1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 131 Storms
It was nothing but dull.

Chen Jiazhi could see wisps of smoke rising from behind the houses from afar, and the men were sitting in the open space in front, smoking and bragging.

As they got closer, they realized that these people were actually listening to the radio, not to soft music, but to the news.

"rare."

He exclaimed in surprise, then offered further advice.

"Actually, we still have an afternoon left, so we can set up two more tents. There's still a chance!"

Many people still don't have small arched shelters, plastic sheeting, or shade nets, leaving them helpless in the face of typhoons. His good intentions, however, have been met with public condemnation.

"This is a typhoon!"

"What if the shade net gets blown away too, and we end up losing everything!"

"We're not like you, all rich and powerful!"

The news reports didn't provide much information about the typhoon; the warnings were insufficient and the information wasn't accurate enough.

Even those who received typhoon information only knew that it would make landfall along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian, but not its exact location.

Actually, it's quite far from Panyu, so the wind is relatively weak. If you set it up tightly, the shade net won't be blown away. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to grow that batch of cowpeas in his previous life.

However, no one was willing to spend the money to try it.

Or perhaps you want to try, but you're short of money.

Having been rebuffed, Chen Jiazhi went back inside to put the bankbook away, and then went to the makeshift kitchen by the back door.

Every household was cooking over a fire, the air thick with heat, and the women were drenched in sweat – it was truly a lively scene.

However, there are now empty stoves.

"Jiazhi is back?"

"Hmm, wow, bitter melon stir-fried with pork, I love bitter melon."

"Hey, I can't compare to you guys."

Chen Jiazhi stepped over Bai Yan in the middle and arrived at the stove in his second sister's house. Li Xiu was tending the fire and Chen Jiafang was cooking. When they saw him, they asked a couple of questions about the situation and then started to shoo him away.

"Go outside and stay there. Don't come here and give me pointers."

"I just want to help out?"

"You think our cooking isn't good enough?"

"No."

"That's settled then. Go somewhere cool and stay there. If you really want to help, then cook us a meal sometime."

"Tch, I'll talk about it when I'm in the mood."

Chen Jiazhi was kicked out of the kitchen again. It is said that men from Sichuan and Chongqing can cook well, and that seems to be true. His cooking skills are better than the food in some food deserts. But he doesn't have many opportunities. He and Yi Dinggan rarely cook.

Once inside his second sister's house, Yi Long lay on the bed, legs crossed, holding a storybook in one hand and cracking pumpkin seeds with the other, looking quite relaxed.

Chen Jiazhi leaned against the door, listening to the news and cracking sunflower seeds.

There's no need to sell vegetables in the evening; the sun has already set after dinner, so some vegetable farmers simply go out.

After seeing this, Chen Jiazhi remained silent. Facing the torrential rain, without shelter from the rain, most efforts would be in vain.

He took a short nap, and at two o'clock he went out with his hoe to make final preparations.

Yesterday, we prepared for a whole day. The ditches were cleaned, and the cowpea trellises and small arched sheds were reinforced. All that's left is to tie the shade netting with ropes one more time.

However, Chen Jiazhi arranged for the sunshade net to be removed, which surprised Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and Ao Deliang.

"Is this the time to reveal it?"

"Brother Zhi, a typhoon is coming soon!"

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "The typhoon is going to pass tomorrow, so there's still time. It's cloudy now, so we can uncover the vegetables to let them air out. If we wait until the typhoon comes, we don't know when we'll be able to uncover them again. The longer we cover them up, the easier they'll rot later."

"When will you put it back on?"

"Let's do it tonight, there'll be time."

"Oh."

All three of them looked uneasy.

Chen Jiazhi added, "First, remove the sunshade net. Then, didn't Yongfeng's 7-1 slab get weathered and hardened by the rain a few days ago? Let's do a light flipping of it together this afternoon."

The three of them were stunned for a moment. Ao Dehai asked in surprise, "Does Boss Chen want to conceive today?"

"Correct."

"But it's a typhoon!"

"So what if it's a typhoon? How will we know it won't work if we don't try? Let's just leave it at that and start removing the netting. Once we've removed it, let's get back to digging."

He remembers the typhoon very clearly; it happened during the day, and the strong winds and torrential rain also occurred during the day.

If we cover the nets early tonight, the wind shouldn't be picking up yet.

As for sowing, it was out of necessity. It wasn't because we were afraid of typhoons, but because the intervals were too short and the land hadn't been dried and disinfected yet.

However, the last sowing was on the 2nd, which was 7 days ago.

If we delay any longer, even if we can transplant them later, we'll have to cut off the heart of the plant, and besides, transplanted plants will taste older.

That's why I chose to sow the seeds once first.

Not long after, Ao Dehai's three families removed the black shade netting, revealing patches of lush green vegetable fields, which were the best-preserved vegetable fields in the entire market.

The farmers exclaimed in amazement as they looked at his vegetables, and were also surprised by his action of removing the net.

Yi Dinggan shouted about knowledge from over a hundred meters away, and Chen Jiazhi responded loudly in return.

So Yi Dinggan also removed the shade netting, and some vegetable farmers, such as Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang, who had small greenhouses, followed suit.

However, the vegetable farmers tacitly chose to ignore his act of rushing to plant seeds.

Until evening.

The night wasn't very dark yet.

Swallows darted through the air, skimming low over the ground to catch insects. Black and white dogs would occasionally pounce on the swallows, but unfortunately, they weren't as agile as cats.

"Jiazhi, is it time to build the net?"

"hold on."

"Are we still waiting? The radio just broadcast another typhoon warning!"

"I heard you. We're not logging in until tomorrow, there are still at least a dozen hours left, what's the rush!"

"Afraid!"

"Brother Yi, you must have experienced typhoons before, right?"

“We didn’t use shade nets before, and when a typhoon came, we could only leave it to fate. Unlike now, we still have a chance to save a batch of vegetables. Even if the vegetables are rotten, we can still sell them for money!”

Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang, who were standing nearby, agreed wholeheartedly. All three of them had some small sheds, and Yi Dinggan had quite a few. The Ao Dehai and Ao Deliang families had gone home for dinner and came over early, all waiting for him to give orders.

Chen Jiazhi glanced at his Seagull watch under the lamplight; it was only a little past 8 o'clock.

The air was still stuffy, the swallows were still enjoying their insect feast, and there was no strong wind, but everyone else was very anxious.

"hold on."

"Don't worry."

"Don't rush me."

Chen Jiazhi waited calmly, even taking out a deck of cards and starting a game of Texas Hold'em. Soon, Yi Dinggan and the others started playing, while he watched from the doorway.

More and more swallows are flying in the air, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes touching the evening breeze, sometimes disappearing into the night.
The radio was still playing, but it still didn't give Chen Jiazhi the information he wanted.

He only had a very broad range of landing times, and he couldn't remember exactly what time the strong winds started in his previous life, so he could only judge based on the swallows.

Swallows usually disappear about two hours before a typhoon makes landfall, when the wind force is greater than level 6.

Chen Jiazhi can't wait that long. Even if he builds it later, or even at the early hours of tomorrow, there might not be a storm yet, but it won't be that extreme.

Time passed little by little.

Suddenly, a whimpering sound attracted Chen Jiazhi's attention. He looked over and saw two dogs, one black and one white, chasing each other. The black dog was in front, and the white dog was chasing behind. The black dog seemed to have something in its mouth.

They're getting closer; they're swallows.

Dogs can catch swallows now?
He looked up at the night sky again; it was completely black, but he could vaguely see spiral-shaped unidentified objects moving.

That was a flock of swallows flying in a spiral formation, which was extremely spectacular.

Chen Jiazhi stood up and shouted into the house, "Let's go, cover the net!"

Upon hearing his shout, Ao Dehai, who was still playing blindly, grabbed the cards and threw them away.

"I do not want it."

Qi Yongfeng also picked up a card, saying, "I don't want it."

Yi Dinggan also looked at the cards, saying, "Who shuffled the cards? They kept giving me bad cards!"

Ao Deliang: "I don't want a pair of Ks either."

"Oh ho, it's Mingkun picking it up again."

"What card are you playing, Mingkun? Why are you sticking to it so stubbornly?"

A group of people quickly cleaned up the battlefield. Li Mingkun silently slipped his cards in, but his gaze toward Chen Jiazhi held a hint of resentment.

With nylon rope, scissors, and headlamps in hand, the group rushed off to the vegetable fields, shouts rising and falling in waves.

"Done yet?"

"All right!"

"Tie it tighter."

"Check it again."

"All right."

"It's done here too!"

After some time, more swallows began to circle around.

When Chen Jiazhi returned to the house, Li Xiu was still waiting at the door, wearing loose clothes, and her belly was more noticeable.

"Jiazhi, is it done?"

"Well, now it's just a matter of doing our best and leaving the rest to fate. Go to sleep early."

Chen Jiazhi quickly washed up, then closed the doors and windows before lying down on the bed. Perhaps because it was the first time he had dealt with such a large-scale typhoon, Li Xiu couldn't sleep and kept trying to find something to talk about.

One minute they were talking about the typhoon and the vegetables in the field, the next they were talking about stall number 56, then their families, and then he mentioned that his notebook at the market was almost empty and he needed to buy a new one.
The night was deep, and people had fallen asleep.

I don't know how much time passed, perhaps it started with a leaf dancing, when suddenly a gale howled like a wild beast, the doors and windows rattled, and then the rain poured down, and everything trembled.

The vegetable farmers also woke up, feeling the sounds of wind and rain in the world.

Chen Jiazhi was still lying in bed, but he felt much more relaxed than before the typhoon made landfall.

The wind was stronger than the rain.

The rainfall may be slightly less than the torrential rain at the end of May.

As long as the water doesn't completely flood the vegetable plots, there shouldn't be much of a problem.

He even had time to calculate how much food he would have left after the typhoon.

There are a total of 4 to 5 mu of Chinese cabbage.

Mustard greens can also be harvested and sold first, as mustard greens are difficult to fully grow in summer and are prone to rotting during the growth process. The same applies to Chinese kale.

The cowpeas will be ready soon too.

...

The rain stopped after noon.

The sky was overcast and the air was damp.

The vegetable field was a complete mess.

The vegetables were bent over by the wind, their leaves were torn, and they lay twisted and sprawled on the ground, along with other grasses and trees that seemed to have blown in from nowhere.

Some vegetable farmers are crying.

The seedlings, which were just starting to look promising, were completely ruined by a single rainstorm.

Chen Jiazhi simply passed by silently; his vegetable field was still completely dark, with the shade netting protecting it from the ravages of wind and rain.

During this period, there were intermittent winds and rain.

But the sky gradually cleared and brightened, and by three or four o'clock in the afternoon, a dazzling ray of sunlight appeared.

"The sun is really out. Luckily, we haven't taken off the shade net yet, or we'll have to put it back on."

As Chen Jiazhi cleared away the dead branches and leaves from the trellis, Li Mingkun sighed not far away.

Chen Jiazhi also felt the warmth of the clear sky after the rain.

Today's sunshine was just an appetizer; if it clears up after the rain tomorrow, the leafy greens grown outdoors will be almost gone...

"Jiazhi, how many vegetables are you going to harvest today?"

"Take as much as the car can carry."

In the evening, the setting sun was reflected in the puddles of the vegetable field.

Several vegetable farmers finally uncovered the tightly closed shade netting, and the green vegetable leaves looked like the most beautiful painting under the slanting sun.

(End of this chapter)