Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 302 Learned a lot
The car crossed a river embankment and stopped at the station to pick up passengers when it passed Qingshan Commune. Zhang Wenliang took the opportunity to get off the car and buy some motion sickness pills. He and Zhang Juemin each took one, and then the car started moving again.

The journey takes you through four communes and across two rivers before you reach the county seat of Gufeng County, officially called Chengguan Town.

Not every county seat is called Chengguan Town, but places with Chengguan Towns are basically the county seat, and their prosperity is incomparable to that of ordinary towns.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan only saw a glimpse of the town's street scene from the bus. After the bus pulled into the station, Brother Meng shouted, "We've arrived. Everyone get off!"

After letting the passengers who boarded at the four commune bus stations get off, he took Chen Fan and the other two to the other side, put him on the bus to the prefectural committee, and asked the driver to take good care of him.

Naturally, he recounted Teacher Chen's "advanced deeds" once again.

When the driver heard that Teacher Chen was going to the prefectural committee's health department to compile a first aid manual, he immediately didn't even ask for a ticket and drove off as soon as the time came.

The journey from the county seat to the prefectural committee is about the same as the journey from Nanhu to the county seat, taking about an hour. The difference is that Nanhu and the county seat are separated by two rivers, while the county seat and the prefectural committee are separated by a river.

The car sped along the Yangtze River, and after more than half an hour, it crossed the Yangtze River by a ferry towed by a barge, finally reaching the territory of the prefectural committee.

That is, Yunhu City.

Chen Fan looked at the densely packed ships on the river, including passenger ships of various models and cargo ships of all sizes.

Some cargo ships were state-of-the-art diesel-powered iron-hulled vessels, their cargo holds piled high with various goods, slowly sailing on the river. Others were old wooden-hulled sailboats, their sails billowing in the wind, carrying only a small amount of cargo, watching as the iron ships overtook them.

At the dock, hundreds of ships were moored along the shore, with ships entering and leaving the port almost every moment, and the sound of ship horns never stopped.

A vital port on the Yangtze River, it truly lives up to its reputation.

Fortunately, the ferry terminal and the busy cargo and passenger terminal are not in the same place, but are located closer to the city center.

A dozen minutes later, the ferry docked, and the car continued on its way, finally entering the Yunhu city area.

After crossing the Yangtze River levee and heading downstream, Chen Fan saw Yunhu City of this era for the first time.

The road is lined with buildings, most of which are three or four stories high, and occasionally you can see five or six-story "high-rise buildings".

The roadside utility poles are covered with a dense network of wires, which would probably be unbearable for people with trypophobia.

The crowds of people walking or cycling were bustling about, and every now and then a jeep would drive by, creating a lively and noisy atmosphere.

The car pulled up to a busy intersection, and the driver suddenly stopped the car, turned to Chen Fan and said, "Teacher Chen, you get off here. There's a bus stop ahead. Go there and take bus number 11, which will take you directly to the Municipal Health Bureau."

Chen Fan stood up groggily and hurriedly clasped his hands in thanks, "Thank you, Master."

The driver grinned and waved his hand, "No need to be polite. You're here to edit a book, so I'll give you a ride. It's a way of indirectly contributing, haha."

Chen Fan chuckled, pulled along Zhang Wenliang and Zhang Juemin, who were a bit disoriented, and swayed as they got off the car.

After they got off the bus, the driver closed the door and stepped on the gas to drive forward.

A passenger behind shouted, "Driver, could you please stop in front of the department store up ahead?"

The driver didn't even turn his head. "Everyone get off at the station. If you want to stop here, and he wants to stop there, every time I step on the gas, it costs two cents for gas. Are you going to pay for that?"

The passenger said weakly, "But just now..."

"What do you mean 'just now'? 'Just now'? There was no 'just now'! It's just that I got off at the station."

……

As soon as Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang got out of the car, they squatted down by the roadside and retched, attracting the attention of many people around them, who then quickly moved away.

Chen Fan stood to the side with his hands on his hips, not feeling embarrassed at all. After they had finished vomiting, he took out a ceramic bottle from his bag, poured out two pills, and said, "Here, this is medicine to regulate qi and clear the orifices. Taking it should make you feel better."

Zhang Wenliang popped one into his mouth and was about to grab a water bottle when he suddenly perked up. "It's sweet and sour, quite delicious."

Then she looked at him and said, "If you have something this good, why didn't you take it out earlier?"

Zhang Juemin also ate one, and said as he ate, "Hmm, it has hawthorn in it, which is very effective for my condition."

Chen Fan shrugged, "You guys were in the car the whole time, and even though you took motion sickness medicine, you're still feeling groggy. Taking this medicine won't help."

Zhang Wenliang stood up, holding his head. "Then I'd rather eat this. Motion sickness medicine really makes me dizzy."

He put his hand down, looked around, and his expression gradually became blank. "Wow, it's so lively! Is this the prefectural committee?"

Zhang Juemin also looked around, but pretended to be calm. "Hmm, not bad. The buildings are a little taller, and they're all brick houses. There are a few more people, but they all look quite well. There are more cars..."

Then, unable to contain himself, he followed the bicycles around with his eyes, exclaiming, "So many bicycles!"

Chen Fan wiped his face and looked around. "Let's settle down first. As long as we're here, there will be plenty of opportunities to see more."

Zhang Wenliang nodded, turned around and asked, "So, are we going directly to the health department to report now?"

Zhang Juemin was already straightening his clothes and smoothing out the wrinkles at the corners.

Chen Fan shook his head and said, "I won't go today, I'll go tomorrow."

Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang were stunned and looked at him in unison. "Why?" Chen Fan said, "It's already past 4 o'clock. There's only a little over an hour left before we get off work. By the time we go there, they might have already started their political study session. They won't have time to arrange anything for us."

These days, many workplaces have an hour of study time after get off work, but ordinary workers don't need to do it so frequently; it's mainly government officials, like the Municipal Health Bureau.

Zhang Juemin thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so he asked, "Where are we going now?"

Chen Fan: "Let's go shopping first."

Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang were taken aback again, "Shopping?"

Chen Fan spread his hands and laughed, "Clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha. If we don't dress up nicely, people might not take us seriously."

He snapped his fingers and turned to walk away. "First, I'll find a place to buy two sets of clothes, then find a guesthouse to stay in for the night, and tomorrow I'll go to the health department looking clean and presentable."

Zhang Juemin followed behind, carrying his canvas bag, his eyes full of embarrassment. "I came with you, so I don't need to buy clothes, right?!"

Chen Fan nodded, "No need, just change into some clean clothes."

Zhang Wenliang was somewhat tempted, "I'd like to buy some, but unfortunately I don't have any cloth coupons."

Chen Fan: "It's okay, I have some here. If you don't have much, I can lend it to you."

Zhang Wenliang was curious, "Where did you get your cloth coupons? Can we use our Nanhu cloth coupons here?"

Chen Fan said, "Let's give it a try. If it doesn't work out, I still have 20 feet of provincial tickets."

Zhang Wenliang was immediately shocked. "A ticket from the provincial department? Where did it come from?"

Ration coupons also have a scope of use. They are generally issued by the county according to a plan. However, if a local commune has surplus unplanned materials, it can also issue its own ration coupons, but these coupons can only be used locally.

Tickets issued by the Nanhu Commune could only be used in Nanhu, while tickets issued by Gufeng County could not be used at the Prefectural Committee, but the reverse was true.

Therefore, the higher the level of the issuing unit, the more valuable the ticket.

To this day, the highest-level ration coupons Zhang Wenliang has ever seen were those issued uniformly by Gufeng County. Most of the time, coupons were issued by Nanhu Commune itself. Provincial coupons? He couldn't even imagine!

Chen Fan had no concept of this, but thought it was quite normal. "Oh, it's just that the magazine sent over a few tickets for the article that was published in 'Jiangnan Literature' last time."

He offered a casual explanation, then, noticing an elderly man who seemed quite kind, he quickly stepped forward and politely asked, "Excuse me, sir, could you tell me how to get to the department store?"

The old man was very enthusiastic. He turned around and pointed to the intersection, "It's not far. Turn right here, walk two stops forward, and the department store is right across the street."

"Okay, thank you."

After thanking him, Chen Fan looked back at Zhang Wenliang and the other man and said, "Let's go buy some things first, then find a guesthouse to settle in, and then go eat."

Zhang Juemin immediately said, "Don't you still have rice balls? Just borrow a pot from the guesthouse to heat them up. Why waste money?"

Undeterred, Chen Fan still wanted to eat out, so he said, "What if they refuse to lend it to us?"

Zhang Juemin looked incredulous. "It's just about the pot. How could I not lend it?"

Zhang Wenliang was somewhat tempted. "Brother, we've never eaten at a restaurant in the prefectural committee before. Why don't we give it a try?"

Zhang Juemin glared at him, thinking, "If I don't dare to reprimand Teacher Chen, then I certainly won't dare to reprimand you."
Before he could speak, Chen Fan added, "Uh, we're on official business this time. If we don't spend money, then...?!"

He only got halfway through his sentence before Zhang Juemin suddenly realized, "That's right, it's not like I'm the one paying for it!"
He immediately coughed lightly, "We still need to be frugal."

Chen Fan and Zhang Wenliang both thought he was still refusing, and were somewhat disappointed. Then they heard him say, "Let's eat one meal today, and we'll talk about the rest after we finish the rice balls. Let's not waste food."

Oye!
Chen Fan immediately quickened his pace, and Zhang Wenliang also seemed to have regained his strength. His dizziness and blurred vision disappeared, and even his churning stomach stopped. He quickly caught up with Chen Fan and urged him to walk.

After walking a short distance, Zhang Juemin wiped his sweat and asked breathlessly, "How much further?"

Chen Fan looked ahead and said, "Almost there, just one more stop."

Zhang Wenliang asked, puzzled, "How far is one stop?"

Zhang Juemin was also curious, "I only know about one li (a unit of distance), what is this 'station'? How many li is one station?"

Chen Fan pointed to the bus stop sign on the side of the road, "This is the bus stop. Buses stop here to pick up and drop off passengers, and then stop at the next stop. They can't stop in between. The distance between two stops is one bus stop."

Zhang Wenliang and the other man then realized what had happened and kept saying they had learned something new.

The three of them walked on, seemingly unable to get enough of the scenery on both sides.

Chen Fan felt it was a bit monotonous. Unlike later years, when almost everything along the roadside was converted into shops, there were still shops now, but most of them had signs for some unit's storefront, such as the towel factory storefront, hardware factory storefront, supply and marketing cooperative storefront, agricultural supplies company storefront, and so on, as well as some other units.

In addition, there are many houses right by the roadside with their living rooms facing the road, so passersby can see the entire layout of their homes at a glance.

However, although it lacked the prosperity of later generations, it also lacked the hustle and bustle of later generations. Along the way, there was the warmth of human life, but the restlessness of the "commercial street" was absent. Instead, there was a sense of peaceful and tranquil life.

After walking one more stop, Chen Fan finally saw the sign for "Yunhu City Third Department Store".

(End of this chapter)