1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 222 Celebration
The white Isuzu light truck moved freely through the city streets like a fish.

With the car windows open, even at midday, it didn't feel as hot as it had been a while ago.

It's still hot, but my mind has calmed down.

I returned to Jiangxin Market in a pleasant mood. When I stopped the car, I saw Yi Dinggan sitting and smoking at the dormitory entrance. There was no one else in sight, so he was probably taking a nap.

"I thought you weren't coming back."

When they were still about ten meters apart, Yi Dinggan stood up, looked Chen Jiazhi up and down, and even sniffed him as he got closer.

"Went drinking?"

"I drank quite a bit with some shareholders last night."

"Did you get the money?"

"got it."

"That's good."

In an instant, Chen Jiazhi seemed to sense that Yi Dinggan also breathed a sigh of relief.

After a pause, Yi Dinggan asked again, "Have you eaten? If not, have Yi Long cook you some more."

Yi Long came out of the house and asked, "Yes, Uncle, have you eaten? Should I cook you something to eat?"

Chen Jiazhi was a little confused about who was the father and who was the son.

"No need, I've already eaten. I plan to go back to the Dongxiang market tomorrow. Let's go together."

Yi Dinggan: "Why don't you go back first? I'll stay for a couple more days. We need to leave someone here to keep an eye on things, and the workers need to keep working before they leave."

Having successfully obtained the money, this group of people will most likely continue working at the Jiangxin vegetable market. Yi Dinggan is actually quite satisfied with this outcome.

In less than two months, he was able to earn seven or eight thousand yuan. With such a large platform available and the desire for both of his sons to study in Huacheng, he was naturally very motivated.

In addition, he was completely convinced of his brother-in-law's abilities, as he could easily manage a large vegetable market covering hundreds of acres.

The group that followed made a fortune.

If this group needed a leader, Chen Jiazhi would be the only choice.

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "I plan to have Huang Rixin and Zheng Zhong stay behind first, and the rest of you can rest for a couple of days..."

“That won’t do,” Yi Dinggan said. “It won’t work to leave only the two of them. I’ll stay, and I’ll leave Li Mingkun here too. You take Xiaolong, Qi Yongfeng, Ao Deliang, and Guo Mancang back. We can rest when you come back.”

Chen Jiazhi was surprised: "Pretty proactive, huh?"

Yi Dinggan: "Since we're going to continue growing vegetables at Jiangxin Market, we should just do it well. Actually, I think Mr. Xu is a pretty good person; he's given us everything he should."

“It’s actually not bad,” Chen Jiazhi said. “So I’m going to take it seriously.”

Yi Dinggan felt like he'd been tricked again.

Chen Jiazhi: "Since you're staying, Brother Yi, let's have a meeting this afternoon. I'll explain the follow-up plans, and you can keep an eye on things for the next couple of days. We can also have dinner together tonight."

"Okay, I'll go inform them. You can rest for a while."

"Hmm~"

Chen Jiazhi went inside, while Yi Dinggan rode his bicycle to inform people, and Yi Long went back to tinker with the radio.

As soon as he lay down, he heard Andy Lau's "Forget Love Potion" coming from next door. Chen Jiazhi hummed along and dozed off for a while.

Around 2 o'clock,
All the key personnel of Jiangxin Market were present and sat down in the market's somewhat simple meeting room.

As soon as Chen Jiazhi entered and sat down, he said, "Tong Gang, go with Huang Chuan and buy a few sets of slightly better tables and chairs. The market isn't so shabby anymore!"

"Hahaha~"

The atmosphere became lively.

Chen Jiazhi has published the market's output and income figures for this time, and everyone has received their due income in the past two days, which has made things quite relaxed and pleasant.

"Director Chen, when are we going to celebrate?"

We heard you went drinking last night!

Chen Jiazhi waved his hand, signaling for quiet: "Let's have a meeting first, to discuss the plans and tasks for the next phase. I'll treat you all to a meal after the meeting!"

"it is good!"

"You can't raise fish like that!"

Chen Jiazhi's lips twitched. He had already made up his mind to drink less that night. Although he liked to have a couple of drinks in his previous life, he basically never drank heavily.

Compared to the brief introduction given to the shareholders, Chen Jiazhi spent two or three hours explaining the plan and work assignments in detail.

The planting plan includes land preparation, sowing time, vegetable varieties, planting methods, etc.
In terms of work allocation, besides land preparation, the most urgent task is procurement.

"Huang Chuan, we need to purchase organic fertilizer immediately. We should look into fermented manure, composted peanut bran, chopped rice husks, and so on."

In addition, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, bamboo strips, bamboo shoots, and plastic film also need to be prepared as soon as possible. Your task is very important!

After hearing the procurement task, Huang Chuan was actually a bit dumbfounded. He had written down a long list of things in his notebook, but he didn't know where to start.

"Director Chen, I... I'm still a bit unfamiliar with this, which might delay the progress..."

Chen Jiazhi longed to have a skilled worker, but he had absolutely no interest in making a little extra money from procurement.

Instead of spending time figuring out these things, it's better to focus on growing good vegetables.

Who would have thought that Huang Jianyuan would just throw a greenhorn at him, probably because of Xu Wenxiang as well.

"Director Yi will be staying at the market for the next couple of days. You can ask him if you don't understand anything, or you can bring him along. I'll be back in a couple of days."

"Okay, then I'll have to trouble Director Yi."

Yi Dinggan corrected, "It's the deputy."

Chen Jiazhi ignored him and looked at Tong Gang: "Set up the office canteen as soon as possible. Also, we need to assign a driver to Huang Chuan. We will have to transport some supplies ourselves later."

Tong Gang smiled and agreed.

Huang Chuan: "..."

After the meeting, and after confirming that nothing had been overlooked, Chen Jiazhi and the others went to a nearby restaurant for a meal.

Tong Gang, a local, had booked a table well in advance. Shortly after arriving, a new round of celebrations began.

After the celebratory banquet organized by Xu Wenxiang last night, Chen Jiazhi had a better understanding of his alcohol tolerance and behaved very modestly.

But even though he wanted to keep a low profile, he couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Xu Yao took the decanter and filled Chen Jiazhi's glass with another small glass: "Director Chen, I must toast you with this glass. Without you, Jiangxin Vegetable Market would definitely go out of business."

"It's serious, it's serious."

"It's not serious at all."

Chen Jiazhi was only polite for a moment, but Xu Yao's intense recollection of the past, combined with her robust physique, made Chen Jiazhi somewhat submissive.

Are all members of the Xu family heavy drinkers?
Judging by her physique, Xu Yao is several levels above Xu Wenxiang!

Chen Jiazhi obediently drank it.

Tong Gang: "Director Chen, without you, I might have lost my job!"

Huang Chuan: "Director Chen, I just found out you're only four years older than me. You're amazing!"

Qi Yongfeng: "Brother Zhi, without you, I'd probably still be struggling miserably in the vegetable garden."

"..."

Even Li Mingkun came up with his drink and clinked glasses with him.

Everyone here speaks so kindly.

Although he knew that some of the words spoken at the dinner table were exaggerated, Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but feel a little smug. He also understood why so many people liked to flatter; it really could provide a sense of psychological satisfaction.

If two people are both hardworking, and one of them knows how to flatter and fawn, then the one who gets promoted is more likely to rise to the top.

After drinking several glasses of wine, Chen Jiazhi had only just recovered when he was invited by the drunken Yi Dinggan to play a drinking game.

Chen Jiazhi's eyes lit up. This was something he was good at, just like playing chess. He could easily handle it now!
"Come on, let's play rock-paper-scissors! Everyone come on, everyone come on~"

"You two are great!"

"Wealth in all four seasons!"

"Six six six!"

"The top five!"

"Six six six!"

"Why do you keep shouting '666,' it's 'sixes go smoothly'!" Yi Dinggan complained after losing a drink.

Chen Jiazhi: "It doesn't matter what I shout, as long as I can beat you!"

Finger-guessing games require speed, rhythm, and psychological warfare, and Yi Dinggan's techniques were already familiar to him.

Even when facing other opponents, he wins more often than he loses due to his unconventional punching style.

After a night's rest, Chen Jiazhi was still full of energy, while Yi Dinggan and Qi Yongfeng drank quite a bit and returned to the market drunk.

That night, Yi Dinggan went on a drunken rampage, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing, and sometimes hugging a telephone pole and crying for his parents.

Chen Jiazhi and Yi Long took a stool and sat in the yard to keep watch over him.

"Uncle, aren't you going to worry about this old man?"

Although Yi Long disliked Yi Dinggan in this state, he was still afraid that something might happen to him.

Chen Jiazhi lit a cigarette and said, "No need. Let him vent for a while, just don't let him go out on the street."

Looking at Yi Dinggan, who had started wailing again, and Tong Gang, Huang Chuan, and others who occasionally came out to watch the show, Yi Long cursed, "What a disgrace! You can't drink, yet you drank so much!"

Chen Jiazhi silently smoked. Getting Yi Dinggan drunk tonight wasn't his intention, but during the drinking game, Yi Dinggan just kept challenging him. He was both terrible at it and loved to have fun; he got drunk easily and was prone to losing control when he was drunk.
But in fact, he was already used to it in his previous life.

On the contrary, Yi Dinggan, who had been suppressing himself for some time, frequently patrolling the vegetable fields during the day and watching the trucks load vegetables at night, not only barely touched alcohol for more than a month, but also rarely slacked off, made him feel a little unaccustomed.

Seeing him go crazy like this now, Chen Jiazhi felt inexplicably relieved.

The person is still the same person, some things have changed, but not completely.

"I should have brought the camera!"

"Uh…"

Yi Long thought it was better not to bring it.

After a while of commotion, things suddenly quieted down. Yi Dinggan, with red eyes and a somewhat embarrassed expression, scratched his head and walked towards the two of them.

"Jiazhi, give me a cigarette."

Chen Jiazhi tossed him a package.

"Could I borrow a light again? I think someone stole my lighter."

"Oh, I should have taken it."

"..."

The next morning, Chen Jiazhi drove his double-cab light truck from Jiangxin Vegetable Market back to Dongxiang with Qi Yongfeng, Ao Deliang, and Guo Mancang.

More than a month later, Qi Yongfeng and Guo Mancang felt like they were 'returning home in glory'.

As soon as we got off the bus, the vegetable workers who were off work and resting at home gathered in front of the bus.

"Yongfeng, how much commission did you get this time?"

"Where's the full warehouse?"

"Oh, what's there to ask?" Huang Juan took the things Qi Yongfeng was carrying and pulled him into the house.

Someone, not one to shy away from stirring things up, yelled, "Huang Juan, what do you think you're doing to Yongfeng in broad daylight?!"

"Hahaha……"

After Chen Jiazhi got out of the driver's seat, he also shook hands with Li Xiu.

(End of this chapter)