Chapter 545: Selling Oranges and Letters
At this time, Xiaofushan welcomed its first fruit harvest. Chen Dasong called a few acquaintances, and they were all busy on the hill planting orange trees.
There are two varieties of orange trees planted by Gao Mingcheng, one is the sugar orange that Xiao Jinfeng originally brought, and the other is the local mandarin orange, both of which are now ripe.
Jiangxi is also a major citrus-producing province, and the Nanfeng mandarin oranges are quite famous. Although their local mandarin oranges are not as famous as the Nanfeng mandarin oranges, they are more adapted to the local soil and climate, and are also larger in size.
Sugar oranges are small in size but have thin skin and are juicy, while local mandarin oranges are large in size but have thick skin and more obvious peels, but they are just as delicious.
Another advantage of thick skin is that it is easier to store and less likely to be crushed during transportation.
Gao Mingcheng parked the tractor directly at the foot of Xiaofu Mountain to make it convenient to transport the oranges later.
The wind blowing in his face was cold, but the sun above his head was bright and warm, so Gao Mingcheng took off his rabbit fur hat and hung it on the armrest of the tractor.
He walked towards the orange tree.
Xiaofushan has a total area of nearly 300 acres. Excluding the top of the mountain which is not suitable for planting, there are still about 280 acres of mountain land planted with various fruit trees.
On average, forty to fifty citrus trees can be planted per acre of land, but Gao Mingcheng planted them relatively sparsely, with only about forty trees. After the batch of sugar oranges were planted, there was a certain mortality rate, and now only ninety-eight trees are still alive, and the rest are local tangerines. Most of these tangerine trees were seedlings purchased from Shimen Village, and more than ten trees were originally purchased by Gao Mingcheng from the market.
All in all, there are more than 400 local tangerine trees.
Next to the orange trees, there are more than ten pomelo trees.
The grapefruits are also bearing fruit this year, but the number of fruits on each tree is not large. Some have only two or three fruits, while others have a little more, up to seven or eight.
At this time, the skin of the pomelo has not turned completely yellow, and the color is green. This kind of pomelo matures late and the skin is particularly thick. Compared with those famous varieties, it tastes slightly sour, but the fruit flavor is very rich.
In the local winter, most families have a pickled vegetable on their dinner table, which is pickled pomelo peel.
Wash the grapefruit peel, cut it into thin slices, and soak it in boiling water overnight to remove the astringency, then soak it in cold water three or four times. Each time you change the water, squeeze the grapefruit peel dry until the bitter taste of the grapefruit peel is completely removed.
Next, just add mashed garlic, chopped pepper and other seasonings to mix and marinate, then you can eat it.
This pickled pomelo peel is the best side dish for porridge or rice noodles.
After passing through the pomelo trees, you will reach the area where orange trees are planted.
Gao Mingcheng saw that Chen Dasong and the others were still busy picking fruits, and the bamboo basket at their feet was already full of oranges.
Normally when you eat oranges yourself, if you want to be convenient, you can just reach out and pull them off the branch, but in this way, the place where the orange peel is connected will mostly break.
In order to make the oranges look good and easy to preserve, you have to cut them with scissors, but this will slow down the picking process.
Chen Dasong lowered his head and picked oranges carefully. When he put the oranges into the bamboo basket, he raised his eyes and saw Gao Mingcheng.
He immediately said with a smile: "Ming Cheng, I called people to pick them early in the morning. By now, I estimate that most of them have been picked."
Gao Mingcheng took a look at the full bamboo basket and said, "We don't have a scale that big at home, so it's better to pick more than less."
"By the way, Uncle Chen, how many fruits does this orange tree have?" Gao Mingcheng asked.
Chen Dasong said, "It's hard to say. Some trees bear more fruits, I estimate that they can weigh 20 to 30 kilograms, and some trees bear fewer fruits, at most 10 kilograms."
Gao Mingcheng was not surprised to hear this, as he had roughly come up with this answer when he made an earlier visual observation.
It’s not that the orange tree’s yield is low, but that his orange tree is still small!
His orange trees are a native variety. As the trees get older, they will grow taller, so he doesn't plant them so densely.
If it is a dwarf variety from later generations, eighty orange trees can be planted in one acre of land!
Dwarfing has its advantages, but native species also have their advantages. When the tree is old enough, a tree can produce hundreds of kilograms!
By then, one tree will produce three to four hundred kilograms of fruit, and his more than five hundred trees will be able to create a lot of economic value.
Of course, it’s just something we can think about now, but if we can only produce more than ten kilograms this year, we can have thirty or forty kilograms next year!
Gao Mingcheng was optimistic and also picked up a pair of scissors to pick oranges together.
After picking for more than ten minutes, someone suddenly shouted, "There are no more bamboo baskets and bags!"
Gao Mingcheng remembered the woven bag he had bought from the cooperative before, which was still in the truck bed, so he said, "I'll go get it!"
He hurried down the mountain to get them and helped pack the extra oranges into woven bags.
This time Gao Mingcheng estimated that the quantity was enough, so he said, "Okay, let's pick this much for today. If you need to pick more next time, everyone can come and help."
As soon as Gao Mingcheng gave the order, the others put down their work and helped carry the picked oranges down the mountain.
Gao Mingcheng was also moving oranges, and asked Chen Dasong how much wages he had promised to pay each person.
Chen Dasong said, "We've only been busy for a while, just give one dollar per person. I'm afraid you're in a hurry, otherwise my family can pick them well."
This time, Chen Dasong called three people from the village, all of whom were middle-aged women who worked skillfully. Women could pick oranges faster than men, but they were less strong and it was difficult for them to carry the oranges down the mountain.
Gao Mingcheng said, "Okay, I'll pay them later. As for the remaining oranges, you can pick some and keep them at home when you have time. I think they should be easy to sell, but I have no experience, so I decided to pick 1,000 kilograms and sell them first."
Chen Dasong nodded in agreement immediately.
But Chen Dasong has a lot to do, because in a few days, it will be Xiao Xuxu's first birthday party, and Chen Dasong is responsible for slaughtering sheep and chickens.
After loading all the oranges onto the truck, Gao Mingcheng estimated that the weight should be more than 1,000 kilograms. But this weight is nothing for a tractor. The tractors at that time were rugged, heavy, and ran on diesel, but they were also powerful. They could easily pull more than 2,000 kilograms of things.
Gao Mingcheng stacked the oranges and left some space for other goods.
Gao Mingcheng settled the wages and went to the fields to pick some edible vegetables, including lettuce, red cabbage, celery, etc.
After the matter was settled, Gao Mingcheng did not stay in the village for long. Instead, he said to Chen Dasong, "I will come back on the morning of the 18th to get the sheep and chickens. You will bring people to prepare them for me early in the morning. Do you dare to slaughter the sheep? If not, go to Junling and ask Fatty to do it for you."
The fat man in Junling is a butcher who is good at slaughtering cattle, sheep and pigs.
This butcher naturally had no shortage of meat to eat, so he was fatter than others. Over time, he got the nickname "Fatty".
Upon hearing this, Chen Dasong patted his chest and said, "Why spend the money? I can kill it! How difficult is that? When the time comes, let the brothers Duofu and Duoxi tie up the sheep, and I will just stab it with the butcher knife!"
Gao Mingcheng had a set of tools for slaughtering pigs at home, so Chen Dasong felt that there was no need to hire anyone extra to help.
There’s no need for that!
Gao Mingcheng is generous, but Chen Dasong saves money for him!
If you hire a butcher, you have to pay him and give him some offal.
Gao Mingcheng said this because he was afraid that Chen Dasong couldn't do it. Now that Chen Dasong said he could do it, Gao Mingcheng naturally wouldn't insist on asking the butcher to come.
"Okay, just do whatever you decide. Please put these woven bags in the utility room for use. I'll go back to the county first." Gao Mingcheng pointed to the woven bags on the ground. There were more than a hundred of them.
Chen Dasong nodded, bent down and picked it up.
After saying goodbye to everyone, Gao Mingcheng was about to leave, but at this time, he saw three dogs gathered around him, oh no, five dogs!
The two little black balls also followed Dahuang!
Maybe it was because of Dahuang's good milk, the little black ball was chubby and looked very cute. Gao Mingcheng couldn't help but stroke it, and then stroked the big dog. Gao Mingcheng said to the dogs, "I'm in a hurry today, so I won't play with you. I'll give you meat next time I come back."
It was unclear whether Black Tiger and the Elf understood what he said, and they barked in a low, human-like voice.
After saying goodbye to the dog, Gao Mingcheng started the tractor and headed towards the county.
When he passed by Xing'an Mountains, he took a bag of clothes to sell, so his tractor was already full.
Gao Shouwang helped load the goods onto the truck bed. Seeing the rabbit fur hat on Gao Mingcheng's head, he smiled and said, "What a beautiful workmanship! Not bad!"
Gao Mingcheng touched the hat on his head and said, "It's pretty good. The wind can't blow through. As long as the wind doesn't blow on my head, I'll be warm! Haha."
The two chatted for a while and agreed to pick up the next batch of goods in a few days, and then Gao Mingcheng continued on his way to the county.
They first went to Xiao Jinfeng's transportation company. When the oranges were unloaded and weighed, Gao Mingcheng realized that they had picked more than 1,200 kilograms of oranges in total.
Although the agreement was for one thousand kilograms, the extra ones were not a problem at all. Xiao Jinfeng bought them all at once. As long as there were channels, more than one thousand kilograms of oranges could be sold quickly.
The transportation company's business is quite broad. Previously, Xiao Jinfeng even went to Guangdong to purchase authentic sugar oranges. After sending them here, they were easy to sell even at a high price. But in the end, Xiao Jinfeng did the math and found that it would be better to make money by loading apples in Shandong.
Because Jiangxi has local oranges but no apples, and apples can be preserved longer and sell for a higher price.
The main meaning is good, peace and safety. Every Chinese New Year, wealthy families always buy some apples to decorate the dishes.
Xiao Jinfeng looked at the oranges that had just been picked from the trees and said to Gao Mingcheng, "It's because your orange production is average. Otherwise, you could sell them in the north and make a lot of money!"
There are no apples in the south, but there are no oranges in the north. So, shipping oranges from the south and selling them in the north is a tradition since ancient times.
Gao Mingcheng said: "I still have more than 5,000 kilograms of oranges on my trees. After next year, the total output will be much higher."
Xiao Jinfeng thought about it and said simply, "Okay, you can just pick all the more than 5,000 kilograms of apples at once. I will transport them to the north in one go and then exchange them for a truckload of apples."
"Okay, but I'm not free these few days. After my son's first birthday party is over, I will go back to the village to pick oranges." Gao Mingcheng said.
So the two of them agreed that Gao Mingcheng would take the things back to the clothing store first.
Because he didn't stay in Gaojia Village for long, when Gao Mingcheng came back, it was only one o'clock in the afternoon. He didn't have lunch and his stomach was rumbling with hunger.
Even many beauties could hear his stomach growling!
Manyu Mei said speechlessly: "Why don't you have lunch in the village before coming back?"
Gao Mingcheng started to take the food that was left for him and said, "Send the oranges to Brother Xiao as soon as possible so that he can arrange a car to deliver the goods."
If the goods are shipped now, they will arrive in the provincial capital in the evening. Tomorrow morning, his batch of oranges can be sold on the streets of the provincial capital.
Xuan Mei knew that doing business was important, so she didn't say anything more to avoid disturbing Gao Mingcheng's meal.
There were no customers in the store at the moment, so Gao Shufang and Zhang Jinling went to take out Gao Shouwang's batch of goods and hung them on the shelves.
The creases on winter cotton coats are not obvious, just hang them up and shake them, and they will stretch out.
With this sack of new goods, the store's inventory looks much more complete.
But Gao Shufang knew that the best-selling goods in the store were almost sold out, but she couldn't urge her second brother to go to Yangcheng to get the goods.
Even if Gao Shouwang made ready-made clothes based on the goods from Yangcheng, the texture and cut of the fabric would be different. Those who were willing to spend money to buy the clothes would be able to tell the difference at a glance.
Gao Shufang didn't urge her, but Gao Mingcheng knew it very well. It's just that he has been very busy recently and he is too busy to handle everything.
However, after Gao Mingcheng finished his meal, a postman came to deliver the letter.
Still two letters!
Gao Shufang was the first to receive the letter. After taking a look at the envelope, she immediately said loudly, "Second brother, Fan Licheng's letter to you has arrived, and there is another one from Wanwan!"
Gao Shufang first handed the letter written by Fan Licheng to Gao Mingcheng, and then opened the letter written by Deng Wanwan. At this time, many beautiful women also came over to read together.
Gao Shufang and Xuanyuemei often exchanged letters with Deng Wanwan, and their feelings for each other seemed to deepen after these exchanges.
After reading the letter, Gao Shufang and Xuanyuemei were very happy. Deng Wanwan wrote about her recent situation and some interesting things in the letter. Then she said that she would come back to celebrate the New Year this year, and when she returns to the county, she will come to the clothing store to meet and get together with everyone.
It has been more than a year since Deng Wanwan left.
Although everyone learned through correspondence that Deng Wanwan was living well in the capital, seeing is believing, and it would naturally be better to meet and chat.
At this time, Gao Mingcheng had also finished reading the letter that Fan Licheng wrote to him.
The content was somewhat beyond his expectations.
This year's winter vacation, Fan Licheng will not go to Fan Chengyao's house to celebrate the New Year, but will go to a retired university professor's house to study!
It is said that Fan Licheng was discovered by a retired university professor because of his excellent academic performance and precocity. The professor then wanted Fan Licheng to study with him to see if he would have a chance to be admitted to the junior class of USTC in the future.
As soon as the three words "Junior Class" came out, the poor student Gao Mingcheng was instantly killed.
(End of this chapter)
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