1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 66 Do you know how much a pound of Chinese cabbage costs now?

Wu Yaohua, manager of the hotel's catering department, once again came to the kitchen.

"Master Shi, the customer from before is here again. He said the choy sum tasted great these past two days."

Master Shi was doing the final cleaning and smiled when he heard this: "That's good. It seems my cooking skills are fine. It's just the ingredients. The choy sum is of better quality these past few days, and there's no white core in the middle of the stems."

After a pause, Master Shi asked again, "Is this guest important?"

He asked this because Wu Yaohua had come here two or three times.

Wu Yaohua nodded. "It's very important. Mr. Xu personally received the customer, and he seemed to like the green vegetables, especially the choy sum. Mr. Xu finally said that the taste should be stable and not fluctuate, otherwise the customer experience will be bad."

Chef Shi thought for a moment and said, "The most important thing is to have a stable supply of ingredients. As long as the choy sum delivered is good, the taste will definitely be good. The supply of choy sum has not been very sufficient recently, so we have to use other vegetables as a substitute every day."

Wu Yaohua: "Okay, the general manager has spoken. I'll talk to Xu He later."

"So much the better."

After a while, Xu He received news from Wu Yaohua.

When he learned that the choy sum had tasted better in recent days and made his cousin very satisfied, he was completely stunned.

It shouldn’t be!

The choy sum from Jiangxin Vegetable Market is not as good as that from a small vegetable farmer?!
But the facts are here.

For a while, Xu He doubted the strength of Jiangxin Vegetable Farm. The vegetables grown there were not even as good as those of a small vegetable farmer. What a mess!
But Chen the vegetable farmer now only gives him 50 kilograms of cabbage hearts every day.
It’s difficult!
At the same time, Mao Liangcai, the curly-haired cabbage head, had just finished meeting with a few clients and breathed a sigh of relief.

Recently, the vegetables delivered have been mixed with water spinach from Chen vegetable farmers, which makes them look acceptable.

The distribution to both factories and government agencies has been maintained.

The only drawback is the high cost.

Especially water spinach, the price has been rising continuously and is now two yuan and a half per catty.

The delivery prices for government agencies and factories are generally set once a month.

Some of the orders were placed at the middle of last month when the price was the cheapest. Although the price was good at that time, the profit was sufficient.

But now the price of leafy vegetables has reached a historical high. Who can withstand it?

Mao Liangcai is losing money on most of his delivery orders.

But there is no choice now!
He had no choice but to bow to Chen Cainong. Even though Chen Cainong had done a good job in the past few days, he still kept a grudge against him.

Early in the morning.

Mao Liangcai came to the wholesale market yawning.

At a glance, he knew there weren't many vegetables today. He had to scramble for supplies again. Damn it, how could Chen the vegetable farmer have so many vegetables?!

The price of water spinach is still 2.5 yuan per catty, and loofah and bitter melon are not cheap either, so I won’t sell him the Chinese cabbage directly.

He was indignant in his heart, but pretended to be calm and placed the order.

"80 kilograms of water spinach, 10 kilograms of loofah, and 10 kilograms of bitter melon."

"Total 240 yuan."

Mao Liangcai paid the money, his heart bleeding. It hurt so much to buy the vegetables. The only good thing he felt was that some people still didn't get the vegetables, which made him feel a little more balanced.

Then he saw the monk coming again. He thought the monk would give him money and leave like he did yesterday, but he didn't. Instead, he was discussing with Chen Cainong.

"Chen, can you give me some more cabbage hearts? I'll give you more money!"

"Three yuan a pound, okay?"

Mao Liangcai felt a toothache just by listening to it~
Is there anyone who adds money like you?

Are you still going to let me buy the choy sum from Chen Cai Nong?!
Chen Jiazhi was also slightly stunned.

That’s three pieces already?
He thought for a while and realized that 0.25 acres of land in Plot 2 and Plot 5 were sown on May 5.18, so he could pick out some.

Next came the 0.5 mu starting on May 5.20th, and the intervals became shorter and shorter.

As long as you pay more, um, it's not impossible to sell it in advance~
The bottom line in doing business is to be flexible.

Chen Jiazhi pondered and said, "It's still not possible today, but starting from tomorrow, I can prepare an extra 30 kilograms for you, but the price is always three yuan."

The monk didn't hesitate: "Three yuan is three yuan, add 30 kilograms, 80 kilograms of choy sum every day! The quality must be the same as today!"

"Don't worry!" Chen Jiazhi pointed at himself and said, "A handsome boy makes delicious food!"

Your face that's as black as coal?
How dare you do that!

The curly cabbage head who hadn't left yet wanted to complain, but when he thought about the cabbage heart that cost 3 yuan per catty, he became emo again.

Not only him, Qi Yongfeng and Yi Dinggan were also shocked so much that their fingers became stiff and they couldn't even load the dishes smoothly.

The monk looked at him twice, paid 135 yuan today, and then walked away in a leisurely manner under the gaze of everyone.

At that moment, the monk felt that he was the handsome one.

Curly Cabbage Head Mao Liangcai also quietly disappeared into the streets.

"Brother Zhi, you are awesome!"

Qi Yongfeng was sincerely moved.

Chen Jiazhi said with a smile, "Put the dishes in order. Look at you, the dishes are all messed up. They need to be arranged neatly."

Around three o'clock, stall No. 18 also came to pay. Chen Jiazhi told him about the monk taking the Chinese cabbage and asked him to wait for two more days before placing the order. The price of his Chinese cabbage was still RMB 2.7 during these two days.

Stall No. 18 readily agreed.

The price of choy sum at three yuan per pound has once again broken the record, which has made him a little nervous and he dared not buy it rashly. He still feels safer at two yuan and seventy.

The night passed like this. After eating noodles, the three of them rode their bikes back to Dongxiang Vegetable Market.

The sun rises earlier and earlier.

A ray of morning light appeared from the east and sprinkled on the vegetable field. Under the open small arch shed, the vegetable seedlings grew a little taller.

Li Xiu looked at Chen Jiazhi's safe return, smiled and waved, behind him was a spacious room, after closing the door, she could count the money with confidence.

I won another 1203 yuan this morning.

Adding the 4926 yuan counted last night, the money in hand reached 6129 yuan, which was more wealthy than ever before.

"I'll use the 6000 yuan first. Besides buying a three-wheeled vehicle, I also need to buy some seeds and other agricultural supplies."

The original plan was to use the pesticides and fertilizers stockpiled until before the Spring Festival, but with the addition of 10 acres of land, they definitely won’t last that long.

And prices will continue to rise.

It’s better to spend the money early.

Li Xiu also knew that the price of agricultural supplies had increased a lot recently, and vegetable farmers who had not purchased them in advance had been complaining frequently recently.

She actually didn't want to hear this, but Jiazhi had already reminded her.

So when Chen Jiazhi wanted to spend the money, she no longer even hesitated.

Anyway, after spending the money, you can earn more back, Jiazhi has the ability to do so.

They still shared their meals with their second sister and the others. They had porridge with sour cowpeas and minced meat. Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan ate with relish as if they were competing.

The two families have never had any conflicts over living expenses.

But my second sister heard that Chen Jiazhi would sell 80 kilograms of Chinese cabbage for three yuan per kilogram tomorrow, and she kept regretting not planting the Chinese cabbage and putting up the shade net earlier.

Yi Dinggan recently made some money from selling his property and also bought a sunshade net.

After dinner, Chen Jiazhi took a few hundred dollars and rode out on his bike, ready to go look at some cars.

He had asked for the price before.

The price of a second-hand motor tricycle ranges from 3000 to 6000 yuan, and he is not picky, as long as he can use it for a year or two.

He will definitely change to a van or truck later.

So the car doesn't have to be very good, as long as there are no major problems, he will also take care of some minor issues.

There are many places selling second-hand tricycles in the suburbs of the city.

Second-hand tricycles or agricultural machinery are sold at the south bank of Luoxi Bridge and the hardware and second-hand goods market in Dashi Town.

However, after Chen Jiazhi inspected several used cars in succession, he felt that there were problems everywhere.

Some of the frames in particular looked like they were welded and refurbished, and were not sturdy, which made him feel a little uneasy.

He also wanted to load one or two thousand kilograms of vegetables into one truck, but it would be fun if it fell apart later.

In the end, I didn't do it.

I looked at the walk-behind tiller and the water pump pipes again.

Also returned empty-handed.

When leaving, I stopped by the supply and marketing cooperative and the state-owned agricultural supplies company's store to look at the seeds.

In addition to choy sum, he also plans to plant kale and mustard greens, followed by broccoli. Snow peas would also be good during the cold snap in the second half of the year.
Chinese kale is now available in medium-sized varieties.

It is also one of the traditional varieties in South China.

For a long time to come, Chinese kale will be one of the main varieties supplied to Hong Kong, Macao and for export.

It's a very good variety.

But Chen Jiazhi had grown Chinese kale for a long time in his previous life and knew that the quality of seeds of this variety varied.

Some are seeds kept by farmers themselves, and their germination rate is low;
Some have been selected and optimized by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and state-owned seed companies, and have excellent performance in all aspects.

In the end, Chen Jiazhi bought 100 bags of seeds, 50g/bag, 2 yuan per bag, spending a total of 200 yuan.

I didn’t see any seeds that I liked, so I simply didn’t buy any. It’s better to have nothing than to have something less than what you want.

The domestic seeds of broccoli and snow peas at this time are also unsatisfactory.

This is especially true for broccoli. The summer and autumn heat in South China is extremely unbearable, and if you are not careful, the broccoli may not form heads or may even have loose flowers.

After looking around, Chen Jiazhi didn't dare to take action.

There are also many seeds that you like, such as the 'excellent' broccoli seeds from Sakata Seedlings in Japan.

In his previous life, around 2002, Chen Jiazhi helped his boss grow a crop of broccoli in Shanghai with an output value of 60,000 to 70,000 yuan per mu. He sold over one million yuan in one season, and the seeds he used were "excellent".

But now, foreign exchange coupons are required to purchase imported seeds in stores such as Guangdong Seed Company and Huacheng Grain and Oil Import and Export Company.

They also need to provide proof of procedures, which is not very friendly to small farmers and a bit difficult to deal with.

Moreover, the cost of importing seeds is too high. Apart from using them for export to exchange foreign currency, under normal circumstances, the profit from selling them domestically is even lower.

He planned to visit Hongzhong in the afternoon and ask him if there were any local farmers who wanted to sell tricycles.

As a result, when I returned to the vegetable market, I happened to meet Hong Zhong who had picked a large bag of vegetable hearts.

"Hiss~ Boss Hong, do you know how much a pound of choy sum costs now?"

(End of this chapter)