On the last day of September, the canteen had been in business for a full month, and everyone gathered at Li Ruixiang's parents' home for a meeting. Unexpectedly, Li Ruixiang also called Gao Yueyue.
Gao Yueyue had already guessed that Ye Zhao was the boss behind the canteen contract, so Ye Zhao no longer avoided suspicion and said directly: "Yueyue, we have a meeting today, please step aside."
Li Ruixiang gently pulled Ye Zhao: "Didn't you say you would give Yueyue a share?"
Ye Zhao explained: "I agreed to give you one share, but this share only has the right to dividends, not management rights."
Li Ruixiang didn't understand. Although her mother didn't understand either, she roughly understood. Aunt Qin said hurriedly: "Xiao Zhao means that you will get dividends at the end of the year, but you can't participate in business management."
"That's what I mean."
Gao Yueyue felt somewhat uncomfortable in her heart, but there were disagreements as they were not discussed clearly before the cooperation. Now she no longer had a say in the discussion. If Ye Zhao really wanted to cheat and not even give her a share of the dividends, she would have no way out.
Gao Yueyue smiled awkwardly: "It's okay, I understand, then I'll go out and buy you some midnight snacks."
Li Ruixiang felt a little embarrassed. Gao Yueyue was a great contributor to the canteen's contracting and management rights. She felt that Ye Zhao had broken his promise and felt uncomfortable in her heart. She sent Gao Yueyue out and came back for a meeting after a long time.
There were five people in the meeting, Ye Zhao, Gan Xiaofeng, the manager recruited by Ye Zhao from the talent market, Uncle Li, Aunt Qin, and Li Ruixiang.
Xiaofeng is in her twenties, a high school graduate from a rural area in the northwest. She works very hard. Since she has just arrived, she mainly listens to what everyone says, takes notes and summarizes.
Aunt Qin knows the most about the big and small things in the cafeteria. She said, "That old Yao always likes to come to the cafeteria to watch us no matter what. Last time I gave him money, he refused to take it. Later, I asked Xiaofeng to secretly give him things, such as spare ribs, chicken legs, eggs, and gave them to him with various excuses. Sometimes he took them and sometimes he didn't. But now his attitude towards us is much better."
"It would be nice to get rid of this kind of person with small favors. I guess it will be the same if someone else takes care of him." Ye Zhao has seen too many people who are greedy for small gains.
Xiao Feng complained: "He just wants spareribs. He said his wife and son like to eat them."
Ye Zhao: "Don't let his appetite get too big, or he'll develop bad habits. You can give him some treats on holidays, but don't give him treats all the time at other times."
"knew."
"Aunt Qin, please continue."
Aunt Qin flipped through her little notebook, which was filled with notes. "After opening the midnight snack shop, I can sell 300 to 400 servings of fried rice and noodles every day. This month, I made more than 1,000 yuan. The midnight snack shop has a high profit. The staple food and ingredients are all leftovers from the daytime. In the past 20 days, I have made 700 to 800 yuan."
Ye Zhao: "Out of four thousand people, only three or four hundred come to eat supper? Are there many people working overtime at night in the factory now?"
Everyone looked at Li Ruixiang. Li Ruixiang was a little upset. She was absent-minded just now. When she heard Ye Zhao's question, she said, "The factory is very busy. Almost half of the people are working overtime every day."
Ye Zhao: "It may be related to the fact that our midnight snacks are relatively monotonous. We can't just sell fried noodles and fried rice. We can also sell stir-fried vegetables, noodle soups, noodle soups, pancakes, and sweet soups."
Li Zhengxin nodded: "Okay, let's study it in the kitchen."
Aunt Qin flipped through the notebook and said, "The premium dishes I mentioned last time will be available after National Day. The storefront is ready, and we can open the store once the business license is issued."
Xiaofeng is currently running a business, and she said, "The business license will be available next week, and the tobacco monopoly license will also be available at the same time."
Ye Zhao tapped the table with his finger: "The most important thing next week is to keep an eye on the finance department to make the payment, otherwise the supplier will not be able to support it."
The food expenses for 4,000 people a month are about 58,000 yuan. After receiving the money, we have to pay 45,000 yuan to suppliers, as well as everyone’s wages and water and electricity bills. The final profit should be 8,000 to 9,000 yuan.
In this day and age, this income is very high.
Xiaofeng is very proactive: "I will make up for the National Day holiday on Monday, and starting from Tuesday, I will go to the finance office every day to urge them to do something."
Ye Zhao whispered to Xiao Feng, "You are the one who gets things done. You can be more flexible in your words. Just say that if the payment is not made before the 5th, the boss will be out of money, the suppliers will be out of food, and the workers will cause trouble if they can't eat. They are afraid too."
Xiaofeng has similar work experience. She nodded: "I understand. I know how to push."
After the meeting, Ye Zhao called Li Ruixiang into the room to talk alone. Ye Zhao knew that Li Ruixiang was a simple and kind person, and she didn't want to make her feel bad.
Whenever Ye Zhao encountered a problem, she hoped that it could be resolved immediately. She didn't want to drag it on and eventually turn it into a heart disease.
"You seem a little unhappy today?"
Li Ruixiang lowered her head to stamp the meal ticket. "I always feel sorry for Gao Yueyue. She lost her job as a radio announcer in order to get the contract for us."
"She was a broadcaster in the factory, and she only got 10 yuan a month in subsidies. Here, she doesn't have to do anything, and she can earn at least 1,000 yuan a year. When the business situation improves in the future, she will definitely get more than that. It's a lot."
"We promised to give her one share that day."
"We will give it to her, but this one share is a reward. She didn't invest in the shares, so we can't give her real shares. We can only give her dry shares. It's enough for her to be able to participate in the dividends. Why must she participate in our operations?"
Li Ruixiang was stubborn: "Why can't she be allowed to participate?"
Ye Zhao took the seal from Li Ruixiang's hand and helped with the work. She stamped with one hand and moved very quickly.
"Rui Xiang, not everyone is as kind as you. We have to be wary of some people, like Gao Yueyue. I can give her money, and we can work together when needed, but it's definitely not like you and I, where we can trust each other and work together seamlessly. I can say very clearly that I can't do it, and I believe Gao Yueyue can't do it either. She is too complicated."
Li Ruixiang was puzzled: "Yueyue is sometimes a little bit temperamental and a little arrogant, but she is not a bad person."
"That's because you're stupid. You don't have any conflicts of interest with her yet. When you have conflicts of interest with her, you'll know."
"Have you ever had a conflict of interest with her?"
"Of course. We snatched the championship from her in the Gulf Music Competition, and the prize money for the champion was 10,000 yuan. I have every reason to suspect that she attacked my bass at that time, but I have no evidence, so I have never said it out loud."
Li Ruixiang was very surprised. She didn't know that there was such a conflict between Ye Zhao and Gao Yueyue. It seemed that Ye Zhao had tolerated Gao Yueyue for a long time.
"I'm sorry, Xiao Zhao, I didn't realize there was something going on between you and Gao Yueyue. I thought you just didn't like her."
"How could I dislike someone for no reason?"
Li Ruixiang nodded: "I understand."
"I'm glad you understand. Don't tell her what I said to you. You can be quite heartless sometimes."
"Well, I'm not stupid. I won't tell her."
As they were talking, they heard voices outside. Gao Yueyue came back with some midnight snacks, which were fried snails and grilled skewers. Ye Zhao didn't hesitate and ate a few skewers before leaving.
Ye Zhao rushed home before nine o'clock. She and Huang Dongliang agreed to call each other every three days.
Not long after she came back, the phone rang. Huang Dongliang called as promised, "The harvest time has been set."
Xishan small yellow turmeric is planted at the same time every year, and the harvest time is also determined uniformly according to the season. This year's best harvest time is from October 15 to October 23, and the harvest is completed before the frost falls.
It takes about 2 to 7 days for ginger plague to break out, and everything will rot within three days after the outbreak.
If Chen Lianfa wanted to spread the ginger plague without giving Song Rongji time to react, the best time would be a week before October 15, which means he would take action on October 8 at the latest.
There is about a week left.
The fear is that Chen Lianfa will spread the ginger plague in advance, and then the entire army will most likely be wiped out.
Ye Zhao asked: "Can we harvest now? Harvesting now is the safest."
Huang Dongliang: "If you harvest it half a month in advance, the young yellow ginger will not be mature enough. It is fine to store it for two or three months, but if you want to store it until after the Lunar New Year, it will rot."
If Ye Zhao can successfully sell this batch of ginger to Song Rongji, it will definitely be all used up before December and there is no need to store it for that long.
"It doesn't matter. Just ask them to collect it tomorrow. Don't make too much noise. If anyone asks, just say they are shipping it to the north."
Huang Dongliang replied, "Okay then. Apart from Zhangjia Village and Xiangxi Village, do we need to notify the other villages that have not placed orders for harvest?"
If we don’t notify them, we won’t be able to collect 100,000 jin. If we do notify them, these villages are all big ginger growers, so there will definitely be a big commotion.
Ye Zhao thought about it and decided to be more conservative. She said, "Don't notify them yet. Otherwise, we will alert the enemy. Wait until we have collected all the items. If there is still no movement, we will find a way to collect more."
Huang Dongliang asked: "When will you come? The harvest will be ready in two or three days. You have to come to pay."
Ye Zhao didn't have much cash on hand, so she had to borrow money from Ni Meng immediately, and also rent a truck and a warehouse for inventory.
"I'll go the day after tomorrow. You should act quickly and start harvesting tomorrow." Ye Zhao reminded again not to make too much noise and to keep a close eye on Chen Lianfa's movements.
The next morning, Ye Zhao took her savings book with 40,000 yuan to Ni Meng for mortgage loan, and then rented a car and a warehouse from the canteen's vegetable supplier. The supplier, Lao Qian, was very reliable and she had already greeted him before.
In order to retain the important customer of the Irene Toy Factory Canteen, the Qian family rented the trucks and warehouse to Ye Zhao at a low price.
Everything was ready here. Ye Zhao returned home and was having dinner when he received a call from Huang Dongliang.
Xiangxi Village, which was difficult to deal with in the early stages, was quite cooperative and started harvesting today. However, people in Zhangjia Village thought it was too early to harvest and wanted to wait another ten days or so.
Ye Zhao was annoyed: "Why? Didn't we agree to pay an extra cent per pound? Can't they collect it in advance?"
Huang Dongliang was also very angry: "Now they regret it."
Ye Zhao had always been worried that Xiangxi Village would not be able to reap the rewards. Who would have thought that the problem would arise in Zhangjia Village, where all the people seemed to be honest? She asked, "You signed the contract and you regret it?"
"It's because they signed the contract and received the deposit that they felt confident and dared to do this. If they had known, they would not have given the deposit! Damn it!" Huang Dongliang cursed angrily.
Ye Zhao was anxious: "Is Zhang Yueli still at her parents' home?"
"No, she went back with the child. The couple reconciled."
Oh no! "Then Chen Lianfa must have known that we were going to harvest early."
"I guess even if he doesn't know today, he will definitely know tomorrow. Didn't you ask me to find someone to keep an eye on him? He has been very well behaved recently, staying at home and not going anywhere."
If you stay at home today, you may not be able to do so tomorrow.
Ye Zhao wanted to set off right away, so she called Lao Qian, but he said the truck would not be back until tomorrow, so there was no way she could go earlier.
The truck hadn't returned yet, and there were no long-distance buses at night. Ye Zhao felt a little desperate. If nothing else, she could only see if she could find a taxi willing to take the long distance!
"You eat first, I'll take you there."
Ye Zhao raised her bitter face and looked at Zeng Xiang, who was shining with golden light at this moment.
"How are you going to take me there?" Ye Zhao couldn't imagine traveling long distances on a motorcycle.
"My motorcycle is faster than a car! It will take only two or three hours. We'll have dinner and leave at 7 o'clock, so we'll be there before 10 o'clock."
Ye Zhao looked at Aunt Qiao. Aunt Qiao couldn't bear to see Ye Zhao anxious and unable to find anyone to help, so she made up her mind, "Come and have dinner. I'm worried about you guys, so I'll go with you."
So, after dinner, Zeng Xiang went to fill up the gas first, Ye Zhao took the money, Aunt Qiao hid a knife, and then the family of three set off. Ye Zhao was sandwiched between Aunt Qiao and Zeng Xiang like a cookie, and she was so tired halfway that she rested her head on Xiangzi's shoulder and almost fell asleep on the bumpy road.
Fortunately, they didn't encounter any bandits or robbers, and they arrived at Zhangjia Village in a hurry.
Zhangjia Village is closer to Shenzhen than Xishan Town, and they arrived there at around nine o'clock.
Huang Dongliang was already waiting for them at Zhang Jun's home. Of the twenty-four ginger farmers, seventeen had come, and the other seven said that if everyone else was harvesting, they would harvest too, just following the crowd.
Huang Dongliang said to the ginger farmers, "Look, if you don't harvest according to the contract, the big boss will come from Shenzhen overnight. I'm stuck in the middle, it's too difficult. How can I introduce buyers to you in the future?"
Zhang Jun looked at Aunt Qiao embarrassedly and said, "Sister, we said we would harvest the ginger 10 or 8 days in advance, but now it's almost 20 days in advance. If we harvest the ginger so early, it won't last long, and it's not good for you."
Ye Zhao was speechless. That was not what she said at the time. She said, "It was said to be about 10 to 20 days in advance. It was also clearly stated in the contract."
One ginger farmer said: “We didn’t hear it clearly that day!”
Ye Zhao and Aunt Qiao had already thought of an excuse on the way.
Aunt Qiao said, "We have already booked a truck. This batch of ginger is to be shipped to the north. There will be a heavy snowfall in the north soon. By then, the roads will be blocked and the ginger cannot be shipped. It's not that we have to make it difficult for you."
One of the ginger farmers said: "20 days in advance, the weight difference is too big."
Ye Zhao suppressed his anger and tried to reason with them: "The young yellow ginger is fully mature at this time and won't grow much weight. We have agreed before that you can add 1 cent per pound, and then we can harvest it early, right?"
Zhang Jun: "You think you can't gain much weight, but everyone thinks you can gain a lot in 20 days."
"Our ginger is small to begin with, and if we bring it forward 20 days, we will suffer a great loss."
"You can't bully others. How can you harvest so much in advance?"
“The money we get is cheaper than outside.”
"Yes, they get the bargains at a bargain price, and they want to harvest them ahead of time. They are bullying us."
Everyone was silent, but Ye Zhao understood clearly that these seemingly honest ginger farmers wanted to take advantage of the situation to raise the price since they were anxious to harvest and had already paid a deposit to them.
Zhang Jun smoked a cigarette and finally told them their needs: "We just discussed it. If we must harvest in the next two days, we will add 5 cents per kilogram."
Aunt Qiao got angry when she heard this: "You are robbing me!"
"You guys have to pay 80 cents to collect it outside, but it's only 75 cents for us."
Ye Zhao retorted: "You get what you pay for. Your goods should be worth 80 cents."
Huang Dongliang shook his head in disappointment. "I'm trying to help you sell it out with good intentions. Think about it yourself. Every year, your products are held back until the very end before they can be sold. Last year, you couldn't even get them for 50 cents, but this year, you're getting 75 cents. Boss Zeng is a nice guy, so he gave you an extra cent. Now the price of ginger in other villages has already dropped. I can get ginger that's many times better than yours for 70 cents."
Ginger farmer: "We have inquired about it, it is impossible to be 70 cents, and you want to harvest in advance, so it is impossible to get this price."
Aunt Qiao was so angry that she wanted to draw her sword: "You just saw that we paid a deposit and you were sure that we would not give up your ginger, right? Don't go too far!"
Huang Dongliang also tried to mediate, but the ginger farmer insisted on 80 cents and would not give him any harvest if he didn't give him this amount.
Huang Dongliang had no choice but to pull Aunt Qiao and Ye Zhao aside to discuss in a low voice that if they harvested so long in advance, other villages outside would definitely charge more than 80 cents.
Ye Zhao asked: "Are the goods in other villages that cost more than 80 cents better than those here much better?"
"The quality is definitely better than here, but you paid a deposit of almost 2,000 yuan. If you don't buy it here, the deposit will be wasted."
No, Ye Zhao didn't want to give in. She couldn't swallow this humiliation.
She glanced at Zhang Jun, who was smoking a cigarette and talking to several other ginger farmers. There was a smug look on his face, as if he was sure that they would surrender.
She thought about how he had stood there in silence when his sister was being beaten, and she felt an inexplicable disgust rising in her heart.
Ye Zhao whispered to Huang Dongliang, "Is it too late to order goods from other villages now?"
"Order now?"
"Yes. We must settle the matter tonight. Tell anyone who asks you that it is the goods that are being sold north."
"There are two villages I'm familiar with. I've talked to them intermittently before. If you want to buy, we can talk anytime. The goods are definitely better than here. However, if we do this, more people will know that we harvested early, and we can't hide it."
"We can't hide it here either. They're making trouble here, how could Chen Lianfa not know? Maybe it was him who came up with the idea. Let's finalize it tonight, and harvest it the day after tomorrow. Let them find more workers, and we'll subsidize their wages. If we finish harvesting within two days, there will be no problem. You go now. Do you have a tractor?"
"opened."
Zeng Xiang, who was standing nearby and listening to their conversation, said, "I'll take him there on my motorcycle. I'm fast."
In this way, Zeng Xiang sent Huang Dongliang to other villages to place orders, while Ye Zhao and Aunt Qiao continued to haggle over the price with them and delay time.
Zhang Jun saw Huang Dongliang leave and became alert, "Where is A Liang?"
"Go refuel the motorcycle."
When they were calculating the price for the contract, Aunt Qiao and Ye Zhao were unwilling to increase the money, but Jiang Nong insisted on adding 5 cents, and neither side would give in even a cent.
About forty minutes later, Zeng Xiang and Huang Dongliang came back. Huang Dongliang pulled Ye Zhao aside to chat, "I went to two villages and only found the largest growers in these two villages. It took two days to harvest. The price was 79 cents per pound. The ginger was very big."
That's good! Ye Zhao breathed a sigh of relief.
Ye Zhao walked back into the house and said to Zhang Jun and other ginger farmers, "Let's put it this way. We have agreed that we can only accept the price according to the contract. If you agree, you can harvest the ginger in two days. If you don't agree, you can wait until the harvest time. Everything will be based on the contract."
Some people were unhappy. "Calling us in the middle of the night to talk for a long time, isn't that the same as saying nothing?"
"You are the ones who are pushing the envelope and raising the price without any goodwill. So let's wait until the harvest season comes, and then we'll talk about it."
Some people were worried that Aunt Qiao and Ye Zhao would run away, and asked, "When the harvest time comes, you won't want the goods from our village, right?"
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "As long as you have the goods, I will definitely buy them. We have signed a contract and we are people who abide by the rules and keep our word. If you don't have the goods by then, please return the deposit to us."
She couldn't wait to see what these greedy people would look like when the young turmeric rotted in the fields.
It’s not that she has no sympathy, but the greed of some people is so disappointing, and it has nothing to do with whether the other person is a farmer or not.
Things have come to this point and the ginger farmers are unwilling to give in, so they can only do as Ye Zhao says.
Among them was a younger guy who seemed to want to say something several times but finally remained silent.
The next day, except for Xiangxi Village in Dongshan Town which was harvesting silently, the big ginger farmers in the other two villages were harvesting ginger in full swing. Everyone mobilized all the people they could, harvested during the day, and turned on searchlights at night. They hired special people to watch over the ginger fields and prevented outsiders from approaching.
It’s actually not that bad at night. As long as there’s someone watching the dog, no one dares to come.
Mainly during the day, when we are busy harvesting ginger, we are afraid that someone will take advantage of the chaos to poison the food.
It is said that ginger plague is a bacteria. Once infected, it is possible to spread the ginger even if it is stored in the warehouse after harvest, and the small yellow ginger will slowly rot and mold.
Therefore, Ye Zhao required that the ginger collected from each ginger field could not be mixed, but had to be marked, loaded and stored separately.
Ye Zhao rode Zeng Xiang's motorcycle, shuttling through the ginger fields between the two villages. In the evening, as the sun set, they stood on a road slightly wider than the ridges of the fields, watching Aunt Qiao in the distance supervising the farmers harvesting ginger.
"My mother said that if you can't sell these small yellow gingers, she will go to the street with you to set up a stall."
Ye Zhao was playing with a small ginger seedling in his hand: "Do you think we are embarrassing you?"
Zeng Xiang put one hand in his pocket and said, "It's not like I'm going to set up the stall. But I can take you there."
Ye Zhaoxiao, the character of a full-time driver remains unchanged.
"If you really don't sell it, how much money will you lose?" he asked.
Ye Zhao hit him lightly: "Can you think of something better? Why are you expecting me to lose money? I won't lose money. If I really can't sell it, I will transport it to the north and sell it. Maybe I can open up the northern market for Xishan small yellow ginger from now on."
To expand the northern market? Wouldn't that be a bigger loss
Zeng Xiang looked up at the sky. If she really lost money, could he cover it for her? He had never kept track of how much money was in his bank account in Gangcheng before, so it should be more than enough to cover her.
What could he do with the small yellow ginger he bought? His mind was racing.
"Hey!" Ye Zhao nudged him with his elbow, "Who is that?"
Not far from Jiang Tian in front, someone seemed to be unbuttoning his pants. Zeng Xiang turned around and covered her eyes with his hands.
Do not look at anything indecent.
"No!" Ye Zhao pried his hand away, "That person has something in his hand."
In the blink of an eye, Zeng Xiang had already rushed out!
When the man saw Zeng Xiang flying towards him, he started to run, but his legs were too short to run fast, and in the blink of an eye, he was pinned down by Zeng Xiang on the ridge of the field.
When Ye Zhao ran over, the man's face was covered with dirt.
But even with dirt all over his face, Ye Zhao still recognized him immediately.
"Isn't this Brother Fa? What are you doing here? Do you have to do the dirty work yourself? Do you have no one under you? Or do you have to do this kind of work yourself because you are afraid that others will find out?"
Facing Ye Zhao's barrage of questions, Chen Lianfa begged for mercy, "I just came here to pee!"
Zeng Xiang slapped him on the face twice, his bossy nature showing: "Who are you kidding? Why do you run away when you see someone while you're peeing?"
"I saw you running so fast, I was scared..."
"You didn't do anything wrong, so why are you scared?"
Ye Zhao didn't want to waste time talking to him: "Tell me, which of these areas did you poison?"
"What are you talking about? I don't understand..." Before he could finish his words, Zeng Xiang hit him all over the face. He was so angry that he raised his hands in surrender. "I said! I said! I released the first piece of land on the right, but before I could get the second piece of land, you caught me."
Two ginger fields were lost.
Ye Zhao asked him in a low voice: "Have you finished releasing all the other places in the past two days?"
"No, I really didn't. I heard that you were collecting turmeric early, so I came here first."
Are ginger pests not yet spreading in other places? Are small yellow gingers in other places still safe
They cannot send Chen Lianfa to the police station at this time, otherwise, Ye Zhao may not be able to control how the plot will develop later.
Ye Zhao was hesitating. She wanted to be a good person, but if she did, she might lose everything.
But if she were asked to choose to be a purely selfish person, she would find it difficult to do so.
Or are there other options
Zeng Xiang and Ye Zhao looked at each other. Zeng Xiang knew her hesitation, so he made a choice for her. He loosened his hand and warned her, "Go away! Don't do anything bad again! Otherwise..."
"I promise I won't come again!" Chen Lianfa didn't expect the two kids would let him go, so he hurriedly crawled away!
In the ginger fields in the distance, people are still busy harvesting.
Ye Zhao put her hands on her hips and breathed a sigh of relief. She had to remind Huang Dongliang that he must keep a close eye on Chen Lianfa, collect evidence, and take them down in one fell swoop later!
The Zhong family in Gangcheng and Chen Lianfa must be held accountable for their crimes and compensate the innocent ginger farmers for their losses.
With the sound of insects and wind filling his ears, Ye Zhao bit his lower lip and said with a wry smile: "We are both... bad kids."
Zeng Xiang reached out his hand and touched the fine hair on her head, trying to comfort her, "You don't have to be sad, people are born selfish. As long as you haven't reached the end of your life, there will always be a way to punish evil and promote good!"
Ye Zhao looked up at him. Zeng Xiang was a little different from what she had imagined. The breeze blew his fine hair. Under the orange light of the setting sun, was he an angel or a devil? It might just be a matter of a thought.
Well, he made her feel especially at ease today.
(End of this chapter)