Fairy Gourd Farm

Chapter 688 Picking Coffee Beans

He couldn't see it on the road before, but after entering, Zhao Lei discovered that the conditions of the coffee garden were worse than he imagined.

Because Cuba is also affected by hurricanes, it has been raining on Crystal Mountain for several days.This has resulted in the grounds of the coffee garden being so muddy that it is almost difficult to walk on them.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the open space in the middle of the coffee garden, there are a few simple shacks built with bamboo.The roof was covered with palm fronds, and there were no walls around it, which provided no shelter in this hurricane weather.

But right now, there are dozens of men and women huddled in the huts, warming themselves around the bonfire in the middle of the huts.The night on the mountain was very humid and rainy, and those who were a little outside were all wet from the rain blowing into the huts, and they were all shivering with cold.

Seeing that Zhao Lei noticed these shacks, the smile on Santiago's face disappeared, and he told him in a low voice: "This is where the coffee garden workers live. It has been raining for the past few days, and their life will be even more difficult at night."

Before Santiago finished his sentence, two locals in aprons carried a large bucket to the front of the shack, and put it heavily on the ground, making a loud "bang", and the mud on the ground splashed everywhere.

And those workers didn't care about these at all, they hurriedly took out their tableware, squeezed to the side of the bucket and scooped the contents into their own bowls.

Zhao Lei noticed that what was in the bucket was a kind of pasty substance, showing a strange yellow-green color, which made people lose any appetite at first sight.However, the workers ate very well. Many of them drank a bowl and refilled another bowl. Many people who ate slowly didn't even want to refill, so they could only go hungry.

Seeing this scene, Zhao Lei frowned, and couldn't help but said to Santiago: "These workers are living too badly, and the coffee farm is too harsh on them, right?"

Santiago smiled bitterly and said, "Of course I know that, but I'm just a small manager, and I can't do anything about it. To tell you the truth, the boss only gives me six hundred dollars a month for food. Finding a way to feed so many people for a month is simply not enough money!"

Gonzalez was also surprised and said: "There are so many people, and the food expenses are only [-] US dollars a month. Your boss is really stingy!"

"Who says it's not?" Santiago said with a frowning face: "The workers are all doing physical work, otherwise they would have no energy to work when they are full. I really tried my best to make everyone full. They are all ready to plant corn in the nearby vacant land!"

Zhao Lei frowned and said, "Since the conditions are so difficult, their wages should be quite a lot, right?"

"Salary? Ha ha!" Santiago sneered, "The monthly income of each worker does not exceed fifty dollars, which is just enough to feed their families, nothing more!"

Zhao Lei shook his head again and again, despising the character of the coffee garden owner.

As the saying goes, "A gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way." Of course it is right to want to make money, but if you can't make such black-hearted money, the boss here is too much.

However, Zhao Lei only came secretly to buy coffee seeds, but he did not have the great ideal of helping these workers.After all, everyone is responsible for their own lives, and they can't always count on others to help them.

Originally, Zhao Lei felt a little uneasy about secretly buying coffee seeds from Santiago. After all, this violated the interests of the coffee plantation owner.But after knowing these things, Zhao Lei didn't feel guilty anymore.For such a perverted perverted stingy guy, he should give him a hard time!
Thinking of this, Zhao Lei felt more at ease, and followed Santiago to his residence for the night.

As the manager of the coffee garden, Santiago still has some privileges. For example, he lives in a better place than the workers.Although it is not as good as a hotel, at least it has a roof and a wall, so you won't get wet when you sleep in it.

It's just that Zhao Lei didn't notice that two workers had been secretly looking at him.It wasn't until Zhao Lei was out of sight that the two exchanged glances silently, with a trace of excitement appearing on their faces.

Early the next morning, Zhao Lei followed a local to the coffee garden to pick coffee seeds.

The man in his 30s was called Alfonso, a taciturn middle-aged man. He heard that he was related to Santiago, so he was sent to take Zhao Lei up the mountain to pick coffee seeds.

Although the road in the coffee garden was muddy and slippery, it did not affect Zhao Lei at all.He walked fast along the way, even more stable than the guide, and there was no mud on the shoe surface, which surprised Alfonso secretly.

The two soon came to a coffee tree, and Alfonso told Zhao Lei in broken English: "This piece of coffee beans is the earliest to mature, and it is just right to pick them now."

This piece of coffee trees has indeed been fruitful, and the small fruits are green and red, which look really gratifying.Alfonso told Zhao Lei that mature coffee beans must be selected so that the germination rate of the seeds will be high.And to do this, you can only rely on workers to pick by hand.

This was not an easy job, but Zhao Lei was also a person who had endured hardship before, so he didn't pay too much attention to it, and immediately put himself into the work of picking coffee beans with Alfonso.

After getting acquainted for a while, Zhao Lei's movements became faster and faster, even surpassing Alfonso, who had worked in the coffee garden for many years, and picked a small basket in a short time.

This surprised Alfonso, he stammered and said to Zhao Lei in English: "Your speed is too fast, you deserve to be a real man!"

"A real man should slow down so that girls like it..." Zhao Lei secretly complained about what Alfonso said in his heart, but he just nodded slightly to him and said, "Hurry up and finish picking so you can go back sooner." , are you right?"

Alfonso smiled at Zhao Lei and accelerated the speed of picking coffee beans.With the efforts of the two, after more than an hour, there were nearly three kilograms of coffee beans in the baskets on their bodies.

This amount was also what Zhao Lei had agreed with Santiago in advance, and he had to pay nine thousand dollars for it.However, considering the income brought by gourmet coffee, Zhao Lei thinks it is still very worthwhile.

"These should be about three kilograms." Alfonso poured all the coffee beans into a cloth bag, weighed the weight and told Zhao Lei: "Three kilograms, just a little more, if you don't believe it, you can go back and buy it yourself." Weigh it."

Zhao Lei took the pocket and weighed it, nodded with a smile and said, "The weight is indeed about the same, let's go back early!"

Alfonso nodded, and was about to take Zhao Lei down the mountain, but suddenly he heard dogs barking from all directions, and his face immediately turned pale.

(End of this chapter)