1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 173 The Chinese Cabbage Breeder at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Chen Jiazhi was just making a casual bluff, but unexpectedly, Boss Hu left after saying a few vague words.

Bell peppers and tomatoes have been hard to find lately, but Mr. Hu can get a truckload every few days. His products are fresh and the prices are reasonable; he's the type who quietly makes a fortune.

The source of its goods is very mysterious.

It now seems possible that it's in Qingyuan.

But Qingyuan is a big city, so even if they knew, it wouldn't be of much use; it would only scare them.

After returning to stall number 57, Mr. Hu realized that the other party was likely bluffing him, and he wiped his sweat.

His wife asked, "What's wrong, Lao Hu?"

Old Hu lit a cigarette and looked at the light truck across the street. It was very long, and its rear end almost reached the entrance of the passage.

"Boss Chen is amazing!"

“You said before that he was just a small vegetable farmer, at most earning a little money from the hard work of farming.”

"But now that his car is here, he can go either way, and he can easily switch businesses to focus on wholesale."

"It won't affect us either."

He said he wanted to go to Qingyuan to find goods.

"..."

After the whole story was explained, Mr. Hu was nagged about it all night.

"Why did you have to go and say such things!"

……

Stall number 56.

"We saved up all this money to buy you this car." Old Wu counted out 215 yuan and gave it to Chen Jiazhi, then touched the partition of the car body with deep emotion.

"Four or five months! I, Lao Wu, have witnessed your rise from a small vegetable farmer riding a bicycle to now driving such a big light truck. I've never been absent whenever you had vegetables!"

"Me too," Curly added from the side. "I was there when Boss Chen was selling bok choy."

377 smiled and said, "I met Boss Chen not long ago. When I first took a look at him, I thought he had a good face and would make a name for himself sooner or later."

"I heard that Mr. Chen also had a son. What a double blessing!"

None of them were in a hurry to leave today; instead, they stayed put and started chatting.

Chen Jiazhi was happy to chat with them more, and asked Yi Long to get some cigarettes from the car. Chen Jiazhi handed out two cigarettes to each of them.

After smoking a cigarette, Old Wu took the vegetables and left, and the vegetable selling resumed.

"One serving of bok choy today."

"55 dollars."

"One piece for me, and another 20 jin of cowpeas."

"Total 91 yuan."

As they became more proficient, Chen Jiazhi and Yi Long's teamwork became increasingly seamless and efficient.

Business seems to be better than usual today, probably because it rained in the afternoon and local farmers have very few leafy vegetables.

Chen Jiazhi's bok choy simply isn't enough to meet demand.

"Boss, we're out of bok choy today."

Don't you still have two more?

"It was reserved for someone else; the money was paid yesterday."

"You sold out such a big truckload of vegetables so quickly?!"

The man in front of me had a somewhat fierce look on his face. He was shirtless and had a tiger tattooed on his right chest. He looked unfamiliar and was probably visiting this market for the first time.

Chen Jiazhi said somewhat awkwardly, "There aren't enough vegetables today, so the truck isn't full."

"Okay, I'll come earlier tomorrow."

The man left again, thinking that even if the truck wasn't full, there should be a lot of vegetables, and if he came early tomorrow, he should be able to make it in time.

Only two pieces of bok choy remained, which were reserved for Xu He. Yi Long also went to deliver the vegetables. Chen Jiazhi then propped himself up on his hands and sat down in the carriage. He then took out his satchel and began to sort through the banknotes.

There were quite a few loose change in the bag, but the total amount wasn't much; the majority of it had been spent when buying the car.

There were only some loose change left in my pocket.

I calculated that I made 1470 yuan today, which is not bad compared to usual. It's not easy to maintain a daily income of more than 1000 yuan.

However, compared to his car, it looks rather shabby.

The complaints from Yi Dinggan, his two colleagues, and the customers were all valid. Such a large truck carrying so little food was indeed a waste of transport capacity.

But Chen Jiazhi wasn't in a hurry.

Earning over a thousand yuan a day is quite a lot. He's not just making a profit from the price difference; his gross profit is much higher than that of wholesalers.

He roughly estimated that with his high-investment approach, the total cost would be calculated by breaking down all the expenses, including labor, land rent, fuel, stall rent, electricity, vehicles, small arched sheds, insect nets, water pumps, micro-tillers, power cords, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, driver's license, rent, and living costs.
The daily cost fluctuates between 700 and 900 yuan.

Earning thousands a day is a sure-fire way to make money without any losses.

Currently, the daily income is over 1400 yuan, and the profit is still quite high.

Besides, he's currently experiencing a low point in his vegetable production, but by the end of August, his vegetable output will increase again.

If we catch another wave of market activity, it will be another huge harvest.

If we can prepare another batch of vegetables steadily in the fall, and then try our luck again during the cold snap at the end of the year, then this year will be a complete success.

While I was thinking, I heard the sound of a vegetable basket scraping against the ground. I looked up and saw Yi Long dragging a vegetable basket as tall as a person back home.

A bald man was also following beside him.

Chen Jiazhi jumped out of the car and said, "Boss Xu, you've finally arrived. I almost didn't get to save these two dishes for you."

Xu He hummed in greeting, seemingly absentminded. His gaze swept back and forth across the light truck before he asked, somewhat dazedly, "How much?"

"Today's total is 110 yuan."

How much is the car?

"Oh, sixty or seventy thousand."

Xu He's expression suddenly changed again: "This piece of junk costs sixty or seventy thousand. You might as well buy an Isuzu. Vegetables supplied to Hong Kong are all made in Isuzus, and they can even be converted into refrigerated trucks."

“A basic Isuzu light truck from a joint venture company starts at least at 12 yuan, and a better one goes for 20 yuan.” Chen Jiazhi suppressed the urge to complain. “If you buy more groceries, maybe I can change my truck sooner next time.”

"..."

After paying, Xu He said, "Jiangxin Vegetable Market has invited vegetable experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences to provide guidance tomorrow. Mr. Xu would also like to invite you to attend and have some tea together."

Is the vegetable market preparing for autumn planting?

"Yes, it'll be soon, so we've asked some experts to take a look. Also, we're still looking for a new site to build the base, but we're short of management personnel."

In fact, both he and Xu Wenxiang thought that Boss Chen was a very suitable candidate, but unfortunately they could not get him.

Chen Jiazhi thought about it and decided that it would be good to get in touch with the experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He didn't have such connections in his previous life, so he agreed.

"By the way, which expert is it?"

"His name seems to be Peng Qian. He's an expert in Chinese cabbage research. He just returned from Gansu and was invited here by General Manager Xu."

Chen Jiazhi's name sounded familiar; he must have heard it somewhere before.

What time is tomorrow?

"Around eight in the morning, it's not so hot earlier."

"Okay, I'll be there on time. Please thank Mr. Xu for me."

"Hey, why don't you thank her in person tomorrow? But if you really want to thank her, becoming a farm manager is much better than just talking about it."

"I can't be in two places at once!"

...

The next morning, four people were sitting in a black sedan.

Xu He was driving, with a young man in his twenties in the passenger seat and a man and a woman in the back seat.

The woman is Xu Wenxiang.

The man was a gray-haired fellow named Peng Qian, a retired researcher from the Municipal Academy of Agricultural Sciences who was rehired.

It was still early, the dew was still wet, and a light mist still hung over the river in the distance.

Get out of the car,
Xu Wenxiang said, "Mr. Peng, I'll have to trouble you again this time."

On the way here in the car, Peng Qian also heard about what Jiangxin Vegetable Market has been going through over the past year, and it's been quite tragic.

"It's not too troublesome. Growing Chinese cabbage is relatively simple, and summer planting isn't difficult either. It's just that I've given you advice, and you still need to find someone to carry it out."

Peng Qian's attitude wasn't exactly friendly, after all, he was quite old and had just returned from Gansu. He hadn't even had a chance to rest before Xu Wenxiang came knocking on his door through connections.

Xu Wenxiang: "I know, it's almost autumn, and the vegetable market needs to prepare for autumn and winter production, so I asked you to come and take a look."

After a pause, Xu Wenxiang added, "In addition, I also invited another person today. He is a small-scale vegetable vendor, but he is very good at growing bok choy. I will ask Mr. Peng to help him check it out later."

How small is the scale?

"Several dozen acres of land."

Peng Qian frowned and reminded him, "This is a large vegetable market covering hundreds of acres; it requires some management skills."

Xu Wenxiang smiled and said, "So I'll have to ask you to help me check it out later."

"Let's see how it goes first," Peng Qian said, sounding a little impatient. "I can't guarantee anything."

Then, Peng Qian led Zhang Hua around the market, with Xu Wenxiang and several market managers following behind.

Peng Qian has been breeding Chinese cabbage for over 30 years and has a thorough understanding of the local natural environment.

We walked and looked around, and talked as we went.

After listening, Xu Wenxiang felt that what he said made perfect sense.

I couldn't help but compare myself to Chen, the vegetable farmer. Theoretically, Peng is stronger; he can rattle off crop characteristics off the top of his head.
They talked in the field for about half an hour before turning back.

A light truck also entered the market.

Xu He came to Xu Wenxiang's side and said, "Chen Cai Nong is here. That light truck is his new one."

Xu Wenxiang paused for a moment, then glanced at the truck again. "Go and pick it up."

Before long, Chen Jiazhi arrived in front of the crowd, and Xu Wenxiang introduced them to each other.

"These are Professor Peng and Researcher Zhang Hua from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and this is Mr. Chen, who specializes in growing Chinese cabbage."

After observing the old man and the young man for a moment, Chen Jiazhi quickly stepped forward to shake hands.

I'm sure I didn't mistake someone else for someone else.

The latter, Zhang Hua, is a young man now, but he served as the head of the Municipal Academy of Agricultural Sciences for many years and was also an expert in leafy vegetable breeding.

He was acquainted with his future boss in Shanghai and gave them seeds several times for free to conduct trial plantings at their vegetable market.

"Hello, Mr. Peng, I've long admired your name!"

Hello, Teacher Zhang.

Peng Qian also sized up the young man in front of him. He was a bit dark-skinned, but his smile was very sincere, which inexplicably made Peng Qian feel very good about him.

"You seem to have heard of me before?"

"It's not just me; there are practically no professional Chinese cabbage growers across the country who don't know you!"

Chen Jiazhi said loudly, "The rapeseed seeds I used this summer were all No. 49 Heart 19."

These are excellent seeds! They not only fill the summer vegetable gap on the tables of people in Guangdong, but also provide a guarantee for our vegetable farmers to grow and produce vegetables!

Peng Qian smiled and waved his hands repeatedly, "That's an exaggeration, that's an exaggeration. I'm not that famous, and there are still many difficulties to overcome in developing the rapeseed seeds."

"That's no exaggeration at all!" Chen Jiazhi said, "Without the variety of bok choy you cultivated, I wouldn't have been able to grow any bok choy this summer."

"Hahaha……"

Peng Qian laughed heartily, but Xu Wenxiang looked surprised. Old Peng had arrived early with a sour face, but Chen Cai Nong had already made him laugh out loud as soon as he arrived.

Judging from the content, it seems to be due to the seed file.

Xu Wenxiang said, "Mr. Peng, Mr. Chen, it's a rare treat for you to come here. Let's go to the tea room and have a cup of tea together."

Before Peng Qian could agree, Chen Jiazhi continued, "Then I must borrow Mr. Xu's place today to properly ask Mr. Peng and Teacher Zhang for advice. To be honest, I also tried to save my seed this year, but all attempts failed."

Peng Qian smiled and said, "Okay, let's go have some tea and chat."

(End of this chapter)