1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 313 Hot 3
"Rain is falling again! Hurry up and bring in the laundry!"

The pattering rain outside sounded like heavenly music to Chen Jiazhi's ears.

But perhaps the raindrops were too loud, and no one heard his shouts, so he had no choice but to get up.

Stepping onto the balcony, it was pitch black and I couldn't see very clearly, but the sound of raindrops filled my ears.

Chen Jiazhi went downstairs, where the two brothers, Yi Long and Yi Hu, were doing their homework.

"uncle."

"Hmm~" Chen Jiazhi has been busy lately and hasn't seen the two brothers for a while, so he inquired about their studies.

"Uncle, just wait and see if you can buy a computer!"

"So confident?!" Chen Jiazhi looked at Yi Hu in surprise. "You can't brag, can you? Can you understand the teacher's lecture now?"

"That's about right," Yi Hu said. "I'm not bragging. It's just that the students in our class aren't doing well academically. If we get 60 or 70 points on this test, we can get into the top 30 in the class."

"So what score did you get?"

"I got 75 in math and 72 in Chinese, but there were no class rankings; the teacher just said I was in the top 30."

"Where's Xiaolong?"

"So-so." Yi Long raised his head, a slight smile playing on his lips. "I barely got 80 in math and 66 in Chinese."

"Wow, they're all alright."

This result might seem average to many, but Chen Jiazhi knows his nephews and nieces well. Passing the test is good news, and getting 20 or 30 points wouldn't be surprising.

Yi Long, in particular, surprised Chen Jiazhi. This kid hadn't even graduated from elementary school.

"Keep up the good work. Your uncle keeps his word. If you do well on the exam, he'll definitely buy you a computer."

It was still raining outside. Peng Guozhen and Li Xiu brought him his food. Chen Jiazhi ate a few bites and waited for the rain to subside before taking his bag and going out.

"Jiazhi, honk the horn when you get to the door and I'll come out."

"Row."

"Drive carefully."

Chen Jiazhi, wearing a raincoat and a headlamp, rode his bicycle toward the market.

It reminds me a bit of the days when I used to ride my bicycle in the rain to sell vegetables.

When they arrived at the market, an Isuzu truck was parked next to the cold storage, and another large truck was still loading containers. Yi Dinggan and the others hid under the eaves of their dormitory.

How many shipments have you sent today?

"This should be the 11th truck today, mostly large trucks. To find out exactly how many boxes there are, you'll have to ask Wang Hong or Accountant Xu."

Wang Hong was standing by the cold storage, counting the items.

"So many?" Chen Jiazhi was a little surprised.

Yi Dinggan leaned against the wall to avoid the rain and said, "We didn't get as many vegetables as we shipped today. There's already a lot of empty space in the cold storage. I estimate that after this truck is loaded, at least eighty tons of goods will be shipped out."

"Cattle!"

Before Isuzu started loading the truck, Chen Jiazhi stood there for a moment before deciding to go back to his office.

Just then, the sound of 'drip drip drip' came from the rainy night.

It's a pager.

Yi Dinggan picked it up and saw, "Xia Youche said that two more truckloads of vegetables need to be sent out tonight, one truckload of bok choy, and one truckload of romaine lettuce and baby bok choy. The trucks are already on their way."

"..."

This has exceeded today's estimated supply plan to Hong Kong; the expected 40 tons has now reached 60 tons.

Goods move very quickly in Hong Kong.

Prices were also raised during the day, with a carton of bok choy going up to HK$75, but the quantity was not reduced at all, which is truly astonishing.

Chen Jiazhi returned to his office and called Xia Youche to inquire about the shipment status in Hong Kong.

"Mr. Chen, you must send me these two truckloads of vegetables. Jiangxin Vegetable Market hasn't completed its supply quota to Hong Kong this month, has it? As long as the supply can keep up, it may be completed in a few days."

"We'll definitely ship the goods to you, but why is the shipment volume so large?"

"Because many people are out of vegetables!" Xia Youche shouted from the other end. "This is only 60 tons of vegetables. Hong Kong consumes thousands of tons of vegetables every day. The market supply can't keep up!"

And our dishes are delicious!

The continuous torrential rains have caused heavy losses to many vegetable markets.

Some were directly flooded, while others had no chance to be harvested. Even those that were harvested in the rain were extremely prone to rotting due to their high moisture content.

The vegetables delivered from Jiangxin Market are all dried goods, dried goods, dried goods!
Dry and beautiful!

In this continuous rainy weather, it's not surprising that there's still a sufficient supply of dried goods and fresh vegetables, with daily sales reaching 60 tons.

Prices are still rising.

However, Chen Jiazhi could not know the exact prices of various vegetables in Hong Kong for the time being.

Xia Youche's gross profit margin is likely to exceed 50% to 80%, but this is unavoidable.

This is the time for him to make money.

Just like with the reliable fresh delivery service, it's easy to raise prices given the current weather conditions, and the profits earned in the past few days have also been increasing.

Chen Jiazhi turned on the computer, familiarized himself with its operation, and also looked at the spreadsheet files.

Recently, he has also been teaching Xu Yao how to use a computer, and he tries to input all kinds of data into the computer.

However, the results were not satisfactory.

But he knew this was the trend, and he had also experienced the process of wholesale markets being gradually eroded by e-commerce platforms.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi continues to learn and encourages those around him to learn as well.

In the future, processing and analyzing various data on a computer will definitely be better than on a laptop.

After fiddling with the computer for who knows how long, the rain outside stopped, and Chen Jiazhi only came downstairs after hearing Yi Dinggan's shouts.

I checked the time; it was already past nine o'clock.

"What's the arrangement for loading the truck at night?" "Several male workers have been assigned, and they will be paid overtime."

"Okay, everyone else should get some rest."

Xu Yao was also present. She lives in the market dormitory and can come out to write orders at any time. She learns computers slowly, but she is very responsible.

Chen Jiazhi learned the specific shipment data from her.

Since dawn, 87 tons of goods have been shipped out so far, with Chinese cabbage accounting for more than half, reaching 47 tons, and bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, and romaine lettuce totaling 40 tons.

But we still have to ship out orders at night. There are 20 tons in Hong Kong, so the daily shipment volume has already exceeded 100 tons.

Stall number 63 may still need to ship some goods.
The speed of harvesting vegetables can't keep up with the speed of selling them, but fortunately there's still plenty of stock in the cold storage, and the Dongxiang vegetable market replenishes its stock with several tons of vegetables every day.

"Please work hard these next couple of days to get the accounts sorted out and also follow up on payments in Hong Kong."

“Okay, Mr. Chen,” Xu Yao replied.

On the other side, Yi Dinggan was also making final arrangements, entrusting Li Mingkun with the task of loading the truck that night.

After finishing, Yi Dinggan climbed into the passenger seat of the Isuzu.

Chen Jiazhi offered him a cigarette and said, "Tomorrow's task is very heavy. We'll probably have to leave early in the morning. We need to hurry up and collect as much as we can, and fill the cold storage as much as possible."

"It's fine if it doesn't rain during the day, but it's very difficult when it rains. If we can get 100 tons of vegetables out of the warehouse a day, we need to collect at least 100 tons to ensure that the cold storage inventory doesn't continue to decrease. If we want to increase that, we need to collect at least 150 tons a day, which is impossible."

"Let's try our best; this rain can't go on forever."

Small greenhouses are not a panacea; if they are covered for too long, the vegetables will have problems. The biggest problem is that the water cannot drain properly.

To ensure proper drainage, the Jiangxin vegetable market also arranges for people to patrol at night.

When they arrived at their doorstep, Chen Jiazhi honked the horn, Yi Dinggan got out of the car and went home, and Li Xiu also came out in the rain. They could still vaguely see the figures of other people at the doorstep.

On the way, Li Xiu was also surprised when she learned about today's shipment volume.

Hundreds of tons, more than 20 jin of vegetables a day, that's terrifying!
The shipment volume is indeed too high!

Chen Jiazhi was actually very excited, but he tried his best to control his emotions.

Selling 100 tons a day is undoubtedly another milestone, but he knows that this is only a short-term surge and is difficult to sustain, and the supply cannot last for more than a few days.

He needs to stay calm while driving; what kind of person shouts and yells like that?

Of course, singing doesn't count~
The rain was intermittent, sometimes heavy and sometimes light. There weren't many cars on the road, but there was still a queue to get into the Gangnam Market.

Although the market is always in short supply, it is never short of talented people.

This is especially evident in the Jiangnan Market, where the current business model and fee structure give merchants a strong advantage in sourcing goods.

However, when it comes to leafy vegetables, stall number 63 is currently the top choice in the market.

It was past 11 p.m. when we entered the market.

When Chen Jiazhi arrived at the entrance of the passage, he glanced to the side and saw that the stalls were once again filled with tricycles, handcarts, vans, and small trucks, blocking the passage!

"Wow, business is booming! I guess I'll have to park in the parking lot again!"

Three large trucks were parked side by side in the stall, unloading and selling vegetables right there.

Even the narrow gaps were filled with tricycles and handcarts.

Xue Jun was talking to a customer while holding an order form, while workers were loading trucks shirtless. Each delivery truck was stacked high, which was quite a test of their riding skills.

Chen Jiazhi went to the cashier's table, where Li Caishou was also busy, writing orders, collecting money, and counting cash.
It felt like there were people everywhere at the stalls, and the sound of conversations was constant.

Before Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu could figure out the situation, they also got busy, working and trying to understand the situation at the same time.

After seeing off a group of customers, we figured out who the people and what the goods were.

Li Cai was finally able to rest after working for eleven consecutive hours, but he didn't rush to leave.

He took a slightly worn backpack from the cabinet at the cashier's counter and opened it slightly.

"Brother Chen, look at this~"

Chen Jiazhi glanced at it; it was full of banknotes—this was today's harvest.

"Call Zhengxu and have him drive over."

"it is good."

The two men maintained normal expressions, as if they were talking about something trivial.

Chen Jiazhi took over the job of writing orders and collecting money. He constantly talked to customers to collect money and handed the written orders to Li Xiu and Xue Jun. The two of them would then organize customers and workers to pick up the goods.

“菜心20件*75元，上海青20件*65元，小白菜15件*70元，一共3850元~”

"click."

The visitor took out a wad of cash from the bag hanging in front of him, counted it, and gave it to Chen Jiazhi.

Chen Jiazhi also counted them, mainly relying on touch to distinguish whether there were counterfeit bills.

When orders are pouring in, counting the money is really hard work.

Now Li Xiu would rather lend a hand in organizing the moving of goods than sit and write invoices and collect money.

"Boss Chen, here's the money!"

"Boss Chen, you're sitting here collecting money again. This time you're going to make a fortune."

People lined up to pick up their goods, and people lined up to pay. Chen Jiazhi felt that with a few more days of practice, he could be as good as a bank teller.

The stall was bustling with activity, with some impatient customers carrying their own goods.

Although Li Cai was resting, he didn't leave the cash register for a moment, mainly to guard the money bags.

It wasn't until Chen Zhengxu arrived in his Changhe minivan and loaded up all the vegetables needed for the day that the problem was resolved.

Li Cai then took out his backpack. "Brother Chen, could you go to the distribution center? There's something I need you to order there."

"It's alright, I know about that. You can go." Chen Jiazhi patted his shoulder with one hand. "Go back and get some rest."

Collecting money is really tiring. He feels that if this continues, he'll have to fill sacks with money.

(End of this chapter)