1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 230 Tidying up the plots
Yi Dinggan's face was contorted with worry. After two or three days of this, if he went back empty-handed, he would be laughed at.

Chen Jiazhi suggested from the side, "Why don't you go to town and buy two to take back, and say you caught them yourself?"

"Hmm, it doesn't seem like it's impossible~"

Yi Dinggan's eyes lit up, and he said, "Jiazhi, you're really smart. This is a good idea."

Even Chen Shaochang and Yi Long agreed. The two of them, one old and one young, were very enthusiastic when making their own bamboo poles. It was Yi Long who plucked the chicken feathers.

Chen Jiazhi said, "I still need to go check on the vegetable field, so I won't go with you."

"Okay, okay, you go ahead and do your thing." Yi Dinggan waved his hand, already eager to go buy fish.

Chen Jiazhi did indeed go to the market again to take a look. The fertilizer application for Group 1 in the northern part of the area could be completed today, and the soil could be tilled tomorrow.

"The Dongxiang vegetable market is progressing very quickly. The seedbeds have all been prepared, and now we are just waiting for the seeds to be sown."

At the entrance of his former dormitory, he ran into Li Mingkun, who had just returned from vacation, and told him about the progress of the Dongxiang vegetable market.

"Okay, please."

"Why are you being so polite with me?" Li Mingkun asked. "Xue Jun is also asking you when you're going back. He's been working in the vegetable field these past few days."

"I'll come back once the seeds arrive."

After chatting for a while longer and learning about the Dongxiang vegetable market and the situation of the eldest and third sisters, Chen Jiazhi left.

Now that a solution has been found to resolve the conflict between tying the vines of snow peas and using small arched greenhouses, Dongxiang Vegetable Market will definitely start growing snow peas.

The six-month planting and harvesting process can greatly avoid crop rotation issues in management and also solve the problem of insufficient manpower in Dongxiang vegetable market.

However, I won't plant all of them with snow peas; 10 mu (approximately 1.65 acres) will be enough.

...

"Jiazhi, come quick! Yi-ge and the others have caught a lot of fish!"

Chen Jiazhi had just ridden his bike to the roadside in front of his house when he heard Li Xiu calling him. He turned around and saw a basin of water in the yard, with fish vaguely visible in the water.

Chen Jiafang and Peng Guozhen were also there, watching Yi Dinggan and his son Yi Long kill fish.

Damn, you bought it so quickly?

Cursing under his breath, Chen Jiazhi pushed the cart forward and asked, "What kind of fish did you catch?"

Li Xiu said, "Mainly crucian carp, plus one carp and one grass carp."

"There are quite a lot of different kinds." Chen Jiazhi leaned closer to take a look. There were about five or six crucian carp in the basin. "These fish are all quite big, comparable to those you can buy. There aren't any small fish either."

"Yes, they're all quite big."

Chen Jiafang and Li Xiu also discovered it quickly.

Yi Dinggan quickly gave Chen Jiazhi a wink and tried to salvage the situation, saying, "We caught some small fish too, but we'll keep the big ones and release the small ones. We'll take two of the big ones to make soup, and a few more to braise, and release the small ones as well."

"You guys are quite meticulous, and you've thought of everything."

"That is."

Chen Jiazhi squatted down and scooped up a crucian carp, which was quite plump. He asked, "Where did you catch this fish?"

Yi Dinggan thought to himself, "Isn't this question pointless?" But he still said, "Of course it's in the river, not far from the market."

"Huh~" Chen Jiazhi immediately exclaimed in doubt, "That river water seems a bit dirty. Will eating these fish cause any problems?"

Yi Dinggan suddenly felt as if a stone had hit him hard on the head, his head was buzzing, and he looked at Chen Jiazhi in disbelief.

Yi Long, who was also cleaning fish, tilted his head and wondered, "Can you really do it like this?"
Chen Shaochang silently walked a little further away, took out his tobacco leaves, and prepared to start reading.

Li Xiu, Chen Jiafang, and Peng Guozhen didn't notice the unusual situation of the old, middle-aged, and young people. After thinking about it for a moment, they actually agreed with Chen Jiazhi's words.

"Yes, the river water seems a bit dirty, and it seems like sewage is being discharged directly into the river."

“There’s a lot of trash in the river, and the water is murky.” Peng Guozhen suddenly said to Li Xiu very seriously, “Li Xiu, you can’t eat this fish, and you can’t drink the crucian carp soup either.”

Chen Jiafang: "Yes, yes, Li Xiu, the baby is still breastfeeding, so you have to be careful about what he eats."

Li Xiu nodded quickly: "Yes, I know, I won't eat it."

"Forget it, forget it, it's not good for anyone to eat it!" Chen Jiafang felt increasingly uneasy and said, "Why don't we just throw this fish away, or feed it to the dogs or ducks?"

Yi Dinggan and Yi Long stood there, somewhat at a loss.

But Chen Jiafang felt a little reluctant to part with them, after all, they had gone through so much trouble for several days.

They went to the mountains to cut bamboo and roasted fish over a fire. Even the chickens and ducks they just bought were plucked. They went to bait the fishing spot early this morning, but only caught a few fish all day. It's normal that they're reluctant to let them go.

But we don't lack these things now, so even if we're reluctant, there's no need to eat these unclean things. It would be even worse if we got sick from eating them.

Thinking of this, Chen Jiafang prepared to take the basin and throw it away.

"Xiao Long, don't kill him, let him in quickly, I'll take him away and dump him."

Yi Long refused to let go: "Mom, it can't fall!"

Chen Jiafang said, "The river water is dirty, and these fish aren't clean. If you want to eat fish, I'll go to town and buy some for you."

"But...but..." Yi Long hesitated and looked at Yi Dinggan. Chen Jiafang had already picked up the basin and stood up before he could speak.

"But I bought this fish!"

In a flash,

The courtyard was quiet.

"Bought them?" Chen Jiafang looked at the lively fish in the basin and asked, "Where did you buy them?"

Yi Dinggan silently took two steps back, and Chen Jiafang immediately looked at him again, "You bought it?"

Yi Dinggan opened his mouth, unsure how to respond.

"It was the old man who bought them. We didn't catch a single fish today, so he went to town and bought a few on his way back," Yi Long said quickly, giving him no chance to react.

Chen Jiafang glanced at Yi Dinggan and sneered twice: "I was wondering why the fish in the river were so big, and why I caught so many. So you bought them!"

"If you didn't catch anything, you didn't catch anything. Why lie? Do you think I'd eat you?"

"We agreed to have fish for dinner tonight," Yi Dinggan said sullenly, but looking at Chen Jiazhi, who was leaning against the wall smoking leisurely, he pointed.

"It was Jiazhi's idea."

Chen Jiazhi chuckled and started shifting the blame: "I was just saying it casually, who knew you would actually go and buy it."

"Alright, alright, it's done buying it." Peng Guozhen then stepped forward and took the basin from Chen Jiafang's hand.

"Yi Dinggan meant well. It just so happens that this fish looks good; we'll have fish for dinner tonight."

"Oh dear, I was hoping to eat fish that someone caught themselves tonight..."

The storm has temporarily subsided.

There was bound to be some mockery, but it also provided a lot of laughs for the family. In the end, the three airmen themselves started laughing as they talked.

Chen Jiazhi was very good at making braised crucian carp, so he took over the task of making it.

They also brought the jar for pickling cabbage from the Dongxiang vegetable market. After Chen Jiazhi pickled the fish, he added pickled cowpeas, pickled ginger slices, and pickled peppers to the belly of the crucian carp. Before it was even taken out of the pot for braising, the whole family took turns coming to the kitchen to check on it.

"Let's eat!"

"The braised crucian carp is just enough for one person, there aren't any extras. Be careful of the bones, there are quite a few, so be cautious!"

“I know,” Peng Guozhen said. “When your dad first came back from his injury, we even went to work with people raising fish in the river to earn a living. We ate fish every day back then, and we even got used to it.”

Why bring this up for no reason?

Chen Shaochang muttered to himself that he felt hearing aids also had their downsides; he felt his house was never quiet. Fishing was much better—it was quiet, but he just couldn't catch any fish.

Chen Jiazhi had heard about his parents raising fish many times.

My hometown is located on the banks of the Tuojiang River. A few kilometers away from their village is a tributary of the Tuojiang River. After my father was deafened by the explosion, he rested for a few months and then let my third sister take over his job. He and my mother stayed with my mother's family to raise fish in the river for several years.

Actually, I didn't make any money. Those few years were pretty miserable. In my mother's words, it was a "terrible experience".

Dad doesn't like to recall these things either.

He just kept praising Chen Jiazhi's skills.

"This braised crucian carp is well done; it's almost as good as my cooking."

...

Ooh ooh~
The next morning, before dawn, upon hearing the rooster crowing, Chen Jiazhi had the urge to kill the chicken again; it certainly wouldn't live for more than two and a half years.

Last night, Li Xiu and I were up and about for a while. In the middle of the night, our son Chen Zhengyun woke up crying for milk, so I got up and comforted him for a while. I didn't get much sleep all night.

After dozing off for a while, Chen Jiazhi, Yi Dinggan, and Chen Jiafang got up and ate the boiled eggs and glutinous rice balls that their mother had cooked before going to work.

Two bicycles were being ridden side by side.

Chen Jiazhi was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt underneath a long-sleeved shirt draped over his shoulders, the hem of the shirt fluttering in the wind.

"Second Sister, Brother Yi, how's the talk about Xiaolong going to school going?"

Yi Dinggan also casually wore a jacket, but he wore shorts on his lower body.

"I asked someone from the town government to help me make an introduction, and we arranged to take Xiaolong to the school on Monday to meet the academic director and teachers. It should work."

How much do I need to pay?

"This place is a bit remote, a few hundred or a thousand yuan should be enough, but it might cost more when you go to junior high school."

"If Xiaolong does well in the future, the amount of money he has to pay should be less, or even none at all."

In his past life, Chen Jiazhi moved several times and changed schools with his two sons, but because his sons had good grades, they could go anywhere without paying any extra fees. Some high schools even paid for his eldest son to attend. It's just a pity that the stubborn Chen Zhengyun ended up applying to an agricultural university, which makes Chen Jiazhi angry.
"That's a bit difficult. Xiaolong is not very good at studying." Chen Jiafang said, sitting in the back seat with her arm around Yi Dinggan's waist. "It might be possible if it were Xiaohu."

Chen Jiazhi: "Xiao Hu's Mandarin is a bit poor. He may need to adapt first, otherwise his teachers and classmates won't be able to understand him."

Yi Dinggan: "Xiaolong's Mandarin is also tongue-twisting. He doesn't speak it as well as you. None of us speak it better than you."

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Xiaolong's future classmates might not speak Mandarin as well as he does."

Yi Dinggan chuckled: "That seems true, Cantonese speakers sometimes have trouble speaking Mandarin."

"So, who's afraid of who? Maybe Xiaolong's grades will even improve."

After chatting about school enrollment for a while, we arrived at the market.

The vegetable workers arrived at the gathering point one after another and waited. Chen Jiazhi told the group leaders about today's tasks, and soon, Jiangxin Vegetable Market began another busy day.

Fertilize, till the soil, and prepare the beds.
Chen Jiafang was assigned to Ao Deliang's group, and she was able to immediately start helping to tidy up the vegetable plots.

Four mini-tillers roared as they repeatedly tilled the soil, thoroughly mixing the organic fertilizer with the soil.

If you gently scoop up a handful of soil, you'll only feel that it's fine, crumbly, loose, and scattered.

The vegetable plots are also different from the turtle-back plots used for flood prevention in summer; they have become flat plots, gradually taking shape along a uniform east-west direction.
In the afternoon, Huang Chuan brought more good news: the snow pea seeds from Taiwan had arrived.

(End of this chapter)