Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 41 Accident
On November 2nd, the sky was overcast and gloomy.

At the north end of the village, in front of Zhu's greenhouse, village secretary Wang Tietou came over carrying a hoe. He lifted the straw curtain of the greenhouse and immediately covered his nose, choking on the stench: "Ugh! This smell!"

Zhu Yimin was bending over, scattering fertilizer into the manure pile, his gray trousers splattered with manure. "Secretary, what brings you here?" he said, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette pack. "Want a Daqianmen cigarette?"

"No, no." Wang Tietou waved his hand. "Yimin, come out here and I need to talk to you." The two stood outside, the northwest wind rustling the poplar branches. Wang Tietou pulled his army green cotton-padded coat tighter. "How's the tidying up of this shed going?"

"The seedlings have all been planted, and we're applying base fertilizer right now. Secretary, do you have any instructions?"

"Forget about instructions, I just want to discuss something with you." Wang Tietou told him about Li Zhe's efforts to establish a vegetable cooperative. Zhu Yimin is not only a vegetable farmer, but also one of only two vegetable greenhouse growers in the village.

After listening, Zhu Yimin's face lit up with excitement. "Secretary, this is great news! Every year, we vegetable farmers spend a considerable amount on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and farm tools. If the cooperative takes the lead in purchasing them, the prices are guaranteed to be cheaper. I've heard that other villages have also established mutual aid societies, and the members have pooled their resources to buy tractors. Whether it's plowing or hauling goods, it saves a lot of effort. If this really works out, I'll be the first to join, and I can start paying my dues right now."

"Don't worry about the dues, just showing some respect is enough. Go back now, I'm leaving." Wang Tietou picked up his hoe and walked east.

Not far away is the Li family's greenhouse, which is much more lively than the deserted Zhu family's greenhouse.

Greenhouses No. 1 and No. 2 had just had their straw curtains lifted to let the sun shine on them, while five or six people were building a frame with bamboo poles on the foundation of greenhouse No. 3. Li Zhe was standing on the rammed earth wall directing the work.

Wang Tietou shouted at the top of his lungs, "Li Zhe, second son!"

"Uncle Wang, you've arrived." Li Zhe jumped down from the rammed earth wall and went to greet him. "If you have something to say, let's talk inside the shed. It's warm in there."

Wang Tietou stomped his feet to get out of the mud and followed Li Zhe into greenhouse number 1. Li Zhe's greenhouse was warmer and had no pungent smell. "I came to tell you that after discussion by the village collective, the village committee has agreed to establish a rural cooperative."

"Uncle Wang, this is great! We've finally found our people!"

"You know that's fine. I'm leaving now. Let's get together again another time and set some rules."

"Uncle Wang, what's the rush? Why don't you have lunch here?"

"No, I have a meeting this afternoon..."

"Wait a moment." Li Zhe grabbed a fertilizer bag and headed straight for the cucumber trellis, picking out a few ripe cucumbers and putting them inside. "These are the first batch of cucumbers we just picked. Take them home and try them. I was originally thinking of delivering them to your house, but now that you've come yourself, it saves you the trouble of making a trip. If they're delicious, come back and pick some more."

Wang Tietou would definitely not want anything else, but he had never eaten cucumbers at this time of year before. "Alright, then I'll take advantage of you and try something new."

"Why are you being so polite? It took a lot of your effort to build this vegetable greenhouse."

"Alright, don't bother seeing me off, go about your business." Wang Tietou came quickly and left quickly, saying goodbye to everyone before departing.

……

in the afternoon.

On the dirt road in Daying Village.

Jin Baiwan pedaled his old bicycle, panting heavily. The tires were flattened. As he passed Li's greenhouse, he deliberately turned his head away, not even glancing at it. "Hmph, do they really think I'm a sucker?"

A few days ago, he went to Li's greenhouse to discuss cooperation, but before the contract was finalized, Li Zhe asked him for money.

He's rich, but not stupid.

The two barely exchanged a few words. Why should I lend you three thousand yuan? Just because you know how to grow vegetables in greenhouses. Old Zhu also built a vegetable greenhouse. I've known him for so many years. Even if I were to invest, it would be in Zhu's greenhouse.

"Hmph, nothing at all." Jin Baiwan leaned his old bicycle against the rammed earth wall, looking at the Zhu family's greenhouse with a sense of familiarity. He had contributed greatly to the construction of this greenhouse, and thanks to his relationship with Zhu Yimin, the vegetables grown in the greenhouse would be sold to him.

"Old Zhu." Jin Baiwan lifted the curtain and stepped inside. A pungent smell hit him, making him sneeze. "Achoo, why does it smell so bad..."

Suddenly, he saw a person lying in the furrow and hurriedly ran over, trembling. "Old Zhu, Old Zhu! What's wrong? Don't scare me."

He tried to wake Zhu Yimin, but there was no response. Fortunately, the other man was still breathing.

Although he didn't know what was wrong with the other person, the greenhouse was suffocating. He tried to move Zhu Yimin out of the greenhouse, but found that he couldn't move him at all. Zhu Yimin was so heavy that he could only hold him by the chest and drag him out.

Jin Baiwan was large, but flabby and overweight. He started panting heavily after dragging the cart for a few meters. He couldn't carry it by himself, so he plopped down on the ground and yelled, "Help! Someone help me..."

Not far away, there's the Li family's greenhouse.

Greenhouse No. 3 has been completed. Li Zhe hired four people, and they finished it in one morning. Although he had plenty of manpower and could have finished it by working overtime, Li Zhe felt it was more worthwhile to spend a little money and focus his energy on tending the vegetables.

Li Zhe sat in the greenhouse drinking tea, discussing the vegetable greenhouse cooperative with Lao Li, his uncle, and his elder brother, when he vaguely heard Jin Baiwan's shouts.

Li Weidong, with his sharp ears, looked westward and said, "I think I hear someone shouting for help over there."

Old Li got up and left the greenhouse, looking in the direction of the sound. "It looks like the Zhu family's greenhouse. Let's go take a look."

We're all from the same village, and we don't have any deep-seated hatred for each other. How can we ignore things when they happen?
Several people hurried to Zhu's greenhouse and saw Jin Baiwan carrying someone out. He looked at them as if they were his saviors, saying, "Quick, lend a hand, Old Zhu has passed out."

"Quick, help!" Old Li led the way into the greenhouse, and several people worked together to drag Zhu Yimin out.

Smelling the pungent odor in the greenhouse, Li Zhe roughly guessed what was wrong. "Zhu Yimin applied too much fertilizer and didn't ventilate in time. The concentration of harmful gases in the greenhouse is too high, causing ammonia poisoning. Everyone, don't crowd around him. Loosen your collars and keep your breathing unobstructed. No one else should enter the greenhouse. Ventilate the greenhouse first."

Jin Baiwan said anxiously, "Old Zhu still hasn't woken up. We need to get him to the clinic right away."

Zhao Tiezhu suggested, "I'll go to the village committee and drive the tractor."

“Ride my bicycle there, and lean it against the rammed earth wall.”

Zhao Tiezhu rode away on his bicycle. Old Li asked, "Where are Zhu Yimin's family? Such a big thing happened, we need to inform them."

Jin Baiwan sighed, "Don't even mention it. Old Zhu and his wife had a falling out over building the vegetable greenhouses. His wife took the children and went back to her parents' home. These days, he's been working all by himself, spinning like a top, and hasn't even had a hot meal."

Not long after, a series of 'tap tap' sounds rang out.

Zhao Tiezhu arrived in his tractor. Wang Tietou stood up from the back of the tractor and asked, "How is he? He was fine this morning, how did he faint this afternoon? Quick, quick, bring him up."

Several people worked together to lift Zhu Yimin onto the tractor, and Jin Baiwan also got into the truck bed. Without saying much, the tractor drove off again.

Old Li watched the tractor drive away and sighed, "Look at the mess this has made. Second brother, do you know how dangerous this greenhouse is? Why don't you just go home and sleep?"

“Dad, what isn’t dangerous? You can choke to death while eating. I’ve said before that you can’t fertilize too much at once. As long as you make sure there’s good ventilation, there won’t be any problems. Zhu Yimin is making himself so tired. Even if he doesn’t get poisoned and fall into a coma, his body won’t be able to take it in the long run.”

"Sigh, I hope he's alright." These past few days, things have been going smoothly, and Old Li had a misconception that growing vegetables in greenhouses wasn't difficult. Now it seems that it's not that it's not difficult, but rather that he has his second son by his side.

If Lao Li were to do it himself, he doesn't think he could do it as well as Zhu Yimin.

(End of this chapter)