Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 319 A Triumphant Return (Please vote with monthly tickets!)

What happened next was simple: Old Yang hired people to carry out the four large wooden boxes, each one meter long, half a meter wide, and half a meter high.

By this time, the books outside had almost all been packed into boxes.

The brand-new corrugated cardboard boxes, filled with worthless "waste paper," look just like new book packaging.

Chen Fan watched from the side and felt a little uneasy, wondering if the "waste money" he paid was enough to cover the cost of the cardboard boxes.

Seeing Chen Fan's expression, Lao Yang assumed he was worried about the weight of the cardboard box.

Although the cardboard box was indeed quite heavy.

He then whispered to Chen Fan, "Don't worry, these cardboard boxes are all 'consumables,' and the weight will be reduced when they are weighed."

Chen Fan chuckled awkwardly. This can be "skinned"?
Faced with this situation, he couldn't say much and could only silently accept it.

It is not advisable to pack too many books in a cardboard box, so two thousand books were packed into 20 cardboard boxes. The number of books in each box varied, but the weights were not much different.

Then a worker came over with a notebook to report, "Section Chief Yang, after removing the cover, it weighs a total of 937 jin. The main reason is that there are many large books inside, each book weighing one or two jin, which takes up a lot of weight."

Chen Fan was slightly taken aback, not expecting that Lao Yang was actually a section chief.

He looked at the four large wooden boxes again, thinking to himself, "This one hasn't been weighed yet, has it?"
Then I heard Old Yang say, “I just saw that a lot of the paper inside is rotten. Later, you can report the loss, say 500 jin.”

"Don't."

Chen Fan shuddered in fright, grabbed Lao Yang's arm, and said in a barely audible voice, "Yang... Section Chief, isn't this inappropriate?"

Old Yang smiled at him dismissively, "Why call me Section Chief? Just call me Master Yang."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "This isn't about giving you any special treatment. We need to be realistic. Losses are losses; we can't sell them for money, right?"

Then, pointing to the person in front, he said, "Write it down as I say."

The man remained calm and composed as he wrote down "437 jin of waste paper issued" in the ledger.

Anyway, old books are recorded as waste paper when they come in, and they can only be counted as waste paper when they leave the warehouse. After deducting losses, as long as the accounts can be balanced, that's fine.

Before Chen Fan could speak, Old Yang asked, "Over 900 pounds of stuff, your motorcycle can't fit it all. Have you prepared a truck?"

Chen Fan shook his head, "I didn't know I could find so much when I came..."

Before he could finish speaking, Old Yang laughed and said, "So that means there isn't one?"

He then turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey, Xiao Sun, go find Lao Fang from the transportation department and ask him to arrange a vehicle to come over. Tell him to find a reliable driver. Go quickly."

A young man in his early twenties immediately responded, put down his things, and ran out.

Old Yang turned to look at Chen Fan and grinned, "Our unit's transportation department has two Jiefang trucks, five light trucks, and dozens of flatbed trucks. Finding one to take you back is no big deal."

Chen Fan could only express his gratitude by clasping his hands tightly, saying, "Thank you, thank you."

Old Yang laughed and then pointed ahead, saying, "This is the largest scrap warehouse in the entire Yunhu area. Do you want to take another look? If you see anything you like, we can load it onto the truck and take it away."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. "Then, I won't be polite!"

Old Yang laughed and said, "That's exactly what I wanted. Come on, I'll show you around."

Chen Fan gave Jiang Tiantian, who was standing next to him, a wink, and then walked side by side with Lao Yang, while Jiang Tiantian followed two steps behind him.

Soon they arrived at the electronics section. Looking at the piles of circuit boards, electronic components, and appliance casings, Chen Fan asked curiously, "Are all of these useless?"

Old Yang glanced at the pile of scrap and said with a sneer, "I don't know, but that's how it is when it's delivered downstairs."

After a pause, he continued, "The items here mainly come from two sources. One is discarded electrical appliances collected by the scrap yard. These are basically items that have been sent to repair shops and deemed unusable."

Another source is the appliance repair shops in various districts and counties. They send their completely worn-out appliances and parts to scrap recycling stations. Here, they are first shredded and processed before being sent to the relevant authorities as raw materials.

Chen Fan nodded in realization, then curiously walked into the pile of junk, his eyes scanning like radar, and soon spotted his first target: a large loudspeaker!

It wasn't the kind of loudspeaker used for radio broadcasts, but rather the large loudspeaker of a record player.

This type of horn is generally used in "hand-cranked record players," which do not require electricity and are like hand-cranked telephones; you can play records by shaking them. Unfortunately, even the main body of the record player is nowhere to be found; there is only a large, purple-copper horn with its mouth wide open, resembling a flower.

(Hand-cranked record player)

Chen Fan grabbed the horn and flicked it lightly with his finger.

It's really amazing. Even though only the copper part is left, the sound quality of the speaker hasn't been affected at all.

This is a must-have!
It would be nice to take it back and use it as a decoration.

He handed the horn to Jiang Tiantian first, and then continued his treasure hunt inside. After a while, his eyes lit up. Hey, isn't this the base of a record player?

How did the head and body separate?!
Upon removing the base and conducting a brief inspection, it was discovered that many of the internal parts were damaged.

No problem, the technology these days is still on par with that of the Republic of China era, and many parts are interchangeable. I should be able to find them by going to an electronics parts store.

Over the next few minutes, he sifted through a pile of circuit boards and various spare parts, successfully assembling all the components for the record player, and even managed to assemble a spare set, including four magnetic heads.

That's great, I've saved a few dollars.

After browsing the electronics section, the car that Lao Yang had called arrived and began loading goods onto it.

Chen Fan glanced regretfully at the other areas, thinking to himself that he would probably have to wait until next time he came to talk about the other things.

Old Yang waved his hand and said, "It's alright, it's alright. I'll watch over things here for you. You go and choose yours."

He saw Chen Fan pick out a disassembled old-fashioned phonograph set and a small bag of spare parts, and he knew that this was a person with real skills.

With both a powerful background and genuine skills, Lao Yang felt he hadn't entrusted the books to the wrong person, which made him even happier and gave Chen Fan more options.

The director only instructed him to open the old books to Chen Fan, but he opened the entire warehouse, which was several thousand square meters in size, and let him pick and choose!

Seeing that Lao Yang was so polite, Chen Fan, with the intention of finishing his visit as soon as he arrived, plunged into the machinery section again.

But the stuff here is even worse than in the electronics section. At least there you can find a few usable items there, but here it's all badly damaged mechanical parts, and they're not small at all.

Because the smaller ones were all taken to another production line and die-cast into square iron blocks!
However, this is, after all, the largest waste warehouse in the entire prefecture. Even though it's piled high with junk, Chen Fan's sharp eyes can still pick out a few treasures from it.

Single-cylinder piston, gears, flywheel, mechanical throttle, bearings, oil tank, water tank, oil-water integrated tank, ...

Before long, Chen Fan happily gathered the parts for the two single-cylinder diesel engines, and as usual, there were still some left over.

(The 140 diesel engine had already been phased out at that time)
Single-cylinder diesel engines are amazing things. What makes them so amazing?

It will never break unless it is damaged by human intervention!
It's indestructible, truly indestructible. Some machines from the 60s, when dug out 80 years later, can still run after adding a little oil.

Chen Fan hadn't yet figured out what he wanted to do with the two diesel engines, but that was fine; he'd just carry them back first!
Take it back and modify it; it would be good whether it's made into a water pump or a generator.

Jiang Tiantian and Lao Yang watched as Chen Fan moved around like a mouse among piles of junk, occasionally pulling out incomprehensible parts.

Old Yang was puzzled. The technicians and engineers all said it was useless, so how could he really find a treasure?
After quite some time, Chen Fan finally finished browsing the entire warehouse. He then emerged, covered in dust, and sheepishly dusted off his hands. "Master Yang, that's all. Could you please have someone calculate the price?"

Old Yang waved his hand, "Move it over there to weigh it."

A moment later, the young man came running over again. “Reporting to the section chief, after deducting losses such as rust, the scrap iron weighs 58 jin. Including the waste paper from earlier, the total is 21.77 yuan.”

He didn't mention those electronic components at all.

Upon hearing the young man's words, Chen Fan's hand, which was brushing off the dust, suddenly stopped, and he blinked blankly.

58 jin? Not 158 ​​jin or 258 jin?
Old Yang glanced at the notebook, nodded without changing his expression, and said, "Okay, go and issue the invoice."

He then smiled at Chen Fan and said, "You still need to go to the store outside, pay the money and get a receipt before the goods can be released."

Chen Fan immediately nodded, "Okay, I'll go pay right away."

Old Yang simply led him outside, saying, "I'll take you there." Chen Fan asked curiously, "There's a store here too?"

Old Yang laughed and said, "It's all about serving the people. We're just responding to the call and opening a store here to make things easier for the masses. Actually, not many people come here to sell scrap, so we simply put our warehouse accountant there as well, to give them something to do."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, "That's pretty good."

Not long after they arrived at the store, before Old Yang could even speak, a boy of about seven or eight years old rushed in carrying a cloth bag. "Auntie, Auntie, I found some scrap metal again! Quickly, give me some money!"

A girl sitting behind the desk smiled and nodded at Lao Yang, then picked up the boy and spanked him, saying, "I told you not to go to the factory, but you went running around there again. Have you forgotten how you got your foot pricked by a nail last time?"

He was talking while simultaneously hitting her, the slaps rhythmically.

The child didn't cry, but stretched his neck and shouted, "There's only scrap metal to pick up there."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly as he ran to the factory to collect scrap metal. What a talent!
Perhaps because there were outsiders present, his aunt immediately glared at him, "You dare to talk back?"

Two more slaps.

Old Yang waved his hand, "Alright, alright, a couple of slaps are enough for a kid. You really wanted to swell up his butt?"

Then he smiled at the child and said, "How about this, the scrap metal will be counted as one pound, and your aunt will give you 3 cents, okay?"

The child pouted and said, "Okay."

His aunt took one look and couldn't help but laugh in anger, "You still think it's not enough? You're not allowed to go into the factory to pick up iron anymore."

He took out 3 cents from the drawer and gave it to him, saying, "You bought some candy to share with your sister."

The child grabbed the money and ran, turning back at the door to shout, "If you won't let me go to the factory, I'll go to the warehouse to collect waste paper!"

After saying that, he ran away in a flash.

Chen Fan couldn't help but give a thumbs up in his mind. He was indeed flexible and adaptable!
But considering that I also went to the warehouse to "collect waste paper," it seems we have something in common?

Old Yang then handed over the slip issued by the weighbridge operator, and Chen Fan paid the bill, which came to 21.77 yuan, not a penny less!
The accountant received the money and issued the invoice, and the items Chen Fan had purchased today could be shipped out smoothly.

Chen Fan first asked Lao Yang to have someone find Zhang Wenliang and the others, and then said to them, "Brother Sanhu, please go with the car and take these things back to the health department's guesthouse."

Then, looking at the rider and Zhang Juemin, he said, "You two come back with me. I have some things to do, so I'll go back by myself later."

Zhang Wenliang looked at him in surprise, "Is there anything else?"

Chen Fan winked at him, pointed in the direction of the library, and whispered, "It's almost dark. A girl came to help me find books. Shouldn't I treat her to a meal and take her back?"

Zhang Wenliang glanced at Jiang Tiantian, "Is she Jiang Lili's older sister?"

Chen Fan nodded. "I know what you want to ask: why did she go to school to attend classes and come over to help, right?"

Zhang Wenliang and Zhang Juemin nodded together without saying a word, wanting to see how he would try to argue his way out of this.

Chen Fan said calmly, "Why did she go to school to attend classes? It's because she has two elderly people at home, and she's busy with work and eats quickly, so she often chokes. She wanted to learn some first aid knowledge just in case."

Zhang Juemin thought for a moment and nodded slightly, "That's a good excuse."

Filial piety is the foundation of virtue; no one can deny this.

Then he asked, "Then why did she come here?"

Zhang Wenliang wore an expression that said he had already seen through her. "Don't tell me it's to repay you for your lectures. That reason is too fake. I would believe you even if you said you were treating me to dinner."

Chen Fan's eyes widened immediately, staring at him in shock. "You guessed it all!"

Zhang Wenliang was stunned for a moment, then blinked. "No, she really wants to invite you to dinner?"

Chen Fan said seriously, "That's what she said, but as a grown man, how can I accept a woman's invitation? I just thought that since she helped me find books all afternoon, I should agree to have dinner with her first, and then I'll offer to pay the bill. That way, I can put her mind at ease and not lose face as a man. Don't you think that makes sense?!"

Zhang Wenliang nodded slightly, "That's true."

Zhang Juemin tugged at him, and Zhang Wenliang immediately reacted, glaring at him and saying, "What nonsense are you talking about? I mean, why is she here?"

Zhang Juemin, standing nearby, nodded repeatedly, "There's no need to come to this place for a meal!"

Chen Fan glared at her, "Keep your voice down, don't girls have any pride?"

Then he said softly, "I had already planned this trip to the prefectural committee. Ideally, I would buy a batch of used books to build a library for the production team, and also to collect more books for myself."

Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang nodded in unison; they had heard him mention this yesterday. They unconditionally supported anything that was for the benefit of the production team.

Chen Fan continued, "But I'm unfamiliar with this place. When I asked the people at the health department, they just told me to go to Xinhua Bookstore..."

Zhang Wenliang suddenly realized, "No wonder you went to Xinhua Bookstore yesterday."

Zhang Juemin nodded first, then asked, somewhat puzzled, "But didn't you buy it yesterday?"

Chen Fan sighed deeply, "What's the point of buying anything? What good is a set of study materials?"

He turned and pointed to the small truck that was already loaded, grinning smugly. "See that? There are over two thousand books on it, half of them are mine, and half are from the production team's library. How about that? Pretty impressive, right?!"

"Awesome!" "Awesome!"

The two nodded in unison, then after a two-second pause, Zhang Wenliang asked, puzzled, "But what does this have to do with Jiang Lili's sister?"

Chen Fan: "How can it not be related? She's the one who told me about this place, and she helped me find a lot of the books inside. She came here today specifically to help find the books, so do you think it's okay?"

Upon hearing this, neither of them said a word.

Strictly speaking, Jiang Lili's sister wasn't helping Chen Fan, but rather the production team. What could they say?
Speechless, I could only slink away.

Before getting into the car, Zhang Juemin pulled Chen Fan aside and whispered, "We won't meet her. Please thank her for us. Also, we'll vouch for the dinner tonight and settle the accounts."

Chen Fan immediately nodded, "Don't worry, I'll definitely make sure they're treated well and won't embarrass Lujiawan!"

Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang nodded solemnly before turning around and getting into their respective cars.

Watching the two cars leave one after the other, Chen Fan went to the side to wash his hands, then came back and called Jiang Tiantian. Together with Lao Yang, they went to say goodbye to the director.

After leaving the scrap yard and reaching the Yangtze River embankment, Jiang Tiantian asked in confusion, "Why didn't you ask them to wait for you and leave together?"

Chen Fan pointed to the dim sky above and said to her, "Have you ever walked at night before?"

Jiang Tiantian immediately understood what he meant, smiled and said, "Although I've never walked at night before, if you walk a little further down, you'll reach the main street, where there are buses to take you back. You'll be fine."

Chen Fan waved his hand, took a step forward, and chuckled softly, "Come on, it's not summer yet. There are still people sitting by the roadside enjoying the cool air. Even on the main street, there aren't many people at night in this weather. Don't forget, there are good people like me in this world, and there are also bad people like that guy from your factory. No matter what, we should always be careful and pay attention to safety. It's better than regretting it later."

Jiang Tiantian stared at his retreating figure, slightly dazed, but quickly recovered and hurried after him, saying with a smile, "I said I'd treat you to dinner yesterday, but you were busy. How about I treat you to dinner now?"

Chen Fan turned to look at her and laughed, "I've been waiting for you to say that. Oh, you don't know, I'm so tired of eating in the cafeteria every day. Hey, I heard there's a restaurant called Wangjianglou in Yunhu, do you know it?"

Jiang Tiantian looked at him in surprise, "You even know about Wangjiang Tower?"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Wangjianglou was the old signboard. Later, due to outdated customs, it was renamed Gongnong Restaurant, but the location remains the same."

Then he looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Then I'll invite you to eat there."

Chen Fan turned to look at her and laughed, "Judging from the way you're gritting your teeth, I know it must be very expensive there."

Jiang Tiantian was immediately embarrassed and annoyed, "No way."

Chen Fan said, "Don't worry, our militia company commander and medic just said that this meal will be paid for by the company as a thank you for helping the production team find books."

Jiang Tiantian looked surprised. "Huh? Really? What did you tell them?"

Chen Fan, "That's what I told them..."

(Dear readers, please vote for me with your monthly tickets!!! I'm going to buy something everyone wants in the next chapter!)

(End of this chapter)