1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 254 meets expectations
"Who wouldn't come!"

The vegetable workers came out of the house one after another, and the yard was full of people.

From initial curiosity, to learning more about the situation, it transformed into intense excitement and anticipation.

A single person can earn over a thousand yuan a month, which is definitely not a low income!
Moreover, it was before the Spring Festival, and many people began to fantasize about how to make a grand entrance when they went home for the New Year.

"Mr. Chen, do you need more people next year?"

“Of course people need them.” Upon hearing this question, Chen Jiazhi immediately replied, “But I won’t blindly accept them. First, they must have good character; I don’t want thieves or swindlers. Second, it would be best if they were a married couple…”

"Can't it be someone who's single?"

"No singles, please." Chen Jiazhi said firmly, leaving no room for negotiation.

Past experience has proven that husband-and-wife kitchen teams are reliable and stable, while too many single kitchen teams are too difficult to manage and not conducive to stability.

In addition, most single people are young and lack experience in farming. Their hands and feet are also delicate, making it difficult for them to endure the hardships of growing vegetables.

Without family ties, it's hard to have the drive and motivation to earn money.

From all perspectives, husband-and-wife teams are the best combination for cooking.

"If you want to recommend someone, you should tell Dehai first."

The atmosphere in the dam area was incredibly lively.

Chen Jiazhi had no choice but to pull Ao Dehai toward the vegetable field, briefly finish explaining the remaining matters, and then, after loading the car, take Li Xiu and Xue Jun to the market.

"Jiazhi, the workers were so enthusiastic just now!"

After leaving the market, Li Xiu recounted her experience of being surrounded and bombarded with questions by female workers after her wages were announced.

"That's a thousand yuan a month!" Xue Jun chimed in. "No amount of enthusiasm is too much, Jiazhi, you're really generous!"

"It's Chinese New Year, so it's good to be happy. Sales have been pretty good lately," Chen Jiazhi said casually, still focused on driving.

Xue Jun had been following the market around to understand the market conditions. He also knew the general situation of the people in the vegetable market. In addition, he knew how many vegetables were sold and how much money they made. He knew that it would be inappropriate to pay too little, and it would not be in line with Chen Jiazhi's original intention.

In addition, skilled vegetable workers are an important asset for a vegetable market these days.

Based on current feedback, Chen Jiazhi need not worry about losing experienced staff next year.

We chatted idly along the way, and in the blink of an eye, we switched from the lonely darkness of the night to the bustling market.

Li Xiu noticed that many people were staring at their car, and asked them about it out of curiosity.

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "You think I'm lying to you? Every day when I go to the market, people are scrambling to buy my vegetables."

"I can testify too," Xue Jun said. "If we wait any longer, the tricycles and handcarts will block the entire passageway in our area. My daily job is to watch over these vehicles."

A moment later, we arrived at stall number 56.

Li Xiu looked around and saw her own red van parked in the extremely simple stall. It was so basic that, apart from providing shelter from the wind and rain, it was completely different from the stall she had imagined.

However, this humble location has generated hundreds of thousands of yuan in sales revenue.

"Xiu, you can just watch from the side for a bit, and you can take some pictures too." Chen Jiazhi had already opened the car door with one hand. "The three of us can manage."

After getting off the truck, the trunk was already packed with vehicles and people waiting to load their purchases.

Chen Jiazhi quoted his usual price. Li Cai had already opened half of the car door, and Xue Jun had climbed up as well. Chen Zhengxu had not yet gone to purchase and deliver vegetables.

The four of them divided the work and quickly got busy, with inquiries about prices, quotations, and noise filling the air.

Standing beside the car, Li Xiu felt the scene she had imagined countless times come to life.

She quickly took photos from several angles, planning to get them developed in a couple of days.

After an unknown amount of time, the number of people waiting decreased, and the amount of food on the truck also decreased.

"Uncle, I'm going to buy groceries~"

After seeing off the last waiting customer, Chen Zhengxu hadn't even had a chance to rest before preparing to go grocery shopping.

"I'll go as well."

After handing over the task of selling vegetables to Li Cai, Chen Jiazhi turned around and called out to Li Xiu, and the two of them walked into the market.

Over the past four or five days, every morning, Chen Jiazhi would lead Chen Zhengxu and others to do some door-to-door promotion. By offering free food delivery and free trials, the delivery scale expanded to three restaurants, and the potential was considerable. People started calling Chen Jiazhi back to ask for details.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi is considering renting another storefront next year if things go well, specifically for sorting and delivery.

Stall number 56 is rather rudimentary; it would be too bulky for sorting and delivery, and it's not suitable for office work either.

His ideal storefront would have two rooms, one for sorting and delivery, and one for office work, along with a landline to maintain constant communication with restaurants, hotels, and planting bases.

This storefront can be located either inside or outside the market; the location requirements aren't that high.
Of course, these are all just ideas, provided that the delivery business can be established.

Judging from the current delivery situation of the three restaurants, the prospects are quite good.

"Mr. Chen~ Oh, you brought your wife along too?!"

Along the way, he encountered many acquaintances who greeted him. However, compared to the men offering him cigarettes, the female customers were much more direct.

I always thought you weren't married!

After walking around, Li Xiu joked, "Boss Chen, did my presence interfere with your business negotiations?"

She emphasized the word "business," and Chen Jiazhi immediately knew what she was thinking, so he joked, "Why don't you just stop coming to the market?"

"Oh, so that's why you've been keeping me from coming to the market." Li Xiu glared, then mimicked her in a strange voice, "I always thought you weren't married!" "..."

Chen Jiazhi shook his head and smiled: "Alright, enough joking. Next year, you don't need to go to Jiangxin Market. If you can't stay idle, you can come with me to the market."

“Okay, then I’ll go with you to the market.” Li Xiu chose the latter without hesitation.

The two returned to the stall. Li Cai and Xue Jun were busy, Chen Jiazhi went up to help, and Li Xiu also lent a hand from time to time, quietly learning.

As time went by, the flow of people reached its peak again, and the vegetables sold out quickly. Business was booming, and one truckload of vegetables was simply not enough to sell.

However, today was indeed the last large truckload of vegetables from the base. After today, the bok choy would be gone, leaving only snow peas.

But we can still go and buy goods.

Chen Jiazhi will continue to work with Li Cai, Xue Jun, and Chen Zhengxu on the vegetable procurement, wholesale, and distribution business.

Currently, profits are still very thin, and there is still a possibility of losing money, but in the long run, this is a business worth persisting in.

"Whoo~"

"Brother Chen, are you going out for delivery and sales again today?"

After selling the vegetables, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, there were more than 8000 kilograms of vegetables, and carrying them up and down was quite tiring. They all took a vegetable basket and sat down to rest for a while.

Chen Jiazhi shook his head: "No, I'll take a day off. From now on, I'll leave the delivery work to Zhengxu. He'll also visit new customers on his way after he finishes his deliveries."

Chen Zhengxu has already gone to deliver the goods.

Li Cai hesitated and said, "Wouldn't he be very slow running alone?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "Right now, it's just one person. Once he's become more skilled and we have more clients, we'll continue to hire people. Let's build up the volume first."

Chen Jiazhi already had a general framework in mind regarding how to do it.

In fact, he prefers to seek out new clients himself, believing that it's best to keep good client resources in his own hands.

He plans to focus on quality from the start of the new base, growing higher-quality vegetables, and at the same time try to develop and utilize high-quality production area resources such as Zengcheng cabbage, Lianzhou cabbage, and Shuidong mustard greens to seize the high-end market.

However, the new base hasn't started construction yet, and there's a shortage of basic supplies, so he's not in a hurry to develop high-end customers.

The management and team are also immature, and there is still much work to be done.

Chen Jiazhi didn't discuss these matters in detail; he had only shared his thoughts with Li Xiu in the past.

After resting for a while, I started tidying up the vegetable baskets again. When I was counting the number, I found that a few were missing.

This may be why no one in the market has imitated him yet. Most wholesalers are unwilling to bear such losses and do not have the strength to collect deposits and still sell the vegetables.

After a quick meal, they all went their separate ways. Xue Jun rode his bicycle back to Dongxiang, while Chen Jiazhi, Li Cai, and Li Xiu went back to Jiangxin Market.

Chen Zhengxu, who drives a van, will come back alone.

On the way back, Li Cai drove, and Chen Jiazhi felt that his small team in the market was gradually taking shape.

...

After the car arrived home, Peng Guozhen stood in the yard holding Chen Zhengyun and waited. When Li Xiu got out of the car, Chen Zhengyun struggled to be held by her.

Li Xiu took the child from her son: "Mom, did Dou Dou cause any trouble last night?"

"No, he's very well-behaved." Peng Guozhen said with a smile, "This kid is just like Jiazhi, easy to take care of and doesn't require much effort. If you want to go with Jiazhi in the future, then let me take care of him."

"Okay, then it might be a lot of trouble for you."

"What's the trouble? I came here to take care of my grandson, not to feed chickens and rabbits." Peng Guozhen added, "Go wash your hands and get ready for noodles. The sauce is all ready—authentic rabbit noodles!"

"Oh my, rabbit noodles!" Li Cai laughed. "This is my favorite."

The meat sauce made from fresh rabbit meat, the spicy and fragrant broth, and the chewy noodles—this taste of home is irresistible to everyone.

After a satisfying meal of noodles, Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan chatted for the time it takes to smoke an after-dinner cigarette before going to wash up.

When he returned to his room, Li Xiu was sorting through the money, which was piled up on the table. When she saw him come in, she called out, "Jiazhi, the rest is yours."

Chen Jiazhi teased, "What's wrong, little money-grubber, are you tired of counting now?"

Li Xiu rolled her eyes at him, didn't say anything, and went to find clothes to take a shower. She was getting a little tired of counting money at such a high intensity every day.

Chen Jiazhi shook his head, sat down in the chair, and began to organize and tie the items.

The total was 19492 yuan, which was the highest amount of money made in the 12 days.

He took out his notebook, added them up one by one, and found that it had just exceeded 20 yuan, totaling 200164 yuan!
It completely met his expectations.

There are some regrets, though. The total yield of this batch of bok choy was about 90300 jin, with a yield of only about 2200 jin per mu.

It took more than two months for one crop of vegetables to grow, and the growing period is 50 days, so the yield per acre is actually slightly low.

The reasons are mainly related to variety selection and harvesting standards.

For example, after the main stem of late-season Chinese cabbage is harvested, the lateral stems can still be harvested, but Chen Jiazhi gave up on that.

In addition, there may have been some problems with production management.

On the bright side, Ao Dehai still has room for improvement.

Overall, he was quite satisfied with the batch of bok choy from the Dongxiang vegetable market before the Lunar New Year, since he had very little intervention throughout the process.

(End of this chapter)