1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 226 Moving
The rain poured down, a thorough downpour that relieved the current drought.

This also forced vegetable farmers to stay at home. Fortunately, the women could watch TV and the men could play cards.

The long banners I bought a couple of days ago also came in handy, and we organized things that very morning.

However, Chen Jiazhi did not participate in the card game today. Instead, he stayed at home taking care of his child and wife, and occasionally taught Yilong to review his textbooks.

The rain stopped in the morning, but Chen Jiazhi didn't take Li Xiu out until 1:30 pm.

I had arranged to call my father-in-law and cousin back in my hometown around 2 p.m.

The road surface was a bit wet, but it was paved with gravel, and once you exit the market, it became a cement road, making it convenient to walk around on rainy days.

The weather was also a bit cool after the rain.

Li Xiu, walking to the side, suddenly said, "Jiazhi, Li Cai and Zhengxu both have things to do. What if they don't want to come out?"

Chen Jiazhi: "Let's try to put it in a positive light. They're all young people, so they definitely aspire to live in big cities."

Li Xiu: "But we're growing vegetables!"

Chen Jiazhi: "We grow vegetables in big cities, and when we bring them over, they're mostly doing purchasing and driving."

Li Xiu hesitated and asked, "Do we need someone to do this?"

“Yes, we need them.” Chen Jiazhi turned his head to look at Li Xiu and said, “Xiu, if we want to expand our scale next, we need purchasing and drivers. I can’t keep driving all the time, can I?”

Li Xiu was silent for a while, then said, "How big is big enough? I feel pretty satisfied."

Chen Jiazhi paused for a moment before saying, "If I have the opportunity, I'd like to build vegetable bases of several hundred acres, several thousand acres, or even tens of thousands of acres in the future."

For a moment, only the sound of footsteps remained.

"I feel like I can't be of much help."

"What? So that's what you're worrying about again!" Chen Jiazhi smiled, having figured out the crux of the matter.

"You like counting money, so you can manage the money from now on."

Li Xiu rolled her eyes: "I'm already having a headache just calculating the salaries of these 20 people, let alone the hundreds or thousands of acres of vegetable market."

Chen Jiazhi: "I think you calculated it very well; you didn't make a single mistake this time."

Li Xiu smiled and said, "It's difficult, okay? I don't want to give up anymore. From now on, I just want to follow you and do your laundry and cook for you."

Both of them slowed their pace. Perhaps because of the rain, the village was quiet, and the water in the small ditches by the roadside was gurgling.

Chen Jiazhi nodded. "I will rent a house as soon as possible and bring you over."

Li Xiu: "Hmm~"

Chen Jiazhi: "But you can't just do laundry and cook. You also have to take responsibility for the cultural and ethical development of our market!"

Li Xiu: "Huh? What is spiritual and cultural development?"

"Click~ Click~" Chen Jiazhi made a photo-taking gesture with both hands, "Now I just need to take as many photos of the market as possible~"

"Isn't this just playing around?!"

“No,” Chen Jiazhi said. “Photography can also be a long-term career. Just imagine, if in ten or twenty years our vegetable market has grown to tens of thousands of acres, the photos you’ve taken will record its growth trajectory every year. Wouldn’t that be very fulfilling?!”

"It seems so?"

"What do you mean 'seems like'? It is! From now on, this job will be yours, Mr. Li, the great photographer!"

"Don't shout nonsense~"

Li Xiu was a little embarrassed by being called "Master Photographer Li," just as the shop with a landline phone arrived.

"Go make the call, you go first."

Chen Jiazhi entered the small shop, gave the shopkeeper two yuan, and then started making a phone call.

After the call was connected, the person on the other end asked who he was looking for and then handed the phone over to Chen Jiazhi's cousin, Chen Jiashun.

"Hello, hello, is this Jiazhi?"

"Hey, it's me, big brother."

Chen Jiashun is 32 years older than Chen Jiazhi, a significant age difference, but the two families maintain close ties.

Chen Jiashun's deep voice came through: "Jiazhi, someone told me yesterday that you called me. What's the matter?"

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Big brother, I want Zhengxu to learn to drive, get a driver's license, and then drive for me."

"Huh?!" Chen Jiashun exclaimed in surprise, "Driving? What kind of car?"

Chen Jiazhi briefly explained that he had bought a car, and since the market was quite large, he needed a trustworthy person to drive the vegetables.

He knew Chen Jiashun was surprised, but there was no one else available.

Among his peers, only his elder brother Chen Jiashun is a suitable candidate, and among his nephews, only Chen Zhengxu is slightly younger and has a suitable character and learning ability.

He patiently explained several times before Chen Jiashun finally understood that this person had really made a fortune outside and was thinking of helping his family.

"Ancestor bless!"

Hearing Chen Jiashun's remark, Li Xiu suppressed a laugh.

Chen Jiazhi also copied her glaring technique, and then said, "Big brother, do you think Zhengxu will come?"

Chen Jiashun snorted: "Like father, like son; like brothers, like tigers. Since you need him, I'll definitely get him for you!"

Chen Jiazhi: "Okay, I won't let him suffer. I'll cover the cost of his driver's license test first, and then deduct a portion from his monthly salary. What do you think, brother?"

"Get it!"

"Once he makes money, he can bring you a daughter-in-law."

"Hahaha, yes, yes, I'm waiting."

After chatting for a while longer, Chen Jiazhi hung up the phone and looked at Li Xiu, saying, "It's your turn. Call Li Cai now."

Li Cai is 20 years old, unmarried, and a carpenter. After some discussion between Li Xiu and her father-in-law, they managed to get him released. After ending the call,
Li Xiu suddenly felt uneasy, "Jiazhi, what if we can't afford to support them after they come?"

"Will not."

"I feel our market is too small, yet we're supporting so many people. You need to expand the scale quickly!"

Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but burst into laughter, "When we came out, you were complaining that you couldn't be of any help!"

Li Xiu pouted and said, "I never expected them to agree so easily."

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "It must be that our situation here has already spread back to our hometown."

Li Xiu nodded. "Yes, Bao Bao just said that people from both brigades are saying that we've made a fortune growing vegetables outside, and they're asking us when we're going back."

"I probably won't be going back this year."

"I told him," Li Xiu said. "Jiazhi, you have to keep going, so many people are watching!"

"What about you?"

"I'll also do my best to do your laundry, cook for you, take care of the kids, and take photos for you... I'll take good care of you, so you can work harder!"

"You're dreaming," Chen Jiazhi scoffed, scrutinizing her lips. "Serving me well won't be easy~"

"Pah! Thinking about bad things again!"

The two walked back side by side.

A phone call brought the two of them together with a common goal: to build a large vegetable market... well, the most important thing is to move as soon as possible.

Another day passed, and the weather cleared up.

The Dongxiang vegetable market is bustling again. Chen Jiazhi went early in the morning to pick up his eldest sister and third sister's families and bring them to the Dongxiang vegetable market.

We can only squeeze in for now.

His parents, as well as Li Xiu, his second sister Chen Jiafang, and Yi Long, will go to Jiangxin Vegetable Market later.

The reason why the third sister and the eldest sister's families stayed here was because the wages at the Dongxiang vegetable market were higher.

Because Yi Dinggan was around, the second sister wasn't so sensitive to salary and income; instead, she was anxious to help Yi Long find a school.

After settling the people in, Chen Jiazhi hurriedly returned to Jiangxin Market to find a place to live.

Jiangxin Vegetable Market is located in Lingshan Town, and there is also a Dagang Town nearby, but Lingshan Town is closer, about 2 kilometers away from the market.

Thanks to Tong Gang's efforts, Chen Jiazhi rented a two-story house with a yard on the outskirts of the town that same day.

It's a brick house, a rarity for this era.

There are a total of 6 rooms upstairs and downstairs. The national highway is right outside the door, and it is not far from the town center and the market.

The homeowner is away most of the year, and Tong Gang only found this house through connections with the town government.

After a little cleaning and some bedding, you can move in. The rent is 400 yuan per month, which is a bit pricey.

After looking at it, Chen Jiazhi rented it without hesitation.

He didn't have to clean it himself; Tong Gang and Huang Chuan helped him with the cleaning first, and Huang Chuan even bought him bedding.

On October 25th, a single autumn rain brought a chill to the air.

"Oh dear, they just move like that? What am I going to do with my chickens?"

The light truck was already loaded with a lot of things, from large items like bicycles and furniture to small items like clothes and shoes; it could haul everything in one trip.

However, Peng Guozhen was still talking about the more than 30 chickens she raised, while Chen Shaochang only packed up his long playing card and hearing aid.

"Alright, alright, the eldest and third brothers will take care of them for you. You can just come and catch them to eat later."

Peng Guozhen still looked conflicted. Was she concerned about the meat? No, she was concerned about the process of raising the animals!
Li Xiu smiled and said, "Jiazhi said there's a yard over there, and it's not far from the market town. We can just go there and buy some more to raise."

Chen Shaochang chuckled, "There are hundreds of acres of vegetable fields over there; you couldn't possibly pick up all the vegetable leaves!"

Yi Long: "Grandma, Uncle said it's a good place to live over there, spacious and comfortable~"

Peng Guozhen then smiled and said, "Alright, alright, let's move it!"

A vegetable worker called out, "Aunt Peng, come back and visit often in the future!"

"Okay, okay, you guys get busy."

After saying goodbye, the group boarded the bus and embarked on a new journey.

Chen Jiazhi had experienced many such moving trips in his past life, so he found it difficult to develop feelings for a place.

That's how small-scale vegetable farmers are; they have no fixed abode, moving from place to place after each job.

But now he has already started planning a large-scale vegetable market.

Whether it was delegating authority to Ao Dehai, personally leading a team to practice and accumulate funds at the Jiangxin vegetable market, or bringing people out from their hometown.

He was preparing for all of this.

Running a large vegetable market is much more difficult than you might imagine; production management, packaging and transportation, and market sales are all indispensable.

Once the address is determined, barring unforeseen circumstances, we will not give up in the short term.

So let's build up our strength little by little.

After arriving at his new home, Chen Jiazhi parked the car sideways in the yard.

Li Xiu, Peng Guozhen, Chen Shaochang, Chen Jiafang, and Yi Long all got out of the car and looked around the two-story building.

"It looks so nice! It's so much better than the mud houses back home!" Yi Long said. "Uncle, when you go back and build your house, you should build one like this too!"

Chen Shaochang and Peng Guozhen both turned to look at him; the mud house in their hometown was indeed far inferior.

Chen Jiazhi didn't actually plan to let them go back for the time being, but he still nodded with a smile: "I'll go back and fix it later, and I'll definitely fix it even more beautifully than this!"

(End of this chapter)