Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 390 Preparing for the Program
When Chen Fan was a child, he saw his grandmother picking cotton. However, back then, they didn't pick it in the cotton field. Instead, they picked the whole cotton boll that had just opened and took it back to the threshing ground to dry in the hot sun.

After drying for a few days, most of the cotton bolls will be dry, and you can sit at home and pick out the cotton inside.

Back then, Chen Fan even sat next to his grandmother picking cotton.

But that was a long time later.

The reason for adding an extra step compared to picking cotton flowers directly in the field now is that after the production was distributed to individual households, each household took care of its own affairs. In early autumn, rainfall began to increase. If there were delays for a few days due to other matters, there would not be enough labor to pick the cotton in time. The nearly ripe cotton bolls would be soaked by the rain and might rot and mold, thus affecting the grade of the cotton.

Therefore, in order to harvest more cotton, people would first pick the unripe cotton bolls and then calmly arrange other farm work.

Actually, cotton picked that way is not as good as cotton picked directly after it is mature and fluffy; it's a last resort.

In today's collective era, there is no such concern. The production team leader will assign different people to do different tasks based on the workload and progress of the entire team.

Heavy physical labor was naturally left to men, while lighter tasks like picking and weeding were assigned to women.

Taking advantage of the bright sunshine, all the women in the team were organized. They ranged from 13 or 4 years old to 5 or 60 years old, and there were even many elderly women over 70. As long as they were nimble, they all crowded into the cotton field to pick cotton and earn work points.

This job requires skill. If you're not skilled, even a nimble young woman like Jiang Lili might not be able to compete with a 70-year-old lady.

Therefore, the amount of fruit picked is also an important reference indicator when calculating work points. It is only possible for an old lady to get 10 work points a day by working.

With so many people working together, and considering that the cotton planting area was not as large as it would later become, all the cotton was harvested and stored in just two or three days.

They picked for two or three days, and Chen Fan... naturally wouldn't follow them the whole time.

After participating in half a day of labor and personally experiencing the arduous process of picking cotton, he went back to close the door and focus on his creative work.

I wrote two news articles, naturally about the production team's bumper cotton harvest and everyone's "advanced deeds" in rushing to pick cotton.

Because he personally experienced it for half a day, the article he wrote was very close to life and received high praise from readers after it was published in Yunhu Daily.

Then I received a bunch of more emails.

In the courtyard of the educated youth settlement, a frame was set up with benches and bamboo poles, and a bamboo curtain was laid on top. Yang Ju and the others carried several large bags of cotton seeds onto the bamboo curtain and spread them out to dry in the sun.

In the general office, Jiang Lili opened the letters one by one and said softly, "These letters are from readers in the Yunhu area. They are mostly expressing their love for your articles, and some are from leaders of your work units who want to invite you to give lectures."

To her right, Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, holding a small teapot in one hand and a palm-leaf fan in the other, fanning himself idly. He asked, puzzled, "Are authors this popular these days?"

Over the past few months, he has received more than a thousand letters from Yunhu, within the province, and outside the province. Now he understands why the King of Fairy Tales bought 10 houses as warehouses to store the letters.

Because there are so many letters!

Jiang Lili put the opened letter aside, opened another one, and said with a smile, "I don't know if other authors have it or not, but even if they do, they certainly don't have as many as you."

You're a regular contributor to *Jiangnan Literature* magazine. Since its relaunch in May, you've published an article every month, in a serialized format—almost like having a column. Naturally, you're not someone most people can compare to.

Chen Fan frowned and sighed softly, "But I haven't received a single penny in royalties. Every time they send me a bunch of receipts, but there's no money. How am I supposed to spend it?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lili couldn't help but wrinkle her nose and give him a charmingly reproachful look.

If she were from the future, she would definitely blurt out "Versailles" at this moment.

Now, all I can do is shake my head with a helpless smile and continue opening the letters.

After taking a few sips of tea, Chen Fan didn't linger and began to write a reply.

These days, it's common for readers to send letters to their favorite authors, and it's also common for authors to reply to readers. If there's a lot of interaction, many people will even send gifts.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan has not received any gifts yet.

Not only did he receive no gifts, but he also had to pay extra for letter paper and stamps to reply to his readers, which made him feel a bit cheated.

He would reply at irregular times, whenever he felt like it, but more often in the evenings. At those times, Jiang Lili and the others would be studying diligently, and he would be writing furiously at a speed comparable to a typewriter, finishing a letter in just a few minutes, putting it in an envelope, writing the address, and then taking it to the post office to mail it.

Of course, you don't need to reply to every single one. Those that only express admiration can generally be ignored. Just mention a few names at the end of each article to express your gratitude.

Alternatively, you could draw lots to select a few to reply to.

There's no need to pay attention to those who invite him to lectures; just make a statement in the newspaper or magazine.

However, some people would ask questions in their letters, such as how to write, or even enclose an article they had written for him to critique. Others would be troubled by life's problems and want to seek Chen Fan's advice and solutions.

It is only in cases like this that replies are necessary.

It's not right to be lazy and not reply to this.

This is because it has a mass base. If someone replies to a letter, that person may become a loyal supporter of the writer, and then influence the people around him.

Moreover, this is a common habit among writers today. Many well-known writers have consistently replied to readers' letters for a long time. Even when the number of letters from readers increases and their energy wanes, they will still select some to reply to, which has become a popular story across the country.

Now, Jiang Lili is selecting the letters that he needs to reply to, piling up the ones that don't need to be replied to along with the envelopes, and placing the ones that need to be replied to next to Chen Fan.

After writing several letters, Huang Ying and the other two finished drying the cotton and came in one after another.

Chen Fan glanced at them, then lowered his head to continue writing. "How many more days does the cotton need to be dried?"

Huang Ying sat down opposite him and said, "It should be better by tomorrow."

Chen Fan: "The next key task is the autumn harvest."

Yang Ju and Liu Dan sat down on the last bench together. Hearing Chen Fan's words, Yang Ju shook her head. "It's not over yet. The dried cotton still needs to be transported to Team 10 to be ginned into lint using a cotton gin. The cotton production in Lujiawan is not high, so the commune didn't give us too many tasks. Therefore, they only collect lint, not seed cotton."

Jiang Lili looked up and, as expected, saw Chen Fan blinking with a somewhat confused expression. She smiled and said softly, "The state has strict regulations for purchasing cotton. First, it must reserve enough cotton seeds. Therefore, the first batch of cotton only accepts lint, and the cotton seeds are selected and reserved by the production team."

If the production team does not have a cotton gin, the supply and marketing cooperative can undertake the cotton ginning task, and the production team can send someone to supervise it.

Unless a commune doesn't even have a cotton gin, or there's a severe shortage of cotton gins, the cotton purchasing station will only open up the purchase of seed cotton. After the cotton is transported to other places for ginning, the cotton seeds will be sent back to the production team as seed.

Lujiawan has cotton gins allocated by the commune, so it must be carried out in accordance with normal regulations. Only after the cottonseed used by the production team is met will seed cotton be purchased without limit.

However, the cotton production in Lujiawan was not high to begin with, and the quota was not heavy. They also had dedicated cotton gins, so the cotton purchasing station only accepted lint from us, not seed cotton.

Yang Ju and the others had lived here for more than half a year and knew that Chen Fan was not familiar with the situation of many production teams. Jiang Lili always answered his questions, and they had gotten used to it. Sometimes they would even take the initiative to join in the explanation.

After Jiang Lili finished speaking, Yang Ju interrupted, "Nanhu Commune mainly grows rice. Apart from our Lujiawan, the other four production teams are in similar situations. The neighboring Qingshan Commune is the main area responsible for cotton and rapeseed oil production."

They spend a lot of time planting and harvesting cotton every year, working even harder than we do planting rice. Delivering their cotton is just as exhausting as delivering grain to the state.

Not to be outdone, Liu Dan chimed in, "And rapeseed! When rapeseed flowers bloom, the hillsides are covered in them, so many, so beautiful!"

Chen Fan's eyes lit up immediately. "Are there many rapeseed flowers in Qingshan Commune?"

Liu Dan nodded repeatedly, "Many, many more."

At this moment, Huang Ying said with a smile, "Qingshan Commune is located on the southwest bank of Liuhua River. When the rapeseed flowers bloom, you can see it by boat."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Then I'll have to go and take a look next year."

Liu Dan immediately said, "Let's go together."

Hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but smile. "Okay, everyone who's free can go."

The girls laughed happily. When the rapeseed flowers bloom, spring planting will be over, and they'll definitely have time then. But Chen Fan was thinking, if you weren't in university then, you'd all deserve a slap on the hand.

Still looking for rapeseed flowers?
Think beautiful!
……

Days passed by, and after harvesting the cotton and handing in the task at the cotton purchasing station, the team had an extra income from selling cotton.

In the past, every household would have been quietly calculating how much cotton and how much money they would receive this year.

However, no one has taken this matter too seriously this year. Only a few people mention it in casual conversation, and then it is quickly replaced by new topics.

How many chickens do you have left?

"There are no chickens left, only eggs. The chickens have been almost all caught. Only five hens were left to incubate the eggs, which can only hatch a maximum of 12 at a time. I don't know how many chicks they can hatch."

"Oh dear, mine is about the same. All the ducks and geese have been caught, and only a few chickens are left to incubate the eggs. I don't really want to raise ducks anymore; they're too cheap, and I can't sell them for a good price."

"Although ducks are not valuable, they don't eat feed. If you drive them into the fishpond, they will find food on their own."

"Then you might as well become a duck herder and raise chickens all over the house."

"I'd like to, but the team needs to agree first."

Amidst a burst of laughter, someone asked, "Ever since the prefectural committee opened its 10 shops, we've been taking hundreds or even thousands of chickens every day. Our team is almost out of chickens, and the new ones haven't kept up. We're in a shortage. What are we going to do?"

Someone immediately said, "You don't need to worry about that. Our team's chickens, ducks, and geese have almost all been caught, but other teams still have them. When the seedlings were distributed, they were given out in batches, so the collection will definitely be done in batches as well."

Besides, our brigade has sold out, but there are still four other brigades like Ganjiacun. We can collect and raise livestock at the same time, taking it slowly.”

"Everyone knows to take it slow, but I don't know if taking it slow will cause us to run out of stock. I heard that the 10 stores under the prefecture committee can bring in 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a day. If we don't have any stock to sell, how much money will we lose? It hurts to think about it!"

……

Inside the brigade headquarters, in the officers' office.

Chen Fan pushed open the window and moved the electric fan to the window to blow it out. The smoke in the room was immediately absorbed and blown out.

It is said that he bought this electric fan because he saw that Jiang Lili and the others were too hot to sleep during the double harvest season. He wrote an article and sent it to "Jiangnan Literature and Art" in exchange for a few electric fan tickets.

He was in a hurry to buy an electric fan, so he "borrowed" a ticket from Zhang Wenliang. He later learned that the ticket was actually given to him by the county motor factory.

When returning the tickets, Zhang Wenliang told the truth, but the Jiangnan Literature and Art Magazine sent him four tickets. How could he possibly use so many?

So he kept two for himself and gave two to the brigade. Anyway, he was too lazy to argue about whether they would return them or not; he just needed enough for himself.

After the smoke finally cleared, Anquan suddenly said, "Hey, I noticed that blowing the fan outwards seems to make it a bit cooler?"

Chen Fan turned around and said, "Placing the electric fan by the window and blowing it out is like sucking the hot air out of the room, thus lowering the temperature..."

He glared at her impatiently halfway through his sentence, "Get to the point, stop rambling on about useless things."

The closer it got to the announcement of the resumption of the college entrance examination, the more arrogant he became.

People like Anquan are absolutely certain to take the college entrance examination. They have their own review materials, and currently, all the students in the entire Nanhu Commune who have the most solid grasp of basic knowledge are their own students.

Anyone who wants to study for the college entrance exam, who would dare to challenge me?

"It's a pity we don't know about safety," he said, glancing at Chen Fan and muttering, "You've been getting a bit cocky lately! I already wrote to a classmate asking him to keep an eye out for cheap accordions in secondhand shops in Shanghai, and he just telegraphed back yesterday saying he did. Looks like you don't want it anymore."

Chen Fan hesitated for two seconds, "If it's too expensive, I might as well buy a new one."

Anquan glanced at him and said, "It's an Italian-imported Pigini accordion, only 250 yuan. If I weren't broke, I would keep it for myself."

Chen Fan immediately coughed and looked up with a smile on his face. "Brother An, I admit I spoke a little loudly just now. Actually, I respect you a lot."

puff……

puff...

Haha ...

The room erupted in laughter, and Xiao Liewen choked on a puff of smoke, standing up and coughing incessantly.

Ignoring everything around him, Chen Fan smiled and said softly, "However, I don't think the number 250 is good. When you send a telegram back to your classmate, could you please add one yuan to the shop's bill? Of course, all the stamps and telegram fees are on me; you won't lose out!"

There's no way to haggle; if you don't want 250, you'll have to raise the price.

Anquan covered his face, unable to bear the sight. After a long while, he shook his head and sighed, "How can people be like this?!"

Yang Xingxiu laughed until tears streamed down her face. She leaned on the table, looked up as if to speak, but couldn't help but chuckle again when she saw Chen Fan.

Only then did Ye Shubao manage to suppress his laughter, tap the table, and say, "Let's get down to business."

He then coughed lightly and looked at the crowd, who were gradually calming down. "No one expected that the businesses of the prefectural committee's stores would be doing so well. Not only the prefectural committee, but also the three stores in the county have not seen a significant decline in sales even after more than half a month. In particular, the main store at the dock is still seeing an increase in turnover, although not a large one, it is still an increase!"

The store's increased sales were related to the spread of the news. Previously, it was mostly customers who traveled on long-distance ferries, but now even passengers on short-distance ferries are coming to patronize the store, naturally leading to increased sales.

He looked around again and said softly, "Xiao An and I have done the calculations. According to the current situation, even if we buy up all the live poultry from the four teams in Ganjiacun, we still won't be able to plug this gap in a month at most. That's the situation now. What do you all think we should do?"

They had discussed this matter before, but since it wasn't available, what could they do? So they could only call Chen Fan over to discuss it together, and now naturally everyone was looking at him.

Chen Fan stared blankly at safety and said seriously, "It's easy to solve. If Nanhu Commune doesn't have enough, we can send people to Qingshan Commune, Yangshan Commune, and Shuanghe County next door to collect them."

"It doesn't matter who we sell to. We'll offer the same price and come to their door to buy. Do they really have to walk miles to sell to a purchasing station?!"

Ye Shubao was stunned. "Competing with the supply and marketing cooperative for business?"

Their long-held fixed mindset led them to believe that purchasing goods in rural areas was a right reserved for supply and marketing cooperatives, so none of them considered this possibility.

Chen Fan remained focused on safety, saying, "What do you mean by stealing business? This year, even poultry tickets have been cancelled, which shows that there is no shortage of chickens, ducks, and geese. Therefore, the supply and marketing cooperative should not have any mandatory quotas for purchasing chickens, ducks, and geese. As long as we don't take away their quota, they would be happy if we took more and saved them some trouble."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Furthermore, the rabbits are ready for market. If we get a few dozen rabbits every day and distribute them to various shops, more people will buy rabbits and fewer will buy chickens, ducks, or geese. This will help plug some loopholes."

If there aren't enough rabbits, add more vegetables—potatoes, lotus root, everything. If that doesn't work, slaughter a pig the next day and use the pork to make up for it. There are plenty of ways; why worry about chickens, ducks, or geese?

Before Ye Shubao could speak, Anquan raised his hands in surrender, "Stop looking at me, okay? I'm going to send a telegram to my classmate right now, telling him to make sure he gets his hands on that accordion."

Chen Fan immediately beamed with joy, "Brother An, could you please ask him if he has any other musical instruments, like violin, piano, saxophone, erhu, or suona?"

Anquan stared blankly at him. "Aren't you playing a bit too fancy?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "There's no way around it, being multi-talented does cost money."

Safety looked speechless. Was that what I meant?

Ye Shubao patted his head and turned to look at Secretary Yang, "I'm all set."

Sometimes, that's how it is; once you open your mind, solving problems becomes very simple. Just go to the supply and marketing cooperative and ask if there are any mandatory live poultry purchase quotas this year, or what those quotas are. If they exceed the quotas, they can purchase them freely.

Some people in the team just bought bicycles, but they don't do any real work and just wander around aimlessly. They might as well ride their bikes to collect chickens!
Hang two larger cages next to the vehicle, or even four. Chickens are relatively small, so each cage can hold up to 15 chickens. Four cages would hold 60 chickens, and ten vehicles would hold 600 chickens. See? A large part of the problem is solved!

Secretary Yang nodded, then coughed lightly. After everyone looked at him, he said, "Well, I went to the commune today. Secretary Qian said that this year is the first year of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. National Day is just around the corner, and everyone is preparing for the celebration. Our production teams also need to think of ways to prepare some programs. Do you have any good ideas?"

(End of this chapter)