1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 485 Seeds, Capture, and Market Launch
The night wind felt cold against my face, and the streetlights in the city looked dim and yellow.

Chen Jiazhi thought to himself that it must be even colder in the mountains of Zengcheng, and that the late-ripening cabbage would be on the market in the next couple of days.

The gift for Jiang Yongqiang needs to be delivered as soon as possible.

Chen Jiazhi said, "Yan Cong, adjust the itinerary. We'll go to Yuanmou first tomorrow, and visit the other bases later."

"Okay, boss."

"Notify Xue Jun and see if he's free. He might be going to investigate the fruit-producing areas in Yunnan this time."

"it is good."

Yan Cong's quiet and efficient style suits Chen Jiazhi's taste perfectly; the only question is whether he's ruthless enough.

Investigating fruit-producing areas was just an excuse; the real reason was that he would feel safer with Xue Jun, since Ruili, where they were going, was a border region.

Soon, we arrived at the door. The house was quiet, and we didn't hear any children making a fuss.

Chen Jiazhi opened the door and saw that the living room lights were on, and only Li Xiu was waiting on the sofa in her pajamas.

"Are Mom and Dou Dou asleep?" Chen Jiazhi actually got back not too late, it was only nine o'clock.

"Mom took DouDou to my second sister's house to sleep, saying it was so we could have some alone time."

Li Xiu's voice grew softer and softer until it was barely audible. Chen Jiazhi only caught the first half of the sentence and pressed for details about the second half.

"Oh, don't ask anymore, go take a shower and get some rest." Li Xiu was really shy.

Chen Jiazhi noticed this and joked, "Want to come in and scrub my back?"

Li Xiu glanced at her sideways, "No."

"I can't reach it." Chen Jiazhi went into the bathroom first and said, "I'll go in and shower first, can you help me get my pajamas?"

There are bath towels in the bathroom.

"I don't want to use it."

"You rascal~" Li Xiu bit her lip lightly. Only after hearing the sound of water coming from the bathroom did she hesitantly go to her room to get her clothes and enter the bathroom.

The following day at noon, Chen Jiazhi ate lunch at home and told his parents that he and Li Xiu would be going out for a while.

"Remember to eat well and rest well when you're out and about. I don't know how you developed these bad habits. You don't eat on time and you often stay up late. You used to love sleeping and eating when you were little."

Peng Guozhen kept rambling on and on, saying that his father, Chen Shaochang, had a stomach ailment because he often couldn't eat on time while working on construction projects in the mountains.

Now, Chen Jiazhi is often too busy to eat on time, which makes him always remember to eat.

"I understand, Mom. With Li Xiu with me, I won't go hungry."

“Well, it’s good that Li Xiu goes with you.” Peng Guozhen smiled at this moment. “Let’s set off early. Don’t worry about home. Your father and I rarely go out.”

"it is good."

Dou Dou was at kindergarten at the moment. Without him, Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu set off smoothly, and the four of them arrived in Yuanmou safely by nightfall.

In front of the office and dormitory building of Yunling Agriculture, Li Mingkun stood on the steps looking at Chen Jiazhi with resentment.

"Mr. Chen, the last time you came was around this time. You really only come once a year? Do you never ask about me at other times?"

“I’ve been keeping an eye on it.”

Chen Jiazhi stepped forward and offered a cigarette, then smiled and said, "Yunling has played its role well, ensuring the company's seed supply for production."

Li Mingkun took a drag of his cigarette and said, "We also have seedling and vegetable businesses."

Chen Jiazhi put his arm around his shoulder and said, "I know, and you've done a good job. The seed production base has only been able to expand internally by making money from seedlings and vegetables."

Besides, they've put effort into breeding and grafting experiments, so it's good enough. I'm very satisfied.

He wasn't sure if Li Mingkun had embezzled funds during the management process, but that wasn't important. The key point was that Yunling Agriculture operated without problems even after Chen Jiazhi had completely delegated control for a year.

Meanwhile, the business revenue increased significantly, and the goal of producing and using seeds for self-sufficiency was achieved, with the quality of the produced seeds being quite good.

"Alright, alright, whether you're satisfied or not, I've done my best," Li Mingkun sighed, then asked, "Li Xiu, have you all eaten yet?"

Li Xiu smiled and said, "I ate it. I ate it in Kunming."

Li Mingkun added, "It's good that you've eaten. I've prepared the rooms for you. The sheets, blankets, and pillows are all new; they were washed this morning and aired out all day."

Li Xiu said, "Okay, it's comfortable to sleep under a quilt that's been sun-dried. It's just that I'm sorry to trouble you."

Li Mingkun waved his hand, "It's nothing. Our dormitory building is almost like a hotel now. Breeders come and stay here from time to time."

At this moment, Peng Qian, Ji Song, and other residents who regularly live here also came down from the building and greeted each other.

Chen Jiazhi said, "Old Li, how about we get some late-night snacks, sit down together, have a couple of drinks, and chat?"

Li Mingkun replied, "Sure, I've had the food prepared, just in case you haven't eaten."

While enjoying some snacks and a couple of drinks, they chatted for half the night, and Chen Jiazhi gained a more personal understanding of the changes in Yunling over the past year.

This is a relatively stable team, without the same ambitions as other teams. They just want to do things steadily and breed and propagate the species in a peaceful and ordinary way.

The seedlings opened up sales channels, seed breeding and propagation ensured the company's seed supply, and vegetables could earn a little money, giving it a somewhat secluded feel.

Peng Qian is the oldest member of the team. When Chen Jiazhi mentioned retirement, Peng Qian said, "Boss Chen, I'm already living a retirement life in Yuanmou. I don't even want to go back to Huacheng in winter. It's warmer here, the environment and air are better, and farming is good exercise."

Peng Qian sipped his wine and shook his head repeatedly. "I can still do things. If I don't cultivate valuable new varieties for the company, I won't be able to sleep when I go back to Huacheng."

Everyone burst into laughter at the old man's adorable appearance.

However, he is indeed in good health, and I heard that he does most of the breeding himself.

“Mr. Peng, even if you don’t cultivate any new varieties, your contribution to the company is already enough.”

As time went on, more and more people came to participate in this late-night snack gathering, many of whom Chen Jiazhi did not recognize.

These are the backbone of seed breeding in Yunling, including seed production, seedling cultivation, and breeding.

Peng Qian gradually built a breeding and propagation team for Yunling, covering all major vegetable production varieties of Kaopu Fresh.

Chen Jiazhi acknowledges this value.

"I don't care, my goal is to cultivate at least one new variety. I can easily work on it for another three to five years."

"Hahaha……"

It's said that people become more like children as they get older, and Peng Qian is showing signs of being a mischievous old man.

Early the next morning,
Chen Jiazhi then began inspecting the fields, including seedling nurseries, vegetable greenhouses, seed production fields, and breeding fields... It would take more than a day to walk them all.

Especially the seed production fields, which are large in area, are spaced far apart to ensure isolation.

"Because the company's demand for seeds is expanding, we cooperate with farmers to produce seed fields, and the results are quite good."

Peng Qian explained the situation to Chen Jiazhi, and in front of them was a field of lettuce seeds.

The lettuce is about 40 to 50 centimeters tall, and it has flowered and produced seeds. The plant is old green and looks a bit like a dandelion with seeds from a distance. It looks fuzzy and makes it hard to tell which ones are the seeds.

Compared to fresh lettuce, older lettuce is less presentable.

“Harvesting lettuce seeds is more troublesome than other vegetables. It has to be done before 10 a.m., while the seeds are still wet with dew. Then, they are dried and knocked out at 3 p.m.”

"Because these seeds are like dandelion seeds, if there is wind or the soil is too dry, the seeds will fall to the ground when the crops are harvested, causing farmers a great loss."

In the seed field, a few farmers wearing headscarves were already harvesting lettuce.

Chen Jiazhi looked him over for a while and said, "It must be very hard work!"

He had harvested rapeseed and bok choy seeds. Lettuce seed plants were shorter, and the seeds were covered in fuzzy fluff that stuck to his skin and were very uncomfortable.

"Because the income is decent, many farmers are willing to grow it."

"Lettuce seeds should be kept secret as much as possible."

“Yes, I understand.” Peng Qian smiled. “There are only a few companies in Yuanmou that are breeding cruciferous vegetables, and we are the only seed company.”

Compared to the production of seeds for Chinese cabbage, kale, and mustard greens, the production of Italian lettuce seeds is the most troublesome, and the income from seed production is relatively lower.

For example, in Guangdong, due to low income from seed fields, farmers are unwilling to plant seeds and are forced to shift seed production to Gansu, Ningxia and other places.

Yuanmou is now a niche area, but the seeds it produces are of good quality.

Peng Qian understood Chen Jiazhi's feelings. The feedback from the front-line planting bases for lettuce was very good. The slower the popularization, the more beneficial it would be for Kaopu Fresh.

In the morning, Chen Jiazhi visited the seed nursery and seed fields, and in the afternoon, he arrived at Huangguayuan Town, where the greenhouse vegetables were performing exceptionally well this year.

Chen Jiazhi praised Wang Yongxiang, Qi Xinghuai, and others.

Thanks to the demonstration effect of greenhouses, the growth of plug seedlings and grafted seedlings in Yunling Agriculture has been more significant this year.

"Leaving tomorrow?!" Li Mingkun looked at Chen Jiazhi in utter disbelief.

"We'll be back. We're just going to other cities for research, and we'll come back as soon as we're done."

"Oh~"

Li Mingkun felt he had been too loud and rash just now; he had actually dared to yell at Boss Chen.

Ruili is a border port city, located next to northern Myanmar. Many agricultural products are exported from here, such as Shaanxi Baishui apples, which are exported to Southeast Asia through the Ruili port.

At the same time, Ruili also has a nationally renowned jewelry trading market, most famous for its jadeite.

Chen Jiazhi racked his brains these past few days and finally remembered a future specialty agricultural product of Ruili: fragrant lemons.

The most prominent feature of perfume lemons is their fragrance. Secondly, unlike ordinary yellow lemons, perfume lemons are mostly harvested while still green.

Chen Jiazhi didn't know if there were lemons in Ruili at this time, but officially he came for lemons. It was more reliable than gambling on jade.

Bringing Xue Jun along made me feel safer.

"Boss, I've asked so many people at the farmers' market, but nobody knows what a fragrant lemon is. Could there be a mistake?"

That noon, while having lunch at a restaurant, Xue Jun, who had been visiting people all morning, expressed his doubts.

"No?" Chen Jiazhi said without any guilt, "Maybe I remembered wrong, but Ruili's geographical conditions should be suitable for growing fragrant lemons. Do you know where the main production area of ​​fragrant lemons is?"

Xue Jun blurted out, "Anyue."

Yi Dinggan is from Anyue. There are many lemon trees planted on the mountains in his hometown. Chen Jiazhi had some idea of ​​Xue Jun's answer.

“Anyue lemons are Eureka lemons, which are different from perfume lemons.”

Xue Jun asked, "Where is the main production area for perfume lemons?"

Chen Jiazhi shrugged. "I don't know either."

Li Xiu and Yan Cong remained silent and ate quietly. Yan Cong was also in charge of security, while Li Xiu was just there for fun.

After finishing his meal, Chen Jiazhi took out a map and started looking at it.

He remembered that one of the fugitives, Chen Xunmin, was hiding in a building materials market in Ruili, which was the only one in the entire city.

If Chen Xunmin has already arrived, he must be in this market.

In the afternoon, after conducting further research at the agricultural products market, Chen Jiazhi said he wanted to go to the building materials market, making up a story that he might open a shop there in the future.

Although there were doubts, no one objected.

After entering the building materials market, Chen Jiazhi led Li Xiu around as if they were decorating a house, looking at this store and asking questions at that store.

For a moment, it really did seem like the case.

Chen Jiazhi had already memorized Chen Xunmin's appearance, and when he walked into another store, he habitually called out first.

"Boss, how much are your tiles?"

"It depends on which one you want to buy. There are expensive ones and cheap ones. Brother Mo, can you introduce them to these two handsome men and beautiful women?"

A woman called out to a man who was cleaning inside the store. Chen Jiazhi turned around and saw a man with a buzz cut, who looked young and seemed familiar.

Chen Jiazhi smiled, took out a cigarette, and said, "Handsome, want a smoke?"

"Thank you, I won't smoke."

The man's eyes flashed with wariness for a moment, but he relaxed after hearing the accent.

However, Chen Jiazhi noticed that the Mandarin spoken by the man called Brother Mo was somewhat similar to Huang Jianyuan's accent.

The fugitive's alias also seems to be surnamed Mo?

After confirming the identity of the person in front of him, Chen Jiazhi calmly lit a cigarette and then asked about the prices of the tiles and furniture.

We chatted for about half an hour, and I even paid a deposit before leaving the store.

Li Xiu was puzzled. "Jiazhi, are you really going to do business here? This place is so remote!"

"Let's think about it first."

Fearing that Chen Xunmin, who was using the alias Lao Mo, might overhear him, Chen Jiazhi spoke as if he were really going to open a shop.

Chen Jiazhi only breathed a sigh of relief after returning to the hotel.

"I'm going to make a phone call. Don't wander off."

"What's wrong, Jiazhi?" Li Xiu had sensed something was wrong a long time ago, but she hadn't asked.

Chen Jiazhi then revealed that Lao Mo was very likely the fugitive who had fled two years ago.

Ignoring the three people's shock, Chen Jiazhi found a landline and dialed the number.

On the other side, the criminal investigation team.

"Captain Jiang, someone is looking for you."

"Who?"

"His name is Chen Jiazhi."

Jiang Yongqiang frowned slightly. Something happened so quickly?

Or did Mr. Chen foresee this day during dinner a few days ago?

Jiang Yongqiang picked up the phone with some displeasure, and thirty seconds later, he suddenly raised his voice.

"Are you sure it's him?!"

"I'm sure. Hairstyles can change, but looks, age, and accents are hard to change. It's almost certainly him!"

"Okay, Mr. Chen, you must stay calm. I'll apply to the higher-ups immediately!"

With a snap, the phone call ended, and the other two people immediately surrounded them.

"Brother Qiang, who is he referring to?"

Jiang Yongqiang clenched his fists and said in a deep voice, "We've found Chen Xunmin!"

The other two immediately erupted in a frenzy, some surprised, some excited, their bodies trembling as if their emotions were changing.

"Where is he?"

"Yunnan, Ruili!"

The Chen Xunmin gang committed a heinous crime that shocked the entire country. Even though two years have passed and five of the main culprits have been executed, Chen Xunmin, who is still at large, is the core planner.

Jiang Yongqiang reported the application to his superiors, and it was immediately taken seriously.

"Qiang, you must bring him back!"

His superior looked at him and instructed, "The other side may have guns, so be careful. Once this mission is completed, you'll have enough credit for your promotion."

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

Jiang Yongqiang saluted and boarded the train with excitement in his heart. Only then did he have time to think about this matter.

Coincidence?
Or did Boss Chen already know that the fugitive had gone to Ruili, and then ask A Yuan to go out for drinks, just to give him this credit?
His detective mindset led him to make many guesses, but whatever those guesses were, he had to accept the favor.

After working at the grassroots level for so many years, this is my chance to get promoted!

After a three-day, three-night train journey, Jiang Yongqiang and his group finally arrived in Ruili and found the agreed-upon hotel.

"It seems they made an appointment with experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences today. They went to the base in the suburbs early this morning and may not be back for a while."

The hotel receptionist informed Jiang Yongqiang of their whereabouts, and after a while, Chen Jiazhi and his group of four entered.

"Mr. Chen, is that person still there?"

"Yes, I've gone to pick up the goods twice, and they were there both times." Chen Jiazhi asked with a smile, "Officer, will you reimburse me for the tiles?"

"..."

"Haha, just kidding." Looking at the impatient group, Chen Jiazhi said, "Come on, since we're already here, let's go eat first. I've arranged to pick up the rest of the goods tomorrow; that will be the best time. Also, another person is in the city..."

At Chen Jiazhi's enthusiastic invitation, everyone went out for a meal together. Chen Jiazhi took the opportunity to build relationships and didn't discuss the case further.

The arrest plan was formulated only after returning to the hotel.

Li Xiu became a little nervous that night.

Chen Jiazhi said, "How about I go alone tomorrow?"

"No, I'll go with you."

"Don't worry, when I had dinner with Cai Lan last time, he said it was a pity I didn't go into the film and television industry. This is no problem at all."

"Hmm~"

The next day around 10 a.m., Chen Jiazhi, arm in arm with Li Xiu, went to the store again. He shouted in his dialect with a strong voice, "Boss, I'm here to pick up the goods."

"Handsome guy, I've been waiting for you."

Chen Jiazhi had ordered a lot of goods, and the boss, Ms. Yang, had already made preparations. "Brother Mo, thank you for loading the truck."

Before Moge Tiles had even installed more than a few tiles, Jiang Yongqiang appeared at the store entrance with his men.

"Chen Xunmin!"

Mo Ge froze, instinctively trying to run, but was immediately pinned to the ground.

In the afternoon, another key suspect was also apprehended.

Having completed their mission, Jiang Yongqiang and his group immediately prepared to return to Huacheng. Before parting, he solemnly shook hands with Chen Jiazhi to say goodbye.

"Officer Jiang, congratulations."

"Mr. Chen, please feel free to contact me if you need anything in the future."

With this achievement, his promotion is practically a done deal.

Jiang Yongqiang was very grateful to Chen Jiazhi for providing the information, and it was not a bad thing to make friends with a boss who was doing business normally.

That evening, Chen Jiazhi called Li Cai and learned that Zengcheng late-season cabbage was already being sold at a stall in Buji.

(End of this chapter)