Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 359 Split Up (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"We march on the great road, raising the red flag high towards the sun. Mr. Li leads the revolutionary ranks, overcoming all obstacles and rushing forward. Forward! Forward! The revolutionary torrent is unstoppable! Forward! Forward! Towards victory..."

Zhang Wenliang strode back to Lujiawan, singing as he went.

I spent a week in the county town. The first three days were spent running around doing business, and the next three or four days were spent renting a house. At the same time, I took the people who delivered ducks and geese from Lujiawan and went from unit to unit to deliver the goods. I also gave them a copy of "19 Ways to Cook Ducks" and "Goose, Goose, Goose, This Way is Even More Delicious," which were written by Chen Fan on the spot. The canteen chefs of all the units were overjoyed, and the logistics department paid for them readily. It was a small way to make up for my losses.

Currently, Lujiawan does not have its own speedboats, so delivery can only be made by driving a horse-drawn cart to the county. It is a 40-kilometer journey, and it takes 6 a.m. to set off and, including the time to cross the river, to deliver the goods around 10 a.m.

It was a bit hard to shoe the horses, so Secretary Yang specially had several horses taken to town to have new horseshoes made.

As for Chen Fan's suggestion to deliver goods via the town's public buses, Secretary Yang and his team carefully considered it but ultimately did not adopt it.

It wouldn't be so bad if it were just one or two deliveries, but we have to deliver goods to the county every day, and in considerable quantities—300 ducks and 54 geese each time. Once the cooked food workshop starts operating in a few days, the deliveries will be even greater. How can we possibly trouble others with so many live poultry every day?
Fortunately, the team had its own horse-drawn cart, so they put the ducks into live poultry cages and then put the cages onto the cart.

A cage can hold 10 ducks or 8 geese, and a cart can easily carry 20 or 30 cages. Except for the first day when 4 carts are needed, two carts are enough to carry them all afterward.

They decided to hitch up their own cart and deliver the goods, bringing a few rice balls and a bundle of hay to feed the horses. They could leave in the morning and return around 3 p.m., which was cheaper than taking a car.

After three days of familiarizing themselves with the route, the transport team was able to deliver goods on their own. Zhang Wenliang and his team then returned by car to discuss the next phase of their work.

Sure enough, as soon as he returned to the entrance of the brigade headquarters, Zhang Wenliang happily started singing.

This attracted many members of Team 5 to gather around and watch.

"Sanhuzi, you're back?"

"You're in such a good mood that you even sang a song. You must have sold quite a bit."

"Several hundred a day, and you can sell almost all of them in a month. You guys are pretty good."

"Go Sanhuzi! Try to take down the prefectural committee too!"

"Captain Ye, have you finalized the staffing for the workshops in the county? What do you think of my daughter, Daya?"

"Old Ye, my Erfeng is your wife's third aunt's niece-in-law. If there's anything good, you should think of her first."

Ye Shubao and Zhang Wenliang's faces froze. They scurried forward with their heads down, laughing and joking, not daring to lift their heads.

Hearing the singing and noise outside, Secretary Yang, Captain Zhang, Xiao Liewen, and Yang Xingxiu immediately came out to greet them.

Secretary Yang glanced at the crowd, his cheerful expression faltering slightly. "Hey, didn't Xiao Chen come back with you?"

Zhang Wen's good mood instantly soured. As he walked inside, he said irritably, "You're only thinking about Xiao Chen. We worked hard for a week, and even if we didn't achieve anything, we still put in the effort. But when we came back, we didn't even have a word of comfort. It's disheartening!"

A cup of steaming hot water was immediately handed to him.

Yang Xingxiu looked at him with a half-smile, "Feeling disheartened? Here's a cup of hot water to warm you up."

Zhang Wenliang shuddered and carefully took the water cup with both hands, saying, "Slow down, slow down, don't burn yourself."

Ye Shubao glanced at this lively character, then smiled at Secretary Yang, Captain Zhang, and Xiao Liewen, saying, "Xiao Chen has been working with us in the county for a week, and he only went to register for the prefectural correspondence university today, so he didn't come back with us."

"Oh, he's not back yet?"

Secretary Yang was immediately stunned. He turned to look at Captain Zhang and Xiao Liewen, who were also surprised, and then looked at Ye Shubao. "He's not back. What are we going to do with the work?"

Then he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Safety? He hasn't come back either?"

There were 5 people when they left, but now there are only 3 standing in front of them. Chen Fan went to the prefectural committee. Where did he go safely?

Ye Shubao laughed and said, "No, Anquan went to the water transport company."

He paused for a moment, then shook the travel bag in his hand. "I was wondering if we could go inside and sit down to talk. We've been back for ages and haven't even been inside yet, we haven't even had a drink of water."

Seeing Ye Shubao's calm demeanor, Secretary Yang knew he must be confident, so he turned to the side and said with a smile, "Come on, come on, let's go inside and talk."

As the group entered the office, Zhang Wenliang placed the boiling water on the table. Yang Xingxiu then brought over two other cups and gently placed them in front of Ye Shubao and Zhang Juemin, saying with a smile, "This is a pot of tea that was brewed last night. It's perfect to drink now."

Ye Shubao didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up the teacup and took a big gulp, breathing out comfortably.

Zhang Juemin put down his luggage, thanked them, and then drank water from his teacup.

Zhang Wenliang stared at the boiling water in front of him, silently wondering when he had offended her. He had absolutely no recollection of it.

Then he saw a teacup placed in front of him, and when he looked up, he saw Yang Xingxiu.

Yang Xingxiu's eyes widened. "Drink or not?"

Zhang Wenliang quickly nodded, "I'll drink it."

Ye Shubao glanced at Zhang Wenliang, took the cigarette offered by Secretary Yang, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.

After lighting a cigarette and exhaling a puff of smoke, he began to recount his experience of going to the county.

Although they had spoken on the phone before, Ye Shubao didn't dare to say much in order to save on phone bills, and Secretary Yang didn't dare to ask too many questions either. Only now did he finally understand the whole story and occasionally chime in with his agreement.

"Ah, so you mean that Manager Zhao from the county water transport company is not bad, just too principled and unwilling to compromise? Well, that's not really a problem, it's understandable."

It would be even more understandable if he said this without looking so conflicted.

"The construction company's general manager is so easy to talk to, it seems that Master Qiu and Master Ma have said a lot of nice things. Did you send Master Qiu and Master Ma two ducks? Yes, you did, that's good."

"Oh, so Xiao Chen has already finished writing the novel about construction workers. So, he deserves some credit for winning over the construction company."

At this moment, Secretary Yang's face was filled with pride and glory, as if he had written the novel himself.

"Seven units in the health system have placed orders? Haha, needless to say, it must be thanks to Xiao Chen. Only he has that much influence."

In the blink of an eye, pride turned into arrogance.

I don't know what Xiao Chen's reputation has to do with him.

Ye Shubao spoke, and Secretary Yang responded, working in unison to finally finish recounting everything that had happened in the past few days.

After finishing his speech, Ye Shubao took a sip of water, exhaled a long breath, and finally showed signs of fatigue on his face. He said in a deep voice, "Now I understand why even with such good conditions as Bailang Lake, people don't really develop side businesses."

This side job is really not easy. If it weren't for Xiao Chen taking the lead, the health system and construction companies giving him face, the materials bureau giving him safety considerations, and other units taking care of Sanhuzi and his friends' connections, if we had just rushed in like this, who would have paid any attention to us?

Upon hearing this, Secretary Yang's smile gradually faded. He smoked his cigarette and said, "That's why we rural girls all want to marry into the city. Even if we don't have to worry about food or clothing, that's all we have. If we want a good life, we still need city people. They have stable jobs and secure employment. We're always the ones begging them. When have we ever had to beg them?"

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence.

After a few seconds, Xiao Liewen looked up and laughed, "It's not about begging or asking. If they want to eat meat, they still have to rely on our production team to raise poultry and livestock so they can have meat. Besides, we don't rely on anyone or ask anyone for anything. We are self-reliant, farming and raising livestock. Isn't that something to be proud of? Aren't those city people still being supported by us?"

Captain Zhang grinned and said, "Hey, I love hearing that. Even if he's a high-ranking official, he still eats the grain grown by us farmers. Without us, he wouldn't have anything to eat."

Secretary Yang also looked up and laughed heartily, "That makes sense. In the end, people need to eat, so they can't live without us farmers."

The room erupted in laughter. But beneath the smiles, a shadow of gloom lingered in everyone's hearts, a thought that echoed: When will we farmers be able to stop asking for favors?

After the laughter subsided, Secretary Yang tapped his pipe to knock off the ash, then looked at Ye Shubao and asked, "Xiao Chen went to the prefectural committee to register, but what about Xiao An? What did he do at the water transport company?"

Ye Shubao immediately said, "Go buy a propeller. He's best at dealing with people and organizations, so we trust him to handle it."

Secretary Yang nodded in realization, “Yes, yes, the oarsman, that’s indeed a big deal. Right now, two horse-drawn carts a day are enough to deliver goods to the county town. But if the cooked food workshops start operating and deliver more goods, we’ll need to increase the number of horse-drawn carts. If Xiao Chen also opens up the market to the prefectural committee, horse-drawn carts alone won’t be enough to deliver goods to the prefectural committee. Using a fast boat will be more convenient.”

At this moment, Captain Zhang thought for a moment and said, "Old Yang, our brigade has quite a few fishing boats, but they are all small boats. Their loading capacity is only slightly more than that of a flatbed cart. If we use the existing boats to install outboard motors, I'm afraid it won't be cost-effective."

The so-called "small boat" is the smallest type of fishing boat, only slightly larger than a small fishing boat. Apart from the bow and stern, there are only two small fish holds of about 1.5 square meters in the middle, so no matter how much fish are piled up, the carrying capacity is not much.

Moreover, the outboard motor can only be installed at the stern. If the cargo is piled too high, the person navigating the boat will not be able to see ahead. Therefore, in terms of loading capacity, it is not much more than that of a horse-drawn carriage, at most half to one time more.

Secretary Yang turned to look at him. "This is indeed a problem. What are your thoughts?"

Captain Zhang smiled and said, "What other ideas could we have? If the boat is too small, we'll just build a bigger one."

Xiao Liewen nodded in agreement. “Building a ship is no problem. It’s not like we’re building a giant steamship. Any old carpenter can do it. We have at least a dozen people in our team who know how to build ships. Just call them all back and get to work. We can build a big wooden ship and that’s it.”

Captain Zhang continued, "Although there are many projects this year, and Xiao Chen used up a batch of timber for building his house and another batch for building the small water tower, if we pool the timber from all the teams, we should be able to get enough timber for a large ship."

Logs cut down cannot be used directly; they must undergo multiple processes, such as drying and pest control, before they can be used as timber.

Therefore, each team in Lujiawan would cut down a certain amount of timber every year, process it, and store it for future use.

Especially for families planning to build new houses, they will start preparing timber about two years in advance, so the team has never lacked timber.

This year, the team has used a lot of timber, and a considerable amount has already been consumed. Otherwise, Captain Zhang wouldn't have needed to bring this up; he could have simply requisitioned timber from the entire team. Not to mention a large wooden boat, three or five boats wouldn't have been a problem!

……

While the discussion was in full swing, Chen Fan got out of the car and stood on the street in Yunhu City.

He was wearing the same shirt he bought when he last visited Yunhu, the same dress pants he bought when he last visited Yunhu, and the same leather shoes he bought when he last visited Yunhu.

Fortunately, the backpack I was carrying was one I made myself, but it was the same one I carried when I came to Yunhu last time.

He took out a cigarette and a lighter, lit one, and put it in his mouth.

This was the first time he had smoked alone. The wisps of smoke drifted slowly upwards and were then dispersed by the wind. Chen Fan watched the dissipating smoke, still unable to figure out one thing.

Where is the correspondence course center of Jiangnan University located?

After finishing a cigarette, he still couldn't figure it out, so he decided to ask someone.

He threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray on top of the nearby trash can, looked around, and then walked towards the most crowded area.

When we arrived at the place, we found that it was actually a watermelon stand?

Not far ahead, a small truck was parked on the side of the road, and several people, both men and women, stood in a row, each three or four meters apart, stretching all the way to a watermelon stand that was about ten meters long.

A person picked up a large watermelon from the car and, like shooting a basketball, passed it to the next person. The person caught the watermelon in their hands, just like catching a basketball, then turned around and passed it again... no, passed the watermelon.

After passing through the hands of five people, the last girl steadily placed the watermelon on the stall and turned to wait for the next one.

There were about fifty or sixty people gathered around the watermelon stall.

Some people weigh the melons, pay for them, and then put them in their own bags or baskets and carry them away. Some buy only one or two melons, while others, being extravagant, use snakeskin bags to carry seven or eight at a time, tie them tightly to the back of their bicycles, and pull away.

Some people simply buy pre-cut watermelon slices and eat them on the spot.

The melon seller was quick and efficient, cutting melons and collecting money at the same time, with almost no rest.

People who bought watermelons didn't just eat and spit them out randomly. Instead, they walked to a large metal cabinet next to them. This metal cabinet was a special trash can for watermelons, with empty sides and a raised platform in the middle.

Many people stood in a circle around the counter, the dripping watermelon juice and spit-out seeds falling into the holes around the metal counter. Several slices of watermelon sat on the platform in the center, placed there by the customers, waiting to be eaten.

(Melon seed and peel recycling bin)

After watching for a while, Chen Fan understood the process of buying and eating melons, and then stepped forward to ask, "Master, how much are these melons?"

The man cutting the melon didn't even turn his head. "Eight cents a pound, ten cents a bite."

One bite is a slice, and with skin and meat, it weighs about a pound. People with big mouths can indeed finish it in one bite.

Chen Fan immediately took out a dime, bought a slice, and walked over to the watermelon bucket to eat. He opened his mouth wide, slurped it down from right to left in a few bites, spat out a mouthful of watermelon seeds, and then slurped it down from left to right again—the slice of watermelon was gone.

I wiped my mouth with my hand, feeling that this melon wasn't as delicious as the ones that came later.

This "later" doesn't refer to the new millennium, but rather the 80s and 90s. Back then, the melons were truly large, sweet, and sandy. You could clearly feel the grains bouncing around in your mouth when you ate them. They were refreshingly sweet and delicious, and you could eat them endlessly without getting tired of them.

The melons from the new century are sweet, but unfortunately they don't taste like watermelons.

The melons nowadays aren't sweet enough, nor are they sandy enough.

It's not bad, though. It's sweeter than other fruits, and has a strong watermelon flavor, making it very refreshing.

After savoring the taste for a moment, Chen Fan bought another piece and ate it.

He then wiped his mouth clean, washed his hands in a basin of water with several watermelons soaking in it, dried them, walked up to the watermelon seller, took out a cigarette and offered it to him, and asked, "Sir, can I ask you something?"

The melon seller glanced at him, paused cutting the melon, took the cigarette and looked at it. Seeing it was a peony brand, he tucked the cigarette behind his ear and said with a smile, "What is it?"

Chen Fan asked, "Do you know where Jiangnan University has a correspondence course center in Yunhu?"

The melon seller was taken aback. "Oh, Jiangnan University has a correspondence course center in Yunhu? I didn't know that."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. Well, what a waste of a cigarette.

He raised his hand and waved, "Oh, that's all, thanks."

The melon seller smiled, feeling it was a bit unfair to get a free cigarette, so he pointed in a direction and said with a smile, "Go up ahead and take the bus, get off at the 'Education Office' stop, and ask there. They'll definitely know."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. That's right, we definitely have to ask the Education Department about this. How can we just ask anyone and they'll know?

After thanking the melon seller, Chen Fan shook his backpack and walked forward.

Soon we arrived at the bus stop. Standing under the bus stop sign, I looked at the stops but didn't see the Education Bureau. Instead, I saw another place name.

After thinking for two seconds, Chen Fan saw a bus slowly approaching and boarded it without hesitation.

Well, it's not noon yet. Let's find a place to eat first, and we can register in the afternoon.

(End of this chapter)