1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 243 Everything is turned upside down
The headlights of the Yuejin were very bright, and the weeds on both sides of the road and the plants in the farmland were covered with layers of white frost, like rock candy.

As dawn broke, the frost had not completely melted.

As I passed by my house, the fully loaded truck didn't stop, and continued straight to the roadside near the market. Through my blurry vision, I could see that there seemed to be people inside the market.

After getting off the car, Chen Jiazhi finally saw Yi Dinggan, Ao Deliang, Qi Yongfeng and others walking out from the passage between the arched sheds.

Once Yi Dinggan was on the highway, he shouted from twenty or thirty meters away, "I haven't been affected by the frost at all!"

Others then joined in the shouting.

Everything is fine!
Chen Jiazhi's last doubts disappeared, and he laughed and smoked by the roadside with everyone. The bloodshot eyes showed that none of them had slept all night.

The drop in temperature last night made everyone uneasy, fearing that something might have gone wrong. Yi Dinggan even prepared several piles of straw, so that if anything went wrong, they could use smoke to raise the temperature. Although it might not work, it was better than just watching helplessly.

They may be playful and silly in normal times, but they're really reliable when it matters!
Chen Jiazhi waved his hand and said, "Let's go to town for breakfast!"

Yi Dinggan chuckled and said, "No need, we'll eat in the cafeteria. Chef Wang came early to prepare breakfast and made mutton offal soup."

Chen Jiazhi glanced at the sky; it really was early, and the market didn't offer breakfast. People were willing to help.

After having a bowl of mutton offal soup noodles at the market and feeling full, everyone waited for the remaining vegetable workers to come to work and assigned tasks before going back to sleep.

If the temperature rises during the day, the straw can be removed to let in light, and then covered again in the evening.

This temperature drop is unlikely to end anytime soon, so we can't let our guard down. Sure enough, another cold rain fell during the day.

The office phone kept ringing.

Xu Yao answered the phone, and as she expected, it was Xu Wenxiang calling to ask about the market.

"Sister, everything is fine. Director Chen told me to tell you four words when you call."

"What four words?"

"May you be happy and prosperous."

Xu Wenxiang smiled with relief. From evening to morning to afternoon, although she was busy with the New Year's Day banquet, she also kept an eye on the weather information from time to time.

It's been a long time since Huacheng has been this cold.

Even during meals, you can hear many people complaining about the damp and cold weather.

I felt both nervous and expectant.

Fortunately, it didn't disappoint her.

After relaxing in her office chair, Xu Wenxiang dialed Huang Jianyuan's number again to inquire about market conditions.

The market response to the frost came quickly, and many people were already looking for goods in advance. However, due to the suddenness of the situation, many vegetables, even if they did not freeze to death, were frostbitten and collapsed, and did not meet the standards for harvesting.

Therefore, the supply is very limited.

Upon learning that Jiangxin Market was unaffected, Huang Jianyuan was very excited and immediately began contacting customers, and then called Xu Wenxiang back.

"Mr. Xu, the price of snow peas is 2.3 yuan/jin and the price of bok choy is 1.2 yuan/jin. Compared with yesterday, the prices have changed dramatically."

I think the dishes are ready to be served!

The price is already higher than when the dish was first served last time, Xu Wenxiang thought to herself.

"Mr. Huang, please don't be anxious."

"How can I not be anxious? Everyone's asking if the dishes will be available, and when they will be available. Give me a definite answer!"

"I don't know either," Xu Wenxiang said. "Director Chen and the production team are all sleeping. They stayed up all night last night."

"Then I'll stall for time." Huang Jianyuan knew there was no other way; it would be difficult for the two of them to bypass the factory manager and get involved in production organization.

The phone rang again before Xu Wenxiang could even catch her breath after hanging up. She thought it was another shareholder, but it turned out to be someone ordering food.

The same calls kept coming in, and she began to understand Huang Jianyuan's happy troubles.

In fact, Chen Jiazhi came to the market in the afternoon, but only for a moment. He took the keys and drove the white light truck from the market back to Dongxiang. Everything was fine there.

The budding bok choy has slowed down its growth due to the low temperature, so there's no need to rush to harvest it.

In the early hours of the morning, Chen Jiazhi headed towards Zengcuo Road again.

Just one night later, vegetable prices began to fluctuate again, with snow peas leading the way and stabilizing at over 2 yuan per jin.

The key issue is that it's impossible to buy the goods; they're basically sold out as soon as they appear on the market.

The snow peas in the market have been sold out, but the snow peas planted outdoors in winter may not all have perished. Some quick-thinking farmers will promptly harvest the pods that are still marketable and then prune the vines heavily to prevent a complete crop failure.

Whether it's taking other remedial measures or having a unique geographical location... there will always be lucky ones.

However, widespread impacts have already occurred, and the longer the frost lasts, the greater the damage.

That night, Chen Jiazhi did not make any further moves, but simply browsed the market. Around two o'clock, it frosted again.

One of the conditions for frost is that the ground temperature drops below 0℃. In the past two days, there have been occasional light rains and high humidity, which has further aggravated the damage to vegetables grown outdoors in winter.

As dawn approached, Chen Zhengxu, who had been wandering around the market, excitedly returned to the temporary warehouse.

"Uncle, it's gone up, it's gone up, the price has gone up again."

Li Cai asked curiously, "How many snow peas did you sell?"

Chen Zhengxu replied with a smile, "Someone just quoted 2.8 yuan per jin, and the price of bok choy has also risen to 1.1 yuan per jin!"

Li Cai did the math and turned around to say, "Brother Chen, the bok choy is growing even faster! It's already doubled in price!"

I bought 4200 jin of bok choy last night for only 5 mao per jin, and the price doubled overnight.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Don't be so greedy. We've already made a huge profit. Who knows what the future holds?"

That's right, we should be content, Li Cai thought to himself. How much money did he make in just one night?

"Brother Chen, when do you plan to sell them? Are you really going to wait until they're 4 yuan per jin before you sell them?"

Chen Jiazhi shook his head. "We can't wait. The truckload at home can start selling tomorrow night at stall number 56."

Li Caiting is looking forward to it, saying, "It should sell for 3 yuan per jin tomorrow night, which is double the price. Brother Chen is going to make a fortune this time."

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "You guys will get your share too. Go and pull some strings these next couple of days to get your driver's licenses as soon as possible."

Also, I'm planning to buy a minivan, so you can drive it too!

After practicing for a while, the two have made rapid progress in learning to drive, and they are already daring to drive short distances on the road during the day. However, they still need Chen Jiazhi to guide them in the evenings.

Hearing that they were going to buy a car, Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu became even more excited. When they left their hometown, neither of them had ever imagined that they would be able to drive a car so soon.

"Uncle, I will do my best." Chen Zhengxu now calls him "Uncle" with perfect fluency.

“Me too,” Li Cai also said.

Both of them watched the prices rise, and they are still full of passion to this day.

Chen Jiazhi was much calmer. He slept for a while during the day and went to his office early in the morning to call Xu Wenxiang back.

The general meaning is: Don't rush, don't rush, please don't rush.

Yi Dinggan kept a close eye on the vegetable field. Even with the protection of the greenhouse, the vegetables had stopped growing these past two days.

The first batch of snow peas was just at the stage where the tender pods were ready for harvest, and the ones sown a few days later had already flowered and formed pods.

As soon as the weather warms up a little, we can harvest every day.

The same goes for Chinese cabbage; it wasn't planted until November 13th, leaving plenty of time for harvesting.

Therefore, there is absolutely no need to rush; the earlier you sell, the more you will lose.

After speaking with Xu Wenxiang on the phone, Chen Jiazhi took Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu to the driving school and spent some money to smooth things over.

Around midnight, Chen Jiazhi first went to the warehouse in Jiangnan, unloaded some of the snow peas from the truck, and then loaded 2000 jin of bok choy.

Then Chen Zhengxu was left to stay at the Jiangnan Market to check the market conditions and guard the warehouse.

He and Li Cai went to stall number 56. They arrived at the market not early, but the market was as deserted as the cold weather.

The blue light truck covered with a tarpaulin attracted the attention of some people as soon as it entered the market.

Then people recognized the license plate number and the people in the car, and gradually more people followed behind the car.

Xue Jun had been waiting at the stall for a while, and Chen Jiazhi came up as soon as he got out of the car.

"Jiazhi, Ao Dehai asked me to ask you when to harvest the vegetables!"

"Don't rush, let Dehai start harvesting the vegetables the day after tomorrow." Chen Jiazhi put his arm around Xue Jun's shoulder and then raised his voice, "Get ready to sell the vegetables!"

Li Cai was already dismantling the tarpaulin, Xue Jun went to help, and Chen Jiazhi came to the back of the vehicle to greet the guests.

"Mr. Chen, what dishes are served today?"

When Chen Jiazhi saw those expectant eyes, it was as if he were seeing stacks of banknotes.

He laughed and said, "Snow peas and bok choy."

The calm words instantly caused a low commotion.

"Sigh~"

"Damn it, open the car door!"

"Mr. Chen, you've pulled off another big one!"

The other guests who came along all tacitly lowered their voices. Those who brought their own vehicles moved their carts, trailers, tricycles, etc., to the back of the vehicle, while those who didn't bring any hurriedly went back to get them.

The number of people in front of the car is also increasing.

After the tarpaulin at the rear was lifted, Chen Jiazhi opened the door halfway, and the tall Xue Jun got in and unloaded a basket of bok choy and a basket of snow peas.

It wasn't very fresh, but nobody cared; everyone was scrambling to get their hands on the food.

Chen Jiazhi shouted out the prices: "Chinese cabbage 1.4 yuan/jin, snow peas 3 yuan/jin!"

His shout was quite loud, and it immediately attracted the attention of some people in the passageway.

Although the price has gone up again, it's not excessive. Judging from the way people are gathering, they only symbolically bargained before placing their orders.

"150 pounds of snow peas!"

"120 pounds of snow peas!"

"120 jin of snow peas and 50 jin of bok choy!"

"180 pounds of snow peas!"

Listening to the various orders, Chen Jiazhi raised an eyebrow. Why did they all want snow peas?
He then ordered bok choy from customers, first having Xue Jun and Li Cai bring him the vegetables, and then personally collected the money and wrote down the order, totaling 430 yuan.

I haven't been able to process orders for a while, so I'm a bit out of practice.

But he quickly found his rhythm.

He was all too familiar with this kind of scene.

Some of the customers who were picking up vegetables gradually realized something was wrong. Why were all the vegetables picked up first still whole?
"Mr. Chen, how many snow peas do you have?"

"good."

Chen Jiazhi gave an ambiguous answer, while also instructing Xue Jun and Li Cai to lock the other half of the car door to prevent anyone from seeing what was inside.

The first person to ask shouted again, "Boss Chen, I want 180 catties of snow peas and 60 catties of bok choy!"

"Okay, that'll be 624 yuan in total!" Chen Jiazhi said with a smile, then turned to his two generals and said, "Alright, get the dishes for this boss!"

Depend on!
It's a bundled sale!

Vegetable vendors are shrewd; one by one, people realized that if they wanted to get the snow peas first, they had to get the bok choy!
Moreover, there are probably not many snow peas!
Now, the others who wanted to buy snow peas also brought their orders for bok choy!

Chen Jiazhi accepted everything without hesitation. On the contrary, his truckload of vegetables contained more than 6000 jin of snow peas but only 2000 jin of bok choy!
With the bundled sales, even fewer bok choy were sold out quickly.

However, the snow peas sold out even faster, and the bok choy was soon sold out as well, leaving the carriage empty again.

Despite the cold night, Chen Jiazhi was drenched in sweat from exhaustion.

Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu both sat at the back of the carriage, sweating even more and having taken off their coats. "Brother Chen, come and have a smoke and rest for a while."

Chen Jiazhi took the cigarette but didn't get in the car. Instead, he tidied up the last remaining platform scale.

"It's cold, go home early."

She clutched the bag in front of her chest again; it had been a long time since she'd filled it so full.

(End of this chapter)