1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 244 Sale
Seeing his gesture of reaching into his bag, Li Cai and Xue Jun both understood.

The stall is doing brisk business tonight, but the money they're charging is too conspicuous.

Immediately, the two of them jumped off the train.

Xue Jun said, "Jiazhi, I'll head back to the Dongxiang vegetable market now."

"Okay, be careful. Oh, by the way..." As he was leaving, Chen Jiazhi called him back, "Have you ever thought about learning to drive?"

Xue Jun paused involuntarily as he pushed the cart: "Yes, of course I want to!"

Chen Jiazhi moved closer and pondered for a moment, then said, "Once you get your salary this month, I think you can also sign up for driving lessons. It'll be useful in the future."

"Get it!"

Xue Jun agreed without hesitation and quickly understood the meaning behind his words.

This month's salary should be quite high.

Li Cai understood what he meant.

Just after the light truck left, at the other end of the passage, Curly stared intently at stall number 56.

When he turned around, he saw Old Wu standing beside him, saying, "I have a feeling you can't beat him."

Curly pondered for a moment and said, "They each do their own business; he can't possibly do business in the entire market."

"You have a good attitude."

Old Wu didn't go to stall number 56 today, but he knew that stall number 56 had snow peas and bok choy today.

“If you run out of vegetables, I will also go to stall number 56.”

Curly's expression stiffened: "In this cold weather, he might not even have any stock. Didn't you see? What he sold today was all his old stock. He might not have any more after these next couple of days."

Old Wu: "I think it will happen."

Curly Hair: "You said it before, if I buy his vegetables again, I'm a dog."

Old Wu chuckled. If it really comes down to it, who cares about saving face? He should still have that much thick skin, right?

However, if Chen, the vegetable farmer, still had a large quantity of vegetables at this time, then something strange would happen.

...

When Chen Jiazhi arrived at the warehouse in Jiangnan Market, he saw Chen Zhengxu squatting by the wall smoking.

"Why are you sitting here? Aren't you cold?"

Chen Zhengxu stood up and said urgently, "Uncle, a few people came looking for you at the market just now."

Chen Jiazhi raised an eyebrow: "What is it?"

Chen Zhengxu pursed his lips and gritted his teeth: "Those people told us to take the vegetables away tonight, clear out the warehouse, or sell the vegetables to them!"

Chen Jiazhi carefully examined Chen Zhengxu's appearance. Although he was anxious and flustered, there were no signs of fighting or pulling on his body. He probably just wanted to force him.

"Isn't this blatant bullying?!" After realizing what had happened, Li Cai was also furious and cursed, "We agreed to rent it for a week!"

Chen Jiazhi patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to calm down, and then asked, "How was it finally resolved?"

Chen Zhengxu said, "A General Manager Ye from the market came and mediated. He said the warehouse wasn't his, and he couldn't do anything about it. He told me to inform you to make a decision as soon as possible. He can't help delay for long. Others urgently need the warehouse. Uncle, what should we do now?"

Chen Jiazhi's mind raced as he considered the relationship between Ye Canjiang and these people, and he quickly made a decision: "Load the truck first."

Li Cai exclaimed in surprise, "Not even one truck can hold it all!"

"Pack as much as you can!"

These people weren't trying to force them to leave; they wanted to buy the vegetables.

Just as the three of them had loaded most of the vegetables into the truck, four or five more people arrived and stood guard in front of the truck door.

Chen Jiazhi, Li Cai, and Chen Zhengxu each carried a basket of vegetables and stood facing the group.

"What do you mean?"

The leader, a burly black man, smiled and said, "You're a smart man. If you take the vegetables out, you'll have to find another place. So, sell me the snow peas you have."

Of course, I won't shortchange you on the price either. Based on today's market price, I can give you 3 yuan per jin (0.5 catties).

Chen Jiazhi frowned and said, "Forced buying and selling, if word gets out, it will be bad for the market's reputation."

"Cough cough~"

"Young man, it's perfectly reasonable for you to take the food with you today, and no one can stop you."

At this moment, Ye Canjiang also arrived, walked straight up to Chen Jiazhi, and had a friendly expression.

"However, your snow peas have been sitting for two or three days, and there's a large quantity, so it's difficult to sell them quickly. It's also hard to find such a large buyer outside, so the price definitely won't be 3 yuan per jin."

So I think it's wiser to sell the vegetables to these few bosses.

Regarding the transaction, the market will provide you with guarantees. What do you think?

Just after Ye Canjiang finished speaking, Chen Jiazhi chimed in, "Three yuan and two jiao."

"Ok?"

"I'll sell it to you for just two cents more per pound," Chen Jiazhi said. "Two cents won't affect you, will it?!"

Ye Canjiang remained silent, instead turning his gaze to the burly man and his companions.

The burly man said, "Okay, 3.2 yuan per jin, I'll take them all."

"I'm taking a whole cartload of vegetables with me, the rest is for you." Chen Jiazhi looked at the group, "You've eaten the meat, you should at least leave me some soup, right?"

"Okay." The burly man considered for a moment, then said to the men who had come with him, "Help this young man load the car."

Then, Chen Jiazhi saw that the remaining space in the light truck was completely filled with bok choy.

These people didn't even fill a single basket with snow peas; their target was clear: someone in the market was organizing a speculation on snow peas.

In fact, this was a result that Chen Jiazhi had already thought of, so after learning about what happened that night, he was prepared to sell the vegetables.

The fact that the market supply of snow peas is concentrated in the hands of a group of people allows them to speculate more confidently and boldly.

Chen Jiazhi will also profit. Dongxiang Market also has 10 mu of snow peas, and Jiangxin Market's snow peas may also profit from this.

Therefore, he didn't lose out either.

After the truck was loaded with vegetables, the burly man and several other men, who appeared to be the stall owners, began to organize people to weigh them.

Not a single basket of bok choy was left in the warehouse; it was all loaded onto trucks, leaving only 1.62 jin of snow peas.

In the end, the 1.62 jin of snow peas were exchanged for 5.18 yuan in cash!
Chen Jiazhi's bag was even fuller. After completing the transaction in the office building, he hurriedly drove away with Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu.

At that moment, his bag contained more than 7 yuan in cash.

Once the car was on the main road, Chen Jiazhi loosened his grip on the steering wheel slightly and glanced to the side. Chen Zhengxu and Li Cai were both sitting upright, neither of them asleep.

"Give me a cigarette."

"Oh, okay~"

I opened the window, and a cold wind blew in again. The air was getting chilly, and the fields were still covered in frost.

It is extremely rare for Huacheng to experience such heavy frost for two consecutive nights, and the vegetables in the fields will inevitably suffer severe damage.

Vegetable prices have already risen, though they may fluctuate.

And this time, the main ingredient will most likely be the snow pea.

Dongxiang Market only has 10 mu of snow peas, while Jiangxin Market has more. However, it's hard to say how much impact Huacheng's hype about snow peas will have on the supply to Hong Kong.

At that time, the largest market for vegetables supplied to Hong Kong was in Buji, Shenzhen, which was also the largest agricultural wholesale market in the country in terms of transaction volume.

Also because of the Buji wholesale market, prices in Shenzhen, a high-consumption city, are lower and more stable at this time.

In particular, the prices of grains, oils, and vegetables sold to residents are much lower than those in Huacheng.

Market supervision is also stricter, making it difficult for vegetable vendors to engage in speculation.

However, if the disaster is widespread, such as if snow peas in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces are also frozen, causing problems with the overall supply of snow peas, the price in Shenzhen should be able to be driven up.

After finishing a cigarette, Chen Jiazhi's frustration at being "forced into a sale" lessened somewhat.

Ye Canjiang didn't know him well, perhaps only thinking of him as a vegetable vendor with a keen eye, and probably never imagined that he was a vegetable farmer.

I'm still really annoyed!

But hearing Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu's excited conversation, he temporarily suppressed his displeasure.

In any case, this night was a huge success.

During the journey, after the daylight and visibility improved, Chen Jiazhi had Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu take turns practicing a short stretch of road. Apart from being a little stiff, they were able to continue on the road without any problems.

Once I get my driver's license, I can buy a car.

When they arrived home, it was only a little past six o'clock. Peng Guozhen was already making breakfast in the kitchen. Chen Jiazhi greeted him, went back to his room, closed the door, spread a newspaper on the floor, and poured out all the money.

Li Xiu, who had just gotten up, saw this scene and asked in surprise, "Why are there so many?"

Chen Jiazhi gave a brief explanation and then began sorting the money. Li Xiu also came to help and kept asking about the details.

She knew that Jiazhi had been dabbling in buying and selling for the past two days, but she didn't expect it to be such a big deal.

It took about half an hour to count the cash; there was a total of 7.6 yuan.

Chen Jiazhi took out his notebook and calculated that the truckload of vegetables sold at stall number 56 was worth about 2.26 yuan, with a net profit of 1.008 yuan.

库房囤的1.8+0.2=2万斤荷兰豆卖了1.62万斤，一共5.18万元，净利润2.673万。

He earned a total of 3.6 yuan in one night!

Li Xiu also saw the accounts and exclaimed in surprise, "Jiazhi, this money came too fast!"

Not a single pound of vegetables from the field was sold; it was just buying and selling. In just two days, Li Xiu made a profit of 3.6 yuan. It was hard for her to believe.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "This is nothing. Once we start selling vegetables in a couple of days, we'll make money even faster."

They heard someone calling for dinner downstairs, so the two packed up their money before carrying their child downstairs.

At the dinner table, Chen Zhengxu and Li Cai talked about their experience selling vegetables that night, and Li Xiu then realized how dangerous the night had been.

Everyone knew that Chen Jiazhi had made another fortune, but this time he didn't reveal the exact amount.

He is also adept at running a vegetable market.

But now that there are more people and wholesale sales are involved, Chen Jiazhi has also encountered some troubles in personnel and financial management.

Although they were all people I recruited, and their character was generally good, human nature is the most vulnerable to test.

However, being sincere with others may not be enough.

They should get a bigger share of the money.

He could only figure it out as he went along.

In the afternoon, it was still cloudy. Chen Jiazhi was sleeping in his office with a blanket covering him when the phone rang urgently.

He answered the call with a suspicion in his mind.

"Hello, Mr. Xu?"

"Director Chen, the price of snow peas started to skyrocket after noon!" Xu Wenxiang said succinctly. "Snow peas have been greatly affected by frost these past two days, impacting Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces!"

"The highest bid just now reached 3.8 yuan per jin. Are you selling? Manager Chen, yes, I'll arrange a truck to come right now."

Chen Jiazhi looked out the window; it was gloomy and dark, with no sunlight and the temperature hadn't started to rebound yet. He pondered, "Let's wait until tomorrow afternoon."

That evening, Chen Jiazhi sold out his last truckload of snow peas and bok choy.

They made another profit of 1.04 yuan.

This hoarding operation has now generated an income of approximately 4.7 yuan.

After three consecutive nights of frost, the sun rose again, but the damage was irreversible.

(End of this chapter)