1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 403 Variables
Hong Kong, Cheung Sha Wan.

Xia sat upright in the car, like a student attentively listening to a lecture, but the hand holding the newspaper trembled for a moment.

Cold sweat broke out all over his body.

He didn't expect that after only a few days of hesitation, he would see Chen Jiazhi's image in the newspaper.

There is also information about investing in new bases.

He sighed heavily, "I should have gone to see him sooner."

He had long wanted to cooperate with Chen Jiazhi to build the base, but he was still unwilling to give up and wanted to try investing in the vegetable market himself.

But after some research, I was a little disheartened. There was no suitable land in Shenzhen, the nearest city, and Dongguan and Huizhou, which were a little further away, were completely unfamiliar to me. I felt a sense of helplessness and didn't know where to start.

In just a few days, Chen Jiazhi made the newspaper along with the deputy head of Huacheng City.

Although Chen Guanye was only the deputy mayor, he was always in the core circle because of his position as the 'chief reception officer' during the southern tour. He had a low position but great influence, and people in the circle always called him 'big boss'.

His statement during an investment promotion trip to Hong Kong, "I have a severe case of capitalism, and only the influx of funds can cure this disease," was published in the newspapers, and Xia Youche still remembers it to this day.

Many companies were introduced by him, but the fact that Chen Jiazhi and Chen Guanye could take a photo together still shocked Xia Youche.

While he was still thinking about how to drive, Chen Jiazhi had already gotten into the fast lane.

"Dad, give me some more money, I'm out of money."

At this moment, Xia Yang opened the door and walked in, his words immediately enraging Xia Youche.

"Money, money, money! All you ever do is ask for money! Can't you do anything productive?"

Xia Yang was a little confused by the scolding. "Dad, I just came back from delivering goods. Isn't that doing my job?"

Xia Youche slammed the newspaper on the table. "Yuanfeng can handle the delivery all by himself!"

"You just said a while ago that you couldn't deliver it by yourself and asked me to help out."

"go away!"

"money."

Xia Youche took a wad of cash out of the drawer, counted out a few bills and put them back before tossing them to Xia Yang, who grabbed them and left happily.

Xia Youche grew angrier the more he thought about it. Looking at the young faces in the newspaper, he sighed, "A son should be like this!"

Tongxingtai's situation is not good. Driven by vegetable stalls such as Hexing, Yonglong, and Qutaiji, Xiangjiang Vegetable Wholesale has entered a process of 'upgrading and transformation'.

Foam boxes for refrigerated transport have almost become the standard, and the disadvantages of using bamboo baskets to pack vegetables are becoming increasingly apparent.

His upstream suppliers also started using foam boxes, but they were forced to do so because they were too slow to react.

Due to slow response and declining quality, Tongxingtai's business has also been greatly affected, with delivery services being one example.

Yuan Feng, a delivery driver who used to complain about being too tired and wanting to quit his job, has recently found his work easier.

"No more hesitation."

Kaopu Fresh is developing too fast, and the supply of goods is also tight. Last time, Xia Youche went so far as to plead for 5 tons of goods, but he only managed to get a share, and he can't even guarantee that there will be goods every day.

Xia Youche also regretted missing out on the water mustard greens so much that his heart turned purple with regret.

Now that Chen Jiazhi wants to expand his production base, he has to get on board.

...

Along the Zengjiang River, lychee groves are reflected in the water, where the Erlong River and Miaotan River converge.

Chen Jiazhi and his group stood on a hill where the rivers met, watching the white waves gently roll.

A public official in Zengcheng County pointed to the opposite bank of the Zengjiang River upstream and said, "That direction is Zhengguo Town. The straight-line distance is only five or six kilometers, but if you want to get there, you have to take a detour, which is more than ten or twenty kilometers, or you have to take a boat upstream."

"Go upstream along the Paitan River for more than 20 kilometers and you will reach Paitan Town."

“The tributary we are currently approaching is the Erlong River, and upstream is Lapu Village.”

Judging from the map and the scene, it's no wonder Chen Jiazhi called Chen Guanye a "wonderful person" when he recalled his previous answer to him.

The three towns are roughly located in an isosceles triangle.

Xiaolou Town is closest to the county seat, followed by Zhengguo Town, and the farthest is Paitan Town, which is also the vertex of an isosceles triangle.

The village of Lapu, which had previously been allocated 300 mu of land, is located within the triangle, and there is still a large amount of land within this triangle.

Chen Jiazhi chose this area as the site for the new base, which not only meets the planting requirements but also helps Chen Guanye consolidate the results of poverty alleviation.

The subsequent area could also be the core radiation range of late-ripening cabbage.

From this perspective, it is indeed wonderful.

After determining the general area, another headache arose: there were too many land options within that area.

Xiaolou, Paitan, Zhengguo—any of these towns has land that meets the requirements.

Now, thanks to the attention from all levels of government, the three townships are aware of the project and have taken the initiative to contact us, actively cooperating with various research efforts.

It's not good to refuse either one.

After a day of running around in the countryside and having a meal, Chen Jiazhi and the others returned to the office that Guo Mancang had temporarily rented in Lapu Village.

“I think Lapu Village is pretty good,” Guo Mancang said. “The nearby villages have relatively larger and contiguous plots of land, so finding another thousand acres would be easy. This would make it more convenient for whoever manages it in the future.”

Chen Jiazhi shook his head. "We also have to consider political factors. Compared to Xiaolou, Paitan and Zhengguo need to consolidate their poverty alleviation achievements even more."

Policy and financial support are secondary; doing things well will give us more opportunities to talk to Chen Guanye in the future.

He felt that setting up the base in Paitan wouldn't affect making money; at most, it would just be a bit further away, an extra half an hour's drive.

The two of them looked at Huang Jianyuan at the same time.

Huang Jianyuan laughed and said, "I'll listen to President Chen. The Paitan roast chicken is pretty good." Xue Jun said, "Me too. I like Paitan tofu pudding. It would be perfect if you could add some chili."

Guo Mancang, with a cigarette still dangling from his mouth, said, "So you two mean I won't listen to President Chen? I will listen to President Chen, so we'll settle on Paitan."

Chen Jiazhi shrugged helplessly, making it seem like he was making arbitrary decisions, but indeed, sending Tan was more suitable.

Just then, the office landline rang, and Guo Mancang got up to answer it.

"Boss, it's Manager Yi calling to see you."

Chen Jiazhi only found out after answering the phone that Xia had a car looking for him, saying it was something very important.

After thinking it over, Chen Jiazhi still dialed the number Yi Dinggan had given him. The call was answered the moment it connected.

"Mr. Chen?"

"It's me, Mr. Xia. What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to invest in your new base," Xia Youche said succinctly. "Could we meet to discuss it?"

Chen Jiazhi raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. His thoughts raced, and he realized that it wasn't impossible to talk about it.

Besides being able to rip off Xia Youche, there might still be room for maneuver in terms of the location and size of the base.

"it is good."

"Then I'll come find you. Are you in Zengcheng? I can come over tomorrow."

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment, "Let's talk at Jiangxin Market. I'll be back tomorrow morning, and I'll have time in the afternoon."

Xia Youche: "Okay, I'll be there on time tomorrow."

Chen Jiazhi slowly put down the phone, while Huang Jianyuan, Guo Mancang, and Xue Jun all looked at him.

"Mr. Chen, what's the matter? Why do you suddenly want to go back to Jiangxin Market?"

"Tong Hing Tai Vegetable Market in Hong Kong wants to take a stake." Chen Jiazhi turned his head and said, "I agreed to talk to them. I also went back to Jiangxin Vegetable Market to consider the management candidate."

The amount of information was quite large, and the three of them stood there thinking.

If a player wants to enter the market, the amount of money required will vary, and the area may also change.

The selection of the management personnel was mainly discussed with Guo Mancang, which basically means that he is not the person in charge of the new base, given that it covers an area of ​​at least 1,000 mu, or even more.

"Old Guo, you can keep running around for the next couple of days."

Chen Jiazhi took out a map and a pencil and drew an isosceles triangle on the map.

"We'll look within this area, selecting a representative location from Xiaolou, Paitan, and Zhengguo, each with an area of ​​around 1,000 mu."

Guo Mancang's eyes widened. "Three thousand mu?"

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Let's see. If we can reach an agreement, it might be an area of ​​3,000 mu. If we can't reach an agreement, we'll choose to send someone to Tan. So you shouldn't reveal this information to anyone yet."

"it is good!"

A single phone call changed everything.

But it's a good thing that new funds are willing to come in, especially since Tong Hing Tai has been operating in Hong Kong for many years.

In addition to funding, it can still provide support in the market.

The next day, a car was traveling south along Zengpai Highway.

As dawn broke, the mountains were shrouded in mist, creating a dreamlike scene, completely different from the smog in the city.

Looking at the beautiful scenery, Huang Jianyuan sighed, "President Chen, I'm thinking of going back to Lianzhou."

“You can come back anytime you want.” Chen Jiazhi pondered, “Mr. Huang, like Mayor Chen, doesn’t want to go back empty-handed, right?”

He had talked with Huang Jianyuan over the past two days about Chen Guanye being appointed as the head of the poverty alleviation team, responsible for the paired poverty alleviation work between Huacheng and Baise.

Hearing his sentiments now, and considering his significant investment in Zengcheng, it's hard not to think in this direction.

"Who doesn't want to return home in glory? It would be embarrassing to go back empty-handed."

Chen Jiazhi's lips twitched, feeling inexplicably offended, so he changed the subject.

Why did Mr. Huang flee to Hong Kong in the first place?

“We can’t survive.” Huang Jianyuan sighed. “Escape to Hong Kong and Kowloon and you’re guaranteed to die. Staying on the mainland, you’re more likely to starve to death.”

Back then, everyone was running that way. Take Panyu, where the market is located, for example. In one village, all the men had fled, leaving only a lame team leader and about twenty women. To survive, all the women slept with the lame team leader.

Chen Jiazhi didn't know why he mentioned Panyu instead of Lianzhou, but he was too embarrassed to ask again.

Guangdong only started to develop after the reform and opening up. Even in the Pearl River Delta region, many remote rural areas are still very poor. Lianzhou must have been no better off back then.

Chen Jiazhi took out cigarettes and lit one for each of Huang Jianyuan and Xue Jun.

"It's a 500-kilometer journey from Lianzhou to Xiangjiang, and it's not an easy one."

"Luckily, I didn't die."

Huang Jianyuan took a drag of his cigarette and said casually, "During that period, I saw corpses every day, especially when I swam across the river. I heard that there were corpses everywhere in the river, but I still went into the river without looking back."

This experience left Chen Jiazhi speechless for a long time before he finally said, "It seems that General Manager Huang is destined for great fortune and will be able to return home in glory sooner or later."

"Blood transfusion is not as good as blood production."

Huang Jianyuan shook his head: "Besides donating some money, there's not much I can do in the catering industry, but the vegetable industry is different."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and said, "I haven't forgotten. I will definitely keep my promise."

(End of this chapter)