1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 199 Parents
"My son must be hungry, Mom, give him to me."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

"It's no trouble at all, Mom, please have a seat."

Peng Guozhen reluctantly gave his grandson to Li Xiu. At this moment, Chen Jiafang and Huang Juan also rushed back from the fields.

The mother and daughter reminisced about the past. Chen Jiazhi went home and poured two glasses of water, while Huang Juan greeted Qi Yongcheng and his wife.

However, Peng Guozhen was still suffering from motion sickness. Although she was in a good mood, Chen Jiafang took her to rest after they had talked for a while.

Chen Jiazhi opened the carriage again and took out the large and small bags. Chen Shaochang also stepped forward and took out a roll of dried tobacco leaves and a pipe more than 30 centimeters long from the burlap sack.

"Take this."

Chen Jiazhi took out his cigarette, touched his body, and handed it to him.

Chen Shaochang smiled, took the cigarette, and Chen Jiazhi lit it for him with a lighter. The father and son then walked to the edge of the dam and looked out over the vegetable fields.

"This field is wonderful!"

"Hmm~"

"What kinds of vegetables are these?"

"Mainly bok choy and Chinese kale."

"install?"

"Cabbage heart~" Chen Jiazhi raised his voice.

Dad shook his head again. "What dish?"

Hearing the sound, Yi Long jogged over and shouted in his ear, "Cabbage!"

"Where's the bok choy?"

Chen Jiazhi and Yi Long both nodded vigorously. Communicating with him verbally was a bit difficult, and they occasionally felt embarrassed.
Chen Jiazhi was thinking of taking him to the hospital to get a hearing aid.

Chen Shaochang then asked, "How much does it cost per pound?"

"..."

If he keeps asking like this, Yi Long's voice will probably get hoarse from shouting.

Li Xiu finished breastfeeding and came out, so Chen Jiazhi took his father back to the house, took the things back home, and found some letter paper and pen.

Looking at the paper and pen, Chen Shaochang understood what he meant: "You ask me to write."

This is their way of communicating.

That's right, the person who felt ashamed of shouting was Chen Jiazhi from his previous life, but he also envied Yi Long and the others for being able to speak loudly in the old man's ear without caring about other people's opinions.

Even now, he still feels a little uncomfortable.

Chen Jiazhi must have had many questions for his father, so he thought of the communication method he wrote about in "You Ask Me".

Chen Shaochang accepted it.

How much did you pay for the car?

The first question amused Yi Long and Chen Jiazhi; they must have been holding it in for the whole journey.

Chen Jiazhi wrote on the paper: "The car outside belongs to someone else. My car is parked in another market and I bought it for 68,000 yuan."

Chen Shaochang asked in surprise, "Sixty-eight thousand?"

Chen Jiazhi nodded.

Chen Shaochang grinned, "Those people in the village still don't believe it, haha, Jiazhi, well done!"

Chen Jiazhi and Yi Long laughed along.

Chen Shaochang then asked, "How many acres of land do you cultivate now?"

Chen Jiazhi wrote again: I rented 50 mu of vegetable fields right outside the door and hired seventeen workers.

Chen Shaochang: "The fields here are really nice!"

Chen Jiazhi's hometown is in a hilly area, with land on ridges and fields in gullies, all of which are slopes and ridges. Their village is also a large village with a large population, and his family has less than two mu of land in total.

Uh... Chen Zhengyun hasn't been registered yet, so his family probably only owns a little over one mu of land.
Upon hearing that Chen Jiazhi had rented 50 mu of vegetable fields, Chen Shaochang was filled with emotion.

As a result, Chen Jiazhi wrote on the paper again: I am also helping someone manage 600 mu of vegetable fields in another place, and I have to go there a little later this afternoon.

Chen Shaochang was stunned, seemingly unable to understand.

Chen Jiazhi nodded affirmatively.

Chen Shaochang seemed to understand again.

What about Yi Dinggan?

"It's also in another market."

Chen Shaochang suddenly didn't know what to ask. It seemed like he had many questions to ask, but he didn't need to ask in detail. He just needed to know that his son had made something of himself growing vegetables.

He glanced back at Li Xiu, who was holding the baby beside him, and then went to play with his grandson.

Li Xiu handed her son to him and prepared to go to the kitchen to get busy.

Chen Jiazhi said to Yi Long, "Little Long, play with your grandpa, I'm going to boil water and kill a chicken. We'll make taro and chicken stew for lunch!"

Yi Long: "Sure."

A short while later, another rooster that I bought on the way back from the village entrance flapped its wings a few times and then died.

This is the third chicken that Chen Jiazhi has killed this year.

Chen Shaochang stared wide-eyed at the chicken he had killed, utterly incredulous that his son, who used to cry and beg him not to kill chickens, was now killing them with such swift and decisive strokes!
Nodded secretly.

He pushed the cradle to sit under the eaves, watched the busy figures in the fields, and then looked at his grandson.

As he left the village, someone joked with him: "You're sixty years old and you still have to go out and help your son?"

He heard it all, and so the whole village knew.

Now it seems like it's not a bad idea, sixty years old is still the perfect age to take care of grandchildren~
A little while later, he saw Yi Long riding his bicycle back and forth in front of him, sometimes even riding with one hand, as if afraid he hadn't seen him.

...

A table full of dishes at noon,
Yi Long looked at it and asked, "Uncle, where's the chicken giblets and vermicelli you promised?"

Chen Jiafang came out carrying the dishes and said, "Have your uncle take the chicken giblets to Jiangxin Market this afternoon. You have to think of your old man, so he won't get jealous again." "My old man is so stingy," Yi Long sighed. "Well, alright, this spicy rabbit and chicken is still the best."

Peng Guozhen said, "It's a pity you came out early. Your grandfather and I killed a lot of rabbits a while ago. Xiao Hu, Xiao Bo, Xiao Yan and the others came over and ate a lot of cold-cooked rabbits."

Yi Long: "What should I do, Grandma? Now that you mention it, I want to eat cold-cooked rabbit."

"Then I have no choice. All the rabbits I raised have been killed, and the baby rabbits have all been sold. The cold-cooked rabbit will spoil if I bring it over, so I can only air-dry it before bringing it over."

After a pause, Peng Guozhen said, "Eating rabbits won't make you gain weight. It's better for you to be outside. You've grown so much stronger. Didn't you see how skinny Xiaohu is?"

Yi Long said, "My father said he would work hard to earn money to bring Xiao Hu over to study, and then I will also go to study!"

I even helped my uncle sell vegetables, and with the money I earned, I bought a bicycle for 500 yuan!

Peng Guozhen: "Wow, you've really made something of yourself!"

"That is!"

"Hahaha~"

"It's on the table, let's eat, let's eat."

The family sat down at the table in a joyful atmosphere.

Suddenly, Chen Jiazhi felt Li Xiu touch him. He turned his head and heard Li Xiu ask in a low voice, "Jiazhi, would you like some wine?"

Chen Jiazhi was stunned and hesitated. One of the purposes of bringing the two elders over was to make them drink less alcohol.

But it's even worse to completely prevent them from drinking it.

Moreover, Dad must have seen that there was wine at home, the leftovers from yesterday's drinking with Ao Dehai, and wanted to drink it but was too embarrassed to say so.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Jiazhi nodded, and Li Xiu gave him an unopened glass bottle and a few cups.

Upon seeing the wine, the two old men's smiles widened even further.

However, Chen Jiazhi only poured a glass for each of them and didn't drink any himself. From now on, he would correct his attitude towards abstaining from alcohol: try to drink less in front of the two elders.

After finishing their meal, the two elderly people, who had been traveling all the way, chatted for a while before putting them to bed. The rooms were cramped, with Yi Long sleeping in one room with his parents, and his second sister and Li Xiu taking care of the children in another.

After making the arrangements, Chen Jiazhi went to see Qi Yongcheng and Shi Xiaochun. They didn't eat lunch together, but Chen Jiazhi sent them a portion of chicken.

The two chatted a lot with Huang Juan and others throughout the morning, getting a pretty good understanding of their work, income, and so on. They even watched some TV.

The worries in my heart had long since dissipated, leaving only the anticipation of income.

Chen Jiazhi waved his hand and introduced the two to Ao Dehai. Qi Yongcheng planned to go to work with them that afternoon.

I don't want to waste a single moment.

Qi Yongfeng and his wife earned more than 2,000 yuan last month, which made the couple very envious!

Chen Jiazhi added, "We don't have any vegetables this month, so our income might be a bit lower, but you'll also have time to learn from each other. Next month, when we have more vegetables, our income won't disappoint you."

Qi Yongcheng: "Jiazhi, don't worry, Xiaochun and I are both experienced farmers."

After letting the two go back to rest, Chen Jiazhi talked with Ao Dehai about the training of the new vegetable workers.

This kind of situation will happen frequently in the future.

We can only mentor them one by one, laying a solid foundation.

Chen Jiazhi then checked Ao Dehai's work logs for this period of time and looked at the accounts made by Li Xiu.

He got plenty of sleep and was full of energy during this period, spending the whole afternoon reviewing and filling in any gaps in his knowledge.

Chen Shaochang woke up early and, after getting up, also looked at the notes with him.

Around four o'clock, the vegetable workers got up one after another and sat under the eaves waiting to start work.

Ao Dehai also came to the door, "Boss, is there anything else to arrange for work?"

Chen Jiazhi returned the notebook to him and said, "No, it's done very well. Just keep going at the current pace. Pay attention to the subsequent spraying and fertilization, and this batch of vegetables will be fine."

"Then I'll get back to work." Ao Dehai smiled, nodded to the old man, put on his straw hat, and went out.

Chen Jiazhi took out a cigarette and offered one to his father, but he didn't take it.

“Your cigarettes aren’t strong enough, I’ll smoke this.” The old man took out some dried tobacco leaves and slowly rolled one up.

Chen Jiazhi came to the courtyard again, and the vegetable workers who came out one after another greeted them.

"Boss Chen~"

"Old man, have a smoke."

Seeing his father rolling cigarettes, Zhang Weidong offered him one as well. Zhang Weidong and Li Xiu lived in the same courtyard.

Chen Shaochang accepted it with a smile.

Pan Dacheng also came up and forced one on him, which he accepted.

Soon he had several cigarettes in his hand, and he kept nodding with a smile on his face, his eyes following the people going to work.

Peng Guozhen, standing at the door of another room, was also feeling quite pleased.

Chen Jiazhi shook his head, pulled the two of them to the cafeteria, and turned on the TV.

"Mom, you guys can watch TV for a while if you have nothing to do. If you need anything, just tell Li Xiu and she'll buy it for you."

"Great, great, Li Xiu has bought everything, there's nothing else we need to buy."

Peng Guozhen stepped forward and touched the color TV, feeling even happier.

Chen Shaochang laughed again, and the smile on his face didn't stop all day.

Commercials were playing on TV. Chen Jiazhi changed two channels with the remote, and stopped when he saw the image of the leader. It was Zhu De, who had convened another meeting on fertilizer regulation.

But his father was even more enthusiastic than him, shouting, "Jiazhi, look at this one, it's General Manager Zhu!"

Chen Jiazhi nodded with a smile.

His father was particularly concerned about national affairs. When watching the news, if he couldn't hear the news anchor's voice, he would look at the subtitles and the images.

The term "Dad" and "Mom" are exclusive to Chen Jiazhi because he's often teased as the youngest child. Over time, people started calling him "Dad" and "Mom." Of course, he uses other terms too, but none sound as natural as "Dad" and "Mom."
There are many different ways to address someone in that area. For example, Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu call their father-in-law "Baobao".

However, "baobao" has many different meanings in other parts of the province.

After watching the news for a while, Chen Jiazhi estimated that fertilizer prices would be difficult to drop anytime soon.

(End of this chapter)