1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 185 Expectation
Chen Jiazhi brought a serving of braised cowpeas and rice from home to the doorstep. The house was crowded with people, some sitting and some standing.

The TV was showing a rerun of the classic version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, with the fight scenes being rather stiff and predictable.

He watched for a while, then sat down on the steps again, realizing that having the TV at home was indeed a bit inconvenient.

Yi Dinggan was also watching TV, but after looking at Chen Jiazhi outside the door and hesitating for a while, he still came out with his bowl and sat down next to him.

"Jiazhi, what are you really thinking? Are you really going to Jiangxin Market?"

"Didn't I say this morning that I wanted to go? I don't have time to joke with you. I need to make a decision in the next couple of days." Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment. "You'd better give me an answer by tomorrow morning, otherwise I'll find someone else. It's not like I can't do without you."

Yi Dinggan mimicked his tone in a strange way and muttered, "It's not like I'm indispensable," before going back to watching TV.

Chen Jiazhi figured he should have taken it to heart.

Compared to Ao Dehai and the other two, he actually trusted Yi Dinggan and Li Mingkun more, both in terms of their potential and their relationship.

Leaving aside Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun now has two layers of kinship, and will likely add another one in the future.

Li Mingkun's son, Li Jun, later married Yi Long's cousin, with Li Xiu acting as matchmaker. Perhaps this relationship can continue in this life as well.

On the contrary, Guo Mancang is a bit weaker in terms of relationships, and his wife Zhou Yuqiong is also somewhat unlikable. However, they can still be used, but the key is whether they are willing to do so.

If you really want to go to Jiangxin Market, the more people in your group, the better.

There are more opportunities to practice there, and the scale is larger, so you can grow faster.

Ideally, Yi Dinggan should go with him; the two would have better chemistry, with Chen Jiazhi making the production plan and Yi Dinggan carrying out the specific production tasks.

In this way, he can manage both things.

In addition, it also depends on how well the talks with Xu Wenxiang went.

After finishing his meal, Chen Jiazhi put the bowl back in the kitchen before returning to his room. The vegetable farmers were still engrossed in watching the show. Little Doudou had also woken up. Li Xiu held an empty bowl in one hand and pushed the cradle with the other, but her eyes were glued to the television.

"Give me the child."

"Hmm~"

The television was quite attractive; Chen Jiazhi walked back and forth under the eaves with the child in his arms again and again, while the number of people inside the house remained unchanged.

Many people were still holding empty bowls.

They were similar to the young men and women in later generations who became addicted to video games.

He checked the time and saw it was past midnight, so he went home and started shooing people away. Everyone was reluctant to leave, so he turned off the TV as soon as the episode ended.

"We have a heavy harvesting task today, so everyone should go home and rest early. We'll start harvesting early this afternoon."

Chen Jiazhi picked up another small cardboard box on the bed frame: "I also bought a camera. I'll take two photos of you all for free this afternoon, and then I'll develop them and send them back to my hometown."

One by one, their attention was immediately drawn to what he was holding.

Chen Jiazhi opened it in front of him, and a rather lightweight camera appeared.

"It really is a camera!"

"I'll be taking a break in a couple of days, so I'll take these photos and send them home."

"Should I dress up a bit more to harvest the vegetables this afternoon?"

"Absolutely! Look at what you're wearing, your clothes are covered in mud. It would be so embarrassing to take that picture back!"

The vegetable workers left with smiles and laughter, occasionally discussing what to wear that afternoon.

Li Mingkun asked, "Jiazhi, can you take a couple of pictures for us too?"

“Sure, no problem.” Chen Jiazhi wasn’t short of two rolls of film. “Old Guo, come over this afternoon too.”

Guo Mancang laughed and said, "Okay, okay, then I won't be polite."

Before long, most of the people had left, leaving only Li Xiu, Yi Long, and Yi Dinggan. The three of them watched Chen Jiazhi fiddling with the camera for a while.

Yi Long complained, "Uncle, why didn't you call me when you went out this morning? I should have gone with you to buy the bicycle."

Yi Long has been too busy lately, packing ice packs in the evening and selling vegetables at night. He has become a mainstay in both of these jobs. Occasionally, he also has to help take care of the kids. Yi Long has not had time to buy a bicycle.

I've probably saved several hundred dollars of my salary.

"You were sleeping soundly this morning." Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "After a couple of days off, I'll take you to the city to have some fun, eat KFC, see a movie, and we can buy a car while we're there, okay?"

"Okay, but we can't be scoundrels!" Yi Long asked again, "What kind of chicken is KFC?"

"That's fast food from abroad," Chen Jiazhi said with a smile. "Actually, it's not very good, not as good as Chinese food. I just wanted to let you try something new."

"Okay, okay, we'll eat this."

When it comes to foreign products, not only Yi Long, but also Li Xiu and Yi Dinggan's eyes lit up.

Yi Dinggan asked, "Jiazhi, how come you know so well? Did you secretly go eat there behind Li Xiu's back?"

Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but roll his eyes at him. "I'm not like you, always disappearing. I saw it when I was cycling around the market with Xue Jun last time, and I still remember the location."

Li Xiu glared at Yi Dinggan: "Back, back. Time for a nap, we still have work to do this afternoon~"

The house finally quieted down.

After Li Xiu closed the door, she was still examining the camera when Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Want to learn? I'll teach you."

Li Xiu asked nervously, "Can I?"

"This is for you," Chen Jiazhi said with a smile. "You'll be the main user of it from now on, so take lots of pictures of the market."

"okay!"

After teaching me how to use it for a while, we talked about how much money we spent on these things and where we bought them. Then I fell asleep.

Waking up, I felt refreshed, but also had a disorienting feeling.

This is because they haven't had enough sleep.

But you still have to get up. Almost everyone who works in the vegetable wholesale business year-round has a very annoying alarm clock ring.

However, Chen Jiazhi's family doesn't have an alarm clock; they rely entirely on their biological clock or reminders from others.

Yi Dinggan did have some in his room. He went outside, smoked a cigarette, and washed his face, which made him feel more awake. In the vegetable field, the setting sun cast a rainbow-like glow, and shadows of people were scattered about.

He could vaguely hear a vegetable worker calling him from afar, saying things like, "Boss Chen is awake, it's time to take pictures."

Looking out into the vegetable field, not only were the farmers eagerly waiting, but Yi Long also brought Dou Dou out of the cradle, and two dogs, one black and one white, were lying on the ridge next to them.

Everything is here.

Chen Jiazhi smiled, went home to get his camera, loaded it with color film, put another roll in his pocket, and headed towards the vegetable field. As he stood on the ridge, he shouted, "Time to take pictures!"

"Come here quickly, everyone!"

Where to take the picture? We definitely had to take one in the vegetable field, so Chen Jiazhi went to the middle of the best-growing 1-9 and 1-10.

With light green and blue-green mustard greens as a backdrop, let's take a group photo.

After Chen Jiazhi arrived at his seat, people from all directions gradually arrived, each one dressed quite neatly.

"Everyone stand still. I'll count to three, and you all shout 'cheese' together."

"Jiazhi, why are you shouting 'cheese'?"

"Old Li, why are you asking so many questions? Just shout when I tell you to."

"Can't I just call him cucumber?"

"..."

After a few moments of fuss, the first group photo was finally taken.

Soil, green vegetables, sunshine, and a group of simple vegetable farmers—it's just that without him, the overall aesthetic would be a bit lacking.

So he asked Yi Long to come over and take another picture. After looking at it, he thought it was just right.

Then came the individual photoshoots.

Chen Jiazhi didn't skimp on the film; he took two photos of each couple, and those who finished first hurried off to harvest the vegetables.

Today's task of harvesting vegetables is also very demanding.

When it was Ao Dehai's turn, he asked to have a couple more photos taken so he could send them back to recruit more people.

Chen Jiazhi agreed, so he let him take a couple more pictures next to the light truck and in the yard in front of the accommodation, planning to take another picture of everyone watching TV together and send them back together.

After the shoot, Chen Jiazhi looked through the photos one by one, and most of the time he was smiling, showing his best side.

Only in one or two photos did a few individuals fail to manage their facial expressions.

Among them was Yi Dinggan. Chen Jiazhi decided to keep this photo so that when he got old, he could post it on WeChat Moments. That would definitely be a dark history!

The sky gradually turned gray.

Each bit of joy turned into motivation for their work. The vegetable farmers bent over to harvest the vegetables, and every now and then they would look up with a satisfied smile.

Chen Jiazhi and Yi Long also took Dou Dou home. They put on TV for Yi Long, and then Chen Jiazhi drove off to buy ice.

By the time we got back, it was completely dark.

Small lights, about the size of ping-pong balls, floated around the vegetable field like fireflies.

Occasionally, loud laughter could be heard.

After the temporary workers finished chiseling the ice, Chen Jiazhi went to the vegetable field. Only when he got closer could he hear the conversation of the crowd.

Some people are discussing how good the martial arts movies are at noon, some are saying that taking photos at night is also good, and others are discussing where to go for the holiday in a couple of days.

One said he wanted to go to the city, while the other said he would stay home and watch TV.

Someone else asked who wanted to go to Jiangxin Market, and he also heard Li Xiu's voice, but couldn't make out where she was.

The topic of conversation shifted again once someone noticed Chen Jiazhi's arrival.

"Boss Chen, you've bought a lot of vegetables today!"

"We have 120 packs of bok choy, 70 packs of kale, and 50 packs of mustard greens, making a total of 240 packs, or 7200 jin (3600 catties) of vegetables!"

"I heard that the daily sales reached 16,000 a few days ago. Are you aiming for 17,000 or 18,000 today?"

"How satisfying it must be to collect this money!"

Chen Jiazhi replied with a smile, "Let's not beat around the bush, I'm here today to break the record!"

The data and information from the market are basically transparent to these vegetable workers, and Chen Jiazhi has no intention of hiding it. Now he needs to show some strength so that people will be willing to follow him.

"As expected of Boss Chen!"

"That's very straightforward!"

"The month is almost over, boss. How's your salary and bonus calculation going? I'm waiting to get my money so I can go to the city and have some fun."

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "You'll have to ask Li Xiu about that."

"Where's the landlady?"

"The landlady is collecting vegetables here."

Following the vegetable vendor's voice, Chen Jiazhi also saw Li Xiu, who had just looked up, and heard her say, "Let's just finish this, let's just finish this, we only need to finish today and tomorrow."

Someone asked, "What about the bonus?"

Li Xiu laughed and said, "You'll have to ask Jia Zhi for that. He's the boss, and he's the one who usually patrols the fields."

"Hahaha……"

Amidst laughter and cheerful conversation, one dish after another was prepared. Today, the truck was packed tightly, leaving more than one floor of empty space.

But it still looks packed full.

This truckload of dishes, exceeding all previous records, also carries the hopes of many: to break the record one last time and then finish the show perfectly!

(End of this chapter)