The capital city is as prosperous and noisy as ever. This city with an increasingly large population is like a monster, devouring huge supplies and also producing huge commodities.
South District Xincheng Oil Street, Oil Street, as the name suggests, all the shops opened here sell various types of oil.
Here you can buy a variety of oils. Camellia oil and rapeseed oil from the south are people’s favorite. Although tea oil has a bitter taste, it is excellent for the body. Although rapeseed oil It's big, but it has always been the favorite of Jiangnan people.
The olive oil from Europe is gradually being accepted by everyone, and it is the best for salad dressings. Of course, if you have no money and your family income is tight, you can buy lard and sheep fat from the Western Regions and rivers. Oil and butter, which were not available to anyone before, are now extremely cheap.
Of course, in addition to these edible oils, the most sold oil on Oil Street is naturally the oil used for lighting.
Candle oil shops can be found everywhere, but candles are generally used by families without money. For people in the capital, whale oil is naturally the most popular one.
Whale oil is resistant to burning and has no smell. The most important thing is that there is no smoke. It is an ideal lighting oil. At night, every household will light a whale oil lamp.
At night, whale oil lamps illuminate thousands of homes, lighting up the night in the capital, and the night markets are even brightly lit.
Shopkeeper Peng came to Oil Street as usual to buy a batch of whale oil lamps to go back to. As the owner of a night market store, his store business is often concentrated at night.
Everyone is at work during the day, and only in the evening do they have time to go shopping. Therefore, the night market in Xincheng, South District, is very lively at night.
Naturally, a large amount of whale oil is consumed every day. For the sake of business, these bosses also try their best to make their stores brighter, so that it is more convenient for customers to come and consume.
"Shopkeeper Miao, as usual, bring me a barrel of whale oil and deliver it to my shop."
It was better to go to the familiar oil store and speak directly without any nonsense.
"Shopkeeper Peng, shopkeeper Peng~"
"Please sit down for a moment. Sit down for a moment."
Seeing an acquaintance, Shopkeeper Peng, coming over, Shopkeeper Miao quickly smiled and said, "This whale oil is in short supply right now, and the price has also risen a lot. I have to tell you about this."
"The price has increased again?"
When shopkeeper Peng heard this, he immediately shouted out that the whale oil was getting more expensive day by day.
"Yeah, there's nothing we can do about it. The price we get now has risen to 2 taels of silver per barrel. You are my old customer. I will only earn you 500 cents. What do you think?"
Shopkeeper Miao also quickly explained: "There are fewer and fewer whales now, and there are fewer and fewer whales. The whale oil coming now comes from Shandong, Nanzhili, Tianjin and so on." There is very little whale oil now, and the whalers have all gone south."
"There are no more whales?"
Shopkeeper Peng was also dumbfounded, thought for a while and said: A few years ago, the business of those whaling ships was very good. It is said that whales can be seen everywhere in the Bohai Bay."
"That was a few years ago. Nowadays, whaling is so fierce. Not only are there few whales in the Bohai Bay, but it is also difficult to catch fish."
"Many of the fish coming here now come from Zhejiang. The waters in Zhejiang are very fishy. Now many fishing firms and the like have moved to Songhu."
"Also, many people are now going to Japan to fish and hunt whales. In the future, there will be less whale oil and the price will be higher."
"It seems that the imperial court also intends to ban whaling in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. It says that we cannot exhaust the lake to catch fish, but we must leave some seeds for future generations."
Shopkeeper Miao explained with a smile.
"What should I do?"
"If there is no whale oil, how will we be able to light up at night?"
"You can't light candles, that would be too classy."
Shopkeeper Peng nodded slightly after hearing this. He had also read about this in the newspaper. There were fewer and fewer whaling ships and fishing ships in Tianjin, and they were all heading towards the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.
"Isn't that right~"
"We can't let everyone continue to work as the sun rises and rest as before. There is no problem in the countryside, but we are in the city. Many factories even have to light up the lights at night to work overtime when they are rushing out goods. .”
Shopkeeper Miao also nodded and said.
"Dang~dang~"
At this moment, a sound of gongs and drums sounded outside.
"The kerosene store is open, the kerosene store is open~"
"Big opening rewards, big opening rewards."
Gu Yu
"Buy two barrels and get one free. One barrel only costs 200 Wen. It is no worse than whale oil for lighting. Come and buy it quickly. Don't miss it when you pass by. Cheap and easy-to-use kerosene is here!"
Hearing the sound, Shopkeepers Peng and Miao hurried out and took a look. It was a newly opened oil store that was advertising and promoting with great fanfare.
"kerosene?"
"What kind of oil is kerosene?"
The two people looked at each other and quickly looked over curiously.
I saw a series of oil lamps hanging at the door of the kerosene store. These oil lamps were filled with glass bottles, and you could see the transparent and slightly yellow oil inside.
Look at the burning of each lamp, they are very stable, and there is not much smoke, only a slight smell.
"Boss, what kind of kerosene is this?"
Shopkeeper Peng came over, looked at it carefully, and asked curiously.
"This kerosene is refined from petroleum. You can take a look. This kerosene is a little different from the whale oil we usually burn, but the effect is similar. It burns very stably and has no smoke or odor. The key is It’s also very convenient to add, just open the hole and pour the oil in.”
"Of course, the most important thing is that this kerosene is very cheap. A full barrel of it only costs 200 Wen. Now you can get one for free if you buy two barrels at once."
"The price can be said to be very cheap, and it is also very resistant to burning. It is definitely the best choice for everyone's lighting."
When the waiter heard about it, he quickly started selling it hard.
“A bucket full of 200 yuan is really not expensive~”
"Looking at the way it's burning, it does look pretty good."
"Bring me a bucket and try it first."
Someone heard it on the spot and paid for it.
It's really too cheap, 200 taels of silver per barrel. An oil barrel of the same size and whale oil cost at least 2 taels of silver. This one only costs 200 taels of silver. The price difference is more than ten times.
"What kind of oil is this oil?"
Shopkeeper Peng asked curiously.
"Petroleum is fire oil, the kind of black oil that sticks to it."
"Now the professors and students of Daming Institute of Technology have developed technology that can extract various high-quality oils from petroleum. Kerosene is one of them, and it is the best for lighting."
"It's very cheap and very stable. When paired with kerosene and our special kerosene lamp, it can be hung on a carriage or bicycle to provide good lighting even at night."
The waiter explained while taking out a special kerosene lamp.
"Kerosene lamp~"
When Shopkeeper Peng heard this, he looked at it carefully again.
The waiter also lit the kerosene lamp, and then held it in his hand and kept shaking it. However, no matter how he shook it, the burning of the kerosene lamp was still very stable, and the light was abundant. The lampshade on the top of the kerosene lamp can emit light and concentrate the light below.
.
"This thing is very good!"
Shopkeeper Peng couldn't help but admire it when he saw it.
"If you think it's good, why don't you buy a few barrels of kerosene and go back?"
“It happens to be opening today and there are discounts.”
When the waiter heard this, he quickly smiled and said.
"Okay, give me two barrels to try first to see if this kerosene works well."
Shopkeeper Peng thought about it and nodded.
This kerosene is so cheap, and it is very cost-effective anyway. I use a lot of oil in my store, so this whale oil is getting more and more expensive, and the key is that it may become less and less in the future.
Now that kerosene is available, if it is like what they say, then it will be very good to use kerosene in the future.
"Bring me two buckets, bring me two buckets."
Other people watching the excitement also spoke up one after another. The kerosene looked really good. It was cheap, very bright when lit, and resistant to burning. It didn’t have much smell or smoke. This was enough.
Well, ordinary people can’t afford to burn whale oil.