My Courtyard Refuge

: Whale Oil

Because he had been here once before, Xu Dong took everyone to Xiang Xin’s house with ease. Before entering the door, everyone consciously put on masks.

“Ding dong…”

“Section Chief, why are you here?”

It was Xiang Xin who opened the door. Compared to a few days ago, both his mental state and complexion were much better.

“We came to see you, why, don’t you invite us in?” Section Chief Li joked.

“Come in…” Xiang Xin hurriedly welcomed his colleagues into the living room.

Grandma Xiang Xin was busy in the kitchen at this time, and she couldn’t help asking when she heard the movement:

“Xiang Xin, who is here?”

“Mom, my colleagues are here.” Xiang Xin replied loudly.

Granny Xiang Xin immediately ran out to meet the guests, Xu Dong simply acted as an intermediary introducer, as for Xiang Xin, she sat on the sofa, her stomach was too big to stand for a long time.

“Auntie, this is our Section Chief Li.”

“Section Chief Li, hello!”

“I’m here to disturb you this time.” Section Chief Li said politely, everyone had discussed it before coming, and tried to avoid He Jian’s matter as much as possible.

“Don’t bother, I wish you could come over, and the house can be more lively.”

Next, Xu Dong introduced his colleagues to Granny Xiang Xin. After some politeness, everyone sat down around Xiang Xin.

Granny Xiangxin started to make tea and pour water, and Sister Feng hurriedly stood up to help.

Not seeing Uncle He, Xu Dong couldn’t help asking curiously: “Auntie, where is Uncle He? Why isn’t he at home?”

“My father-in-law went out to buy groceries. I just sent a text message and I’m already on my way back.” Xiang Xin hurriedly replied.

“It’s okay, let’s sit for a while and leave. Tell your father-in-law not to come back. It’s too troublesome.”

“How can I do that, everyone finally came here, we must stay for lunch at noon!” Granny Xiang Xin interjected.

Section Chief Li quickly shook his head: “This is really not good, it’s not that we are being polite, Xiao Xiang is pregnant now, it’s better to have less contact with outsiders.

To tell you the truth, my wife is also eight months pregnant, and our husband and wife have not been in touch for almost four or five months, let alone eating together. ”

“Yes, Lao Li is right, the epidemic is not over yet, there is no harm in being cautious.” Sister Feng helped persuade.

For a while, everyone persuaded one after another.

Granny Xiang Xin was finally convinced that her son was gone, and if the child had problems again, the old couple would really have no hope.

After sitting for ten minutes, Xu Dong and the others stood up and said goodbye. Old He hurried, but it was still a step too late.

“Everyone is gone?”

Grandma Xiang Xin replied: “I just left for a short time, and I can’t stay no matter what.”

“Mom, look quickly, there are eggs here.” Xiang Xin was packing up the presents when she suddenly said pleasantly.

“Let me see, who sent it?”

“I remember it was brought by our section chief.” Xiang Xin recalled.

oldHe said with emotion: “I have a heart! Xiang Xin, the colleagues in your company are very good. I took a look and found that all the gifts are food, which is too rare.”

“Well, we all have a good relationship at ordinary times.”

“Who gave this basket of vegetables? It’s not cheaper than eggs. Next time, remember to give them a great gift.” Grandma Xiang Xin reminded.

“The vegetables were given by the boss, and the dried shrimps last time were also given by him. Our family owes him too much, and we probably can’t pay it off.”

“Captain Xu is also a real person.” Old He echoed.

Grandma Xiang Xin raised the vegetable basket: “Xiang Xin, what do you want for lunch? Mom will make it for you.”

“I want to eat leek and egg dumplings. He Jian used to like to eat this most.” Xiang Xin looked lonely.

“Okay, let’s eat dumplings at noon, Xiang Xin, come and help mom make noodles together.” Granny Xiang Xin hurriedly interrupted.

“Okay, I’ll go wash my hands first.”

…

On Xu Dong’s side, he sent his colleagues home one by one, and then went to Panjiayuan on the way.

When he came to his small shop, he immediately called Mr. Li.

“Hello, is this Mr. Li?”

“I am, you are… Boss Xu?”

“That’s right, Mr. Li, it’s rare that you still remember me!” Xu Dong laughed.

Mr. Li joked: “I forget who, and I dare not forget you, Boss Xu. Otherwise, if my brother-in-law finds out, it would be easy to pick the skin off.”

“Just kidding.”

“Boss Xu, I’ve been waiting for your call for a long time, why do you only think of me now?” Mr. Li complained.

“Hey, I went on a business trip to Qindao before, and I just came back at the beginning of the month. I can’t even push back the job arranged by the higher-ups.”

“Understood, then Boss Xu, you called me this time because…”

Xu Dong didn’t go around in circles: “Mr. Li, do you have any eggs here?”

“egg?”

“Yes, the quantity I want is not much, a hundred or so will do. Of course, if there are more, I will accept them all.” Xu Dong added.

Mr. Li smiled wryly: “Boss Xu, you’ve stumped me. I don’t do egg business here at all, and I don’t know where to get eggs for you.”

“No? Then forget it, I won’t bother you.” Xu Dong sighed, if there is no, then there is no, I can only blame everyone’s bad luck.

He was about to hang up the phone when Mr. Li suddenly said.

“Boss Xu, wait a minute. Although I don’t have eggs here, I have other things. I wonder if you are interested?”

“Oh… what is it?”

“Whale oil.”

Xu Dong didn’t understand: “What kind of oil?”

“I’m talking about the fat from whales, which can be processed into edible margarine. Now I have a barrel of this kind of margarine in hand.” Mr. Li introduced in detail.

“Is the quality okay?”

“Don’t worry, the quality is absolutely fine.” Mr. Li assured.

“How do you want to trade?” Xu Dong asked directly.

“My barrel of margarine is 120 kilograms in total. I want to exchange your 500 kilograms of sugar. What do you think?”

“It’s too much, can it be cheaper?”

“Boss Xu, I only offered this price for my brother-in-law’s sake. This is really a real price. If you don’t believe me, you can go to the market to inquire about it.”

Xu Dong is not a young man, and he was persuaded in two or three sentences, “President Li, I need to discuss this matter with someone, and I can answer you tomorrow, okay?”

“Yes, but Boss Xu, please hurry up, this thing is very popular now, you know what I mean?”

“Understood, I will get back to you as soon as possible.”

After hanging up the phone, Xu Dong first checked the current black market price of whale oil on the Internet. After searching for a long time, he failed to find any relevant transaction information.

In the end, I had no choice but to go to the butcher shops in the park one by one to inquire.

After inquiring around, how to say the price, there is no uniform standard in the market at all.

This matter is not difficult to understand, right now the whole country is short of oil and water, and occasionally some food can be seen on the black market, but cooking oil is definitely rare.

At least on Panjiayuan’s side, Xu Dong has never seen any for sale.

After some analysis, he found that substituting white sugar for margarine should not be considered a disadvantage. Nowadays, fat is much more popular than white sugar.

The reason why Xu Dong wanted to buy this barrel of oil was not for his own consumption. Their family has no shortage of cooking oil.

Even if there is a lack of oil in the future, don’t there be soybeans? Soybean oil is much more reliable than this artificial butter.

The purpose of buying oil was purely for favors, and it happened that he also wanted to take the opportunity to stock up on another batch of miscellaneous grains. There were too many chickens at home, and the miscellaneous grains were consumed a bit quickly.

In addition, the old hen in the family has hatched chickens, and Xu’s mother plans to raise dozens more chickens, so that the source of meat for the family can also be solved smoothly.