Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 124 Procurement
With medication, injections, and IV drips administered simultaneously, and comforted by Chen Fan, the foal remained obediently lying in the haystack throughout.

Then look at that mule tied to the wooden frame, braying so loudly it's earth-shattering. If you knew it was being treated, you'd think it was being slaughtered.

Master Liu stood next to the horse and waited for Station Chief Zhou to finish hanging up the IV drip before smiling and saying, "This horse is destined to be with Xiao Chen. This morning, so many people came and went in front of it, but it ignored everyone. As soon as Xiao Chen came over, it rushed into his arms and even shed tears. It turns out that Xiao Chen really is its savior. This horse is very intelligent."

Upon hearing this, Station Chief Zhou looked at Chen Fan with surprise. "Oh, you didn't mention this earlier. It seems that young Master Chen is truly born to be a veterinarian."

Master Liu rolled his eyes and surprisingly advised from the side, "Xiao Chen, listen to my advice. Although a broadcaster is also a 'coordinator,' it's still not as good as being a veterinarian."

The broadcaster's work points are fixed, 10 points a day. But the veterinarian, in addition to 10 work points, also receives attendance allowances and various labor insurances. When he goes to other people's houses for house calls, they treat him to good wine and meat. Over the course of a year, he probably earns more work points than I do raising livestock.

However, this job is much easier than raising livestock, and it pays more than being a broadcaster. It's a dream job that many people can only dream of. If you ask me, being a veterinarian is really better than being a broadcaster.

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. "You can't be trying to trick me into becoming a professional veterinarian just so you can make it easier to treat livestock in the future, can you?"

Even if he had considered becoming a veterinarian before, he only wanted to do it part-time, and then step in when other veterinarians couldn't solve the problem, like a chief specialist.

He couldn't stand dealing with livestock all day long.

Hearing Master Liu's advice, he shook his head and laughed, "I'm just copying what others do. If I really wanted to be a veterinarian, I definitely wouldn't be as good as Station Chief Zhou. Forget it, forget it."

Seeing his determination, Station Master Zhou and Master Liu said no more.

Chen Fan glanced at the IV drip, estimating it would take another hour to finish. After calming Xiao Ma down, he greeted Master Liu and then set off on the donkey cart, asking Jiang Lili to take him out to buy things.

As soon as they stepped out of the veterinary station, Chen Fan asked, "What is a coordinating worker?"

Jiang Lili: "Oh, the coordinator is someone who works at the brigade headquarters."

Chen Fan was somewhat surprised, "So Secretary Yang and the others are also coordinators?"

Jiang Lili nodded, "The brigade cadres, private school teachers, barefoot doctors, village veterinarians, and agricultural technicians are all part of the overall coordination work."

Since the brigade headquarters itself was unmanned and the commune would not send anyone, the only way to use personnel was to draw them from the various teams.

To ensure fairness, the union will draw lots from the teams with the largest number of members, so that the teams with more members will draw more lots and thus will not delay the production and labor of the teams.

Secretary Yang was actually from Team 4, Captain Zhang and Captain Xiao were from Team 5, and Captain Ye was from Team 7. These were the teams with the most members.

The work points for coordinating workers were different from those of commune members; they were awarded 10 points for each day of the year, and brigade cadres received an additional 365% bonus for working overtime, such as attending meetings late at night.

At this point, she suddenly smiled and said, "You are the first coordinator for Team 6."

Unfortunately, she was still wearing a veil, so we couldn't see her smile; we could only see her eyes curving into two crescent moons.

Chen Fan nodded in realization, "I see."

He then asked, "So, doesn't everyone want to become a coordinator?"

Jiang Lili nodded, "The overall planning worker doesn't have to work in the fields, the work is much easier than farming, and the work points are higher, so of course everyone wants to be one."

However, being a coordinator requires ability. For example, Company Commander Zhang defeated more than a dozen opponents to become the militia company commander. Sister Yang Xingxiu is also eloquent and has mediated many family conflicts, upholding justice for women. Everyone respects her, which is why she became the women's director.

As she spoke, she looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Take you for example. You can repair radios, speak Mandarin, and write articles for newspapers. If we made you a broadcaster, no one in the team would object."

Chen Fan chuckled. He suddenly realized that besides being a broadcaster, he was also a data clerk and a communications officer. Could it be considered that he had taken someone else's opportunity?

But as Jiang Lili said, without this ability, one cannot be a coordinator.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to take on this role. Before long, they arrived at the Stone Workshop.

The two went straight in and bought a small stone mill with a diameter of one foot.

He originally thought it would be very expensive, after all, carving such a stone mill is not easy, but he didn't expect that the labor and materials only cost 4 yuan, which made him think that the stonemason had misquoted 1.

He only confirmed the price was correct after the receipt was issued.

As soon as he stepped outside, he asked Jiang Lili.

Jiang Lili was used to his lack of common sense and patiently explained, "These small stone mills are not expensive. The large stone mills that must be pulled by a donkey are expensive. They are not only expensive, costing several tens of yuan, but also require a stonemason to recarve the groove after each grinding. This takes two days and costs a total of 4 yuan in labor fees."

Small stone mills require little material and are easy to carve; a craftsman can carve one in two or three days. Many households buy them, so this is generally the price.

After leaving the stone archway, we went to the repair shop.

Most of the shops here repair iron tools, such as shovels and hoes. Chen Fan also saw a few small iron pots with holes in the corner. He had only ever seen aluminum pots being repaired, but this was the first time he had ever seen iron pots being repaired.

Unfortunately, the blacksmith is currently forging a wood-chopping knife and hasn't showcased his skill in mending iron pots.

He didn't come for the iron pot.

I took out the pendulum spring from the old alarm clock and showed it to the coppersmith in the corner. The coppersmith said that this little thing could be fixed in ten minutes and told me to come and pick it up later.

Chen Fan also ordered a copper belt buckle from him, which he would pick up in half an hour.

Although I didn't run into anyone selling belts today, I might get them someday. I'll get the belt buckles ready first.

After leaving the repair shop, Chen Fan turned into a bookstore not far away.

The bookstore was small, with only four A-shaped bookshelves. I looked around the bookstore but didn't find any good books.

Surprisingly, the most abundant items here are comic books, with a colorful bookshelf filled with them. However, the content is relatively limited, mostly consisting of revolutionary stories, unlike the diverse selection available in the 80s.

Chen Fan went around twice, but in the end he still bought a complete set of anthologies and a set of textbooks.

The anthology consists of four volumes; the fifth volume has not yet been released.

The textbooks covered the entire set from first grade to high school, without missing a single one.

So much so that when he checked out, the cashier was a little surprised and asked him why he bought so many textbooks.

Chen Fan naturally wouldn't say that he wanted to learn about the writing style and learning structure of this era through the textbook. He just made up a reason, saying that he was helping other people in the village with it, and then paid and left.

Anyway, these books don't involve anything, so I'm not afraid of anyone asking.

As he left, Chen Fan was still feeling fortunate that even in this era of ration coupons, there were still things that could be bought without coupons.

One was medicine, and the other was books; otherwise, he would have had to worry about where to find tickets.

Moreover, books are incredibly cheap these days, especially textbooks, which cost only two or three cents each. All these books together only cost a little over ten yuan.

Unable to find any interesting books at the bookstore, Chen Fan had a sudden thought when passing by a scrap metal recycling station: could he find something of value there?

It turned out he was overthinking it; there was nothing there except a pile of scrap metal.

(End of this chapter)