1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 21 As long as you can endure hardship, there will be endless hardship
"Li Xiu, are you waiting for Jiazhi again?"

Early in the morning, Bai Yan saw Li Xiu standing at the door looking at the intersection.

Li Xiu called out to Sister Bai Yan and said worriedly, "The rain is still falling. They've been wet in the rain for days straight. I'm afraid they'll catch a cold."

Bai Yan: "There's nothing we can do. This is the fate of vegetable farmers. If we want to eat, we have to fight against fate. Let's see who has the stronger fate."

Hearing the voice, Huang Juan also came out, "Li Xiu, you are lucky. Xiucai sold the vegetables in advance. At least you don't have to worry for more than a month."

Bai Yan also said: "Jiazhi has matured and is much more reliable in doing things."

Li Xiu was quite happy when she heard the two people praising Chen Jiazhi. Just a few days ago, the women in the vegetable market were sarcastic in every word they said to Chen Jiazhi, but in just a few days, they had completely changed.

But she was also worried about the people coming to borrow money: "How can it be reliable? I bought a lot of things yesterday and spent more than 2,000 yuan."

"It's time to spend the money on agricultural supplies." Bai Yan said, "My son Mingkun was talking about it last night. The small arch shed that Jiazhi mentioned might be very useful."

Chen Jiafang also came out of the house: "If it feels reliable, I'll bite the bullet and build one or two."

"Um……"

The sound of bicycle bells came from the rain and fog. I came back a little late today.

Although the vegetables were in short supply last night, there was more competition. The rising prices over the past few days had caused the stalls in the market to send in vegetables from other places.

However, the price did not drop and everyone sold out their vegetables.

Chen Jiazhi was the first to sell out last night. He had the least vegetables, almost 240 kilograms, while the others’ carts were full.

I also sold it for 302 yuan this morning.

After taking a shower, Chen Jiazhi took out his notebook, calculated his recent harvest, and cleared out all the leafy vegetables, selling them for a total of 3156 yuan.

But buying agricultural supplies cost 256+2010=2266 yuan.

There are also recent living expenses, rent, and the 50 yuan repayment to my second sister, which cost another 260 yuan.

I still have 640 yuan left.

Chen Jiazhi didn’t know if he was the most cowardly person to be reborn, but he was quite content. Things always had to be done step by step.

Just like growing vegetables, only by doing every step well can you reap the final harvest.

If it is just for living, 640 yuan is definitely enough, but there is also nearly an acre of green beans, cowpeas, bitter melons and loofahs in the land.

It has been raining for so long that the weather is getting worse.

If it's a bad market, just pull it out.

But knowing that the price would be acceptable later, Chen Jiazhi wanted to remedy the situation, and remedies would cost money, so 640 yuan was barely enough.

The sky gradually brightened,

But the rain was getting heavier. It was probably the heaviest rain since Chen Jiazhi was reborn ten days ago. The dense raindrops hit the glazed tiles, making a crackling sound.

The vegetable farmers were all sleepless.

Only Chen Jiazhi slept comfortably, but when he woke up, he also felt depressed. The rain continued to fall all afternoon and continued until the early morning.

He had a rare day off. Apart from occasionally checking the drain, he spent the whole day sleeping in bed, chatting with Li Xiu, and showing off his cooking skills at noon and in the evening.

In the early morning, vegetable farmers went out to sell vegetables in the rain again.

Chen Jiazhi was lying in bed listening to the noise and couldn't help but sigh that these vegetable farmers were really tenacious. He thought about what his son would often talk about in the future.

“As long as you can endure hardship, there will be endless hardship.”

The same goes for growing vegetables. As long as you want to work, there will always be work to do.

In the early morning of April 8, the sky finally cleared up and a ray of sunlight emerged from the horizon, very dazzling.

Chen Jiazhi thought to himself, it’s bad, the sun is shining after the rain!

The losses of open-air leafy vegetables will continue to increase!
Even his cowpeas and loofahs can suffer from physiological problems such as sunburn.

It's really like when it rains it pours.

How many vegetable farmers can withstand this sudden burst of sunshine after the rain? Even local vegetable farmers who have been growing vegetables for many years find it difficult to withstand it.

Chen Jiazhi also recalled his experience in his previous life. It was probably this scorching sun that killed all his vegetables.

Then they re-sown the seeds, and then there happened to be heavy rain at the end of May...one thing leads to another.

But that won't happen in this life. Now that he has a small shed, he will continue to grow leafy vegetables, which will be ready in 20 to 30 days. He will not be powerless when the heavy rain comes.

There is still a chance to make amends for cowpeas and loofahs.

Thinking of this, Chen Jiazhi turned around and shouted, "Li Xiu, give me a hundred yuan."

Li Xiu went to get the money without thinking.

The second sister, Chen Jiafang, asked, "Jiazhi, what are you going to do with the money?"

"Go to the agricultural supply store."

Chen Jiazhi explained. Chen Jiafang looked at the sun in the sky and knew things were not going well, but she still cursed, "All the money I earned went to work at the agricultural supply store."

After getting the money, Chen Jiazhi went directly to find Hong Zhong. Unfortunately, there was no sunshade net, but he bought a few hundred kilograms of bagged wood ash for a total of 60 yuan.

Spreading it on the ground together with loosening the soil can absorb moisture and replenish potassium.

When I paid the boss to deliver the goods, I happened to hear the weather forecast on the radio.

"As of today, the accumulated rainfall in April in the Flower City has reached a historical peak. All regions must strictly prevent disasters..."

The weather forecast at this time is not as reliable as traditional experience. It has been raining for so many days and the weather forecast has only just come out.

Chen Jiazhi went to the banana plantation near the vegetable market and communicated with the owner for a while before he agreed to sell him some banana leaves.

Then Chen Jiazhi rode his bike to the fields to pull banana leaves, and inserted them on bamboo poles or ridges to form side shade and reduce direct sunlight.

During this period, Li Xiu also came out to help.

Chen Jiazhi didn't stop her. Li Xiu had been staying at home for a few days and was tired of it, so she decided to go out and get some sun.

"Scholar, what are you doing with banana leaves?"

"Provide shade and avoid direct sunlight."

Li Mingkun saw him doing this and asked curiously. Chen Jiazhi told him the truth. As for the specific principle, he couldn't explain it, but he knew that it was necessary to shade the sun when it rained and the sky cleared up.

Other vegetable farmers actually wanted to learn from them, but they were short of money. Where could they get so many banana leaves without paying?
All agricultural supplies in Huacheng have to be purchased with money.

Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu spent the whole morning doing this, and at noon, the sun was shining brightly as expected.

Chen Jiazhi went to see the shading effect of banana leaves. It was not as good as the shade net, but it was also effective and cheaper.

At the same time, he also saw that large areas of leafy vegetables in the vegetable market had withered and their leaves had collapsed.

Some die as soon as they wither.

Just this one move will result in another 30% reduction in production. The vegetables have grown, but the yield is more than half less than if Chen Jiazhi had harvested them early.

Li Mingkun, Yi Dinggan and other vegetable farmers were also checking the fields, all wearing masks of pain.

Only Chen Jiazhi had an empty space.

...

"Yi Dinggan, how many vegetables did you pick up this afternoon?"

"I'm not going to accept this dish. I'm going to start over!"

After lunch, when Chen Jiazhi was germinating the seeds of Chinese cabbage and water spinach, Yi Dinggan suddenly got angry at his second sister.

"Who are you yelling at? All those years of growing vegetables are in vain! You used to be a supervisor, but you're using your skills on a dog!"

"I'm going to use it on you bitch!"

Chen Jiazhi looked at Yi Dinggan in disbelief, Brother Yi, you are so brave!

Chen Jiafang also exploded instantly, slapping the table so hard that the dishes and chopsticks jumped up.

"Yi Dinggan, you deserve a beating! From the beginning to the end, if you ever mentioned harvesting the vegetables early, I'll take the blame!"

"Did you say that? You didn't!"

(End of this chapter)