1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 204 The wait is almost unbearable.

After the meal, while Xia You went to the restroom, Xu Wenxiang arrived at the restaurant entrance. Chen Jiazhi was smoking and turned around to look at her when he heard the noise.

Xu Wenxiang drank quite a bit of alcohol today; her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed a little angry.

"Don't call me 'big sister' anymore!"

Chen Jiazhi exhaled a puff of smoke to the side and laughed, "You scared me! I thought you were drunk and wanted me to take you home. But no, I have to go back to the market to prepare."

Xu Wenxiang leaned against the door and said, "I have a driver, remember that? Don't call me 'big sister' anymore!"

This is the third time already. You think you're so great just because you're young!
"Okay, okay, okay~"

Chen Jiazhi didn't want to mess with a drunk woman, especially a married one.

After a while, Xia You came out in his car, and Xu Wenxiang went to greet him again. Logically speaking, this kind of thing should actually be done by Chen Jiazhi.

However, he couldn't stop Sister Xu from getting things done, and Xia Youche didn't seem to like him, a mainlander who spoke Mandarin.

After a while, the group exchanged a few more pleasantries before leaving.

Chen Jiazhi hailed a red taxi and returned to Jiangxin Market.

After getting off the bus at the roadside, he saw Yi Dinggan, Xu Yao, and Tong Gang waiting for him in the shadows outside the dormitory building's corridor.

"Director Chen, how is it?"

"All set!" Chen Jiazhi, who had also drunk two glasses of foreign liquor, gave an OK sign and shouted, "Get ready to serve the dishes!"

"Okay~"

The three of them immediately started dancing with joy.

Yi Dinggan took out a cigarette and asked, "Jiazhi, how many vegetables do you want to buy?"

"3 jin on the first day, but this is just the beginning. Get ready, Brother Yi, there's a tough battle ahead."

Chen Jiazhi accepted the cigarette but didn't light it. Instead, he opened the door, went inside, took out paper and pen to recall the information, and then took out a slip of paper from his pocket and copied it down one by one.

Yi Dinggan and the other two didn't leave either. They went inside and quietly watched him write.

Packaging requirements: Bamboo baskets can be used, each basket containing 60 jin (30 catties) of vegetables and 30 jin (15 catties) of ice. Line the bottom with two layers of waterproof paper, place fresh mango leaves on the sides for moisture control, and cover the top with a damp burlap sack.
Transportation: Refrigerated truck with dual Guangdong and Hong Kong license plates; contact information, arrival time, 180 crates/truck.
Departure time, what time do I pass through customs?
As messages were being written down, Xu Yao watched from a short distance beside him, her eyes shining. Yi Dinggan caught a glimpse of this and his lips twitched. This was truly a master technique for picking up girls!
However, once Jiazhi gets focused, he is indeed very charming, and even he is tempted by him.

After finishing writing the messages, Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "There are still quite a few things to buy. I'll be busy for the next two days."

Xu Yao snapped out of her daze: "Director Chen, just make the arrangements."

Tong Gang patted his chest and said, "Director Chen, you can do whatever you want with my 100-plus pounds of flesh!"

"I want your jerky!"

Chen Jiazhi was speechless, but still smiled. "However, Lao Tong, you really need to take care of the logistics for now. Go and buy all the small items the team leaders need, and also find out more about the workers' situation; see if you can recruit some more skilled vegetable harvesters."

Tong Gang replied loudly, "Okay, leave it to me!"

Xu Yao also asked, "Director Chen, what about me?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "You're a god of wealth, so hurry up and pay the workers' wages. Also, make sure the purchase funds are disbursed in time."

Xu Yao remembered something and reminded him, "Director Chen, it seems like you haven't reimbursed many of your gas receipts."

Chen Jiazhi: "I forgot to issue some invoices, let's leave it at that for now, we'll deal with it later. Everyone go back and rest for a while, we'll start preparing this afternoon~"

The three of them then left.

Chen Jiazhi washed his face and was just about to lie down when Yi Dinggan poked his head back in. "Jiazhi, there's something else. Cheng Tiantian is tidying up the storeroom."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and waved his hand, saying it was getting late to tidy up the warehouse.

...

After a short nap, Chen Jiazhi got up.

Aside from having a lot to think about, he didn't actually feel that tired over the past month.

Because I haven't done much physical labor, my skin isn't even as dark and oily anymore.

But these easy days are about to end.

Both markets need to supply vegetables, so finding a balance between the two is very important to him.

He took out his pen again and began to calculate.

东乡菜场9.11~9.15每天播种2亩菜心，2亩芥兰；9.16~9.22每天播种4亩菜心。

We'll start harvesting the crops tomorrow night, October 5th, which is exactly 25 days for the growing period, a little early.

But they still manage to produce nearly 4000 jin of vegetables a day, or just over 130 pieces.

Who else will be buying these goods?
Chen Ze didn't notify them, so they probably won't come. He also doesn't know the location of Chen Ze's family restaurant.
Old Wu will probably come, at least he'll show his face and gloat a bit. Curly-haired guy will most likely be too.
Xu He... Damn, the Jiangxin vegetable market is selling vegetables, that guy definitely isn't coming.

Looking around, it seems that other customers also depend on luck.

In later generations, he would post on WeChat Moments or send group messages directly, but now there is no WeChat, and even mobile phones and pagers are rarely used.

In addition, with the market situation just turning around, the sudden abundance of vegetables makes me anxious.

Xu Wenxiang also took precautions against him.

After thinking for a while, suddenly, there was a series of thumping sounds coming from the direction of the warehouse, indicating that something must have fallen to the ground.

Chen Jiazhi went over and peeked inside. He saw Cheng Tiantian busy inside, sweating profusely.

Cheng Tiantian happened to turn around and saw him. She wiped her sweat with her arm and smiled awkwardly, "Director Chen, I'm sorry to have disturbed your rest."

"It's nothing. I woke up a while ago and just came to check on you. You can continue with your work."

He really did leave.

Cheng Tiantian stood there dumbfounded, feeling wronged. Didn't you see I've been busy all afternoon?
At least they said something comforting. Suddenly, I thought of ending it all and just quitting.

However, the more I thought about it, the more unwilling I became.

She persevered through the difficult times at Jiangxin Market, and now that the market is about to turn around, she wants to resign. What was the point of her previous perseverance?
Is it because the job was easy before, no one cared about you, and you could get a high salary for free that you stayed?
Why is that guy surnamed Chen targeting her?

There was resentment and bitterness in my heart, but actually, I felt mostly regret.

She had many opportunities.

However, they did not want to change, believing that Director Chen was also messing things up, even worse than the previous two directors, and would often skip work and disappear.

However, as the vegetables in the field grew bigger day by day, Cheng Tiantian panicked.

Later, she learned that Director Chen was also a shareholder, and firing her was just a matter of a word.

The arrival of the Hong Kong businessmen today made her realize that the market would soon be ready to sell vegetables, which also meant that her business was about to turn around.

She frantically tried to catch the last bus, but it seemed to have already started moving and was now accelerating; she was about to lose track.
...

Chen Jiazhi indeed didn't pay attention to Cheng Tiantian.

In his view, the position of warehouse manager is actually unnecessary; the team leader can take on the role and each person is responsible for their own area.

The vegetable workers start work at 6 a.m., but the warehouse manager doesn't start work until 8 a.m. How the hell can you manage that?

In order to speed up the progress, there was no time to make adjustments. Having Cheng Tiantian around was better than not having her at all, so the status quo was maintained.

There are some tall trees such as banyan and camphor trees around the vegetable field, and some vegetable workers are waiting under the trees early in the morning to start their work.

The large trees gradually became gathering points for the various groups.

As it was almost time to start work, the group leaders would stand or sit under the tree facing the more than thirty vegetable workers.

"Zhang Qiang, Huang Ying... We're harvesting crops the day after tomorrow. You two have experience, so go to the harvesting team!"

"We'll be paying last month's wages tomorrow. Everyone, please work a little harder and finish this month's work. Then the manager will give everyone a bonus."

"Afternoon work arrangements: Ding Qiaochun, Yang Huan, you two need to hurry up with thinning the seedlings, and make sure to apply fertilizer today!"

Chen Jiazhi stood in the corridor on the second floor of the office, watching the team leader skillfully arrange and assign tasks, and felt quite proud of himself.

At this point, the next step is to continuously optimize the details.

His management will be much easier.

Yi Dinggan stood beside him, watching.

"Brother Yi, I have to go back to Dongxiang later, so I'll leave things here in your hands. Remember to urge Xu Yao and Tong Gang."

"Don't worry, leave it to me." Yi Dinggan waved his hand. "From now on, you can leave all the work in the fields to me."

Chen Jiazhi was stunned for a moment. The most important thing in the vegetable market is the work in the fields!

"Have you been looking forward to this day for a long time?"

"Aren't you also looking forward to this day?"

"Hahaha~"

They both laughed.

Chen Jiazhi felt relatively at ease handing over the management of the vegetable market to Yi Dinggan, and he had listed out all the tasks that needed to be done.

After chatting for a while, Chen Jiazhi went downstairs to the Yuejin light truck.

The blue truck hadn't been driven for a while, and a layer of dust had settled on its surface. He found a water hose, rinsed it, and then drove away.

I stopped to refuel and inflate the tires along the way. By the time I got to the Dongxiang vegetable market, I was covered in sweat.

After getting off the bus, my mother, who had heard the commotion, came out to greet me, but my father was a step behind.

"My dear child, why are you sweating so much? Quickly wipe it off."

"It's too hot, Mom. You and Dad should go back inside and use the fan. Where's Li Xiu?"

"He went to the fields."

With something on his mind, Chen Jiazhi went back into the house to check on Chen Zhengyun, then put on his straw hat and went out again, where he happened to run into Li Xiu who was returning home.

"You're back, Jiazhi?"

"Okay, it's time to harvest the vegetables."

Li Xiu smiled under his straw hat, "I just checked, the vegetables are growing quite well. It's been over a month, time to harvest them!"

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Are you panicking because you're not making any money?"

Li Xiu noticed that some of the vegetable workers were watching them, so she raised her voice.

"Aren't you worried at all? This past month, we've only been spending money and not earning any. Money is flowing out like water. If we don't get any income, we won't even be able to pay salaries."

"I'm panicking, I'm very panicked too."

Chen Jiazhi cooperated with him in acting, and it cost a lot over the past month: agricultural supplies, September's salary, daily expenses, and an investment of 50,000 yuan in the Jiangxin vegetable market.
But it's far from being completely depleted; there's still 3.3 yuan in the savings account, and the family should also have several thousand yuan in cash.

It's just that days without income are really hard to get through.

Li Xiu was sent home first. Chen Jiazhi went to find Ao Dehai, inspected the vegetable field, and then discussed the harvesting arrangements.

When it was time for dinner that evening, the vegetable workers all knew they would be harvesting vegetables the next day, and they were all quite excited, because if they could harvest vegetables, their income would be higher.

The newcomers, especially Chen Shaochang and Peng Guozhen, were even more excited, as they had never seen the scene of harvesting vegetables before.

But the most excited one was Yi Long, "Uncle, I've been waiting for this day for ages!"

(End of this chapter)