1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 151 Leave Me Some
"Hello, sis, could you help me get these two kinds of seeds?"

As a burly woman passed by, Chen Jiazhi quickly called out to her. The woman, who was initially a little impatient, turned around and glanced at him before becoming much more amiable.

"Handsome, what do you want?"

"Hey, handsome!" Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but laugh. It was a rare way to address someone like that. But looking at the other people who were buying seeds, he felt that calling him "handsome" was perfectly reasonable.

Chen Jiazhi pointed and said, "This is Dali lettuce, and this is Yueyou No. 1 romaine lettuce. Let's take five packs of each first."

The woman first approached and looked at the two kinds of seeds, then said, "There are only 3 packs of lettuce left, do you still want some?"

"want."

"A bag of lettuce costs 15 yuan, and a bag of romaine lettuce costs 5 yuan, totaling 70 yuan. Please pay first."

Chen Jiazhi did not hesitate and immediately began to take out money, but at this moment a middle-aged man with bronze skin walked up.

"Huh~ there are actually people buying this stuff."

The man pointed to the lettuce and said, "Young man, think it over carefully. These seeds are imported from abroad. Not only are they expensive, but they also don't adapt well to the local climate. Anyone who plants them will be unlucky. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been released."

Lettuce was indeed a novelty in those days, and many ordinary people didn't even recognize it.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Brother, you've grown them before?"

The middle-aged man said, "Sigh, don't even mention it. I tried planting it once, but it bolted too easily. And since few people eat this vegetable, it sold slowly. As a result, it all flowered in the field. I advise you not to plant it."

The woman behind the counter said impatiently, "Hey, hey, stop causing trouble. Are you buying or not?"

"purchase."

Chen Jiazhi paid the money, took the seeds, and then asked, "Could you sell me some of the imported 'superior' broccoli seeds?"

"You'll need a letter of introduction from the production team or foreign exchange certificates," the woman added. "But I can sell you marathon broccoli seeds, do you want them?"

"never mind."

Marathon broccoli is considered a representative variety among the first generation of domestically cultivated broccoli seeds.

However, it has many drawbacks, such as small flower heads, light-colored buds, a tendency to turn purple in low temperatures, and thick buds, which made Chen Jiazhi lose interest.

Seeing that Chen Jiazhi wouldn't listen to advice and stubbornly bought the lettuce, the man left muttering to himself.

Chen Jiazhi didn't mind; it was just three packets of seeds, less than 100g in total, and he had originally planned to try planting them first.

Yueyou No. 1 also needs to be tested first. Chen Jiazhi looked at the information on the packaging and found that it had only been promoted for two or three years.

If the trial planting is successful, we can expand the scale; if it is unsuccessful, we can make other plans.

Buying seeds these days is so troublesome; if you're just trying something new, the time cost is very high.

Fortunately, Chen Jiazhi has a memory advantage, and most of the seeds he can remember are good ones.

However, we will not rush to scale up.

Domestic seeds are too complex and have obvious regional characteristics. Most farmers save their own seeds. When the seeds degenerate, farmers exchange seeds with each other or buy self-saved seeds from other farmers at the farmers' market.

The uncertainty is too great.

Local seed companies are much more formalized, but good seeds are still hard to find, and there are still many cases of buying counterfeit or substandard seeds.

Then there are places like Hongzhong, which are also a mixed bag. There are seeds bought from farmers who saved their own seeds, seeds leaking from agricultural technology stations, and even seeds brought in by smuggling.
In short, the seed industry is currently in a state of chaos, a veritable free-for-all. It will be another six or seven years before my country's first Seed Law is enacted, so it is not an overreaction to be extremely cautious when buying seeds during this period.

But the seeds are too important, which is why Chen Jiazhi has a strong desire to preserve them.

Firstly, it can be purified and rejuvenated for production, and secondly, it can be used for long-term breeding trials.

Moreover, the earlier the better, as the earlier the seeds are sown, the greater their advantage will be.

...

Stepping out of the store, sunlight filtered through the leaves overhead, dappling my skin.

Looking at the time, it was already past 12 o'clock. Chen Jiazhi casually found a restaurant, ate a bowl of noodles, put on his straw hat, and rode home.

It was scorching hot at noon in July and August, and the roads were quiet.

Chen Jiazhi drove through the Panyu urban area. The city buildings were not tall. After leaving the city, there were large areas of farmland with crisscrossing rivers. The late rice had just been planted, and there were also many sugarcane fields, all white and lush green.

Chen Jiazhi had heard the news. The state had issued a task for Panyu to ensure 25 mu of rice planting area this year, followed by 14 mu of sugarcane, 7 mu of vegetables year-round, and 9.3 mu of fish ponds.

It truly is a land of fish and rice.

Panyu is great.

But when Chen Jiazhi passed by Lijiang Garden again, he no longer had such a strong desire to buy a house.

A good professional vegetable farmer will not stay in the same place for long.

The previous batch of vegetables was of such low quality that he realized that following the production area and climate was his destiny, just like migratory birds, whose fate was to travel south and north.

We entered the market along the gravel road. It was quiet. Two dogs lay motionless in a shady corner. When Chen Jiazhi returned, he only opened his lower eyelids.

After parking his bicycle at the door, Chen Jiazhi went to the bamboo clothes rack to get a change of clothes.

"Jiazhi, take a break. You've sweated too much; you can't wash properly now."

Hearing the noise, Li Xiu pushed open the door.

Chen Jiazhi turned around and said, "You're not asleep yet. I thought you were asleep, so I didn't come in."

"You're probably sunburnt out. Do you care if I'm asleep or not? This is my own home, you can come in whenever you want." Li Xiu, dressed in loose clothes, stood with her hands on her hips and called out, "Come in quickly, have some water, and let the fan cool you off for a while before you take a shower." "Okay."

Chen Jiazhi put down his clothes, picked up the seeds, and then went inside. Li Xiu handed him an enamel cup filled with boiled water and gulped down a big mouthful.

"Cool!"

"You too, running around outside in this sweltering heat, aren't you afraid of getting heatstroke?"

"They've been in the sun for two or three months already; if they were going to get heatstroke, they would have done so by now."

After drinking water, he sweated even more and faster. Li Xiu took a towel and wiped his sweat before looking at the seeds he had brought back.

"Romaine lettuce? It looks a bit like lettuce tips."

"And what kind of vegetable is this lettuce? Is it eaten raw?"

Chen Jiazhi: “…”

He pondered for a while, unsure how to explain, but felt that Li Xiu's words made a lot of sense; lettuce can indeed be eaten raw.
After chatting with Li Xiu for a while, Chen Jiazhi took a shower and then went to sleep. When he woke up again, the sun had slowly sunk below the horizon, and the sky was tinged with bright red.

When an adult swallow returns from hunting, the baby birds in the swallow's nest under the eaves immediately start chirping incessantly.

Chen Jiazhi stretched, washed his face, and then went to his second sister's house for dinner.

The meal was quite plentiful, including stir-fried bitter melon with eggs, twice-cooked pork, stir-fried cucumber with lean pork, and kale soup.

As soon as Chen Jiazhi sat down at the table, they started eating. They were all hungry, so they focused on eating and filling their stomachs first.

When he was getting his second bowl of rice, Yi Dinggan asked, "Jiazhi, did you go buy seeds again?"

Chen Jiazhi nodded and said, "Yes, I bought some lettuce and romaine lettuce seeds."

"lettuce?"

"It's a variety that was only introduced from abroad a few years ago. I'll buy some to try it out. It might not work well."

"Oh, are you going to plant romaine lettuce next?"

"Let's give it a try first. Also, I plan to find a way to send seeds of Shanghai bok choy back from other places."

Chen Jiazhi wasn't in a hurry to eat. He said, "We might not be able to catch the next crop, but the autumn and winter crops will be here soon. At that time, it will be easier to grow vegetables, so we can try planting some at different times. But bok choy, mustard greens, and Chinese kale will definitely still be the main crops."

If it doesn't work this year, there's always next year. Trying sooner is definitely better than later.

“That makes sense,” Yi Dinggan nodded. “But only if you’re willing to spend the time and money to try it.”

Chen Jiazhi: "It's okay. I'll let you know which seeds work after I've tried them."

Yi Dinggan and Chen Jiafang were both stunned and looked at him with some surprise.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm clear-headed. It's not a big deal. If you want to grow your own vegetables, would I really try to stop you? Of course, I also hope you do better and better."

Chen Jiazhi glanced at Yi Dinggan and laughed, "Do you know what vision is? That's me."

Yi Dinggan didn't continue the joke, but nodded solemnly.

Chen Jiazhi was a little unaccustomed to this atmosphere. For him, sharing and exchanging vegetable growing techniques with his second sister, Yi Ge, was perfectly normal. The only difference was that his skill level was now a bit higher.

"Hey, Yi Long, why are you only eating meat? You should eat more vegetables!"

"Kale doesn't taste good, Uncle, and it's so expensive. You might as well sell it for money. Anyway, people in Guangdong like to eat it."

"Hey kid, let me tell you, there are a lot of benefits to eating kale."

"What are the benefits?" Yi Long put down his empty bowl. "Uncle, tell me about it."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "Can you eat some more vegetables if I tell you to?"

"Never mind then." Yi Long then looked at Yi Dinggan and Chen Jiafang: "Mom and Dad, do you know what the benefits of eating kale are?"

Chen Jiafang grumbled, "I told you to eat vegetables, and you're being picky."

“You guys just don’t understand.” Yi Long turned to Chen Jiazhi again: “Uncle, just tell me.”

Li Xiu looked at him curiously. She had always heard people say that eating kale was good, but no one could explain why.

Chen Jiazhi stopped keeping him in suspense and pondered for a moment before saying, "Firstly, kale contains a lot of vitamin C. Everyone says that spinach is high in vitamin C, but kale has a much higher vitamin C content than spinach. In addition, it also contains a lot of carotene and is one of the popular vegetables in Lingnan that are both food and medicine."

Yi Long: "You're being too formal and I don't understand. Just tell me what the benefits will be."

"you……"

Chen Jiazhi choked on his breath, but upon looking at Li Xiu, Chen Jiafang, and Yi Dinggan, he saw that they also looked bewildered.

He sighed helplessly and said, "You know, it clears heat and relieves summer heat, right? Eating it won't make you feel hot, and it's also good for your eyes. It can prevent cataracts."

What is a cataract?

Chen Jiazhi really wanted to buy a TV, but there didn't seem to be any commercials for cataracts or glaucoma on TV right now.
"Cataracts are an eye disease. We vegetable farmers are exposed to sunlight for long periods of time, so we are more likely to get it than the average person. That's why we should eat more kale. Do you understand now?"

As soon as he said that, Yi Dinggan hurriedly put two stalks of kale into his bowl and then put two more stalks into Chen Jiafang's bowl.

Seeing this, Li Xiu also picked out two for Chen Jiazhi, and Yi Long immediately became anxious.

"Hey, hey, leave some for me."

(End of this chapter)