Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 388 What gift should I give?
The next day at noon, at a small restaurant in the north of the city.

It's not the one at the street corner near Jiang Tiantian's workplace, but another one a little further away.

This area is lined with factories and businesses, and there are countless social gatherings and worker meals every day. Food companies here even have more restaurants than elsewhere, so there are more choices.

In this way, there's no need to always eat at that restaurant. If an acquaintance sees her there, Jiang Tiantian will have another headache.

Chen Fan took a bite of food and said indignantly, "I went to the food company early this morning. They were very easy to talk to. When they saw the lease contracts we signed with those hospitals and bus stations, they readily agreed that as long as the Commerce Bureau agrees, they will issue the approval certificate."

Then I went to the Commerce Bureau, and guess what they said?

Jiang Tiantian smiled at him and asked, "What?"

In other words, Chen Fan had revealed the answer to her in advance, knowing that Lujiawan was about to open 10 stores in the prefectural committee. All the procedures had been completed, and the stores would open as soon as the renovations were finished.

Otherwise, she should have been anxious too.

Now, of course, there's no need for that; just listen to the story quietly.

At this moment, Chen Fan transformed into a storyteller, his expression so vivid that he was almost dancing with joy. "After I went there, they were quite polite. A deputy director of the Commerce Bureau personally came to receive me and praised me a lot."

But when it came to serious matters, he started to have trouble. First, he said there was no precedent. Although it was true that our store opening complied with the policy, we had opened too many stores and they were located too far away. He had never seen such a situation before.

Later they said it wasn't in accordance with the rules; other production teams only opened shops up to the county seat, none of them had ever opened one at the prefectural committee level. In short, it boils down to two words: no way!

Jiang Tiantian looked at him curiously, "So how did you eventually agree to it?"

Chen Fan's expression suddenly turned strange, as if he was both annoyed and amused. "I was going to say something nice, but he came up with a solution himself, and the problem was solved."

Jiang Tiantian's eyes widened. "What method?"

She herself worked in the supply and marketing system, so she could understand what the deputy director of the Commerce Bureau was saying.

It is true that production teams can engage in agricultural-related sideline businesses, but there are regional and quantity restrictions. Some places have made clear provisions on this, while others have not specified it for various reasons.

For example, if a production team's products can be sold to other places to earn profits, or even directly targeted by foreign trade companies to be exported and earn foreign exchange, the local government does not make clear regulations in order to encourage more similar production teams to achieve similar results, so as to handle the situation flexibly according to the circumstances.

Lu Jiawan opened 10 shops in the prefectural committee, which, from any perspective, falls within the scope of "flexible handling".

The reason is simple: if there are no restrictions on the scope and scale of your side businesses, are you going to sell them all over the moon and treat Chang'e to spicy rabbit heads?
In the future, as long as you have the ability, this kind of thing will be no problem at all, but now, it's definitely not possible.

So it's normal that they don't approve.

What intrigued Jiang Tiantian was: what was the way to break this rule, whether explicit or implicit?

Chen Fan chuckled twice, looked around, and inadvertently noticed that several young men were secretly glancing in their direction.

Are there both men and women?
However, when they met Chen Fan's gaze, they all quickly turned their heads to avoid him.

Chen Fan was already used to this situation; he couldn't just not let others see his good looks.

He coughed lightly and lowered his voice, saying, "The deputy director said that opening stores is restricted, but selling goods is not. He called over the leaders of the food company and made us sign a special contract with the food company."

Jiang Tiantian stared at him intently. "A special contract?"

Chen Fan nodded and gestured as he said, "Luwan Delicatessen has been incorporated into the management of the food company. The main responsibilities of both parties are that we are responsible for supplying goods to the food company, but we also need to assist in sales. We are responsible for finding sales locations, providing sales staff, and bearing all wages and benefits ourselves."

As for the price review, it's really just a formality. But it stipulates that the retail price is 2% higher than the supply price, and this money has to be given to the food company as profit and management fees.

Aside from monthly accounting, the food company only conducts regular safety checks on the goods; they don't concern themselves with anything else.

Jiang Tiantian immediately realized, "Isn't that just exchanging 2% of your sales revenue for the right to open a store in Yunhu?"

Chen Fan nodded and smiled, saying, "That's essentially what I mean. However, this money won't be wasted. From now on, the Luwan Delicatessen in Yunhu will also be considered a unit within the food company system. If there are any official matters, such as providing proof, they will assist in resolving them to some extent."

So when I called the brigade headquarters, the leaders immediately agreed, and the matter was resolved just like that.

If they could exchange 2% of their revenue for the name of a subsidiary of a food company, Secretary Yang and his colleagues would probably be laughing in their sleep.

Do you really think they're after this little bit of money? There are countless restaurants of all sizes in the entire Yunhu city area, all managed by the food company system. Their daily turnover is incredibly high. Why would they care about this little bit?
Besides, once you take the money, you're expected to do something.

But for Lujiawan, it meant something different; they had latched onto a powerful figure and gained access to the prefectural committee's network of connections.

Therefore, Chen Fan himself knew that people were only interested in him because he had 10 lease contracts, and behind these contracts stood the health system and the transportation system. Chen Fan could disregard their own feelings, but he couldn't afford to lose face for these two systems.

That's how we came to have the drama of "the one who raises the question is the one who solves the problem."

In fact, this operating model will rapidly proliferate in a few years, and there will be a specific term for it: "affiliation".

The exact first company that operated under affiliation is unknown, but it likely appeared around 80. After several years of rapid growth, it reached its first peak in 83, and then in 85, the first publicly available document mentioned "affiliated" companies appeared.

Opinions of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Several Issues Concerning Implementation (1985)
So why does this practice of "affiliation" exist?
This is because after affiliation, the nature and qualifications of the enterprise are no longer based on its own conditions, but on the unit it is affiliated with.

For example, Lujiawan was a collective unit, and Luwan Delicatessen was naturally of the same nature. But now that these 10 stores are affiliated with a food company, they are definitely state-owned enterprises, even more prestigious than the three stores in the county town.

In this way, businesses that were previously unqualified become qualified, and many problems can be easily solved.

It's that simple.

In the Yunhu urban area, the business operations of Luwan cooked food shops are naturally considered reasonable and compliant, and no one can find fault with them.

And going back further, there are similar precedents.

For example, the purchasing stations and sales outlets in the production teams were jointly established by the supply and marketing cooperatives and the production teams. The supply and marketing cooperatives provided the goods, while the production teams provided the business premises and salespersons.

Therefore, this method of operation is not very rare.

Chen Fan hadn't expected that the shadow of affiliation would appear at this time.

So it's easy to understand why, after the meeting at the end of next year, affiliated companies will suddenly spring up everywhere.

……

After chatting about gossip, Chen Fan looked at Jiang Tiantian and asked with a smile, "How's your study progress going?"

Hearing him ask this, Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but blush, her face slightly embarrassed, and she lowered her head and said, "It's...it's alright."

Chen Fan blinked. "What do you mean by 'not bad'?"

He paused, glanced at the scene, then turned away from several pairs of eyes, before turning back to his face and saying in a low voice, "If what Teacher Guo and the others said comes true, then this is a rare opportunity."

Jiang Tiantian's face flushed even more. She pursed her lips, looked up and said, "After you bought me the books last time, I've been studying for the past two weeks. It's just that I haven't had any books for so long, and I only just got into the swing of things a few days ago."

She smiled and looked directly at Chen Fan, "I also want to see the scenery on campus, so I will definitely work hard."

Chen Fan gave her an approving look and smiled, "I'm not saying you have to do anything, I'm just giving you a suggestion. Since you have your own ideals, why not take a chance and not give yourself a chance to regret it later?"

Jiang Tiantian nodded seriously, "I understand."

After eating a few bites of food, she looked at Chen Fan, who was eating rice, and asked softly, "How is Lili's study progress?"

Chen Fan turned to look at her and smiled, "Didn't she mention it in her letter?"

Jiang Tiantian chuckled, "It was written in the letter, but she said you're her teacher. Since I ran into her teacher, of course I had to ask her."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "If we were to take the exam now, you definitely wouldn't be able to beat her."

Jiang Tiantian's eyes lit up immediately. "So, her chances are pretty good?"

Chen Fan nodded. "She's already at the high school level, and her knowledge is very solid. If we only look at her grades, she should be a shoo-in."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tiantian's heart skipped a beat.

If we only look at grades?

Will they only look at grades?

She didn't know, but the information that Teacher Guo revealed was Lili's only chance to return to the city, and no matter what, she had to do her best to prepare.

What if they only look at grades?!

Holding the bowl, she murmured, "It's been almost four years, and she'll be turning 18 soon. I hope she can go home safely this time."

Chen Fan looked at her and said softly, "Hard work pays off. You are both good girls, and life will not let you down." Jiang Tiantian looked up and smiled at him, "Thank you."

She paused for a moment, then perked up and said with a smile, "You're actually a year younger than Lili, but you always seem more mature than me. Is that how outstanding people are?"

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and smiled, "If you want to praise me, just say so. You don't need to be so subtle."

Jiang Tiantian almost choked, and helplessly added, "Are all outstanding people this shameless?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "That's called confidence."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly looked up and asked, "I have something to ask you."

Jiang Tiantian immediately swallowed the food in her mouth, turned to look at him, and asked, "What is it?"

Chen Fan put down his chopsticks and gestured as he said, "When I came to the prefectural committee to open a shop, two friends from the health department helped me a lot. Although the production team gave the health department a gift, they used their own connections, so I wanted to give them a separate gift as well."

He looked at Jiang Tiantian and smiled, "You're a girl too, so I wanted to ask you what kind of gifts would be good to give them."

"girl?"

Jiang Tiantian looked at him, blinked slowly a few times, and couldn't help but ask, "Them..."

But after just one sentence, he couldn't continue.

Chen Fan understood what she meant and immediately laughed, "Don't overthink it, we're just ordinary friends. I met you when I was in the health department for more than ten days."

Jiang Tiantian said "Oh," then realized what she meant, and two blushes appeared on her face. She cursed herself inwardly for asking someone about this for no reason. She must be crazy.

She took two deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, and said casually, "Actually, I don't know much about these things either."

Chen Fan looked at her curiously, "Has no one ever given you a gift before?"

Jiang Tiantian pursed her lips and shook her head slightly, saying, "They did deliver it, but I didn't accept it."

She looked at Chen Fan and explained, "They gave me things like scarves, handkerchiefs, pens, yarn, shawls, and shoes. These are gifts between boyfriends and girlfriends. I have no relationship with them, so it's impossible for me to accept them."

He chuckled as he spoke, “Later on, no one gave me anything anymore. I’ve never given anything to anyone either, except when a colleague at work got married, I would give them a copy of Mr. Li’s book or a towel.”

She looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Unless you're lying, these things aren't suitable to give them."

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, "The truth, of course it's the truth."

Jiang Tiantian thought for a moment, then suggested, "How about you give each of them a copy of the anthology?"

Chen Fan couldn't help but blink. Is this still a popular gift these days?

It's not that it's bad; he was hoping someone would send him a complete set. Luckily, volume 5 was released in April, so he could complete the set.

However, since the other party had helped him so much, even though it was about Lujiawan, it was also about saving face for him. Sending only one set of the anthology would feel a bit meager.

When Jiang Tiantian saw Chen Fan's expression, she couldn't help but want to laugh for some reason.

She quickly coughed and said, "I already said, I don't know much about these things."

Chen Fan gave a soft "uh," then grinned and said, "You're better than me. I really don't know much about the things you just mentioned."

He was thinking of giving her a fountain pen, but Jiang Tiantian told him that fountain pens are gifts between lovers.

What? I bought a bunch of fountain pens as gifts before, and nobody mentioned this to me?
Jiang Tiantian composed herself and carefully considered what kind of gift would be appropriate.

First, gifts between lovers should be avoided; clothes, shoes, and watches are definitely out. Household items also have symbolic meanings and should absolutely not be given as gifts...

As Jiang Tiantian eliminated each item, she felt a bit of a headache; giving gifts to men was indeed a hassle.

A slight mishap could lead to a misunderstanding.

She glanced at Chen Fan; he was another one who easily attracted attention. If she didn't give him the right gift, he might start stalking her.

These days, people may be considered conservative, but under the influence of new ideas, there are also many "unconventional" people. For example, it is not uncommon for girls to take the initiative to pursue boys.

What if one of them is that kind of person? I wonder if Xiao Fan can resist the temptation.

After a moment of distraction, Jiang Tiantian suddenly had a brilliant idea and said to Chen Fan, who was still eating, "How about you give each of them a set of 'Self-Study Series on Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry'?"

Chen Fan looked up, his face full of astonishment, "Huh?"

Sending study materials? Is it really that cruel?

Jiang Tiantian suppressed a laugh and said seriously, "Does that mean they are all college students and don't need to continue their studies?"

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, "No, they are all vocational school graduates, they have never been to university."

"That's it."

Jiang Tiantian glanced around and, finding no one nearby, whispered, "If Teacher Guo's words come true, giving them study materials is giving them a chance to continue improving. Isn't that great?"

Chen Fan blinked, thinking of Lin Liwen's father, the deputy director of the passenger ship company, and then of Xia Yuping's grandfather, the deputy director of the transportation department, the father of the passenger station director, and the mother of the logistics director...

He doubted whether these two young ladies needed to improve through exams.
Back then, wouldn't it have been better to go straight to high school and then be recommended for university?

However, although he didn't quite agree with Jiang Tiantian's words, he planned to take her advice.

He nodded slowly and said, "Yes, what you said makes a lot of sense. I'll go buy some books later and give them to them as gifts."

Jiang Tiantian stared blankly at Chen Fan without blinking, "You...you really want to give me the book?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Wasn't it your suggestion? I took it."

Jiang Tiantian felt her mind suddenly go blank. Was she really going to accept this so easily? Wasn't she going to give it a second thought?

Chen Fan suddenly sped up his eating. "I'll take you home first, then I'll go find books elsewhere."

He couldn't help but shake his head as he spoke, "This set of books is so hard to find, it perfectly embodies the principle of 'rarity makes things valuable,' so it would definitely be a precious gift."

Jiang Tiantian was stunned for a while before she came to her senses.

Okay, this seems like a good gift.

I wonder what those two girls will think when they see Chen Fan's gift?
……

Two hours later, Chen Fan, carrying a backpack and two long paper bags, entered the office of the Political Work Section of the Health Department. "Hello, comrades, I'm here again."

Sister Qin immediately straightened up from the pile of documents. "What's that in your hand? It's not another gift, is it?"

Hearing the sound, Sister Zhou came out from the inner office and asked, "Is the matter settled?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "It's all done. I'll head back in a bit."

As he spoke, he placed the two bundles of items on Lin Liwen's and Xia Yuping's desks respectively, and said with a smile, "Thanks to your help this time, these are gifts I carefully selected to express my gratitude."

Sister Qin and Sister Yu immediately came over, "Oh my, there are gifts too?"

The two girls who received the gifts were also pleasantly surprised.

Lin Liwen blushed and said, "It's just a small favor, no need to spend any money."

Xia Yuping nodded repeatedly, "Really, there's no need for that. It's not easy for you to earn money in the production team. Why don't you just return it?"

Sister Zhou walked over and said with a smile, "It's Xiao Chen's good intention after all, how can we just return it? You can just give him a gift in return."

Then, looking at the two long paper packages, he asked, "What are these?"

Without saying a word, Chen Fan picked up the scissors on the table and began to unpack. When the outer kraft paper was removed, everyone in the office was dumbfounded.

What is this?

A huge pile of books?

Chen Fan opened another package and laughed, "First is the complete works of Mr. Li in 5 volumes, and the other is a set of self-study books on mathematics, physics and chemistry. I wish you all good studies and continuous progress!"

(End of this chapter)