1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 163 Chen Caixin Returns

"Good morning, Zhao Lao Er! Where did you get so many vegetables today? You're going to make a fortune!"

"What's the point of making a fortune? With the current market conditions, it's good enough if we can sell in time."

"Hey, leafy greens are so popular! Mr. Chen, the owner of stall number 56 across from me, sells out his bok choy in no time every time he gets it."

"That was before. What's the situation these days? Something happened in Hong Kong, and there's news about it everywhere. It's making everyone panic. Not only can we not get a good price, but it's also hard to sell. If things go wrong, the vegetables will rot in our hands. I advise you to stay away from vegetables."

"Afraid I'll steal your business?" Mr. Hu, the owner of stall number 55, laughed. "I used to sell some vegetables occasionally, but since Mr. Chen came, I haven't had that idea anymore. After Mr. Chen comes, I guess your vegetables won't sell as well."

Zhao Lao Er said disdainfully, "You think he can get away with it? Let me tell you, it's the same for him. He won't be able to sell anything he can't sell."

"Really?" Boss Hu smiled. "He seems to have some bok choy on the way today. You can come and take a look later."

It's still early, and the truckload of bell peppers that arrived yesterday hasn't all been sold, so Lao Hu has time to check the market prices.

I took another look at Zhao Lao Er's stall number 60. In addition to bok choy, there were also baby bok choy and water spinach, and the quantities were quite generous.

Old Hu felt there was going to be a good show today; seeing Zhao Lao Er get his comeuppance would be quite amusing.

The pesticide residue incident in Hong Kong has impacted the market for leafy vegetables. Some vegetables from production bases supplying Hong Kong could not be exported and were instead sold domestically, thus increasing the supply.

In addition, mainland consumers also have concerns, given that there have been several poisoning incidents throughout the summer, which directly affected sales.

The purchase price at the farm gate has been halved.

It's a disaster for vegetable farmers, but not necessarily for wholesalers. First, they use pesticide residues as an excuse to drastically lower the purchase price, and then they also lower the price in the market. However, the price difference has widened, and if done well, the profits are even higher.

Zhao Lao Er is a good example. During this period, he has been selling plenty of bok choy, Chinese cabbage, and water spinach every day, and his business is doing well.

After all, no matter how much the issue of pesticide residues is raised, we still have to eat vegetables, and many ordinary citizens may not even be aware of this problem.

Old Hu just felt that Zhao Lao Er's good days were over, and he was just waiting to see how many vegetables would come to stall number 56 today.

On the other side, stall number 60.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Zhao heard what Mr. Hu said, and it would be a lie to say they weren't worried at all.

"Old Zhao, Chen's cabbage is coming, how about we lower the price a bit more?"

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too. Yesterday it was 1.3 yuan per jin, today let's just sell it for 1.2 yuan per jin."

"Keep an eye out, and if you see any regular customers passing by, remember to ask them to come."

"I need you to teach me how to do things?"

After a while, Zhao Lao Er saw a slightly overweight man wearing shorts and sandals pass by and greeted him.

"Boss, look at today's vegetables, they're all dried, not a drop of water has touched them."

377 glanced at it, shook his head, and continued walking forward.

"It's one cent cheaper than yesterday."

377 moved even faster.

Last time I bought his vegetables, they started to rot as soon as I got home. I scolded Zhao Lao Er the next day, but he didn't believe me and took them again. They still rotted. Two days later, Zhao Lao Er assured me again that they were dried and the vegetables hadn't been wet, but they still rotted.

We definitely need some green vegetables today.

But Chen Caixin is coming today, who would be so foolish as to take your vegetables, Zhao Lao Er's?
Zhao Lao Er lit a cigarette and stood outside the stall, not paying any attention to the customer who had just left. But then he inadvertently glanced at him and saw him stop at the other end of the aisle.

That's stall number 56.

He took two steps toward the middle of the passage, and the situation at stall number 56 was immediately clear. Besides the slightly overweight man who had just passed by, there were several other people gathered there.

After looking closely for a while, I realized that these people had taken his vegetables intermittently over the past few days.

His heart skipped a beat, and a bad feeling welled up inside him.

Just then, there was a commotion at stall number 56, and then a tricycle came into the passageway with a white vegetable basket clearly visible on it.

The people waiting in the stall were in a commotion for a moment, but quickly calmed down.

"Old Zhao, what are you looking at?"

"Chen Caixin is here."

"what?"

"Let's lower the price a bit more and sell it for 1 yuan."

Just then, Zhao Lao Er spotted a familiar-looking customer with a large bald head.

"Boss, vegetables, one yuan a pound now."

The monk merely glanced at the vegetables at his stall before striding and running towards stall number 56. He had gone home late last night and overslept, almost missing his appointment, but thankfully he made it in time.

Watching the bald man's agile steps, Zhao Lao Er took another drag of his cigarette and unconsciously walked a few steps to the other end of the passage.

The closer you get, the more you can feel the excitement at stall number 56.

Yet, there is order even amidst the fervor.

Instead of customers scrambling to buy, a handsome young man and a teenager were organizing the sale, mainly bok choy. The bok choy looked good, and the handcrafting was top-notch.

The vegetable baskets were also different from his bamboo baskets; they were all plastic baskets.

The basket of vegetables was only half full, so the young man could easily deliver it.

Before long, the vegetables on the tricycle were reduced piece by piece, and he found out the price: 45 yuan per piece, which is 1.5 yuan per jin, 5 mao per jin more expensive than his.

He doesn't seem to find it particularly difficult to accept.

Just thinking about what I said to Lao Hu makes my face feel like it's being slapped.

That was reckless.

I used to take Chen Caixin for granted, but now, upon closer inspection, the difference is clearly visible to the naked eye.

But it was hard to describe the difference accurately at the moment, and he walked back to his own stall in a daze.

"Old Zhao, how much does No. 56 cost per pound?"

"1 yuan 5."

"Are those people blind? Why would they buy the expensive stuff instead of the cheap stuff?!"

Suddenly, Zhao Lao Er thought of how to describe the difference between his own stall and stall number 56.

It's like comparing your own wife to Faye Wong: one is big and burly, the other is young and beautiful.

If he were asked to spend 10,000 yuan to get married, he would definitely hesitate, but if he could date Faye Wong for 10,000 yuan, he would definitely line up. "Why don't you think of something?"

"What can I do?" Zhao Lao Er shrugged, looked at his wife, and then inexplicably thought of the image of Faye Wong singing with her hand inside the beehive. There was no comparison.

"Chen's cabbage is not plentiful. Once he sells it all, people will naturally come to our place."

...

At stall number 55, Lao Hu served another customer who came out of stall number 56, and he was overjoyed.

But they're selling really fast!

A complete mess... well, actually he didn't see a single scattered vegetable leaf on the ground.

This also means that no customers are complaining.

He glanced at Zhao Lao Er at the other end of the passage. To say that the place was deserted would be an exaggeration, but business was indeed bad.

As soon as Chen Caixin arrived, all the high-quality customers came to stall number 56.

There weren't enough cabbages, and it was clearly not enough to sell. Old Hu also hoped that stall number 56 could last a little longer.

In just a short while, several of the customers who came out of number 56 also took bell peppers from him.

He also wants more high-quality customers!

Unfortunately, it only lasted for half an hour before stall number 56 became completely empty.

...

Chen Jiazhi breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense nerves relaxed.

"Xiaolong, here, go buy two bottles of water."

"okay."

After giving Yi Long a five-yuan note, Chen Jiazhi finally had time to consider the day's events.

It got off to a good start, but not a complete success, and prices were driven down.

A head of bok choy costs 45 yuan, which is still a considerable profit for the current investment.

But before the last batch of bok choy was finished, he sold it for 70 yuan per piece, which meant a loss of 25 yuan in profit per piece, and it still hurt him quite a bit.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, vegetable prices will continue to decline.

Because the water spinach, bok choy, and choy sum that were replanted after the typhoon have been gradually put on the market, and then hit hard by the pesticide residue poisoning incident in Hong Kong vegetables, it's hard for prices not to fall.

However, judging from today's situation, as long as differentiation and quality are achieved, a group of people will flock to it.

However, it will take some time for the buyer to confirm that this batch of vegetables has maintained its usual quality.

Due to natural limitations, it is difficult to grow the highest quality Chinese cabbage in Panyu.

However, most of the dishes of the same quality as his have gone to Hong Kong, and there are not many competitors in the mainland market.

Therefore, he still has room to raise prices against the trend.

After thinking for a while, I also counted today's income: 1575 yuan.

After a period of silence of four or five days, the daily income climbed back above 1,000 yuan.

Yi Long also bought some iced water and handed him a bottle, giving him his change as well.

"Uncle, you sold quite a lot today, didn't you?"

"Not bad." Chen Jiazhi counted out 8 yuan. "Here, your salary, you've saved over a hundred yuan, right?"

"Including today's, it's 136 yuan now!"

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment, then asked in surprise, "You haven't spent a single penny of the salary I paid you?"

Yi Long's eyes widened: "You could even calculate that?!"

Chen Jiazhi: "It's easy to calculate. You received your first day's pay on the 14th, and today is exactly 17 days, so you received exactly 136 yuan in wages."

"..." Yi Long was a little shocked.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Young man, you're quite capable. Not bad, not bad. You're about to achieve your first small goal."

Yi Long smiled too. It felt really good to save money. After resting for a while, he helped tidy up the vegetable baskets.

"By the way, Uncle, what's your little goal?"

"Let's keep a low profile and focus on making a hundred million first!"

"install?!"

"Haha, I'm kidding."

...

The morning light is slightly dew.

Chen Ze dragged a cart full of vegetables to the entrance of the restaurant, then called for helpers to unload the vegetables, one bag after another.

The three white vegetable baskets stacked together on the vehicle were particularly eye-catching.

The man helping to move the goods asked, "Mr. Chen, did you manage to buy bok choy again?"

"Hmm." Chen Ze smiled and said, "The dishes today are alright."

A little while later, Chen Zhenbang also came over to take a look, and he inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the white vegetable basket.

Upon closer inspection, the neatly arranged cabbages are a very pleasing sight.

After daybreak, customers started arriving for morning tea, and occasionally someone would order vegetables. The response was good, and the stored vegetables showed no signs of rotting, which put my mind at ease.

At the same time, Xu He knocked on Xu Wenxiang's office door with several pieces of paper.

"Please come in."

"Mr. Xu, the proposal written by Chen Cai Nong has arrived."

"A plan, not a suggestion?" Xu Wenxiang took the letter and asked in surprise, "You've read it, what do you think?"

Xu He sat down, savoring the moment as if he were still processing it.

I can't say for sure.

(End of this chapter)