1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 384 Listen to my wife today

Xiangjiang, Cheung Sha Wan Vegetable Wholesale Market.

Xia Youche, wearing a striped shirt, noticed the styrofoam boxes on the tricycle in the distance and frowned slightly.

It seems like there's been a significant increase in the use of styrofoam boxes to pack vegetables lately.

He asked a passing delivery driver, "What kind of vegetables are in the box?"

Mustard greens~

The driver simply replied that Xia had a car and didn't take it too seriously, as long as it wasn't cabbage hearts, it was fine.

Because the sight of styrofoam boxes easily reminds him of the Jiangxin vegetable market.

Mustard greens seem to be doing alright; they're not the main vegetable at Jiangxin Market, which mainly sells bok choy.

He returned to his stall and saw that he had taken a lot of bamboo baskets full of bok choy, and felt a sudden pang of disgust for no reason.

I've told the supplier several times to use foam boxes and ice packs to pack the vegetables, but they just won't listen, and now everyone is finding it difficult to adapt.

Let's just hang in there a little longer.

If that doesn't work, just take a tiny bit more vegetables from Jiangxin Market, just a tiny bit.

...

Meanwhile, after entering the airport waiting area, Li Xiu said mysteriously, "Jiazhi, it seems like Li Cai and Wen Rong are having an affair~"

"what's the situation?"

“That one!” Li Xiu said, taking Chen Jiazhi’s hand. “I heard from my third sister and Wang Lan that Wen Rong has been hanging around Li Cai a lot lately.”

Chen Jiazhi looked on with a surprised expression. "Isn't this normal? Li Cai is almost as handsome as me. It would be a problem if no girls were pursuing him."

Li Xiu glared at him and said, "Let's talk about something serious."

"What did I do wrong?" Chen Jiazhi laughed. "Back then, Bao Bao was so against it, but you were still determined to be with me, weren't you?"

"I……"

Li Xiu felt the conversation was about to end. "Jiazhi, you're even more shameless than Brother Yi now."

"Hey, I'm still a bit worse than him."

"They're at least evenly matched."

After a few lighthearted banter, Li Xiu brought up Li Cai and Wen Rong again, saying, "I have a feeling that Wen Rong isn't someone to be trifled with."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "It's alright. Li Cai won't suffer any losses anyway, and besides, he probably won't be in the mood for romance lately."

Li Xiu asked in bewilderment, "Wen Rong is quite pretty too."

Chen Jiazhi shook his head. "You don't understand."

Li Xiu: "?"

Chen Jiazhi whispered to her, "How did you feel about Li Cai's energy this morning?"

Li Xiu thought for a moment and said, "This is the first time I've seen him talk about something so excitedly, it's a bit... what's the word for it?"

"Full of vigor, right?"

"Yes, that's the idea."

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "So Li Cai has been focusing on his work lately. Sometimes, the meaning that a career gives to a man is irreplaceable by many other things."

For many men, career is their intrinsic need, the source of their vibrant vitality. Li Cai should now be appreciating the beauty of it.

Li Xiu asked, "Are you the same?"

Chen Jiazhi: "No."

Li Xiu raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe it."

Chen Jiazhi stroked his chin and smiled: "I'm at least two or three levels above Li Cai."

"..."

Perhaps because it was her first business trip with Chen Jiazhi, Li Xiu seemed quite excited, but she quieted down after boarding the plane.

There was nothing I could do; I get airsick.

Chen Jiazhi picked up a magazine and started reading.

"Jiazhi, why don't you take a nap?"

"You go to sleep, I'm not sleepy."

"You've been drinking."

"fine."

"oh,"

Li Xiu was lost in thought, her gaze fixed on Chen Jiazhi, who was engrossed in his book.

This must be a manifestation of the boundless energy that a career brings; drinking three bottles of beer in the morning had absolutely no effect on me.

At this moment, Chen Jiazhi stared thoughtfully at the words "Opening of the Spring Canton Fair on April 15" on the magazine.

Can vegetables be sold at the Canton Fair?
There will at least be agricultural and sideline product trading; you can go and take a look then.

After arriving in Kunming, Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu took a train and finally arrived at the Yunling Agricultural Office Building, which was already in full operation, in the evening.

Li Mingkun picked the two up from the train station and then showed them around the office building.

"There are more than 20 rooms in total. In addition to the company's staff, some breeders from other places are also temporarily staying here with us."

Chen Jiazhi thought it was pretty good, and then asked, "What about the expert building that Secretary Zhong of Xinghuo Village built?"

Li Mingkun said, "It's all repaired now. Theirs is bigger, with a total of 48 rooms. This winter, the experts will be able to move into the new houses instead of living in dilapidated ones."

After a pause, Li Mingkun added, "Xinghuo Village has also been renamed. It's now called Nanfan Village, which specializes in breeding."

Chen Jiazhi was slightly taken aback, but he also thought the name was a good choice. The name 'Nanfan' was immediately recognizable to people in the industry; it was a very vivid and fitting name.

Just then, a boy and a girl, both around ten years old, came to Li Mingkun's side. "Old man, Mom is calling you to eat."

"Okay, coming right away." Li Mingkun then introduced his children, Li Jun and Li Chunxiang, to Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu.

"Junwa, Chunxiang, quickly call for help."

"Uncle, Auntie."

"Hey." Li Xiu smiled and, since she happened to have some snacks on her, shared them with the two of them.

Chen Jiazhi had a strange expression.

In his previous life, Li Xiu acted as matchmaker, and Li Jun married Yi Long and Yi Hu's cousins, and subsequently also called them uncle and aunt.

I still feel a little uncomfortable when people call me "uncle" now.

"Old Li, have you brought them here to study?"

“They’ve stopped studying.” Li Mingkun sighed deeply. “Let them continue studying, but if they absolutely refuse, I’ll bring them here to grow vegetables. I’ll have them work as laborers at the base. Is that alright?”

Chen Jiazhi said, "As long as you're willing to part with it, I have no objection."

Nowadays, it's common to see underage workers in vegetable markets across the country who come out to work with their parents; most of them later change careers.

In his previous life, Li Jun had been growing vegetables since he was twelve or thirteen years old and had never done anything else.

Chen Jiazhi added, "But he's still too young. It would be best if he could study for two more years. If it's not possible in our hometown, he can study in Yuanmou. The conditions of the schools in Yuanmou County are much better than those in the village schools in our hometown."

Li Mingkun nodded. "I'll ask about it later. Let's go eat first. Old Peng and Ji Song are inside."

As they were talking, Peng Qian, Ji Song, Wang Yongxiang and others who heard the commotion came out to greet them.

After exchanging pleasantries, we entered the cafeteria.

A large table full of dishes and wine were already laid out in the cafeteria.

Upon seeing the wine, Li Xiu leaned close to Chen Jiazhi and whispered, "Drink less."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and joked, "With Li Mingkun around, if he doesn't drink, neither will I."

Li Mingkun then said, "We're all family here, so let's all drink less. The gesture is enough."

Chen Jiazhi asked in surprise, "Old Li drinks now too?"

"It's hard to do work without drinking."

Li Mingkun nodded helplessly, "I should have known that being the director of this event wouldn't be so easy."

Li Mingkun is not allergic to alcohol, and can even drink a glass of baijiu (Chinese liquor). He simply doesn't drink alcohol because he dislikes it.

However, it seems that cracks have appeared on this fundamental issue.

Chen Jiazhi sat down and asked with a smile, "Who among you is so capable that you dragged Old Li into this mess? Was it you, Old Peng?"

Peng Qian quipped, "None of us have that ability. When Director Li is with us, he doesn't drink a drop of alcohol."

Li Mingkun understood the implication and said with a wry smile, "Old Peng, please don't mock me. You were there, you know what happened. Besides, I occasionally have a drink with you now, don't I?"

Chen Jiazhi asked curiously about the whole story.

Peng Qian smiled and said, "Yunling Agriculture is a company that is neither too big nor too small. It didn't attract much attention before, but because of our publicity, several research institutions and companies have come to Yuanmou for inspection this year."

Four of them directly confirmed their intention to invest in Yuanmou, which aroused local interest.

Meanwhile, our greenhouse vegetables are still available for sale, which has surprised many people.

You can ask Yongxiang; the winter and early spring vegetables in Yuanmou have never had such a long harvest period before.

At this moment, Wang Yongxiang, a local resident, also spoke up: "Boss Chen, the greenhouse has indeed opened the eyes of many people, including me. It has been almost 6 months since we started picking last November!"
The harvesting period is twice as long as that of open-field tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers. The yield is high, and the prices are good from January to March. The profit per acre is incredible; I never dared to imagine it before seeing it for myself!

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "Yongxiang really lived up to his reputation as a science and technology officer in the township; he has quite the eloquence. From now on, we'll be relying on you for the sales of the farm's seedlings."

Wang Yongxiang replied, "President Chen, thanks to the trial planting by Uncle Gui and others last year, as well as the effects of the greenhouse, the promotion of seedlings this year is much easier than last year."

Chen Jiazhi asked in surprise, "It's already started?"

Wang Yongxiang smiled and said, "Recently, some vegetable farmers have taken the initiative to ask about it, and some of our workers also grow vegetables at home and are very interested."

After chatting for a while, Chen Jiazhi basically grasped some key points. The county had invited him many times, probably not only to exchange experiences in seed investment, but also because it was related to greenhouse vegetables.

It has been proven that combining greenhouses with winter and early-season vegetables in Yuanmou has significantly increased the yield per mu.

Chen Jiazhi stood up, holding a wine glass. "This glass is a toast to everyone's hard work over the past six months. Yunling Farm is on the right track, and the future is promising."

"The future is promising!"

Everyone kept saying that the future was promising, and they clinked glasses together.

Amidst the clinking of glasses and lively conversation, Chen Jiazhi gained a more direct understanding of the current state of Yunling Farm.

In short, the impromptu decision to develop greenhouse vegetables was a great success, recovering nearly half of the investment cost.

Breeding and propagating seed varieties has gained recognition from some seed companies in leafy vegetable seed production, but lacks experience and has not yielded good results in solanaceous seed production.

Regarding seedlings, several advantageous combinations of rootstock resources have been identified through screening, and due to their good planting results, a breakthrough in sales is expected this year.

After dinner, Chen Jiazhi chatted with Ji Song and others for a while before being pulled to the office by Li Mingkun, who was intoxicated.

Li Xiu knew that he hadn't rested all day and had drunk wine both morning and evening, so she went forward to help him up.

"Jiazhi, why don't we rest today and talk about work tomorrow?"

Chen Jiazhi patted her hand, then looked into her worried eyes and paused slightly.

"Old Li, listen to my wife today and get some rest early."

"Oh~"

(End of this chapter)