1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 129 Typhoon Warning
"Hey you, where's handsome Chen?"

In just seven words, Yi Dinggan felt doubly hurt. The person who came looked very familiar; he used to often take dishes from Jia Zhi.

"Oh, he went home after he sold out. Why don't you take a look at my vegetables? I have some bok choy too."

"How much does it cost per pound?"

"Two pieces?" There was a slight lack of confidence in his tone, but the person who came didn't notice it.

"Wow, it's much cheaper than Mr. Chen's."

Ultimately, thanks to the lower price and sincere attitude, Yi Dinggan closed his first deal. He felt joy, but also a strange feeling.

Then even more people came, and the vegetables sold out quickly. He once again experienced the joy of selling vegetables, but he also suffered even deeper harm.

"Hey, where's Boss Chen?"

"Hey, where's Old Chen?"

"Did Chen Caixin sell out and go home again?"

"Damn it, handsome Chen didn't leave me any food again!"

"You bastard, why are you taking over Mr. Chen's spot to sell vegetables?!"

With each new customer, he undergoes a profound internal struggle.

Especially the last one, you already know Boss Chen, don't you think I look familiar?
We're in this together!
Am I, Yi Dinggan, not worthy of having a name?
And what about Jiazhi?

The women liked to call him Handsome Chen;

Regular customers call him Chen Caixin, Lao Chen, or Boss Chen; nobody calls him Chen Cai Nong anymore.

Just a few days ago, Chen Cai Nong was the common name, but because he opened a stall, everything seemed to change, and he seemed to have gained more recognition.

When he finished selling his vegetables, Yi Dinggan rewarded himself with a cigarette and sat on the bamboo basket, smoking it slowly.

"Wow, selling vegetables is so much fun for Jiazhi!"

"But I feel terrible!"

He returned to the temporary alleyway, half of which was under renovation and half still in use, but some of the small vegetable farmers had already left.

Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang were both quite surprised to see him come out, as they hadn't finished selling their goods yet.

"Sold out already?"

"Ah."

"What an auspicious place!"

"A place where one has a sense of home and purpose is a place of good fortune."

"That's true. After he left, the temporary alleyway wasn't as lively anymore."

"Do you want to go to number 56?"

"No need, we should be there soon."

It turned out that it wasn't that fast.

The three of them didn't head back until dawn, and Yi Dinggan waited for nearly an hour.

"Let's go to number 56 tomorrow."

"it is good."

Who goes first?

Let's play rock-paper-scissors. The winner goes first.

"Ouk."

"Don't pretend to be a foreigner."

After more than an hour of cycling, it was dawn, and the three arrived at the market. They could see the man sitting at the entrance eating in the distance, and they also saw them.

Chen Jiazhi waved his hand, saying that it had been a long time since he had seen Li Xiu waiting for him at the door in the morning.

It wasn't Li Xiu who changed; it was him. Often, Li Xiu hadn't even gotten out of bed yet when he had already gone home.

Now it's even worse! Hey, he can still sleep for two hours after he comes back. Today he even ran into Yi Dinggan and two others on their way home, experiencing a different perspective. He's really enjoying himself.

"Jiazhi, your smile is a bit sly."

"Have it?"

"Have."

"very obvious."

"They were practically saying it out loud."

After the three stopped the car, they took out cigarettes and offered one to Chen Jiazhi, but he didn't take it. Then they stood aside and chatted about what they had seen and heard in the market. Before long, a group of people gathered around them.

The women had rarely been to wholesale markets, but that didn't stop them from enjoying listening. From the men's descriptions, they seemed to construct virtual scenes of bargaining and haggling over selling vegetables, and stall number 56 was described as a prime location.

"Now Jiazhi is quite popular. When people come to buy vegetables, the women call him Handsome Chen, and others call him Boss Chen."

"I don't even deserve a name."

Yi Dinggan spoke with great enthusiasm, and the women and Yi Long listened intently, while the two dogs joined in the fun.

"So, I definitely need to have my own stall. Once I have more vegetables, I'm going to rent a stall too!"

"Yi Dinggan, stop bragging and go back to eat!"

"Oh right, Mingkun should go eat first too~"

Urged on by Chen Jiafang, the group reluctantly left, revealing Chen Jiazhi still sitting on a small stool.

"Jiazhi, give me the bowl."

"okay."

Chen Jiazhi blankly handed the bowl to Li Xiu, who asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

"Looking at the clouds, the sky might clear up."

"Isn't that the morning glow? You shouldn't go out if there's a morning glow. This doesn't seem like a clear day."

“Not bad, Xiu, you know quite a lot.” Chen Jiazhi smiled: “But proverbs aren’t always entirely accurate, and as long as it’s sunny for a day, things will be much better.”

"Oh, as long as it's a good thing."

Li Xiu took the bowl and left. Chen Jiazhi continued to gaze at the cirrus clouds in the sky, which floated like feathers and silk gauze. The sun had not yet risen, but the light pierced through these lonely cirrus clouds high in the sky, forming a sky full of orange-red glow.

The morning glow does not go out, but the sunset travels thousands of miles.

But the clouds aren't thick; they don't look like they're going to rain.

I just hope God will be kind, otherwise I'll get scolded again. Today is the 8th, and a super typhoon will make landfall in a couple of days. Although Guangzhou is relatively far from the typhoon's landfall point, heavy rain has fallen across South China, and even Wuhan and Changsha in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have experienced torrential rain.

After the typhoon, vegetable prices once again broke historical records.

In his previous life, the cowpea crop caught this wave of market demand, which helped him and Li Xiu overcome the difficulties they faced when their son was born.

So he remembers very clearly that the typhoon made landfall on the 10th, and the Dongxiang vegetable market also experienced a daytime downpour on the 10th!
He's been keeping up with the news every day. There haven't been any typhoon warnings yet, but he needs to prepare in advance.

It just needs a sunny or cloudy day.

After watching the clouds for a while, Chen Jiazhi got up and changed into his rain boots.

"Blackie, Whiteie, let's go patrol the fields!"

"Wang Wang~"

"Uncle, wait for me, I'm coming too."

"The road is slippery, and you don't have rain boots."

"I'll go barefoot."

The two dogs had already darted out, running wild as if they were having a great time. Dogs raised in vegetable fields are generally very wild and are not afraid of mud or wind and rain. However, the road was slippery, and they left thin paw prints on the path at the edge of the vegetable field. Yi Long also chased after them. He and the dogs seemed to be there to play, while only Chen Jiazhi was seriously patrolling the field.

Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and Ao Deliang arrived at the field and immediately uncovered the shade netting to allow for ventilation.

Later, a saying emerged that the north is covered in white in winter and the south is covered in black in summer.

The black part refers to the shade net, which can protect against the scorching sun, the impact of heavy rain, the damage of high temperatures, and the spread of pests and diseases. It also plays a very good role in preventing pests from migrating.

However, due to factors such as price and slow technology promotion and dissemination, the application area of ​​shade nets in the south is still very small.

Even now, the coverage rate of Dongxiang vegetable market is less than one-third.

Insect-proof netting is even more out of the question; it's currently considered a luxury item.

Chen Jiazhi looked very carefully, not missing a single vegetable field, every type of vegetable, every ditch, or every corner.

Yi Long and the two paparazzi had run around twice, but he hadn't even covered half the distance yet.

Around seven o'clock, Ao Dehai and the other two were already waiting for him in front of the loofah trellis.

Chen Jiazhi stepped forward and said, "A typhoon may be coming, so there are some things we need to emphasize."

"typhoon?"

"Yes, you can keep an eye on the news these next couple of days."

"it is good."

Chen Jiazhi stood there for a while to sort out his thoughts before starting to arrange the tasks one by one.

Reinforcement structures, such as cowpea trellises, loofah trellises, small arched bamboo frames, as well as shade nets and insect nets.

The ditches were dredged, and debris and silt were cleared away one by one.

But there are also disease prevention and pest control measures.
This is what worries Chen Jiazhi the most right now. Shade nets and insect nets can reduce pests, but they are helpless against diseases.

"Be prepared to spray pesticides at any time. If there's an opportunity today, everyone should spray together!"

"it is good."

"The shade netting will have to wait for my notification; it can't be put on too early."

"it is good!"

After repeated emphasis, the group understood the importance of the matter.

Just like with the previous vegetable-picking incident, Boss Chen showed no mercy in scolding people, imposing fines without hesitation, and even forcing him to come up with a vegetable-picking gadget called "iron fingernails".

After arranging the work, Chen Jiazhi continued to patrol the fields, but this time he was patrolling other people's fields.

Just as Yi Dinggan and the other two had complained before, many people continued to plant leafy vegetables, and there were many varieties.

Choy sum, mustard greens, lettuce, romaine lettuce, Chinese cabbage, water spinach, amaranth, spinach...

We can't blame him for taking the lead; there were also factors related to the times.

Besides local farmers, a large number of vegetable farmers from other places and Hong Kong capital have also flocked to Huacheng. There are also many people who do not believe in superstition and continue to plant leafy vegetables in the summer as usual.

Because we traveled a long way, we also met vegetable farmers from other provinces, mostly from Jiangxi and Hunan.

Although they rarely interacted, they all knew each other. They would offer each other cigarettes, exchange a few pleasantries, and most of them were not doing well.

Some vegetables started to rot while still in the ground, and we had to fight off flea beetles, aphids, and cabbage caterpillars wave after wave.

Many people couldn't persevere.

Perhaps the typhoon was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

This is also the purpose of Chen Jiazhi expanding the scope of his field patrols.

Maybe in a month, maybe in two months, he could take over these vegetable fields.

After inspecting the fields, Chen Jiazhi also joined in the work.

There are still two days before the typhoon makes landfall, which is plenty of time, but we cannot be careless in reinforcing facilities and clearing ditches.

Finally, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, and the rhythm of working for 5 minutes and sweating for 2 hours returned.

The water droplets on the leaves dried up when the sun was high in the sky, but the pesticide still couldn't penetrate them.

The temperature was too high, and the various medicines Chen Jiazhi used were prone to causing pesticide damage under high temperatures. He could only cover the plants with shade nets for the time being, and then remove them along with all the insect nets in the evening.

"Spray the pesticide, spray it quickly."

"Come on, come on."

"Hurry up!"

Three male workers and three female workers carried out sprayers, three of which Chen Jiazhi had bought in the last two days.

To ensure the safety and effectiveness of the medication, Chen Jiazhi was in charge of all medication preparation, while the others were responsible for administering the medication.

A mixture of bactericides and insecticides.

The six people completed the prevention of the disease in the entire vegetable field in less than two hours.

Uh… the loofah and bitter melon still haven't been sprayed with pesticides; we're completely leaving it to fate.
With the afterglow of the setting sun and the sky ablaze with evening clouds, it shouldn't rain tonight, ensuring the medicine's effectiveness. The shade net can be left open for another night.

After spraying the pesticides, they all went home to eat, and then came out to harvest the vegetables again at 10 p.m. It only took the six of them two hours to harvest 700 kilograms.

While we were eating, the first typhoon warning suddenly came on the radio.

"Beep-beep-beep—Emergency broadcast: Typhoon 9406 is expected to make landfall along the coast of Guangdong to Fujian within 48 hours..."

(End of this chapter)