1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 167 is going well.
Two days later, Yi Long, holding a hook, laboriously dragged a dozen or so recycled vegetable baskets across the ground.

The market was bustling with people, the sounds of transactions, and the constant noise of vehicles, but my mind was preoccupied with the prospect of borrowing a book.

The cost of enrolling in a school outside the local area can only be paid by the parents.

His parents already had a grudge because of his working for his uncle.

Even if my uncle were willing to help, my parents wouldn't agree, especially since my uncle said it wasn't convenient for him to pay for it.

Telling him about his income was just to let him know that the money wasn't much.

In the sweltering summer night, car headlights flashed intermittently, and the heat did not subside after a rain shower or two.

The vegetable basket made a screeching sound as it scraped against the ground.

Sweat kept dripping from my face and arms, but now that I have ten yuan a day, I can bear the soreness in my arms.

The market is full of all kinds of people, including deliverymen like him, as well as porters who work even harder.

A large truck was parked on the side of the road, its cargo filled with sacks of potatoes.

The shirtless porters carried sacks, their faces distorted by the weight.

After walking a few more steps, I encountered another vegetable deliveryman. He looked much older than me, was also shirtless, and was pushing a cart filled with bags of vegetables of all sizes.

As they passed each other, he glanced at them a few more times, his teeth clenched tightly, clearly struggling.

"Hey kid, is your bok choy still 50 yuan a piece?"

As he was engrossed in pulling his vegetable basket, a middle-aged woman called out to him from the side of the passageway. He paused for a moment before realizing she was talking to him: "Yes, 50 yuan a piece. Do you want to buy some?"

The woman stood with her hands on her hips and pointed to several bamboo baskets on the stall behind her, which also contained cabbage hearts.

"My bok choy is 9 cents a pound. If you buy it, you can double the price by reselling it. What do you think?"

"You fat hag, you're blind as a ghost, do you think I'm stupid!"

After speaking in his local dialect, Yi Long walked past the stall, which had the number 60 written above it.

My uncle is really something. He charges twice as much as others, and he still manages to sell out his vegetables every day. Although it's been much slower than before, he still manages to sell them all.

27 pieces of bok choy every day, if each piece costs 5 yuan more, that's an extra 135 yuan a day. If each piece costs 20 yuan more, that's an extra 500 yuan a day!

They're both bok choy, yet the difference is so huge.

Everyone said the market was getting worse, but my uncle seemed unaffected and continued to sell as usual, even raising the price once in the middle.

He personally experienced the price increase process and saw the changes in those buyers. They were clearly hysterical and very resistant to the price increase, but in the end, most of them still chose to accept it.

This was a wonderful experience.

Before I knew it, I was back at the stall. There was a pedicab there, loaded with baskets of vegetables.

"Xiaolong, take a break. I'm going to deliver some goods. Someone's coming to pick up some vegetables. Just write it down in your notebook and collect the money."

"okay."

Yi Long actually wanted to offer to deliver it, but his arms were a bit tired, and he can't ride a bike.
I spent almost a month in the market and got to know many people, including vegetable deliverymen. We chatted occasionally, and I even learned about their wages.

400 yuan a month, which is much higher than his.

At first, he was a little indignant, but the other party jokingly asked him how long he worked in a day.

They have to work from dawn till dusk, at least ten hours a day, delivering several tons of vegetables, in order to earn this income.

Yi Long pondered in his mind.

Aside from the time spent traveling to and from work, the shortest he ever worked was only half an hour, yet he still earned 8 yuan.

Today's workday was relatively long, but it seems like he only worked for two or three hours. He delivered more than half of the goods, but the total was only about 1,000 jin of vegetables. He delivered at most 500 or 600 jin, and the rest were delivered by his uncle.

I can get 10 yuan today.

But this is not because of his value, but because someone is taking care of him.

"Kid, where are your parents?"

Yi Long looked up and saw a regular customer. "He's delivering vegetables. How much do you want today? I'll bring it to you later."

"One head of bok choy, I'll take it with me."

"50 dollars."

"It's time to lower the price. Tell Mr. Chen not to just raise prices, but to lower them when necessary, since there are more vegetables available now."

Yi Long silently accepted the money, served the dishes to the customer, and then picked up the notebook placed on the vegetable basket to take notes.

A pen was placed in the middle of the notebook, and when opened, the most recently written page was displayed.

Yi Long glanced at it and immediately felt that it was very difficult to put pen to paper.

He flipped through the pages again; each page was neat and orderly, with clear and beautiful handwriting.

His scrawled handwriting looked like it would taint the content that came before.

"Never mind, I'll wait for my uncle to come back and write it."

Without realizing it, he thought of studying at a school in a different school. If he couldn't read and write, what else could he do?
Do you want to do business?

Doing business also requires literacy and accounting skills. Most people who buy or sell vegetables carry small notebooks and pens.

Do you grow vegetables?
But after seeing how my uncle grows vegetables, I lost all interest in the old man's methods.

One is a genuine vegetable farmer who earns a meager living through hard labor; the other is an educated vegetable farmer who makes money as fast as a train.

Oh, there's another option: play at home. That's what Mom and Dad think.

He also wants to keep playing.

But can you buy a bicycle if you want to play?

Can I buy it myself?
Making money seems to be an addiction. He earns eight yuan a day, and now it's ten yuan. Once he gets his money today, he will have saved up two hundred yuan.

I'm old enough to be picking out a new bicycle.

Thinking about this, he became a little excited, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

"Kid, what's on your mind that makes you so happy? Where's Boss Chen?"

Another guest has arrived; he looks unfamiliar and isn't a regular.

"He went to deliver vegetables."

"How much are the bok choy today?" "Still 50 yuan per piece."

"That Chen vegetable farmer is really something else!"

The person who came was somewhat gritted his teeth after hearing the price. Yi Long thought the deal was off, but the other party still wanted one.

"A deposit of 20 yuan is required for the vegetable basket."

"what?"

"It will cost you 70 yuan in total, with a 20 yuan deposit for the vegetable basket. The deposit will be refunded after the basket is returned."

"I won't give it to you."

"Not for sale."

"Screw you, I'm not buying anymore!"

"If you don't want to buy it, fine. There's only one piece of bok choy left anyway."

The man turned to leave, and Yi Long was just about to sit down when he saw the man, who had walked seven or eight meters away, turn back and take out money.

"This is the first time I've ever felt so pathetic buying groceries!"

Yi Long was not intimidated by the other party's imposing manner; on the contrary, he felt a sense of exhilaration.

No matter how much you whine and plead, in the end you still obediently pay up, don't you?
After receiving the money, Yi Long picked up the notebook and was once again caught in a dilemma. It was neither good to write it down nor good not to write it down. If another person came, he would forget it.

Why hasn't my uncle come back yet?

I'm feeling a little panicked being alone!

After hesitating for a moment, afraid of forgetting, he still made a mark in his notebook with both drawings and writing.

Even I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it.

...

After returning the pedicab to stall number 6, Chen Jiazhi went to the corner of the temporary alleyway.

After having a cigarette and chatting with Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang, he wandered around for a bit and then returned to stall number 56.

The market is experiencing a shortage of vegetables, but leafy greens are not doing well. Vegetables that can be stored for a long time, such as cowpeas, bitter melons, and loofahs, are priced higher than leafy greens.

The reasons are complex.

Firstly, vegetable production has gradually resumed after the typhoon, leading to an increase in supply.

Meanwhile, the ongoing pesticide residue poisoning scandal in Hong Kong has suppressed the demand for leafy vegetables.

Furthermore, their appearance is worse, they don't keep well, and they have a higher rate of spoilage, all of which are suppressing demand in the catering industry.

However, the latter two points actually became Chen Jiazhi's advantages.

Regarding pesticide residues, the customer base is stable, consisting of the same people for a long time. If problems were going to occur, they would have occurred long ago, so the word-of-mouth effect is quite significant.

And its advantages in storage are even greater.

Even if ordinary retail investors are quality-conscious, they cannot meet Chen Jiazhi's standards.

Bamboo baskets are the most common means of transportation. It is common for a basket to hold fifty or sixty kilograms of vegetables, which are easily perishable.

Handmade methods won't work either; mixing large and small items together will result in a higher wastage rate.

Cantonese dishes are inherently small and exquisite, and the more upscale the restaurant, the higher the rate of vegetable wastage.

And what about him?
Standardized packaging, standardized harvesting, and ice pack-assisted pre-cooling measures greatly reduce losses during the process.

The quality is also highly regarded.

For high-end restaurants, this saves a lot of trouble.

So the poor market conditions didn't apply to him; it was just that the price increase made some customers unhappy, slowing down the sales of vegetables.

It will be a bit more strenuous.

But it's worth it.

If the price of a piece of bok choy increases by 5 yuan, that's equivalent to an increase of 0.167 yuan per jin (500g). This means an extra 135 yuan in sales per day, and an extra 400 yuan in sales per batch.

The cumulative effect is quite substantial.

Price negotiation is part of the fun in selling vegetables. Every successful negotiation is a pleasure that makes people feel happy and provides more topics for conversation.

Li Xiu also enjoyed listening to these.

"Oh, Uncle, you're finally back! Why did it take you so long to deliver that goods?"

As soon as they arrived at the stall, Chen Jiazhi saw Yi Long scratching his head while holding a notebook.

"I went to investigate the market, so what?"

"I've sold all my vegetables, and you still haven't come back. I'm so bored waiting here all by myself!"

Yi Long gave him the laptop and the vegetables he was selling, and then explained the situation of the next few customers.

Especially the customer who bought the last piece of bok choy, who was clearly so angry that he left but still turned back to get the vegetables, made Chen Jiazhi laugh out loud. He only regretted that he wasn't there.

After Yi Long adjusted the scribbles he remembered, the two of them started packing up.

"Uncle, what have you found out about the market?"

"I've noticed," Chen Jiazhi said. "There have been fewer vegetables coming from other places these past two months."

"Isn't this normal?"

"Then you should keep an eye on whether the number of vegetables from other places increases in another month or two."

"What good is this to you?"

Chen Jiazhi paused, his thoughts drifting further afield. This might be a flaw of reborn individuals: their vision extends far into the future, but it's too far ahead and doesn't align with the present.

Just like these past few days of market research, the more I see, the more I realize how small I am. Opportunities are everywhere, but they only add to my worries.

"Indeed, it doesn't help me much right now."

His momentum is good now, so he should keep it up. There may only be one last wave of price increases before the peak season for leafy vegetables arrives.

(End of this chapter)