Chapter 84 Oil Extraction
Uncle Wang took a day off and hired the canteen's delivery truck to take Molly's peanuts to the oil press in town. Molly went with them, bringing her three children along.
The oil pressing room hadn't been used this year and was covered in dust. Fortunately, Aunt Wang and her son cleaned it yesterday and prepared the necessary coal.
As soon as Molly and the others arrived, Aunt Wang called on her son to help unload the goods.
Aunt Wang's son is named Wang Hechuan. He is in his thirties and looks a lot like Uncle Wang. He is also a man of few words and has inherited Uncle Wang's culinary skills. He is now also a chef.
To Molly's surprise, Wang Hechuan was familiar with the entire oil pressing process. He even called two friends to help Molly. Those two friends were also well-behaved people; aside from glancing at Molly a few times at the beginning, they focused solely on their work afterward.
Molly's family, along with Uncle Wang's family and two strong men, fried all the peanuts Molly brought into oil in one morning.
"Uncle, where did you get these peanuts? The oil yield is amazing! These 800-odd pounds of peanuts have yielded 400 pounds of oil!" One of the men exclaimed as he looked at the numbers on the scale.
According to the oil extraction rate of their local oil pressing plant, the oil extraction rate of peanuts is generally between 35% and 40%, but the peanuts brought by Uncle Wang have an oil extraction rate of 50%, which is simply unbelievable.
Uncle Wang was also astonished. "These peanuts are incredibly plump! As you just saw, almost none of them are empty shells; the weight of a single peanut is entirely in the kernel. A whole sack of peanuts is heavy; ordinary peanuts don't have this much weight. But I didn't expect this oil yield either." It's truly exceptionally high.
The two men were so surprised because they had seen it before. If they had known the peanuts were so good, they should have bought some before pressing the oil and planted them on their own plot of land.
"Uncle, you have so much peanut oil, can you sell us some?" The two men asked, their eyes pleading.
“Zhuzi, Lingtou, didn’t we already say that we’d pay you for your help, but don’t bring up things you shouldn’t mention, and don’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask?” Wang Hechuan said with a stern face.
"Brother Wang, this peanut oil smells so good! We've been drooling all morning, we just can't resist!"
“Brother Wang, our whole family only uses about two ounces of oil a month. We usually just use a rag to wipe the bottom of the pot when we cook. But seeing so much oil today, even if we don’t use it for ourselves, we want to ask for some for our family.”
The men named Zhuzi and Lingtou looked helpless. They both had elderly parents and young children to support, and seeing such good food, they couldn't help but want to take some back for their families to try. Besides, it was truly unbearable to go hungry.
Wang Hechuan, his face cold, was about to say something when Molly spoke first, "I'll give each of you two jin of oil as a thank you gift. In addition, I'll give each of you two jin of oil residue."
Peanut residue is the residue from pressing peanuts for oil. It is also called peanut cake. People can eat it, feed it to poultry and livestock, use it for fishing, and for those who want to be more extravagant, use it as fertilizer in the fields.
Two pounds of oil and two pounds of oil residue—this is quite a generous gift.
Aunt Wang felt sorry for him when she heard this.
Uncle Wang shook his head at Aunt Wang, signaling her not to speak.
Wang Hechuan glanced at Molly, and seeing that Molly nodded to him, he took his tools and filled two jin of oil and two jin of oil residue for Zhuzi and Lingtou, and then saw them out the door.
"Keep your mouths shut about what happened today," Wang Hechuan said, staring into their eyes.
"Brother, you know best how tight-lipped we are," Zhu Zi said with a fawning smile.
"Brother, where did these peanuts come from?" Lingtou asked, extremely curious.
“The families of soldiers in the barracks are not people you can mess with.” Wang Hechuan kicked each of them. “Next time you talk nonsense, I won’t ask you for this kind of good thing again.”
"We promise we won't do it again next time, please forgive us this time, brother." Zhu Zi and Ling Tou promised one after another. They worked hard all morning and got two catties of oil and two catties of oil residue. Where else could they find such a good thing as a windfall?
Wang Hechuan waved his hand, "Let's go. Keep your mouths shut."
Wang Hechuan was thoughtful and prepared four oil drums for Molly in advance, each capable of holding 100 jin (50 kg).
"You can keep this bucket," Molly said to Aunt Wang, pointing to one of the buckets.
"How can we do that?" Aunt Wang was startled. They were genuinely trying to help, not for the young mistress's peanut oil.
"Sure. I'll take all this oil back with me; everyone will be green with envy," Molly said, half-jokingly.
“We can’t keep so much. We wouldn’t feel right taking what you’ve worked so hard to grow,” Aunt Wang said, waving her hands repeatedly at Molly.
"Then consider it as me selling it to you, one yuan per pound, you can give me one hundred." Molly genuinely wanted to give it away. Uncle Wang taught the two children cooking skills without charging tuition. His family did their best for their own affairs, and Molly felt that giving away one hundred pounds of oil was not much.
"This price is too low; even the supply and marketing cooperative charges more than this for invoices—"
“Okay, one yuan per pound then,” Uncle Wang interrupted his wife.
Molly was finally satisfied. "Next time I need to press oil, I'll have to ask Uncle Wang and the others for help. Do you want some of this oil residue? Can you take a few pounds home?"
"Please leave five jin for my little grandson." Having already taken a hundred jin of oil, a few jin of oil residue was nothing, so Uncle Wang didn't stand on ceremony.
Molly: "Okay, let Brother Wang do it himself."
Brother Wang nodded to Molly, "Thank you."
Molly went back to the camp with the car. Uncle Wang still had half a day off, so he wasn't in a hurry to go back and went to his home in town with his wife and son.
As soon as she entered the door, Aunt Wang angrily slapped Uncle Wang on the back, "How could you just take so much oil like that?"
“That’s just the kind of person the young lady is. If she really wants to give, she’ll be unhappy if you don’t accept it,” Uncle Wang said. “This young lady is usually very generous and has given fish to the families of soldiers in the camp quite often.”
The young lady shared all the fish she caught with the children, so Uncle Wang's suggestion is perfectly acceptable.
"And this oil is really fragrant. I've worked in the kitchen for so many years, and even before the Ji family was sent down to the countryside, I've never smelled peanut oil that fragrant." Uncle Wang opened the oil container and said to his son, "We'll use this oil to stir-fry a dish later."
"Time to cook! Looks like I've come back just in time." A woman pushed open the door and came in, carrying a chicken in one hand and holding the hand of a boy who looked about three years old in the other.
The woman is Wang Hechuan's wife. He married her after he came here, and she is seven years younger than him, only twenty-four years old this year. Because of her young age, the Wang family usually dotes on her. She is also a good person, very kind to her husband and in-laws.
"Oh my, where did you get this chicken? It looks so plump." Aunt Wang went up and took the chicken, weighing it in her hand. "It must weigh six or seven pounds."
"It's a three-year-old hen that my mom raised. It hasn't laid eggs lately. My mom heard that my father-in-law is going back to town today, so she asked me to catch it to help him recover," the woman said with a smile.
"Your mother is too kind." Aunt Wang smiled broadly. "We just got a barrel of oil. You can take twenty pounds of it to your mother tomorrow."
"So much!" The woman was shocked. If her family received twenty catties, how much did the Wang family get back?
"The peanuts grown by the military families over at the camp were used to make oil today. Just keep this to yourself, don't tell anyone," Aunt Wang whispered in her ear.
The woman nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, Mother, I know what's important."
"Grandma, what's in this bag? It smells so good!" the little boy said in a childish voice, pointing to the cloth bag on the table.
"That's pork cracklings, a gift from one of your pretty aunties. Try it and see if you like it." Aunt Wang grabbed a handful of pork cracklings for her grandson, then another handful for her daughter-in-law, "Xiao Yan, you should try some too."
"It smells so good!" Xiao Yan's eyes lit up.
The little boy stuffed it directly into his mouth, his eyes squinting with joy.
"Is it really that delicious?" Aunt Wang couldn't resist trying it, and she was surprised herself. It was indeed very fragrant, "fragrant and crispy, with a sweet taste."
Uncle Wang was not surprised at all. "Nothing grown by this young lady is bad."
Xiao Yan blinked. She had heard the term "young mistress" from her in-laws more than once, but her husband had told her not to ask, so she hadn't. Now it seemed that this young mistress was quite something.
The car returned to the camp and drove all the way to the military dependents' area, stopping in front of Molly's house.
"Sister, what good things did you bring back?" Zhu Lezhi called out from afar.
The sound of the car, coupled with Zhu Lezhi's loud voice, immediately drew a lot of people out.
For a moment, Molly wanted to strangle the brat.
"Molly, what good stuff did you bring back?" the others asked.
Molly could choose not to answer Zhu Lezhi, but she couldn't allow everyone to remain silent. She forced a smile and said, "I went to town to press oil."
"No wonder I could smell the fragrance from so far away."
"Those three buckets are all filled with oil? That's a lot!"
What's in that sack? Peanut shells?
“Yes, peanut shells. We’ll bring them back as fertilizer. When planting vegetables and crops, we’ll put some on top.” Molly had a bad feeling; she thought she probably wouldn’t be able to keep the oil.
Sure enough, the next second someone said, "Molly, your family can't finish all this oil, right? Sell some to us."
"Oh dear, don't say 'sell,' you can't buy and sell between individuals, you have to say 'exchange.'"
"Yes, yes, give us some more."
“The oil ration is fixed every month, and those two ounces of oil will be gone in a few days. Everyone needs oil. But you can’t buy oil even if you have money. Molly, please have pity on your sisters-in-law and share some with them.”
"I need to replace some things at home too, Molly. Don't worry, your sister-in-law won't let you suffer any losses."
"........"
Molly remained expressionless, saying nothing, when these people opened the lid of her oil drum, leaned close, and began to smell it.
"fragrant!"
"It smells so good!"
"It smells so good!"
"This oil is of much better quality than what's sold at the supply and marketing cooperative!"
A group of women wore expressions of rapture.
“Private transactions are prohibited.” Molly said with a blank expression.
The women froze, casting accusing glances at Molly.
"I will sell this oil to the camp kitchen logistics department. If you want to buy it, go to them. Also, I will sell 250 jin, keeping only 50 jin for myself. Don't come looking for me again later, I won't sell it to you."
"......."
The oil didn't go to Molly's house; it went to the logistics department instead.
Half an hour later, Molly carried fifty pounds of oil, while Mo An and Lu Lu each carried an empty bucket. The three of them walked home, utterly dejected.
At the logistics department, a group of people surrounded the head of the logistics department. One said he wanted to buy five jin, another said he wanted ten jin, and yet another said he wanted twenty or fifty jin. They were making a lot of noise, even more lively than a vegetable market.
"Next time, we'll come back after dark," Mo An said, his face filled with heartache.
Molly wholeheartedly agreed. "I had originally planned that since it's early August, we could plant corn again and harvest another round. But now it seems we'll have to plant peanuts too. We'll plant peanuts on four-tenths of the land, one-tenth for corn, and the remaining tenth for vegetables. As for the winter melons and pumpkins, let them grow in the wasteland next door."
Molly scattered winter melon and pumpkin seeds around the vegetable garden, and now they have started to climb and bloom.
"Mom, Uncle, why are you unhappy?" Lu Lu asked, puzzled. The peanut oil had been sold, but they had also made a lot of money—240 jin (120 kg), at five yuan per jin, totaling 1200 yuan. With so much money, the people in the military region were green with envy.
"Silly Xiaolu, do you know how much peanut oil costs at the supply and marketing cooperative? It's one yuan per 50 grams, and that's a fixed price. You can't even buy more if you want. We only sell it for five yuan per jin. Don't you think we're losing out big time?" Mo An was heartbroken beyond words. In the past, their brigade only produced 200 jin of peanuts per mu, and that was with the shells on. It's easy to see why peanut oil is so expensive now.
Not everyone is like his sister, able to grow peanuts that yield over a thousand catties per mu.
He had never seen or even heard of those plump peanuts before.
Not only are they plump, but they are also very heavy, otherwise the oil yield wouldn't be so high.
"Then why are we selling it so cheaply?" Lu Lu asked, puzzled.
“Because we had to offer a discount, if we didn’t sell it so cheaply, the logistics department wouldn’t have helped us, and those military families would have started to slander us and even report us. Now that the logistics department has taken over, everything is out in the open, and our family is finally safe,” Mo An explained.
Lu Lu seemed to be deep in thought.
Molly: "Once bitten, twice shy. Next time we'll sneak out and sneak back."
The next morning, Molly took her three children to burn the peanut vines in the vegetable garden. After burning them, she watered them and then started hoeing the ground.
Molly also brought out the twelve goslings, who pecked at the grass in the nearby wasteland.
Besides Molly's family of four, there were many other people hoeing the ground around them.
"Molly, what are you planning to plant this time?" someone asked.
"Plant peanuts and corn." Molly didn't hide it; once they grew, everyone would see.
"It gets cold here at the end of October. Will we be able to harvest peanuts and corn?" someone expressed doubt.
“Back in my hometown, we grow two crops a year. I don’t know if it’s possible here, but I’d like to give it a try,” Molly said.
“It definitely won’t work here. Here, they only plant one crop a year. They sow in April or May and harvest in September or October.” Some people concluded that Molly’s idea of planting two crops a year was wishful thinking.
Molly also knew that the planting cycle here was long; the peanuts she planted took more than four months to harvest.
"Thank you for your guidance, sister-in-law. But I still want to give it a try."
"Molly, did you keep the peanut seeds I asked you to save?" One of the sisters-in-law started to worry that Molly might have ruined their peanut seeds.
Molly nodded. "I'll keep it."
"I'll go get it tonight," the sister-in-law said.
Upon hearing this, the others chimed in, "We'll go too."
Molly: "......."
Is she some kind of untrustworthy person?
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