Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 28: Very ill
Chen Fan thought carefully, wondering if his teaching level included his previous experience training new employees at the company. If so, it would make much more sense.

However, compared to cooking skills and animalistic speech, he didn't value this teaching skill much.

He's still an unregistered resident, and most importantly, his background is unknown. Who would he teach? Who would dare let him teach them?
You can't exactly go door-to-door teaching people how to cook.

Therefore, this skill was probably useless, so he put it out of his mind and stopped thinking about it.

Braised turtle doesn't need to be steamed for an hour or two like steaming, but it still needs to be simmered for about 15 minutes. Cover the pot, simmer it over low heat in the stove, and while waiting, squat on the ground and chat with the big yellow dog under the strange looks of the people around you.

"Woof woof~ woof woof?" (Have you eaten yet?)

The big yellow dog stared at him, barking, "Woof woof woof." (He didn't eat.)
Chen Fan, "Aww~ Ooh." (I'll give you a bone to gnaw on later.)

The big yellow dog, "Woof woof." (Okay!)

As it spoke, it wagged its tail.

At the kitchen door, Accountant Liu approached Captain Yang and said with a strange expression, "It seems he is indeed quite ill."

Captain Yang's eyes were also a bit complicated. "I thought he was doing things in an organized and methodical way, and he even knew how to study and make turtles, so I wondered if he was faking amnesia. Now it seems that his mind is indeed not very clear."

A normal person teases a dog by whistling or making some noise, and that's it. But look at Chen Fan, what is he doing?
How could a human talk to a dog so seriously, speaking dog language?
The storekeeper, Huang, grinned and thought for a while before whispering, "Forget it, let's not say anything more. Talking to a dog won't stop him from contributing to the team anyway."

Having an extra meat dish out of nowhere, and one that's delicious even without oil, is a contribution far greater than that of a strong laborer.

It's a pity that soft-shelled turtles are cooling in nature and pregnant women can't eat them. Otherwise, if no one in the village slaughters chickens anymore and everyone uses soft-shelled turtles for nourishment, and the chickens are sold, how much more income could be generated!
Inside the kitchen, Liu Jujiang didn't seem to care about Chen Fan's behavior.

Back when village banquets were still permitted, he had traveled far and wide, even accompanying his master to the prefectural committee. He had seen countless strange and unusual people and events. Chen Fan simply enjoyed talking to dogs; he had even seen people raise dogs like sons. During years of famine, while others would kill dogs for meat, that man preferred to go hungry himself, while most of his food ended up in the dog's stomach. And this was nothing compared to what he had experienced.

Chen Fan had a friendly exchange with the big yellow dog and successfully gained 3 beast language experience points. In just two more days, he could level up his beast language to level 2.

I wonder if level 2 can chat with turtles? If they really can, I'd be too embarrassed to eat them.

He quickly came up with a solution. He kept all the people he had chatted with, and only ate the food he hadn't talked to.

Without a watch and unable to estimate the time, Chen Fan's legs went numb from squatting, so he stood up and stretched a bit. Then he lifted the pot lid, took a bite with his chopsticks, and nodded repeatedly, "It's just the right tenderness. Don't cook it any longer. Take it out of the pot."

The aroma had already wafted out while it was simmering, whetting the appetites of countless people. When the lid was lifted, a rich, meaty fragrance swept out, making even the children drool.

Liu Jujiang also tasted a piece from his own pot. "Hmm, it's delicious, but a bit hard, not fully cooked yet. But it's perfect to take it out of the pot now. Take it back, add some side dishes, and stew it again, and it will be soft and tender."

Upon hearing this, Captain Yang immediately turned around and shouted, "Line up, it's time to distribute the meat!"

Needless to say, everyone is very familiar with this kind of thing, and soon a long queue automatically formed, all in the order they had just grabbed their spots, without any mistakes.

Over there, Liu Jujiang was serving everyone food, one spatula per person. Regardless of the quality of the meat, the portions were equal, so no one got more or less in their bowl.

Yang Ju brought over a large earthenware pot, scooped in the frying pan Chen Fan had prepared, and then carried the pot into the main room. Everyone else looked at the huge pot of turtle, their mouths watering, but no one uttered a sound, because Yang Ju herself had dug it out of the mud pond the night before. Anyone who wanted some could go dig some themselves! Soon, the large pot of frying pan that Liu Jujiang had prepared was all gone. He kept a bowl for himself, which his wife took home. After finishing his work, he prepared to leave, but Captain Yang pulled him inside, saying, "You're the master, how can you leave? Eat here today."

Chen Fan and Jiang Lili had already been invited to sit in the main room, each carrying a teacup—coincidentally, the same one from yesterday.

Just like yesterday, Chen Fan still didn't dare to take a bite.

Today, there's no hearth in the main room, just a large square table with a big pot of turtle on it.

Yang Ju used the remaining embers to steam rice and stir-fry vegetables. She steamed rice in one pot and quickly stir-fried a plate of cabbage and a plate of radish in another pot, which were slightly infused with the flavor of turtle. She also heated up a plate of glutinous rice lotus root and a plate of stir-fried peppercorns and served them on the table.

As for the pickled vegetables that were once a staple on rural tables, they are no longer available.

When guests come to your home, you can't serve pickled vegetables. The reasons are simple: firstly, it's impolite, and secondly, it's considered stingy. Even if you're broke, it's better to just dig up a cabbage or a radish from the field than to serve a bowl of pickled vegetables.

When guests arrive, women and children are not allowed to sit at the table. Aunt Yang set up a small wooden table in the room and had just distributed some dishes. She ate with her five children there. Even the youngest, who was only four or five years old, did not make a fuss. He just stared longingly at the bowl of meat, waiting for the feast.

Jiang Lili wanted to follow, but Captain Yang stopped her, saying, "I don't care where you come from or what your background is. Now that you've crossed this threshold, you're a guest in my house. What family would offer a small table to their guest? Come on, sit down at the table."

Seeing that Jiang Lili's face was flushed and she was standing there at a loss, Chen Fan pulled out a chair for her and said with a smile, "The captain has already spoken, what are you dawdling for? Don't upset the captain later."

Jiang Lili then carefully sat down.

Captain Yang smiled and pointed at Chen Fan, "You're shrewd, you're smarter than a ghost, but you're also a bit naive, sometimes you don't even know some common sense."

Then, turning to Accountant Liu and Warehouse Keeper Huang, who had been invited, he said, "He didn't even know that in previous years the semester started in the spring and ended in the winter. Don't you think he's a bit dim-witted?"

Chen Fan grinned and chuckled, "I'm shrewd when I know something, and clueless when I can't remember it."

He wasn't angry. People from the countryside are naturally straightforward, and Captain Yang is an elder, so what's a few jokes? On the contrary, it shows that he doesn't consider himself an outsider.

Accountant Liu also laughed and said, "Captain, I have to say something fair. If Chen Fan hadn't lost his mind, he definitely wouldn't be unaware of this."

The custodian, Huang, pulled out a chair and sat down. "Look at you, you just can't speak properly, and you're saying there's something wrong with your head. People are just sick and can't remember for a while, but I think you're the one with a problem."

Accountant Liu pointed at him and said, "You're the one who's out of your mind. I'm not sitting next to you. I'll sit with Third Brother."

He then took a detour and sat down next to Liu Jujiang.

Chen Fan looked at the two men and was surprised to find that they were relatives. He wondered if they were brothers or cousins. But that made sense, since the village was only so big, the probability of people with the same surname being relatives was very high.

There was a table and four benches. Captain Yang sat on one bench, Accountant Liu and Craftsman Liu sat on another, and Warehouse Keeper Huang sat on yet another, in the middle. Chen Fan saw this and thought, "Well, then I can only sit on the same bench as Jiang Lili."

However, Jiang Lili carefully huddled in the corner, and there was still room for a large fat man to sit between them, so she didn't care about the impact.

(End of this chapter)