Li Xiangdong laughed heartily at the exasperated Li Jin, teasing him deliberately, "Dad, I earned all the money I spent myself, what's the rush?"
"Bullshit! What money did you earn yourself! What don't you own?" Li Jin said with a look of utter disappointment. "How can you expect to live a decent life in the future? You'll squander all our wealth. You might as well go begging!"
The mud-brick house was not soundproof at all, and people outside could hear the brigade leader roaring from time to time, and they all looked at each other in bewilderment.
I don't know whether to leave or stay and wait for my second brother to get better!
"Alright, alright, I'm not teasing you anymore. Please call Uncle Bo in, and I'll explain the ins and outs of this to you in detail."
Li Xiangdong felt that if he didn't tell the truth, his dad's size 42 shoe sole would be hitting him on the butt.
Wang Zhenbo came in and sat on either side of the kang (a heated brick bed) with Li Jin.
Li Guoqing and the others peered out the window, watching what was happening inside.
"Dad, Uncle Bo, I'm harvesting wheatgrass seeds to extract oil!"
Li Xiangdong cut to the chase, dropping a bombshell on his father and Wang Zhenbo.
"You mean, you're going to press oil from wild grass seeds? Can you really press oil from that? Nobody in the surrounding area has ever heard of pressing oil from that!" Li Jin asked repeatedly.
Artemisia, also known as Sophora flavescens or Artemisia scoparia
The flowers of the wheatgrass are surrounded by seed pods.
Li Xiangdong dislikes hearing these kinds of words that he's never even heard of in the surrounding villages.
"If people in the surrounding villages had heard of this, they would have had plenty of oil to eat long ago!"
Wang Zhenbo is very composed.
He went out and grabbed a small handful of wheatgrass seeds from his flour sack. When he returned home, he gave half to Li Jin, and the two of them pinched and twisted them in the sunlight.
"Watch me!"
Li Xiangdong thought their method was too stupid.
He tore a piece of paper directly from Li Jiabao's homework, folded it in half, put a small pinch of wheatgrass seeds inside, and rolled it heavily with a rolling pin a few times.
The wheatgrass seeds were quickly flattened, and Li Xiangdong picked up the paper and held it up to the sun.
"See that? Oil stains!"
The area where the wheat stalks were leveled was a translucent yellow, the result of being soaked in oil.
Li Jin snatched the homework paper from Li Xiangdong's hand and exchanged a glance with Wang Zhenbo.
Their expressions seemed normal, but their slightly trembling hands betrayed their true feelings.
"Is this oil edible? Could it be poisonous?"
Wang Zhenbo is mature and considers all aspects.
Li Jin's burning passion also calmed down temporarily.
Yes, in previous years when everyone was starving, no one pressed oil from wheatgrass seeds to eat. If it were really non-toxic and edible, would no one have discovered it?
Back then, people ate even tree bark, leaves, and clay. They also developed many "substitute foods," such as flour made from straw, edible chlorella, and protein meat.
Thinking of this, the fire in Li Jin's heart was completely extinguished.
The reason why no one discovered that wheatgrass seeds could be pressed for oil before must be because there was something wrong with the oil extracted from them!
After hearing Li Jin's words, Li Xiangdong hesitated for a moment.
Yeah, if this stuff is really edible, how come we didn't discover it before?
But people really did eat it in my past life!
If it were truly toxic, so many people wouldn't be following the trend.
There must be a reason he doesn't know, but he's certain that wheatgrass seed oil is edible!
"Wheatgrass smells particularly unpleasant, so cattle, sheep and other livestock don't like to eat it. In our rural areas, we usually just throw wheatgrass on the edge of the field and in the ditch, let it dry, and then burn it as firewood."
Wang Zhenbo pondered for a moment before speaking, "However, although cattle and sheep don't like to eat wheatgrass, people inevitably pick up some wheatgrass when cutting grass, and the cattle and sheep haven't been poisoned by it."
“There’s no use in just thinking about it. How about this, I’ll take these dozens of kilograms to be pressed for oil. Once the oil is pressed, I’ll give it to Uncle Yan to check. He’s the director of the pharmaceutical factory, so he’ll definitely know whether it’s safe for people to eat.”
Li Xiangdong felt that there was no point in the group just sitting around thinking about it, so they decided to just observe and see!
"That works too. If we can really extract oil from wheatgrass seeds, Xiangdong will have done a great job!"
Wang Zhenbo had a vague feeling that this thing could really work out!
"Alright! Let's send it to the Golden Bull Commune oil press and try it!"
Li Jin made the final decision.
"If this really works, we'll be able to eat oil freely! We can send the whole brigade out to collect wheatgrass seeds, press them for oil, and it'll be incredibly profitable with no investment!" Li Xiangdong imagined.
"Uncle Bo, you should go there in person to handle this matter. It must be kept a secret. If the oil is edible, our brigade must take advantage of the wheatgrass ripening season to collect a large amount of wheatgrass seeds to solve the problem of oil supply this winter and next spring. If people find out, it will be difficult to get wheatgrass seeds again."
"Oh, right, we also need to wash the wheatgrass seeds clean, dry them in the sun, and roast them in a pan before sending them over!"
Wang Zhenbo nodded solemnly. It wasn't that they were stingy or unwilling to share good things with everyone.
They're not even enough to eat right now, so they have to take care of their own people first!
It's pitiful that not only did Lijiapo Brigade not have an oil press, but the entire Wudahe Commune did as well. If you wanted to press oil, you had to travel fifty or sixty miles to the oil press in the neighboring Jinniu Commune.
There used to be a machine-operated oil press in Wudahe Commune, but later, the commune leader, Hu Shusong, forbade everyone from planting sesame, rapeseed, peanuts, melon seeds, and other oil-producing crops. Gradually, no one went there anymore, and the oil press went out of business.
Wang Zhenbo helped weigh the wheatgrass seeds for each child, and Li Xiangdong paid for them one by one.
Li Jin felt utterly heartbroken as he watched Li Xiangdong hand over more than five yuan without batting an eye, and even instruct them to bring back more.
What a spendthrift!
We still don't know if the oil extracted from wheatgrass seeds is safe to eat!
This time you've already taken it all, why do you have to take more?
"By the way, Dad, there's something else I need to report to you! I hope to get your support!"
"You'd better think carefully before you speak. My heart has been pounding these past few days, and I can't take any more of this!"
Li Jin felt that his son was sure to drop another bombshell on him.
These past few days have been really turbulent, and with the wheat harvest weighing on his mind, his beard seems to turn several more white hairs every day.
"That's a good thing!"
Li Xiangdong poured tea for his father and Wang Zhenbo, and then handed the tea to his father.
He recounted to Li Jin how the old lady from the oil refinery bought his fish, how he discovered that the supply and marketing cooperative didn't sell fish, and how he managed to get the necessary connections.
Li Jin was so shocked that he forgot to drink his tea.
Is this still his second son?
How did they manage to secure a deal to sell 100 kilograms of fish every day so easily?
Wang Zhenbo's eyes showed approval.
No wonder he's the captain's son; his cleverness and daring spirit are something most kids don't have!
"This is indeed a good thing, Captain! Xiang Dong is a remarkable kid; he's sure to amount to something great in the future!"
"Hey! Old Wang, don't praise him so much. It's just a little bit of cleverness."
Li Jin spoke modestly, but he was secretly overjoyed.
Hahahaha.
Li Jin's son is awesome!
Awesome!
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