Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 175 Picked up someone
Seeing Zhang Cuie's dejected face, Chen Fan didn't continue to discourage her. Instead, he said, "How about this, I have a suggestion. Why don't you listen to it first?"

Zhang Cuie looked up at him, her face still dejected, and said, "Oh."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Whether you study veterinary medicine, or become an accountant, nurse, doctor, or any other profession, culture is the foundation. Without a good cultural knowledge, you won't even be able to understand Mr. Li's books. Do you agree with this?"

Zhang Cuie tilted her head and thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously and said earnestly, "I agree."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he nodded with a smile, "Good that you agree."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Although you got a high score on the exam, possibly even the highest score in Lujiawan, this is just a primary school graduation exam. If it were the entrance exam for junior high school, the difficulty would be much higher. How many points would you get then?"

Before Zhang Cuie could speak, he finished his sentence in one breath, "Even if you can pass the entrance exam for junior high school, there's still junior high and high school to learn. Why is it that Nanhu Commune, which is so big, doesn't have many excellent veterinarians?"
That's because much of the content in veterinary books is high school or even college level knowledge. If your cultural foundation isn't solid, even if you can study veterinary medicine and get a veterinary certificate, you'll just be a rural veterinarian no different from any other veterinarian.

Perhaps it can fulfill your wish that you don't have to farm your whole life; you can become a coordinator in the production team, but you still can't escape dealing with rural areas.

Chen Fan took a breath and saw that Zhang Cuie's eyes were blank. He couldn't help but twitch his lips and a bitter smile appeared on his face.

Well, we went too far ahead and exceeded the little girl's imagination.

He picked up the kettle, took a sip of water, and said directly, "My suggestion is that you are still young, only 14 years old. Why not learn more basic cultural knowledge? If you can finish the junior high and high school textbooks, and if you want to learn a trade later, I will definitely teach you one. What do you say?"

Seeing Zhang Cuie's eyes gradually brighten, Chen Fan smiled and said, "I don't only have one veterinarian here, you know."

He patted the radio as he spoke, "See that? Electrical repair. If you finish high school and want to learn, I can teach you. Isn't being a broadcaster much better than being a veterinarian?"

Zhang Cuie's eyes lit up, "Really?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Like I said, once you finish high school, everything will be easier."

He chuckled inwardly. If she could really finish high school, the college entrance examination would have been reinstated by then. Compared to going to a vocational school or university, what was a mere broadcaster?
This tactic is called "delaying"!
Zhang Cuie nodded repeatedly, "Okay."

She paused for a moment, then her features scrunched up, making her face appear even smaller. "But, Teacher Chen, I don't have any middle school textbooks, and I don't have any teachers to ask for help."

She lowered her head as she spoke, "I could still learn elementary school on my own, but I went to Nanhu Middle School to see what it was like, and I couldn't understand anything there."

The implication is that they can't even understand what they hear, let alone learn it by reading books.

Chen Fan smiled and said, "It's okay, I have some middle school textbooks. I'll bring them to you later. You can return them to me after you've copied them. Study the textbooks on your own first, and learn as much as you can. If you really can't understand something, you can come and ask me."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cuie jumped up with joy and then bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you, Teacher Chen."

Chen Fan smiled and waved his hand, "If you're done, go back now. I'll bring you your first-year textbooks this afternoon."

Zhang Cuie bowed again, "Thank you."

Then he jumped and skipped away.

Chen Fan smiled and shook his head. He laughs when he's happy and cries when he's unhappy. He really is just a child.

Anyway, he has plenty of free time, so it wouldn't take much effort for him to spare a little time each day to give Zhang Cuie some pointers.

What if other people also want to learn?
It's simple, let Zhang Cuie teach. Only those who can surpass Zhang Cuie are qualified to receive his guidance. In short, he only teaches one person at a time. If someone falls behind, they can only blame themselves for not working hard enough, not him.

If we don't set some rules, people will really think he's a living saint who grants every wish!

Moreover, this way, it can also prevent others from seeking to learn from him. No matter who it is, they should first learn cultural knowledge.

I'm afraid that by the time he's mastered the basic cultural knowledge, people won't even look at him anymore.

However, that doesn't diminish our gratitude towards him.

……

Chen Fan, his calculations running smoothly, leisurely ran back to the educated youth settlement.

Before we ate, we grabbed shovels and two baskets and went to the back to open the kiln and collect charcoal.

Once the soil on top of the kiln is completely removed, the black charcoal inside is immediately revealed.

Chen Fan's grin stretched from ear to ear, "Hey, it actually burned?!"

Then came the bountiful harvest: long pieces of charcoal were chopped into pieces with shovels and then picked up into baskets.

This pit was quite large; it took three full loads to empty it completely.

After placing all the charcoal in the room closest to the kitchen, Chen Fan went to the wooden planks by the wall, picked up a few clay blanks, put them in a basket, and prepared to go to the back to fire them.

Seeing this, Jiang Lili couldn't help but ask curiously, "Didn't you say we had to wait for the glazing to finish?"

Chen Fan stopped and turned around, smiling, "Only bowls, plates, pots, and pans need to be glazed. These are coal stoves, charcoal stoves, and braziers. Once this batch is fired up, we can warm ourselves by the fire."

It's pitiful, really. In such cold weather, especially at night when the temperature is below zero, the house isn't much warmer than the outside. At most, there's no wind, but there's not even a stove. They rely entirely on straw and quilts for warmth, so Chen Fan needs a lot of courage to go to sleep and get up every night.

Once these things are fired up, we can then use a charcoal stove in the house. Of course, not for burning charcoal... you know.

Chen Fan had already designed it. The coal stove he made had an outlet that could be connected to a bamboo pipe to vent the gas outside, minimizing the impact of the gas.

This type of low-temperature pottery doesn't require a long firing time. The kiln is sealed at noon, and the pottery is ready when you return from get off work in the afternoon.

However, he didn't use it on himself and Jiang Lili immediately. Instead, he chose to conduct the experiment in the room between himself and Jiang Lili. He placed the coal stove at the door, connected several sections of bamboo tubes, and made a small hole in the window at a great distance, extending the bamboo tubes out. He then sealed the surrounding area with paper.

Then they took a few more chicks from the chicken coop, put them in a basket, and carried them into the room.

After a night of testing, when the door was opened the next morning, the chicks were still lively and there was no smell of gas in the house, so the experiment was officially declared a success.

Then I installed one in my room and one in Jiang Lili's room. With this, it was indeed much warmer at night.

Moreover, if you put a kettle on the coal stove, you'll have hot water ready the next morning. If you want boiling water, just open the stove door and the water will boil quickly.

The quality of life has been greatly improved!
Unfortunately, no matter how high the quality of life is, you still have to work on New Year's Eve.

……

February 17th, Lunar New Year's Eve, Thursday.

Just like a few days ago, Chen Fan turned on the radio, which played news and speeches from county leaders through the loudspeaker. Then he went to teach the veterinary students.

There's really nothing to say right now, just stand there and watch them recite their lessons.

He didn't even need to watch over them; these students had a truly excellent attitude towards learning.

Well, if things don't go well, I'll get a beating when I get home, the kind that leaves my skin ripped open.

This is nothing like going to school. Everyone knows there's no future in school. Even if you graduate from junior high, you can't go to a vocational school, get a job in a factory, or become a cadre, so naturally no one cares.

But this training course is for "rural veterinarians" that you can actually see and touch. As long as you can work hard, you can earn 3650 work points a year. Who would dare not work hard?
So all he had to do was sit in front and wait for a student to have a question, then help them answer it.

When get out of class ended, Chen Fan exchanged New Year's greetings with the students of similar age, then went back to the broadcasting room to turn off the equipment, grabbed his things, and left.

Before we knew it, snowflakes began to fall from the sky again.

The last heavy snow hasn't completely melted yet, and now another heavy snowfall is coming, quickly covering the ground in a layer of white, which complements today's festive atmosphere perfectly.

Chen Fan patted his cloth bag, his face full of a smug smile.

Inside were fireworks and firecrackers that he had asked Zhang Wenliang to buy from the commune; tonight, they could set them off to their hearts' content.

How long has it been since I last set off fireworks? Twenty years, or longer?

Just as Chen Fan was letting his thoughts wander, a bird song came from afar.

Chen Fan immediately looked up, then raised his left arm, and the falcon that worked hard outside every day landed accurately on his arm.

Looking at the Eurasian Hobby, Chen Fan chuckled and asked, "What did you find today?"

The falcon moved its head and chirped.

Hearing its words, Chen Fan frowned. "There's someone lying on the road? Where?"

Today is Lunar New Year's Eve. Almost everyone is at home preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner. Even if they go out, they only move around within their own small groups. How could someone be lying on the road outside?

The falcon chirped twice more, then suddenly flapped its wings and took flight, circling above his head twice before flying away into the distance. Chen Fan quickly gave chase.

A short while later, after running along the "main road" of Lujiawan towards the commune, Chen Fan saw a figure lying on the ground.

He ran over quickly, but didn't immediately help the person up.

It wasn't that he was afraid of "not being able to help them up," but rather that some patients couldn't be moved around easily.

He didn't read "The Barefoot Doctor's Manual" in vain. Although he hadn't yet activated his medical skills, he had learned some of the most basic medical and nursing knowledge.

After observing for a moment, I realized it was a woman, lying face down on the ground so I couldn't see her face clearly. She was carrying a black travel bag and was falling in the direction of Lujiawan, so it seemed she was walking from outside to inside.

He then turned her over, and just as he was about to check her eyelids, he froze, "Jiang Lili?"

Then it was quickly rejected.

No, it wasn't Jiang Lili, but a woman who looked very much like her.

Chen Fan suddenly remembered that Jiang Lili had an older sister, so it must be her.

(End of this chapter)