Chapter 37: Vegetable Garden

Xiang Jianming said to the villagers, "Everyone do what you need to do, go to work as usual, just leave someone at home, we'll go look at the vegetable fields."

That's what he said, but who had the heart to go to work now? Seeing the President of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and a reporter from the county, everyone knew that the cooperation must be real.

Now they were all hoping that the Shuangshui Brigade's vegetables would be favored by the cooperative so that their families could have some income.

On weekdays, besides working, villagers would take mountain goods and wild vegetables to the black market to exchange for some money. In previous years, inspections were strict, and those who speculated and profiteered were caught and sent to labor reform or shot.

In the last two years, management had been slightly looser, but if caught or reported, they would still be sent to the farm.

So the villagers of Shuangshui Village now saw hope for making money, and one by one they looked at Su Qianyue and the others with eager eyes, hoping that the village could cooperate with the county Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Xiang Jianming and Su Qianyue led President Zhang and Reporter Chen to visit the vegetable gardens, with a large group of villagers following not far behind.

Brigade Captain Xiang led the way, and the first family they went to was the Su family.

Su Qianyue's smile was bright, "President Zhang, Reporter Chen, this is my family's vegetable garden, take a look."

Zhang Dongfeng's eyes lit up immediately. The vegetable garden in the Su family's backyard was over a mu in size, neatly divided according to vegetable varieties.

The cucumbers were tender, there was a large patch of green beans, the cowpeas were like long noodles, tomatoes hung on the branches, spinach and small bok choy were green and oily, eggplants were growing densely, peppers were red and green, and pumpkins and loofahs were bigger than the next!

Not to mention Zhang Dongfeng, even the villagers themselves didn't dare say their vegetable fields were managed as well as the Su family's.

It was clear that they watered, weeded, and fertilized regularly every day.

Chen Yanfeng hurriedly took out a small black box from his bag, which had a large, round lens on it.

When he raised the SLR camera to take pictures, the villagers curiously surrounded him. Su Zhuangzhuang opened his eyes wide and asked, "Uncle, what is this?"

Chen Yanfeng smiled and explained, "This is a camera, it can take pictures of your family's vegetable garden."

With a 'click', the photo was taken.

The villagers who had never taken photos before were excited. So that's how a camera takes pictures.

Zhang Dongfeng looked at the lush vegetable garden and smiled until wrinkles appeared, "Oh my, how many people are in your family? I'm afraid you can't finish these vegetables, right?"

Su Qianyue introduced her family members one by one to President Zhang and Reporter Chen, "There are six of us in our family. We really can't finish these vegetables. My sister-in-law will dry the unfinished vegetables into dried vegetables or make pickles."

Zhang Dongfeng asked Brigade Captain Xiang again, "How many such vegetable gardens are there in our village?"

"There are one hundred and thirty households in the Shuangshui Brigade. Besides the backyards, many families also plant vegetables in their own plots and by the fields. In previous years, worried about having no vegetables to eat in winter, they dried them for the winter."

Zhang Dongfeng had a rough idea in his heart, "Our county has a population of four hundred thousand, and these quantities are far from enough for the county's supply."

Everyone's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this.

Su Qianyue had already thought of this. She handed the freshly washed cucumbers and tomatoes to President Zhang and Chen Yanfeng and said unhurriedly, "President, don't worry. The Shuangshui Production Brigade is just the first village we are experimenting with. We will take a small amount of vegetables to try first. If the effect is good, we will promote it to the Shuangqiao Commune and other communes!"

Li Zilan and Su Qingxi both looked at Su Qianyue with admiration, feeling that she was glowing as she spoke eloquently.

Su Qianyue smiled and continued, "As long as we can open up cooperation between the countryside and the county, our cooperative will have more agricultural and sideline products in addition to fresh vegetables in the future."

"For example, the Qingshan Brigade is good at making vegetable tofu, the Yunxi Brigade has a pig farm, and the Pingshu Brigade has high grain production;"

"Besides the good growth of vegetables in our village, there are also many mountain goods in the mountains—black fungus and wild mushrooms are everywhere, and when autumn and winter arrive, there will be chestnuts, walnuts, and hawthorn..."

Chen Yanfeng gnawed on a tomato while nodding and recording something in his notebook.

Zhang Dongfeng chewed on the crisp cucumber, the more he listened, the more he felt this cooperation was worth doing. He would take a truckload of vegetables back to the city today to try...

Su Qianyue spoke endlessly about the benefits of the Shuangshui Brigade. Brigade Captain Xiang and the villagers were all moved. Although Su Qianyue was an employee of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, her words were all speaking well for the village.

Xiang Jianming led President Zhang and Chen Yanfeng to visit several more vegetable fields. Finally, President Zhang held Xiang Jianming's hand and announced in public, "Brigade Captain Xiang, we must cooperate!"

Xiang Jianming's eyes turned red with excitement, "Let's go, let's go to the brigade office and sit down to discuss the details of the cooperation."

He gave his youngest son a look, and Xiang Shishui immediately served tea and water. The village head's wife, Du Ruoying, called several women to follow and cook.

"Zilan, come, you have good skills, you be the head chef for this meal, and use all our fresh vegetables."

Wang Juqin was usually jealous that Li Zilan could cook such good food, but now that this meal was related to the livelihood of the whole village, she didn't dare to gossip and helped out efficiently on the side.

Liu Chunxing was also like she had been injected with chicken blood, burning the fire and helping to carry water.

Pei Huaimei was also helping to cut vegetables today, constantly praising Li Zilan for being blessed, and that her sister-in-law was so capable that she could benefit from it.

The brigade office was actually a mud house, with a large table in the main room.

When setting the price, Su Qianyue kicked Brigade Captain Xiang under the table, and Xiang Jianming immediately changed his words, "Cucumbers and tomatoes are three cents, spinach is five cents, small bok choy is six and a half cents..."

The price of vegetables in the county was high; for example, cucumbers and tomatoes in the cooperative were sold for five or six cents a jin.

Xiang Jianming set the price so that the cooperative would still have a profit. Zhang Dongfeng thought for a moment and immediately agreed.

Su Qianyue was overjoyed and hurriedly recorded the prices. This way, the commune had a profit, the brigade had a profit, and she and the brigade captain also had room for profit.

After setting the prices, the group also discussed sending five hundred jin of vegetables to the county tomorrow to try.

Su Qianyue checked the promotional draft with Reporter Chen several times, "President, take a look at the draft. If there is no problem, Reporter Chen will publish it in the newspaper tomorrow."

Zhang Dongfeng nodded with satisfaction after reading it. Chen Yanfeng was very professional and anxious to publish the newspaper, so he wanted to leave without even eating. Brigade Captain Xiang lent him a bicycle, and Chen Yanfeng hurriedly rushed back to the newspaper office with the draft.

The dishes were served, a total of eight vegetarian dishes: cold cucumber shreds, tomatoes with white sugar, stewed bok choy with tofu, stir-fried eggplant with green peppers, dry-fried green beans, steamed pumpkin, loofah soup, and stir-fried sour cowpeas.

Xiang Jianming was originally worried that an all-vegetarian banquet wouldn't be very presentable, but he didn't expect Zhang Dongfeng's chopsticks to never stop, constantly praising the vegetables for being fresh and the cook for having good skills.

Su Qianyue smiled lightly, "President Zhang, this dish was made by my sister-in-law, it tastes good, right?"

"Not just good, it's delicious!"

Su Qianyue hurriedly praised her sister-in-law for being capable, able to handle the hall and the kitchen. Zhang Dongfeng wiped his mouth, "Qianyue, call your sister-in-law and find some more people with Brigade Captain Xiang to harvest the vegetables quickly. I need to go back to the cooperative to arrange for tomorrow morning's supply."