Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 311 Treasure Discovered

It's a story that's neither too long nor too short, it only takes about ten minutes to tell.

Chen Fan turned to look at Jiang Tiantian and said with a smile, "In general, she didn't have a good time over there, but she wasn't too bad either. Although she ate pickled vegetables for three years, she didn't go hungry. That's just how conditions are in the countryside. Other families only had one more bowl of vegetables than her. She wasn't hungry, but she didn't have a good life either."

As for the cautious camouflage, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for her. Although the people of Lujiawan wouldn't do anything to her, the other educated youth were a different story. At least she had been safe and sound for the past three years, and that was enough.

Jiang Tiantian held the letter and the cloth bag in her arms, looked at the rolling river, and exhaled a long breath.

After a long while, she smiled and said, "It's good that she's living like this. As long as she's not bullied, I'm relieved."

She then turned to look at Chen Fan and said, "Thank you."

Chen Fan shrugged and smiled, "No need to be polite."

He paused for a moment, then said carefully, "Will today's events have any repercussions?"

Jiang Tiantian took a deep breath, turned her head to look ahead, and exhaled a long breath, "What trouble could there be? It's just a little more trouble. My parents and I are already used to it."

Chen Fan's eyes darted around slightly, and he asked in a low voice, "That woman just now said you were jilted at marriage?"

Then he quickly added, "If you think it's hard to say, then forget it. I'm just curious, what kind of person would you look down on?"

Jiang Lili chuckled and shook her head. "There's nothing I can't say. Everyone in the cotton mill knows, and even people outside the cotton mill have heard of it in this area."

Taking a breath, she continued, "Back when I had just graduated from vocational school, many people came to propose marriage. In the end, my parents picked and chose an 'outstanding young man' from an ordinary working-class family. He had also graduated from vocational school, but he was two years older than me, and we were both at the age where we could get married."

I thought he was honest and hardworking, so I agreed. We were already planning to get married when my parents suddenly had an accident, and he sent a matchmaker to call off the engagement that very day.

After she finished speaking, she turned to look at Chen Fan, smiled and said, "That's it, nothing else. In fact, because I was busy with work, I only met him a few times, so at the time I didn't feel like I had lost anything. It's just that my parents felt sorry for me and always felt guilty, but I didn't care at all."

Chen Fan nodded slowly, "Yes, I think this is a good thing."

Jiang Tiantian was stunned for a moment, then tilted her head to look at him, "Huh?"

Chen Fan shrugged and laughed, "Luckily it happened before your wedding. If it had happened after, wouldn't you have been in even worse shape?"

Jiang Tiantian chuckled, "You have a pretty novel perspective on this."

Chen Fan said with a smile, "That's right. And through this incident, you've seen his true colors, so you can be considered to have escaped from the jaws of death."

Jiang Tiantian smiled and nodded, "Hearing you say that, I suddenly feel like it's actually a great thing?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Hey, that's the right way to think."

Jiang Tiantian chuckled for a while, took a breath, and then asked, "What brings you to the prefectural committee this time? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Chen Fan's gaze fell on the envelope on her chest. "Didn't she mention it in the letter?"

Jiang Tiantian smiled and shook her head, "It only said that you were invited by the health department, nothing else was written."

Chen Fan deliberately patted his chest, "Thank goodness, I thought I was the main character in the letter, but it turns out I'm just an embellishment."

After joking, Chen Fan continued, "Before, I was at the health center, where I studied medicine under an old Chinese medicine doctor for several months, mainly focusing on emergency care. Then, I spent some time compiling all the emergency care methods I knew and teaching them to the veterinarians in the team. This way, if they encounter an emergency, they can provide emergency treatment without having to wait for a doctor to come to their door or rush to the health center."

Jiang Tiantian's eyes lit up. "This is great news!"

She asked, puzzled, "But what does this have to do with your coming to the prefectural committee?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "The barefoot doctor in our team compiled what I said into a 'first aid manual' and handed it over to the health center. The health center thought it had some value, so they reported it to the county, and finally to the prefectural committee. The prefectural committee's health department then asked me to come over and work with them to improve the manual, preparing to edit it into a book for publication. It's that simple."

Jiang Tiantian's eyes widened in surprise. "My God, you're going to publish a medical book?"

Chen Fan smiled and shook his head, "No, I can only be considered one of the editors at most. The main credit goes to the experts from the Health Department and major hospitals."

"That's pretty awesome!"

Jiang Tiantian sighed, then suddenly her mind raced, and she looked at him suspiciously, "No, things can't be that simple. If it's just about compiling first aid knowledge into a book, they wouldn't need to ask you to come. They could do it themselves. There must be a reason why they absolutely need you to come to the prefectural committee!"

Chen Fan pointed at her, "No wonder Lili always says you're smart. I didn't expect you to be able to hide even this from me."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but smile sweetly, "It's your words that don't hold up to scrutiny. The door to the health department isn't so easy to enter. Tell me, why is that?"

Chen Fan said with a smile, "It's because I deduced a new first aid method that is somewhat effective in treating airway obstruction, so they asked me to come and help them improve this new method."

"Foreign object in the airway?"

Jiang Tiantian pointed to her throat and asked, "Is it the kind where you get food stuck in your throat?"

Chen Fan nodded. "Yes, that's the main point."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tiantian immediately became excited, "Is this first aid method difficult?"

Chen Fan: "It's not difficult, it's very easy. With your intelligence, I guarantee you'll learn it in no time."

Jiang Tiantian quickly said, "Then could you teach me?"

She paused for a moment, her face showing a mixture of worry and apology. "I didn't mean to take advantage of you. It's just that my parents are always in a rush when they eat. Last night, my mom almost choked, but thankfully she was okay. So I wanted to learn, just in case I need it someday."

"So that's it?"

Chen Fan nodded in realization, but his expression showed some hesitation.

Seeing his expression, Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but feel anxious. "No, is it not allowed?"

"Not at all."

Chen Fan immediately shook his head and said rather tactfully, "It's not that I can't teach you, it's just that I don't want to take advantage of you on purpose."

Jiang Tiantian was immediately stunned, "Huh?"

Chen Fan made a gesture, looking slightly embarrassed, "For this first aid method, the rescuer should hold the patient and then forcefully compress the abdomen."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tiantian blushed and lowered her head.

Chen Fan chuckled awkwardly twice and continued, "Actually, I came up with this method by chance when I was practicing martial arts."

Jiang Tiantian turned to look at him, wondering what the connection was between martial arts and first aid.
Chen Fan pointed to his abdomen and laughed, "When your abdomen is hit hard, do you feel like vomiting?"

Jiang Tiantian smiled awkwardly, "I've never been hit in the stomach." The next second, she realized, "Oh, you mean, if you squeeze your abdomen hard, you'll feel like vomiting, and that way you can vomit out what's stuck in your throat?"

Chen Fan nodded. "That's pretty much the idea."

Jiang Tiantian looked at him, her eyes full of admiration, "You're amazing! You can turn something that's meant to hurt people into something that saves them!"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's nothing really. I just happened to have learned a little bit of medicine, and we just thought of the same thing."

Hearing him say he had studied medicine, Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but recall the time he treated her, and her pretty face flushed again. But then Sister Liu's words echoed in her ears, and there was also her younger sister far away in Lujiawan. Her heart sank immediately, and she repeatedly reminded herself not to overthink it.

Chen Fan had no idea she had so many thoughts on her mind. After thinking for a moment, he said, "It's not convenient for me to teach you directly, but I will be going to the health school tomorrow to give a lecture on first aid. If you are free, you can go and listen. I will find someone to take you in."

Jiang Tiantian snapped out of her daze and looked at him with a face full of surprise, "Really? Is it true?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's nothing, why can't it be done?"

Jiang Tiantian smiled, pursing her lips. "Thank you."

She paused for a moment, then lowered her head, her face showing a mixture of shyness and shame. "I'm so sorry to have troubled you so much, but I can't do anything about it."

Chen Fan shook his head and smiled, "Speaking of which, I do have something I need to trouble you with."

Jiang Tiantian immediately looked up at him and said, "Tell me, I will definitely do my best."

Chen Fan gestured, "It's like this, I just built a house..."

Jiang Tiantian nodded, "Lili mentioned it in her letter."

Chen Fan smiled and continued, "I specifically reserved a room as a study, but our commune doesn't have many books, and buying all new books might be quite expensive. So I wanted to ask you if you know where I can buy used books? And I'd like to know where there are places that sell a good quantity and variety of books."

Jiang Tiantian answered without hesitation, "Yes."

She stood up as she spoke, "Come with me."

After saying that, he walked onto the embankment.

Chen Fan was stunned. So fast?
He then followed closely behind her.

After a short while, they reached the levee. Jiang Tiantian pointed in a direction and said, "There are two large factory-like buildings over there, do you see them?"

Chen Fan nodded. "I saw it."

Then, with some curiosity, I asked, "What kind of place is that? Why wasn't it built inside the dike, but on the outer dike?"

Houses along the Yangtze River are generally built inside the dike. Only places like docks, shipping companies, and waiting rooms are built on the outer dike, right next to the river.

But looking at the houses over there, they didn't seem to belong to any of these categories, which naturally puzzled him.

Jiang Tiantian turned to look at him and said, "That's Yunhu Waste Recycling Company."

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "A waste recycling company is here?"

Jiang Tiantian nodded and said, "There are many waste recycling companies in Yunhu, but they all belong to the sub-district offices and districts. There is only one waste recycling company in the area, and that is here."

Don't be fooled by how small it looks from here; it actually covers a huge area. It takes more than ten minutes to walk there from the side. All the useful materials selected from various scrap yards in the Yunhu area eventually converge here, including mountains of old books.

These old books are usually kept for a few months to see if there's any need for them and if they can be reused. Only books that have exceeded this period are sent to paper mills as raw materials.

(A relative of mine worked there. Back then, whenever I went to his place, I would go "treasure hunting" there. There were so many treasures inside.)

Chen Fan gazed at the waste recycling company, his eyes filled with the sight of someone who had discovered a treasure.

I had heard Director Fang from the Nanhu Commune waste recycling station talk about the old book processing procedure before. This time, while visiting the prefectural committee, I was wondering if I'd have a chance to check out the regional waste recycling company, and I never expected it to be right here!

After Jiang Tiantian finished speaking, she lowered her head and murmured, "However, I don't know anyone inside, so I don't know the way to get you in."

In the past, as long as you used your father's name, you could openly go shopping there even if you didn't know anyone, and at worst you could just buy the books back at scrap prices.

That won't work now; using my father's name again will only invite ridicule.

Jiang Tiantian felt guilty for not being able to help Chen Fan.

Chen Fan waved his hand with a smile, "It's okay, as long as we know the place, that's fine. What I'm worried about is not even being able to find the direction."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Do you think the health department has any connections? Can you get in touch with them?"

"There must be!"

Jiang Tiantian immediately raised her head and said, "No matter which unit you work for, who wouldn't want to know the best doctors in major hospitals? If it's a higher-level health department, then it goes without saying."

She suddenly realized, and a delighted smile appeared on her face. "That's right! You were invited by the health department to help out, so you must know them very well. Ask them to do me a favor and buy some old books from the recycling company. There won't be any problem at all!"

Chen Fan looked at her and smiled, "They helped me buy books, and you helped me find the place; I should express my gratitude to them."

Jiang Tiantian smiled sheepishly, "I just said something, it's nothing."

After saying that, she paused for two seconds, then looked up and said, "You've helped me and Lili a lot. How about I treat you to lunch?"

Chen Fan patted his stomach, "Oh dear, I really wanted to eat this meal, but unfortunately I won't be able to today."

Jiang Tiantian looked at him, "You... have other things to do?"

Chen Fan pointed in the direction he came from and smiled, "There are two more friends waiting for me outside."

Jiang Tiantian pursed her lips and said with a smile, "Then next time, I'll treat you next time."

Having delivered the letter and found out where to buy used books, Chen Fan felt his mission was accomplished. He waved goodbye to Jiang Tiantian, "Okay, then next time. I have to go now. See you next time."

He also reminded her, "I'll be waiting for you at the entrance of the health school at 8 a.m. tomorrow."

Jiang Tiantian nodded gently and waved her right hand, "Okay, see you tomorrow."

Chen Fan glanced at her, then turned and walked down the embankment.

(End of this chapter)