Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 150: Giving Them an Exam
After leaving the commune, Chen Fan took another road and went directly back to Team 6.

It was not yet 10 o'clock, and it was a bit early to eat, so he changed his clothes and went to the back to chop firewood.

For the rest of the time, apart from rushing back to the brigade in the afternoon to work for an hour, he was busy with various tasks, and even his meals were brought to him by Jiang Lili.

They worked until eight or nine o'clock at night, chopping all the miscellaneous trees into firewood, digging up a few tree roots to use as frames, placing several thick logs across them, and putting all the firewood on the frames to air dry.

He then carried more than a dozen loads of clay from the soil pile behind the kiln. He piled some of it near the kiln, intending to make a batch of pottery. He carried the rest to the yard to make adobe bricks, which he then arranged to build a clay stove.

As for the mud bricks that had already been made, they were used to build two nests for the chicks and the dog.

The chicken coop and doghouse were right next to the kitchen, which saved a wall space. A fire was lit to dry out the moisture, and a shelf was built on the mud wall with wooden sticks to store some things, which could also be considered an "attic". A single roof was built against the wall on top, and after being covered with straw, it looked like two simple and rustic little villas.

Jiang Lili stared at the two exquisite mud-brick houses, speechless with amazement. "These chicken coops and doghouses are so beautiful!"

Chen Fan, however, was not entirely satisfied. "The materials are still insufficient. The floor inside is made of wooden sticks pieced together. If it weren't for the straw padding, it would definitely be very uncomfortable. If we had a set of woodworking tools, we could make a few planks, which would be much more comfortable."

The educated youth settlement only had simple tools such as short saws, axes, and machetes, which were barely usable, but not enough for doing any delicate work.

As for Chen Fan wanting to buy a set of such tools, it's basically impossible at the moment.

First of all, the supply and marketing cooperative's store didn't have any of those. They only had hammers, axes, and saws; there were no specialized tools like planes, carving knives, or ink cartridges.

Secondly, Chen Fan can't afford it now.

I earned 157 yuan just two days ago, and now I only have 11.6 yuan left.

A cast iron pot costs 10 yuan, so how much would a complete set of woodworking tools cost?

Moreover, when Huang Laosi's family was building a house last time, he heard the carpenter say that the local carpenters seemed to make their own tools.

Only the iron parts were made by a blacksmith!
Therefore, he had to find another way to get a set of woodworking tools.

If all else fails, I can just spend a day at the commune's repair shop, hone my blacksmithing skills, and then I can start all over again from scratch and be self-reliant!
Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, Jiang Lili puffed out her cheeks and said, "It's already very good. If you look at it up close, it's even better than a house people live in."

She gestured with her hand to the "attic," saying, "If you build a small attic up there, you'll have an extra floor of space. Not only can you store things there, but if you board up the sides, it becomes a house. Isn't that great?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "In that case, there would be a lot of things to change. The structure would change, the construction process would change, and the positions of the beams and columns would have to be redesigned. Otherwise, even if people could live there, it wouldn't last many years before it collapsed."

Jiang Lili laughed and said, "You're so capable, I believe you can definitely do it."

Just as Chen Fan was about to speak, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Xiao Chen, are you asleep?"

Captain Yang?
Chen Fan and Jiang Lili exchanged a glance, and he immediately called out, "Captain, you're here."

Just as he was about to walk towards the door, Jiang Lili pulled him back, quickly waved her hand, and hurriedly slipped back into the room to close the door. Just before it was completely closed, she waved to Chen Fan to indicate that it was okay.

Chen Fan shook his head and smiled before going to open the door.

As soon as the courtyard gate opened, Captain Yang, Accountant Liu, and Warehouse Keeper Huang walked straight in.

Chen Fan asked with a smile, "Captain, is there something you need at this hour?"

Captain Yang glanced at Jiang Lili's room first, noticing the door was closed and the room was dark, before nodding slightly. He then looked at her and smiled, "There's something I need to discuss. I guessed you were reading and hadn't gone to sleep yet, which is why I came to find you at this hour..."

Before he could finish speaking, he noticed the pile of clay by the courtyard wall and the two small rooms near the kitchen, and he froze, asking, "What are you doing?"

Accountant Liu had already walked over, looked at the small hut, and then looked back at Chen Fan. "Don't tell me this is a chicken coop you built, is it?"

Chen Fan clenched his fists and chuckled, "Didn't I buy some chicks and two puppies the day before yesterday? I just built them a kennel." Accountant Liu clicked his tongue and said, "Wow, you really know a little bit about everything."

The storekeeper, Mr. Huang, looked on with a puzzled expression. "Even the chicken coop is built differently from everyone else's!"

She then turned to look at him and asked, "Did someone hear noises behind you? Was it you who made them?"

Chen Fan blinked. "Ah."

Immediately, his heart jumped, and he asked, "I heard that you don't need to report to cut down the miscellaneous trees behind the house, is that true?"

"No no."

The custodian, Huang, immediately waved his hand and said with a smile, "We didn't come here for that. What I mean is, if you want to clear the back of the residential land, just tell the team leader. There are over a hundred laborers in the village, and they can finish it for you in two days."

He paused for a moment, then deliberately teased, "Unless you can't bear to treat us to a few meals."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's not about a few meals. The main thing is that we took a lot of straw from the previous educated youth settlement and gave it to the pigs, horses and sheep to sleep on. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough firewood, so I went to the back to chop some."

Upon hearing this, the three of them lost interest.

Captain Yang gave a perfunctory reply, "Whenever you want to clear the wasteland behind, just let me know in advance. It's fine as long as it's not the busy farming season."

He then pointed to his room and said, "Come on, let's talk in your room."

The four entered the house, and Chen Fan poured a bowl of water for each of the three of them. He then sat down at the table and asked them, "Captain, what brings you here?"

Captain Yang lit his pipe, took two puffs, and said with a troubled expression, "It's about that veterinary spot. We were scrambling for it at the brigade headquarters yesterday, and we finally managed to get one, but then it turned into a big training course."

This large training course was certainly a good thing, but because of it, Brigade Secretary Yang proposed that the capable should rise and the incompetent should fall. The commune's training course was scheduled to begin after the 15th of the first lunar month, leaving more than 20 days. His idea was that you should teach them for a few days first, and the two who performed best would then go to the commune's veterinary station for further training.

Chen Fan said "Oh," blinked, and asked, "So you came to see me because you wanted to give our team some extra help?"

He then solemnly replied, "You can rest assured about that. Just because he's on our team, I'll take special care of him. I'll let him sit in the front during lectures and let him be the first to do experiments."

Captain Yang was very satisfied with Chen Fan's use of "our team" and immediately grinned, saying, "There's no need for special treatment. If you can give him special treatment today, can you continue to do so after he becomes a veterinarian? That's not how things are done."

Chen Fan chuckled twice, looked at the three of them, and now he couldn't understand why they had come to find him.

Captain Yang then said, "The key question is, who should get this spot?"

Accountant Liu lit a hand-rolled cigarette, looked up and said with a smile, "Although we may not be able to become the coordinator, the opportunity is still very rare, so there are several people of similar age in the team who want to give it a try. But if we choose this one, that one will be dissatisfied; if we choose that one, this one will be dissatisfied. So we wanted to ask you if you have any good ideas on how to select this person."

Chen Fan understood immediately; it was nothing more than an internal conflict within the production team.

The fact that positions in the production team were occupied by three different surnames shows that internal conflicts were everywhere.

It was ostensibly a selection of veterinarians, but it was really a matter of interests and face. The Liu and Huang families were dissatisfied with choosing the Yang family, and the same would have happened if the positions had been reversed.

Since all three sides were deadlocked, and I was the leader of this veterinary class, it was only natural for them to ask for my opinion.

However, this opinion cannot be given casually, otherwise it may offend the other two parties.

Chen Fan happened to have a suggestion that would not offend anyone.

He immediately laughed and said, "That's easy. To study veterinary medicine, you need a solid foundation in general knowledge. Just make two sets of exam papers and give them a test!"

(End of this chapter)