1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 315 was truly exhilarating.

"What the hell? How can you raise prices like this? You dare to sell them for HK$100 a piece in just one day! Even robbery can't make money as fast as you!"

"Damn, I'm already being generous by not asking you to make up the price difference from yesterday. Do you know how much Huacheng cabbage sold for yesterday? 80 yuan per piece!"
You got it for 75 per piece yesterday, you made a killing, I lost a fortune!
If you don't have 100 yuan today, I'm not playing with you anymore! Go find whoever you want to ship the goods to!

The phone call ended in a stalemate, but neither of them hung up. After a while, Xia Youche was the first to back down.

"Mr. Chen, let's talk this out. In the vegetable wholesale business, prices can fluctuate in an instant. Nobody could control yesterday's price increase."

"Let's not talk about yesterday, but today's and tomorrow's prices must be raised!"

"It'll go up, it'll definitely go up! We'll go with the price you said." Xia Youche then asked, "Could you send over more goods today?"

Chen Jiazhi asked in surprise, "You want to increase it? How much food can you eat in a day?"

Xia Youche pondered for a moment and said, "Of course, the more the better, especially bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, and romaine lettuce. We didn't have enough to sell yesterday. Could you send an extra twenty or thirty tons today?"

"No, we don't have that many dishes."

"how many?"

"We can send you an extra 10 tons of these three types of vegetables at most, but we still have a good supply of bok choy, so we can send more."

"Okay, it's a deal!"

Damn, that's so decisive. It seems Tongxingtai's profits are indeed very high. However, Chen Jiazhi is quite satisfied with the current price.

The price of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong has generally increased to 3 yuan, which makes selling these vegetables incredibly profitable.

After confirming the price and quantity, Chen Jiazhi handed over the shipping to Yi Dinggan, who was standing nearby.

Priority is given to ensuring shipments to the Hong Kong market. If there isn't enough fresh greens, we'll use choy sum instead. There are still over 200 tons of choy sum in the cold storage!
"We can only harvest bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, and romaine lettuce if the rain stops in the afternoon. We won't dare to harvest them until the rain stops."

"Okay, let's try to accept them."

When Chen Jiazhi returned in the morning, he inspected the fields. Because of the continuous transplanting, there were actually quite a few vegetables in the field.

One batch after another, the vegetables are harvested very quickly and in a concentrated manner, and there are many vegetables that are ready for harvest.

It's just that the rain makes harvesting impossible.

However, even though it was raining, the cold storage was still loading and unloading goods, and there was no risk of getting wet from the rain because of the rain shelter.

"Oh, and make sure you have enough styrofoam boxes. Don't run out at the end. Once the weather clears up, we need to harvest the vegetables as quickly as possible!"

"I've got it! The styrofoam boxes in the warehouse are always full."

After confirming that everything was in order, Chen Jiazhi went home to rest.

During his break, the market continued to load and ship goods at a constant frequency.

Around 2 p.m., the rain stopped, the sky above the market brightened again, and hundreds of workers reappeared in the vegetable fields.

"Today we're harvesting bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, and romaine lettuce; we won't be harvesting choy sum yet!"

"Hurry up, hurry up! Once you're done collecting, quickly put them under the big umbrella. There will be someone watching over the weighing process, so you won't be cheated!"

The market was filled with shouts and calls, yet amidst the busyness, there was an orderly atmosphere, and everyone knew what they were supposed to do.

Earning money from each harvested vegetable means no one wants to fall behind, especially with the threat of rain.

If it rains again, we won't be able to harvest vegetables.

If it gets flooded, it could be completely destroyed. For a time, everyone in the market was bent over and hunched over.

Harvesting vegetables!

Harvesting vegetables!

Harvesting vegetables!

Fortunately, it didn't rain from afternoon until dark, and the vegetables were quickly weighed, packed, stored, cooled, and then shipped out again.

The pager that Yi Dinggan kept on his waist would ring from time to time, it was the sound urging him to ship the goods.

The market is anxious, but all he can say is, don't rush.
If it's urgent, I'll send a truckload of bok choy first.

From morning till night, he shipped out 80 tons of bok choy. It wasn't until evening that the first truckload of chilled bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, and romaine lettuce was finally shipped out.

Then came the second car, and the third car~
When Chen Jiazhi returned to the market after taking a nap, he felt as if the battlefield had been divided into several parts.

In the vegetable fields, workers wearing headlamps are harvesting vegetables; in the warehouse, weighing and unpacking are underway; and in the cold storage, goods are being moved in and out simultaneously.
It actually looks quite orderly.

This is Yi Dinggan's ability; he's born for big events. If it were Chen Jiazhi in charge, he might not be able to manage things so well.

"It's getting dark. Let the workers who are collecting vegetables come back. Don't push them too hard."

"Let's tally up how many vegetables we harvested today!"

Chen Jiazhi went to the market before he even saw the data.

It only drizzled a little in the evening, which didn't affect people's travel. People went out to buy groceries, and stall number 63 was bustling all night.

However, Chen Jiazhi restrained his sales somewhat, and the stall only sold 30 tons of bok choy and 20 tons of other leafy vegetables in that day and night.
The quantity was 10 tons less than the previous day, but the sales revenue was only 20,000 yuan less.

Another hard-earned day collecting money.

Compared to the stalls' control over the supply of goods, Jiangxin Vegetable Market spares no effort in supplying Hong Kong.

Because the rain in Shenzhen and other areas was heavier, more intense, and longer-lasting in the early stages!
As soon as the rain stopped, market demand suddenly surged, and prices gained an advantage.

During the day, truckloads of bok choy were shipped to Hong Kong, while at night, the main vegetables were Chinese bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, and romaine lettuce. After pre-cooling the containers, several more truckloads of vegetables were shipped out.
80 tons of vegetables were shipped to Hong Kong in one night!
Over three days and three nights, 160 tons of various vegetables were shipped to Hong Kong.

The supply quota to Hong Kong, which was originally in huge shortfall, was instantly half completed!
The daily sales figures for the market are also staggering.

82.8 yuan!

Because the stalls and the market were separate, only Chen Jiazhi knew this number when it was derived.

All his hard work and dedication were worth it!

"Uncle, are you clenching your fists so tightly because you want to hit someone?" It was the weekend, and the Yi brothers, Yi Long and Yi Hu, came to the office and stared at the computer in front of Chen Jiazhi.

"Have you finished your homework?"

"It's finished."

"Wait a little longer, and I'll let you use the computer once I'm done."

"Okay." Yi Hu then cautiously added, "Uncle, can we bring our game consoles to your office to play next time?"

The game console was bought by Yi Dinggan for the two brothers, and they've been playing it too much lately, which has earned them a lot of scolding from Chen Jiafang.

Yi Dinggan would also occasionally go home to check on them. If he caught them playing games at home, he would make them go to work in the fields, which made the two brothers afraid to play at home.

In his previous life, Chen Jiazhi also viewed games as a scourge, which caused a major rift between him and his eldest son.

If he had to do it all over again, he would be much more accepting of it.

"Okay, playing games is fine, but you can't just focus on playing; you can't neglect your studies!"

"Really? Uncle, you agree to let us play games?"

"Would I lie to you? But if you can make a fun game yourselves in the future, that would be even more awesome."

"But we don't know how to make games!"

Chen Jiazhi pointed to the boxy computer in front of him and said, "If you don't know how, you'll learn. Besides work and play, another purpose of buying a computer is to facilitate learning."

Now you play games on game consoles, and in the future you can play games on computers, and even write and design your own games.

It's okay if you don't know how; you can pay to learn. The important thing is not just to play games, you also need to think!

The two young men were stunned by what Chen Jiazhi said, but a seed was planted in their hearts.

After Chen Jiazhi finished typing the sales data into the computer using two fingers, he handed the computer over to the two brothers.

Today the sky is clear and the sun is out. The sky above the market is clear and bright. Such a view is rare in Guangzhou these days and can only be seen in remote suburbs.

Chen Jiazhi rode his bicycle around the vegetable field, his excited heart and trembling hands now calmed down.

Jiangxin vegetable market also suffered significant losses.

The flooded vegetables began to collapse and rot until they turned into nutrients. The affected area was 40 to 50 acres, and other areas were also affected.

But there was still a lot of food left over.

The harvest is in full swing right now.

Apart from the workers who transport, weigh, and unpack the vegetables, almost all the vegetable harvesters are in the fields harvesting vegetables.

Even planting seedlings has been temporarily suspended.

Prices are good now, so we should take advantage of this market trend and ship a lot of goods. In agriculture, it's all about securing profits.

"Uncle~"

After riding for a while, Chen Jiazhi looked back and saw Yi Long and Yi Hu also riding over at breakneck speed.

"Why did you stop playing?"

“My old man chased us out; he told us to come out and collect vegetables to make money.”

"Forehead……"

The two brothers obediently did as instructed, went to find Chen Jiafang, and worked with her to harvest vegetables and earn money.

There are quite a few more teenagers in the market now, as migrant workers from other places have brought their children with them.

Most of them dropped out of school before finishing primary or junior high school; this is a very common situation.

It will be even more common two thousand years from now, with many vegetable markets employing child laborers as young as twelve or thirteen.

Chen Jiazhi doesn't hire vegetable workers under the age of 16, but the market pays high wages, so many vegetable workers let their children play first. There are often teenagers chasing each other on bicycles on the ridges of the vegetable market.

Also, because of the commission, some people will have their children help with harvesting the crops.
There are especially many today.

The young men and women riding bicycles also transformed into little vegetable workers, skillfully helping to harvest vegetables in the field.

During this day and night, the sales volume of vegetables at Jiangxin Market once again reached a new high.

More than 80 tons of vegetables were supplied to Hong Kong on a single day, and 50 tons of vegetables were also sent to stall number 63, reducing the cold storage inventory to 180 tons!
On June 26, it rained lightly, and the harvest volume dropped to 30 tons, but the vegetable market shipped out another 130 tons, and there were still 80 tons left in the cold storage.
June 27th was a sunny day, and it was also a day of full-scale production, with 150 tons shipped out and the cold storage emptied.

On sunny days after rain, shipments often surge!

...

Hong Kong's Cheung Sha Wan wholesale market is just as bustling in the early morning.

"Restock! I need restock! Don't you understand me? Get your boss, Mr. Chen, here!"

"Okay, okay, bok choy is fine too. The truck I ordered is arriving soon, please arrange for someone to load it!"

"Whoo~"

Xia Youche let out a heavy sigh and then got back to work.

He couldn't remember if it was the fourth or fifth day, he only knew that these past few days had been crazy.

The best and most abundant leafy greens have made Tongxingtai stand out in the entire Xiangjiang vegetable wholesale industry.

This was an unprecedented experience in his more than ten years of selling vegetables.

He had seen markets go crazy many times, but this was the first time he had such a sufficient supply of goods during a market crash!
Truckloads of goods arrived one after another, like a perpetual motion machine, never ceasing.

Making money is like finding money on the street.

I really enjoyed it.

(End of this chapter)