Witty Wife, Better Life
Chapter 660 - 650: Not Lacking in Astuteness

Chapter 660: Chapter 650: Not Lacking in Astuteness

After that, Shen Yunfang really did let go.

Liu Jianqiang, Wang Anhua, and Lu Xing took over the task of handling sales.

However, Shen Yunfang didn’t give them complete freedom because they had just taken over and she was unclear about how well they were adapting to the work, so she instructed that the three of them had to report back to her after completing each order.

They couldn’t just talk the talk, everything had to be accounted for according to the sales contracts that were signed.

During the entire month of November, after spending three or four days outside, Shen Yunfang returned to the farm to oversee operations.

Now, all that remained in the field were cabbages, Chinese cabbages, and radishes.

Seeing that the weather was getting colder, Shen Yunfang quickly organized manpower to rush to harvest the cabbages and Chinese cabbages. As for the radishes, they could withstand a bit longer in the soil, so they were left for later attention.

The cabbage field was the largest, covering roughly one hundred and fifty mu, with each mu producing about four hundred cabbages, each weighing around twenty jin.

In the fields, everyone at the farm held a cleaver, taking turns hacking at the cabbages’ roots with a "crack crack" sound, and then rows of cabbages rolled to the ground.

"Look at us, don’t we resemble ancient swordsmen, with heads dropping to the ground at the rise and fall of our blades?" As Miao Shan chopped cabbages, he flicked his hair, thinking he looked incredibly dashing.

"Would you settle down already? Just focus on your work, look how everyone else is ahead. How can you, a grown man, be this slow? It’s embarrassing. And stop with the swordsman act; don’t bring shame to swordsmen," Miao Shan’s wife knew all too well about her husband’s occasional odd behaviour. If she didn’t rein him in at the start, he’d never stop.

Sure enough, after his wife’s words, Miao Shan calmed down. Seeing how other couples had moved ahead, and even his own wife was ahead of him, he quickly stopped fooling around and increased his pace.

After cutting through a certain distance, everyone would stop to gather the felled cabbages before moving forward again.

However, after three days of harvesting, Zhang Chunwang approached Shen Yunfang.

"Sister-in-law, we’ve almost finished harvesting the cabbages. What do you think we should do about the older cabbages? The weather’s getting cold, and I’m worried it’s not safe to leave them in the field any longer," Zhang Chunwang said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the towel around his neck.

Shen Yunfang frowned in concern. Having studied agriculture, how could she not be aware of this issue? Harvesting the cabbages at this time was already somewhat late. Everyone was rushing the harvest, making at least a thousand or eight hundred chops a day, and she had seen several siblings unable to wield their cleavers anymore.

Moreover, the temperature had dropped to zero degrees the previous night. If this continued, the cabbages might freeze in a couple of days. Although they would still be edible, selling them would not fetch a good price.

"I think everyone is exhausted. Let’s have them finish harvesting the cabbages and then rest. In the afternoon, we’ll organize everyone to move the cabbages from the field to the Drying Yard. At night, we’ll use plastic sheets and straw mats for basic insulation. I estimate that tomorrow Weizhong and the others will be home, and at that time we can load the trucks and deliver them to the city." Because the preparations for this year were not ample and the cabbage harvest was late, it wasn’t feasible to sell them bit by bit; thus, as soon as the cabbage harvest began, she had sent the sales team out to contact various grocery stores to market their cabbages.

So far, the three of them had visited fourteen grocery stores, with each store’s orders ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of jin. They could have used tractors to haul the cabbages to the city, but the farm was short-handed, so they had to prioritize the work in the fields until the trucks returned, at which point they could transport the produce to the city by truck.

Zhang Chunwang knew that this was the only option now, just waiting on the weather to cooperate. If it could hold off for a couple more days, the turnips and radishes in the field could all be harvested.

"Okay, I’ll notify everyone in a bit."

"Also, when everyone’s bringing the produce back, pick out the misshapen and split ones. We’ll distribute those uniformly, letting everyone take some home to eat. We’ll find a way to sell the good ones," Shen Yunfang instructed.

Harvesting in a hurry was truly exhausting. She felt that the bonus of one yuan per mu was really too little, although they all seemed to think it was a lot. Shen Yunfang wanted to raise their pay but couldn’t, because once increased, it was hard to get it back down. So, she couldn’t relax that policy easily, and the only option was to give everyone some other benefits on the side. Besides, her farm was growing vegetables like cabbages and radishes for the autumn, she couldn’t let her employees go out and buy them. So she thought, once everything was harvested, they would pick out the less appealing ones and distribute some to everyone, ensuring there was enough for them to eat throughout the winter. Since it was for personal consumption, no one would fuss over how they looked.

"Hehe, okay, if I tell them sister-in-law is going to distribute cabbages, they’ll be delighted and work their tails off," Zhang Chunwang said with a chuckle.

"Don’t flatter me. In our farm, the cabbages and such have always been available for anyone who wanted to eat them. I’ve never restricted that," Shen Yunfang certainly didn’t buy his flattery.

At the beginning, when there were few people, she let them take vegetables from this side daily. The vegetables from their own military district’s reserved land had mostly ended up in these people’s stomachs. Later, when their relatives came, Shen Yunfang couldn’t supply enough vegetables, so she let them pick from the fields to eat. At that time, the cabbages were not very big, and people felt pained when picking them.

But as long as nothing was wasted, Shen Yunfang didn’t feel any sentiment of loss.

Shen Yunfang turned around and headed to the office to make a phone call to her husband.

"What do you think I should do?" She explained the difficulties she was facing and also shared her own ideas, wanting to hear his opinion.

Li Hongjun was silent for a while on the other end, probably pondering, "I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s okay to ask soldiers for help, but there will definitely be people gossiping afterwards. Even if you pay the troops, these things are unavoidable. If it were me, I’d rather hire workers from outside directly. Anyway, you’re paying them. Whether you offer one or two yuan per mu, I reckon everyone will be eager to sign up."

Shen Yunfang nodded after listening. The most she could offer the soldiers was two to three yuan per mu, and for her more than two hundred mu, that would amount to just a few hundred yuan. The military, being so large, might not value it much. Moreover, pulling soldiers to do her private work was somewhat unseemly. It seemed best to drop the idea and not create trouble for her husband.

"Okay then, I’ll look into it further."

"Actually, you can go directly to our compound to find people to work. There are many military wives at home from the countryside who are capable of working. Since you’re paying by the mu, you don’t have to worry about them slacking. You should just get Dawei and the others to bring tractors for transportation. It’s a quick trip since it’s so close and you wouldn’t even need to worry about their meals, how perfect," Li Hongjun suggested to his wife.

Shen Yunfang nodded as she listened, feeling that her husband’s suggestion was terrific. Not only would her work be covered, but it would also reflect well on her husband, a win-win situation indeed. She definitely had to go through with it.

"Alright, I’ll head back in a bit and go straight to the logistics department to find a leader. This matter isn’t small; should I ask the military to coordinate for me?"

Understanding what Shen Yunfang meant, Li Hongjun laughed on the other end. His wife was getting quite savvy.

"Sure, just handle it as you see fit. I won’t get involved."

"Mm-hmm, no need for you, I can take care of it myself."