Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 288 The Real Skill

A dozen minutes later, the competition ended with Zhang Wenliang's scream.

Chen Fan emerged from the woods, cheerfully taking two pistols from Xiao Liewen and hoisting the rifle he had been temporarily issued to him. Looking around, he asked, "Captain, where's the shooting range? I'd like to go fire a few shots."

The militia training camp only happens once a quarter. If we don't take this opportunity to have a good time, how can we justify the hard work we put in to come all this way?

Xiao Liewen looked at him strangely, "Don't leave yet, let's talk when Sanhuzi comes out."

Chen Fan quickly covered the pistol, staring at him with wide eyes, "You're not going to back out, are you?"

Xiao Liewen said irritably, "I've already given you the gun, how can you go back on your word?"

He then explained, "As the referee, I have to summarize your matches, and what about Sanhuzi? How did he lose? Where did he go wrong? How can he improve next time? These things need to be clearly summarized. Otherwise, what's the point of our training camp? Are we just showing him off to you?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan chuckled and remained silent.

It's just a little while, he can wait. Anyway, no one can stop him from firing two magazines today!

A moment later, Zhang Wenliang emerged from the woods, clutching his head and grinning, which immediately drew laughter from many people around him.

"Company commander, were you stung by a bee or bitten by an insect?"

"It must have been a bee sting. There are flowers everywhere in spring, and bees need to collect nectar. It saw that our company commander looks like a flower, so how could it let him go?!"

This remark was met with another burst of laughter.

Zhang Wenliang waved his hands repeatedly, "Get out of here, all of you! Have you finished training? If you're not, don't run around like that. Double the training time today."

The militiamen, whose training volume had doubled, showed no remorse for being punished; they were all laughing and joking, almost falling over.

Zhang Wenliang was too lazy to pay them any more attention. After climbing up the embankment, he glared at Chen Fan and said, "What kind of evil magic are you using? I didn't even see you before a rock hit me on the head?"

Chen Fan chuckled, took a pebble the size of a quail egg from his pocket, waved it at him, and then pointed to a branch not far away, "The branch with two flowers on it, see it?"

Zhang Wenliang looked in the direction he was pointing, then looked at him again, "I see it, what's wrong?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Just tell me, do you want the bigger flower or the smaller one?"

Zhang Wenliang's eyes darted around, and he pointed to the tree branch, "I want both flowers, and the branches too."

Without saying a word, Chen Fan flicked his wrist, and the branch fell down with a crack.

Zhang Wenliang's eyes widened when he saw it, and he turned to look at him, asking, "Where did you learn this skill?"

Xiao Liewen looked at Chen Fan with a face full of surprise, "When did you learn this skill?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "It was during the last hunting trip. At Team 9, I met Master Peng, who used to work for the provincial hunting team. Master Peng is an old hunter. He can navigate the forest like it's his home. He's not only very good with his bow and arrow, but he's also skilled at throwing stones. That's what I learned from him."

He paused for a moment, then looked at the forest and said, “Captain, didn’t you want to summarize your experience? My experience is to use the hunting methods that Master Peng taught us to find out which places are most likely to be frequented by animals.”

Seeing Zhang Wenliang's face darken, he couldn't help but chuckle and say, "If you put it in terms of people, you would look for the positions that people are most likely to choose, and then use a hunting mindset to find the position where I can spot you but you can't see me, and finally deliver a fatal blow with a stone."

At this point, Chen Fan tossed the stone in his hand, "I only used a third of my strength just now, I promise I didn't hurt you..."

Zhang Wenliang covered his head, speechless, but he also admitted that what Chen Fan said was true. It really hurt when a stone hit his head, but that was about it. At most, he would get a big bump, which would probably go away by tomorrow.

Chen Fan continued, "If you had used only half your strength, your head would be bleeding by now. If you had used your full strength, you would definitely be dead. And this is just with throwing stones. If you had used a bow and arrow, you would have died even faster."

Zhang Wenliang felt a little creeped out. "Stop talking about being dead or not, okay?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Don't you have a lot of weasels? If you don't mind, just give me a few weasel pelts and I'll make you a backpack. Why make a bet with a gun?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wenliang beamed with joy, forgetting even the pain in his head. He immediately stretched out his right hand and said, "Then give me back my gun."

Chen Fan immediately covered his mouth, saying, "A person's character is revealed in their gambling behavior. How can you expect to return a lost bet?"

Zhang Wenliang looked miserable, wishing he could slap himself.

Xiao Liewen stood to the side, looking thoughtfully at the forest. After the two of them finished joking around, he turned to Chen Fan and said seriously, "You mean, you used your hunting skills on the battlefield?"

Chen Fan turned to look at him, nodded and said, "Yes, didn't you say that as long as it works, any skill can be used?"

Xiao Liewen nodded slowly, then said to Zhang Wenliang, "Make a note of this. Talk to the people in Team 9 later and see what Master Peng usually does. If it's suitable, go to Team 9 tomorrow and bring Master Peng over so we can talk to him together."

Zhang Wenliang immediately understood, "You want him to teach our militia how to fight in the mountains and forests?"

Xiao Liewen slowly shook his head and chuckled softly, "Pretty much, but it's not about fighting. Hunting and fighting are ultimately very different."

He looked at Chen Fan again, "The reason why Xiao Chen was able to defeat you so quickly is because he understands both hunting skills and individual combat skills, and most importantly, he can integrate the two skills. That's his ability. However, he's still lacking because he doesn't understand team tactics."

I asked you to invite Master Peng over so he could teach our militia how to hunt. You should also pay attention to how to integrate this hunting skill with our individual combat techniques and team tactics. This will definitely greatly help improve our militia's combat effectiveness.

After he finished speaking, Zhang Wenliang nodded without hesitation, "I understand, I'll take care of it in a bit."

He turned to look at the pistol at Chen Fan's waist and laughed, "If we can use this gun to improve the militia's combat effectiveness, it would be well worth it."

He then smiled at Chen Fan and said, "I have a brand new Type 56 semi-automatic rifle here. Want to play again?"

Chen Fan looked at him speechlessly, "Even if we keep playing this old game, it'll still be the same old method. You need to figure out how to break my old method first."

He paused for a moment, then said with disdain, "The Type 56 is a rifle, and I can't carry a rifle, so what would I need your gun for? Please find something usable next time."

Zhang Wenliang's face fell. "Hey, I've been rejected."

Chen Fan turned to Xiao Liewen and asked, "Captain, is there anything else?"

Xiao Liewen waved his hand, "That's all, go play with your gun."

Chen Fan immediately grabbed his rifle and ran away to the shooting range, where he fired at the targets.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding militiamen, including the nearby female communications soldiers, quickly ran away to a safe distance.

Good heavens, not a single bullet hit the target. That's incredibly dangerous.

Seeing this, Chen Fan smiled smugly.

Hmph, how could ordinary mortals possibly understand my unique "outline shooting technique"?

The aiming technique is so precise, you can hit exactly where you aim, but you never hit the target!
……

The next day, May 4th. Today, the entire Lujiawan, no, the entire Nanhu Commune, was in a state of euphoria.

The reason is simple: they're showing a movie in Team 10 of Lujiawan!

Chen Fan looked at Xiao Liewen with a face full of suspicion, "Even people from other brigades, or even the neighboring commune, would come all the way here to watch a movie? Surely not?!"

Before Xiao Liewen could speak, Ye Shubao said, "What do you mean it's not that serious? You don't understand the appeal of movies."

He sat with his legs crossed, smoking a cigarette, his eyes filled with reminiscence. "The first time I ever saw a movie was over 20 years ago. Back then, movies didn't have sound..."

Chen Fan interjected curiously, "A silent movie?"

He remembered that by World War II, sound films had become the mainstream, but 20 years ago, in the 50s, silent films were still being shown.

Ye Shubao was interrupted, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he smiled and said, "What silent film? That's a film without a speaker. Even if there were sound, it wouldn't be able to play."

Secretary Yang, holding a teacup and with a single garment draped over his shoulders, grinned and said, "Back then, loudspeakers and speakers were scarce. The film projection team only had a projector, not loudspeakers or speakers, so naturally, they couldn't produce any sound."

So back then, the movies we watched were all like this: no sound, no subtitles, or even if there were subtitles, many ordinary people couldn't understand them. So what could we do?

This is where the projectionist's skill is tested. When showing a film, the projectionist stands at a high position and loudly explains the plot. Each character who appears is introduced as someone—who they are, where they're from, what they do—and the storyline unfolds, identifying the good guys and bad guys—all relying on the projectionist's verbal skills.

At this point, he picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea. Ye Shubao then continued, "In this way, the people watching the movie were packed in three or four layers deep. The large playground couldn't hold them all, and people were even standing on the rooftops."

He took a drag of his cigarette and continued excitedly, "The first time a movie with sound was shown was back in the 1960s. I remember it was in Bailanghu Brigade."

Their brigade was rich and had plenty of free time. While we were busy as bees, they had nothing to do, so they found someone to invite a projectionist to show movies. Luckily, the projection team had just gotten a loudspeaker, so the movies had sound. As a result, several of our brigades ran over to see what was going on.

As he spoke, he turned to Captain Zhang and asked, "There must have been several thousand people who went that time, right?"

Captain Zhang, smoking a cigarette, chuckled and said, "Nobody's counted them, so who knows exactly how many there are? Some say 5, some say 8, and some say tens of thousands. It's so dark, all pitch black, you can't see anything at all."

Tens of thousands of people watching a movie?

Chen Fan tried hard to imagine the scene at that time and couldn't help but ask, "Could they see the movie?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Shubao and Captain Zhang both grinned and laughed heartily.

They laughed so hard they couldn't speak. Xiao Liewen then said with a smile, "It would be a miracle if you could see anything. It's such a small piece of cloth. You can't see a person's face clearly beyond 20 zhang (approximately 10 meters). The furthest distance was probably two li (approximately 1 kilometer). What could you possibly see? You just wanted to hear some sounds and enjoy the novelty."

Chen Fan couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this, but in his heart he believed Ye Shubao's words.

If you can watch a movie from two miles away, then traveling an extra ten miles or so doesn't seem like a big deal.

As the group was chatting, Zhang Wenliang suddenly appeared at the door, followed by another person, none other than Master Peng from Team 9.

Upon seeing this, Chen Fan quickly stood up and greeted, "Master Peng."

Old Peng raised his hands in a gesture of respect, his face showing a hint of restraint, and said, "Hello, Teacher Chen."

Then he looked at the others, "Secretary Yang, Captain Zhang, Captain Xiao, Captain Ye."

Xiao Liewen had already stood up to greet him, reaching out to shake Old Peng's hands and laughing heartily, "Master Peng, we didn't even say hello before inviting you over, please don't mind."

Chen Fan stood aside, watching them exchange pleasantries without saying a word.

At this moment, Lin Yuanxiang walked over, carrying a long wooden box in his hand, and gently patted his shoulder, "Come out for a moment, I need to talk to you about something."

Chen Fan was slightly taken aback. Seeing that Old Man Lin had already left, he apologized to Master Peng and quickly followed behind.

Lin Yuanxiang walked unhurriedly to the backyard, waited for Chen Fan to come over, handed him the wooden box, and smiled, "This is what I promised to give you."

Chen Fan immediately guessed what it was, took the wooden box with both hands, opened it, and sure enough, there was a saber inside.

This isn't just an ordinary saber; the decorations are quite exquisite.

The scabbard is dark green, the hilt is the same color, and the handguard below the hilt is wrapped in silk, making it stand out from the crowd. At the grip of the scabbard is a piece of mahogany, and the style of the knife is a typical Western sword.

However, judging from the marks on this knife, it seems to be quite old.

He looked at Lin Yuanxiang, about to ask a question, when Lin Yuanxiang put his hands behind his back and said softly, "This is a Japanese cavalry sword, just like your Japanese horse, it's a trophy."

Chen Fan immediately beamed with joy. "I love hearing that!"

Lin Yuanxiang kept talking, "This knife is no ordinary knife. It was the personal knife of a Japanese cavalry regiment commander back then. In those days, Japanese cavalry generally used Western swords, and even the officers of the three branches of the armed forces used Western swords. It was only in the later stages of the war that Japanese swords were gradually used as the personal swords of generals, but the cavalry commanders did not change and continued to use Western swords."

The Japanese soldiers weren't very good, but the knives they made were really good. A friend of mine captured one of these knives years ago and treasured it immensely.

He turned to look at Chen Fan, then suddenly smiled. "Unfortunately, he lost his life on the northern battlefield. I used this knife to cut off thirty-seven heads to avenge him."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan quickly put the knife back in the box and held it back with both hands, saying, "This is too valuable, I can't accept it."

This thing is fit for a museum, okay? It's not something he should want!

Lin Yuanxiang waved his hand, ignoring his words, and simply smiled, "My friend has no family, so this knife ended up in my hands. I'm giving it to you today. The knife was delivered yesterday. I'm leaving soon, and before I go, I'll teach you a little something."

Chen Fan was momentarily stunned and could only hold the knife and quietly watch him.

Lin Yuanxiang laughed and said, "After sparring with me for so many days, you've learned everything you were supposed to, right?"

Chen Fan smiled slightly awkwardly and nodded, "Thank you, Uncle Lin."

I learned all my counter-attack moves from him, no wonder he saw through them.

Lin Yuanxiang smiled and continued, "Actually, all the things I taught you were already left in the army. The inheritance I mentioned to you before wasn't these things."

Chen Fan was stunned. What did that mean?
Lin Yuanxiang laughed and said, "The real test for you is not going abroad, but the connections I deliberately told you about. If you are tempted, then our relationship will end here."

He looked at the wooden box in Chen Fan's hand with a complicated expression. "This knife will never end up in your hands either."

He then pointed at him with his right hand and laughed, "I won't tell you my true abilities."

He paused for a moment, then stretched his limbs. "My skills are something most people can't learn. There are so many promising young men in the army, but none of them have mastered them, and I won't just teach them to anyone. You're a good kid, so today I'll leave you with the last bit of my knowledge."

He looked at the stunned Chen Fan and laughed, "Don't worry, I don't need you to become my apprentice, and I don't have any other requirements. Just learn this skill and don't let it go."

(End of this chapter)