Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 207 Give a Gift
Galloping on horseback, Chen Fan returned to the educated youth settlement in less than 10 minutes.

But before he could dismount, the mare seemed to hear the foal's cry, and while neighing, she rushed frantically towards the backyard.

They crossed the passageway and stepped over the vegetable garden, heading straight for the pigpen where the pony and lamb lived.

The foal heard its mother's call, jumped up, put its two front hooves on the pigpen wall, and neighed incessantly.

The mare stopped when the two horses met, their faces touching. The foal also stopped neighing, closed its eyes, and silently snuggled against its mother's cheek. This is one of the most common ways foals and their mothers communicate.

Chen Fan wiped away a cold sweat, jumped off his horse, and looked back at the vegetable patch that had been ruined, speechless.

Forget it, why bother arguing with a horse?

We can't just kill the horse and eat its meat.

I walked over and opened the wooden gate, then picked up the two mischievous lambs that were trying to sneak out and put them back in. Then I turned around to look at the mare.

Well, she had already turned in along the road, and her butt almost bumped into Chen Fan, but she tightly shielded Xiao Ma with her body.

Chen Fan closed the wooden gate, took half a bundle of hay from the hay pile on top, threw it into the trough, and then said to the mare, "First of all, you are not allowed to bully the lambs."

The mare was so happy that she nodded without thinking, completely oblivious to what a lamb was.

Chen Fan sighed helplessly, "Fine, I'll make a deal with you tomorrow."

He then untied the reins from the horse's mouth and jumped off.

The mare went along with his antics, focusing on lying down with the foal in the hay, snuggling together, silently savoring the hard-won reunion.

Chen Fan walked to the front yard, closed the gate, returned to his room, washed his face, changed his clothes, and then began to take stock of today's harvest.

From the "Big Black Ten" and "Big Unity" banknotes to the distinctive yellow 1-cent banknote, the total is 621.5 yuan.

I just spent 100 yuan on a horse and 14.5 yuan on a small alarm clock, so my total earnings for today are 736 yuan.

I get 60%, which is 441.6 yuan. After deducting the 114.5 yuan I've already spent, I have 327.1 yuan left.

Chen Fan felt a surge of satisfaction as he carefully put away his share of the money.

Then he hesitated, wondering if he had taken too much and given them too little.

To be honest, he didn't put in much effort these past few days. Digging mud, mixing clay, and making pottery blanks were mostly done by the four girls.

I did it myself, mostly just providing technical guidance, shaping a few clay blanks, mixing glaze, and firing the kiln. The effort and reward were disproportionate.

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he quickly shook his head.

No, no, that's not how you do it.

As the saying goes, science and technology are the primary productive forces.

If I don't know how to make pottery, where am I supposed to earn these 700-plus yuan?
And those other girls, don't think that they did all the work themselves but got the least money.

Without their own skills, they can only play with mud and can't earn a penny, let alone earn more than 70 yuan in three days.

Thinking about it this way, Chen Fan felt much more at ease.

They then volunteered to help by dividing their share into portions of 73.6 yuan each, and waited for them to come back to settle the accounts.

Not long after Chen Fan finished putting the money away, the gate was pushed open, and Jiang Lili ran in first, followed by Mr. Liu and Yang Ju, who were driving the cart.

With a "whoosh," Master Liu stopped the mule cart, jumped off, and asked, "Where's the horse?"

Chen Fan pointed behind him, "Inside the stable, with the foals."

Master Liu was taken aback. "Are you alright?"

Chen Fan deliberately clicked his tongue and shook his head, saying, "How could it be okay? As soon as it came back and entered the yard, it ran back like a madman. I couldn't stop it. Then it didn't make a sound, jumped into the pen and lay down without moving. It even protected the foal. I couldn't even touch it."

Master Liu laughed and said, "It's a mare's instinct to protect her foal. She probably heard the foal's cry or smelled its scent, so she'll definitely rush over immediately."

He paused for a moment, then gestured, "I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm going to go take a look in the back. I haven't seen such a beautiful horse in years." With that, he walked towards the backyard.

Chen Fan immediately rushed to the door, cautiously looked around, and only waved to the four girls after they turned inside, saying, "Come on, let's split the bill."

After saying that, he went to the next room.

Once inside, Chen Fan made a hand gesture, "Yang Ju, go and keep watch at the back window. When Master Liu comes over, call out to him. Liu Dan, guard the entrance and watch the courtyard gate."

The two girls immediately responded, their hearts racing involuntarily, as if they were participating in a secret operation.

Once the two were in place, Chen Fan coughed and said, "Today's total income is 736 yuan, so each of you can get 73.6 yuan."

Hearing this number, even though Huang Ying and the others had already calculated it themselves, they still couldn't help but jump for joy.

Huang Ying cupped her face in her hands, her eyes shining, "Wow, so much money!"

Liu Dan was so excited that her face turned red, and she could only grin and chuckle. Yang Ju wasn't much better; she kept glancing at Master Liu standing by the stable and then back at Chen Fan, unable to say a word.

Jiang Lili was slightly better off, but she was still beaming with joy.

Chen Fan handed the four stacks of money to them, looked at Huang Ying and the other two, and said with a smile, "I've already calculated it for you. The bill to your family is 51.52 yuan. You can keep the rest of the money."

Then he looked at Jiang Lili and said, "Little Jiang contributed the most this time, so you should have received more work points..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Lili quickly waved her hand, "No, no, everyone is the same."

This time it was Huang Ying's turn to speak up. She said seriously, "Teacher Chen is right. Lili contributed the most, so she should get more work points. Teacher Chen, you should recalculate it."

Jiang Lili waved her hands repeatedly, "No need, no need."

Chen Fan gestured and said with a smile, "Don't be in a hurry, let me finish."

He then looked at the group and said, “Our business probably won’t last long. Even if we open a market again in the future, we won’t be able to sell this many pottery pieces.”

The pottery master craftsman from the Victory Brigade is no pushover. I reckon he'll be writing on the pottery next time. So even if people want to buy, they might not buy from us. Besides, after today's batch, I doubt there will be many more buyers in the future.

So until I come up with a better way, I don't plan to continue making pottery to sell. Even if I do continue, I'll only make common bowls and plates, and in small quantities. Compared to today, the profits will definitely be much lower.

Upon hearing this, the girls' faces fell.

Having finally found a way to make money, but being able to follow the teacher's advice doesn't last, naturally makes me unhappy.

Chen Fan turned to look at Jiang Lili and continued, "So, since this is the only time, I haven't calculated it in great detail. You'll just have to accept the slight loss. If there's a next time, you'll calculate your work points based on the pottery blanks you each made, okay?"

Jiang Lili nodded without hesitation, "Okay."

She was quite satisfied to have received over 70 yuan; in fact, she might have been a little worried if Yang Ju and the others hadn't been keeping their income a secret. With this mindset, she naturally had no complaints.

Chen Fan smiled and said, "However, I can't let you suffer too much. So, I'll give you a gift, which is both a little compensation and a small token of my appreciation."

Gift?

Jiang Lili's eyes lit up. Compared to getting more money, she preferred receiving gifts from Chen Fan, even if they weren't worth much.

Huang Ying and the others looked at her and Chen Fan with envy, wondering what the gift was.

Under their watchful eyes, Chen Fan took a small alarm clock out of his pocket and handed it to Jiang Lili with a smile, saying, "Here you go."

Was this alarm clock originally bought for myself?

No wonder he wanted to buy another alarm clock even though he already had one.

Jiang Lili happily accepted it, holding it in her hands and looking at it again and again, she liked it very much.

After a two-second pause, she blushed and looked up at Chen Fan, then quickly lowered her head again and said in a sweet voice, "Thank you."

(End of this chapter)