Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 354 Living Immortal

Having come this far and encountered this incident, Secretary Yang didn't want to continue.

He put his hands behind his back, turned around and walked back, saying, "I came out for a walk and found a lot of problems. I'm not going to look anymore. I'll go back and call all the squad leaders over for a meeting."

Ye Shubao followed beside him, "It's almost 4 o'clock. We still need to set up the sentry post later. Should we call them over tomorrow morning?"

Just then, not far below, the village loudspeaker in Team 4 blared Captain Zhang's voice, "Hey, hey, hey, all team leaders, listen up! Anyone not home, hurry up and send someone to inform them. I have something to tell you. Just now, Secretary Yang, Captain Xiao, Captain Ye, and I went up to the embankment to check, and the water level in the river is still quite high."

Another thing is that Teacher Chen predicts there might be a heavy rainstorm tonight. Ah, there might be a heavy rainstorm tonight, so we must hurry up with the flood prevention work, quickly set up the sentry posts, and arrange people to guard the dikes..."

Upon hearing the announcement on the radio, Chen Fan's face darkened.

I was just guessing based on past experience, why did you put it in the broadcast?

Can't I even make a joke?

His face darkened, but the entire Lujiawan area erupted in chaos.

On a slope in Team 6, Jiang Lili, holding a hoe, couldn't help but look up at the direction of the loudspeaker, her face full of surprise.

Yang Ju had already run over, her eyes wide open, "Xiao Li, Teacher Chen can even predict celestial phenomena?"

Jiang Lili shook her head blankly, "I don't know."

Huang Ying also came over to join in the fun, scrunching her little face as she tried hard to remember, "Does Teacher Chen have any books about weather in his study? I can't remember."

Liu Dan ran over and whispered, "I remember there are a few books about agricultural proverbs, is it one of those?"

The four girls were whispering amongst themselves, forgetting all about their work.

The others weren't much better off, and they were all gossiping about it.

"Teacher Chen can also read celestial phenomena?"

“My father-in-law can also read the celestial phenomena. He said this morning that it might rain in the next couple of days, but he wasn’t as accurate as Teacher Chen, who predicted it tonight.”

“Your father-in-law relies on experience, but Teacher Chen is definitely different. How old is he? What experience could he possibly have? If you ask me, he probably learned this knowledge himself.”

“That makes sense. As the old saying goes, ‘A scholar can know everything without leaving home.’ It’s just observing the celestial phenomena, which is nothing to Teacher Chen.”

"The day before yesterday I was saying that Teacher Chen could repair small water towers and install tap water, which shows he knows geography. Now I know he also knows how to observe celestial phenomena. That means he knows everything from astronomy to geography, and he can also lead the production team to make money. He can be compared to Zhuge Liang."

"Well, how should I put it? If it rains tonight, Teacher Chen will be like Zhuge Liang; if it doesn't rain tonight, then his cultivation is still lacking, and he needs to study for another two years..."

"That's better than you."

"Oh, thank you for your kind words, actually comparing me to Teacher Chen!"

"Tui, what a shameless scoundrel..."

……

Hearing the voice from the loudspeaker, Zhang Wenliang couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Hahaha, if it really rains heavily tonight, Xiao Chen, you're going to be famous!"

Chen Fan looked helpless. "Just assign tasks, why is the team leader dragging me into this?"

At this moment, Secretary Yang's face lost its previous seriousness, and he grinned and laughed heartily, "So you see, being a broadcaster is not something that can be done well by just grabbing anyone, nor is it something that can be done by simply turning on and off a machine."

There are rules about what can and cannot be said. Ah, even though Xiao Chen made this prediction, and it's very likely to come true, it's still not something you can say so openly.

Xiao Liewen was smoking and had just choked on his cigarette. He was now laughing and coughing. "This old Zhang, who knows, when we have the meeting, no one will listen to him talk about the work arrangements. They'll just keep bothering him to ask how Xiao Chen calculates celestial phenomena with his fingers."

Ye Shubao shook his head with a smile, but was defending Captain Zhang, "To be honest, all I can think about right now is what Xiao Chen said about a heavy rain tonight. If I were to announce it on the radio, I might just blurt it out too. It's not surprising."

Secretary Yang and Xiao Liewen, who were standing nearby, actually nodded in agreement, "That makes sense."

After a pause, Secretary Yang continued the previous topic, saying, "The matter of the squad leader's meeting should be resolved today, not tomorrow. It's a bit late now, but if they ride horses, it won't take more than an hour to get here from the head of the field. If we go back now to inform them, the meeting can start at around 5 o'clock. If it's over in an hour, they'll be back by 7 o'clock. It won't be completely dark yet. Last month, they were still working in the fields. It's not too late."

Seeing that Secretary Yang said this, Ye Shubao stopped talking, nodded and quickened his pace.

A dozen minutes later, the group returned to the brigade headquarters.

As soon as he entered the office, Ye Shubao smiled at Captain Zhang and said, "Old Zhang, you've gotten our Teacher Chen into some trouble."

Captain Zhang was reviewing last year's flood control data when he heard this. He looked up at Ye Shubao, then at Chen Fan, and then realized, "Oh, you mean Xiao Chen predicted a rainstorm? That's not a big deal. The weather forecast is broadcast every day. How many times have you been right?!"

Xiao Liewen returned to his seat, pulled out a chair and sat down, saying with a smile, "It's fine if it's inaccurate, it's just that it's accurate. From now on, everyone will stop listening to the weather forecast and go to Xiao Chen to calculate the weather. He's a living god."

Upon hearing this, Captain Zhang finally realized what was going on and slapped his forehead. "Oh dear, I forgot about that. I just remembered that the villagers all respected Xiao Chen, so I casually dragged him into it."

Seeing Captain Zhang's apologetic look, Chen Fan waved his hand with a wry smile, "It's okay, as long as I just make up a few times, they'll know I'm not accurate, and they won't come to me again."

Secretary Yang sat down in the innermost seat, grinning, and said, "Then your Teacher Chen's 'invincible body' is about to be broken?"

Chen Fan chuckled, “What invincible spirit do I have? Everyone in the entire Nanhu Commune knows that I don’t even know how to farm. If anyone wants to beat me, they can compete with me in transplanting rice seedlings or harvesting. I guarantee I’ll win every time.”

As soon as he said that, the office burst into laughter.

Once the laughter subsided, Chen Fan said seriously, "Since all the leaders are here, I have a suggestion."

Secretary Yang turned to look at him and said, "You tell me."

Chen Fan: "That's right. I just heard Brother Sanhu say that our flood control sentry posts have to be built and dismantled every year."

Hearing this, Ye Shubao interrupted him and said with a smile, "That's true, but it's not troublesome. Flood control is in the summer. All you need is a few wooden stakes, then surround them with straw mats, put a few wooden sticks on top, cover them with more straw mats, and weigh them down with straw. That's the roof. Such sentry posts are easy to build and easy to dismantle. It doesn't take much effort."

Chen Fan looked at him, smiled, and said, "What I mean is, now that we can make our own bricks, why not build a permanent outpost?"

Yonggu Outpost?

The group exchanged glances, and a moment of silence fell over the office.

They all knew that the so-called permanent outpost was actually a brick and tile house that could be used for decades after it was built. In any case, living in such a house would definitely be more comfortable than that kind of thatched hut.

Putting aside other things, summer is the season with the most thunderstorms, especially the three months of July, August and September when the water level rises, with thunderstorms almost every week.

In strong winds and heavy rain, those makeshift thatched huts are almost useless. It's common for it to rain heavily outside and drizzle inside. People in the huts feel like they're soaking in water, making it hard to fall asleep.

If it were a brick house, this situation wouldn't happen; at least there would be a place to live.

However, the cost of building brick houses was too high, and we couldn't afford it before. But now we can make red bricks ourselves, and get a batch of cement from the commune and the water conservancy department. Wouldn't that make it possible to build a permanent outpost?
At this moment, Zhang Wenliang suddenly said, "Although we can fire red bricks ourselves, it is still unlikely that we can build a permanent outpost."

Chen Fan turned to look at him and asked curiously, "Why?"

Zhang Wenliang lit a cigarette and said with a smile, "Because every year we reinforce and raise the dike. Last year, for example, we spent several days carrying soil to fill the outer slope of the dike to reinforce it."

However, every two or three years at the shortest and five or six years at the most, there will be a major overhaul, which will not only reinforce the dikes but also increase their height to defend against possible major floods.

Therefore, the height of the dike is not constant; it increases every few years. If the outposts were built as permanent fortifications, they would likely be lower than the dike in a few years, which would be detrimental to monitoring water levels and flood control.

Upon hearing this, Secretary Yang and the others were about to nod in agreement. At this moment, Chen Fan spread his hands and said with a smile, "This problem is easy to solve. As you just mentioned, the height of the dike is increased every few years. So how much is it increased each time? You can estimate a number, and then based on that number, make the sentry post an elevated structure, and raise the height of the elevated structure, even if it's three or four meters higher than the dike. Besides, wouldn't it be more convenient to observe the water level if it's higher?"

Zhang Wenliang was stunned upon hearing this. A power grab? Is this even possible?
Xiao Liewen also became interested and asked Chen Fan, "Can houses be built on stilts?"

Chen Fan laughed, picked up a pen from the table, and drew a diagram on a piece of paper. "It's very simple. It's just like building a small house, except you don't build walls underneath, just a few pillars. Then you put precast slabs on the pillars, so the precast slabs are the ground, and then you build the house on top of them."

The outpost was built on the inner slope, and in front of it was a staircase that connected to the surface of the dike. If the height of the dike were to be increased, it would simply involve filling the surface with soil, which would have no impact on the outpost.

In addition, each team still has a lot of flood control supplies stored up. After the permanent outpost is built, the space underneath can be utilized. Just surround it on all four sides, lay a base underneath, and build a stepped structure. This will serve as a warehouse, where supplies can be stored and easily accessed.

Secretary Yang and the others squeezed behind him, and after listening to him finish speaking and looking at the diagram on the paper, they immediately understood Chen Fan's idea.

Ye Shubao's eyes lit up as he clapped his hands and said, "This is a great idea! Actually, the simple outposts we built also serve to store supplies, but the outposts are too small to store much. If we build brick houses with such a large space underneath, we can store a lot more things."

Captain Zhang nodded slowly, then turned to Chen Fan and said, "Although the dike is raised every few years, it is not raised too much each time, at most about half a meter, and sometimes only by a shovel of soil. Only in the event of a once-in-a-century major emergency will it be raised by more than a meter the following year. A height of three or four meters may not be able to be filled in for thirty or forty years, so it is definitely enough."

Xiao Liewen chuckled as he smoked, "If we could get cement from the water conservancy institute and the commune, it would be good to build the outpost into a permanent fortification, saving us from building and dismantling it every year, and making things more convenient in all aspects."

So, in just a few words, the suggestion was adopted. It seemed that everyone was good at predicting the future and had just correctly calculated that Chen Fan's suggestion was reasonable.

Zhang Wenliang scratched his head, inwardly grumbling. He was still too young; he'd definitely not speak first next time!
While everyone was chatting about the permanent outpost, Ye Shubao made phone calls to each squad, and soon finished notifying them.

Chen Fan did not attend their flood prevention meeting, mainly because apart from the suggestions from the Yonggu outpost, he knew nothing about flood prevention. Since he couldn't help, he didn't want to waste his time and went straight home.

……

That evening, in the educated youth courtyard, Chen Fan sat in a chair, instructing Jiang Lili on how to write a short essay. "Look, your grammar is still incorrect; it's Chinglish. Do you know what that means? It means that Chinese people can roughly understand it, but foreigners basically won't understand it..."

Just then, he noticed that the sky outside suddenly brightened.

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, then got up and walked to the door, looking at the dark sky above.

Jiang Lili quickly followed, first looking outside, then at him, "What's wrong?"

Huang Ying and the other two also looked up from their books, staring at the two in confusion.

Chen Fan suddenly raised three fingers of his right hand and bent them down one by one, while chanting, "Three, two, one."

Just as the four girls were feeling confused, a loud roar suddenly came from the sky as Chen Fan finished speaking.

Rumble, rumble...

A loud clap of thunder startled several girls, turning their faces pale.

Two seconds later, a cool breeze blew by, and then the wind grew stronger and stronger, even creating a whistling sound.

Jiang Lili finally realized, "Oh no, it's going to pour."

Huang Ying quickly ran to the door, jumped over the threshold, and ran out, spreading her arms to welcome the cool breeze. Then she turned to look at Chen Fan, her face full of surprise, "Wow, you really can read the celestial phenomena?"

Yang Ju and Liu Dan also went out and walked around outside to "welcome" them.

Chen Fan said with a dark face, "What are you looking at the weather for? It's been muggy since noon today, and there hasn't been a breath of wind. It would be strange if there wasn't a downpour in this kind of weather."

Hilly areas have uneven terrain and abundant moisture, so muggy, windless weather is rare. In most cases, this is a sign of an approaching storm. Experienced farmers can predict heavy rain using this tactic, so it's not surprising.

Jiang Lili suddenly chuckled. Seeing Chen Fan looking over, she quickly suppressed her laughter and whispered, "Today at work, many people said you're like Zhuge Liang, able to predict the future. Uncle Huang even said that if it really rains heavily tonight, he'll ask you to tell him when he'll have a son."

Hearing this, the oriole outside, who was searching for the wind, couldn't help but purse its lips, but the next second, it shook its head and chuckled helplessly.

The Uncle Huang that Jiang Lili mentioned is her biological father. There are five sisters in the family, and she is the eldest. The youngest sister is only 5 years old. With such conditions, the family is already extremely poor, but her father has no other desires but actually wants a son.

Not only in Lujiawan, but also in other production teams of Nanhu Commune, people knew about this. Chen Fan naturally knew long ago, so what could she do?

Chen Fan's face fell. "I really don't have that skill."

He then looked at Huang Ying and said with a smile, "However, you can go back and talk to your father about whether it's a son or a daughter. The decision isn't made by the woman, but by the man."

Upon hearing this, Huang Ying was taken aback at first, then her eyes lit up. "Really?"

Because of her inability to have a son, her mother has always felt ashamed at home, constantly drinking folk remedies her grandparents found out from who-knows-where, and is frequently harassed and given the cold shoulder. If it really wasn't her mother's fault for not being able to have a son, she probably wouldn't be suffering anymore, right?

Chen Fan thought for a moment, but it wasn't good to explain to her what chromosomes were, mainly because neither she nor her parents would understand. So he simply said, "You know the saying, right? Men are the seed, women are the land."

Huang Ying blushed instantly and couldn't help but turn around to run away, but she still stood there and nodded slightly.

The other three girls stood aside, and although they thought it had nothing to do with them, they all blushed.

In fact, there are plenty of explicit and vulgar words in the countryside, especially when they are arguing. All sorts of nonsense can come out, and they have heard a lot of it. At that time, they found it very interesting to watch the excitement.

However, those were other people, while Chen Fan was the embodiment of perfection in their eyes, so his sudden use of suggestive language felt quite unusual.

Chen Fan ignored their reactions and continued, "You have to think about it. Since ancient times, it has always been a matter of 'you reap what you sow.' When has it ever been the turn of the 'land' to choose? Your father has always given you female offspring, so of course only girls can be born. How can you blame your mother?"

Upon hearing this, Huang Ying suddenly realized, "That's right, you reap what you sow. You can't plant a cucumber and expect a watermelon, can you?"

She secretly made up her mind that she must go back tomorrow and make this clear to her father, especially her grandparents, and absolutely not let her mother drink those weird folk remedies anymore.

Then the sky brightened again, and the purple light illuminated almost the entire world.

Chen Fan quickly ushered them inside, saying, "Come in quickly, a downpour is about to start."

As soon as Huang Ying and the other two ran into the room, another clap of thunder sounded in the sky.

Then a strong wind howled, causing the opposite cedar forest to sway and rustle.

A few seconds later, a few raindrops fell first, and before they could seep into the soil, a torrential downpour followed, turning the entire world into a white expanse.

Chen Fan was watching the rain intently when he heard Liu Dan shout from behind, "Ah, I know!"

He immediately turned to look at her, "What do you know?"

The other three also stared at Liu Dan.

Liu Dan raised her right hand and said confidently, "I know how you knew there was going to be thunder."

Seeing that Huang Ying and Yang Ju still didn't seem to understand, she said anxiously, "Just now, Teacher Chen stood at the door, raised his hand and counted to three, and then there was thunder."

Upon hearing this, Huang Ying and Yang Ju couldn't help but look disappointed.

Liu Dan continued confidently, "Because lightning is faster than sound, Teacher Chen saw the lightning first and then calculated that the thunder was coming soon, so he was able to predict it."

Chen Fan turned to look at the torrential rain outside and sighed softly. This girl's reaction time was really slow. But he also felt a little gratified; at least she had grasped the junior high school physics concepts.

Huang Ying, Yang Ju, and Jiang Lili exchanged glances, then looked at Liu Dan, who had a completely blank expression, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

(End of this chapter)