Chapter 988

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Dashan was uncertain whether tea oil was available this season, so he called his mother Li Xiulan in advance to ask about the situation.

"Mom, I want to ask you something — is there tea oil back in the hometown right now?"

Li Xiulan thought for a moment:

"Old Zhang from the neighboring village seems to have planted quite a lot of tea seeds; it's tea seed harvest season now, so there should be tea oil. Why do you ask?"

Wang Dashan said:

"Xiao Juan said she wants to get some tea oil to apply on her belly to prevent stretch marks; she's afraid of buying fakes online, so she asked me to ask you."

Li Xiulan said:

"That's simple. I'll go to the neighboring village to ask Old Zhang in a bit; if he doesn't have any, I'll ask elsewhere — I'll definitely get you some tea oil!"

"Alright then; when you get it, give me a call."

Li Xiulan hung up Wang Dashan's call and immediately walked to the neighboring village to find Old Zhang.

Old Zhang's name is Zhang Shulin; in previous years he specialized in planting sand sugar oranges, but in recent years the sand sugar oranges suffered from citrus greening disease, the fruit trees died in large patches, and the more he planted the more he lost money, so in recent years he switched to planting tea seed trees.

Tea plants are easy to manage; once planted they don't need much pesticide, just occasional fertilizing, and they grow very well.

Coinciding with the rise in tea seed oil prices these past two years, Zhang Shulin made a lot of money.

Quite a few villagers from the nearby villages have already started following suit and planting tea trees.

"Old Zhang, does your family have tea oil?"

Li Xiulan arrived at Zhang Shulin's house and asked directly without beating around the bush.

A simple, honest smile appeared on Zhang Shulin's bronze-colored face:

"Yes, what a coincidence — I just went to the oil mill to press a batch of tea seeds yesterday! This tea oil is very fresh! How much do you want?"

"How much per catty?" Li Xiulan asked.

"Fifty yuan per catty!" Zhang Shulin answered.

Li Xiulan was immediately surprised: "That expensive!"

Zhang Shulin laughed heartily:

"Mine is already cheap; if you go to town to buy it's fifty-five yuan per catty. Tea oil has low yield — it's not as cheap as peanut oil!"

"Alright then, give me ten catties!"

Although Li Xiulan thought it was expensive, she gritted her teeth and bought ten catties directly.

After all, this was for her eldest daughter-in-law.

She definitely wouldn't spend it on herself.

But for her eldest daughter-in-law, she was very generous.

Actually Du Xiaojuan wouldn't need that much at all; even if she applied tea oil on her belly every day until delivery, at most she'd use one or two catties.

Li Xiulan thought: better to buy more than less.

Anyway, tea oil can not only be used as a skincare product but also for stir-frying!

Upon learning Li Xiulan wanted ten catties of tea oil, Zhang Shulin happily measured it out for her.

There were special oil drums for tea oil here — five-catty, ten-catty, fifty-catty sizes.

Zhang Shulin took a ten-catty drum, filled it to the brim, then put it on the scale.

"Ten catties and two liang; the extra two liang I won't charge you for." Zhang Shulin looked very generous, all smiles.

That's how he does business.

Especially generous to fellow villagers.

After all, everyone knows each other — you see each other every day.

"Then thank you, Old Zhang! If I need tea oil again later, I'll come buy from you!"

Li Xiulan, having gotten a bargain, was very grateful to Zhang Shulin.

Zhang Shulin asked with a smile:

"You're buying this tea oil for your daughter-in-law, right?"

"How did you know?" Li Xiulan was surprised.

Zhang Shulin said:

"Nowadays it's popular to use tea oil on pregnant bellies; already several people have come to buy tea oil for their daughters-in-law. I figured your eldest daughter-in-law is pregnant too, right?"

Li Xiulan laughed:

"Yes, my eldest son specially called back to ask if there was tea oil back home, so I hung up and came straight to ask you."

Zhang Shulin said:

"When your second and third daughters-in-law get pregnant, remember to come buy tea oil from me too — I'll give you a discount!"

"Okay okay, when the time comes I'll definitely come buy tea oil from you!"

Li Xiulan carried the ten catties of tea oil home, then took out five hundred yuan in cash from the bedroom and went back to pay Zhang Shulin.

She had only brought a hundred yuan earlier, thinking a hundred would be enough; she didn't expect tea oil to be this expensive — ten catties cost five hundred yuan.

The money wasn't enough, so she took the tea oil home first, then went back to pay.

After buying the tea oil, Li Xiulan called Wang Dashan.

"Dashan, the tea oil's been bought — freshly pressed from Old Zhang's in the neighboring village. Are you coming back to get it yourself, or should I send it down?"

"So fast?" Wang Dashan was surprised by his own mother's speed of action; he truly hadn't expected Li Xiulan to buy the tea oil back so quickly. "Then I'll make time to go back to my hometown tomorrow; that'll save you the trouble of personally delivering it."

Wang Dashan was actually quite busy, but he couldn't bear to let his mother fuss over him like this.

Although road conditions are now much better than before, taking a vehicle from Shangou Village to Guangzhou is still very troublesome.

You have to take a bus to the County Town, then from the County Town take a long-distance bus down to Guangzhou; once in Guangzhou, you still have to transfer to reach Wang Dashan's villa.

So it's still better for Wang Dashan to drive home directly to get it, and bring that big durian back for his parents to eat along the way.

Speaking of which, his parents seem to have never eaten durian in their entire lives.

They'd definitely be very happy eating it!

In the blink of an eye it was the next day; Wang Dashan mentioned to Hu Wanjia that he wasn't going to the Company this morning and would only go over in the afternoon. Hu Wanjia had no opinion on this; after all, the Company is now developing steadily, and Wang Dashan is also one of the bosses of Wanjia Commodities — they don't have a superior-subordinate relationship.

Him saying a word to him is out of respect for him.

This is the benefit of being your own boss.

Although very busy, if something comes up, you can leave at any time.

No need to go through the troublesome leave-request process.

Wang Dashan drove back to his hometown, carrying that big Golden Pillow durian into the house.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back!"

"Yo, what'd you bring back?"

Seeing the durian Wang Dashan was carrying, Li Xiulan's face showed surprise.

"This is durian!" Wang Dashan said with a smile. "This was specially bought by Xiao Juan to give to you two; it's very expensive — one costs several hundred yuan. She said you two haven't eaten durian before, so let you have a taste!"

Hearing this, both Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen's old faces revealed brilliant smiles.

"This child Xiao Juan is truly becoming more and more sensible!"

Even Wang Zhanggen praised Du Xiaojuan endlessly.

But this is normal too; now Du Xiaojuan is not only pregnant with a child, but also shows such filial piety to them as parents-in-law — she simply has no faults to pick at!

"Dashan, this is the tea oil I bought; you put it in the trunk first, so you don't forget to take it when you go back!"

"Okay, Mom!" Wang Dashan carried that bucket of tea oil and put it in the trunk.

Couldn't help but say:

"Mom, you bought way too much, right? Xiao Juan won't be able to use this much!"

Li Xiulan said with a hearty laugh:

"No matter; if we can't use it all we'll use it for stir-frying — eating tea oil has many benefits!"

Wang Dashan could only smile and say nothing more.

Wang Zhanggen's voice came from inside the house:

"How do you open this durian? It's covered in thorns!"

Wang Dashan hurried inside:

"Dad, let me open it!"

Wang Dashan entered the house and opened the durian.

A stench immediately wafted through the Living Room.

Wang Zhanggen couldn't help but frown:

"This thing smells this bad — can it really be eaten?"

Li Xiulan also found it smelly, but still said cheerfully:

"I've heard people say: it smells foul but tastes fragrant!"

Wang Dashan opened the durian, took out the durian flesh and put it on a Plate, then gave it to Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen to taste.

Wang Zhanggen only ate one piece and couldn't take it anymore:

"Both stinky and sweet; the taste is just so-so, not that delicious at all — why's it so expensive?"

He wasn't used to this kind of flavor.

Li Xiulan was even more unaccustomed to it; her teeth were originally bad, and eating something this sweet, her teeth couldn't stand it.

But she still said with a smile:

"Xiao Juan bought it, so you just eat it — what's with all the nonsense!"