Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 3 What You Eat Must Be Returned

"it's the same."

Officer Zhu tossed him a cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and said, "Two possibilities. First, he has a home he can't go back to, or rather, he doesn't want to go back. Second,"

He tapped his head as he spoke, "I'm afraid there's really something wrong with my brain, and I can't remember some things."

Captain Yang was stunned for a moment, and after two seconds, he asked, "Then in your opinion, which possibility is more likely?"

Zhu Gong'an shook his head, "It's hard to say, it's hard to say."

After taking a couple more puffs of his cigarette, he said in a low voice, "I reckon he's probably just having some kind of mental problem and can't remember anything. According to you, he only had one set of thermal underwear on him, and he was soaking in water in the dead of winter. Think about it, if you hadn't gone to fetch water, or if you had gone over half an hour later, would he still be alive?"

Captain Yang shook his head without hesitation, "Let alone half an hour, I'm afraid even five minutes would be too much. When I pulled him up, his skin was all purple and his body was stiff. He could have lost his breath at any moment. I took off his clothes, dried him off, and covered him with my coat. After carrying him back, I had Jiang Lili from the educated youth station give him two big bowls of ginger and brown sugar water, and I also boiled the medicine prescribed by Doctor Zhang and fed it to him. He sweated profusely and that's when he finally caught his breath."

"That's it."

Zhu Gong'an laughed and said, "Who would take off their clothes before jumping into the river? In the dead of winter, why don't you try walking around outside in just a thermal undershirt? That's just asking for trouble."

In my opinion, this kid probably suffered some misfortune. Someone stripped him naked and threw him into the river, but he was lucky enough to survive and drifted to your place, where you rescued him. However, while he escaped death, he didn't escape suffering. His body was chilled, and he might have even been hit on the head, so he probably doesn't remember much about his past.

Captain Yang frowned, squinted and thought for a moment, "Now that you mention it, there's some truth to it."

Then he pointed to the house over there, "So what do we do now?"

Zhu Gong'an took a puff of his cigarette and chuckled, "He's not a criminal, so I can't take him back. How about this, you two do a good deed like Lei Feng and go all the way by taking him in for a few days. I'll ask around to see if there are any other people in the area who have been arrested. Judging from his accent, even if he's not a local, he's from one of the surrounding counties, not too far away. I'll come back once I've found out more."

People are more vigilant these days, but the social atmosphere is also good. Everyone is learning from Lei Feng and doing good deeds. As long as you are basically sure that he is not a bad person, you will receive help from all directions.

Of course, encountering bad people is another matter, since there are always bad people around.

Captain Yang had no other choice but to nod with a bitter face, "Alright."

Then he quickly added, "You'd better hurry up, a half-grown boy like him will eat his father out of house and home, I'm afraid I won't be able to afford to raise him."

Zhu Gong'an stood up and laughed, "Come on, everyone in Nanhu Commune knows that your Lujiawan Sixth Team is a big family. This year, one work point is worth 65 cents, and each family gets dozens of yuan in dividends at the end of the year. If you are short of food, how can others survive?"

Captain Yang chuckled and said, "You can't say that. Nobody's food comes from thin air. We still have to save where we can. Besides, my 6 cents is nothing. I've heard that some places pay as much as 5 yuan. We still have to work harder."

"Hey, if we ever find the owner, you have to put in a good word for us and get his food rations back, and oh, and the 2 cents for the medicine Dr. Zhang prescribed yesterday."

Zhu Gong'an said, "Just wait, let's find it first."

After saying that, he threw away his cigarette butt, stood up, dusted himself off, and left.

Captain Yang quickly followed.

Dozens of people were standing in the courtyard of the educated youth settlement. When they saw them come out, they all shut their mouths and stared at them.

Police Officer Zhu was used to this kind of scene, so he ignored it, simply nodding to a few familiar faces, walking outside to steady his bicycle, turning around to wave to Captain Yang, "Don't see me off, go back."

Captain Yang waved goodbye, saying, "Take care."

Only after Zhu Gong'an rode his bicycle away did he turn back and walk inside with his hands behind his back.

Someone shouted, "Secretary Yang, why did Officer Zhu leave? Why didn't he take the person with him?"

Captain Yang tossed his head and gave him a disapproving look. "You talk too much nonsense. He's not a criminal, why are you taking him in?" He then stood outside and called out, "Old Liu, Old Huang, come out here for a second."

The two people inside came out together. Accountant Liu walked up to them and asked in a low voice, "What did Officer Zhu say?"

Captain Yang reached behind his back and pulled out a pipe with a tobacco pouch. This was the cigarette he usually smoked; packaged cigarettes were for social occasions.

He took out some tobacco, stuffed it into his pipe, struck a match to light it, casually flicked the flame out and threw it on the ground. After taking two puffs, he pointed to the next room with his pipe and said, "Let's talk in that room over there."

Then he waved to the crowd and said, "Stop looking, what's so interesting about a kid? You all want to find a son-in-law, huh? Go back, go back."

Captain Yang clearly had a high level of prestige, and everyone obediently walked out.

However, even though he left, he couldn't stop people from talking.

"Old Huang, you have five beautiful daughters in your family, why don't you find a son-in-law? Here's one ready-made."

The man named Huang Laowu put on a stern face and said, "Go away, I still want to have sons to carry on the family line, why would I need to find a son-in-law? If you want to find one, go ahead and do it. Isn't your eldest daughter looking for a matchmaker? I think this one is just fine."

"Oh, you know what, I really like this kid. He looks just like someone from a painting, with delicate skin and a fairer complexion than a young woman. He looks like he comes from a cadre family. I'm just afraid he'll look down on us peasants."

"What's the use of looking good? You can't carry anything on your shoulders or lift anything with your hands. Even cadres have to plant rice seedlings when they come to the village. I think it's just for show."

"Maybe he's a scholar; he can earn a salary just by writing, which is a million times better than you working in the fields."

……

Chen Fan's face immediately fell as he watched the people outside leave in a swarm.

He saw it clearly just now: Captain Yang didn't leave, but took two other people next door to have a meeting, probably to discuss how to handle his own problem.

I don't know what to do.
Time travel? Why bother with time travel when you have nothing better to do? Well, look what happened, you've been transported to this era.

Even when life wasn't great, we still had air conditioning in the summer, heating in the winter, meat at meals, wine in our cups, and electric scooters to go out.

What now?
What year is it now?

Chen Fan looked around, then stood up to look for a calendar.

But after searching the whole house, besides four bamboo beds, four wardrobes, this table and a few bamboo chairs, there were only portraits on the wall, and even the large teapot and teacups were plain, coarse pottery. There wasn't a single thing with words on it.

Chen Fan thought for a moment, then cautiously walked to the door and peeked out.

Four mud-walled houses stand in a row. On the west side, there is a slightly lower house, and you can tell from the chimney behind it that it is the kitchen.

A small courtyard was enclosed by a wall less than two meters high made of mud bricks, and two wooden planks were installed at the entrance to serve as the gate.

The key point is that there was no one in the yard.

very good!
Chen Fan then decided to go out for a walk to see if he could find any clues.

But before he could even lift his foot, he saw the girl who had brought him his clothes earlier come out of the kitchen carrying a bowl.

Without much thought, he quickly shrank back and sat down on the chair.

(End of this chapter)