Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 179 New Year's Greetings
After putting the book away, Chen Fan went to Master Lu's house to kill a chicken, pluck its feathers, and mixed in some small potatoes that he had just dug up from the ground to make a big pot of braised chicken and potatoes.

The delicate aroma of the small potatoes mingled with the fragrance of the chicken, making one's mouth water.

But it's not time to eat yet.

Chen Fan put the cooked dishes into a clay pot and simmered them over a low flame on a charcoal stove.

He took out his alarm clock to check the time. It would be 4 o'clock in half an hour. As he packed his things, he smiled at Master Lu and said, "By the time I get off work, this dish should be stewed until it's tender. It'll be perfect to eat then. You can rest now, I'm off to work."

Master Lu watched with a smile as he put the alarm clock into his bag. A hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes, but in the end, he said nothing and just waved his hand at him, "Go on, go on."

Chen Fan chuckled, opened the door, and went out.

After closing the gate, Chen Fan divided the remaining basket of charcoal in half into another basket, and threw another rooster into the basket before carrying the load on his way.

But I'm still not going to work; there's still half an hour until then.

We are now visiting Xiao Liewen's home.

I greeted the people whose doors were open along the way, constantly wishing them a Happy New Year.

After walking around for a long time, we finally arrived at Captain Xiao's house.

As Chen Fan carried his things inside, he repeated what he had said at Master Lu's house, which drew a burst of laughter and scolding from Xiao Liewen, "You really are a stingy old man."

"Cai Lao Kou" means an extremely stingy, nouveau riche.

Chen Fan put down his load and handed the rooster to Aunt Xiao. After their father nodded, the two youngest children of the Xiao family took their baskets and went to the back.

He then laughed and said, "You stingy old man, you can't possibly give me a basket of charcoal? And a chicken too? That's already high standard for me, okay? At most, I'll come over to pay my respects the day after tomorrow and bring you a big radish."

Xiao Liewen laughed and cursed a couple more times, handed him a Peony cigarette, and asked, "Is the New Year's Eve dinner at home all prepared? Why don't we just have the reunion dinner here?"

Chen Fan took the cigarette with both hands and chuckled, "Thank you for your concern. The New Year's Eve dinner at home was incredibly lavish. We had 12 dishes for lunch today. I ate so much that I almost couldn't come to work at the brigade headquarters."

"12 dishes?"

Xiao Liewen chuckled, "You're having one, plus that Xiao Jiang, right? Can the two of you finish this?"

Chen Fan didn't mention Sister Jiang, but just chuckled and said, "It's mainly about creating an atmosphere. It's Chinese New Year, so we should prepare a lavish feast. Anyway, it's okay if we can't finish it all. In this kind of weather, no matter what kind of food it is, it won't spoil for ten days or so. We can just keep it at home and eat it slowly."

Xiao Liewen laughed and said, "Your students will definitely come to wish you a Happy New Year in a couple of days. When you heat up the dishes and put them on the table, they'll probably be gone in two or three days."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, frowned, and said, "Then wouldn't I be at a disadvantage?"

Xiao Liewen almost choked on a puff of smoke, pointing at him and coughing incessantly, unable to speak.

Chen Fan quickly picked up the teacup and handed it over, saying, "Please take it easy, sir."

Xiao Liewen took a sip of tea and finally caught his breath. He then said, "After get off work, don't go home for dinner. Let's have a family reunion dinner here."

Chen Fan smiled and said softly, "Before coming here, I went to Fourth Master's house and made him a braised chicken and potato dish. I promised to go over and have a drink with him later."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Liewen nodded in understanding and stopped trying to persuade him, simply nodding and saying, "That's good, that's good!"

At this moment, looking at Chen Fan, his eyes were clearly full of relief; he had made the right choice in taking this disciple.

Then he regretted it.

Chen Fan said, "I promised to have a drink with Fourth Master, but I don't have any wine. Could you lend me some? If not, I'll go find Captain Zhang."

Xiao Liewen's face darkened. "Wait."

He stood up and went into the room.

He actually went to someone's house to borrow alcohol during the Chinese New Year; I can't believe he even thought of that.

However, thinking back to the days when I and a group of comrades emptied the company commander's stash during the Spring Festival, I can't help but feel nostalgic.

He came out a short while later, carrying a bottle of Yunhu Daqu liquor in his left hand and a twelve-foot-long red spear in his right.

Chen Fan jumped back in a flash, shouting, "If you're not going to give me the wine, don't pull a gun on me!"

Xiao Liewen rolled his eyes and tossed the spear horizontally over. "I taught you how to use the spear stance the day before yesterday. This spear was specially made for you. You'll use this to practice from now on." Chen Fan quickly caught it, grinning broadly. "Thank you, Captain."

Looking at this spear again, the white waxwood shaft must have been soaked in tung oil, making it translucent and glowing with a reddish light. It is very elastic, and although the spearhead is not sharpened, it is made of fine iron, so even a single stab would be devastating.

The key point is that it's really long. The gun body and the gun head are a full 4 meters long. It's difficult to keep your balance even when you're holding it, let alone use it to practice on the long spear pole.

However, Chen Fan was not worried. With the skill board, he was guaranteed to get started in three days and master the skills in seven.

What he needed to consider was whether to wait until after the Lunar New Year to talk to Captain Xiao about mastering the spear stance.
After Chen Fan sat down again with the big gun, Xiao Liewen sat back down in his chair, handed him the wine, and said, "Fourth Master is getting old, don't let him drink too much."

Chen Fan grinned and said, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Xiao Liewen smiled and nodded slightly. Although Chen Fan was young, he was methodical and reliable, even more so than Zhang Wenliang. He was truly exceptional in this regard.

After chatting with Xiao Liewen for a while, Chen Fan checked the time and realized it was almost time to go to work.

Before leaving, he asked again, "Captain, should we read a New Year's greeting over the loudspeaker?"

"New Year's greetings?"

Xiao Liewen looked at him with a face full of curiosity, "What is that?"

Chen Fan said in a low voice, "It was just a few leaders from the brigade headquarters wishing all the families of the production brigade members a happy Spring Festival, good health, and family happiness, and so on."

Xiao Liewen then realized, "Oh, saying nice things during the New Year, right? That's fine too."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Let's skip the leaders and just go with the brigade headquarters. You know more about this than we do, so you can handle it yourself. I won't inspect it."

Chen Fan made a gesture, "Don't worry, I guarantee I'll handle it perfectly."

He then put the wine in a bag, picked up the empty basket, slung the spear over his shoulder, and walked outside.

On the way out, he almost knocked the roof tiles off Xiao Liewen's house, which made Xiao Liewen laugh and scold him again.

Upon hearing the cursing, Chen Fan quickly ran into the brigade headquarters.

The baskets were placed in the front yard, while the rifles were carried into the broadcasting room.

The broadcasting room could hold the spear, but he couldn't get past the corner when he went upstairs. He could only lean the spear upright against the second-floor railing and then lift it up from above after he got up there.

At 4 o'clock, Chen Fan turned on the radio and first broadcast the county radio station's program. Then, while standing on the big spear stake, he looked at the "Soup Formula" given to him by Master Lu.

When it ended at 5 o'clock, he leaned over to the microphone and read the broadcast script without any notes: "Comrades, Happy Chinese New Year! Today is February 17th, Lunar New Year's Eve, a wonderful day for celebrating the New Year. After defeating the four major gangs, we can finally have a happy and peaceful Spring Festival."

On this joyous day, all comrades of the Lujiawan Production Brigade, including Clerk Yang Yizhong, Brigade Leader Zhang Changjiang, Deputy Brigade Leaders Xiao Liewen and Ye Shubao, Women's Team Leader Yang Xingxiu, Militia Company Commander Zhang Wenliang, Accountant Li Chengguo, Storekeeper Luo Guitian, Medical Worker Zhang Juemin, and our squad leaders, all sincerely wish all members of Lujiawan good health and family happiness…

Hearing the announcement from the loudspeaker, everyone in the brigade came out of their homes.

Team 6.

Yang Chuanfu, with a pipe in his mouth, grinned from ear to ear.

Yang Ju laughed from the side, "Dad, what about you? You read even more than others."

Yang Chuanfu grinned and proudly raised his head, "Yes, yes, that's for sure."

Team 5.

Zhang Guangwen looked at Zhang Wenliang and asked, "Who assigned him this task?"

Zhang Wenliang chuckled and said, "With his quick wit, does he even need anyone to make arrangements?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guangwen's face lit up with a smile.

The other commune members were overjoyed to hear all the brigade leaders wishing them a Happy New Year on the radio.

Some of them were having a family reunion dinner when they raised their heads and shouted, "Let's set off firecrackers!"

(End of this chapter)