This is an ordinary and somewhat surprising story.
Ordinarily, like many college students returning to their hometowns, sister Yu Qingqing and younger brother Yu Yongbin both returned to Jiang Xinzhou where they had lived since they were young after graduating from university and working in the city for a few years.
Jiangxinzhou is a small island in the Yangtze River, surrounded by water. Like many villages in the mountains, young people are rarely seen on the island.
The difference between them was discovered by the reporter after an in-depth conversation with them.
To return from the city to the village where all aspects of the conditions are very ordinary, the young brothers and sisters did not develop according to the general "story", they did not struggle with fierce ideology, and finally sent them to the city to establish a foothold. There is no conflict between the parents.
Reading, going to college, working in the city, and growing vegetables in the hometown. In the words of the brothers and sisters, although they are doing multiple-choice questions, every choice is natural and not entangled.
When college students go back to the countryside to start a business, they will not be looked down upon and will not let others think that this is "promising." The revitalization of the countryside is very promising.
Busy
One afternoon in early winter, the reporter came to the gold and copper vegetable base managed by the siblings and their family.
Yu Qingqing, who was waiting there, told reporters that his younger brother Yu Yongbin is in charge of sales, and is usually away in the afternoon. "I'm in charge of growing vegetables, and he is in charge of selling vegetables."
The gold copper vegetable base is located on Xinzhou, Tietongjiang, Zongyang County, Tongling City, Anhui Province.
It used to be called Tietong Township. In the first half of this year, the administrative division of Zongyang County was adjusted, and Tietong Township was abolished and moved to the neighboring Zongyang Town, which is separated by a Yangtze River in Jiajiang.
From the town to Jiangxinzhou, you need to take a ferry.
It was the next morning when I saw Yu Yongbin, and he drove the vegetable truck back to the base.
The sister who was born in 1988 and the brother who was born in 1990 stood together. Although both of them had dark skin, they looked healthy and did not appear to be old.
Yu Yongbin’s dark circles are heavy and he asked him if he often stayed up late. He smiled and replied: “I live the life of an elderly person. I rarely stay up late. I usually go to bed after 8 o’clock at night.” Seeing the reporter’s surprise, he was aside. Yu Qingqing explained that her younger brother had to get up at around two o'clock in the morning and go to the downtown area of Tongling to deliver food. He couldn't get up early.
"Is it like this every day?" the reporter asked.
"Basically, I started at two o'clock and the small truck ran slowly. It was almost 10 am when I returned from the city, and I went to the base to load vegetables at 1 pm and deliver them to a large vegetable market in the neighboring city of Anqing, 6 pm. Go home after more hours, and you must go to bed early at night." Yu Yongbin said.
Yu Qingqing will rest before 10 o’clock in the evening and wake up at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning. “Vegetables should be picked early. I have to prepare various tools for picking vegetables and baskets for vegetables when I get up early. Workers can pick vegetables directly when they come to save money. Time." Yu Qingqing said with a smile, hard work is certain, "but I'm also very busy."
Half soil expert
Yu Qingqing is very busy now.
In addition to the base, she has to go out and study.
After the November holiday of this year, she went to Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province, the birthplace of rural reforms in China, to participate in the "Rural Revitalization Women Action" training course; in September, she went to Maanshan City and County, Anhui Province to study. There is a well-known vegetable growing county in the Yangtze River Delta.
Yu Qingqing said that every time he went to study in another place, he had different gains.
In Xiaogang Village, she met a large grower and asked her many technical tips for weeding.
In Hexian, she learned a good way to prevent peppers from falling over, "I visited the greenhouse of someone else’s house. The pepper trees were all pulled with strings and the rows were beautiful. At first I thought it was just for beauty, but later I learned that it’s okay. Prevent lodging." said Yu Qingqing, who was worried about pepper lodging.
Yu Qingqing University majored in economics. She said with a smile that all the knowledge about economics in her mind is now occupied by vegetable science.
In the slightly messy office and conference room, there are various professional books on vegetable planting and pest control.
"I have been working for 7 years, and I am considered half a soil expert." Yu Qingqing said.
In addition to professional books on vegetable planting, what Yu Qingqing reads most is actually college textbooks.
She still keeps the textbooks such as "Macroeconomics" and "Microeconomics" from college, and she will double it when she has time.
"When I look at it now, I feel really different from when I was in school. Especially in microeconomics, combined with the changes in the supply and demand structure of vegetables and the fluctuations in vegetable prices that I am exposed to every day, I found that there are many theories in it. The more I look at it, the more interesting it becomes." Yu Qingqing Say.
The characteristics of various common vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, peppers, eggplants, etc. are precious to Yu Qingqing.
"In the beginning, I didn't understand anything. For the past few years, my dad took the area to read books by himself and invited experts to the base to teach." Yu Qingqing said.
In the first four years of the vegetable base, Yu Qingqing had to spend money to hire vegetable growers from other places every year, sometimes for a few months.
"Basically, two or eight experts are hired every year for four years. One master has the expertise of one master. While I learn, I will try to find out from practice." Yu Qingqing said, the current gold and bronze vegetable base is one of the best in the world. long.
Unlike his sister, Yu Yongbin does not have much research on growing vegetables.
Although he will also help out when the farm is busy, for him, sales are more important.
Yu Yongbin studied at Wuhan University, majoring in mechanical engineering.
"Now driving is a bit professional." Yu Yongbin said with a smile.
The elder sister standing aside added: "When he plows the ground, he still drives the rotary tiller, which is very good at it."
Young man with attitude
After graduation, Yu Qingqing worked in education and training in Guangdong, and Yu Yongbin worked in a large state-owned enterprise in Hefei, Anhui.
When the two decided to return to their hometown to grow vegetables in October 2014, they both had a firm foothold in their respective cities and had a good income.
"My dad used to do some vegetable business, but later thought it was a good deal to go back to his hometown to grow vegetables by himself." Yu Qingqing said, before and after the National Day in 2014, the family discussed it together, and she and her brother decided to come back together. Do.
"Neither of us are entangled. Whether in the city or in the countryside, we just need to do business, and we all feel that the future of agriculture is very promising." Yu Qingqing said that her parents are also very open-minded and respect their opinions.
Yu Qingqing's father, 57-year-old Yu Zhengyang, went out to work at the age of 15, pulling coal and selling vegetables in Anqing, Wuhu, Nanjing and other places.
He felt that it was normal for the two college students who had been trained hard to come back to grow vegetables.
Yu Zhengyang said that although the children's major is not vegetable planting, they have different visions and ideas after university training, which is very helpful to the development of vegetable bases.
Now the Golden Copper Vegetable Base has transferred more than 300 acres of land, built more than 230 vegetable greenhouses, more than 40 acres of peach gardens and some open-air vegetable plots.
Both Yu Qingqing and Yu Yongbin are married, and their spouse has their own business.
The vegetable base is mainly managed by the siblings and their parents.
In the eyes of the siblings, nowadays, the life of a family struggling together is very good, and the vegetable base is also thriving. The multiple-choice question that they decided to return to their hometown back then was done right.
Vegetables require a large amount of water, and the bases were all irrigated manually at the beginning. Uneven irrigation is inevitable, and the survival rate of seedlings is not guaranteed.
With the insistence of the siblings, the vegetable base began to be transformed into intelligence and automation.
Qian Lei, the power administrator of the power supply station in the suburban center of the Zongyang County Power Supply Company, witnessed the process of the base from artificial to intelligent.
"This requires a relatively large investment at one time. Many people are reluctant. Their brothers and sisters are very far-sighted." In 2019, the vegetable base invested more than 300,000 yuan to transform the farm’s electrical intelligence, upgrade the intelligent electrified greenhouse, and add electricity. Drip irrigation, automatic temperature control system, etc., popularize the application of water and fertilizer integration technology.
Vegetables that have been grown for 7 years, what is the most difficult to "serve" and the hardest to grow good vegetables?
The answers of the siblings surprised me.
"It's the most common Chinese cabbage. The more common it is, the harder it is to grow it." Yu Yongbin said, like a chef, scrambled eggs with tomatoes are very common, but it requires real skills to be truly delicious.
At the end of the interview, I proposed to take a group photo of the two brothers and sisters. They chose the background in a slightly monotonous seedling-raising shed. “Every vegetable sprouts from here.” Yu Qingqing said.
Our reporter Chen Shangying