Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 330 Technical Consultant

Chen Fan sat on the steps, smoking a cigarette, listening to Captain Yang and the others talk about the changes in the production team, his face full of smiles.

At the beginning of the year, Secretary Yang and his team proposed to set up a breeding farm, and Chen Fan also provided detailed ideas.

But at that time, it was still just a blueprint.

In layman's terms, things that cannot be seen or touched are not real.

However, based on their trust in the production team and Chen Fan, everyone did as required.

They learned to raise earthworms, cultivate land for livestock and pasture, and even wove bamboo cages and built chicken coops and rabbit hutches at home... and today, they finally see hope.

Batch after batch of seedlings were brought back and distributed to each household. The veterinarians tirelessly checked the hygiene of the breeding operations, fed the seedlings preventative medicine, and gave everyone guidance on various breeding precautions.

Everything is moving in a positive direction, no wonder Captain Yang and his team are all smiles.

After discussing the changes in the production team over the past few days, Captain Yang pointed to the construction site of the panda park and said, "They started laying the foundation today. The construction of your yard isn't complicated either. It should be completed in another two days. But what about the roof? Are you going to use thatch?"

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, "Thatch is not suitable. I will burn some tiles in a few days, and I will need your help to lay them on then."

Captain Yang ignored the "trouble" comment and instead pointed at him with a laugh, "You live in a thatched roof yourself, but give the pandas a brick house. What were you thinking?"

What were you thinking? It's just for fun, of course!
Chen Fan's main principle now is simply to be happy!
He loved the rustic style with thatched roofs even before he traveled through time, so he wanted to use thatched roofs when building his house.

When you no longer want to use them, you can just replace them with roof tiles.

Despite all the hassle, it was fun.

Of course, you can't say that, otherwise Captain Yang and the others will start lecturing you.

He just grinned and chuckled without saying a word, like a complete idiot.

Just then, Anquan walked up the long slope and saw Chen Fan grinning foolishly. He couldn't help but say, "Your grin looks a bit like Ersha from the old street corner. Did something good happen to you?"

Chen Fan stood up and waved, "Brother An, is there something you need?"

Anquan walked over quickly, took the cigarette offered by Captain Yang, lit it with a lighter, and sat down next to Zhang Wenliang, saying, "I need to talk to you."

"You said it."

Chen Fan threw away his cigarette butt, waved his hand to refuse the cigarette offered by Captain Yang, and turned to face the security guard.

Anquan took a puff of his cigarette before looking at him and saying softly, "I was at the brigade just now, and I discussed it with Secretary Yang and the others. We need quite a few bricks to build the small water tower. If we buy them, it will probably cost a lot of money. The brigade is already heavily in debt, so we should save money wherever we can."

Chen Fan, understanding the implied meaning, nodded in realization and smiled, "Want to burn it yourself?"

Since it's impossible to build a water tower using adobe bricks, and we don't want to spend money to buy them, we have no choice but to burn them ourselves.

Anquan nodded and said seriously, "As you know, you're the only one in the entire Lujiawan who knows how to make bricks. But don't worry, Secretary Yang and the others didn't say that you have to pass on this skill. No matter which production team you're in, there are plenty of skilled people. They're not forcing anyone to pass on their skills."

The main thing is, we'd like to ask you to be our technical consultant. You'll direct the others, including myself. We'll all follow your instructions; you tell us what to do, and we'll just focus on the final product. What do you think?

Without hesitation, Chen Fan replied, "It's not about commanding, it's all for the production team, so that we can have running water as soon as possible. I'll take this job."

Anquan's face suddenly broke into a wide smile. He slapped him on the shoulder and laughed, "I knew you'd be fine, kid."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "However, when you're firing bricks later, I'd like to fire some bricks and tiles for myself as well, and also give me some cement. Is that alright?"

It's difficult for individuals to buy cement, but it's relatively easy for production teams to buy it. Under the guise of a collective project, as long as the quantity is reasonable, the commune usually issues the permit quickly, and then the individual can bring back a few bags for their own use.

Safety readily agreed, "That's no problem at all. Just tell me how much to burn, and I'll burn that much. Anything you don't need, I'll bring it all back for you. Cement is easy to arrange too. Don't worry about whether it's even or not. If you don't need a large quantity, just go and get it. Consider it a 'technical fee'."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Actually, it doesn't take much. It's just that the bricks we were going to use to build the kitchen are going to be moved to build the panda house, so we're short a section and need to make up for it."

At the same time, I was thinking that it would be good to fire the tiles as well, so as to save the trouble of opening another kiln.

The small earthen kiln he built in the ravine could only be expanded several times, but it could not fire many bricks at a time. Moreover, making brick blanks was hard work, and even with Jiang Lili and the others, they could not make that many at once.

Now that the brigade headquarters is mobilized, it's a different story. The entire brigade has over a thousand able-bodied men, plus women and children, who can produce 10 brick blanks a day. It won't be long before enough bricks and tiles are fired.

It saves me time and effort, and I can get bricks and tiles quickly, so why not?

When the topic of building a kitchen came up, Chen Fan suddenly stood up, walked to the fermented soil, and uncovered the straw mat covering it, revealing the dark fermented soil inside.

He squatted down, grabbed a handful, and gently rubbed it a few times, immediately feeling the fine texture of the soil.

At this moment, Captain Yang and the others also came over. "How is it? Is it fermented yet?"

Chen Fan turned around and smiled, "It's all better now."

Zhang Wenliang immediately said, "It's been almost a month, it should be done by now. Since it's done, let's have the construction team come over tomorrow to finish plastering it, and build the cellar and kitchen while we're at it."

Chen Fan had no objection. The sooner the house was built and completed, the more comfortable it would be, even if they didn't move in!
……

The next day, Chen Fan first borrowed a donkey cart from Master Liu, and then used it to transport the sorted elementary school textbooks to the village school of Team 10.

After returning, I rode my horse to the brigade.

When we arrived at Team 5, we turned a corner and went to Uncle Lu's house first.

As usual, Fourth Master Lu was busy in the vegetable garden in the backyard. When he saw Chen Fan coming over, he slowly walked over, took the water Chen Fan scooped out to wash his hands, and asked with a smile, "How was your trip to the prefectural committee?" Chen Fan chuckled and said, "It was alright, bigger than Lujiawan."

"Humph."

Master Lu couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Yunhu is an important town on the Yangtze River, yet it only gets this kind of evaluation from you."

Chen Fan helped him into the house, and after helping him sit down, he picked up a teapot to make him some tea. "I've eaten at that Wangjianglou restaurant you mentioned. It's not cheap, but the taste varies a bit."

Master Lu, holding a small teapot, looked at him with a smile, "What do you mean?"

Chen Fan sat down on the other side of the table and said in a serious tone, "I can tell from the taste. It's a big dish, but it was made by three people. One of them is a master chef who has perfectly matched the ingredients with various seasonings. It's salty but not cloying, spicy but not pungent, fragrant but not greasy, and flavorful without compromising the original taste of the ingredients."

The other two were less skilled. Their ability to prepare elaborate dishes relied entirely on the master chef's secret sauce. Without it, their skills would be no better than Chef Zhu's at the state-run restaurant in our town—not even close to being worthy of Wangjianglou.

He paused for a moment, then came to his senses, "Oh, it's called the Workers and Peasants Restaurant now."

"Gongnong Restaurant?"

Master Lu paused for a moment, a hint of melancholy flashing in his eyes, "The signboard of Wangjiang Tower is gone too."

Then he shook his head and chuckled, "That's right, times have changed. It should be called the Workers' and Peasants' Restaurant, a restaurant that serves workers and peasants."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but shake his head. "Forget it. The name is 'Workers and Peasants,' but it's still the same old thing. When workers and peasants actually come to eat, they're all indifferent. But when people in cadre uniforms come, they run around serving them like they're their own sons. It's a completely different story."

Master Lu was somewhat surprised, "Oh, so there really are workers and peasants going out for a meal?"

Chen Fan immediately nodded, "Yes."

Pointing to himself, he said, "I am a farmer, my friend is a worker, we are both workers and farmers."

Upon hearing this, Master Lu couldn't help but burst into laughter, "Hahahaha, I knew it! If Wangjiang Tower were still the same price as before, how could any workers and peasants go in to eat?"

Chen Fan picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup of coarse tea, and said with a smile, "Hey, don't worry about whether anyone goes in or not. The sign is up, so it's no one's fault if they don't go."

Master Lu's smile faded slightly, and after a few seconds, he smiled again and turned to look at Chen Fan. "How did you figure out that their dishes relied entirely on that sauce?"

Chen Fan crossed his legs smugly and chuckled, "I'm a chef too. His sauce may be special, but it can't fool my palate."

He smacked his lips a few times as he spoke, then turned around and whispered, "To be honest, I can not only taste the sauce, but I can also try to recreate it."

Master Lu looked at him in surprise, "Really?"

"hey-hey."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "I know you don't believe me, but it's okay. I'll make you a pot of braised chicken once I've restored the sauce. You'll know once you eat it."

Master Lu smiled, then suddenly let out a long sigh and said with a melancholy expression, "The master chef you mentioned should be the former owner of Wangjianglou, Mr. Cai. The two less skilled chefs should be his two sons. Mr. Cai cherishes his ancestral sauce recipe more than his own life. No one else knows how to make this sauce."

Back then, he relied on his sauce recipe and cooking skills to gain a foothold in Yunhu and open Wangjianglou. Unexpectedly, after all these years, he is still guarding the stove of Wangjianglou.

However, the egalitarian hospitality once practiced at Wangjiang Tower has vanished.

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he was speechless for a moment.

Wangjianglou treats everyone equally? Gongnong Restaurant, on the other hand, shows favoritism! How interesting!

After pausing for two seconds, he took out a small wooden box from his bag and placed it next to Master Lu. "I went to the prefectural committee and brought you a souvenir."

Master Lu snapped out of his daze, picked up the small box, looked at it, then looked at him again, and asked with a smile, "A calligraphy brush?"

Chen Fan was somewhat surprised, "There are no markings on this box at all, how did you figure it out?"

Master Lu weighed it in his hand and laughed, "With this weight and size, even if it's not a calligraphy brush, it's pretty much the same thing."

He opened the box, picked up a calligraphy brush inside, looked at it closely, and nodded in satisfaction, saying, "Not bad, not bad, it's a top-quality Huzhou brush."

He turned to Chen Fan and asked curiously, "Huzhou calligraphy brushes are famous throughout the world. Even overseas Chinese can't shake their habit of using Huzhou brushes, especially some old scholars who would only use Huzhou brushes. These are high-end products that can earn foreign exchange, and they are hard to find in ordinary stores. Where did you buy them?"

Chen Fan was somewhat surprised. "Really?"

He then added, "It wasn't bought; it was a gift from someone—the director of the health department."

Since the section chief and Deputy Director Hao Liyang had both given gifts, how could he, as the top leader, be left out? So he gave Chen Fan this calligraphy brush.

Chen Fan had previously wondered why he was so stingy, dismissing him with just a calligraphy brush, but hadn't the section chief "gifted" him five filter-tipped magnolias?

Unexpectedly, such a small calligraphy brush has such a background.

When Master Lu heard from Chen Fan that it was a gift from someone else, he hesitated for two seconds and then said no more.

Then she looked at him and smiled, "I'll accept this calligraphy brush, but I also have something good for you."

As he spoke, he stood up and went into the bedroom. He took out a stone from a drawer, walked over and handed it to Chen Fan. “Your skills in seal carving have already reached the basics. When you feel that you have mastered them, use this stone to carve a seal for yourself.”

Chen Fan took it in his hand and immediately felt a smooth, oily texture. He was startled and looked at it more closely. The stone was golden yellow all over, and a name flashed through his mind: "Tianhuang stone?"

(End of this chapter)