Lin Chuxia certainly knew what kind of person Station Chief Yang was: serious, stiff, and diligent in his work, epitomizing the most respectable individuals of that era.
A red heart toward the sun, burning his own energy, making contributions to the revolutionary cause.
It’s just that the times were changing, and the gradual decline of the produce station allowed all his ambitions to eventually go down the drain.
In her previous life, she and Li Guangyuan were vegetable vendors, and she had learned a lot about the conditions of the produce station, naturally grasping a clear picture of Station Chief Yang’s deeds.
Lin Chuxia always believed that opportunities were there for those who were prepared, and moreover, connections were the ladder to success. For someone of humble origins like herself, she needed to exchange thick skin for connections.
It was precisely because of this that, under such harsh conditions in her past life, she had carved out a broad and successful path for herself.
Yet her face wore an innocent expression, “Just think of it as if I really do admire Station Chief Yang.”
Li Jian rolled his eyes; he’d be a fool to believe that.
Today at the State-Owned Restaurant, braised fish and braised ribs were on offer, and Lin Chuxia ordered one of each, with a simple Yangchun noodles as the main dish.
During the meal, Li Jian still felt uneasy, “You didn’t come to me today for nothing, did you?”
“Brother, look at what you’re saying, isn’t that rather distant? I just wanted you to try the prepared food, give me some feedback. If Station Chief Yang has any comments or suggestions as well, it would be great if you could collect them for me.”
“Shut it,” as if he’d go to Station Chief Yang for that.
Li Jian decided not to dwell on this topic and picked up a piece of fish, chatting idly while picking out the bones.
“Speaking of Station Chief Yang, he really is an excellent chief for our station. You don’t know, this latter half of the year we’ve had an excess of vegetables. The ones collected at the station can’t all be distributed, rotting by the hundreds of pounds in our warehouses. We, the lower ranks, are privately saying we shouldn’t collect them anymore. After all the hard work, we can’t make money and even have to contribute out of our own pockets. If this continues, the produce station will sooner or later shut down. But Station Chief Yang said, precisely because of the oversupply of vegetables, many farmers are counting on delivering their crops to the produce station. If the station stops accepting produce, the farmers would really have worked for a whole year in vain…”
Lin Chuxia saw that he spoke rather sadly and suggested, “Shall I get you a bottle of wine?”
With that one sentence, she utterly shattered Li Jian’s defenses.
He snorted with laughter, looking at her with a mix of exasperation and grievance.
Lin Chuxia didn’t like to see a grown man wallow in sorrow over minor troubles. If there were difficulties, just go solve them.
“Are you still just supplying vegetables to Ancheng County’s supply points?”
“Pretty much, besides supply points there are a few units and factory canteens. But now that the market has opened up, the vegetables at the supply points can’t be sold. Several points were already canceled.”
If it weren’t for the need of units’ canteens to procure invoices for reimbursement, they probably wouldn’t come to the produce station for vegetables.
“Have you not considered that, after the opening of the market, there might be regional specificities to vegetables?”
Li Jian was slightly startled.
He naturally knew that vegetables had regional characteristics. For instance, Chinese cabbage was only common in the north, but southern people didn’t like to eat it.
During the market economy era, transporting Chinese cabbage from north to south would hardly be profitable. A single cabbage weighing more than ten pounds was too much for one person to buy, and in the end, it wouldn’t even cover the transportation costs.
But he felt that Lin Chuxia wasn’t referring to this.
“Let’s hear your thoughts.”
Lin Chuxia’s view was straightforward. With land freshly assigned to the farmers, many lacked a systematic approach to farming.
Back in the production team days, they would farm wherever directed, not knowing how to think for themselves. When it came to farming, they simply followed suit with whatever others planted, and when they saw others making money, they would mindlessly jump on the bandwagon.
Just like how green beans sold for a good price in the first half of the year, and no one wants them in the second half.
This situation is caused by a small range, isn’t the market balanced again when we break through these small ranges one by one?
Ancheng County’s green beans were so cheap they couldn’t sell, but what about the neighboring Dacheng County, and Yongqing County? If not, why not look a bit farther to the prefecture-level city, or even the bigger population of the provincial-level city?
For many years, the pattern at the produce stations has been for others to come and deliver or pick up the produce. What if we change from passive to active? Wouldn’t we seize the market then?
Li Jian suddenly realized and couldn’t even care about eating, “What you said is absolutely feasible. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Lin Chuxia saw his excited look and knew in her heart that it was not difficult. It’s just that people of their period hadn’t thought of it.
Sometimes, when we feel it’s hard to take a step, it’s not the environment that restricts us, but the outdated way of thinking that becomes the shackles on our way forward, trapping us like prisoners, unable to extricate ourselves. This is prisoner’s thinking.
When a person’s thoughts become ossified, they become ignorant.
Of course, Lin Chuxia’s suggestions are more based on what she saw in her previous life.
Back then, whether it was vegetables or fruits, the transportation between the north and south was convenient, truly achieving sufficient supply for each region.
Thinking of transportation inevitably reminds her of Qin Yang and others who contributed to the country’s infrastructure.
“You really helped me a lot. You don’t know how much the produce station has been focusing on this recently,” Li Jian said a bit excitedly, as he could imagine the changing outcome if these ideas were organized into a proposal and presented.
Station Chief Yang is a man of action and will surely see the feasibility and prospects of this proposal.
“Let’s eat first, or the noodles will clump up,” Lin Chuxia reminded.
Li Jian shook his head with a smile, “Girl, listening to you is better than reading ten years of books. I don’t even know how to thank you.”
Lin Chuxia looked up, “Brother Li, do you really want to thank me?”
Li Jian’s smile suddenly stiffened, and as he slowly looked up, he saw Lin Chuxia’s radiant smile that made his heart thump wildly.
……
On the road to the produce station, Li Jian glanced at the woman pushing the bicycle beside him and spoke grumpily, “I’ve agreed to your request, why are you still following me?”
He knew that Lin Chuxia was absolutely not someone to be trifled with. She seems innocent and harmless, but who knows how many traps she has laid out for you to fall into.
Once careless, you would fall right into her trap.
3000 yuan as a bank guarantee, without eating or drinking, would take him seven to eight years to earn that much money.
Lin Chuxia didn’t care about his attitude at all, “I’m going to the produce station again and by the way, I’ll drop off some prepared food for Brother Wang. It was Brother Li who helped me get acquainted with Brother Wang. You know I am a person who knows to reciprocate.”
Li Jian curled his lips and snorted coldly, “I don’t know about repaying kindness, but I do know you have a slick tongue. Do whatever you want, I need to go back and rest.”
He needed to go back and think carefully about expanding sales channels and quickly put together a proposal, or else his role as the guarantor would be in vain.
“Alright, Brother Li, do as you please, don’t mind me. Oh, and pass this prepared food to Director Hu for me. Like I said, I’m someone who is grateful.”
“Would you just shut up?”
Li Jian took the bag of prepared food and didn’t even want to give her a glance.
Lin Chuxia waved at his retreating figure, “I’ll wait for the good news from Brother Li.”
Li Jian waved his hand back at her without turning around, showing utter disdain.