Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 127: No Free Order Again

Chen Fan parked the donkey cart, but before he could speak, an older woman inside shouted, "No parking at the entrance, move it further away."

Hearing this, Chen Fan didn't argue with her. He obediently pulled the donkey cart to the door of a nearby house that was closed, then walked to the shop and asked in a friendly manner, "Ma'am, may I ask you who Wang Xiaoling is?"

He wouldn't dare argue with a public servant; before he transmigrated, the internet was full of jokes about "not being allowed to beat or scold customers."

Look, the signs all say "Do not beat or scold customers at will".

So, as long as there's a legitimate reason, doesn't that mean you can beat or verbally abuse customers?!

Therefore, Chen Fan would absolutely not give them a chance to beat him up!

Hearing him call her "elder sister," the woman's expression softened considerably. Looking at Chen Fan's handsome face, her expression instantly brightened, and she said with a smile, "Oh, you're looking for Wang Xiaoling? What's your relationship with her?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "It was her sister, Wang Xiaofang, who sent me to find her."

The older woman said "Oh," turned around, and called out, "Xiaoling, someone is looking for you. They said your sister Xiaofang sent him."

A woman in her thirties stood up from behind the counter, and if I'm not mistaken, her face, half white and half red, indicated that she was sleeping face down.

Chen Fan silently complained to himself, "Sleeping on my stomach in this cold weather, aren't you afraid of catching a cold?"

Wang Xiaoling didn't come out from behind the counter. She walked to the end of the aisle behind the counter, glanced at Chen Fan, then looked at Jiang Lili standing behind Chen Fan, who was wrapped up tightly, and asked, "What's the matter? How do you know her?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I'm acquainted with Master Zhu from the food station. Sister Fang knew I was coming to buy something, so she told me to look for you."

Before Wang Xiaoling could speak, the middle-aged woman sitting at the door like a guardian deity had her eyes light up. "Are you acquainted with Master Zhu? Master Zhu has very high standards; ordinary people don't meet his expectations. How did you two meet?"

Chen Fan gritted his teeth slightly.

Damn it, I just came here to buy some things, and you guys keep bombarding me with questions, like a million whys?

But there was no other way. The only place he could buy what he needed was the supply and marketing cooperative. They weren't very friendly, but he couldn't be rude. Otherwise, not being able to buy anything was a minor issue compared to getting a beating.

He then said softly, "I am Chen Fan, the broadcaster of the Lujiawan production team. Master Zhu came to our team to slaughter pigs, and that's how we met."

Today, he is recognized wherever he goes, even by those who have never seen him before. This shows that he has a certain degree of fame in Nanhu Commune. Now that his shopping is not going well, he can only resort to his reputation to see if it will help.

Not bad, as it turns out, his fame was indeed quite popular in Nanhu Commune.

Upon hearing that he was Chen Fan from Lujiawan, the aunt and Wang Xiaoling instantly became ten times more enthusiastic.

"Oh, so you're Master Chen! You should have said so earlier."

"From now on, you can just come directly. You don't need to mention my sister's name. She's always trying to be a good person and bringing people here, which gives me a headache. You're different; you can just come directly if you need anything. You want to buy something, right? What do you want? I'll pick it out for you!"

Then, in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere, Chen Fan bought everything he could.

16斤富强粉、1斤白砂糖、2斤菜籽油、10尺蓝色工业布、1条牡丹烟、1块肥皂、2两盐。

面粉1毛5一斤、白糖7毛8一斤、菜籽油8毛8一斤、工业布3毛8一尺、牡丹烟4块9一条、肥皂3毛钱一块、盐1毛6一斤。

It cost a total of 13.97 yuan. Surprisingly, the biggest expense was cigarettes.

Chen Fan originally wanted to spend all 20 jin of charcoal coupons, but because it was already winter and charcoal was in short supply, with priority given to supplying large cities, there was a shortage of charcoal in this small Nanhu Commune, so he had to give up.

Wang Xiaoling not only selected the best goods for him, but also enthusiastically helped him put them on the carriage before reluctantly waving goodbye.

As Jiang Lili drove the donkey cart towards the veterinary station, she saw Chen Fan's face suddenly fall, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing. Chen Fan turned his head and glanced at her, "Don't think that just because your face is covered, I don't know you're secretly laughing."

Jiang Lili lowered her head, her voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz, "N-no."

Chen Fan shook his head and chuckled, "It's okay, laugh if you want to, I'm not losing out anyway."

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and smiled, "From now on, you'll be a celebrity in Nanhu Commune too."

Chen Fan curled his lip and said, "What's so good about being a celebrity? People are afraid of becoming famous, just like pigs are afraid of getting fat..."

At this point, he suddenly pulled the donkey cart to a halt and slapped himself on the forehead, yelling, "Pig!"

He then looked at Jiang Lili and asked, "Where can I buy piglets?"

He had previously mentioned that he wanted to raise pigs. The production team basically didn't issue meat coupons, so if you wanted to eat meat, you had to raise pigs yourself. After completing the purchase quota, some meat coupons would be distributed proportionally.

So unless he frequently comes to town to buy black market tickets, he has to raise his own meat if he wants to eat it.

Jiang Lili pointed ahead and said, "Next to the veterinary station is the breeding station. You can buy piglets there, and occasionally lambs and rabbits too. But they only open for half a day in the morning, and then they go down to the production teams to collect piglets in the afternoon."

Chen Fan was puzzled upon hearing this, "There are lambs and rabbits too? And the piglets were also produced in the commune?"

Jiang Lili nodded. "They will assign tasks to the production teams, and when the time comes, they will go and buy back the piglets and then sell them to farmers who need them. The lambs and rabbits are collected as well."

He paused for a moment, then explained, "The food station assigns purchase quotas to every household, and there will be penalties if they fail to meet them. So we have to ensure that the commune members' families can buy piglets smoothly, otherwise they will push the responsibility onto the commune."

Chen Fan nodded slightly, "To complete the acquisition task, we need to ensure the supply of piglets. It's reasonable to have both in and out."

Then he couldn't help but laugh, "So the breeding station doesn't raise livestock themselves, and the tasks are all assigned to the production teams?"

Jiang Lili nodded, then shook her head. "There are also breeding stations that raise their own livestock. It's just that Nanhu Commune is relatively small, and there aren't many suitable breeding masters. So we simply assign the tasks to them. This way, the production team can earn more income, and the breeding stations can save time and effort."

After chatting for a while, we arrived at the entrance of the veterinary station.

Since the pig farm is not open in the afternoon, he can only wait until tomorrow morning to come and select piglets.

I happened to have arranged to have drinks with Master Zhu tomorrow at noon, so we'll get things done together.

Upon entering the backyard of the veterinary station, Xiao Ma had finished her IV drip and looked much better. When she saw Chen Fan, she immediately struggled to get up.

Xiao Ma's commotion alerted Station Chief Zhou and the others on the other side, and they turned around and saw Chen Fan.

Chen Fan parked the donkey cart, picked up the foal that had run over, rubbed its head, looked at the huge pile of horse manure in the shed, and then looked at the foal itself. It was alright, it wasn't dirty.

Station Master Zhou walked over and said, "Your horse is fine now. I'll give you some medicine to take back later. If it doesn't get worse, you don't need to come back."

Chen Fan thanked him repeatedly.

Station Chief Zhou smiled and waved his hand, "You don't need to thank me. I should thank you. Now we have another way to deal with this kind of severe gastroenteritis."

Chen Fan laughed it off.

Saying thank you won't help, they're not giving you a free meal.

Although the treatment wasn't free, the books the veterinary station gave him were quite valuable, so this was a huge profit for him.

(End of this chapter)