1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 301 Who is the crow, and who is the phoenix?
"Why didn't you tell me it was selling so well? I was worried sick for ages!"

"Depend on!"

Yi Dinggan expressed strong dissatisfaction with someone's behavior.

Chen Jiazhi also cried out that he was wronged, but little did he know that Yi Dinggan was worried about this matter.

Last night's sales were incredibly high, and the stall closed early, only delayed by deliveries and meetings.

If we really go all out to sell, who knows how much stock we can move in a day!

But good sales are always a good thing, and Yi Dinggan quickly calmed down and started complaining about Tongxingtai again.

"Xu Yao contacted Tongxingtai this morning to inquire about the orders. The green peppers are still 7 tons, but only 5 tons of bok choy are ordered, and they will only ship one truck every two days. Isn't this blatant bullying of honest people?!"

"What about the price?"

"That's equivalent to 1.8 yuan per jin (0.5 catties)."

"That amount is indeed too little."

The price offered to Hong Kong is 3 cents per kilogram compared to stall number 63, but stall number 63 also charges an agency fee, thus increasing the advantage to 4 cents per kilogram.

If the quantity is large, it's barely acceptable.

But the quantity is too small. Even if it's 5 tons per day, it's only 150 tons per month.

Besides, it takes two days to fill a car.

Jiangxin Vegetable Market has been assigned to supply 400 tons of fresh vegetables to Hong Kong in June, with the majority being bok choy. If this quota is not met, the supply quota to Hong Kong will be reduced next month.

"You go ahead and get busy, I'll call Xia Youche."

"We'll try to secure more orders for Hong Kong, as the profits from supplying Hong Kong are higher."

"I understand. Oh, and remember to have them come to the office to pick up the gift boxes. Also, give each of the drivers two boxes as a token of appreciation."

"Okay~"

Back in his office, Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment before dialing Xia Youche's number.

"Mr. Xia, the bok choy is in season, but your order volume is a bit low?"

“Mr. Chen, five tons of bok choy in two days is not a small amount. You should know that the competition for bok choy is much fiercer, and many vegetable stalls sell bok choy.”

“I know, Hexing and Yonglong.” Chen Jiazhi pondered, “If I sell the bok choy to them, President Xia, you won’t be unhappy, will you?”

Xia Youche was silent for a while, then said, "If you have the ability, of course you can, but I have to remind you that Hexing and Yonglong have invested in vegetable markets in mainland China, so it won't be easy to get them to take your goods."

"That's it~"

Chen Jiazhi said, "There's nothing we can do but try our best to negotiate. I received a quota of 400 tons for supplying Hong Kong this month. If I don't fulfill it, the quota will be cut."

"400 tons!!" Xia Youche exclaimed in surprise. "President Chen, you're really bold! Can Jiangxin Vegetable Market produce that many bok choy this month?"

"Don't worry about growing vegetables, Mr. Xia. Although 400 tons is challenging, that's the goal we're aiming for."

"I have to go now, I have things to do. Oh, by the way, you know the packaging has been changed to foam boxes, right?"

"I know, they told me everything, otherwise I wouldn't have given them 1.8 yuan per jin."

hang up the phone.

Chen Jiazhi muttered to himself, "That old fox will regret this sooner or later."

He is confident in his vegetables, as this year's rainfall is only relatively less than last year, and the appearance and quality of leafy vegetables are generally lower than in winter and spring.

Jiangxin Vegetable Market has an advantage in protecting and fertilizing its vegetables through small arched greenhouses, resulting in high-quality cabbage that is always in short supply in the market.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

"Please come in."

Tong Gang and Huang Chuan walked in together.

"Mr. Chen, we've looked into the car and the computer. Let me tell you about the situation."

"Sit down and talk."

Chen Jiazhi poured a glass of water for the two of them.

In 1995, Microsoft launched Windows 95, which was also the second year that China had access to the Internet. Although the price of personal computers had dropped considerably, they were still considered big-ticket items.

However, it's far from comparable to cars, whose prices are beyond the reach of countless ordinary people.

After listening to the introductions from Tong Gang and Huang Chuan, Chen Jiazhi ultimately chose a Jetta sedan with a square front, priced at 15 yuan.

And an IBM computer, worth about 2.

I originally wanted to buy two more computers, but no one in the office knows how to use them, so buying more wouldn't make much sense.

At the same time, he also asked the two of them to find out if there were any computer crash courses, which they planned to take.

After deciding on the items to buy and setting a pickup time, Chen Jiazhi inquired about the daily work.

First, there are holiday benefits; gift boxes and holiday allowances have been prepared.
Secondly, the construction plan for the vegetable canteen was to keep everything simple, but there still needed to be a place to cook and eat, and the canteen area required for more than 200 people was not small.

Third, urge the payroll calculation and lend 50 yuan to Kaopu Fresh.
Fourth, have office staff go to the city to look at houses, and then they can buy them in the company's name.

Now that he has plenty of money in his account, Chen Jiazhi just wants to spend it as soon as possible, or use it for various investments.

Today is the 31st, the last day of May. Xu Yao gave him the sales report for this month before going downstairs to fill out the order.

The vegetables sold today will be counted up to the 1st, but even so, Jiangxin Vegetable Market's sales in May reached 269.65 million yuan, setting a new record.

The main reason is that last night was too intense. The combined sales of the stalls and those supplying Hong Kong reached 15.78 yuan in a single day, and the market had a cash reserve of 360 million yuan.

Keeping such a large sum of money as cash or earning interest would be a waste.

Chen Jiazhi is now eager to spend money like crazy.

However, in reality, he is a workaholic. He might be thinking about how to spend money, but he will immediately throw himself into a new money-making endeavor.

The croaking of frogs in the fields signaled the approach of night.

But the cold storage was still brightly lit, and the roar of engines could be heard from time to time.

"The data is out." After pressing the calculator buttons a few times, Xu Yao took a deep breath and gave the quantity of vegetables for today.

"Today, 21 tons of choy sum were delivered to the warehouse. Adding to yesterday's 8 tons, the total is 29 tons. 5 tons will be supplied to Hong Kong and 24 tons will be supplied to stall number 63 in Jiangnan."

10.05 tons of water spinach.

"15.75 tons of green peppers were shipped, with 7 tons going to Hong Kong and 8.75 tons to the Jiangnan market."

"Therefore, 12 tons of vegetables were supplied to Hong Kong, and 42.8 tons were supplied to the Jiangnan Market, for a total of 54.8 tons!"

Upon hearing this number, the temperature outside the cold storage seemed to synchronize with the temperature inside, and everyone inhaled a sharp breath of cold air.

Xu Yao looked at the focus of attention and asked, "Mr. Chen, can stall number 63 sell more than 40 tons of vegetables a day?"

Yi Dinggan also said, "Including the vegetables from Dongxiang, we have about 48 tons of goods, nearly 10 jin!"

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "Last night, stall number 63 had a total of 34 tons of vegetables, which were sold out by dawn. If we sell a little more during the day today, selling the remaining 14 tons shouldn't be a problem."

Everyone was excited; this shipment volume was incredible!
After the quantity was tallied, the workers were still carrying out the final loading, and Chen Jiazhi also asked Yi Dinggan to organize a short meeting.

He listened attentively; it was all about planting and production.

First, we are seizing the opportunity to harvest. Starting now, we have a daily task of harvesting more than 30 mu of bok choy. The water spinach is gone, but we still have a batch of green peppers to harvest.

Secondly, regarding sowing and transplanting, the harvest period for this batch of Chinese cabbage will end around June 6.10th, and the next batch needs to be started earlier.

But actually, the transplanted Chinese cabbage seedlings can no longer be grafted.

In the northern part of the area, Qi Yongfeng and Huang Rixin are still pulling up seedlings and preparing the land. The standards for ridging chili peppers and bok choy are different, so they have to change them back. With the rainy season coming up, land preparation is quite troublesome and will take at least a week.

Transplanting can only be done on fields where bok choy and water spinach have already been harvested, and the timing will be six or seven days later.

The transplanting of some vegetables at the Dongxiang vegetable market can make up for the shortfall to some extent, but given the current sales volume, the cold storage cannot hold the goods, and a shortage of vegetables seems inevitable.

When Yi Dinggan and the others reached this point in their analysis, they began to feel guilty.

"I need to apologize for this. I'm guilty. I acted recklessly, disobeyed Mr. Chen's arrangements, and insisted on trying to gamble on the market, which has led to this situation where things are neither going well nor going badly..."

"Alright, alright, stop with the sarcastic remarks." Chen Jiazhi laughed and scolded, "The bok choy is 1.5 yuan per jin now, isn't that enough to satisfy your appetite?"

"In my opinion, if the price of Chinese cabbage is less than 2 yuan per kilogram, it can't be considered to have hit the market mark."

"Your goals are quite high."

"I can't let you down. You have to take some responsibility too."

"What responsibility can I have?"

Yi Dinggan leaned against the car and said, "The bigger the waves, the more valuable the fish. You said it all – 'Try your luck and you might turn a bicycle into a motorcycle'!"

“Uh…” Chen Jiazhi choked for a moment and said, “This batch of vegetables is actually not bad. Let’s not get off topic like that. Let’s talk about work. In addition to planting and harvesting, we also need to keep up with the daily management, such as watering and pest control…”

These are all old, familiar issues.

But it's something that must be mentioned.

By the time they finished talking, the last two truckloads of vegetables were loaded. One was an Isuzu driven by Chen Jiazhi, and the other was a light truck driven by Wang Bin.

"What a coincidence, Brother Chen, let's go together today."

"Okay."

Chen Jiazhi took Yi Dinggan back, picked up Li Xiu, and then set off together.

Through the rearview mirror, he could also see the figures of Yi Dinggan, Chen Jiafang, and Chen Shaochang by the roadside.

Perhaps due to the approaching Dragon Boat Festival and the excellent quality of the dishes, stall number 63 was even more popular than before that evening.

More customers, but also more dishes.

In short, it's both powerful and long-lasting.

Until dawn, stacks of white styrofoam boxes remained in the stall.

...

a few hours ago.

As usual, truckloads of vegetables cleared customs at Wenjindu in the early hours of the morning and finally arrived at their destination.

Hong Kong, Tong Hing Tai Vegetable Market.

"Hey, Lao Xia, your green peppers are still so beautiful. You've really made a name for yourself this year."

"We'll need your support even more!"

"We only support you because your food is good!"

As soon as the green peppers arrived, some old customers appeared and several transactions were completed, which made Xia Youche very happy.

Soon, another vehicle arrived, unloading rows of white styrofoam boxes.

"Wow, Lao Xia, you brought two truckloads of green peppers today. Are you sure you can sell them all? Don't end up selling them at a lower price if you can't sell them all."

"That's right, then we'll lose money. If we're going to lower the price, let's lower it together."

Hearing the regular customer's insistence, Xia Youche quickly explained, "It's not a green pepper, it's bok choy!"

"Hey, weren't your bok choy supposed to be in a bamboo basket? Why are you using a styrofoam box now?"

"The bell pepper grower sent me the goods, and I couldn't refuse, so I had to accept them."

"From what you're saying, the quality must be just so-so."

"Old Xia, crows don't flock with phoenixes, so don't sell that kind of inferior stuff."

"I'll check the goods first. If they're too bad, I won't take his vegetables."

As he spoke, Xia Youche took out a knife to open the box and inspect the goods, and an old customer also came over.

Once the box was opened and the moisturizing paper was removed, rows and rows of neatly arranged bok choy were revealed.

The regular customer looked back at the bok choy in the bamboo basket, and the difference between the two was immediately apparent.
"Old Xia, who's the crow and who's the phoenix here?"

(End of this chapter)