Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 168 The proudest thing in my life
When they arrived at Captain Yang's house, Accountant Liu and Warehouse Keeper Huang were still there.

I don't know if the quota has been decided yet.

After greeting them, Chen Fan excitedly said to Captain Yang, "Captain, Xiao Jiang said you were looking for me?"

Captain Yang chuckled as he stood up, went inside, opened a drawer, carefully pulled out a piece of white paper, and came out to hand it to him. "Here, your homestead certificate."

Chen Fan quickly took it, his smile stretching from ear to ear.

It wasn't easy. I worked my butt off for over twenty days, building up my image and making contributions, all for the sake of settling down and establishing myself. Although I settled down a few days ago, it doesn't count without a homestead. Today, it's finally all done!
He looked up and opened his mouth, about to ask, "Didn't we say that the land would be given to him after the other two veterinarians got their certificates? Why was it suddenly moved up?"

However, he swallowed the words back down his throat.

Who cares? As long as the benefits are in hand, that's what matters. Don't ask too many questions and cause unnecessary trouble.

He simply said two words, "Thank you!"

Captain Yang laughed and pulled over a chair, gesturing for him to sit down.

He then said, "The foundation is two and a half fen of land. For your convenience, we have left you a field area and a gap between it and the educated youth settlement in front. The marked location is 30 meters behind the educated youth settlement. Anyway, it's just a wasteland there. There's no one around. Just look at the circle yourself. You don't need to measure it with a ruler. Just make sure it's close enough."

Once you've chosen your land, let me know and I'll go and mark the boundaries for your homestead.

Just make sure the house is six zhang long and two zhang and five chi wide, and doesn't exceed that area.

Chen Fan nodded repeatedly and chuckled, "Understood, thank you, Captain."

At the same time, he was a little curious. How could a piece of homestead land have a boundary marker? He had seen rural homestead land before, but he had never heard of such a thing.
Captain Yang waited for a while, and seeing that he didn't even ask why the certificate was issued to him in advance, he could only cough and take the initiative to say, "Little Chen, actually, this certificate was processed a couple of days ago and has been kept at the brigade headquarters. Originally, as agreed before, we were supposed to wait until you got your veterinary certificate before giving it to you."

Chen Fan opened his mouth wide, looking deeply moved. "Oh, thank you, Captain. I will definitely study hard and make progress together with everyone to get my veterinary certificate."

Captain Yang clicked his tongue. "I've already gone this far, and you still don't know how to cooperate?"
He could only continue, "It's good that you have this attitude. Just now, Company Commander Zhang personally came over and brought you the certificate. Because this certificate needs to be filed in the squad's file and then handed over to you by the squad leader before it's valid."

Chen Fan was still wondering why Zhang Wenliang hadn't handed it over directly to him, but instead had to go through a roundabout way and have Captain Yang pass it on. So that's the reason.

Captain Yang continued, "He told me that my attitude was very good, and that I was preparing teaching tools today, drawing six diagrams of acupuncture points on livestock, just to help our own commune members learn."

People are all human; if you're so devoted to the team, how could we possibly make things difficult for you?

He then pointed to the homestead certificate in Chen Fan's hand and laughed, "Hey, you've contributed to the brigade, so the brigade will reward you. That's why the homestead certificate has been issued to you ahead of schedule."

At this moment, Accountant Liu laughed and said, "You are the one who settled down halfway and had the shortest land allocation time. In the early years, some people from other provinces fled famine with their families. They were the kind with a clean background. They worked for three years first and performed well before they were allowed to settle down and were allocated a small plot of homestead."

"You've managed to register your residency and allocate land in less than a month; that's unprecedented." Chen Fan's eyes widened. "Three years? Where will they live? What will they eat?"

The storekeeper, Huang, pointed to the north and said, "The family surnamed Yu in Team 12 he mentioned came to Lujiawan eight years ago. They said their hometown suffered a disaster, and the grain they grew was not enough to eat. A day's work points were worth less than a penny or two, and they owed the production team money every year, so they simply ran away."

Two adults and two children wandered around trying to make a living. They dared not go to big cities and big places, and instead went to small towns. When they came here, they had already been wandering for more than half a year.

Team Leader Hou of Team 12 took pity on them and brought them back, allocating them a livestock shed to live in. Two adults accompanied them to work, but they did not receive work points, only a small amount of food rations. Naturally, there were no bonuses at the end of the year.

After three years of hard work and dedication, their team held a meeting and voted, and the brigade finally approved their settlement.

It's been over eight years already. That guy surnamed Yu is indeed hardworking and honest, rarely speaks, and is busy all day long. During the busy farming season, he can earn more than ten work points a day, and he also gets a few dozen yuan in bonuses every year. In the past two years, they built a new house, and two more people have joined their family. They have four children now, and their eldest daughter is almost getting married. It's said that she's interested in the son of their team leader, Hou.

Chen Fan's mouth went dry as he listened. If he hadn't activated his skill board, would he have ended up like them?
No, I don't have the ability to do manual labor, and I'm very likely to be in an even worse situation than them.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat.

But then I thought again, it probably wouldn't be that bad. I can cook, so maybe I can find a job as a cook. Besides, I already know how to repair appliances and read radio scripts, so at least I can make a living, right?
Of course, it's impossible to settle down and be allocated homesteads as early as it is now.

If he knew that the post and telecommunications bureau had previously considered recruiting him, I wonder if he would have run headfirst into the leaders of the brigade headquarters.

However, it's hard to say whether it's better to work as a temporary worker at the post office or to work three hours a day in the production team and earn two salaries.

Just as Chen Fan's thoughts were racing, Accountant Liu chuckled and said, "If you ask me, it's possible that Captain Hou of Team 12 has taken a fancy to that young girl and is thinking of keeping her as a wife for his son."

The warehouse keeper rolled his eyes at him, "What utter nonsense! He's a team leader, why would he be afraid of not finding a daughter-in-law?"

He paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed, "Old Yu brought two girls with him. Captain Hou might really be planning this, but not for himself. He's probably preparing them for the other young men in the team."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue. Well, they're all formidable opponents.

He had met Captain Hou before; it was during the day they were discussing veterinarian quotas that he was the loudest one shouting. He never expected that there would be such a kind-hearted person like him.

Captain Yang chuckled as he puffed on his cigarette, "Don't use Lao Yu as an example. Every team has someone like Lao Yu. As for Xiao Chen, you could search the entire commune and find another one like him."

Upon hearing this, both Accountant Liu and Warehouse Keeper Huang couldn't help but chuckle.

Such a precious gem is indeed hard to find.

The most proud one was Captain Yang, who was smoking and his eyes were narrowed to slits. He had caught countless fish in the river in his life, but the biggest one he had to catch was Chen Fan's, which was probably the proudest thing in his life.

(End of this chapter)