1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 168 Scalding Hot
The sweltering heat of August in Guangzhou is unbearable, and if your car breaks down on the road, you'll be surrounded by familiar faces everywhere.

Fortunately, only the drive chain came off.

I had a steel pipe in the car, which I used as a pry bar to reset the car. Then I found a roadside repair shop and had all the necessary parts serviced.

This guy hasn't had it easy with him these past two months; he hasn't had a single day off. If something goes wrong soon, Chen Jiazhi will start to panic.

The mechanic worked for three or four hours before Chen Jiazhi drove home, while Yi Long hitched a ride with Yi Dinggan and went home first.

Even with the wind blowing from the car, I was sweating profusely and felt uncomfortable all over.

Fortunately, after crossing the Luoxi Bridge, the streets were lined with lush vegetation, and the shade under the trees provided him with a moment of coolness.

The blooming crape myrtle and bougainvillea also bring a fragrant aroma.

Around 10 a.m., the tricycle finally drove onto the scorching hot gravel road, making a creaking sound that made people worry about whether the tires would burst.

The vegetable farmers have all returned.

The men, shirtless, sat on the steps, sweating profusely, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans, while melodious music played inside.

Upon seeing him return, Ao Dehai and the others came to help unload the vegetable baskets and place them in a shady spot.

Everyone was complaining about the heat.

Li Xiu also appeared at the window. "Jiazhi, come back and enjoy the fan for a while. Dinner will be ready soon."

Chen Jiazhi wiped his sweat and looked at the glazed tile roof exposed to the direct sunlight. Li Xiu's forehead was also covered in fine sweat; she couldn't be exposed to the fan at this time.

"Wait a minute, I'll put some shade nets on the roof, it's too hot."

Then he looked at the shirtless men and shouted, "Come and lend a hand, put some shade netting on the roof, it will be much cooler. I'll go out and put the netting on."

Chen Jiazhi had wanted to build it before, but he hadn't had the time. After the rain stopped these past two days, the temperature rose sharply, especially today, it was unbearably hot.

The entire house was built without needing even an acre of shade netting; we were prepared in advance.

The men all came to help, each taking a spot, and with the help of bamboo poles, ladders, and ropes, the roof was completed in half an hour.

"Hey, it does seem a bit cooler now."

"Yes, Mr. Chen's method really works!"

"Just like vegetables in the field, if you cover them with shade nets, the temperature won't be so high and the sun won't be so strong."

After the women who had prepared the meal experienced its effects, they all praised it.

This method is not difficult to understand now.

There's a huge black net in the field... well, it hasn't been covered yet. I just rushed out to cover it up.

Covering the vegetable fields with nets is also troublesome; it can't be done too early or too late.

After covering the net with a net, I washed my face, soaked the seeds, and then we ate. The temperature was high, so we ate only light and refreshing dishes.

I had some cooled congee, cucumber salad, steamed fish, and stir-fried bok choy.

At the dinner table, Chen Jiazhi, Yi Long, and Yi Dinggan occasionally shared their experiences in the market, while Chen Jiafang and Li Xiu listened intently.

The two men couldn't help but smile knowingly when they heard about Chen Jiazhi's price increase over the past two days.

Chen Jiafang said, "It's just that your workers were a bit wasteful in harvesting the vegetables. There's still so much left to harvest. This plate of bok choy was picked from the field after yesterday's harvest. It looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

Li Xiu also picked up a piece of bok choy with her chopsticks and said, "It's a bit of a waste. Jiazhi, do you want to tell Yongfeng and the others to pick and sell these too?"

Chen Jiazhi shook his head: "If you pinch these vegetables, they won't look good, and it will be hard to sell them for such a high price."

Li Xiu said, "The dishes all look pretty much the same to me, and they're all good dishes, so they're edible, aren't they?"

Chen Jiafang: "It's 1.7 yuan per jin. At least 100 jin of bok choy can be harvested from one mu of land, which is 170 yuan!"

"That's not how you calculate it. If the vegetables weren't good, even the slightest problem would prevent them from selling for such a high price."

After a pause, Chen Jiazhi looked at Yi Dinggan and said, "Look how much Yi-ge and his team sell their water spinach for per pound."

Yi Dinggan: "Why are you dragging me into this?!"

Li Xiu: "Every little bit helps."

Chen Jiazhi: "The workers won't be able to stand it. They're already harvesting vegetables in the dark at night, and they're expected to avoid wasting a single bit. It's impossible."

After arguing about this issue for a while, Chen Jiazhi still couldn't convince Chen Jiafang and Li Xiu.

The main issue is the perception and traditional concept of saving. Many people just can't stand seeing perfectly good food being wasted.

In his previous life, Li Xiu grew vegetables for decades without ever changing this habit.

When asked to collect and arrange vegetables, she could slip small, thin roots of the vegetables onto the leaves of a bunch of other vegetables. From the front, the vegetable heads looked perfectly normal, but she had secretly added her own fillings. Chen Jiazhi was often complained about by customers.

After eating and smoking, the group of men went to the bathroom to compare sizes before Chen Jiazhi returned to his room.

Little Bean is asleep again.

Chen Jiazhi stared at it for a while, then fell into a deep sleep.

Li Xiu said, "This shade net is really effective. Dou Dou is sleeping much more comfortably now. No wonder we had to cover the cabbage with a shade net at noon."

"Black absorbs heat, but it doesn't prevent rainwater from seeping in."

"What about covering the shade net with a thin film inside?"

"..."

"Can not be done?"

“No.” Chen Jiazhi smiled. “It’s okay for a short time, but not for a long time. The shade net absorbs heat. If the temperature gets too high, the film will be good if it lasts for a year, since it can normally last for two or three years.”

And it's not good for the food either.

After looking at the child for a while, Chen Jiazhi took out his notebook and started flipping through it.

"Watching again? Go to bed early~"

"Watch for a while."

"What are you looking at?"

"The yield of these three batches of bok choy."

"Tell me too, is the production rate decreasing?"

"Yeah, but the income is alright."

Li Xiu lay down on the bed, which was covered with a straw mat, and held a palm-leaf fan in her hand, gently fanning herself from time to time.

The electric fan was pointed at Chen Jiazhi. He then began to explain everything.

"The first batch of bok choy yielded 74 pieces, with a yield of 2220 jin per mu, generating an income of 3330 yuan."

"The second batch of bok choy yielded 68 pieces, with a yield of 2040 jin per mu, generating an income of 3400 yuan."

"The third batch of bok choy was harvested, totaling 62 pieces, with a yield of 1860 jin per mu and an income of 3100 yuan."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiu couldn't help but say, "See? Production is getting lower and lower, and income is also declining."

"...It's good that it wasn't cut in half, since the yield of bok choy is already lower in the summer."

He didn't patrol the fields in the morning, but he had a general understanding of the situation there.

At this stage, the main focus is on stabilizing vegetable production; as long as vegetables are produced, there will be income.

Let's try our luck with one last wave of market activity.

Today is the 7th, and the typhoon in August shouldn't be far off.

Chen Jiazhi is increasingly certain that the last market rally will occur at the end of August or the beginning of September.

These past few days have been a good time for sowing, and quite a few Chinese cabbage have been sown. A batch of Chinese cabbage has been sown on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th.

They need to sow even more densely later on, one sowing a day. Chen Jiazhi calculated on paper that there was enough land to sow from the 7th to the 11th, but not enough after that.

Therefore, Chinese kale planted in mid-July and mustard greens planted in late July must be harvested ahead of schedule.

The final wave of market activity will still focus on Chinese cabbage.

After finalizing the plan, Chen Jiazhi finally put down his notebook, germinated the seeds he had soaked, and then lay on the bed chatting casually with Li Xiu.

Li Xiu said that the workers watered and fertilized the land in the morning, so it was time to apply fertilizer and pesticides.

Chen Jiazhi also mentioned who took how much food and how much they paid today, and said that Yi Long had made great progress and had been a great help.

"Family legacy".

"Ok?"

"I want to go out and work."

"It's only been half a month. Staying at home taking care of the kids is also working. It doesn't necessarily mean going to the fields. There are plenty of people in the fields, so we can manage. Let's rest for a few more days."

"I can only rest for five more days at most. If I rest any longer, people will gossip about me."

"Alright, whatever you say."

"Time to go deposit money again."

"Hmm~"

Were you scared when your car broke down today?

"There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Why don't you go look at cars sometime? You should get your driver's license soon, and if you like one, you can buy it."

"Hmm~"

Have you decided which car to buy?

"This vehicle is primarily designed for carrying more food, so comfort may not be the best."

"It's better not to shortchange yourself."

"I'm fine. I was just worried you might want to go out; sitting here might be uncomfortable."

"It's fine at the market, you can go to sleep now~"

The cicadas chirped incessantly in the afternoon, like a tireless high-pitched trumpet, making it difficult for anyone but the most exhausted to fall asleep.

Li Xiu couldn't fall asleep.

After lying down for a while, he sat up again, holding a palm-leaf fan, looking in front of him and to his side. Both the big one and the little one were sleeping peacefully, making the cicadas outside even noisier.

Sometimes he would get up and walk around, flip through his notes and magazines, and go to the kitchen to cook a pot of porridge in advance.

After the baby woke up, I started nursing and playing with the baby again. The baby didn't cry or fuss, and the soft, cute voice was very gentle. The room remained quiet throughout.

It wasn't until three hours later that it became noisy again, and Ao Dehai and several of his vegetable workers yawned as they went out to remove the shade netting.

But it's still incredibly hot.

After removing the net, she returned to rest and cook dinner. From time to time, there were loud banging sounds. She went to the kitchen, let the cooked porridge cool, and then cooked some vegetables.

When they returned to the room, Jiazhi was still lying on the bed, as if he hadn't noticed anything.

puff puff~ boom boom~
After a while, the roar of the mini-tiller made Li Xiu frown. She looked back and saw that the person on the bed had just turned over.

Through the window, she watched Qi Yongfeng push the mini-tiller to the vegetable field and then move back and forth in the field.

The green vegetables were also bathed in the afternoon sun. Jia Zhi said this was called photosynthesis. If the shade net was used for too long, the yield and quality of the vegetables would decrease.

From the height of the sun until the sun sets and the sky is tinged with a faint shadow, the person in bed finally gets up, washes their face with well water, and then hurriedly leaves with the seeds.

The vegetable garden has come alive again.

The roar of farm machinery, the vibrant green of vegetables, the stooped backs of workers, flocks of birds in flight, and dogs running wild.
For three days in a row, the scene was almost identical, as if time had stood still.

But seeds will sprout, seedlings will grow, mature vegetables will be harvested, and the vacated land will be cultivated again and again.

Time cannot be frozen for even a moment.

Li Xiu thought of the camera Jia Zhi had mentioned. The camera could freeze time, but she had been meaning to buy it for a long time and hadn't had time to do so.

The same applies to cameras and televisions.

He said he would go look at the car, but he didn't go.

When I urge him, he says he'll wait for it to rain, then he'll have time to rest, and then he'll go look at cars.

The money kept increasing, and by the end of the day, the family had accumulated another 18,000 yuan.

When asked to deposit money, they said they would wait for it to rain.

There was no sign of rain from the heavens; the air was scorching hot, and the already dark-skinned vegetable farmers looked even darker.

Only she looked a bit fairer.

(End of this chapter)