Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 10 still has a decimal point?
He didn't recognize any of the large group of women, but a few looked somewhat familiar; he guessed they were the ones he had seen having a commotion in the courtyard that morning.

Chen Fan grinned and greeted them politely, "Ah, fetching water."

He then squatted down again, striving and forging ahead... and started walking after picking up the buckets of water.

It's only a little over 90 pounds! Keep going, you can do it!

Then, he slowly and unsteadily made his way up the stairs.

Despite bearing a weight far exceeding his capacity, he still couldn't escape being ridiculed when passing by this group of women.

"Hey, your bucket isn't full yet. It's not even half full."

"You should fill the water container to eight-tenths full; you need to fill it with more water, as running back and forth is too much work."

"Why are you grabbing the handle? You should grab the rope. Don't pull on it, just hold on."

"Young scholar, you need to eat more, three big bowls at a time, so you'll have the strength to work."

"It looks quite tall, but it's just for show."

"If this body were to work in the fields, it would probably only earn a maximum of 5 work points a day."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to help with Huang Laosi's house construction in a few days."

"Who said that? You can help me eat."

If it were a young person, they would probably blush and feel ashamed.

However, Chen Fan is already a seasoned veteran. Not to mention that he has been in the workplace for several years, he can handle the scolding from clients and the questioning from his boss with a straight face. Even back in the orphanage, he heard plenty of sarcastic remarks. These are nothing compared to what he has heard.

Not worth mentioning!
However, there were also those who spoke up for him.

"He's a scholar, do you think you're like him? You can't read a single word, all you know how to do is brute force."

"He's just like that cadre Zhao who came down last year. He's not as good as you at work, and you're not as good as him at writing."

Then the topic started to veer off course.

"Hey, do you guys think any more cadres will be coming down next year?"

"Who knows? If you get a good cadre, they can stay for two or three years. If you get a bad one, you can replace two or three a year. If it's like that, I'd rather they not come at all."

"If you encounter a good cadre, it will still be beneficial. Wasn't that cadre Fan from a few years ago? He led everyone to work together and even gave Captain Yang extra lessons. Otherwise, Captain Yang wouldn't have been promoted so quickly."

"That's true, that's true."

"Anyway, we'll know after the New Year when spring plowing begins. They'll definitely send cadres for spring plowing, even if there aren't any permanent ones."

……

Chen Fan gritted his teeth and walked step by step to the halfway point of the slope. His shoulders were already aching so badly that he had no time to listen to their gossip.

Despite wearing a cotton-padded coat, which served as a protective layer, he had never carried water before and knew nothing about the techniques. Not only did his shoulders ache, but the carrying pole was also unruly, constantly trying to escape.

After transmigrating, my body seems to be quite weak. My skin and flesh have become tender. Considering my constitution of 6 points and strength of 5 points, I'm probably comparable to Lin Daiyu, yet I have to carry a load of nearly 100 pounds.

What terrible things have they done?!
Moreover, being halfway up the slope, there wasn't even a place to put the bucket, so he couldn't switch shoulders. He could only grit his teeth and try to quicken his pace, panting as he climbed up the embankment.

As soon as I got to the embankment, I quickly put down the bucket and rubbed my shoulder, which was burning with pain.

Chen Fan, panting heavily, sighed inwardly, "My body's not doing well."

Even if I had worked in an office in my past life, I wouldn't have been this tired from carrying this load of water. Is this because I'm dressed well or worn out?

To put it bluntly, my physical condition is worse than in my previous life. To put it bluntly, I've become younger, and despite just recovering from a serious illness, the feeling of being full of energy is undeniable.

There's nothing I can do but wait until I complete the task and see if there are any rewards for increasing my physique or strength.

Otherwise, you'll have to put training and fitness on your schedule and find a way to get your body in shape as soon as possible.

He caught his breath and shifted his shoulder to continue. This time it was downhill, and downhill was much harder than uphill.

Carrying a load of water, they moved it downhill little by little, afraid that if they lost their footing, they would tumble down and perish along with the bucket.

After finally managing to move down the slope, Chen Fan quickly put his head down and switched shoulders again.

He had to change his carrying pole three times for the last 50 meters, which really took a lot of effort, but he finally managed to carry the water into the yard.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he put down the bucket. He figured he'd better carry it across the yard; his shoulders were burning with pain, and he simply couldn't take it anymore.

First, I placed the carrying pole against the wall and turned around. Then I saw two bamboo tripods in the yard, with a bamboo pole across the frame and a cotton quilt draped over them, fluttering in the wind.

It looks like the bed I used to sleep in.

There were two benches next to it, supporting two bamboo poles. A bamboo curtain was spread out on the bamboo poles, covered with a thick layer of straw, and weighed down by the two bamboo poles to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.

At this moment, Jiang Lili emerged from the corner of the kitchen, carrying an empty bucket on her shoulder. When she saw Chen Fan, she gave a stiff smile and then said, "You were sweating a lot last night, and the mattress and blanket were all wet, so I brought them out to air them."

Chen Fan nodded quickly, "Oh, thank you!"

It really is mine?

He paused for a moment, then asked with some curiosity, "Whose blanket is this?"

Jiang Lili walked over and said softly, "Captain Yang brought them over, but he didn't say anything. The straw was taken from the haystack in the backyard; it was all the top ones that had dried out. Captain Yang also brought the straw mat."

Then he pointed to his room and said, “I just poured hot water into the teapot in your room. Take a rest and have some water. I’ll go get another load.”

As she spoke, she noticed that Chen Fan's bucket was only half full of water. Her lips twitched slightly, as if she wanted to laugh but dared not, but she remained silent.

Having carried a load of water, Chen Fan dared not push himself any further, nor did he ask her to put him down. He simply nodded and smiled, "Thank you."

He then looked around, "Where is the water tank?"

Jiang Lili immediately turned around and pointed to the place where she had just come out, "There's a small shed right next to the house. You'll see it when you go over there."

"okay."

Chen Fan picked up a bucket of water in each hand and walked over there with small, quick steps.

Jiang Lili glanced at his back, a smile finally appearing on her face, but she quickly suppressed it, cautiously looked towards the door, picked up the empty buckets, and went out.

Chen Fan walked to the edge of the kitchen and noticed that there was a canopy built between the outermost house and the yard wall. The canopy extended all the way to the kitchen, forming a continuous structure. The canopy looked like a small house with one wall missing and a door opening. The side without a wall naturally led to the backyard.

Behind the house was an even larger yard, with two rows of fields planted with vegetables. The cabbages and radishes were growing quite well. In the farthest corner, there was a wooden outhouse and a long shed against the wall, the purpose of which was unknown.

On the side closest to the courtyard wall, there was a large water vat, about one meter high. On the other side, against the wall of the house, there were many long-handled farm tools, including flails for threshing soybeans and rice, rakes for gripping the ground, hoes for loosening the soil, shovels for digging, as well as several carrying poles and baskets. However, there were no "large" farm tools such as windmills or mixing buckets, nor were there any small-handled sickles, which were probably inside the house.

These farm tools were all wiped clean, which is probably mostly thanks to Jiang Lili.

Chen Fan looked around, then removed half of the lid and poured the water from the bucket into the water tank.

Actually, there was still a little more than half a tank of water left. Perhaps Jiang Lili was afraid that there wouldn't be enough, or perhaps she was just a restless person, which is why she thought of filling the tank to the brim.

However, how many buckets of water would it take to fill such a large water vat?
Chen Fan finally caught his breath, but he was still struggling with whether or not to go for a second trip.

Just then, a "ding" sound was heard: "First completion of the water-carrying task, reward: Constitution +0.5, current Constitution: 6.5."

Chen Fan's eyes widened in disbelief. A reward with a decimal point?
Then I felt a surge of heat through my body. Although it was fleeting, the pain in my shoulder completely subsided, as if it had never hurt at all.

Is 0.5 really that powerful?

Seeing that it was effective, Chen Fan was motivated and immediately picked up the two buckets and went outside.

It's just carrying water, what's there for a real man to be afraid of!

(End of this chapter)