1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 412 Export Risks
A week has passed since the torrential rain, but the marks it left are still there; there are hardly any vegetables suitable for harvesting at the Jiangxin vegetable market.

The market was mostly dark brown, with only a few specks of green growing on the dark brown soil.

Those were newly planted water spinach cuttings; the leaves were dried out by the sun, but the stems were green and had sprouted new leaves.

The further you go, the more new leaves appear, and the taller the water spinach grows.

Chen Jiazhi also saw water spinach that was taller than his palm, which was probably the first to be propagated by cuttings.

Other vegetables being transplanted include bok choy, Chinese kale, lettuce, and romaine lettuce...

The noise from the car alerted the management staff, and a moment later, Qi Yongfeng, Yi Dinggan, and Fang Xuelin walked towards him from the direction of the seedling shed.

Yi Dinggan returned to Jiangxin Vegetable Market after the disaster.

Chen Jiazhi also got out of the car. "Production is recovering well. We'll be able to harvest water spinach in a few more days."

Qi Yongfeng's face was grave. "This time, more than 500 mu of land had to be demolished and rebuilt. The preliminary estimate of the loss is over one million yuan."

The actual number of vegetables that drowned was not that many, but some of the vegetables produced were of poor quality and had no value.

"The vegetables we harvested from the cold storage sold for over 160 million yuan, so we actually made a profit of several hundred thousand yuan. It's not a loss."

Chen Jiazhi waved his hand, turned to face the vegetable patch, where workers were still transplanting seedlings.

"Moreover, production is recovering quickly, so we should be able to catch up with the market, and the Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner."

Vegetable farmers in this industry have developed a strong immunity to natural disasters. Although they may feel grief, there is no point in dwelling on past pain.

Qi Yongfeng clearly understood this as well.

"We propagated water spinach by cuttings on 200 mu of land, and also sowed 80 to 90 mu of water spinach seeds. We've used up all the seeds for the large-stemmed green cabbage, and we're planting other vegetables as we go..."

Qi Yongfeng was giving a rather rambling introduction to the market, and Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan didn't interrupt him.

Vegetable farming is a flexible and varied activity, and each farm manager has their own unique approach.

When Qi Yongfeng was the group leader, he had a rather aggressive style. He would always shout that he would take a gamble and try his luck to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.

This style is still being maintained; 300 mu of water spinach were planted in a rush, which was very decisive and should yield some harvest.

However, even in its vigorous growth, there is a degree of caution. Leafy greens such as bok choy and Chinese kale are not as fast-growing as water spinach.

Chen Jiazhi praised this point, which made Qi Yongfeng scratch his head somewhat awkwardly.

Fang Xuelin said somewhat embarrassedly, "Boss, the nursery doesn't have that many seedlings. Director Qi, on the other hand, would like to transplant more."

"..."

Walking along the road in the vegetable market, Chen Jiazhi shared his thoughts, saying that subsequent planting would be difficult, and the most important thing was to maintain stability.

He also doesn't want all farm managers to have an aggressive style, as it's a double-edged sword; the larger the scale, the greater the losses if it fails.

As the recognized headquarters, Jiangxin Vegetable Market needs to have a relatively stable output.

"Stability may lag behind temporarily, but in the long run, its overall contribution will not be low."

Qi Yongfeng thought for a moment and then agreed.

This time, he felt the ruthlessness of natural disasters. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't save hundreds of acres of vegetables, and hundreds of thousands of yuan were gone in just a few hours.

Trying to gamble with the market through ups and downs can be exhilarating, but failure can be equally devastating.

He recalled the day of the torrential rain, when he braved the rain to inspect the fields in the morning, only to watch helplessly as the vegetable garden was flooded.

After the rain stopped, they were covered in mud, but the damned vegetables couldn't be saved. Heaven wouldn't sympathize with the farmers' tears.

Chen Jiazhi then inquired about Yi Dinggan's situation in Zengcheng.

The rice hasn't been harvested yet, but the planning is progressing well. Yi Dinggan even boasted about how smoothly the communication with the villagers regarding the land lease went.

Chen Jiazhi joked, "It seems that Director Yi has become very close with the local working women."

Yi Dinggan snorted, "That's right, I'm not bad looking either, and I'm good at dealing with women."

"I need to talk to my second sister."

"Hey, you can't do that!"

Chen Jiazhi naturally didn't say anything; he just wandered around the market for a bit and then went home.

Li Xiu was feeding the rabbits with Dou Dou. There were still quite a few rabbits at home, white ones, gray ones, big ones, small ones, a total of dozens.

This led to the family frequently eating rabbit meat and also giving it away often.

Chen Jiazhi was thinking that if he and Li Xiu went to work in the city, his parents might have a hard time getting used to it, since you can't raise rabbits in the city.

Sending the two elders to Zengcheng with my second sister might be better, but it's not a long-term solution.

After much thought, the two of them probably decided to go back to their hometown after a while.

At this moment, Peng Guozhen, who was preparing lunch in the kitchen, also saw Chen Jiazhi.

"Oh, Mr. Chen is back. I thought you were going to eat in the cafeteria again. I almost didn't prepare your meal."

Chen Jiazhi sensed the strong resentment and called out "Mom!" Li Xiu heard him and brought her son to her side. However, Dou Dou was a little timid, rubbing her little hands together.

Peng Guozhen then scolded, "Look at you, even your son doesn't want to call you anymore."

Chen Jiazhi picked Dou Dou up in one go, "How about Daddy plays with you?"

DouDou nodded gently and said in a soft, sweet voice, "Okay."

Chen Jiazhi felt that his son was still close to him, so he played with him in the yard.

Li Xiu went into the kitchen, took out a bamboo basket, and called out, "Jiazhi, here are some boiled peanuts to tide you over. They're fresh peanuts that Brother Yi brought back from Zengcheng."

Chen Jiazhi didn't even turn his head. "Okay, you guys eat first. I'll play with my son for a while." Kids are easy to coax. Chen Jiazhi just watched the ants moving house with Dou Dou and then hit the rabbit cage with a stick to scare the rabbits. That was enough to make him laugh happily.

Of course, I also got a lot of complaints from my mom, who said I had to bully the rabbit instead of playing with something else.

After playing for a while, Chen Jiazhi took Dou Dou back to the main room.

My dad was watching TV, and there were boiled peanuts, yellow-skinned fruit, and summer oranges on the chair, which I guess Yi Dinggan brought back from Zengcheng.

Chen Jiazhi felt ashamed when he thought about how he had brought nothing back from Zengcheng last time.

DouDou reached out to grab some boiled peanuts, but Chen Jiazhi stopped her, saying, "DouDou can't eat these."

The little guy twisted his body, a bit unhappy, but Chen Jiazhi wouldn't tolerate it and put the boiled peanuts back, which immediately made Dou Dou pout.

Chen Shaochang brought out a jar and a pestle. "It's alright, let him crush it up. He can eat a little anyway, he doesn't eat much."

Then he took two more peanuts and said, "Come on, DouDou, let's crush peanuts again."

DouDou took the peanuts, peeled them rather clumsily, put the peanuts into the jar, and then started pounding them with a grin, looking up as she did so.

Chen Jiazhi pointed at the pestle and said, "Dad, it's not really appropriate to play with this pestle."

Chen Shaochang said, "This is what I gave him to play with. Yi Dinggan went out of his way to buy it."

Chen Jiazhi thought to himself, "Well, it turns out I was overthinking it. Someone else has considered things more thoroughly than I have."

While DouDou was fiddling around, Chen Jiazhi chatted with his father for a while and also watched the news.

The news is emphasizing the prevention and mitigation of financial risks and strengthening financial supervision...

Chen Jiazhi frowned after looking at it for a moment and began to recall the major events that had occurred in his previous life over the past two years.

He doesn't understand finance, and he basically didn't pay attention to it in his previous life either.

But fragments of memory told him that the economic situation might not be good in the next two years.

He recalled many moments of playing mahjong, and he rarely played cards except during the Chinese New Year.

In his memory, he was still playing mahjong in a teahouse in his hometown in May 1998 because he couldn't find work.

It seems the market's operation is also not going well.

If it were simply a case of domestic oversupply, it wouldn't be this serious.

Seeing the financial risks on TV, Chen Jiazhi gradually began to suspect that if they were true, he might need to think of ways to deal with them in advance.

It was hot, so Yi Dinggan and Chen Jiafang returned a little after eleven o'clock, with the two dogs, one black and one white, following behind with their mouths wide open.

Peng Guozhen and Li Xiu also brought the food to the table. "Eat first, we'll leave Xiaolong and Xiaohu's food in the pot."

Chen Jiazhi looked at the dishes on the table and said, "The food is pretty good. There are also salted duck eggs and sausages."

Peng Guozhen said, "Your brother Yi brought it back."

"Oh~"

Chen Jiazhi didn't ask any more questions and ate his meal obediently. However, the rice was a little different today; upon closer inspection, the rice grains were pointed at both ends.

Peng Guozhen added, "The rice we ate today was also brought back by your brother Yi."

"..." Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but glance at Yi Dinggan, whose mouth was smirking as he ate his rice, his eyes filled with smugness.

"What else did you bring back? Let's tell you all at once."

Yi Ding chuckled dryly, "I didn't bring much."

Peng Guozhen added, "We didn't bring much; the car was almost full when we came back."

When it comes to winning over his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Chen Jiazhi has to admit that he'll never catch up to Yi Dinggan in either lifetime.

Chen Jiazhi had gotten used to Li Xiu manipulating everything, so it seemed he would have to bring Li Xiu with him next time he went somewhere, otherwise he might come back empty-handed.

Thinking of this, Chen Jiazhi turned to look at Li Xiu, who was also looking at him, but was suppressing a smile.

Since things had come to this point, Chen Jiazhi simply gave up and ate while praising the food.

In the countryside in June, the sky is blue and the clouds are white, offering both natural beauty and the busy work of farming.

Jiangxin Market is also slowly recovering its vitality under careful care.

Besides maintaining contact with the market and various bases, Chen Jiazhi sometimes practiced English diligently in the office; sometimes he took Li Xiu and his son to walk the dog, catch dragonflies, and chase butterflies; and sometimes he went fishing with his father and tended the fire for his mother, enjoying a few relaxing and pleasant days.

After inspecting the fields in the morning, Chen Jiazhi returned to his office, picked up an economics book, and began reading. There were also some financial newspapers on his desk.

These days he has been trying to study financial risks, but he has always been separated by a layer of membrane.

The phone rang suddenly and urgently.

Chen Jiazhi frowned. After answering the phone, it was Xue Chenglin calling again to urge him to order leafy greens.

Besides him, Huang Junming and others from Indonesia are also urging for orders, as export business is indeed lucrative.

There was a shortage of leafy vegetables, so exports were reduced.

Several containers of tomatoes and cucumbers from Lianzhou were exported.

Perhaps due to the recent appreciation of the currency, there have been a lot of import orders from Southeast Asia.

Chen Jiazhi suddenly thought that if the currencies of Southeast Asian countries depreciated, would it also affect the export of domestic vegetables?

Thinking about it this way, it seems like we've found the root of the problem.

(End of this chapter)