Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 211 Hunting Livestock
After the money and goods are settled, the next step is to go to the police station to register and receive the certificate.

Chen Fan has a clear understanding of his own identity.

Even though he is now respectfully addressed as Master Chen wherever he goes, and is even called Teacher Chen in Lujiawan.

However, at the police station, he was still considered an "outsider of unknown origin" and was subject to close monitoring.

Now Chen Fan also knows that in Nanhu Commune, and even in the entire Yunhu area, and even in most towns and villages in Jiangnan Province, there are many migrants of "unknown origin" who have settled down.

The vast majority of these people were refugees fleeing famine.

In big cities, not to mention those of unknown origin, even rural migrants with clear origins are subject to strict control. The term "blind migrant" did not only appear after the 80s. As early as the 50s, there were regulations for the management of "blindly migrating" populations, which is how the term "blind migrant" came about.

Therefore, those who fled famine generally did not go to big cities, but instead migrated to towns and villages where management was not strict.

In rural towns, there are also checks on migrant workers, but they are mostly not very strict.

When outsiders came, they were either checked by the militia or questioned by the police from the local police station. (Back then, a distant relative of mine did this job and often bragged to me about his beat-up revolver, which wasn't even a standard issue weapon. What was there to brag about? But at that time, the police were armed to guard against saboteurs. Since they didn't have enough standard issue weapons, they had to pick up scraps from the militia.)

If any suspicious circumstances are discovered, the matter will naturally be transferred to the relevant authorities. However, in most cases, it's just a routine inquiry, and if the other party conceals their origins, they won't be overly reprimanded.

There are just too many people like this. Every year, a large number of people roam the country, and it's impossible to manage them all. They hide their origins because they're afraid of being sent back.

Since there was nothing in the towns and villages that would attract the attention of enemy agents, they naturally lowered their guard.

In addition, people of this era still retained the spirit of "learning from Lei Feng's good example," and those who could afford it would even let beggars who came to their door at night stay overnight. Therefore, they were generally very tolerant of these outsiders.

The prosperity and simple folk customs of the Jiangnan region also made some outsiders want to stay and settle down.

However, even though they have settled down, the local police station will still maintain close oversight of these individuals for a certain period. Normally, the street office and neighborhood committee are responsible for this, but in critical situations, the police station will need to intervene directly.

Chen Fan's situation now falls under the category of "important circumstances".

Others buy guns and don't register them, no problem. Him? No way!
After rolling up the two hunting rifles with a straw mat and putting the pistol in his pocket, Chen Fan rode his horse out of the veterinary station.

The veterinary station is on Jianshe East Road, while the police station and the commune government compound are both on Jianshe West Road, which he has never been to before.

Anyway, there was only one straight road, and the place was easy to find. After trotting for a few minutes, the mare could see the small courtyard with a sign on the wall that read "Nanhu Commune Water and Land Police Station".

As is well known, police stations only have jurisdiction over public security work in the streets or towns within their jurisdiction. If a case occurs on the water, special water police will usually be involved, since ordinary police stations don't have boats.

But the land and water police station is not ordinary; it can manage things on land and on water. In addition to bicycles, they also have speedboats.

Yunhu City has a network of waterways, with almost all of its districts and counties having waterways that are intertwined with the land, making it difficult to clearly define the boundaries of responsibility.

Therefore, a large portion of the township police stations in the Yunhu area are land and water police stations, which can manage everything except the sky and the water.

Upon reaching the courtyard gate, Chen Fan dismounted and led his horse inside.

A policeman happened to come out of the two-story red brick office building. Seeing Chen Fan leading the horse in, he asked loudly, "What are you doing here? Reporting a case or running errands?"

This shout immediately attracted several people from inside the building, and many people stood in the corridors upstairs and downstairs.

Chen Fan couldn't help but wipe away a bead of cold sweat.

Good grief, how idle are you guys? Waiting for someone to come and report it, huh?
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he quickly said, "Hello, police officer, I'm here on business. Uh, is Officer Zhu here? I'm from Lujiawan." The police station also has districts, and Lujiawan is under Officer Zhu's jurisdiction. When Chen Fan came here, it was Officer Zhu who came to handle the matter.

Fortunately, this old comrade had sharp eyes and realized that Chen Fan was harmless. If he had acted strangely, he would probably still be emptying chamber pots in the detention center right now.

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, the few police officers who had just come out quickly retreated. It was quite windy outside; since they weren't looking for them, they shouldn't stand in the cold wind.

Only the person who had asked Chen Fan a question nodded in realization, "From Lujiawan, huh? Come in with me and sit down. I'll go call Old Zhu for you."

He then led Chen Fan to a room, asked him to sit down, poured him a cup of hot water, and then turned and left.

A short while later, Zhu Gongan, whom I had met twice before, walked in.

As soon as he saw Chen Fan, he smiled and said, "It's you! I was just saying that someone from Lujiawan was coming to find me."

He then took off his hat, pulled out a chair, sat down at his desk, facing Chen Fan, and said with a smile, "You're quite impressive. I've heard a lot of big news about you in the past month or so. First you became a broadcaster, then a veterinarian, and you even published two articles in the local Party Committee Daily."

I must say, that report on the militia training was really well written; it reminded me of my time in the army…

Chen Fan didn't even have a chance to speak before he heard Zhu Gong'an rambling on and on in Cantonese, drinking half a cup of hot water without stopping.

After finally waiting for him to finish speaking, she looked at Chen Fan and said, "Look at my brain, I forgot you came here on business. Tell me, what business do you need to come here on business?"

Chen Fan finally let out a long breath and quickly said, "I bought a few guns and came here to register for gun licenses."

"Buy a gun?"

Zhu Gong'an was taken aback, his brows furrowing slightly. "What gun?"

Chen Fan had already picked up the straw mat, placed it horizontally on the desk, untied it, and then took out the small pistol from his pocket. "That's all."

Zhu Gong'an's brows immediately relaxed, and he chuckled, "Oh, so it's two hunting rifles and a small pistol. I thought it was a rifle."

He then took out a few sheets of paper from the drawer and wrote as he spoke, “This kind of gun has an effective range of only a few dozen meters, which is not a big problem. But if it’s a rifle, it won’t work. Unless it’s for the militia, they generally won’t approve it.”

After saying all that, he looked up at Chen Fan and asked, "By the way, why did you buy a gun?"

Chen Fan immediately gave his prepared reason: "I'm studying veterinary medicine now, and I might encounter livestock going crazy, so I was thinking of buying a gun for self-defense."

Zhu Gong'an's eyes darted around slightly. "That reason is plausible."

He picked up the small pistol again. "Where's the pistol? Is it for shooting livestock too?"

Chen Fan coughed lightly, "I usually carry a pistol with me. If I encounter small animals like dogs or pigs that go crazy, I use a small pistol. If I encounter large animals like horses or cattle, I use a hunting rifle."

Zhu Gong'an nodded and continued writing, saying, "I've never seen a beast go mad before, but it doesn't hurt to take precautions."

After finishing writing in a short while, he took out three pieces of cardboard, quickly wrote down his information, stamped them, then took out a steel stamp, placed the cardboard pieces on it one by one, pressed down the lever, and stamped the stamp. (Image not inserted)

He then turned and handed the certificate to Chen Fan, saying seriously, "Here's the certificate, but be careful when using it. You can use it for hunting, but absolutely do not use it against people, understand?"

Chen Fan stood at attention and at ease, saying, "I promise I won't do anything reckless."

(End of this chapter)