

Liu Xiaoying choked and twirled the pen in his hand, not knowing how to respond.

The natural defects of small vegetable farmers.

Gou Tao smiled and looked at the slightly plump Mr. Tang, who nodded slightly.

"Mr. Xu, what do you think?"

For a moment, everyone in the field looked at one side.

Xu Wenxiang said calmly, "I don't care about small vegetable farmers. They're dispensable. I just know that the hotel's vegetable supply can't be a problem. Mr. Tang, don't you agree?"

Tang Dong: "That's natural."

Xu Wenxiang looked at Liu Feng again, his eyes burning: "Director Liu, can you guarantee that there will be vegetables every day for the next few months?"

Liu Feng was stunned. Sure enough, this question came up again.

He hesitated again and again, but under the crazy suggestions of Gou Tao and Tang Dong, he finally followed his heart.

"No one can guarantee this. The uncertainty in agriculture is too high, especially..."

Xu Wenxiang interrupted: "Does this mean the supply may still be cut off?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out~"

Gou Tao and Tang Xiao's faces turned green~
This bastard, I stressed to him again and again before the meeting that he should agree to it no matter what, but he changed his mind at the last minute.

Xu Wenxiang smiled.

"Therefore, there is nothing wrong with the hotel establishing other channels besides the Jiangxin Vegetable Market."

"If Mr. Tang or other shareholders think that small vegetable farmers are not guaranteed a stable supply, the purchasing department can find other sources of supply."

"Flower City is such a big city, is Yunshan really worried about not being able to buy good quality vegetables?"

"Mr. Tang, don't you think this is the truth?"

When Liu Feng didn't agree immediately, Mr. Tang knew he had lost.

He and Gou Tao wanted to force Xu Wenxiang to cut off other vegetable purchasing channels so that they could continue to seek the purchasing department later.

But damn, Liu Feng couldn’t stand this hurdle.

All the efforts were in vain.

There was fire in Tang Xiao's eyes, but he had to nod with difficulty.

Xu Wenxiang: "What do you think, Mr. Gou?"

Gou Tao could only nod.

"Look, isn't the problem solved now?"

Xu Wenxiang smiled and said to Liu Xiaoying, "Manager Liu, please look for other sources of supply during this time. Forget about small vegetable farmers; the shareholders look down on them."

"it is good."

Liu Xiaoying smiled and nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.

She didn't care about the small vegetable farmer and had been planning to replace him.
-
It has just stopped after the rain, but I don’t feel a bit of coolness.

The air was steaming like boiling water, and the clouds hung over the city like a pot lid.

There are occasional thunderstorms in the afternoon, but the temperature does not drop. Even at night it is still 27 or 28 degrees Celsius.

Sauna day~
The feeling of the human body is very uncomfortable~
I'm sweating all the time.

The same is true for vegetables. It’s not just the high temperature, the soil is also very moist.

But no matter how hard it is, life must go on, and vegetable farmers have to go out to work, and the daily harvest of vegetables is unshakable.
Because I want to make money.

For Chen Jiazhi, the quantity of food served has remained stable and the prices are also good.

On June 23, he served another 705 kilograms of food and earned 2378 yuan.

On June 24, vegetable prices fell slightly, but were still above 3 yuan, and the income that day was 2152 yuan.

On June 25, the amount of vegetables sold in the suburbs increased again, and the price of vegetables fell slightly again, but Chen Jiazhi's vegetables sold even faster because many local competing vegetables had worm holes. On that day, he earned another 2012 yuan.

The choy sum sown in May has been harvested. But the 6.18 market is still going strong, and Chen Jiazhi has received the next batch of choy sum leaves, so he can continue to sell vegetables. He can still sell about 700 kilograms of choy sum every day, which is still a good deal.

September 6, early morning.

There are more temporary vendors in the alleys of the wholesale market, and this group of people has caught the tail end of the market.

In a few days, more people will have access to vegetables and vegetable prices will continue to fall.

But the vegetables from this group of people were not that beautiful. The better ones had only a few insect holes or a few dead spots on the leaves. The buyers and sellers were very friendly.

If it’s almost there, then it’s all over the place.

The main one is silent when you see it, and silent when you sell it. You dare not give a price or quote an offer.

The buyer was afraid of giving too high a price, so the other party agreed directly.

The vegetable seller hesitates, fearing that if he quotes too high he will scare away customers, and if he quotes too low he will lose money.
Chen Jiazhi is selling ordinary Chinese cabbage at 2.8 yuan per catty today, while the prices of the three old birds next door have been fluctuating all night.

Sometimes it was two yuan, sometimes two yuan and three yuan, sometimes one yuan and eighty yuan, and sometimes it even dropped to one yuan and five yuan...

It's like a roller coaster.

Not only did Chen Jiazhi, who was standing by, feel dizzy watching what was happening, but they themselves were probably also feeling dizzy from selling.

But there is no way, because it rains from time to time, pesticides cannot be applied, and even if they are applied, the effect is not good.

This results in the failure to prevent pests and diseases.

Chinese cabbage and bok choy are the favorite vegetables of flea beetles, which can make a hole in them with one bite.

The vegetables in the fields of the three of them may have multiple flea beetles and cabbage worms hiding in the heart of one vegetable. Every vegetable has been bitten by insects, and there are several insect holes on each leaf.

Adults feed on leaves, and larvae feed on roots.

Not only were the vegetables that were about to be harvested damaged, but the seedlings and newly sown crops also suffered heavy losses.

In addition to the three of them, many vegetable farmers in the market have encountered this situation.

Chinese cabbage, bok choy, cowpea, loofah, cucumber...any locally produced vegetables are either infested with insects or have disease spots.

There are only a handful of people who have intact Chinese cabbage, and Chen Jiazhi is naturally one of them.

He also sold out his vegetables early.

But I came alone today, and by the time the food was delivered, it was already late, probably around 5:30.

He rode his tricycle and wrote and drew on his notebook, and earned more than 2,000 yuan for four consecutive days.

I estimated that there were another 15,000 to 16,000 yuan in my bag and at home, and I was very satisfied with the vegetables I sold.

The market is not over yet.

At the same time, the relationship with some customers has become closer.

By the time he had almost finished writing, Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang had sold out one after another.

The three of them chatted while packing their things.

"Oh, vegetables with worm holes are so disgusting. They only paid 5 cents for the last dish I ordered."

“You don’t have to sell it.”

"I'm not stupid. I saw a dish like this and few people asked about it. If someone did, why didn't I sell it quickly? It's already dawn."

"It looks like it's going to be sunny today."

"Go back and apply the pesticides quickly. This flea beetle is too powerful. There are so many vegetable farmers in the market, and only Xiucai can prevent it."

The three of them packed up their things and pushed their bicycles towards Chen Jiazhi.

Yi Dinggan shouted, "Let's go, Jiazhi, stop writing. How much did you sell today?"

Chen Jiazhi wrote the last stroke in his notebook, closed it, looked up and said, "Not bad, about the same as yesterday."

The three of them couldn't hide the envy in their eyes.

It's almost the same as yesterday, that is, it's still above 2,000 yuan. Obviously, everyone's prices are falling, but his is the only one that remains as stable as a rock.

Simply.

But when I think about the appearance of other people’s dishes and then look at my own, it’s like Dawn standing next to a man with pockmarks all over his face.

I know what to choose with my eyes closed.

As the sky gradually brightened, the dim lights were still on in the market. A tricycle and three bicycles walked out of the market together.

"Chen the vegetable farmer, have you finished selling your vegetables and are you going back?"

"I'm back."

"Chen Cainong, you're back. Come, have a cigarette."

"Thank you."

From time to time, people would greet Chen Jiazhi, they were all buyers or vendors passing by, and before he knew it, he had become famous.

It's just that there is still one thing that is not perfect.

Compared to Chen Cainong, he actually wants to hear the name Chen Caixin more.

But it's almost there. If he changes the market now, some customers should follow him.

There's no rush just yet.

Today might be a sunny day. When the tricycle rode onto the Luoxi Bridge, the sky had turned light orange.

There were two tire tracks on the concrete bridge surface, left by a truck traveling at night.

At this time, the ferry under the bridge blew its first whistle, startling several red-eared bulbuls from the top of the banyan tree.

Chen Jiazhi recorded the scenery at this moment.

It feels great.

Behind him, there were three people pedaling their bicycles with great effort, their backs soaked with sweat. They had no time to appreciate the scenery and they already hated the high and steep Luoxi Bridge.

In the past, Chen Jiazhi, like them, could not fall in love with Luoxi Bridge.

Now, it’s different. Standing higher, you can indeed see a better view.

(End of this chapter)