Chapter 31 And within this hour, using...

In the following week, Chen Pan still focused on his studies.

After all, her family's shop was run by her grandparents, so she didn't need to get involved in many things anymore.

As for the Qin family next door, Chen Pan's relationship with them was just so-so. After successfully reminding them, Chen Pan was no longer worried.

A week passed quickly, and just as the four bags of flour that Chen Pan's family had brought back, along with the several bags of cooking oil they had brought back from home, were almost all gone, early Saturday morning, the Chen family finally received their eldest and second grandfathers, along with their respective eldest sons, to bring them flour and oil.

"Grandpa, second grandpa, uncle, and great uncle, you are finally here."

As long as Chen Pan has a day off on Saturday, she will definitely help share the housework and let her grandmother take a break from the chopping board.

So now it is Chen Pan who makes the fire and sells pancakes, his grandfather kneads the dough and makes the pancakes, and as for his grandmother, it is rare for her to carry the vegetable basket to the nearby morning market to buy things.

When Chen Pan heard the sound of a handcart in the distance, she immediately looked up and found her second grandfather driving the car, and her great grandfather and their eldest sons sitting in the back of the car. She immediately shouted for help.

Chen Pan's voice startled Chen Aiguo, who was concentrating on kneading dough and making pancakes. He looked up at his second brother driving the car and his eldest brother and the others sitting in the back. He immediately rubbed his hands and laughed, "Big brother, second brother, Yongyi, Yongqiang, you guys are here!"

"We're afraid if we're any later, you'll really run out of flour and oil!"

Driving the car carefully in front of a small shop that seemed to be closing, Chen Aimin, who was the most talkative, immediately spoke.

Chen Aidang, who always had a smile on his face, got out of the car carefully with the help of his son. He nodded and said, "Didn't you say you were running low on oil when you called the day before yesterday? We didn't dare to delay and came here early."

"Yes, this time we brought ten bags of flour and fifteen cartons of rapeseed oil. You can use them first, and we will collect the rest later."

After letting go of his father's hand, the 38-year-old eldest son of the Chen family looked happily into Chen Pan's shop. He had something else to do last time and this was his first time in Chen Pan's bakery.

"Yes, we'll collect the rest slowly. By the way, Third Uncle Panpan, where's Little Aunt?"

The eldest son of the Chen family, Chen Yongyi, was tall and confident, while the second son, Chen Yongqiang, looked like his parents: short and frail. But even so, he was the most attentive. At least, he was the first to notice Grandma Chen was gone after he got off the car and the first to ask about her.

"Your aunt went to the market to buy vegetables and meat for tomorrow. Come on, you must be tired from sitting in the car for so long. Come in and sit for a while, Panpan——"

After wiping off all the flour on his hands, the extremely happy Chen Aiguo quickly invited everyone in.

Last time, there were too many people and the small room couldn't accommodate them, so he just asked everyone to sit outside.

But there are few people today, so there is more than enough space to sit inside.

"Grandpa, you guys go in, I'll take care of this."

Understanding what his grandfather meant, Chen Pan quickly agreed while taking the cup of tea.

"Let's just sit at this table outside so as not to interrupt your business."

Looking at the big pot outside and the pile of things on the chopping board, Grandpa Chen made the final decision.

"That's fine!" After looking at the situation outside, Chen Aiguo did not refuse again.

Soon, five big men pulled back the dining table that had been leaning against the wall in Chen Pan's house. After they took away the plastic stools stacked under the table one by one, everyone sat down.

Chen Pan, who had just been lighting the fire, quickly poured tea for everyone. After everyone got the hot tea, they excitedly started talking about business.

Chen Aidang, the eldest of the Chen family, said, "Third brother, of the flour we brought this time, four bags are from my family, three bags are from your second brother's family, and the remaining three bags are from your fourth brother's family. I asked Dabao to write the weight and the owner's name on all the bags of flour. We should all do this in the future. When you use them, please pay a little attention. If you find that someone's flour is not suitable, you can contact us directly and we can come back and take the flour back to them."

Chen Aimin, the second son of the Chen family, also nodded quickly. "Yes, as long as the wheat is different, or the water used during grinding is different, or the time of harvesting is different, the final flour ground will be different. Some flour is suitable for making pancakes and steamed buns, while some is not suitable and can only be used to make simple ramen and noodles. Since we want to do this business, don't be embarrassed. If you feel that a batch of flour is not suitable, just tell us, and we will find a time to come and pull it."

Chen Yongyi, the eldest son of Chen Lao Da, nodded in agreement. "We've already made this matter clear to Fourth Uncle's family. This is all the extra flour our two families have. We'll also make this clear when we go to collect flour from other families later."

"Will this offend everyone?"

Seeing his granddaughter bringing a plate of pancakes, Chen Aiguo immediately gave one to everyone.

Chen Yongqiang, the eldest son of the Chen family's second branch, took the pancake and immediately said, "Uncle San, we're telling you this upfront to prevent anyone from selling us flour made from stale or moldy wheat. If you find that the flour and oil are not right, just contact us and we'll return it to them in its original condition."

"Yes, we can barely tell the difference between stale wheat and moldy wheat. But if it has already been ground into flour, we definitely won't be able to tell if we don't process or use it. So it's better to know everything clearly from the beginning." Chen Aidang, who was doing this kind of thing for the first time, was also very serious.

Everyone was chatting one after another, and after eating a few pancakes, they went outside to weigh and unload the goods.

The neighbor on the other side of Chen Pan's house happened to be a vegetable and meat seller. Grandpa Chen borrowed a scale from the neighbor's house, and then took a small diary outside, writing down the weights as he went.

As it turns out, both of Chen Pan’s grandfathers were very authentic families.

This time they sent over ten bags of fifty kilograms of flour, and the weights all matched the numbers on the bags.

They brought over fifteen five-jin plastic cans of cooking oil, each with the weight and the source of the oil clearly written on them.

When Grandpa Chen was counting and weighing with Grandpa and Grandpa, students and parents passed by them from time to time.

Someone who often came to her house to buy pancakes even asked Chen Pan, "Little girl, is this how you collect the oil and flour for making pancakes?"

Chen Pan, who was handing the pancakes to the other party, replied reflexively, "Yes, Auntie. The oil and flour we use are all collected by our elders from each household in our rural hometown. You can see that the owner and weight are clearly written on it, so we can avoid using low-quality flour and rapeseed oil. If the oil and flour from a certain household are not correct later, we can contact them and cancel it directly. However, in our village, these oils and flours are for everyone's daily consumption and use, so the possibility of accidents is basically small."

"Yes, if it's for your own consumption, you can't go wrong."

The person who asked the question was just asking casually. After successfully getting the pancake, he left immediately.

While Chen Pan was selling pancakes to everyone, he washed his hands and put the pancakes into the pot. He was also paying close attention to the outside with great interest.

After selling a few pancakes and filling the pan with fresh ones her grandfather had made, Chen Pan was about to leave the shop when an old lady next to her suddenly stopped her. "Hey girl, do you have any extra rapeseed oil for sale? If I want to buy a can, how much do you want?"

"Ah - this is the one our family collected specifically for making our own pancakes. Auntie, please wait a moment, I'll go ask my grandfather."

A thought suddenly popped up in Chen Pan's mind, and Chen Pan immediately ran over and whispered to his grandfather.

Then, when he came back, Chen Pan said, "Auntie, my grandfather said that this is the additive-free, freshly pressed rapeseed oil we collected from the villagers in the village, and it costs three yuan per catty. He said that if you go to a big store in the city, you can buy this oil for just over two yuan per catty, and that it's not suitable for you to buy it here. Besides, our family has been collecting for so long, and we have only collected fifteen boxes. Anyway, if you want this stuff, we can indeed spare a box for you. But the price cannot be cheap, after all, this is the rapeseed oil we eat ourselves, without any additives."

"I know, your rapeseed oil is yellow with black inside, not as yellow and transparent as the outside, and the taste is so authentic. I could tell from the beginning that it was the kind squeezed at home. I've lived in the countryside before, so I know this. I really want to buy it, but three yuan per pound is really too expensive." The white-haired old lady, as she spoke, tilted her body to look at the half-open jar of rapeseed oil that Chen Pan's family placed on the counter in front, with hesitation on her face.

"Then I have no choice. There are cheap flour and rapeseed oil in the market and grain and oil stores outside, and I can't tell the difference. But my grandfather hired relatives to buy these flour and rapeseed oil from our village, saying that the cakes and food made with such ingredients are authentic and delicious." Chen Pan glanced at the other party's clean dress and clothing, and once again played the role of a young and ignorant girl with little life experience.

"Your grandfather is right. For cooking and making pancakes, good flour and good cooking oil are indeed necessary to make better and healthier food. Well, it's expensive, isn't it? Little girl, go get a can of your rapeseed oil and I'll check it again."

"Oh, okay!".

As soon as the old lady, who was very particular about cooking health, spoke, Chen Pan immediately agreed loudly and quickly ran outside to get a can of cooking oil and brought it to her.

"this--"

Chen Aimin and his team had already unloaded all the goods and were now settling accounts outside. Seeing Chen Pan suddenly come over to take away a bag, everyone instinctively wanted to say something, but seeing that she was handing rapeseed oil to a customer, everyone was not ignorant of the situation and immediately said nothing, allowing Chen Pan to toss around.

After all, in the entire Chen family, these young people were the only ones who had actually received an education. Therefore, most of the time, everyone actually respected their opinions and suggestions.

“It’s really good stuff!”

The white plastic bottle had a weight written on the outside. This type of plastic bottle is actually bought in rural areas to store wine and oil. The old woman opened the lid and first looked at the oil inside, then smelled it, and finally read the weight and the name written on it.

"Auntie, do you need me to find another scale to weigh you?"

Seeing that the other party was satisfied, Chen Pan spoke again attentively.

"No need. I saw these when your grandfather weighed them just now. And your store is right here, so I'm not worried that you'll shortchange me."

The old lady, dressed neatly and wearing a gold bracelet on her wrist, immediately took out her small wallet from her small handbag.

Chen Pan looked at the other person with a smile, and when the other person handed her fifteen yuan, Chen Pan immediately took it with a smile.

As she put the money in the box, Chen Pan added, "Auntie, it's March now. Although our oil is freshly squeezed, it's only this year. In August or September, our village will have new rapeseed oil, and that kind of rapeseed oil is the best. If your family really values ​​this, you can come back to us in the second half of the year. By then, not only will we be able to give you a bottle or two, not just from other families in the village, and the price will remain the same."

"That's great. I don't have many people in my family, so with this and the rest, I think it will last until August or September."

The gray-haired aunt didn't expect Chen Pan to do business in this way, and immediately said a few more words to her.

When doing business, it’s always like this, one person is always watching over another.

While Chen Pan was chatting and doing business with the old lady, four or five neighbors who came to buy sesame cakes had already gathered around them.

Today is Saturday, so there aren't many students and workers here. Most of the people who come here now are the kind who don't sleep much and want to come out early to hang out and pick up breakfast for home.

Anyway, when Chen Pan was chatting with the old lady, many people around him did not urge Chen Pan, but just listened and watched quietly.

Then, as soon as the old lady left, an old man said directly, "Girl, give me eight beef-filled ones, and also give me a can of oil."

"Um, sir, my family isn't a professional oil buyer. We only need a can of oil a day, and these dozen bottles are just enough for half a month."

Chen Pan, as expected, had been in business for many years in his previous life. He immediately acted as if he was in a dilemma and didn't want to do the rapeseed oil business anymore.

"Girl, since your family can receive these fifteen baskets, you can receive another fifteen baskets. Okay, okay, here's fifteen yuan worth of rapeseed oil, and here's two yuan and eighty yuan for the pancakes. I'll take the oil, and you can give me the pancakes too."

The elderly man glared and blew his beard. After quickly taking the eight beef patties from Chen Pan, he pushed the money he had already counted to Chen Pan and then turned to Grandpa Chen to choose rapeseed oil.

He didn't know how to choose, so he picked the one with the cleanest packaging and the most filling. He immediately picked it up like a bandit: "Brother, I've already given your granddaughter the twenty yuan, and I'm taking the rapeseed oil."

"this--"

Chen Aiguo, who only knew simple arithmetic and got stuck quickly when encountering a large number of numbers today, looked up from his notebook with difficulty and saw an old man in his seventies walking quickly with his rapeseed oil.

"They gave me money, I saw it!"

Boss Chen, who also couldn't do arithmetic, said slowly, and then watched his only literate brother continue to calculate.

"Alas! You refused to study when I asked you to."

He looked at his eldest son with a blaming look. He had only studied for one year and also couldn't do arithmetic. Then the second son of the Chen family continued to wait for his younger brother to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with a difficult expression.

On this day, Chen Aiguo spent more than an hour calculating the accounts.

During this hour, taking advantage of their unique advantage of placing their products outside, Chen Pan didn't sell many cakes, but she sold five boxes of rapeseed oil alone.

Chen Pan sold these five cartons of cooking oil for 75 yuan, making a profit of about 25 yuan. Of course, this profit was not pure profit, after all, she did not include the transportation costs of transporting the oil, the hard work of her second grandfather and others, and the cost of the plastic bottles used to store the oil.

Yes, rapeseed oil is indeed expensive in rural areas.

But that’s what the merchants who specialize in selling rural rapeseed oil say is expensive.

When those people go to the countryside to collect rapeseed or rapeseed oil, the price is actually not very expensive.

And now, Chen Pan is playing the role of a profiteer who makes a profit from the price difference.

But to be honest, Chen Pan didn't feel very guilty.

Because the price she offered today was cheaper than those other stores selling pure, additive-free rural rapeseed oil.

In fact, those people just now knew this very well.

After all, we eat oil all our lives, so it’s impossible for us not to know how expensive good rapeseed oil can be.

Anyway, Chen Pan felt very happy and satisfied with today's transaction, and the elderly people who bought authentic rapeseed oil and knew the price of rapeseed oil in rural areas were also very happy.