Because we harvested ginger regardless of cost this time, we basically finished harvesting it by the evening of the next day.
The collected turmeric was weighed, counted, paid for, and then driven directly to a warehouse outside Shenzhen City.
Since preserving small yellow ginger is also a highly technical job, Ye Zhao asked Huang Dongliang to hire two workers from Xishan to help look after the warehouse.
This year's two-day National Day holiday plus the weekend, a total of three and a half days of vacation, were all dedicated to ginger.
After coming back from Xishan, we had lunch outside. On the way, Aunt Qiao was still complaining about being tired. We didn’t even take a rest at noon and went to play mahjong.
Zeng Xiang fell asleep right after taking a bath, while Ye Zhao, with a grateful heart, helped Xiangzi write the papers assigned by the school. After finishing each one, he would stick a small red flower on the pen holder for himself.
After Xiangzi exchanged 20 red flowers for a barbecue meal last time, the number of red flowers dropped sharply. She wanted to help him collect 20 more as soon as possible and reward him with a good meal.
Aunt Qiao came back from playing mahjong, prepared dinner in a refreshed mood, and called the children to eat. However, Ye Zhao was not in the room. She stood outside Xiangzai's door, her ear pressed against the door nervously. The room was also quiet.
I gently opened the door and saw Xiangzi lying on his side on the bed, sleeping soundly, while Ye Zhao was lying motionless on the desk. He fell asleep in the middle of doing his homework.
They hadn't had a good rest for a few days and were all very tired. Aunt Qiao didn't have the heart to wake them up, so she closed the door and went out.
Ye Zhao was awakened by the sound of drums outside. She sat up straight, her hands and neck were numb. She shook her head in a daze, as if she didn't know where she was or what year it was.
With the help of the light from the window, she turned on the desk lamp and turned around to see a figure standing behind her.
She was so scared that she almost screamed!
"You scared me to death."
"What are you doing?" Zeng Xiang's voice was hoarse from sleep.
What is she doing? Ye Zhao looked down at the test paper on the table. She smiled dumbly, "I'll help you do the test paper, free of charge. It won't happen again, just this once."
"If I don't hand in the paper, there's nothing Mr. Zhou can do to me."
Zeng Xiang glanced at the little red flowers on the pen holder and saw two more. He said with a teasing smile, "You did the test paper yourself and gave yourself the little red flowers. You are really generous."
Ye Zhao also smiled: "I'm happy, isn't it okay?"
"As long as you are happy."
They both yawned at the same time, rubbed their cheeks at the same time, and walked out the door at the same time.
Aunt Qiao was watching TV in the living room. When she saw them coming out, she hurriedly said, "You are finally awake. Go to the kitchen and get your meal."
"Aunt Qiao, have you eaten?"
"I have already eaten."
Ye Zhao filled two bowls of rice and Zeng Xiang took the hot dishes out of the pot. They were both hungry and ate quickly and hastily.
Aunt Qiao sat over and watched them eat. She asked, "When are you going to sell this ginger?"
"I don't know, I'm waiting for someone to come."
Aunt Qiao was worried that Ye Zhao would not be able to sell all the small yellow gingers he collected, so she said, "I just met the village chief while playing mahjong. The village has a lot of money but doesn't know where to invest it. I made a suggestion to the village chief. We can also open a ginger candy factory in Zengwuwei. The village can invest collectively and use up all the small yellow gingers for you."
Ye Zhao paused and couldn't help laughing: "Aunt Qiao, why are you so cute? When the ginger candy factory in the village is built, my little yellow ginger will probably be ruined."
"Auntie Qiao is optimistic enough. You are even more optimistic than me. 100,000 kilograms of ginger. What if Song Rongji doesn't want it?"
Ye Zhao had thought about this problem a long time ago: "Aunt Qiao, you don't think that Song Rongji doesn't want our small yellow ginger, so we really have to set up a stall, right? I was joking when I said we were going to expand the northern market. On the first day we went to Xishan Town, Huang Dongliang told us that many people planted small yellow ginger in Xishan last year, and the harvest was very good. The price of ginger fell to more than 50 cents, which led to a serious decrease in the number of ginger farmers this year and a large reduction in production. The price of ginger this year will definitely be more expensive than last year."
Aunt Qiao remembered this, "Yes, the yield is low this year."
"I checked before and found that there are five or six large ginger dealers in Shenzhen that sell small yellow ginger. They definitely can't get enough. If Song Rongji doesn't want my small yellow ginger, then I can only sell the ginger to middlemen. The quality of this batch of ginger is very good. The biggest disadvantage is that it was harvested 20 days earlier and cannot be stored for a long time. The middlemen will definitely use this to lower my price, but no matter how much they lower it, it can't be lower than 70 cents, right? If I sell it at 70 cents, these ginger dealers will definitely scramble to buy it."
"Then you're losing money, aren't you?"
"It won't necessarily be a loss. With Jiang Xing vying for it, I can try to keep the price stable. Even if there is a loss, it will definitely not be a total loss. It may just wipe out some of the profits from the cafeteria in the past one or two months."
There is also the interest on the loan, which is a risk Ye Zhao can bear.
Profits and risks often go hand in hand. If you want to make money, there must be risks. There is no way to avoid it.
Aunt Qiao was relieved to see Ye Zhao so calm. If the loss was not too much, then it would be fine.
"Okay, I won't go out to play mahjong recently. If I want to play, I'll go to Fatty Ying's house. I'll be on the phone for you."
"Aunt Qiao, you are so kind to me. I will repay you in the future."
Aunt Qiao smiled and said, "How are you going to repay me?"
Ye Zhao smiled mysteriously and said, "I've thought about it. Keep it secret for now."
"You don't need to repay me. We are a family." Aunt Qiao smiled and kicked Zeng Xiang, "Right, Xiangzi."
Xiangzi, who was eating quietly, looked up at his mother and asked, "Why did you kick me?"
What a blockhead! Aunt Qiao couldn't help but say with disdain: "Learn more from Xiao Zhao. You are so old, but you don't know anything."
Ye Zhao shook his head to express his disapproval, "Brother Xiang is really amazing!"
When Aunt Qiao heard Ye Zhao praising her own child, she immediately became interested: "Why is he so great?"
You can cut black and white at any time!
Yesterday evening, when dealing with Chen Lianfa, Brother Xiang's decisiveness in letting the tiger return to the mountains made Ye Zhao sincerely admire him.
Brother Xiang looked a little proud, he knew what she was praising him for.
Ye Zhao was not sure how to explain, so he just said, "Without Brother Xiang, we have to walk to Xishan!"
"Look! You really have great skills." Aunt Qiao picked up the chopsticks and gave one big chicken wing to each of them.
On the second day of work after National Day, the canteen received the workers' meal expenses from the Irene Toy Factory on time. Ye Zhao paid everyone's salary on the same day and settled the supplier's payment the next day.
The house that Li Ruixiang's parents rented was surrounded by noisy surroundings and was uncomfortable to live in. The family didn't want to live in a dormitory, and now that they had some extra money, they thought about renting a better house.
It just so happened that the house in the small west building that Zhang Yueli had rented before was rented to a boss some time ago. When renting the house, it was agreed that it would be occupied by a family of four. However, five or six employees later came to squeeze in and made the house a mess. In the end, Aunt Qiao forced them to cancel the lease.
After hearing about it, Li Ruixiang wanted to rent Qiaoyi's house, but when she asked about the rent of 80 yuan per month, she backed out. Later, Gao Yueyue also didn't want to live in the factory dormitory. Gao Yueyue had won the runner-up in a music competition and took home a prize of 2,000 yuan. She had some money saved, and she wanted to rent together so that they could share some of the expenses. In the end, they rented the house on the north side of the first floor.
A few days later, news came from Xishan that the small yellow ginger in Xishan was infected with ginger plague, and everyone had to rush to harvest the small yellow ginger.
At noon that day, Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiang came back from school. Ye Zhao went upstairs first. Before he entered the house, he heard a guest coming into the house. It was Zhang Jun from Zhangjia Village, and he was brought by his sister Zhang Yueli.
Their village rushed to harvest the turmeric yesterday and wanted to deliver the turmeric to Huang Dongliang according to the contract, but something happened at Huang Dongliang's relative's home and he was not in Xishan Town. Zhang Jun was afraid of any accidents, so he drove to find Aunt Qiao early in the morning and wanted to deliver the turmeric quickly.
When Aunt Qiao saw Ye Zhao coming back, she hurriedly said, "Our child has the final say on the matter of collecting the little yellow ginger. You can talk to her."
Zhang Jun still hasn't figured out the relationship between this family. Isn't it just an attempt to evade him by asking a middle school student to take care of it
But Huang Dongliang said that the little girl was the one who made the decision on the sale of yellow ginger, so he had no choice but to discuss with Ye Zhao: "We'll still listen to you this time and harvest it in advance. The price will still be the same as we agreed on, plus 1 cent, right?"
Is there such a good thing in the world
Ye Zhao glanced at Zhang Jun and said, "Didn't we agree to wait until the harvest season to harvest? We didn't notify you to harvest in advance."
Zhang Jun wanted to play rogue: "Didn't you ask us to collect it before?"
"You chose not to collect the ginger at that time. We sent all the ginger we collected in advance to the north. Later, we only collected the small yellow ginger during the harvest season. What should I do with this?"
Zhang Jun wanted to shift the blame to Ye Zhao: "You guys messed this up so badly that we don't know what to do."
Zeng Erqiao was furious when she heard this: "You are greedy and incompetent, and now you are forcing us to take it back. If you do things this way, you will be poor for the rest of your life. It will be hard for you to turn things around."
Zhang Jun knew he was in the wrong, "Let's not raise the price, okay? Let's each take a step back."
Ye Zhao: "This is not a matter of one side taking a step back. You have repeatedly disobeyed our rules and kept your word. We will not pay for your mistakes. Also, are you sure there is no problem with the batch of ginger you are collecting now?"
Zhang Jun knew that the ginger he was buying now might have problems, but he had no choice but to answer the question: "According to the contract, you have to buy it anyway!"
"Why don't you go back and read the contract a few more times? The premise for you to receive the goods in advance is that we notify you to receive them. If you received them without our notification, we can give them up."
"What should we do now? We have already received the harvest. How can we understand these contracts? Aren't you bullying farmers who can't read? We rely on this batch of turmeric all year round. I still owe money for fertilizer and labor for the harvest. If you say you don't want it, then you don't want it. Aren't you forcing us honest farmers to death?"
I am poor, so I am right! I am weak, so I am right!
Ye Zhao was overwhelmed by Zhang Jun's unreasonable behavior. She pointed at Zhang Yueli who was sitting next to her and asked, "When your sister was beaten by your brother-in-law, why didn't you say anything? Not to mention trying to stop it, you didn't say a word and just watched your sister being beaten by the scumbag. At that time, I just thought you were cowardly and honest, but in fact, you are selfish. You are afraid of offending your brother-in-law and afraid that your sister and nephew will continue to stay in their mother's house and become a burden to you. You only have calculations in your heart. Is this the simplicity of farmers? Don't insult farmers."
Zhang Jun was speechless. He wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he forgot the words.
Zhang Yueli heard Ye Zhao speaking for her. She didn't care about her grievances at that time. She quickly pleaded: "Sister, please be kind and collect this batch of ginger from our village. We in Zhangjia Village have a hard time. Our soil is worse than others, and the ginger we grow is cheaper than others. We all hope that the money from selling this batch of ginger can improve our lives."
Ye Zhao shook his head: "The ginger you grow is not cheaper than others. You think we have to buy your ginger. You have raised the price to 80 cents. You are not only dishonest but also greedy!"
Zhang Yueli took the initiative to admit her mistake: "I also heard about it later. It was indeed our fault. We were afraid of poverty and were ignorant. Sister, can you please stop arguing with them? I apologize to you. Can you please be kind and collect the ginger from our village as well?"
Zhang Yueli's words did soften Ye Zhao's heart, but it only lasted for a few seconds before he was immediately pulled back by reality.
"It's not that I don't want to buy your ginger. Even if I accept this batch of ginger out of kindness, can you guarantee that this batch of ginger is fine? Why did you suddenly change your mind and rush to buy the ginger? Can you tell me the truth?"
Zhang Yueli lowered her head and said nothing. Zhang Jun was still holding on: "What's the problem? This year's ginger is better than last year's. I brought some here. Take a look."
Zhang Jun took out a bag of fresh yellow ginger from the door and said, "Look, this ginger may not be as good as other gingers, but it is much better than what we had last year."
The little yellow ginger was handed to Ye Zhao, but Ye Zhao didn't take it. She smiled and said, "I heard that the little yellow ginger in Xishan is causing ginger plague..."
Zhang Jun could no longer conceal the truth, so he quickly explained: "That's why we are in a hurry to harvest, otherwise we would definitely follow the contract. We also have our difficulties."
Ye Zhao: "Do you know what kind of disease ginger plague is?"
"This was transmitted from other places. The small yellow ginger in our Xishan has never been infected with ginger plague."
"Then let me give you some scientific knowledge. Ginger plague is a bacterial infection. Once infected, it is useless to rush to harvest because the bacteria have already invaded the ginger flesh. In three to five days at most, these young yellow gingers will rot."
Zhang Jun still held out a glimmer of hope: "No. They have already been harvested. We also sprayed them with lime water. They won't rot."
"Then you just go home and wait. Time will tell you the truth."
Aunt Qiao said impatiently, "Let's go, our children still need to eat and take a nap, and they have classes in the afternoon."
Ye Zhao reminded: "When the harvest season comes, if you can't provide small yellow ginger, the deposit will be returned to me."
Still want to refund the deposit? Most people have already spent the deposit when it was in their hands. Even if they haven’t spent it, who would be willing to give up the money they have received
Zhang Jun said arrogantly: "You guys don't want the ginger, how dare you ask for a deposit?"
Ye Zhao did not back down: "If you don't return the deposit, I will find a lawyer to sue you! Don't think that you are right just because you are poor! I want to make you understand the consequences of greed."
Zhang Jun's head was buzzing. He squatted at the door with his head in his hands. After a while, he walked back and said, "After you received the goods, the small yellow ginger in Xishan Town was infected with ginger plague. Did you poison it? In order to raise the price of your ginger, did you poison it?"
Ye Zhao laughed silently. This was a good topic.
Aunt Qiao was furious: "What nonsense are you talking about?! If you keep talking, I'll cut you into pieces! What a bad luck god!"
"It must be you!" Zhang Jun wanted to curse but was pulled out by his sister.
Zhang Jun didn’t know, but Zhang Yueli knew that Zeng Erqiao was a ruthless person.
Ye Zhao said: "I sincerely suggest that you all work together to call the police! Investigate why all the small yellow gingers in Xishan have contracted ginger plague."
"I will definitely call the police!"
Ye Zhao said sincerely: "I support you in calling the police! Once the real culprit is found, someone will pay for your broken little yellow ginger. This is much more useful than coming to me."
Even if they didn't call the police, Ye Zhao would. Once she sold the little yellow ginger, she would go after Chen Lianfa and the Zhong family!
It is not easy for ginger farmers to grow ginger, and now they have lost all their money. The Zhong family must pay the price, and the Zhong family is rich and can afford the compensation.
Zhang Jun was standing at the door and wanted to pull the fight apart, but turned around and saw Zeng Xiang coming up from downstairs. He was a coward, just like Chen Lianfa, who only dared to bully women. When he saw the man of their family coming back, he didn't dare to say anything or stay any longer, for fear of getting beaten.
After they left, Aunt Qiao sighed, "All the small yellow ginger in Xishan Town has been infected with ginger plague! Doesn't that mean all the ginger ordered by Song Rongji is gone?! This opportunity has come!"
Ye Zhao said: "I don't know if Song Rongji's people can find me. I'm just afraid they've lost the phone number I gave them."
She had to find a way for them to find her even if they lost her phone.
"Who are they? They will definitely come to our door."
Aunt Qiao picked up the bag of small yellow ginger that Zhang Jun brought and was about to throw it away, but Ye Zhao asked her to keep it as she wanted to observe the condition of the gingers.
Sure enough, in just two days, the whole bag of ginger rotted.
Three days later, Hong Kong
Mrs. Song was eating a simple bowl of winter vegetable and scallop chicken porridge in her suite. She had just had a fight with Song Xiaoping.
Song Xiaoping had been betting against the Zhong family without telling her and the old man, but he was caught in a trap. If Song Rongji fails to meet its performance targets this year, then they will have to hand over the control of this century-old brand to others.
Song Xiaoping has now given up and is counting on her to clean up the mess.
The second son of the Song family, Song Xiaoliang, was eyeing this opportunity to turn the tables and seize the position of general manager.
Sister Zhen knocked on the door and came in. She had just measured the blood pressure of the old man of the Song family. As Mr. Song's cousin and housekeeper, there was nothing in this family that she didn't know.
Sister Zhen whispered to Mrs. Song, "Ah Liang is talking to the old man. If this matter is not handled well, Ah Ping's position will definitely be unstable. In my opinion, this is also an opportunity for you. Why not take the opportunity to bring down both of them and take over yourself."
Mrs. Song put down the bowl. She knew of course that this was an opportunity. Her marriage with Song Xiaoping had long been in name only. Now in this family, apart from her daughter, money and power were the most important things to her.
"What does the old man mean now?"
"His meaning is very clear. Whoever can help Song Rongji overcome this difficulty will be the boss."
Speaking with strength is indeed the most beneficial to her. Mrs. Song whispered: "Keep a low profile for the time being and let Song Xiaoliang jump around for a few days."
Sister Zhen: "From what I heard from Aliang, he wants to compromise with the Zhong family and work out the most appropriate solution. What do you plan to do?"
Song Tai understood that since the Zhong family had set such a big trap to take over Song Rongji, they would not be able to provide a suitable solution. Song Xiaoliang must want to abandon Song Rongji in order to preserve the Song family's other industries.
But without Song Rongji, the Song family's other industries that relied on Song Rongji would certainly not be able to make long-term profits. Therefore, no matter how great the cost, the fundamental solution is to keep Song Rongji.
"Now is not the time to give up. It is said that someone has purchased 100,000 kilograms of small yellow ginger in advance and shipped it to the north for sale. If we can buy this 100,000 kilograms of small yellow ginger, we can win this battle."
Sister Zhen: "We need to act quickly. If it is sold out, it will be too late to save it."
As he was talking, Secretary Liang came over and said, "Mrs. Song, we sent someone to inquire. The local person in charge of receiving the goods in Xishan Town is named Huang. His relatives had something going on and he has been away for the past two days. We can't contact him for the time being and we don't know when he will be back."
"Does anyone else know how to contact the merchant who is receiving the goods?"
"I haven't found out yet. The information I can find out now is that the merchants who came to Xishan to collect the goods are a mother and daughter. The mother is called Aunt Qiao and the daughter is called Xiao Zhao. They are from Shenzhen."
Xiao Zhao, from Shenzhen
Mrs. Song remembered, she stood up and said, "Do you remember? Last time I went to Shencheng to attend the award ceremony of a music competition, I met a strange girl whose name had the character 'Zhao' in it. She left a business card saying that she had small yellow ginger to sell. I've given you the business card, go find it quickly."
Secretary Liang was stunned for a moment, and couldn't remember the incident. She said awkwardly, "I, I accidentally lost my notebook last week. I'm sorry, Mrs. Song."
"Lost?" Song Tai suddenly felt a headache.
Why are young people nowadays so unreliable? Sister Zhen couldn't help but complain: "You are too careless."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Song! I'm sorry, Sister Zhen! I'll go to Shencheng right away and find a way to find her."
Song Tai reminded: "You can contact the organizer directly. That girl formed a band and won the championship. The organizer must have contact information."
After Secretary Liang left, Sister Zhen shook her head and complained, "You're really unreliable."
"Loyalty and trustworthiness are more important than intelligence." Mrs. Song finished her porridge and prepared to change her clothes and go out.
Sister Zhen said, "It's already this late, and you're still in the mood to accompany Miss Guo to the art exhibition."
"I finally got her out, so of course I have to go. If I want to secure my position as the head of Song Rong Ji in the future, I have to have her support. I have to dress nicely and not be outdone by her."
Mrs. Song went to the cloakroom to choose clothes.
Sister Zhen followed and shook her head: "What's so good about the exhibition? How come Miss Guo is so charming and so many people like her..."
At the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border crossing, Ye Zhaohua spent a huge amount of money to rent the exterior walls of two households, and then made two banners to hang up.
Zeng Xiang and Zeng Xiaotian each held a banner and hung it on the roof of the second floor.
Ye Zhao stood downstairs and gave orders: "The left side is higher! Oops! It's too high, it's crooked! Zeng Xiaotian, do you understand what I'm saying? Did you do this on purpose?"
Zeng Xiaotian was laughing upstairs, but he really didn't understand what people were saying. In the end, Ye Zhao had to go up and hang up himself.
Finally it was hung up, and the three people downstairs looked up.
The banner read: High-quality Xishan turmeric for sale, large quantities available, hurry up, call 2365.
Ye Zhao thought, she had tried so hard, if Song Rongji was still so stupid and couldn't find her, then she could only find a way to make phone calls and sell the products herself.
With this kind of door-to-door sales approach, the price may not be negotiable.
Just like what is said in the novel, when dating, if the girl is too proactive, she may be suspected of being the one paying for the guy's favor and will be easily controlled by the guy.
It should be the other way around, teasing and hooking the other person, making the other person take the bait actively, and fishing for a beautiful woman is the eternal god.
Therefore, until the last moment, Ye Zhao was still thinking about waiting for Song Rongji to come to him.
As a result, Song Rongji fell into a trap.
Secretary Liang got Ye Zhao's contact information, which was the contact number of the Ye family given by the organizer. She called it quickly and a girl answered the phone.
Secretary Liang said politely, "Hello, could you please talk to Ye Zhao?"
It was Bai Lu who answered the phone. She was calling Ye Zhao? Her first reaction was that someone was teasing her, so she hung up the phone.
Not long after hanging up, the phone rang again. Bai Lu sat on the sofa, hesitating, not knowing whether to answer it.
Bai Yunlian heard the phone ring several times but no one answered it, so she hurried out of the room, "Why didn't you answer the phone? Are you stupid?"
Bai Lu whispered, "They said they were looking for Ye Zhao, maybe it was a prank."
Calling here to look for Ye Zhao? A prank? Bai Yunlian thought it was Bai Lu and Ye Zhao's classmate, so she picked up the phone and said "Hello" rudely.
Secretary Liang heard the other party's tone was not good, and hurriedly introduced himself: "Hello, I'm from Song Rongji in Gangcheng! My name is Liang Xin, please help me find Ye Zhao!"
Hong Kong City Song Rongji is looking for Ye Zhao
Bai Yunlian asked: "What do you want to see her for?"
Secretary Liang: "Ms. Ye told our boss last time that she has small yellow ginger for sale. I called to ask if you have Xishan small yellow ginger for sale now?"
Ye Zhao was selling Xishan small yellow ginger? She even sold it directly to Song Rongji in Gangcheng? Impossible. How could she have such a great ability? Even if Ye Zhao had such a great ability, she would cut off the clues.
Bai Yunlian: "You dialed the wrong number. My family runs a factory and we don't sell ginger."
Did the organizer give the wrong number
Secretary Liang was anxious: "Excuse me, is this classmate Ye Zhao's home?"
Is this Ye Zhao's home? This is really a soul-searching question.
"No!" Bai Yunlian hung up the phone directly.
(End of this chapter)