Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 193 Was my guess right?

Back in his room, Chen Fan saw gifts piled up on the bamboo bed on the west side of the room.

There was a pile of cigarettes and alcohol; all eight cartons of cigarettes were there, and four of the eight bottles of alcohol remained, the other four having been consumed during dinner. Two baskets of eggs were piled up, along with two packets of candy wrapped in paper, which looked quite nice.

At this moment, Jiang Lili came in carrying a kettle, first made him a cup of hot tea, and then filled the kettle with hot water.

Chen Fan glanced at the doorway, then looked at her and asked in a barely audible voice, "What's going on?"

Jiang Lili pouted and gently shook her head.

Chen Fan blinked, immediately realizing that she hadn't figured it out either.

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

Jiang Lili nodded, "I ate in the kitchen just now."

"Oh."

Chen Fan frowned slightly and asked again, "Are they finished with their work?"

Jiang Lili shook her head, "I just finished cleaning up, I haven't washed the dishes yet, the room needs to be put back in its original place, the table needs to be returned, and the borrowed stools need to be returned."

There were a total of five tables at the educated youth settlement: one in each of the four rooms, and one in the kitchen.

They were moving the tables from the other three rooms and the kitchen; no one dared to touch anything in Chen Fan's room.

Chen Fan hesitated for two seconds and then said, "Please invite them all over for me."

Jiang Lili's eyes flickered slightly. "Oh."

He then went outside.

Chen Fan frowned, carefully considering what Captain Yang and the others meant.

If it's just to prevent things from happening between a lone man and woman, then let Yang Ju and the other two stay here. They're just there to be third wheels anyway. Wouldn't it be more suitable for them to stay in the next room?
But when they arrived, instead of staying in the perfectly good empty house, they insisted on squeezing in with Jiang Lili.

how?

Close surveillance, huh?
That works too. Even if Chen Fan and Jiang Lili are unhappy, they can't openly object.

But what's the meaning of that person being even more proactive than me, running around so busily just now?
After much deliberation, Chen Fan felt he had to figure out their true intentions in order to deal with them effectively and avoid any unpleasantness later.

A moment later, the crunching sound of footsteps on snow could be heard outside the door.

Chen Fan looked up and saw Huang Ying, Yang Ju, and Liu Dan filing in.

Looking at Jiang Lili, who was hesitating at the door, Chen Fan raised his head without hesitation and called out, "Little Jiang, come in too."

Jiang Lili walked in with her head down and stood silently to the side.

Huang Ying walked up to Chen Fan and said with a smile, "Teacher Chen, is there something you need from us?"

Chen Fan waved his hand, looked at the three of them, and said with a smile, "No need to be so polite. We're all about the same age. Just call me Chen Fan. There's no need to call me Teacher Chen."

The three of them smiled awkwardly and remained silent.

Chen Fan coughed lightly and pointed to the chair next to him, "Don't stand, sit down."

There are four chairs in each room, but when Chen Fan taught them how to cook turtle, a fellow villager gave them two bamboo chairs, so they didn't need to go to the next room to get them; there were enough chairs for them to sit in here.

The four people sat in a row facing Chen Fan.

When Chen Fan took a look, well, it was a typical classroom setup, and he had become the teacher again.

He picked up the slightly cooled teacup, blew on it to warm it, took a careful sip, and then looked at them and said, "Since we're living in the same courtyard, it must be fate. I'll be frank."

The three girls, including Huang Ying, stared at him expectantly, but remained silent.

Jiang Lili's gaze wandered around, somewhat puzzled by the current situation.

Chen Fan coughed lightly and said seriously, "Your stay here was arranged by Captain Yang and the others, and I understand their purpose."

Upon hearing this, blushes appeared on the faces of all four girls.

Well, how should I put it? Are you saying the three of them came to prevent the two of you, a lone man and woman, from causing an accident?
That doesn't sound good either. What was originally a tacit understanding has become awkward because Chen Fan suddenly brought it up.

Chen Fan, however, remained unperturbed and continued, "But if I'm not mistaken, you have other motives, and I can guess some of them!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Ying and the other two's expressions changed drastically, turning red and white in turns, a truly colorful and beautiful sight.

But they all kept their heads down, not daring to utter a sound.

Only Jiang Lili looked blankly at Chen Fan and her three new roommates, her eyes filled with confusion.

Another purpose?

What purpose?
Chen Fan raised his head proudly and snorted, "In fact, Zhang Cuie from Team 5 had already contacted me long before you."

Huang Ying and the other two immediately looked up, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Someone has already contacted him?
Are girls from the next village really this bold?!
Is it...

Jiang Lili seemed thoughtful. She also knew Zhang Cuie. Chen Fan had mentioned her to her that day. She was a very strong-willed girl who, despite not being selected for the veterinary class, still pursued Chen Fan's wishes to learn. In the end, Chen Fan arranged for her to study academic subjects first.

So Huang Ying and the others came with the same purpose as Zhang Cuie?

Just as Huang Ying and the other two were making wild guesses, Chen Fan said to them earnestly, "It's good to have ambition. What's wrong with saying that? In my opinion, your situation is similar to Zhang Cuie's. You both scored high in the team's test but failed to get into the veterinary class. So you wanted to take advantage of moving in here to learn veterinary medicine from me."

He pointed at Huang Ying and Liu Dan, laughing, "Especially you two, you were just lingering in the pigsty, wanting to learn how to castrate pigs. Was I right?!"

Huang Ying, Liu Dan, and Yang Ju looked at each other for a couple of seconds, then let out a long sigh of relief, looked at Chen Fan together, and nodded vigorously, "Yes!"

"exactly!"

Huang Ying looked at Chen Fan with eyes full of admiration, "Teacher Chen, you are so amazing, you saw through my thoughts right away."

Yang Ju nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I just want to learn something from Teacher Chen."

Liu Dan, who rarely spoke, suddenly had a breakthrough. "Teacher Chen, you can do everything. You can cook, speak Mandarin, repair radios, write news reports, draw illustrations, and even make pottery. I would be completely satisfied if I could learn any one of these skills!"

Chen Fan coughed lightly, took a sip of his tea, and waved his hand at them, "Oh, don't say that. I only know a little bit, I can't be considered an expert."

Huang Ying continued to flatter him, "That's amazing! Nobody in our team knows that, not even in the commune. My uncle said that even the post office staff have to take their broken radios to the county to get repaired, and none of the commune cadres can write articles that can be published in the Yunhu Daily. But Teacher Chen can do it all. He's really amazing!"

Yang Ju chimed in, nodding repeatedly, "That's right, that's right! When I came here, my dad kept telling me to listen to Teacher Chen, study hard, and make progress every day!"

Chen Fan grinned and chuckled, then raised his eyebrows and said, "No matter how many nice things you say, it's useless. At least for now, I'm not going to teach you veterinary medicine."

Originally, they were just making an excuse to go along with Chen Fan's words, but now that they heard him say that, the three women were unhappy and looked at him in unison, asking, "Why?"

Chen Fan didn't mince words and immediately repeated what he had told Zhang Cuie to them.

Finally, he said, "So, if you want to learn skills and techniques from me, that's fine. But the prerequisite is that you must master your academic knowledge. As long as you can finish high school level courses and pass my test, you can choose a skill that I know and learn it from me."

Chen Fan smiled broadly, looked at the three of them, and asked, "So, do you still want to learn?"

Yang Ju hesitated for two seconds, then suddenly asked, "Teacher Chen, you just said that Zhang Cuie also came to you. Does that mean she also needs to finish high school material first?"

Chen Fan nodded. "Of course."

He then smiled and said, "She has already finished copying the first semester of junior high school textbooks and is studying on her own. When I teach the veterinary class, I will take some time to help her with her difficult questions."

Then he pointed to the three of them and said, “Compared to her, you have a much greater advantage. At least I’ll be here every night, and I’ll have much more time to answer questions than she does.”

Then he pointed to Jiang Lili, "Besides, Xiao Jiang is here too. You can ask her if you have any questions."

Jiang Lili smiled awkwardly and silently tried to recall how much of her junior high school knowledge she still remembered.
Upon hearing this, Yang Ju glanced at Jiang Lili, then turned back and immediately nodded vigorously without hesitation, "Okay, Teacher Chen, I'll learn cultural knowledge from you."

Huang Ying and Liu Dan quickly added, "We'll learn from you too."

Chen Fan nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, I'll give you the first-year textbooks in a bit. You can copy them first."

Then he looked at Jiang Lili and said, "Xiao Jiang, you should learn with them too. If you can learn the junior high school material, then you can learn the high school material."

(End of this chapter)