1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 229 Air Force
The dark clouds have dispersed, and the sky is clear and bright.

In the corridor, Chen Jiazhi saw his father, Chen Shaochang, give him a thumbs up.

"Great!"

Chen Jiazhi has received countless such compliments since childhood, but he still feels a sense of pride when he hears them now.

"Please have a seat, I still have some work to do."

"You go about your business, don't worry about us, we'll go back first in a bit."

Behind him, Tong Gang, Huang Chuan, and Xu Yao followed him into the office one after another.

Tong Gang said, "Director Chen, I arranged for my driver to come for the interview today. He's here now, so I'd like to trouble you to meet him."

Chen Jiazhi asked, "What's going on?"

Tong Gang: "He is a veteran driver, fifty years old this year. He used to drive in a state-owned factory. Now he has voluntarily retired and been laid off. He has a lot of experience, but he asks for a relatively high salary."

"How tall?"

"He wants 1,500 a month."

"He's willing to do things like mechanical repairs at the market, right?"

“He said it was possible, and I took him to try it out. He can repair things like mini-tillers.” Tong Gang leaned closer and whispered, “He was introduced by the town mayor, and he seems alright.”

"Okay, I understand. Let him come."

Being a driver is a highly sought-after profession nowadays, much more prestigious than being a driver in later generations, but a monthly salary of 1500 yuan is still quite high.

But now they are short of people, and their place is remote, so it's good enough if someone is willing to come. Chen Jiazhi plans to find someone to keep the driver later and hand over the white light truck to Yan Hao.

Immediately afterwards, Huang Chuan invited him to take a look at the samples and said that someone wanted to treat him to dinner.

However, Chen Jiazhi refused outright.

He didn't need the meal, nor did he intend to take a kickback. He had planned to raise a total of 115 million yuan, which was quite a lot, but he wanted to get things done and didn't have room to squander it.

Huang Chuan and Xu Yao were told to wait in the warehouse first. Tong Gang also brought in the driver he was interviewing. He had a square face, was wearing a striped shirt, and looked rather weathered.

"Director Chen, hello, I am Yan Hao."

"Sit~"

Chen Jiazhi made him a cup of tea, chatted for a few more minutes, and feeling that things were going well, he kept Yan Hao behind.

He then went to the warehouse, looked at samples of organic fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, and pesticides, and based on the prices, Chen Jiazhi immediately selected a buyer.

Most of them come from the city's directly operated supply and marketing cooperatives; they're a bit more expensive, but the quality is more guaranteed.

"Huang Chuan, we need to get the fertilizer back as soon as possible, especially the organic fertilizer, we need it soon."

"Yes, manager."

"If you don't understand anything, ask Xu Yao. You can also come and ask me directly. I'll be here for you."

"Good~"

"I need to trouble you with something else," Chen Jiazhi said generously. "Could you also help me bring 10 mu of Qizhen No. 76 snow pea seeds for private use? I'll pay him back later."

With the supplies for Jiangxin Vegetable Market secured, Chen Jiazhi planned to have Dongxiang Vegetable Market simply copy his methods.

They buy the seeds themselves, while Hongzhong delivers the pesticides, fertilizers, and plastic film according to their list.

Both sides are aiming for the period after New Year's Day, and their actual progress is roughly the same.

If the subsequent crop rotations are consistent, and things stabilize midway, Chen Jiazhi can reduce the number of times he goes to the Dongxiang vegetable market.

Once a week is about right.

After he finished his work at the market, Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang had already taken their parents home on foot.

It had just rained, and there was no way to work in the fields, so Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan rode their bicycles home together.

A few wisps of smoke were already rising from the house, carrying a fragrant and spicy aroma.

"This is the smell!"

Yi Dinggan exclaimed with great enjoyment, "Jiafang, you must have cooked this tonight, it smells so good!"

The kitchen is a separate room on the first floor, and the second floor is the balcony in front of Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu's dormitory.

You can see the busy scene in the kitchen from the first-floor courtyard.

Chen Jiafang also heard Yi Dinggan's sarcastic voice, complaining that Yi Dinggan's dormitory at the vegetable market was like a doghouse, and she didn't know how Yi Long could sleep there.

Yi Dinggan chuckled twice and then went to tease Chen Zhengyun again.

Before long, Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang brought the food to the table and called out to eat. As if by magic, Yi Dinggan produced a pot of liquor from somewhere.

"Come on, let's have a little wine tonight. Mom and Dad, have a small glass too. Jiazhi, would you like some?"

"I've given up drinking." Chen Jiazhi said expressionlessly.

Yi Dinggan acted as if he hadn't seen anything and continued to pour wine for the two elders, while Chen Shaochang and Peng Guozhen chuckled.

Drink less~

Chen Jiazhi could only mutter something under his breath, but no one paid any attention to him, so he focused on eating.

After finishing their meal early, they played with Chen Zhengyun in the yard.

At the dinner table, Yi Dinggan spoke eloquently, making the two elders laugh out loud from time to time.

Chen Jiazhi sat outside the door listening, feeling a little uneasy.

In both his past and present lives, he was slow to express his feelings for his parents. He knew he should be filial, so he brought them over.

But in practice, aside from buying some things, they spend very little time with me, talk very little, and run out of things to say after a few words.
Unlike now, the conversation in the main room never stops.
After eating and drinking some wine, Peng Guozhen insisted on washing the dishes with Li Xiu and Chen Jiafang.

"Jiazhi, come play cards for a bit!"

Inside the main room, the table had been cleared out, and Yi Dinggan, holding a long deck of cards, called out, "Come on, play a game with Dad for a while."

Chen Shaochang also sat on the table and began rolling a cigarette.

"Okay~" The "Lan Chu" gameplay in Sichuan Changpai is usually played by four people, who take turns being the dealer and one person gets a turn.

However, it can also be played by 3 people.

The first player to have 15 or 16 high-value cards wins; generally, 16 cards are required to score points.

The main gate, from largest to smallest, displays the Heavenly Tile, Earthly Tile, Human Tile, and Harmony Tile, as well as Zhongshan, Yao...

Chen Jiazhi was exposed to it from a young age and learned it when he was around ten years old.

The three of them also gambled, but on small stakes. Chen Shaochang was in high spirits, perhaps because he was genuinely bored.

After playing for a while, Li Xiu, Chen Jiafang, and Peng Guozhen also arrived, bringing their children who were also enjoying the show.

...

In the following days, Chen Jiazhi resumed his busy work schedule.

Every day, they shuttle between vegetable markets, agricultural supply stores, and livestock farms.

The weather was also great; it didn't rain again, and the plowed land was left to dry in the sun for two more days.

The land in Group 1 of the northern section, managed by Ao Deliang, has been left to dry for almost half a month, and they are already preparing to spread fertilizer and prepare the land.
A plot of land in the northern section, next to the provincial highway, was converted into a temporary storage yard.

When Chen Jiazhi has a spare moment these days, he likes to stand on the second floor of his office and watch truckloads of fermented manure being unloaded at the storage yard.

Ao Deliang has been counting and monitoring the quality of organic manure along the provincial highway for a long time, checking for any adulteration.

By the morning of the 28th, the stockpile had formed a square mountain, like a flood control dam.

The vegetable workers pushed wheelbarrows to transport bags of fertilizer to the vegetable fields, which turned into about 10 small hills in the northern section.

at the same time,

Truckloads of fermented manure were heading to the temporary storage yard in the second group of the northern area, and Qi Yongfeng was also supervising the quantity and quality of the arriving manure.

By the time the fermented manure was being sent to Group 3 in the North Area, Ao Deliang had already begun directing the workers to spread the fertilizer.

In addition to the manure filling the small hills, other substances are also spread on each acre.

100 catties quicklime, 120 catties compound fertilizer, 80 catties superphosphate, 50 catties potassium sulfate, 3 catties magnesium-boron-zinc-molybdenum-iron fertilizer, 3 kg iron-manganese-zinc-boron-magnesium fertilizer, 3 catties zinc sulfate.
Small amounts can be mixed with other fertilizers and applied together.

To avoid mistakes, each worker is responsible for only one type of substance from start to finish.

The best method is to mix everything thoroughly before sprinkling, but if the quantity is too large, it becomes too difficult to organize, so it has to be done separately.

Even so, mistakes were made frequently at the beginning.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi didn't spend much time just watching from the second floor. Whenever the group leaders were in a rush, he would go downstairs to assist in directing the work or to bring in other group leaders.

This happened quite often; he spent two-thirds of his day in the fields.

The goal is simply to set a good example for everyone, and the group leaders will understand.

The first group in the northern region serves as a template, and other groups should learn from their experience.

As the small hills in the northern section were about to disappear, the vehicles transporting fermented manure began unloading at the southern section's storage yard.

The application of base fertilizer is gradually becoming more orderly.

As the sun sets and winter approaches, while many places in the north are already experiencing heavy snowfall, Guangzhou seems to still be enjoying summer.

However, after the Frost's Descent, Guangdong enters a season where it's hard to know what to wear. You might need to wear a jacket in the morning, but in the afternoon you might be wearing short sleeves and still feel unbearably hot.

There are also advantages; people can get off work regular hours at the market without having to stay up late.

As the workday was drawing to a close, Chen Jiazhi finished explaining the remaining tasks and then rode his bicycle towards the river.

On the riverbank embankment, he saw Yi Dinggan, Chen Shaochang, and Yi Long fishing with bamboo fishing rods.

During Yi Dinggan's three-day break, he made sure his father-in-law and his wife were very comfortable, and Chen Jiazhi temporarily lost favor with them.

Take this fishing rod, for example. It was made by Yi Dinggan, Chen Shaochang, and Yi Long themselves.

Cutting bamboo, roasting bamboo, straightening bamboo, making floats with chicken feather sticks... all were done by hand.

This was my first time trying to fish today.

How was the catch?

From a distance, Chen Jiazhi called out, and the three of them turned around to look, then shook their heads in unison.

Chen Jiazhi was surprised: "You didn't catch a single one?"

Yi Long, holding a fishing rod, said, "These are all strange fish; my old man said they can't be eaten."

Chen Jiazhi glanced at the somewhat murky river water and estimated that the fish he could catch were either tilapia, black bass, or suckermouth catfish.

After spending several days making the rod, he ended up empty-handed. Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "All my hard work was for nothing."

Yi Dinggan quickly said, "Dad, it's okay. There's a fishpond next to the house that Mingkun and the others rent. I'll go ask tomorrow if we can fish there. If not, I'll pay to fish."

Chen Shaochang shook his head repeatedly and said with a smile, "No need for that trouble, I'll just fish for fun."

Yi Dinggan: "It's no trouble at all. It's just a matter of saying hello. He knows we grow vegetables. I'll compensate him with some vegetables later. You're alone every day, and it's boring without anyone to play cards with. Fishing is just right."

"Shall we give it a try?" Chen Shaochang smiled. "But let's make it clear, if you're paid, we won't go fishing."

Yi Dinggan patted his chest. "Don't worry, I still have that much face."

Chen Shaochang laughed and said "okay" repeatedly, as if whether or not he could go fishing was no longer that important.

Chen Jiazhi walked to the other side of Yi Dinggan and muttered, "Time to go to work tomorrow~"

"I'll go when I have time; it won't affect my work." Yi Dinggan glanced at him and could sense his brother's jealousy, but somehow he felt even more pleased.

The three of them stopped fishing, packed up their rods, and prepared to go home.

Yi Long exclaimed in surprise, "Old man, you told Mom you were going to fish tonight for dinner, but we haven't caught a single fish yet. What are we going to do?"

These past few days, the three of them have put a lot of effort into tinkering with their fishing rods. The half-grown chickens and ducks they had just bought were chased around in a frenzy, their feathers plucked to make floats, which angered both heaven and man.

If they come back empty-handed on their first attempt, they'll probably get a lot of ridicule.
(End of this chapter)