1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 149 Summary
The room was brightly lit. Li Xiu put the money she had sorted out back into her bag, and when she looked up, she saw Jia Zhi sitting at the table writing again.

It wasn't breakfast time yet, but she went over to take a look.

She initially thought he was writing a plan, but it turned out he was reviewing and summarizing. After watching for a while, she quietly turned around and went to the stove to chat and laugh with Chen Jiafang.

Chen Jiazhi was still engrossed in making statistics.

The reflections he made after planting vegetables were a habit he had developed over many years. Although later generations relied on luck to plant vegetables, they did not blindly rush into things.

All farmers can do it simply by relying on experience, which is why there are so many good and bad years in agriculture.

A bad market this year might be a good market next year; even city dwellers know this pattern.
The more people know about it, the less money you earn, until you lose money, and the more you lose, the more you lose.

Therefore, it is necessary to record and analyze the data, as patterns and business opportunities are hidden in the market records year after year.

Chen Jiazhibo profited handsomely from the market after the typhoon, expanding both his capital and land holdings.

I was certainly very excited.

But everything in the world needs a balance of yin and yang. Money keeps him excited, but it also consumes the joy of his gains.

Both he and Lee Soo experienced this: from initial fervor to the joy of breaking records, and finally to a state of calm acceptance.
The intense work over the past ten days or so had taken its toll on him, but fortunately, this sharp and prolonged market rally had come to an end.

Call ~
Chen Jiazhi let out a breath, put down his pen, looked at the compiled records again, and his gaze fell on the last summary item.

2920 jin of premium Chinese cabbage, 5095 jin of regular Chinese cabbage, and 4482 jin of transplanted Chinese cabbage.

The total weight of the bok choy was 12497 jin, which was 1247 jin more than his pre-typhoon estimate of 11250 jin.

The rest of the crops included 4324 jin of mustard greens, with another 400-500 jin still remaining in the field.

3640 jin of Chinese kale were harvested, and the batch sown can yield more than 1,000 jin. The seedlings in the plug trays will be grafted soon.

The amount of food produced was quite considerable, and a total sales revenue of 62411 yuan was generated.

The estimates were all underestimated.

But all his efforts were worthwhile; there were no major problems in the management process, pests and diseases were under control, and the amount of rotting was minimal.

That's how they managed to keep the dishes running smoothly.

Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and Ao Deliang have also made good progress. They have begun to have their own understanding of how to better deal with summer pests and diseases, and are no longer just machines that can only work.

However, there is still a big problem.

The climate was ultimately unsuitable, and no amount of facilities and technology could compensate for it. The quality of the vegetables grown was still poor, and he himself had been eating very little bok choy lately.

The quality of the next batch of vegetables will be the same, or even decline further.
The current severe shortage of vegetables is the reason why there's no worry about sales; this method should remain popular for the next two or three years. However, in the long run, a change in thinking is necessary...

"Jiazhi, are you still going to eat breakfast?"

"Eat! They sell out quickly in the morning, so if you don't eat, you'll be starving."

"Hurry up, I'll pick out the noodles for you."

When Chen Jiazhi put down his notebook and went to the kitchen, the noodles had already been prepared. It was a large bowl full of noodles, with a meat sauce made of lean pork, carrot cubes, and soybean paste on top. In the middle were white noodles, and at the bottom were a few blanched green vegetables. The layers were distinct, but there was just too much of it.

"Wow, Xiu, you made me so much noodles, how am I going to finish it all?"

"Why can't you finish eating?!" Chen Jiafang chimed in, "Young man, you're at the age where you're growing, you should eat more. Look at you these days, you've gotten so dark and thin. If your parents see you like this, they'll say we've let you down."

"How could that be?"

“Why not?” Chen Jiafang said, “Li Bin should have delivered the letter too, but I don’t know how things are at home now.”

Thinking about it, Chen Jiafang suddenly felt quite hopeful. How many people would believe in Jiazhi's current changes?

Chen Jiazhi remained silent, picked up the basin, and went into the room, where he saw Yi Long still sleeping soundly in bed.

"Xiaolong, get up and eat noodles. Your mom made minced meat noodles, they smell delicious."

"I will not eat."

Yi Long opened his eyes a crack, then closed them again.

The young man has been staying up late a lot lately, but he's still a teenager and gets sleepy a lot.

Yi Dinggan, who was eating noodles at the front door, turned around and shouted, "Get up and eat your noodles! If you can't get up like this, you won't be going to sell vegetables with your uncle tonight."

"I'm going."

Yi Long mustered all his strength to reply, still feeling a bit weak, but he managed to stand up. Just then, Chen Jiafang brought out the noodles for him.

"Eat first, then sleep."

Now that everyone in the room knows that Yi Long is saving money to buy a bicycle, he is even less likely to give up halfway.

He then brought a basin of noodles and sat down at the door with Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan, eating noodles and listening to the radio.

"This noodle soup with minced meat sauce smells amazing!"

"If it smells good, eat more. Is that enough? If not, I'll share some with you."

"That's enough, that's enough. Uncle, you can eat by yourself. You need to gain some weight too. You're not as handsome as you used to be."

"..."

Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but touch his cheek. It was alright, but upon closer reflection, he realized that since the beginning of summer, the older women who came to the market to buy vegetables hadn't been as enthusiastic.

Is the trend of "pretty boys" starting to take hold now?
After finishing the bowl of noodles with gusto, Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan asked Yi Long to take the bowls and chopsticks to the back, and then started smoking.

A short while later, Li Mingkun and Guo Mancang also arrived.

The group discussed the situation in the fields.

Li Mingkun was the main one asking questions; he had invested a lot in this batch of vegetables, including small greenhouses, shade nets, and fertilizer.
He reinvested almost all the money he earned in the early stages; given his personality, it was a huge investment, and he was very anxious and worried.
Therefore, everyone wanted to get to the bottom of things. In comparison, Yi Dinggan and Guo Mancang invested more time and effort, and also asked about details from time to time.

These are all old news, and Chen Jiazhi has nothing to hide. Knowing something doesn't necessarily mean you can do it; putting knowledge into practice is never easy.

But if it were someone else, like at Jiangxin Market, he definitely wouldn't say anything.

After chatting for a while, Li Xiu also washed the dishes and came out with a plastic basin, ready to follow Chen Jiazhi to inspect the fields.

Chen Jiazhi didn't dare to delay any longer; after arranging work, he also had to go to driving lessons.

You can actually be lazy and don't have to patrol the fields every day, but this is all about persistence, just like signing in, it requires accumulating day by day.

"Wang Wang~"

The two dogs were even more enthusiastic than people. Running a lap around the vegetable field every morning became a must. They were just faster, and in no time, they left Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu behind.

"Jiazhi, the cowpeas will be ready for harvest soon."

"Hmm, maybe two or three more days."

"Let me pick them."

“There are 2.3 mu of cowpeas this time. You can’t pick them all by yourself. Help Deliang and Guihui out. You can chat with them, but don’t tire yourself out.”

Originally, Ao Deliang had two mu of cowpeas, and the 0.3 mu of cowpea land managed by Ao Dehai was also allocated to Ao Deliang, so the total was 2.3 mu.

Rows of neat trellises were covered with green cowpeas, each one bright in color and growing vigorously.

These cowpeas are very good.

It should be even better than the cowpeas from the previous life.

But unlike in his previous life, no one came to watch every day. For Chen Jiazhi, growing good vegetables was now a common occurrence.

Looking at the cowpeas that were gradually becoming round and plump, Li Xiu felt a great sense of relief. With this batch of cowpeas, the income would not be too bad, and she was one step closer to getting Jia Zhi a new car.

In addition to cowpeas, Ao Deliang's field also has 0.5 mu each of kale and mustard greens sown on June 6.19th, which are also the batch being harvested.

In addition, two batches of mustard greens were sown on July 7.14 and July 7.17.

The rest of the land was all open space, which had been tilled. The soil produced by the rotary tiller was very fine and flat, mixed with traces of pig manure.

The prepared furrows were straight and pleasing to the eye. Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but take a second look before noticing that Ao Deliang had strung ropes at both ends of the furrows, with shovels placed beside them. He must have used the shovels to dig furrows along the ropes, and then used a hoe to rake the soil...

He seemed to be deep in thought, and then looked at Ao Deliang's third group again, as if he had a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder!
The two walked on, and the small ditch beside them was full of water. It was hot, and they had stopped the ditch because they needed to water the vegetable fields in the morning. Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu were wearing sandals and occasionally splashed in the water, enjoying the cool water.

The problem is that this dog doesn't like getting wet. Chen Jiazhi thought this wouldn't do. His dog not only needs to be able to patrol the fields, but also play in the water.

"Blackie, Whiteie, come here."

Blackie was clearly stronger, and with a bull-like charge, he pushed Whitey behind him and waddled over to Chen Jiazhi, wagging his tail.

Then Chen Jiazhi threw him into the ditch. Terrified, he tried to climb out, but Chen Jiazhi pulled him back down.

"Jiazhi, what are you doing!"

"Haha... It's okay, the water isn't deep, let it practice."

Li Xiu was both amused and exasperated. Bai Zai cried out twice in fright and dared not come any closer. Hei Zai splashed around a few times and found that the water was not deep, so he was no longer flustered, but there was a strong resentment in his eyes.

After playing around for a minute or two, we arrived near the renumbered 1-7 and 1-8.

1代表第1组，组长敖德海，1-7和1-8则是第1组的7号和8号地，都是1亩左右。

1-7是改编前的6-5和6-6，地里是7月1日播种的菜心0.5亩，7月1日移栽的穴盘苗芥兰。

1-8则是原来的6-7和6-8，地里是7.2日播种的0.5亩菜心，以及移栽的0.5亩西兰花。

The bok choy in sizes 1-7 will be harvested today.

Chen Jiazhi lifted a corner of the insect-proof net and looked at the vegetables inside. The stems and leaves were green, but they were still a bit short, probably less than 10cm tall, but they were thick enough.

This kind of vegetable has a low yield, but customers like it, and there are no other options, so we have to harvest it ruthlessly. After all, we have to be a long-lasting man so that customers can't live without us.

Uh……

Kidding.

The bok choy won't last long.

The next batch of bok choy will be planted between February and June, and will be managed by Qi Yongfeng, the leader of Group Two. It is 1 mu (approximately 0.16 acres) sown on July 10th, and the seedlings have just been thinned.

It's definitely impossible to connect now.

The Chinese cabbage sown on July 7.13, 7.15, 7.17, and 7.19 was also planted in the second group managed by Qi Yongfeng.

Overall, all three groups were running low on vegetables, and each group had a large portion of their open space left to dry.

Chen Jiazhi wasn't in a hurry.

First, establish a stable rhythm and frequency to build a solid foundation. Then, when the time is right, unleash your full potential and sprint forward.
After going around in circles, we arrived at the bitter gourd and loofah field where we were saving seeds.

Li Xiu took a basin to select ripe bitter gourds from the vines to collect seeds, while Chen Jiazhi assigned tasks to the three groups.

“Now that there are fewer vegetables, we need to catch up on the work at hand. Yongfeng needs to hurry up and thin out the cabbage seedlings. After thinning, we should immediately apply fertilizer and pesticides.”

"I don't need to emphasize the land preparation again, right? We can make a little bit every morning and evening."

However, Dehai and Yongfeng could also check out Deliang's land; it's well-maintained, not only up to standard but also aesthetically pleasing.

(End of this chapter)