1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 225 Can't Learn

The sky was azure, the sun was shining brightly, and the air was filled with the sweet fragrance of osmanthus blossoms.

After spending most of the day in the city, the family took a bus back to Panyu, arriving at the Dongxiang vegetable market after 4 p.m.

Chen Shaochang and Peng Guozhen were in a good mood, just like the weather.

"Wow, that's a lot of places to go, all of them are skyscrapers that make me dizzy."

“I can hear it clearly, but it’s a bit expensive, almost 900 yuan, but my son insists on buying it.”

"The hotel I stayed at had a very comfortable bed, and there was even a TV in the room."

"We also went to the restaurant where a great man held his wedding banquet~"

In the valley, the two elderly people chatted with everyone they met, and Chen Shaochang, who was usually quiet, kept showing off his hearing aid.

The others wouldn't dare not give them face, so they would usually say a few words of praise, which would make the two elders even more pleased.

Chen Jiazhi took the car keys, went to his parents, and said, "Mom and Dad, I'm going to find my eldest sister and third sister first. I'll see if I can bring them over for dinner tonight."

In front of outsiders, Peng Guozhen suddenly became excited: "My son, just tell them that your father and I want to see them, and they will definitely come!"

"Okay, I'll be going now."

After greeting Li Xiu and his second sister, Chen Jiazhi set off in his white light truck from Jiangxin Market.

This car is practically his private car now, but it's definitely easier to drive than the Yuejin, and it has two rows of seats, so more people can sit in it.

Following the address given by his second sister, Chen Jiazhi arrived at a flower base on the outskirts of the city more than an hour later.

The base is flat and open, filled with all kinds of flowers and seedlings, and has two parallel gravel roads inside.

There's also a row of bamboo shacks, which must be the dormitories; the conditions are rather poor.
After asking around, Chen Jiazhi, guided by a fellow villager, drove to a secluded corner.

"Chen Jiahua, Chen Jiaying, your younger brother has come looking for you by car."

The villager had a deep, resonant voice, and everyone around heard him as soon as he shouted. On either side of the dirt road, a couple wearing straw hats who had been squatting on the ground working stood up, turned around, and looked at Chen Jiazhi and the car parked next to them, their eyes filled with surprise.

"Jiazhi, is this your car? When did you learn to drive?"

The tall and strong Xue Jun reacted instantly and asked two questions in a row.

"Big sister, third sister, they're at work."

Chen Jiazhi greeted people one by one, looking at his eldest sister Chen Jiahua and brother-in-law Wu Chengyong. They were very young, not even 40 years old this year. He felt a little familiar yet unfamiliar with them.

The eldest sister was not tall but rather sturdy, while Wu Chengyong was of medium build and had an ordinary appearance.

The two were equally surprised, as they also learned from Chen Jiaying and Xue Jun that their younger brother had made money growing vegetables.

But they didn't say they bought a car!
"Family Records~"

"Here he comes."

Xue Jun rushed forward, half-walking and half-running, and said with a smile, "Come on, Jiazhi, have a smoke, have a smoke~"

The other three also came out one after another, and quickly overcame their initial awkwardness.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while,

Chen Jiazhi stated his purpose directly.

"Yes, we should go see them."

Upon learning that their parents were coming, all four of them agreed, but they could only leave after they finished get off work.

During the chat, they also learned about each other's situations.

Planting flowers is hard work, and working in the market is no easier than working in the vegetable market. Chen Jiaying and Xue Jun, who were originally quite fair-skinned, have both gotten tanned.

The four men breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that the car didn't belong to Chen Jiazhi, but soon discovered that he had also bought a car...

My mind immediately became chaotic again.

Chen Jiazhi didn't say much about the market situation; they just talked about everything over a meal.

A little while later, the five of them set off on their way back to the Dongxiang vegetable market.

Xue Jun and Wu Chengyong looked at Chen Jiazhi, who was skillfully driving the car, with envy on their faces.

The journey was quite quiet, because the eldest sister, Chen Jiahua, also gets carsick and fell asleep as soon as she got in the car.

"Mom, Dad~"

"Sit down quickly, sit down quickly."

Upon arriving at the Dongxiang vegetable market, there was another round of lively greetings, but Chen Jiaying soon noticed something was different.

"Old man, can you hear me?"

“I can hear.” Chen Shaochang pointed to the hearing aid he was wearing. “Jiazhi took me to the hospital yesterday to get it fitted.”

"I spent 900 yuan and even went to the city for two days..."

Peng Guozhen chimed in, and then, taking advantage of the topic, started talking about his travel experiences, and couldn't stop once he started.

"Dinner's ready!" Chen Jiafang called out impatiently as she came out. "Mom, if you keep talking, the whole country will know how good your son is to you two!"

"It's not that exaggerated~" Peng Guozhen replied with a smile, but also invited people into the house.

At the same time, Peng Guozhen also remembered the important matter at the dinner table and directly criticized Chen Jiaying.

Even though they were already at the market, and her younger brother had invited her to stay, and Xue Jun even wanted to stay, she insisted on going to work at the flower farm.
Chen Shaochang also chimed in with a few words.

Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu sat together quietly, picking at their food and eating.

After they finished speaking, Chen Jiahua and Chen Jiaying also learned about their younger brother's situation. Xue Jun almost regretted it so much that he slapped his thigh on the spot.

If we had been more assertive back then, we could have just kept them.

Isn't farming the same as growing crops in a flower base?

Look at the vegetable workers at Jiazhi Market. An ordinary couple working there earns just over a thousand yuan a month, which is much more than what they earn at the flower farm!

After this was mentioned, Chen Jiahua and Chen Jiaying both nodded silently, preparing to plant vegetables.

They didn't expect any special treatment; they just wanted to treat it as a normal job. Only then did Chen Jiazhi speak up, making arrangements for his eldest and third sisters' families without giving them any special treatment.

Xue Jun was strong and younger, so he continued to follow along and run around the market.

Wu Chengyong was an honest farmer. He and his eldest sister, Chen Jiahua, worked as vegetable workers at the market, as did his third sister, Chen Jiaying.

Although it was hard work, Chen Jiazhi felt that the treatment he gave the vegetable workers was acceptable.

Many vegetable workers compare themselves to others, feel resentful, and complain, but so far, not a single one has chosen to leave, because even the lowest-paid vegetable worker earns significantly more than they would elsewhere.
...

The next morning, the sky was dark, and patches of dark clouds blocked out the sunlight.

Chen Jiazhi sat on the steps gazing at the sky for a while, and Ao Dehai also got up, pushed open the door, and came out.

Good morning, boss.

"You're up this early even though it's your day off?"

"I was planning to go check on the fields. We're supposed to start work tomorrow, but it looks like it's going to rain!"

"Okay, let's go for a walk in the fields together."

I hadn't patrolled the fields in Dongxiang for a long time, and before I'd gone far, I saw two dogs, one black and one white, dart up behind me.

Ao Dehai shook his head. "These dogs really recognize people. When I'm patrolling the fields, they ignore me completely, but as soon as you come, boss, they come running."

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "You need to feed them more often and play with them frequently, and they will naturally become familiar with you."

The vegetable garden was empty, but it felt very clean and refreshing.

Some ridges that hadn't been tilled only had vegetable stalks left, not a single leaf. Peng Guozhen picked them all up to feed the chickens. Sometimes the workers would even help clear them into a pile for her to pick up.

The same applies to seedlings after thinning.

This is different from Jiangxin Market, where the vegetable stalks and leaves look very dilapidated when they haven't been cleaned.

The chicken coop was also in the vegetable field, next to the dormitory, a simple breeding shed built with bamboo.

Chen Jiazhi looked at the chickens and saw that there were more than 30 chickens of all sizes, as well as more than a dozen ducks. He couldn't help but worry: if he took his mother to the Jiangxin vegetable market, would he have to take the chickens and ducks with him as well?

There were no vegetables in the field; it was clean and tidy, and you could see everything at a glance.

Chen Jiazhi mainly checked the soil condition, and traces of the fermented pig manure and peanut bran that had been applied were still visible.

The soil is very loose and rich in organic matter, and the warehouse is also well-stocked with fertilizer, so we don't need to buy any more.

However, seeds and pesticides are lacking.

Jiangxin vegetable market has prepared the late-season cabbage variety No. 2 from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, but Dongxiang vegetable market has not yet purchased it.

After walking around, the two stopped on the gravel path beside the vegetable field.

"Dehai, have you thought about what to plant next?"

“I’ve thought about it,” Ao Dehai said. “Huacheng has warm winters, so there are actually quite a lot of vegetables that can be grown there.”

Chili peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, radishes, cauliflower, kale... they can still be on the market before the Chinese New Year, so the market should be pretty good.

But I think the safest bet is still bok choy!

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "That's what I was thinking too. We'll plant mid-to-late-season bok choy next time, but there's one thing we need to be careful about: protecting it from the cold!"

"To keep warm?" Ao Dehai asked intently, "Isn't a small greenhouse enough?"

Chen Jiazhi pondered and said, "In winter, the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the small greenhouse is 4 to 5 degrees Celsius at night. Generally speaking, even if there is a cold wave, the late-season cabbage can survive."

But there's a risk of extreme situations, so we need to be well-prepared.

He didn't remember the temperature of the cold wave in his previous life, only that many of the snow peas, peppers, tomatoes, and cauliflowers planted outdoors in winter had frozen to death.

When the temperature drops to 2°C, open-field snow peas, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and other crops will suffer severe damage.

In other words, when the temperature is below -2℃, the vegetables in the greenhouse will also be affected.

At this time, greenhouse vegetables are still scarce in Guangdong, and Chen Jiazhi in his previous life had never been exposed to arched greenhouses.

Therefore, he was unsure whether the cold wave that occurred more than two months later had frozen the vegetables in the greenhouse to death.

According to his experience, if extreme low temperatures of -5 to -7°C occur in the south, all the vegetables in the greenhouses will be lost.

Northern greenhouses are different from southern greenhouses, and the cost of southern arched greenhouses is much lower than that of northern greenhouses.

But Huacheng (Guangdong) has probably never experienced such a terrifying cold wave.

Panyu is not in a mountainous area, so the only thing to be aware of is the low temperature between 0 and 2℃, and a small arched greenhouse should be sufficient.

Chen Jiazhi never finds it troublesome to go against fate.

Besides the small arched shed, other small details and auxiliary measures also need to be done well.

In the early stages, proper fertilizer and water management is essential, with ample water and fertilizer to promote robust plant growth.
While the late rice is being harvested, we should prepare more straw so that we can cover the small greenhouse when a cold wave comes.
The airtightness of the greenhouse film, etc.;
Chen Jiazhi emphasized these points to Ao Dehai.

As long as he manages things according to Chen Jiazhi's requirements, there shouldn't be any problem getting through the cold wave smoothly.

After inspecting the fields, the two walked home one after the other.

Ao Dehai recalled the plan his boss had given him: all 50 mu of land would be planted with late-maturing Chinese cabbage, with the first harvest scheduled for early January next year.

The same gambler's seeding.

The same pattern of concentrated listings.

But will a cold wave come?
Thinking back on the previous torrential rains, typhoons, and droughts...

Suddenly, rain began to fall from the dark, overcast sky, nourishing the parched earth.

But the Dongxiang vegetable market had long since run out of vegetables.

"Dehai, what are you standing there for? Run!"

Following the retreating figure ahead, Ao Dehai felt he had learned most of the boss's planting techniques, but predicting the weather was still a challenge.
I have absolutely no clue!
I can't learn it!

(End of this chapter)