1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 145 First Meeting with Xu Wenxiang

"Xu Wenxiang".

"I don't know her!" Chen Jiazhi shook his head. "Did she say what she wanted to do there?"

Li Xiu said, "She owns a vegetable market and wanted to invite you to be the market manager. I told her you were out and needed to take a nap at noon, so she said she would come back in the evening."

Chen Jiazhi was surprised and a little confused. "How did she find me? I don't know her at all."

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Who did she come with?"

Li Xiu: "There's also a bald man, who should be a monk who regularly buys your vegetables. He's been here once before."

"Wow, Xiu, you've said it all at once. I was wondering why I didn't know this Xu Wenxiang either."

Li Xiu looked down at her toes and recalled the woman's attire; even as a woman herself, she found it stunning.

"Do you want to go?"

“I was doing just fine here, and I finally managed to save up 30 acres of land. I must have gone crazy to leave like this. Don’t you even think about it?”

"I feel that Xu Wenxiang is quite formidable."

"No matter how powerful he is, it's none of your business. Does he think he can force me?"

Chen Jiazhi went inside, took his clothes and a bucket, and went to wash up.

Then he thought of Xu He's strange behavior a couple of days ago, which must have been his introduction. Xu Wenxiang must be from the Spruce Hotel.

Chen Jiazhi didn't take it to heart; there was no way he would work.
Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang all had this ambition, let alone him.

evening.

After getting up and having dinner, Chen Jiazhi prepared to go to the fields.

The first two days were also very fulfilling. More and more vegetable farmers chose to withdraw, and Chen Jiazhi took the opportunity to expand.

Not only was the land expanded to thirty acres, but it was also divided into three major sections and renumbered.

No. 1 Ao Dehai; No. 2 Qi Yongfeng; No. 3 Ao Deliang.

Each plot is ten mu (approximately 0.67 hectares), and each ten mu plot is relatively clustered together, unlike the scattered plots of the past.

At the same time, in terms of workers, in addition to absorbing Jin Feng and Xiao Xia's men, they also absorbed Hu Chunmei's man, Zhang Weidong.

These three couples temporarily assist Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and Ao Deliang in management. Their income consists of salary, bonus, and commission from harvesting vegetables.

Ao Dehai and his two companions each received an additional commission for each dish they served.

We recently acquired 13 mu of land, and several truckloads of pig manure have arrived in the last couple of days.

The pig manure was not fully decomposed and emitted a faint odor under the sun's heat. It needed to be dried in the sun before the land could be prepared for planting.

Upon arriving at the vegetable field, Chen Jiazhi immediately spotted Li Xiu wandering around nearby.

He breathed a sigh of relief and went over to her. "Li Xiu, are you tired? Go back and rest for a while."

Li Xiu shook her head: "I'm not tired. I'll just walk around for a while and won't do any work. You go ahead and get busy."

The typhoon season in July is far from over.

Except for the first two days when less than 1500 jin of vegetables were harvested, the output exceeded 2000 jin for the next four consecutive days.

When Chen Jiazhi inspected the fields in the morning, he estimated that the yield could be maintained at least for three more days, producing 2000 jin of vegetables.

Therefore, the task remains very heavy.

However, no one complained. Since income was linked to the amount of food produced, everyone wished the time could be longer.

Moreover, with Boss Chen leading the way, he's constantly on the go, never having a moment to rest.

In the morning, they patrol the fields and learn to drive; in the evening, they return to water and prepare the land; and at night, they sell vegetables.

I also need to find time to buy various supplies.
Everyone is hoping that the market will bring in more revenue.

Around eight o'clock, we prepared to harvest the vegetables again, adding about thirty plastic baskets in addition to the bamboo baskets.

The bamboo basket was for Heiwa'er, while the plastic basket was used at stall number 56.

Each plastic basket was printed with the name: Chen Jiazhi, which was simple and easy to understand.

Chen Jiazhi said, "From now on, we will use plastic baskets to collect and arrange the vegetables uniformly, with a net weight of 30 jin. If you don't know how to do it by hand, you should practice more and learn more. We are giving you time now. If you don't learn it, you will not get any commission for collecting vegetables in the future."

Ao Dehai asked, "Boss Chen, if we buy all the vegetables, what if the roots and strips are of different sizes? What should we do with the roots and strips that are too small?"

Vegetables are selling well now, and the prices are good, so it would be a waste to not want them.

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "We'll collect them in two batches. The first batch will collect the medium and large sizes and make them by hand. The remaining small sizes will be collected again, without needing to be aligned top to bottom."

Currently, there are no skilled workers, so it's not easy to do a very detailed classification.

Subsequently.

The Ao Dehai and De Liang families started harvesting kale using plastic baskets. All four were experienced vegetable growers, so their skill and speed were both excellent.

Chen Jiazhi then led the remaining eight people to harvest Heiwa's kale, teaching them how to arrange the vegetables attractively as they harvested.

"The key is symmetry. When picking the vegetables, you need to pay attention to the leaves. Use one leaf on each side of the two stalks to hold them together and create support..."

"Don't squeeze too tightly with your fingers, or you'll damage the vegetables. Look at you, you've crushed the leaves."

"Relax, don't be nervous. I'm not going to eat you. If you make a mistake, just try again~"

Chen Jiazhi walked around, giving each person some guidance.

Qi Yongfeng, Huang Juan, Hu Chunmei, and Zhang Weidong, having a foundation, only needed to practice for an hour or two to basically know how to do it; the rest was just a matter of practice makes perfect.

Jin Feng, Xiao Xia, and their husbands Pan Dacheng and Huang Shan are all complete novices.

Fortunately, they were all young and learned quickly. If they were novice cooks in their fifties or sixties, that would be much more difficult.

Meanwhile, Chinese kale is easier to handle because its roots are thicker and more resilient.

After harvesting the 250 jin of kale for Heiwa'er, all eight of them roughly knew how to prepare it.

The speed varies.

比如陈家志排一手芥兰只需3~4分钟，戚永锋、黄娟、胡春梅、张卫东则需6~7分钟，潘大成、黄山四个纯新手就要12分钟以上。

It's like Chen Jiazhi is getting three hands on the vegetables, while the others can only get one or two. They're inevitably getting anxious, and the more anxious they get, the more chaotic things become.

Chen Jiazhi could only keep emphasizing that there was no rush.

...

A car stopped in the dam area, and a man and a woman got out.

Xu He glanced around, pointed in a direction, and said, "Chen the vegetable farmer is over there, harvesting vegetables."

Xu Wenxiang said, "Let's go find him."

When the two arrived in the morning, the entire field was covered with shade netting, making it pitch black and impossible to see anything. Xu Wenxiang, seeing shade netting for the first time, was very curious and inquired about the situation, learning quite a bit in the process. Li Xiu, who was strolling in the vegetable field, spotted the two earlier. "Jiazhi, that woman came again this morning!"

Chen Jiazhi looked up and saw a man and a woman walking towards the field.

The man was Xu He, and the woman was dressed in pure white, with an ethereal air.

He didn't move, but continued to collect the vegetables in his hand, put them into the vegetable basket, and then got up.

Xu Wenxiang looked at the lush green vegetables with slight surprise.

Xu He asked, "The food is good, isn't it?"

"It's not bad," Xu Wenxiang nodded, her expectations for Chen Cai Nong, whom she had long admired, had only grown.

Xu He felt somewhat honored, and then, seeing Chen Jiazhi stand up, he called out loudly.

"Boss Chen~"

"Mr. Xu."

Since the visitor was a guest, Chen Jiazhi took out a cigarette, lit one for Xu He, and lit one for himself before asking.

"Is Mr. Xu worried about the quality of the vegetables? He came to the field to conduct random checks again?"

Feeling a little embarrassed by the revisiting of the past, Xu He began to introduce the people around him.

"This is Ms. Xu Wenxiang, the general manager of Spruce Hotel. She has something she'd like to discuss with you."

Chen Jiazhi also glanced at Xu Wenxiang a few times. Li Xiu was right; she was a beautiful woman, and looking at her too much could easily make one's mind wander.

Xu Wenxiang nodded to him, and was also looking him over.

He is tall and slightly thin, but his arm muscles are very defined and his tanned skin is quite attractive. He also appears calm and composed.

Chen Jiazhi said, "I still need to harvest the vegetables. Let's talk here."

"Then I'll tell you straight."

Xu Wenxiang smiled and stood there calmly.

“I have partnered with someone to build a vegetable market, which covers about 600 or 700 acres, but it has been poorly managed. I would like to ask you to be my long-term technical consultant.”

Chen Jiazhi was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at Li Xiu, who nodded affirmatively.

"Wasn't it supposed to be the farm manager?"

"Would you agree to become the site manager?"

"will not."

"What if there's a high commission?"

"I still can't."

“You see, that’s why a technical consultant is more suitable,” Xu Wenxiang said with a calm smile.

At first, she didn't pay much attention to Chen Cai Nong. He was just a small vegetable farmer from a small area, but he had some real skills. Inviting him to manage a large vegetable market should have been a piece of cake.

However, she has been learning about Chen Jiazhi over the past few days, and the more she learns, the more surprised she becomes.

After visiting the vegetable garden this morning, my understanding of the world was completely broadened.

Chen, a vegetable farmer, has more than ten acres of land, and the vegetables are more plentiful than expected. His daily income is estimated to be six or seven thousand yuan, and his monthly gross income is one or two hundred thousand yuan!

They've also rented a lot of new land, showing their considerable ambitions.

How do you pay someone like that?

It can't be opened.

This will only cause more internal conflicts.

Chen Jiazhi exhaled a puff of smoke and chuckled softly. This woman changes very quickly!
Technical guidance?
He's got a wealth of knowledge now, why would he easily reveal it?

Chen Jiazhi shook his head and pointed to the vegetable field.

"As you can see, I've been very busy lately. I have to harvest vegetables and cultivate new land, so I haven't had any free time."

Xu Wenxiang said, "It's okay. When you have time, just let Xu He know, and I'll have someone drive over to pick you up. Our market isn't far; it's next to Panyu."

"Oh? Where?"

"Nansha, near Jiaomen Waterway."

Chen Jiazhi was stunned for a moment. This location seemed familiar. After thinking about it, he realized that the company he used to work for seemed to have a base there as well.

Xu Wenxiang then asked, "How about it, Mr. Chen? From now on, you just need to visit often, and you'll receive a fixed technical guidance fee every month, depending on the situation."

"You run a hotel, right?"

"Ah."

"Why did you decide to run a farmers' market?"

Xu Wenxiang smiled calmly, "Firstly, we want to directly supply spruce trees, and secondly, we want to supply vegetables to Hong Kong. Our hotel shareholders also have chain restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau, and the vegetable prices in Hong Kong are very attractive."

How much does bok choy cost now?

"It costs about 15 yuan per jin (500g), and even more for better quality."

Chen Jiazhi was stunned, realizing for the first time that vegetable prices in Hong Kong were currently high, and he was somewhat lost in thought.

Heiwa's profits are really high!

Seeing that he was lost in thought, Xu Wenxiang smiled and said, "If the Jiangxin vegetable market can be established and a channel for supplying Hong Kong can be opened, perhaps Mr. Chen's vegetables can also be sold in Hong Kong."

Running a vegetable market isn't that difficult. You can't grow vegetables in the summer, but it's still quite easy to produce them in the autumn and winter.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi didn't care much about the technical consultant. He would ask the consultant if he had time to, and ignore him if he didn't.

The other party had simply left him a trap.

But thinking about it, it seems a bit too far-fetched. The two sides are not evenly matched, so it's more practical to focus on making money first.

"We'll see. I can go to Jiangxin Market again when I have time, and I'll waive the fee."

Xu Wenxiang was also stunned, somewhat surprised. How could she have endured this?

"also."

"Alright, I have to get back to work now. Next time, you can have Xu He tell me about this kind of thing."

"It's mainly because of your reputation. I was also very curious. Now that I see it, it lives up to the name. Good-looking guys produce good dishes."

Xu Wenxiang smiled, her smile bright and captivating, before turning and leaving.

Chen Jiazhi glanced at Li Xiu, shrugged, and looked completely innocent. "Is it wrong to be handsome?"

(End of this chapter)