Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 187 Still Don't Believe

With Secretary Yang's enthusiastic guidance, Chen Fan finally got through on the phone.

However, the person on the other end of the phone wasn't Jiang Tiantian, but a telephone operator from the post office.

Secretary Yang stared at him intently, "So, did you get through?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Not yet. The operator said the line is busy and I have to wait."

"Oh, we have to wait."

Secretary Yang nodded. "That's right, we have to wait. In the past, when people called the police station, I couldn't get through. We could only wait."

He sat back down in his chair, took out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and said with a smile, "When the loudspeakers were installed last time, the post office also upgraded our telephone lines. Other teams couldn't make phone calls while the broadcasts were playing, but our brigade headquarters' telephones were unaffected, and through the post office's exchange, we could make calls all over the country."

With a smug look on his face, he said, "Hey, Xiao Chen, do you know what a switch is?"

Chen Fan was still holding the microphone, waiting for the call to connect. Upon hearing his words, he blinked slightly, nodded, and said, "I know."

Secretary Yang was slightly taken aback. "You knew?"

Do you know how else I can show off?

Chen Fan, completely oblivious, chuckled and said, "It's just a machine used to connect different phones. To make a call, you just plug the communication cable into the corresponding port."

He paused for a moment, then chuckled, "You forgot, I can fix radios."

Secretary Yang's lips twitched slightly; he had been so focused on showing off that he had forgotten about this.

Under normal circumstances, Chen Fan would be quite happy to listen to him tell stories, but now, with a phone call taking an unknown amount of time to connect, it's no wonder he's in a bad mood.

The telephone was a magneto-powered hand-cranked telephone, so the exchange could not possibly be a program-controlled exchange.

Although France put the world's first digital program-controlled exchange into use as early as 1970, my country did not introduce its first program-controlled exchange until 1983, and nationwide adoption did not occur until the mid-90s.

Therefore, almost all of the switches used now are old-fashioned magneto switches.

This thing relies entirely on human operators to connect, so its efficiency is naturally not very high.

Chen Fan made small talk with Secretary Yang, and after about half an hour, the call was finally connected.

If it's this difficult to get through within the same area, how long would it take to make a long-distance call?
From the post office here, Chen Fan connected to Yunhu City and then to the operator there. He recited the phone number Jiang Lili had given him once again, "Hello, please connect me to 2428."

Yunhu's phone numbers are only 4 digits now, but in just 20 years, they will be 7 digits, which shows how fast the development has been.

Just as Chen Fan's thoughts were wandering, the call was quickly connected, and an old man's voice came from the other end, "Hello, who is it?"

Chen Fan: "Hello, I'm looking for Jiang Tiantian at No. 18, Section 3, Changbei Road."

Jiang Lili's parents were both employees of the Yunhu City Cotton Mill, and their family lived in the factory's residential area. Changbei Road was the main gathering place for the factory's residential area.

This phone number wasn't their home phone, but rather the phone number of a shop at the street corner.

Jiang Lili's family originally had a telephone, but after her parents' accident, they moved from a detached house in the factory's staff quarters to a place on Changbei Road where ordinary workers lived. Their treatment plummeted from the clouds to the mire, and naturally, they lost the telephone.

The elderly man who answered the phone was taken aback when he heard that the caller was looking for Jiang Tiantian. "You're looking for Jiang Tiantian? Where are you from?"

Chen Fan couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat. I was just making a phone call to confirm that I was safe. Why did they have to treat it like a census?

However, he dared not argue with the old man, otherwise he would be left speechless and heartbroken if the old man hung up the phone.

However, one cannot directly reveal one's identity. Secretary Yang was an example just now. Without special reasons, a man calling a woman would be subject to investigation.

Chen Fan suddenly remembered something a teacher from his university days before he transmigrated had told them.

When that teacher was working in the countryside in Inner Mongolia as a sent-down youth, his family introduced him to a potential partner. After they met, they both felt that they got along quite well, but because they lived more than 200 kilometers apart, it was inconvenient to meet in person. They also felt that writing letters was too slow, so they often contacted each other by phone, about once every two or three days. His monthly salary was not even enough to cover the phone bill.

As a result, within a month, the post office sent a letter of assistance to his workplace, demanding proof of the necessity of his numerous phone calls and an explanation of his relationship with the other party. Furthermore, the letter was also sent to the woman's workplace, causing quite a stir.

Needless to say, the relationship ended, and he had to give a self-criticism to the entire company.

Thinking of this, Chen Fan immediately calmed down and said softly, "Hello, sir, I am a staff member from Lujiawan, Nanhu Commune, Gufeng County. Jiang Tiantian's younger sister is working in the countryside here, and I have some things to discuss with Comrade Jiang Tiantian about her."

Secretary Yang, sitting opposite him, glanced at him and calmly smoked his cigarette.

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, the old man on the other end of the phone immediately dispelled his doubts. "Oh, then wait here, I'll go and call him for you."

After another period of waiting, about five minutes later, Jiang Tiantian's slightly breathless voice came through the receiver, "Hello, this is Jiang Tiantian, what happened to my sister?"

Chen Fan quickly replied, "It's nothing, it's nothing. I'm Chen Fan. It's just that your sister was worried about the slippery roads in the snow and wanted to know if you got home safely."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tiantian immediately breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling at ease.

He then glanced at the old man staring at him and said casually, "I understand, I know, I will write to her."

Chen Fan smiled; this girl was indeed much smarter than her sister.

He then smiled and said, "Okay, I'll tell her you've arrived home later, and I'll explain everything else in the letter."

Jiang Tiantian turned away from the old man's gaze, pursed her lips, and smiled slightly, "Yes, thank you."

Chen Fan: "No need to be polite, then, is that it?"

Jiang Tiantian: "Okay, goodbye."

Chen Fan: "Goodbye."

He paused for two seconds before hanging up the phone.

Secretary Yang didn't rush to put the phone away. He leaned back in his chair, looked up at Chen Fan, and said, "You and Xiao Jiang have a pretty good relationship. You even made a special call because you were worried that she would worry about her sister."

Chen Fan said in a serious tone, "After all, she is my neighbor who lives in the same courtyard. She has helped me a lot in the past. In addition, today's situation is special. The roads are slippery due to snow, so we really need to be careful. I can only trouble you this once."

Secretary Yang nodded, paused for a moment, and then asked, "I heard from Yang Chuanfu that since the other educated youth at the settlement are not returning, he let his daughter, as well as Accountant Liu and the niece of Warehouse Keeper Huang, move in?"

Chen Fan wasn't surprised that he knew about this; Captain Yang would definitely have informed the brigade headquarters about it.

The educated youth settlement is not a place that can be entered casually. It requires the consent of the educated youth and the superiors. At present, there is only one educated youth, Jiang Lili, and she is the one being guarded against. Naturally, she has no say. The remaining task is to seek the opinion of the brigade headquarters.

He nodded and said, "That's true, and they said they'll move in tomorrow."

She then smiled and said, "Xiao Jiang has already prepared the room for them. It's the room between me and Xiao Jiang. The bed, cabinets, table and chairs are all ready. They can move in as soon as they put on their bedding."

Captain Yang nodded. "That's fine. Even though you're the only man here, it's better than a man and a woman all alone."

Chen Fan deliberately changed his expression and said in a wronged tone, "Secretary, you still don't believe me."

Secretary Yang quickly chuckled and said, "It's not that I don't believe it, it's just a precaution, just like our militia, we have to be vigilant against sabotage by hostile elements at all times. But that's against external forces, you're against internal forces."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly; this analogy was really not good.

Then he waved his hand and said, "You rest, I'll go take a look over there."

He was about to leave when he turned back. "Oh, right, I'm taking my classmates back tomorrow morning to learn how to castrate pigs. Will you be home this afternoon? I'll come over to wish you a Happy New Year."

Secretary Yang nodded immediately, "Yes."

Then, pointing at him, she said, "Don't you dare bring me a big radish too!"

(End of this chapter)