1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 259 Chinese New Year
Early in the morning, Chen Jiazhi heard loud banging noises coming from upstairs and downstairs.

After lingering in bed for a while, Chen Jiazhi finally went to the balcony outside, where he saw Peng Guozhen, Li Xiu, Chen Jiafang, and their entire family bustling about.

"What are you busy with?"

Yi Dinggan quickly poked his head out from under the eaves, holding a bamboo pole with a broom tied to one end.

"Jiazhi, come down and help with the cleaning. Today is the Little New Year. We need to worship the Kitchen God and do a thorough cleaning."

"Oh, come right away."

Peng Guozhen called out from the kitchen again, "Jiazhi, it's okay, you can get some more sleep. It's rare that we don't have to go sell vegetables tonight. We have a lot of people, we can manage."

Yi Dinggan: Then what's the point of waking me up so early?
Chen Jiazhi hadn't worshipped the Kitchen God in a long time. People in later generations didn't pay such attention to this anymore, so he missed it and went to help with washing up.

This made Yi Dinggan, who was feeling a bit jealous, feel better, and he pulled Chen Jiazhi along to poke at the spider web.

After working for a while, Li Cai and Chen Zhengxu returned from selling vegetables and gave him the bag containing the money and the notebook for keeping accounts.

After receiving their salaries last night, Xu Wenxiang treated all the management staff to a meal.

The families of Yi Dinggan, Ao Deliang, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang were all going home for the New Year. Chen Jiazhi didn't want to spoil the fun, so he drank freely for once and didn't go to sell vegetables that night.

"The price of snow peas can't be maintained anymore. It has now dropped to 2.8 yuan per jin. Last night, I sold 952 yuan worth, and I only made a few dozen yuan in business. In total, it was almost 1000 yuan."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work." Chen Jiazhi took the bag without even looking at it and asked, "Are you two going home for the New Year?"

Chen Zhengxu said, "We've discussed it and decided that we won't go back this year since we haven't been out for long and tickets are hard to buy."

Chen Jiazhi nodded: "Okay, then let's stay here and celebrate the New Year together."

Yi Dinggan and his family of three are all going back home and have already bought their tickets in advance, as are the other people who are going back to their hometowns for the Spring Festival.

Around 10 o'clock, Chen Jiazhi leisurely went to the market.

The once bustling vegetable field appears somewhat deserted today. The small white arched shed in the middle seems like an intruder, clearly separating the two sides of the vegetable field so that they do not interfere with each other.

Half of the space was an open area with a faint, unpleasant odor, and the other half was filled with fragrant snow peas.

All the chili seeds have been sown, with 1-2 seeds sown in each hole. The seeds are covered with loose substrate, and all that is needed afterward is to water them regularly and wait for them to germinate and sprout.

The open space was neglected and smelly, so Chen Jiazhi pedaled faster when he rode his bike through this section.

Next are the sweet peppers. The seeds were just sown, and they are being grown in a small greenhouse. The seedling environment is very stable, and they only need to be watered when necessary.

He mainly wanted to see the snow peas.

We harvested for more than 20 consecutive days and completed one round of cultivation and fertilization, but we didn't manage any pests or diseases.

Pests and diseases are also important factors affecting the length of the snow pea harvest period.

Accompanied by the three group leaders who stayed behind—Qi Yongfeng, Zheng Zhong, and Huang Rixin—Chen Jiazhi conducted a morning inspection but found no trace of disease or pests.

Chen Jiazhi was very satisfied with the result: "This is the result of good preliminary preparations, which saved a lot of trouble in the later management."

In the past, Jiangxin vegetable market mainly grew leafy vegetables, which caused serious problems with continuous cropping. Now, snow peas have been rotated, which has reduced the impact of continuous cropping.

The two types of crops have different requirements for soil nutrients, which can promote the balanced use of nutrients and reduce the cross-infection of pests and diseases.

In addition, there was sufficient preparation time in the early stage, and the steps such as drying the ground, sterilization and disinfection, and sowing density were all done very well.

Qi Yongfeng and the other two also agreed.

Although it was very time-consuming and laborious in the early stages, the harvesting process was also very rewarding, and we had to harvest almost every day.

This is also one of the main tasks going forward.

After leaving the bean field, Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and then said, "We still need to take precautions against pests a day or two before the Spring Festival. After spraying pesticides, we can take a few days off."

Qi Yongfeng asked, "How should the medicine be administered?"

“I’ll write this down for you,” Chen Jiazhi said. “Notify me before you spray the pesticides, and I’ll come and take a look.”

The period before the Spring Festival is also the peak season for vegetable sales, but people usually stock up in advance, and there are very few people in the wholesale market by the 28th or 29th of the lunar year.

Chen Jiazhi plans to finish selling everything by the early morning of the 28th, leaving a day or two for spraying pesticides, and then some time for the holiday.

After assigning tasks, Chen Jiazhi returned to his office. With little to do, he made tea and began reading.

I read a variety of books, including English, financial knowledge, and vegetable magazines, in a mixed way.

He is most interested in vegetable magazines, and he enjoys reading them for all kinds of interesting stories, new technologies, and breeding processes. He is less interested in English and financial knowledge.

After watching for an unknown amount of time, Xu Wenxiang called to inform her that the dividend had been transferred.

He casually mentioned the new base and provided some information: the minority shareholder, Li Zaixing, is from Jianggao Town and has reliable connections there.

Chen Jiazhi agreed to discuss it again after the New Year.

Before getting paid yesterday, he went to the town government, but he couldn't get in. It wasn't that the town government was high and mighty; it was just that he happened to run into some troublemakers.

Because the building project was abandoned, a group of homeowners went to the government for help, but they were quite emotional.

So Chen Jiazhi couldn't get in, so he went to the abandoned construction site instead. There were no houses on the site, only a few steel bars standing upright.

At the same time, they were able to piece together the general outline of the matter from the few words they heard.

1991 and 1992 were booming years for real estate in Huacheng, but Jianggao Town Development Company didn't even have a single building project.

But in the following two years, many commercial streets, commercial and residential buildings, villas, Jingfulou and other projects were built in the town.

However, a manager surnamed Huang from the development company subcontracted a project that should have been contracted to Jianggao Company to a village committee at a low price. In this way, Manager Huang embezzled large sums of public funds in multiple projects, keeping the profits for himself and blaming the public for any losses.

However, they stumbled during the Jingfu Building project. The construction company they partnered with sold buildings in Manager Huang's name and then absconded with the pre-sale funds.
Chen Jiazhi remembered it so clearly because the village committee involved was one of his pre-selected locations.

In addition, it is rumored that one or two people from Nangang Village are among the companies that absconded with pre-sale funds.

He didn't know if it was true.

But it was enough for him to re-evaluate the local saying "simple and honest folk customs".

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi did consider bringing in local forces. He was not good at dealing with government departments, so the other shareholders could play a role in resolving these troublesome issues.

He focuses more on base management and market development, which is where his strength lies.

Furthermore, if Xu Wenxiang and others want to invest, the shares cannot be calculated based on the proportion of investment; his abilities must also be taken into account.

This can significantly reduce financial pressure, leaving more funds for living expenses, such as buying a house.

Secondly, it might also be possible to reserve some shares for management.

After cramming on financial knowledge during this period, Chen Jiazhi learned that this was called a stock option system, and it seemed that many listed companies would like to use this system in the future, proving that it was very useful.

After thinking about it himself, he found it increasingly reasonable, which effectively solved the problem of employees' sense of ownership.

Considering various factors, Chen Jiazhi thought it was possible to talk to Xu Wenxiang and others.

We'll just wait until after the New Year; we can enjoy the New Year in peace before then.

I work my shift every day, read books, and in the afternoon, a batch of snow peas comes out of the Jiangxin vegetable market. In the early morning, another 300 jin of snow peas come out of the Dongxiang vegetable market. Life is easy and comfortable, and I can see money coming in every day.

From January 15th to January 28th, the Dongxiang vegetable market earned 14,000 yuan, but it all went into fertilizer for the next batch of vegetables.

Jiangxin Vegetable Market earned another 50 yuan. In addition to the 15 yuan for wages and the 30 yuan for investing in 300 mu of sweet peppers, there was a balance in the account.

This was also a bargaining chip for Chen Jiazhi and Xu Wenxiang in their negotiations.

Tell me, aren't you tempted?

If you're interested, please name your price. How much is this ability worth, and how many shares are you willing to invest in it?
Anyway,

This year has been very fruitful.

Not only did they have over 140 million yuan in their accounts, but the whole family was also reunited.

The hardships at work have brought sweetness in life.

New Year’s Eve.

Around noon, Qi Yongfeng brought Huang Juan, who had come from the Dongxiang vegetable market, to the apartment building where Chen Jiazhi was renting.

"happy New Year!"

Happy Chinese New Year!

"Brother Zhi, congratulations on your fortune!"

"Give me a red envelope~" Chen Jiazhi stretched out his hand to Qi Yongfeng, asking for a red envelope.

"Huh? You can't do that, Brother Zhi. I only prepared a red envelope for Dou Dou, not for you."

"Haha, just kidding."

After accepting the gift from Qi Yongfeng, Chen Jiazhi picked it up and looked at it. What is this? Sun God Oral Liquid?
Huang Juan said, "Mr. Chen, I saw an advertisement that said this Sun God Oral Liquid is very good for people, and it's good for the nervous and digestive systems. You work so hard every day, so it's good for you to take some supplements."

Peng Guozhen also came over and kept saying how good this and that was, that it could help replenish calcium and blood.

Chen Jiazhi was choked with speech.

It's as if he really lacks that little bit of nutrition.

He'd be better off pulling up a chair, lying in the yard, and sunbathing than taking these health supplements.

But since it was the Lunar New Year, he didn't want to spoil the fun, so he happily invited the two into the house. A total of nine people, eight adults and one child, gathered in a foreign land to celebrate the New Year.

In order to prepare a good meal, Chen Jiazhi, Chen Zhengxu, Chen Shaochang, and Li Cai all put on aprons.

Each man and woman can cook a few of their signature dishes, and a whole table full of food can be prepared.

However, the most popular dish is still the spicy rabbit made by my dad, which is fresh, fragrant, and has a lingering and delicious flavor.

Secondly, it was also his father's braised pork belly that was gone in no time, leaving Qi Yongfeng, who loves meat, wanting more.

Huang Juan glared at her: "Look at you, you look like you've never eaten meat before."

Qi Yongfeng laughed and said, "I just love this kind of food. It's been almost a year since I've had authentic braised pork belly. The preserved vegetable and braised pork belly from Guangdong just doesn't taste right."

Chen Shaochang laughed and said, "I'll make more tonight, plenty of it. It's just that we didn't slaughter a pig for the New Year this year, so the white pork isn't as good as the black pork from my hometown for making braised pork belly."

"Haha, I'm satisfied as long as I have something to eat." Qi Yongfeng smiled contentedly. "I'll play cards with you this afternoon."

"Haha, let's play a couple of rounds then!"

After playing cards in the afternoon and having New Year's Eve dinner in the evening, a group of people sat in front of the TV, cracking melon seeds and waiting to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

This year's Spring Festival Gala was exceptionally wonderful, with songs, skits, and crosstalk all leaving a deep impression.

This Lunar New Year's Eve, just like the song "Tonight I'm So Happy" on the Spring Festival Gala, was joyful, lively, and festive.

(End of this chapter)