Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 266 A Letter Arrives

Chen Fan had seen that saddle before. A month ago, Secretary Yang and the others mentioned that there was a saddle in the warehouse and asked Chen Fan to see if he could repair it.

However, due to a lack of repair materials at the time, it was left untouched and remained in the warehouse until today, when it was unearthed again.

Lin Yuanxiang examined the saddle. "The leather is no longer usable and needs to be completely removed. Fortunately, the saddle bones are not damaged, just slightly deformed, but it doesn't have much of an impact."

Chen Fan looked at the saddle and frowned, saying, "It's already like this, we might as well make a new one."

The saddle frame was made of wood. He was a qualified carpenter, and of course he could see that the wooden pieces of the saddle were somewhat rotten, but because the wood was of good quality, it didn't look like there was a big problem.

There are no major problems, but there are quite a few minor ones. If it is used like this, the saddle will fall apart within a year at most.

It's been 32 years since 45.

Lin Yuanxiang looked at him in surprise, "You can make saddles?"

Xiao Liewen also said to Chen Fan, "Saddle bone making is different from ordinary woodworking. You have to make the wood pieces curl up at both ends. Are you sure you can do it?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Give it a try. It would be great if it succeeded, but if it doesn't, we can just modify this one."

After examining the structure of the saddle, he had some ideas. The main structure of the saddle was not complicated; it was just a skeleton covered with a layer of leather to ensure that it would not harm the horse's skin. At the same time, soft padding was placed between the skeleton and the leather to make riding more comfortable.

The saddle was stuffed with animal hair. It's a pity that sponges are hard to find now, otherwise adding a layer of sponge would be the simplest solution. It wasn't until the early 80s that factories in China began to produce artificial sponges on a large scale. Now, most sponges are natural and mainly used for military products. In terms of artificial sponges, China lags behind foreign countries by half a century.

The Americans are using this material to make diapers and sending astronauts into space, while we're still using palm fiber and cotton pads. The gap is indeed quite large.

Seeing that Chen Fan seemed quite confident, Lin Yuanxiang went along with him and said with a smile, "Alright, I'll see how good your skills are."

He paused for a moment, then joked, "Don't take half a year to finish this job, I can't wait that long."

Xiao Liewen chuckled from the side, "Or like the transport team, get a wooden saddle. Those things are for pulling carts, not convenient for long-term riding, and not good for the horse either."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "I'm not that confused. Instead of making a wooden frame, I'd rather make a soft saddle out of some leather."

The padded saddle has no frame; it's just a few pieces of leather fixed to the horse's back. Previously, Yang Zhijun and Li Zhengqun would tie a piece of felt to the horse's back, which was the most primitive padded saddle.

Seeing Chen Fan's confidence, the two men let him take the saddle away and make a new saddle based on it.

……

Chen Fan carried the saddle to the broadcasting room, where Zhang Cuie had already started broadcasting while she herself was engrossed in reading a book.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Cuie turned around and saw that it was Chen Fan. She immediately stood up and called out "Teacher" while making tea.

Chen Fan placed the saddle on the table, pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. He looked at her books and asked, "Did you encounter any difficulties in your studies yesterday?"

He brought Zhang Cuie over to cover his shift, but he didn't forget to encourage her to continue learning. Chen Fan's study plan for her was to study broadcasting courses in the morning, mainly focusing on listening, speaking, reading, writing, and reading comprehension in Chinese. In the afternoon, she would continue studying middle school textbooks, and the evenings were up to her to arrange.

Hearing Chen Fan's words, Zhang Cuie placed the water glass on the table next to him and said with a smile, "Not yet. I remember all the knowledge you explained to me once, so I have no difficulty reviewing it."

As she said this, her eyes were shining. "Teacher, you are really amazing. I have asked other people for help before, but none of them explained it as clearly as you. It took them several times to understand, but I can understand you after just one explanation."

Chen Fan chuckled, "Oh, don't say that. I was just saying. In the end, it's because you have a solid foundation."

Zhang Cuie smiled and said, "You also helped me lay the foundation."

She wasn't flattering anyone. Previously, her knowledge was mostly self-taught. After finishing elementary school, she couldn't grasp the essentials when trying to learn middle school on her own. But since following Chen Fan this year, she first relearned the elementary school knowledge under his guidance, and then she felt like she could learn the middle school knowledge in one go. It was effortless for her to learn.

Faced with such praise, Teacher Chen was already used to it. He chuckled twice and said, "Starting today, each team will be transplanting rice seedlings. Secretary Yang and Captain Zhang just gave me the task of writing a few reports about transplanting rice seedlings. It's a rare opportunity, so why don't you try writing one too?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cuie felt a little numb, her eyes flickering as she said, "Me? I can't do it, I used to..."

Before she could finish speaking, Chen Fan waved his hand and said seriously, "How can you say it won't work if you haven't tried? Have you forgotten what I taught you: how to analyze articles and how to do reading comprehension? Every article has a fixed framework and a central idea. Based on that, find its writing methods. Just use the methods for reading comprehension in reverse and try writing an article."

He paused for a moment, then continued, “Don’t worry about whether it’s well-written or not, whether it will be adopted by the commune, the county, or even the prefectural committee. Your only task is to write a good report. Don’t think about fancy words at the beginning; just express the meaning first, and then revise it slowly. But be quick; rice planting only takes a few days. If you delay too long, you will lose the timeliness of news reporting.”

He hesitated for two seconds, then held up two fingers. "You have two days. Give me the article before you leave work tomorrow afternoon."

Zhang Cuie looked conflicted but dared not say no, so she could only grimace and reply, "Oh." Chen Fan stood up and laughed, "Summon your fearless courage. It's just an article, is it harder than repairing an appliance?"

Zhang Cuie forced a smile, "Then I'd still rather repair electrical appliances."

Chen Fan pointed at her irritably, "You're hopeless."

After saying that, he picked up the saddle and went to the archives room next door.

First, disassemble the saddle and carefully examine the structure of the saddle frame. This is a typical war saddle, complete with mudguards, girth, front and rear bridges, saddle flaps, iron rings for hanging sabers, and so on.

The saddles used for warhorses in later films and television dramas, whether ancient or modern, are actually mostly lightweight saddles for riding, lacking many functions. Only a very few high-quality films replicate such complex warhorse saddles.

However, Chen Fan wasn't going to fight; riding was his primary purpose. Besides, the purpose of a warhorse saddle was to facilitate combat, which wasn't very friendly to the rider or the horse. So some of the structure could be removed, and a lighter saddle could be made.

Comparing this saddle with his memories of various saddles, Chen Fan decided to design his own saddle.

At that moment, all his skills—veterinarian, butcher, carpenter, tailor, and forger—were put to use. The mare's body structure, physiological characteristics, wood material, shape, sewing techniques, and so on—all came to mind.

After a moment, he made up his mind and took out a stack of white paper to draw a design.

The pencil scratched across the paper, and soon, all the patterns, from the saddle to the overall design, appeared on the paper.

Next, he will turn the blueprints into a physical object.

A pile of trash was packed up, the blueprints were stuffed into a cloth bag... Seeing the cloth bag, Chen Fan couldn't help but sigh again. He had originally wanted to make a crocodile skin backpack, but now that plan had fallen through again.

As I was leaving with my things, I passed the broadcasting room and saw Zhang Cuie biting her pen.

Poor child, take your time writing. If you want to succeed, hard work is an essential process, unless you have good parents.

As Chen Fan emerged from the backyard, only Xiao Liewen and Lin Yuanxiang were talking in front of him. Duoduo and Qiuqiu were training under Lin Yuanxiang's command. Upon seeing Chen Fan approach, they immediately looked at him expectantly.

Chen Fan purred at them a few times, saying, "Be good during your training, and I'll give you extra food when we get home."

The two puppies' eyes immediately lit up, and they jumped and skipped excitedly.

Lin Yuanxiang gave Chen Fan a strange look. "Sometimes I really want to recommend you train military dogs. The dogs are so obedient to you."

Xiao Liewen was immediately startled, "No way!"

Lin Yuanxiang rolled his eyes at him. "I was just saying. If I were to recommend someone, it wouldn't be training military dogs."

Before Xiao Liewen could speak, Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Even if you recommend me, I won't go. I keep dogs for fun. I can't stand dealing with dogs all day long. Besides, I know nothing about training dogs, so it's better not to get involved."

Lin Yuanxiang nodded. "That's true."

Then, looking at Duoduo and Qiuqiu, he said thoughtfully, "These two dogs have quite the potential to be military dogs."

Chen Fan was speechless. Who was this person?
Xiao Liewen didn't care about the two dogs; in his view, as long as Chen Fan wasn't taken away, that was fine.

He looked at the pile of trash in Chen Fan's hand. "What are you going to do with this?"

Chen Fan turned his head and said, "Oh, let's throw this away first, then find some wood to make a saddle."

Xiao Liewen looked at him and asked, "When will you write the article?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Don't worry about that. Writing a few articles is a piece of cake. It's not even as time-consuming as going out to collect inspiration and paint."

Just as Xiao Liewen was about to speak, a bicycle bell rang outside, followed by someone shouting, "Receive the mail! Has Teacher Chen written another article?"

Hearing the commotion, the three of them immediately headed for the door.

The next second, the mailman's car came to a smooth stop at the gate of the yard.

Seeing Chen Fan and the other two approach, he laughed and said, "Teacher Chen, you have a letter from a magazine. It looks like a sample copy. Your article must have been accepted."

(End of this chapter)