1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 253 Encouragement
It was still early, and in the town at night, you could occasionally see houses with lights on.

This was Li Xiu's first time going out at night. She looked out the window, but after a while, she felt a little tired.

Most of the time it was still pitch black.

She glanced to the side; Chen Jiazhi was focused on driving, and she didn't want to disturb him.

"Xiu, take a nap if you're tired."

"It's still early, I can't sleep."

"Missing your son?" Chen Jiazhi said, "Don't worry, with his parents taking care of him, nothing will go wrong."

“Actually, I could have brought him with me,” Li Xiu said. “Many female workers at the market carry their babies on their backs when they’re harvesting vegetables.”

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "That's because there's no one to help take care of it, so this is the only way."

Li Xiu: "I was thinking, if you hadn't figured it out, would we have ended up like those vegetable vendors?"

"..."

It might be even more difficult.

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "The market is doing well this year. It has sold 206 million yuan worth of produce in the last ten days. We will give them more money during the Spring Festival so that they can have a prosperous year. All their hard work throughout the year will not have been in vain."

Hearing about the sales figure of over 200 million again, Li Xiu still felt a sense of pride.

"You've made so many promises, it's time to give them more."

"You're quite humorous." Chen Jiazhi smiled. "It's the same at the Dongxiang vegetable market; they'll give out more money during the New Year."

"Of course," Li Xiu said. "How much do you plan to give?"

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Except for Ao Dehai, the total bonus for everyone else is about 15,000 yuan. With that, plus salary and commission, even the lowest-paid person can earn more than 1,000 yuan this month."

Even after the New Year, these skilled vegetable cooks should continue to come, and they might even bring more people with them.

"Well, it's up to you."

Li Xiu has gotten used to bringing back tens of thousands of yuan each day. In the last three days, Jia Zhi has been bringing back more than 18,000 yuan every day.

The 15,000 yuan bonus is only enough to earn from selling vegetables for one night.

Chen Jiazhi added, "As for Dehai, this time I plan to round it up and give him 10,000 yuan."

Li Xiu asked in surprise, "Isn't it a bit too high?"

"Not high." Chen Jiazhi pondered, "We didn't produce any vegetables in the first two months, so we didn't get any commission, and I gave less bonus. This time, the vegetables from Dongxiang Market are of good quality and have a high yield, so we should give more."

Moreover, with him at the Dongxiang vegetable market, I rarely participate in its management. Going forward, I plan to completely relinquish control, and he will also be in charge of production planning.

"Oh, okay." Li Xiu thought for a moment, "I'm just worried that Brother Yi might have some ideas."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. Jiangxin Market will give him more than he deserves."

After chatting for a while, we entered a side road, and the car became quiet again.

Over the past ten days or so, Dongxiang Market has maintained a similar pace of vegetable production as Jiangxin Market.

Apart from the fact that the quantity and price are not on the same level, in other aspects, Ao Dehai perfectly inherited his management mechanism.

Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu both knew that, as of this morning, the sales volume of Dongxiang Vegetable Market over the past 11 days had just exceeded 18 yuan.

With the truckload of vegetables coming later, we should be just short of reaching 20 yuan.

The money has been received. After paying wages, there will be at least 170,000 yuan left over. Combined with previous savings, the family's assets have reached 800,000 yuan.

As for the future investment in Dongxiang Vegetable Market, it will be sustained by the continued income from Dutch beans.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu were more confident than ever before.

...

Dongxiang Vegetable Market

Ao Dehai was also calculating and writing under the lamp. After a long while, he got up, stretched, and lit a cigarette.

"Dehai, are you done calculating?" Zhao Yu walked in. "Tell me quickly, how many vegetables did my group collect, and how much money will we get?"

Ao Dehai shook his head. "It's not that fast. We just added the data and haven't calculated it separately yet."

"Then hurry up and keep calculating, why are you smoking!" Zhao Yu said impatiently, "Everyone is waiting."

"What's the rush?" Ao Dehai said impatiently, "You think I'm a god just because I finished clearing the vegetables?"

"Beep beep beep" came the sound of a horn as it approached.

Ao Dehai followed and went out the door. The familiar truck lights appeared, and the others also came out one after another, no longer watching TV.

When Chen Jiazhi entered, he saw that the steps were full of people, with expectant eyes fixed on the couple.

"What's wrong? Can't wait to go home for the New Year?"

The crowd burst into laughter.

Someone said, "We're waiting for Boss Chen to pay our wages so we can go home for the New Year."

Some people also asked, "Mr. Chen, can you continue working during the Chinese New Year?"

Chen Jiazhi pointed at the person who asked the question and laughed, "Look, this is what people who want to make money are like. They don't even go home for the New Year."

Another burst of laughter.

Chen Jiazhi raised his voice: "Don't worry, the market will be closed on the 23rd. Before the holiday, we will pay everyone's wages, commissions and bonuses for this month. I guarantee that everyone will have a prosperous year."

"Do we need people to do the work during the Chinese New Year?" Someone asked the same question again.

"Of course," Chen Jiazhi laughed. "I was worried because if I gave out too much money this year, everyone would go back home for the New Year, and I wouldn't know where to find people to work. There are still snow peas to be picked at the market every day. But now it's all right, I'm not worried at all, and I can confidently give you more bonuses."

"Hahaha~"

"Boss Chen, you can pay me as much as you want, I'll stay and pick snow peas for you!"

The atmosphere was lively, and after exchanging pleasantries for a while, the crowd gradually dispersed.

Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiuxian went to their eldest and third sisters' homes and chatted for a while. The two sisters seemed quite satisfied with their visit.

Currently, the basic salary is higher than at the flower nursery, and I've also heard that the commissions and bonuses at the vegetable market are quite high.

However, the eldest sister also had some complaints, because Xue Jun went to the market at night and earned a fixed salary of 15 yuan per day, which was 3 yuan higher than the basic salary at the vegetable market, totaling 90 yuan per month.

After previously engaging in reselling, Chen Jiazhi gave Xue Jun, Li Cai, and Chen Zhengxu an advance bonus.

All things considered, Xue Jun's income is significantly higher than that of his brother-in-law, Wu Chengyong.

Now he's even signed up to take a driving test.

The older sister implied that she wanted Wu Chengyong to go to the market with her, something Xue Jun had previously mentioned to Chen Jiazhi.

Chen Jiazhi first offered cigarettes to Wu Chengyong and Xue Jun, "Brother Yong, do you want to go and work in the market?"

Wu Chengyong was over forty, had an introverted personality, and was a very honest man. He was quite embarrassed at the moment.

"Jiazhi, this is still up to you. Xue Jun has also talked to me about the market, and I'm afraid of delaying your plans."

Before he could finish speaking, his older sister, Chen Jiaying, glared at him.

Chen Jiazhi pretended not to see it and pondered for a moment before saying, "This is what I'm thinking. You have more experience in farming, so you can familiarize yourself with how to grow Cantonese vegetables at the market, and then become a team leader later. I think this development path is more suitable for you."

You probably already know that the team leader's income is not low.

On the contrary, if you go to the market and can't adapt, you can only do manual labor, and your income will not be as good as that of the team leader.

For example, Xue Jun's income is decent, but compared to the team leader, it's not that much.

Besides, Xue Jun mainly does manual labor now, and he's quite strong, so he can act as a thug when needed. That's why we sent him to learn to drive; he'll inevitably run into highway robbers and bandits in the future.

Chen Jiazhi analyzed Wu Chengyong's strengths to his face, which he found quite helpful, as he personally also preferred farming.
However, Chen Jiahua remained silent, and Wu Chengyong dared not agree rashly. He knew that what Chen Jiahua cared about was the driver's identity.
Farming is nothing like being a driver – it's glamorous and prestigious.

But he's over forty, why would he spend that money to learn to drive?

Chen Jiazhi figured out that his eldest sister and her husband had different opinions. "Eldest sister, Yong-ge, why don't you two discuss it first? The New Year is coming soon, so any adjustments can be made after the New Year."

From the moment he started getting his relatives involved in his work, Chen Jiazhi was prepared to deal with these kinds of things.

Fortunately, there weren't any awful people in his family; everyone there cared a lot about their reputation and image.

He remembers most clearly that in his previous life, his three older sisters borrowed money from him to buy houses for their children, but they all paid back the money faster than the last.

Yi Hu borrowed 5 yuan and paid it back in just over two months.

The third sister lent her nephew 10 yuan, which he repaid after growing vegetables for more than half a year. The eldest sister's daughter also lent 10 yuan, which she also repaid in less than a year.

He basically repays the money as soon as he has the funds, and when he does, he treats everyone to a meal and even includes interest, though he doesn't collect it.

Compared to the widespread problem of wealthy people refusing to repay their debts, Chen Jiazhi is quite supportive of his three older sisters' families in this regard.

In the courtyard, Ao Dehai was already organizing the workers to load the trucks.

"Tonight we'll have 260 pieces of bok choy and 345 jin of snow peas."

Chen Jiazhi was slightly taken aback, somewhat surprised: "Why are there more than a dozen extra bok choy pieces today?"

Ao Dehai laughed and said, "It's probably because the weather has improved recently and the temperature is suitable, so the vegetables are growing faster and the yield is higher."

"nice!"

Chen Jiazhi did the math in his head: with 10 more dishes, there was still a chance that the cumulative sales over 12 days would reach 20 yuan.

After pulling Ao Dehai back into the house, Chen Jiazhi talked to him about the follow-up work.

He will decide on the planting method himself, mainly planting Chinese cabbage, kale, and mustard greens. He will also maintain communication with the market through Xue Jun to adjust the planting area, time, and varieties, with the goal of having all leafy vegetables delivered from the base.

Chen Jiazhi said, "Calculate the salary and commission as soon as possible. The bonus plan is 15,000 yuan, which you will also be responsible for distributing..."

"Oh my!"

"Fifteen thousand!"

Chen Jiazhi was interrupted halfway through his sentence by a vegetable worker who had been eavesdropping nearby, indicating that he was quite satisfied with the result.

"That's quite a lot. Twenty people, minus Chief Ao, that's an average of five or six hundred each, right?"

"We really want to have a prosperous New Year!"

Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but laugh, "This 15,000 yuan doesn't include Dehai, it's all yours. I'll give Dehai a separate share."

The atmosphere in the courtyard trembled, and then suddenly even louder cheers erupted.

"If we get all 15,000 yuan, that's an average bonus of 750 yuan per person, plus salary and commission... wow..."

The person doing the accounting widened their eyes, "Doesn't that mean everyone has a chance to get a thousand yuan this month!"

Chen Jiazhi shouted, "I'm just asking you, are you coming again next year?"

"Come!"

His voice was hoarse and strained, echoing throughout the heavens and earth.

(End of this chapter)