1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 90 Traffic Interruption

It was not yet nine o'clock and the sun was not visible, but the sky was bright and the vegetable farmers were busy in the vegetable fields, covered in sweat.

After putting the money away, Li Xiu went out to thin out the seedlings.

Chen Jiazhi called the three workers to the small warehouse, and everyone was watering the seedlings.

The two puppies also came to the warehouse.

Chen Jiazhi opened the warehouse door and pointed at the water pump and pipes inside.

"From now on, you won't need a dung bucket for watering. Just use a hose. Let me tell you some things to keep in mind."

There are very few vegetable farmers who use electricity in the market, so there is no need to worry about voltage issues.

It is also safer.

The only thing you need to pay attention to is the quality of watering. You cannot directly use the sprinkler to flush the seedlings.
Because the plots are scattered and the water pipes will be relatively long, it is best for one man and one woman to work together.

The man combs the water pipes, the woman pours water...

After Chen Jiazhi explained it once, he took a few people to try it again, which took only about twenty minutes.

It was actually very simple.

They became proficient after a few days of self-exploration.

It’s just that Chen Jiazhi hopes to do his best in one go and avoid taking detours.

There is only one other machine, and he also needs to allocate usage time.

Fortunately, there are only 17 acres of land, so one machine is enough.

After making sure everything was clear, Chen Jiazhi said, "Okay, let's catch up on all the work today. The amount of vegetables we'll harvest will be the same as yesterday, but we'll go all out tomorrow and harvest as much as we can."

Ao Dehai said, "Boss, why don't you pick up a little more today? The next few batches of vegetables are all gathered together. If we don't sell them quickly, they'll bloom and sprout soon."

Chen Jiazhi: "Wait one more day."

He didn't explain any further.

It's a good thing that Ao Dehai can think proactively, and there's no need to discourage him, but he won't indulge him either. The result will be known tomorrow.

Ao Dehai was indeed helpless.

The last few pieces of cabbage were under his management, but when it came to the harvest season, the boss controlled the harvesting speed.

But he is an employee, and he has to do whatever his boss says.

Just wait one more day.

Any more and something really might happen.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Jiazhi said, "The weather isn't right today. There might be a rainstorm. Don't water thoroughly when you water. Cover the shade net immediately after watering, and keep it covered at night. Check the ditches more often."

"Row."

Several people dispersed.

Chen Jiazhi went to the big bone green field to preserve seeds.

It's about to rain, so the seeds that can be harvested must be harvested.

If you shake the pod and hear the seeds rustling, and they fall off with a gentle pinch, it means the seeds are ripe.

He took a piece of plastic sheeting, cut off the entire branch of ripe fruit pods with scissors, and tapped them gently to let the seeds fall out.

Don't stop until you have harvested all the ripe ones.

There aren't many actual seeds.

After drying and screening, it is estimated to be only two or three pounds.

...

With the water pump and water pipes, the efficiency of watering in the afternoon has been greatly improved.

After watering,
The busy harvesting of vegetables has begun again.

There is still no sun, but it is hot. As soon as I drink water, I start sweating profusely, which will definitely affect the speed of harvesting vegetables.

The man selling steamed buns still hadn't come, so Chen Jiazhi simply rode his bike out to buy some, and also bought a few ice creams.

It relieved everyone's discomfort.

From evening till night.

No pause,

There was no starlight at all.

If you turn off the headlight, it's pitch dark and your clothes, soaked with sweat, never dry.

The two puppies couldn't stand it anymore and went back to the house with Li Xiu early.

Baskets of Chinese cabbage and amaranth were carried back to the dam, and the old vegetable farmers who were sitting in rows listening to the radio went back to their houses to sleep one after another.

Suddenly, there was a loud thunder.

Before Chen Jiazhi even had time to react, the few people who were still picking vegetables were soaked like drowned rats.

The harvest was forced to stop.

Fortunately, most of them have been picked up.

After covering the remaining vegetables with two pieces of cloth and pulling up the sunshade, they went home to shelter from the rain.

There was a thunderstorm.

The two puppies stood at the door, wanting to go out for a while, but were frightened by the thunder and lightning and ran back.

Li Xiu held an umbrella and first brought the dried big bone green seeds into the house, and then used a cloth to shelter the vegetables from the rain.

When Chen Jiafang opened the door and saw it, he hurried over to help. After finishing it in a few strokes, he returned to the house.

Li Xiu said: "Jiazhi and the others covered it with a sheet, but the wind blew it away."

Chen Jiafang also understood that if such heavy raindrops hit the vegetables directly, they would definitely be damaged.

Li Mingkun and Bai Yan also came to the door and looked at the vegetable fields in the dark night: "The raindrops hurt when they hit my body."

Other vegetable farmers also got up one after another.

The two puppies were no longer afraid and followed Li Xiu's feet, looking out.

In front of me were baskets of covered vegetables, and several figures were running quickly in the rainy night.

……

This rainstorm is not as heavy as the one at the end of May and is not as long-lasting.

But he has the ferocity of youth.

Get things done right away.

In less than half an hour, the water level in the ditch in the vegetable field began to overflow, and was about to flood the surface of the bed, but suddenly it leaked.

The rain has lightened.

The water level began to drop rapidly again.

But Chen Jiazhi knew that this rain was far more complicated than it seemed.

Summer rainstorms are unpredictable.

The fact that the rain has subsided here does not mean that the rain has stopped in other places. The collapse of the Beijiang River dike was a major event this year.

He wouldn't be wrong.

Apart from today's rain, it will probably rain in the next few days.

It was still early, so Chen Jiazhi took his men to collect the remaining crops and simply stopped harvesting.

"Let's wait until tomorrow. With this heavy rain, who knows where the disaster will happen."

Ao Dehai silently picked up a bunch of vegetables and walked back. He had been following Chen Jiazhi's example.

But who can learn this skill?
It rains when it says it will, and it rains more accurately than the weather forecast on the radio.

In fact, in addition to metaphysics, there is also experience.

In my past life, I experienced many times when vegetables rotted in the market. Every day, I hoped for heavy rain and hail in other places, but it often fell on my head. It was very desolate.
...

There was a light drizzle, but the heat had not dissipated. I was still sweating profusely while packing vegetables in the early morning.

Chen Jiazhi's vegetables are still "not many", but they are not many compared to the vegetables in his fields.

If Chen Jiazhi, Yi Dinggan and the other two said that they had little food, it would be like him holding a full washbasin of rice and telling Yi Dinggan, who only had a bowl of rice, that he had no appetite.

A bit annoying.

Yi Dinggan also got up and started preparing the dishes.

He glanced at Chen Jiazhi's dishes out of habit, then looked away, feeling a lot better.

The vegetables they had collected had gradually come out in the past two days, and they had harvested some more today.

During this period, the three of them also added sunshade nets, so the heavy rain will have an impact on them, but the impact is decreasing.

This is where the three of them are so experienced.

As long as the facilities and technologies are proven to be useful, the three of them will slowly accept them.

After packing the dishes, Yi Dinggan looked at Chen Jiazhi who was still busy and said, "We'll leave first. You can catch up with us."

Chen Jiazhi waved his hand: "I'll catch up with you in a minute."

After the three left,

It took more than ten minutes before Chen Jiazhi finished packing the dishes, which were packed rather loosely.

"Jiazhi, drive slowly." "Well, go back and rest early."

It was drizzling all the way. The original Shifeng tricycle had no roof, but Chen Jiazhi got a piece of plastic sheet to make a mobile tent.

A bit abstract.

But it works.

The rain didn't get on me.

It wasn't long before he caught up with the three people who were lined up in a small group on the rainy night.

After smiling at each other, Chen Jiazhi left the three people behind.

It was still early when they arrived at the market, less than one o'clock, and the market was very empty. Chen Jiazhi deliberately rode his bike around for a while.

There are not many vegetables coming to the major stalls, and not many trucks are unloading vegetables.

But there are also people who have a stall of dishes.

For example, at stall No. 6, Chen Jiazhi would borrow a scale and a cart from him many times when he didn't have a scale. Whenever he was free, he would talk to him about stocking up on winter melon and pumpkin, which are durable in storage. Stall No. 6 also had supplies of these two vegetables, and they were stocked up early on.

This timing is slightly earlier for purchasing.

But it was already too late for the vegetable seller, as he saw stall owners waiting anxiously.

I immediately understood what was going on.

Must have been delayed on the way.

Last night's rain did its job.

After returning to his usual stall, Chen Jiazhi also started unloading the vegetables. He unloaded two baskets each of ordinary Chinese cabbage and amaranth and placed them in front.

The rest are placed in the car.

The quantity of loofah and bitter melon is small, and they have been reserved long-term by small vendors like Sister Zhang.

The premium Chinese cabbage still only has three customers: He Shang, Lao Wu and Chen Ze.

In fact, the market heat was declining in the three or four days after the Dragon Boat Festival, and Chen Jiazhi once thought that he would lose Chen Ze as a customer.

After all, he basically only buys Chinese cabbage in this market, and gets other vegetables from other markets, which is very inconvenient.

but no.

Chen Ze insists on coming here every morning.

Just as Chen Jiazhi had unloaded the car and was about to take a tricycle to rest for a while, Chen Ze arrived in a van.

"Boss Chen, load the dishes, load the dishes, I'm in a hurry."

Chen Ze stopped the car, opened the side door of the van, took two empty bamboo baskets from the car, and Chen Jiazhi also carried a basket into the car.

After putting them away, the two men carried the remaining two baskets of vegetables up. Chen Ze sat in the driver's seat again and took out the money.

"Here, here you go, 310 yuan."

Then he lit the fire and left.

The whole process takes less than 10 minutes.

100 kilograms of high-quality Chinese cabbage, 20 kilograms of amaranth, 310 yuan. Chen Jiazhi hesitated for a moment, but finally watched him leave.

He wanted to raise the price.

A few days ago, the price of premium Chinese cabbage was reduced by 3 cents to 2.7 yuan per catty, and the price of amaranth was reduced by 4 cents to 2 yuan per catty.

Judging from the situation today, the price will definitely be raised again. The price difference of 30 cents means 3 yuan for 100 kilograms.

There are still quite a lot.

However, Chen Ze is also a high-quality customer and can accept a loss once.

As Chen Ze left the market, Yi Dinggan and the other two arrived breathlessly: "Jiazhi, are you opening a new shop?"

"Yeah, I just took away 120 kilograms of vegetables."

Compared to the tiredness of the other three, Chen Jiazhi was very relaxed and even had the mind to help Yi Dinggan unload the truck.

There are more than 200 kilograms of vegetables in total.

Still quite impressive.

Guo Mancang and Li Mingkun also had about 100 kilograms of vegetables.

There were still few people walking around the market, but Chen Jiazhi said to the three people, "Let's raise the prices today. I'm going to increase the price of both Chinese cabbage and amaranth by 3 cents."

"Three cents?!"

The three of them said it almost in unison, all very shocked. Is the price increase now just 0.3 cents at a time?
Li Mingkun hesitated and said, "The rain last night didn't have such a big impact, right?"

Chen Jiazhi: "That didn't have much of an impact on us. If the heavy rain had fallen elsewhere, people around the Flower City would have definitely been affected. I arrived early and took a look, and there were very few leafy vegetables in the market."

Li Mingkun looked at their makeshift street of stalls and asked, "Are there quite a few people selling vegetables?"

Chen Jiazhi: "But the stall is out of vegetables. Listen to me, wait a while, the prices will definitely go up later!"

The three of them were still hesitant.

But everyone agreed.

Time and again, his market judgments have proven how keen Xiucai's sense of the market is.

Moreover, he has the most dishes.

The scholar was not panicking, and there seemed no need for them to panic either.

But as they were selling more, they felt something was wrong. Although they had raised the price, the sales of Xiucai's dishes were still decreasing.

When the monk was offered the price of 3 yuan per catty for the premium Chinese cabbage, he did not hesitate and still ordered 80 catties.

He seems to be still apologizing.

"Don't mind what happened yesterday. Our shareholders also invested in the vegetable base, but there have been problems with the supply recently, so there are some conflicts~"

"It's okay. I'm just a small vegetable farmer and I don't really care about these things."

"You still have some anger in your words."

Chen Jiazhi smiled helplessly: "To be honest, I am just a small vegetable farmer. It is an honor to have the opportunity to cooperate with you."

After a pause, he emphasized again: "To be honest, from now on, as long as you tell me in advance, I will save food for you, but if you don't want it, please tell me in advance."

The monk nodded slightly, then left 240 yuan and left.

Seeing Chen Jiazhi put two more baskets of vegetables aside, Li Mingkun couldn't help it.

"Scholar, that's not right. How come your old customers don't hesitate when you raise the price so much?"

It's only 3 o'clock now, and Chen Jiazhi has already taken away nearly half of the dishes. If Li Mingkun had his speed, he would have sold out long ago.

"Don't worry, this just proves my judgment is correct. Those stalls haven't received their food yet, and they probably won't be able to come this morning."

Li Mingkun was still a little nervous.

The main reason is that his vegetables are not selling well.

Other mobile vegetable farmers also raised their prices, but only by a few cents, and they all sold very well.

Although Chen Jiazhi next door has raised the prices, the speed of serving dishes is also very stable.

In fact, this is the benefit of being an old customer.

Chen Jiazhi also observed that although old customers had many complaints, most of them still took their dishes in the end.

This definitely won’t work in the long run.

But the market is changing today, and old customers' dependence on him will only deepen again. This is a virtuous cycle.

After a while,

Chen Jiazhi saw the curly cabbage head walking into their alley and took the initiative to greet him, "Want some vegetables?"

Curly shook his head, feeling a little guilty: "Let me take another look."

There are still Kunming Chinese cabbage these two days, but the quantity is smaller and the price has increased. Compared with vegetable farmers in the suburbs, there are fewer advantages.

But judging from Curly's condition, the Kunming choy sum should not have arrived yet.

After most of the old customers had arrived, Chen Jiazhi took the time to go to stall No. 6.

"Boss, can you lend me the cart?"

After yelling, he dragged the cart away as usual. The boss saw it was him and shouted, "Wait."

Chen Jiazhi stopped.

The boss pointed to a human-powered tricycle nearby and said, "Go deliver it on your bike. It's faster. The keys are on the bike."

Chen Jiazhi was stunned for a moment, then looked at the winter melons and pumpkins on his stall.

"Profit?"

The boss smiled, in a good mood, and said, "There's been a flood. The exact situation is still unclear, but water transportation has been interrupted. Remember to raise the price of vegetables."

The winter melons and pumpkins in Huacheng are more dependent on water transportation.

The boss's information should be accurate.

Chen Jiazhi rode his tricycle back to his stall and said, "Flower City's external transportation must be cut off. Vegetable prices will definitely go up today!"

All three were surprised.

One is that he came back on a tricycle, and the other is the information he provided.

(End of this chapter)