1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 357 Making money still depends on me

The figure was rather thin, pushing a tricycle loaded with vegetables through the passageway.

Chen Jiazhi squinted at him, then exclaimed with slight surprise, "Liu Minghua?"

Liu Minghua turned his head, followed the sound and saw Chen Jiazhi, and said in surprise, "Mr. Chen... what are you doing here?"

Could it be that you've expanded your business to Shenzhen?

He had heard about Chen Jiazhi from many fellow villagers. The man's business was growing bigger and bigger, and many of his fellow villagers were willing to work for him. It was not surprising that he had expanded to Shenzhen.

Chen Jiazhi stepped forward, offered him a cigarette, and said that he didn't know what to say after conducting market research in Shenzhen.

You can't exactly say that your wife or ex-wife was kept by the cross-border truck driver who delivers vegetables to me, can't you?

The two did not have such deep-seated hatred.

This even made him lose interest in recruiting Liu Minghua to work for him.

After lighting a cigarette, Liu Minghua pointed to the tricycle and said, "I'll take the vegetables back first and then come find you later. I've been here for almost a year, so I should be able to help out."

Chen Jiazhi was slightly taken aback, then nodded. It would be even better if someone could help corroborate the information and data.

About half an hour later, Liu Minghua returned, carrying a notebook.

Chen Jiazhi didn't stand on ceremony and handed Liu Minghua the notebook containing information such as last year's leafy vegetable prices in Shenzhen.

Liu Minghua first flipped through Chen Jiazhi's notebook, and the dense information on it surprised him.

After looking at it for a moment, he opened his notebook and pointed out several data points that might have significant discrepancies.

Chen Jiazhi looked at his notebook, which was also an account book, with clear handwriting on it.

The date, type of vegetables, quantity, purchase price, selling price, and some text should be the location.

He roughly understood what Liu Minghua was doing now—a retail vendor who got vegetables from the wholesale market and sold them.

There was a lot of data, and Chen Jiazhi estimated that it would take a while to verify it all.

"Let's go find a small shop on the street to grab something to eat. We can sit down and eat. I'll make up for the delay."

Liu Minghua glanced at the notebook. He had thought it would be simple, but he hadn't expected the other party's investigation to be so detailed.

Having gone to such lengths to help, I couldn't just give up halfway, so I found a noodle stall near the market and sat down to do it.

Chen Jiazhi also notified Xue Jun via pager, and by the time everyone arrived, Liu Minghua had also finished verifying the data.

"Old Liu, thank you for your help this time."

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment, then took out a small stack of 100-yuan notes from his inner pocket and placed them in front of him.

Liu Minghua shook his head and said, "I'm helping you not for money, but to repay a favor you did for me before."

She probably worked for him selling vegetables.

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "If you want to calculate it that way, I borrowed 50 yuan from you before that. This debt is hard to settle. Take the money. I can't just take your work for free."

He picked up Liu Minghua's account book and said, "Your account book is really well done."

Liu Minghua laughed and said, "I learned it from you. Last year I followed you to sell vegetables at the market for more than half a month. I didn't learn anything else, but I did learn how to keep accounts."

Chen Jiazhi: "The most important thing in the vegetable business is bookkeeping. People who can't even keep good books will find it hard to make money in this business."

Liu Minghua wholeheartedly agreed, saying that selling vegetables is hard work, and it's difficult to know which vegetables are more profitable simply by relying on brain calculations and memory.

Over time, a lot of information is forgotten.

But writing it down makes a difference.

The two talked about bookkeeping for a while, until almost dawn, before Liu Minghua went to sell vegetables.

Chen Jiazhi also made an agreement with him to have Liu Minghua keep track of the prices of several leafy vegetables in Buji over a long period of time, and even bring his personal analysis.

He will pay for it.

Thinking of this, Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but miss the days when he had mobile phones and WeChat, and all kinds of market information could be found through mobile phones.

Doing market analysis now is far too complicated and time-consuming.

However, holding the notebook in his hand, Chen Jiazhi was quite satisfied.

Now, in addition to accurate data from markets such as Jiangnan and Yuexiu, we also have information on the Buji Agricultural Wholesale Market in Shenzhen.

The overall judgment will be more accurate.

Chen Jiazhi rushed back to Guangzhou at noon that day. While Xue Jun and others went to catch up on sleep, Chen Jiazhi, who had already rested in the car, began to analyze the data.

He wasn't very proficient with computers, so he still opted for his preferred method of analysis.

First, get a general understanding of the overall picture, and then draw the price trend according to the timeline.

Based on the price, one can make a basic judgment about the supply at that time.

At the same time, take out a calendar to see the distribution of holidays and which month has more and more auspicious days.

The following are the influencing factors involved in this survey, such as planting area, encroached vegetable plots, farmers' and bases' planting habits, and the climate in the relevant months.

In addition, he collected newspapers and news articles about agricultural products in an attempt to recall some relevant information.

Finally, he would summarize the market analysis for each type of leafy vegetable.

From noon to night, Chen Jiazhi only wrote down the analysis of bok choy and Chinese kale.

However, just these two dishes made him feel that the market research had not been in vain.

At this point, the planting plan becomes much easier to make.

As soon as I left the office, I heard Wen Rong, a clerk at the distribution center, constantly answering phone calls.

I just got back and haven't had a chance to ask about the delivery situation these past two days. But Wen Rong is on the phone, so I don't want to disturb her.

He waited a while, and Chen Zhengxu, who had gone out to visit clients, returned first.

Before he could even ask, the latter laughed and said, "Mr. Chen, the feedback on Shuidong mustard is very good. It has received positive reviews from the market. Liu Haitao's mustard greens have all been sold out, and the people we sent over are already buying vegetables from other farmers. This is a huge order surge, isn't it?"

"It's still early." Chen Jiazhi smiled. "The delivery price is only 1.8 yuan per kilogram right now. We'll only have a surge in orders when customers are scrambling to raise the price."

While the price of Water Mustard is indeed higher than the market price, it's not particularly outstanding.

As a potential well-known brand product, it deserves a higher premium.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Jiazhi added, "Tell people who go to Shuidong to buy vegetables to pay attention to checking the goods. We can't let the quality be substandard and ruin our reputation. The quality of Shuidong mustard varies quite a bit."

Chen Zhengxu pondered for a moment and said, "Then there might not be enough high-quality goods."

Chen Jiazhi: "Stop giving them away for free for now."

Chen Zhengxu: "It's already stopped. We still don't have enough stock to deliver."

The unwavering look in his eyes practically screamed, "Hurry up and build the base, stop delaying!"

The profits from premium delivery of high-quality vegetables were very satisfying for Chen Zhengxu, and it also greatly helped him in acquiring new customers.

Within a few days, the distribution center not only saw an increase in delivery profits, but its scale also continued to expand.

Chen Jiazhi said that haste makes waste.

The production area of ​​Shui Dong mustard is right there; it won't run away. At this time, it's better to be out of stock than to ruin the impression in the minds of customers.

Things are rare.

With such high quality, shouldn't it be rare?
He believes that the more important thing right now is to develop a planting plan, which involves building several new bases, and that will require a lot of funding.

Right now, he only has the vegetable market as a way to make money.

After seeing Chen Zhengxu off, Chen Jiazhi went to find a place to eat, and then returned to his office to continue studying the planting plan.

Occasionally, I'll switch gears and populate the recorded data onto the computer, getting familiar with its operation.

In the evenings, he would go to the stalls to communicate with Ding Hong, Li Cai and others, or chat with customers and other merchants to find inspiration.

It took Chen Jiazhi two days to finally digest all the data.

Besides the leafy greens that Jiangxin Vegetable Market mainly sells, he also discovered opportunities in other vegetables.

...

Half of January has passed, and there's only a little over half a month left until the Spring Festival.

Chen Shaochang and Peng Guozhen have returned to their hometown to clean and prepare for the New Year, and the students have also started their winter vacation.

The arrival of cold air slowed down the growth of vegetables; however, vegetable prices, which had just begun to recover, were quickly suppressed again.

Chen Jiazhi organized an annual summary and planning meeting for the new year in the conference room of the vegetable market.

In addition to the management team, shareholders Xu Wenxiang and Huang Jianyuan also attended the event.

That year, thanks to several major market booms in the first half of the year and stable profits in the second half, Jiangxin Vegetable Market achieved a new record, with annual profits exceeding ten million yuan.

It has few rivals among markets of similar size, and even ranks among the top in the entire Pearl River Delta.

After reviewing the past and rewarding the management team, Chen Jiazhi then talked about the plans for the new year.

He first announced three investment plans.

Establish a cooperative vegetable base of at least 1000 mu in Lianzhou;

Establish a late-season cabbage base of at least 300 mu in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng;
A 300-mu mustard greens base will be built in Shuidong, and a vegetable nursery will be invested in western Guangdong to promote and sell grafted seedlings and high-quality seedlings.

Furthermore, the scale was much larger than expected, and naturally, the investment funds also increased significantly.

Xu and Huang then raised some questions, mostly about investment prospects or funding.

Chen Jiazhi first highlighted the recent performance of Shuidong mustard greens, which have gained recognition from dozens of restaurants and hotels in less than half a month.

He then looked at Xu Wenxiang and asked, "President Xu, Yunshan has also ordered Shui Dong Jie. What do you think?"

Xu Wenxiang nodded. "In terms of investment prospects, both Shui Dong Jie and Zengcheng Chi Cai Xin are worth a try."

Chen Jiazhi had sent both of these dishes to the two of them and let them try them.

"We've invested in several bases in succession, but the Shanghai and Yuanmou bases haven't turned a profit yet. Won't that put a strain on our finances?"

Huang Jianyuan then said, "President Chen, perhaps it would be more prudent to wait until the Shanghai and Yuanmou bases are profitable before investing in new projects?"

"Yes, there will indeed be some financial pressure."

His eyes swept over the management team, and the team leaders were all eager to try their luck, as new projects meant opportunities for promotion.

Only Yi Dinggan and Li Xiu hesitated slightly.

We've been discussing this a lot at home these past few days, and everyone thinks it's a bit risky.

First it was Yuanmou, then Shanghai, and now it's Lianzhou, Zengcheng, and Maoming. Even the seedling farms that have transformed from vegetable markets to scientific research all rely on Jiangxin Vegetable Market for sustenance.

The market in the second half of the year is expected to be relatively flat, with little pressure.

Xu Wenxiang and Huang Jianyuan shared the same thoughts.

After a pause, Chen Jiazhi presented his recent work results: a planting plan.

"I think there are still quite a few opportunities to make money at the farmers' market this year."

Yi Ding licked his lips. It's finally here. In the end, making money still depends on me.

(End of this chapter)