Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 331 I'll take the benefits, you take the blame

Holding the smooth, oily yellow stone in his hand, Chen Fan's first thought was that he had struck it rich!
At the Xiling Yinshe Autumn Auction in 2023, 12 pieces of Tianhuang stone were offered, and 11 pieces were sold, achieving a sales rate of approximately 92%.

Lot 1, a shallow relief seal weighing 53 grams, sold for 690000 yuan, approximately 13000 yuan per gram.

(Seal No. 1, "Red and Yellow" in shallow relief)
The highest price ever paid for Tianhuang stone was achieved in 2006 when collector Cao Xingcheng outbid Stanley Ho to acquire a "Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasty Tianhuang Stone Carved Auspicious Lion Paperweight," which cost 20 yuan per gram.

Even excluding extreme cases like auctions, the price of a top-quality Tianhuang stone is usually over ten thousand yuan, and it can even be said to be extremely rare.

How much does gold cost per gram now?

In any case, top-quality Tianhuang stone is dozens of times more valuable than gold, and even ordinary quality stone is several times more valuable than gold.

The key point is that Tianhuang stone did not become valuable later, nor is it solely due to capital speculation. In other words, capital is just one of the many admirers of Tianhuang stone.

This item was already a high-end luxury item in the Song Dynasty, and it was said to be more valuable than gold. By the Ming Dynasty, it had become known as "one tael of Tianhuang is worth three taels of gold".

By the mid-Qing Dynasty, the price had risen to "ten taels of gold for one tael of Tianhuang stone".

Then it was fifteen taels, twenty taels, and so on...

How many taels do I have in my hands?
Chen Fan held the stone in his hand and weighed it twice. With his keen sense of strength, he accurately measured the weight of the stone: a little over three ounces and seven mace.

According to the standard of "one tael is good material, two taels is good material", even after deducting the loss after carving, this stone is definitely above the "large material" level, and it is only a little short of the "extra large material" level of four taels.

Larger pieces do exist, but those can only be cut or used as decorative items, making them less valuable than this well-sized natural "large seal material".

In addition, the entire stone is a rare golden yellow color, with a uniform luster and a smooth, oily feel. Without a doubt, this is a top-quality Tianhuang stone. If it were to be carved by a famous master, its future value, even if it could not reach the sky-high price of 20 yuan per gram that Cao Xingcheng won, would definitely be more than 10 yuan per gram.

However, Chen Fan has no intention of selling.

The reason is very simple: he's not short of money!
The house is built, and we can earn some extra money. These days, you need coupons to buy things, and you can't buy anything good even with money. Why bother exchanging the gifts that Master Lu gave us for money?
When money becomes powerful, will he still be afraid of not being able to make money?
Moreover, in this era of scarcity and arbitrarily set prices, even if Tianhuang stone is still "as valuable as gold," it is at its lowest point in historical market prices, and it will only become more expensive in the future, not lower.

So not only will he not sell them, he also plans to acquire more of these top-quality items when he has money in the future, and become a collector himself.

……

Chen Fan traded a calligraphy brush given to him by someone else for a treasure, and he smiled smugly.

When he put the horse in the stable and went back into the brigade headquarters courtyard, he still had an undisguised smile on his face.

Zhang Wenliang came out of the office and was taken aback when he saw him. "Oh, did you find some money?"

Chen Fan grinned from ear to ear, "How did you know?"

Seeing his directness, Zhang Wenliang's eyes widened even more. "How much did you pick up?"

Chen Fan put the stone in his pocket and chuckled, "I've picked up a house."

Zhang Wenliang's face fell. "I thought you really found some money."

Without even asking, Chen Fan was definitely talking about that panda park.

Little did they know that Chen Fan was referring to the Wudaokou school district housing decades later.

He then pointed to the office, "They're having a meeting right now, discussing where to open a kiln and fire bricks. You should come and join us."

Chen Fan pointed to the backyard, "I'll put my things down first and come right away."

Zhang Wenliang: "Okay, I'll wait for you."

Chen Fan immediately ran inside.

A short while later, they arrived at the broadcasting room, where Zhang Cuie was preparing for the broadcast. When she heard the noise and turned around, her eyes lit up, and she jumped up, exclaiming, "Teacher, you're back!"

As he spoke, he ran to the door to greet them.

It's actually just a few steps away.

"You're back. I hope everything went well on your end."

Chen Fan smiled and responded, then took off his backpack and started taking things out of it.

Zhang Cuie immediately shook her head and said, "Everything is fine here, nothing has happened."

"That's good."

Chen Fan took out a thick stack of CDs and handed them to her, saying, "These are souvenirs for you."

Zhang Cuie took the stack of old records with both hands, flipped through them, and after a moment looked up, grinning happily, "Thank you, teacher."

Chen Fan shook his head at her and said with a sigh, "You're really honest, girl. You're satisfied with just a stack of old, shared CDs."

Zhang Cuie looked at him in confusion, "This is great. Many of these are things that the broadcasting room doesn't have. You can't buy them even if you want to. Even if they're old, they're already very good. As long as they can be played, it's fine."

Chen Fan had gotten these records from someone in Yunhu. He had originally thought he could play them on the hand-cranked record player he had found. After fixing the record player last night, he took it and tried it out.

Sure enough, it doesn’t work.

This new type of small vinyl record, when placed in a large, old-fashioned hand-cranked record player, did not produce any response.

There was no way to use it since I couldn't hold it. Luckily, I remembered that there was a new record player at the radio station, so I just brought it with me.

As for the gift being given to Zhang Cuie, it was just a way to tease this straightforward young girl, but unexpectedly she took it seriously.

Seeing her confident demeanor, Chen Fan couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. He took out another colorful plastic headband from his bag, handed it to her, and said with a smile, "They all have this Huang Ying, and you have one too. Don't say that the teacher is being unfair to them."

Strictly speaking, Zhang Cuie was his first and only student, barely qualifying as his founding disciple. She was very likely the only one; even Huang Ying and the others received gifts, so naturally he wouldn't forget her.

Upon seeing the beautiful headband, Zhang Cuie's eyes lit up immediately. She quickly put down the record in her arms, turned around, and took it with both hands, her eyes crinkling into slits as she smiled, "Thank you, teacher."

She then held the headband and carefully touched it, saying, "It's so pretty."

Chen Fan chuckled twice, then took four books out of his bag and placed them on the table next to him. "See these?"

Zhang Cuie immediately snapped out of her daze, carefully put the hairband away, and then looked at the four books, muttering, "Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry?"

She turned to look at Chen Fan and asked curiously, "Is this study material?" Chen Fan nodded. "The brigade headquarters has several big projects to do during this period. After we finish these few days, I will gather a group of people and teach them the contents of this set of materials."

Before you begin, please review the material on your own. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me when I have time to come over.

He paused for a moment, then his smile faded, and he said with a serious expression, "Remember, from today onwards, your main learning task, besides the Chinese language knowledge I teach you, is to learn the contents of this set of books."

This self-study series of math, physics, and chemistry books is divided into four categories: algebra, geometry, physics, and chemistry, totaling 17 books. Not only will you need to study on your own, but you'll also need to tutor other students, just like in previous classes. So you must be diligent, understand?

Zhang Cuie nodded without hesitation, "Understood."

She didn't ask why she had to learn this set of materials.

Since it's a learning assignment given by the teacher, is there any need to ask why?!
Just like when the teacher arranges for her to learn English, she should just learn and stop asking so many questions.

……

After leaving the broadcasting room, Chen Fan walked to the front yard, took out a pack of Donghai cigarettes, and lit a few.

Zhang Wenliang looked at him speechlessly, "Where's your filtered magnolia? You were going to distribute it yesterday, but you've hidden it away today."

Chen Fan poured himself a glass of leftover beer, walked to the bench by the wall and sat down. He took a big gulp before smiling and saying, "I'm just keeping your advice in mind and resolutely keeping a low profile."

Anquan leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and said, "Cigarettes are nothing more than a few leaves. Magnolia, Zhonghua, they're all the same."

Just as Chen Fan was about to nod, he heard him continue, "Bring me two packets of your magnolia leaves tomorrow, and see if they're any different from other leaves."

Secretary Yang exhaled a puff of smoke and coughed several times.

He picked up his teacup, took two sips of water, wiped his mouth, pointed to the safety point with a wry smile, and then turned to Chen Fan, "We were just discussing where to build this brick-making place."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Another thing is, could we build a brick and tile factory? If so, you can be the deputy factory manager in charge of technology, and you'll get extra work points. Plus, you can also share in the benefits of the brick and tile factory."

Or you could bring a few apprentices along, and you'd still be the deputy director of the brick factory, with all the benefits. Like a broadcaster or a veterinarian, it's just a title; you don't need to handle the actual work.

Chen Fan frowned slightly and looked at the others. "You all want to build a brick and tile factory?"

Xiao Liewen, with a cigarette butt between his teeth and a furrowed brow, said, "I want to build it, but I don't want to build it."

Before Chen Fan could ask a question, Ye Shubao said, "We want to build one. A brick and tile factory is indeed profitable. The commune's brick and tile factory has very good benefits, and the factory can earn a lot of money in a year. If we can build one, we will definitely make a lot of money."

The reason we didn't want to build it was because the commune already had a brick and tile factory, and if we started a brick and tile side business, the commune might not approve it.

Another issue is that brick factories consume a lot of clay. Our Lujiawan area doesn't have high mountains or valleys, nor much wasteland; every inch of land is precious. If we build a brick factory, it'll be fine in the early stages, but what will we do once the wasteland is all dug up?"

He took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and shook his head with a smile, saying, "If we're going to set up a brick and tile factory, we definitely can't do without you, so I wanted to hear your opinion. If you say we should build it, then we'll overcome the difficulties and get the factory up and running. If you say we shouldn't build it, then we won't."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan quickly shook his head, "Please don't say that. The work of the production team is not my responsibility to make decisions. I am at most a bystander, and I dare not make any decisions."

At this moment, Xiao Liewen tapped his pipe and said, "Old Ye is just saying this in this room. Just think of it as the brigade headquarters having a meeting. Think of yourself as an observer and offer your thoughts. As for what decision is made, it has nothing to do with you."

Ye Shubao immediately nodded, "Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan's expression relaxed somewhat. "That's alright."

He's quite willing to offer suggestions or opinions, since it doesn't involve any responsibility.

Or he's happy to take the lead on things that benefit everyone, like installing running water or expanding the village school.

However, he had absolutely no desire to get involved in the brick and tile factory side business.

do?
Not only would it damage the environment, but it would also require the large-scale mining of clay from the village. Anyone in later generations would know that such a project should be avoided if possible. Chen Fan is not stupid enough to do this kind of work.

It's not like there aren't other ways to make money.

Not doing it?

That brick and tile factory was a "high-profit" project; digging up some soil, firing it, and you could turn it into real money. Even decades from now, there will still be short-sighted people.

All they care about is how much money this project can make. Who cares about environmental pollution, land excavation, or other things that will harm future generations?
If they knew that it was Chen Fan who decided not to do this project and was hindering their "getting rich," they would definitely have objections.

In short, Chen Fan's principle is "I'll take the benefits, you take the blame."

So when Ye Shubao said that, his first reaction was to refuse.

However, since Xiao Liewen said these words and Ye Shubao quickly echoed them, he might as well share his own opinion.

"I object!"

Chen Fan looked at them and said seriously, "Actually, you yourselves said that the commune might object. If you dig soil and make bricks and tiles for your own use, no one can find fault with that. But if you set up a brick and tile factory, under the policy of 'the commune's economy is a unified whole, and all actions are subject to command,' you will be making a mistake unless you get the commune's approval."

After saying that, shut up.

He didn't mention anything else, because this one point was enough.

They didn't dwell on it too much. Secretary Yang smiled and said, "Actually, we know this too. We just can't bear to part with the money we can make from firing bricks. Since Xiao Chen says so too, then we won't build this brick and tile factory."

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Chen Fan and said seriously, "We just came up with two locations. One is near the mound where we built the small water tower. We can take soil from the mound, burn it, and then carry it up to build the tower. It's simple, convenient, and direct."

Another place is near the main road leading to the commune in Team 5. There are a few small mounds there. If we build the kiln there, those mounds can provide a lot of soil. That's also where we plan to build our brick and tile factory.

He then shook his head and laughed, "But since it's decided not to build a brick and tile factory, there's no need to build a kiln there. We can just build it at the small water tower."

Just as everyone else was nodding in agreement, Chen Fan raised an objection: "It would be best to build the kiln in another location."

Zhang Wenliang looked at him, puzzled. "Why?"

Chen Fan shrugged, "We can't just build one small water tower in the future, can we?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone understood.

Captain Zhang nodded and said, "Right now, only the small water tower needs bricks. Once we make money in the future, we will definitely want to do other side businesses. We will need bricks and tiles quite often then. It would be a good idea to build a larger kiln specifically for firing bricks for our own use."

(End of this chapter)