Old Zhang smacked his lips on his water pipe: "I'm old, useless now. I can even trip and fall on flat ground and break my arm."
Shen Sisi looked at his hand with concern: "It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, let alone someone your age."
"That's right. The doctor said that my hands can no longer lift heavy objects, so this oil mill... is completely closed down."
Looking at the empire he had built with his own hands, Old Zhang was filled with emotion.
Since the other person was already so badly injured, Shen Sisi felt embarrassed to make things difficult for him any further.
"Little girl, if you want to buy oil, there's a Wang family oil shop on the next street. Go there!"
Chen Sisi shook her head: "Grandpa, I just went to that place. The oil is good, but the price is too high. It's much more expensive than the supply and marketing cooperative's."
Old Zhang got angry when he heard about this: "That Wang family must have deliberately offered a high price because they saw that my family had changed hands and they were the only ones selling oil around!"
Chen Sisi also thought it was very likely, but there was no evidence.
“He’ll just take advantage of you for a short time, and once you transfer ownership of your oil mill, he’ll lower the price,” Shen Sisi said.
These words were like a key, unlocking Old Zhang's floodgates of conversation.
"You wouldn't believe it, none of these people who come to my oil mill are any good. They're just like my two kids. I want to pass on my skills to them, but they're unwilling to learn. They even say they can just hire someone..."
Those who come to take over are all in it to make money; how many of them are truly willing to spend money to learn a skill?
"This is an ancient oil pressing method, passed down from our ancestors. We can't let it be lost like this..."
Old Zhang was still upset about it, saying that if anyone was willing to learn his craft, he would sell his oil mill for 200 yuan less.
After thinking for a moment, I looked at the oil mill. It was quite large. I asked him if he felt it was a pity to sell it.
Old Zhang's eyes were filled with tears: "It's a pity, but there's nothing we can do. My two children are filial and insist on taking us to live with them. This oil mill is just sitting there anyway. We'll never go back to Jiangcheng again. Should we just leave it to rot without selling it?"
After some thought, Shen Sisi finally understood. It turned out that Old Zhang and his wife were going to another place, but they couldn't bear to let the oil mill and their old craftsmanship go to waste, so they had been stuck here.
"So how much do you plan to sell this oil mill for?" Shen Sisi asked casually.
Old Zhang held up one index finger: "One thousand yuan!"
"One thousand yuan!!!" Shen Sisi's heart pounded. Is it that expensive?!
In Jiangcheng, a shop along the street costs only a little over a thousand yuan, let alone this remote Cotton Alley, which is almost outside the city.
“I have a big plot of land here. The oil pressing equipment is all ready-made, and I have a group of familiar old partners working for me. I also have suppliers, all readily available,” Old Zhang said.
After careful consideration, and taking into account these hidden clauses, the oil mill doesn't seem too expensive after all.
"In that case, it doesn't seem so important whether the person who takes over learns the craft or not."
"No, no..." Old Zhang said in a refined manner, "How to select the materials and what the oil pressing process is still requires someone to distinguish them. Most importantly, I have to see if this person has a conscience. My family's oil mill cannot produce inferior oil that harms people!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Sisi began to admire the old man Zhang.
I didn't expect him to be thinking of others.
"If I encounter a kind-hearted businessman who is willing to learn the craft, I wouldn't mind selling the oil mill for two or three hundred less."
Chen Sisi slammed her hand on the table: "You said it! Don't go back on your word!"
Old Zhang raised his cloudy eyes and finally looked at her properly: "You...you didn't come to buy oil? You came to visit the oil mill?"
Chen Sisi, like a cunning little fox, smiled with her eyes crinkling: "I originally only planned to buy oil, but now I've changed my mind."
Instead of begging and pleading to find oil, only to be overcharged and have no guarantee of quality, it's better to take over this oil mill. Even if the medicinal oil business is tough, there are other things you can do that are sure to make a profit.
Old Zhang was dumbfounded, never expecting that such a young girl would want to buy his oil mill.
"How can a little girl like you endure this hardship? Do you know how hard it is to press oil?"
“One of our battering rams weighs over 200 pounds. Can a little girl like you lift it?”
Two hundred pounds... that's indeed a bit difficult, but if you don't have the strength, you can make up for it with your intelligence!
Her eyes darted around: "If I can lift the battering ram, will you sell me the oil mill cheaper?"
"You can't let anyone help you..."
"no problem!"
Old Zhang glanced at her disdainfully. This seemingly delicate young girl spoke so arrogantly, as if she wasn't afraid of biting off more than she could chew.
"This is just one step. There's also the selection of raw materials, stir-frying, oil extraction, and finally, pressing. There's a lot to learn..."
Shen Sisi knew that Old Zhang was doing it on purpose. Perhaps he didn't care whether the buyer knew how to use the traditional oil pressing method; he just wanted to find a job for his workers to make a living.
Once the oil mill becomes a mechanized oil press, all his old colleagues will starve!
"Besides this, how else can you prove your conscience?" Old Zhang's eyes suddenly turned shrewd, piercing straight to the heart.
Chen Si smiled gently, took out a sample of the medicinal oil she had made herself from her bag, and placed it in front of Old Zhang: "Old man, this is medicinal oil I made myself. Apply it to your arm, and when you wake up the next day, you will know my conscience."
Old Zhang found it very interesting. He'd never seen anyone use a bottle of medicinal oil to prove their conscience before. Was this girl just trying to be mysterious...?
"So mysterious, I wonder what they're up to..."
"Old man, please give it a try..."
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