1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 268 Sales Pressure

"I am waiting."

Behind him, small, white chili flowers dotted the fields, while in front of him stood Hong Kong buyers with haughty and superior attitudes.

That sense of superiority and discrimination made Chen Jiazhi very uncomfortable; he wouldn't tolerate such a person.

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, the smoke made him squint as he observed the expressions on the faces of the group.

Xia Yang's anger;
Cao Hong's sense of superiority;

Xu Wenxiang was conflicted, yet there was a hint of anticipation in her heart—a strange feeling.

Xu He was surprised, deeply surprised and incredulous. How could the small vegetable farmer from back then dare to stand up to the vegetable market in Hong Kong?

Yu Zhaokun was actually peeking at Xu Wenxiang from the side; that bastard was really lewd.
Xia Youche's threat was subtle and understated, befitting a senior figure, but Chen Jiazhi found it somewhat weak and ineffective.

This actually reveals that he cares a lot about the snow peas at Jiangxin Market, since there are 10,000 jin of them every day.

Based on the retail price provided by Hong Biao, he deduced that the wholesale price of snow peas in Hong Kong was not low either, at least six or seven dollars.

The ex-factory price at Jiangxin Market is 1.8 yuan. Including Hengyang's trade fees and intermediate transportation costs, the cost is at most 3 yuan.

All told, Tongxingtai Vegetable Market makes at least 30,000 to 40,000 yuan in gross profit per day.

With such a large sum of money, it's hard for Xia Youche not to care.

Indeed, seeing his firm stance, Xia Youche angrily retorted, "Young man, don't be so hot-blooded!"

Chen Jiazhi's eyes flashed with disdain, "What kind of young person wouldn't be so spirited?"
"You country bumpkin, are you looking for death?!" Xia Yang said fiercely, about to step forward and attack.

But then seven or eight people came rushing over with carrying poles, and Qi Yongfeng, who was in the lead, stood right in front of him.

"I think you're the one who's looking to die!"

Xia Yang immediately took two steps back.

Chen Jiazhi said, "Get out of here, you're not welcome here now!"

"roll."

"roll."

"roll!"

After a few angry shouts, Xia Youche looked at Chen Jiazhi with a livid face, "You'll regret this. You'll never be able to sell a single vegetable in Hong Kong again!"

Before getting into the car, Cao Hong said angrily, "You surnamed Chen, let's see how you're going to sell all these vegetables!"

As the car started, Xia Yang raised his middle finger at him through the window, swearing in incomprehensible slang.

"Fuck you!"

Qi Yongfeng walked back cursing, and soon Yi Dinggan and several other group leaders also arrived.

After a few words, everyone understood the whole story.

They also learned the identities of those people from earlier: Hong Kong buyers who rarely showed their faces.

Immediately, some people looked bitter, feeling a little worried as their sales channels were suddenly cut off.

Li Mingkun asked in confusion, "How... how did things fall apart with the buyer?"

"So what if it collapses?" Chen Jiazhi said loudly. "Don't overestimate them. They're just a bunch of bloodsucking insects. Do you know how much a pound of snow peas costs in Hong Kong?"

"Ten yuan a pound, but these bastards only give us one or two yuan a pound!"

Everyone couldn't help but be surprised.

This price difference is outrageous.

Chen Jiazhi deliberately quoted a higher price.

He added, "The price is about the same as on the mainland, so why do we go to all the trouble of selling to Hong Kong? We only manage to sell about 10,000 catties a day!"

Li Mingkun said, "Ten thousand catties is quite a lot. Can we find a market for it today? Should we continue picking bean pods this afternoon?"

Chen Jiazhi shouted, "Keep picking! The afternoon's picking plan remains unchanged. Pick as much as you can!"

"The promise to give an extra 100 yuan bonus to each person for yields of 4000 jin or more per mu remains unchanged!"

Instantly, many of the vegetable workers who had followed cheered.

Chen Jiazhi told the vegetable workers to continue their work, leaving only the team leaders and other managers behind for a short meeting.

Unlike the kitchen staff, these managers were more acutely aware of the impact of the conflict.

In the meeting room, Chen Jiazhi asked everyone to share their opinions.

After a moment of silence, Chen Jiazhi called out Xu Yao's name.

Xu Yao said, "Director Chen, the prices in Hong Kong are still more advantageous than those in the mainland. For every 10,000 catties of vegetables, the price difference of two cents is two thousand yuan a day, which adds up to sixty thousand yuan a month."

If there are even more vegetables, such as over 900,000 jin of vegetables produced last October, a price difference of two mao (0.2 yuan) would amount to nearly 200,000 yuan.

Moreover, a price difference of two cents is the normal level; the reason we were able to get a 5-cent difference before was entirely because vegetables were in high demand.

Chen Jiazhi said, "You mean we should continue to cooperate with them?"

Xu Yao shook her head. "We can also look for other buyers in Hong Kong, but it's not easy to find companies with export qualifications, and most of the time they will also be pressured to lower the price."

Moreover, no matter how expensive vegetables were in Hong Kong, the supply and marketing cooperatives and provincial foreign trade companies generally only charged farmers and growers two cents more than in the mainland market.

After she did the math, everyone understood even more clearly that even if they could sell the products in mainland China, the losses would still be significant.

Yi Dinggan interjected, "Aren't there any other ways to supply Hong Kong?"

Xu Yao shook her head slightly, "I'm not quite sure."

Li Cai pondered for a moment and said, "I don't think the people of Hong Kong will give up easily. At the current vegetable prices in Hong Kong, snow peas are incredibly profitable!" "At 10 yuan a pound, they need to sell 100,000 yuan worth a day, and the profit will be at least 60,000 to 70,000 yuan!"

"With such high profits, even if the people of Hong Kong are very wealthy, they would never give it up!"

The others also felt that what Li Cai said made a lot of sense.

"Damn it, these Hong Kong businessmen are too greedy!"

"No wonder a driver can earn 20,000 to 30,000 Hong Kong dollars a month. They're really sucking our blood!"

"Not only that, I've heard that dishwashers in Hong Kong can earn tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars a month!"

Chen Jiazhi tapped the table, interrupting the discussion, "Tell me your solutions."

Li Cai pondered for a moment and said, "With such high profits, it's certain that Tong Hing Tai isn't the only company that wants to do business with us. We can look for other Hong Kong businessmen."

"Where should we look?" Xu Yao asked. "Have you had any experience with this kind of resource before?"

Li Cai, Yi Dinggan, and the others were all rendered speechless by the questions.

Chen Jiazhi said, "Li Cai's method is feasible. Taking the initiative is better than waiting to die. I know a place where we might be able to find resources in this area."

Li Cai asked curiously, "Where?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "The Buji Agricultural Wholesale Market in Shenzhen is where most of Hong Kong's vegetables come from, so you can go there and take a look."

“Okay, I’ll drive over first thing tomorrow morning, or maybe I can bring some vegetables over tonight to try.” Li Cai immediately agreed.

“Let’s go during the day, since we don’t know much about the situation in Buji yet.” Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, “As for today’s snow peas, we’ll split them into two groups. Half will go to my personal stall number 56, and the other half will go to the Jiangnan Market in Baiyun.”

Li Cai asked, "How are the vehicles arranged? Will we use vans and tricycles to take them there?"

Chen Jiazhi: "No, I'll arrange for the Isuzu to go to Jiangnan and take the truck to No. 56. Yongfeng will accompany the truck tonight, and Zhengxu will also take two more workers. The kale at Dongxiang Market will be harvested today, along with the bok choy and mustard greens. That's almost 10,000 catties of vegetables a day!"

If another 5000 jin of snow peas are distributed, that will make 1.5 jin!

Upon hearing this number, Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, Guo Mancang, Ao Deliang, and other elderly people from Dongxiang were all very surprised.

The Dongxiang vegetable market is managed by Ao Dehai alone. Is he really that powerful?
At the same time, those present also felt intense sales pressure. In the past, no matter how much produce there was, they would just dump it all on the Hong Kong buyers and then leave it to them once the truck was loaded.

Now that I have to personally go out and sell, I'm a little nervous.

However, hearing Chen Jiazhi assign tasks and organize sales work in an orderly manner, everyone became even more excited.

"Me, Lao Guo, Lao Li, Li Cai, and I are going to Jiangnan tonight~"

"It's just 10,000 catties of vegetables, nothing difficult. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Xu Yao said, "I still haven't received payment for the goods for two days, which is about 36,000 yuan. If things fall apart, it may be difficult to get this money back."

Chen Jiazhi said, "Find Mr. Xu. If you really can't receive it, just put it on the books for now. Are there any other problems? If not, go and get back to work."

Chen Jiazhi added, "Don't slack off on chili pepper management either; some people are waiting to see us fail."

Yi Dinggan shouted back, "They're blind! They can't see how beautiful our flowers and fruits are!"

"Hahaha~"

The crowd dispersed amidst laughter.

Chen Jiazhi also returned to his office and made two phone calls.

One was looking for Hong Zhong, wanting a gun; the other was looking for Wang Bin, whom he had met at the driving school last year, to transport vegetables.

After waiting a while, they finally called back. Hong Zhong cursed him for pressuring him to die.

When Wang Bin first received the call, he didn't recognize who it was, but he was very surprised after answering the phone.

"Brother, you actually remember me!"

"Okay, okay, I'll definitely get you some vegetables!"

...

On the other side, Xia Youche, Cao Hong, Xu Wenxiang and others stopped in the town not long after they left.

Xia Youche's face was very ugly. "President Xu, I only came because of you. You have to give me an explanation!"

"Mr. Xia, there's no point in you saying that."

Xu Wenxiang leaned against the car, her originally calm face now showing anger. Everyone said they were giving her face, but it was all for their own benefit.

“I’m not a market owner anymore, so I can’t control Director Chen. If he doesn’t sell you vegetables, there’s nothing I can do.”

Xia Youche said coldly, "You and A Yuan both still have shares."

Xu Wenxiang crossed her arms and said, "Believe it or not, after what happened today, if President Huang and I cannot demonstrate other value, the remaining shares will be meaningless."

Xia Youche frowned and said, "You still want to find him a buyer?!"

Cao Hong snorted and said sternly, "Hengyang's export rights are not something just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can use!"
"Mr. Xu, I'm only here today out of respect for you, but given Mr. Chen's attitude, without sufficient profit, there's no way we'll cooperate again!"

Xia Yang chimed in, "Without our Tongxingtai vegetable market, would Jiangxin vegetable market have been able to sell out millions of kilograms of vegetables so smoothly last year and at the beginning of this year?"
I think he'll have to sell off the rest of the snow peas at a bargain price!

Xia Youche added, "And those 300 mu of sweet peppers, the seedlings are all about the same size. Most people don't have that kind of strong sales capacity. If we run out, we'll be stuck with them."

Xia Yang scoffed, "Dad, what are you talking about? With the weather in Huacheng, it's already a blessing if we can't even get our hands on the fruit. Once the rains come in, how many fruits can we expect to grow?"

Looking at the aggressive and sarcastic group, Xu Wenxiang's expression grew colder and colder.

"Since you're being so tough, let's just call it quits and not do the business."

After saying that, Xu Wenxiang got into the car and drove away.

Xia Youche gritted his teeth in anger, feeling as if his heart was bleeding. How dare they, how dare they!
"Xia Yang, Zhao Kun, pass the word down: not a single vegetable from Jiangxin Market is allowed to enter Xiangjiang Market!"

(End of this chapter)