Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 427 Monkey King
Chen Fan took a car to the Education Department and went to find Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili first.

After the college entrance examination, Zuo Qiuping assigned them specific tasks, working with the college entrance examination working group of the Education Department, and being responsible for clerical work such as organizing relevant materials and files.

Zuo Qiuping didn't treat them badly either. Because Jiang Tiantian had a vocational school diploma and nearly four years of work experience, she hadn't been promoted to a managerial position at the supply and marketing cooperative before, but here she was finally promoted to a managerial position and even received a raise, although she was still doing the work of an ordinary clerk.

Jiang Lili has a junior high school education, but she spent nearly four years working in the countryside, which is considered a kind of experience. Therefore, she was slightly higher than the average newcomer and was assigned to the position of administrative level 11 clerk, receiving a salary of level 29, which was 25.5 yuan a month. Her main job was to assist her sister and organize documents together.

As for grading papers, they are not qualified, and they can't even touch the college entrance examination papers.

All the examiners were selected from faculty and staff of high schools and some universities throughout the region, ensuring that each of them had a clean background, excellent skills, and good conduct. In short, they were "virtuous and talented."

The marking area is a completely enclosed space where everyone eats, drinks, and relieves themselves. Even the living quarters are converted from several offices. No one is allowed to step out of the marking area until the marking work is completed.

However, the marking work had already ended by then, and the next steps of summarizing and screening the results had begun. Otherwise, Chen Fan would not have dared to step into the Education Department.

Upon entering, Chen Fan greeted some acquaintances familiarly and, without needing guidance, walked into a small office in the corner.

Jiang Tiantian was organizing documents inside when he knocked and came in. She looked up and her eyes lit up with surprise. "You're here!"

She paused for a moment, then quickly lowered her head, looked around, and said softly, "Lili was just called away to the meeting room where the leaders are having a meeting."

Chen Fan walked in with a smile, pulled out a chair and sat down, took off his backpack and put it on the table, saying, "It's nothing, I just came to take a look."

Then, curiously, he asked, "The boss wants to see her in a meeting? If he's going to call someone, he should call you. Why would he need her?"

Jiang Tiantian smiled and shook her head gently, "It was Director Zuo's secretary who called me, but she didn't say what it was about."

"Oh."

Chen Fan responded and opened his backpack. The raccoon immediately poked its head out, first turning its head warily to look around...

Then Chen Fan slapped him on the forehead, saying, "Hurry up and come out."

The raccoon let out a pitiful "meow," then nimbly jumped out of the backpack and landed on the table.

Jiang Tiantian looked curiously at the kitten, which was clearly not fully grown yet. "This cat seems different from ordinary cats?"

Chen Fan nodded. "Yes, this is a leopard cat, also called a leopard cat or a coin cat. It's what we commonly call a wildcat. Look at its markings; don't they look like coins on a leopard's body?"

Jiang Tiantian nodded gently, "It does look somewhat similar."

Then, cautiously, she reached out her hand. "May I touch it?"

Chen Fan grinned and said, "Lili, you're good. You even want me to say hello to it."

Jiang Tiantian turned to look at him in surprise, "How should I greet you?"

Chen Fan smiled and meowed at the raccoon a few times.

The raccoon's gaze softened instantly, and it muttered to itself, 'Although they look exactly alike, they definitely aren't Lily's owner.'

It then stuck its head out, sniffed Jiang Tiantian's hand a few times, and then gently licked it.

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Alright, it has marked you, so you can touch it whenever you want from now on."

This raccoon is different from a domesticated tabby cat. It is particularly ferocious. Only Chen Fan can talk to it directly. Otherwise, it would not be easy to tame it, let alone let outsiders touch it.

Now that it has been tamed, it naturally does whatever its master says, and will please whoever it is told to please. If it disobeys, it will be abandoned and made a stray cat. It doesn't want to live that kind of precarious life again.

"So magical?"

Jiang Tiantian carefully reached out and stroked the cat's head with her fingers. Seeing that the raccoon cat was indeed lying obediently on the table without moving, with a smiling expression on its face, she became even more interested. She picked it up and hugged it to her chest, asking, "Is it male or female?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's a female cat."

Jiang Tiantian looked up. "What's your name?"

Seeing her charming smile, Chen Fan couldn't help but think to himself, "Pets are indeed the ultimate weapon for winning over most girls."

But the smile on his face remained unchanged. "I originally wanted to call it Copper Coin, but Lili disagreed, saying it was too vulgar, so we haven't named it yet."

Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but wrinkle her nose and said with a wry smile, "You can't just call it Copper Coin because it's a copper coin cat, can you?"

Chen Fan curled his lip. "What's wrong with that? If it's not called copper coins, what are you going to call it silver?"

Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but laugh. "It's either copper coins or silver. If outsiders heard this, who knows what they would say about you."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Then let's call it Little Flower."

Jiang Tiantian couldn't help but pout, "So corny."

Chen Fan's expression changed, and he glanced at her sideways, "Then you'll choose one?"

Jiang Tiantian's eyes darted around slightly. "What did Lili come up with?"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue. "There are two sheep, two horses, a bird, and a snake in line ahead of me. It's not the cat's turn yet."

Jiang Tiantian couldn't hold back any longer and giggled non-stop while hugging the raccoon cat. "Lili said you're good at everything except naming things. I think you two are evenly matched."

Half a catty, eight taels?

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and looked at the raccoon cat, saying, "That's a good name, let's call it Half a Catty."

Jiang Tiantian was immediately dumbfounded. This is possible?
Chen Fan picked up the raccoon in her arms and chuckled, "Anyway, it's better than charcoal."

The raccoon looked quite helpless, its cat face drooping as if to say, "Can you please stop always picking at the scruff of my neck?"

Seeing the raccoon's appearance, Jiang Tiantian quickly picked it up and took it back, wrinkling her nose as she said, "If it's half a catty, then it's eight taels. It's called half a catty, so what about the eight taels?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's alright, half a catty is enough for Lili to raise. I'll catch another one for you later, and we'll call it Eight Ounces."

Jiang Tiantian looked up at the sky speechlessly, not knowing what to say.

Just then, footsteps sounded at the door. Chen Fan turned his head and saw Jiang Lili slowly walking in.

As soon as she stepped into the office, she saw Chen Fan sitting next to her sister, and her eyes lit up immediately. "You're here!"

He walked over quickly as he spoke.

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Didn't you say last time that you missed Duoduo and Qiuqiu? Those two dogs are too crazy, I was afraid you couldn't control them, and the others are not easy to raise in the city, so I brought Banjin over for you."

Jiang Lili's eyes widened as she looked at him, then at the raccoon dog. "Half a jin?"

Chen Fan nodded seriously, "Yes, there's another one called Eight Liang, I'll go catch it and bring it to your sister when I do."

Jiang Lili slapped her forehead. "What a terrible name!!"

The raccoon nestled in Jiang Tiantian's arms and meowed twice at Jiang Lili, appearing quite happy.

Seeing how cute it was, Jiang Lili didn't care that the name was terrible. She rushed over and picked it up, saying, "Half a catty, here you are!"

Jiang Tiantian propped her face up with her hand, chuckling but unable to speak.

Chen Fan looked at Jiang Lili, who was playing with the cat, and asked softly, "You didn't look too good just now. What happened?" Jiang Lili was taken aback. She lowered her head, pursed her lips, turned around and closed the office door. Then she walked to her seat, looked up at Chen Fan, and said softly, "Deputy Director Deng of the Provincial Education Commission, all the leaders of our Education Department, and the group leader in charge of college entrance examination score statistics are all having a meeting in the conference room."

They just called me over and asked me about some things in Lujiawan.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tiantian's expression immediately changed, and she turned to look at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan, however, didn't seem to care. He merely raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, "What is it?"

Jiang Lili looked worried and said, "I answered truthfully about how Xiaoying and Xiao'e reviewed their studies and what their academic progress was like this year. Also..."

As she spoke, she raised her head and gently bit her lip. "I also mentioned that Teacher Guo and Teacher He went to Lujiawan to recruit students. When we came out, Deputy Director Zuo specifically told me not to tell anyone else."

Just don't tell outsiders, it's fine with your own people.

Even if Deputy Director Deng of the Provincial Education Commission issued a gag order, she couldn't possibly hide it from Chen Fan, especially since this matter was directly related to Chen Fan.

After she finished speaking, Chen Fan nodded slightly and smiled, "Yes, that's good. There's nothing to hide. Everything in Lujiawan can be investigated. I've only ever heard of people being punished for cheating, never for getting high scores."

He glanced at the two of them, chuckled, and said with a smile, "It seems that Xiao'e and the others got very high scores on the exam this time, otherwise they wouldn't have held a special meeting to discuss it."

Seeing Chen Fan so relaxed, Jiang Lili secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Holding the raccoon in her arms, she gently stroked it with one hand and asked him, "Are you alright?"

Chen Fan smiled and shook his head, "What could possibly be wrong?"

After a pause, he added, "This commotion also has its advantages. At the very least, the admissions officers from those top universities who are sent to Jiangnan Province will definitely focus their attention on them, and the probability of admission will greatly increase."

Seeing his confidence, Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian finally felt relieved.

Chen Fan glanced at the two of them, his eyes darting around, and asked mysteriously, "Hey, have your scores come out yet?"

All the scores from the entire region have been reported here, so it's almost impossible for them not to know their own scores.

Upon hearing this, the two sisters immediately exchanged a smile, their eyes curving into crescent moons.

Jiang Tiantian didn't say anything, picked up a piece of paper, wrote down two numbers, and placed it in front of Chen Fan.

One is 409 and the other is 413.

Chen Fan couldn't stop smiling when he saw it. Regardless of who got 409 or 413, this score guaranteed admission to university. Even if they didn't get into their first choice, their second and third choices would definitely be fine.

Moreover, with the 23 exceptionally high-scoring students from Lujiawan and the high scores of the group of educated youth from other places, this score was not outstanding in the entire Yunhu region or even the entire Jiangnan province, which perfectly matched Chen Fan's plan.

……

The meeting was still going on in the small conference room upstairs.

After Jiang Lili left, Deputy Director Deng looked around and smiled, "The situation is now basically clear. The incident started when Chen Fan bought a foal, which caught the eye of the head of the commune's veterinary station. The head of the station valued talent and tried his best to invite him to study veterinary medicine."

Chen Fan, taking the opportunity, didn't forget his hometown. He selected outstanding talents with a knowledge base from various teams and organized a veterinary training class so that everyone could make progress together.

Later, as we developed side businesses, the demand for talent increased, so we purchased many useful books from your local waste recycling company. After returning home, we started training classes and actively promoted rural education and expanded primary schools.

It took a year of hard work to gather 23 students with solid foundational knowledge.

He pointed to the dozens of exam papers on the table and laughed, "As a result, by sheer luck, we were lucky enough to catch the resumption of the college entrance examination and all of us got high scores."

What does this show? It shows that opportunity belongs to those who are prepared. They were all from impeccable rural families who studied hard for the development of the production team, ultimately contributing to the success of the production team and themselves.

In fact, besides them, in many parts of the country, there are people who never gave up on learning, including some educated youth who became rural teachers. They also registered for the college entrance examination, and their efforts finally paid off at this moment. They not only achieved success for themselves, but also helped their students succeed.

At this point, his smile vanished, and he became extremely serious. "Do you know what I admire most about the students of Lujiawan?"

Zuo Qiuping glanced at the leaders of her unit, and seeing that none of them intended to speak, she leaned forward slightly and smiled at Deputy Director Deng, "Are you trying to say that while they are preparing for the college entrance examination, they are also training someone to succeed them?"

"That's right!"

Deputy Director Deng's voice was crisp and forceful. He turned to look at Zuo Qiuping and said seriously, "Facts have proven that they are not the kind of people who would abandon the collective for their own future. Otherwise, there would have been no need to use the one-on-one mentoring method to train successors. Their grades might have been even higher that way. But they did it anyway. From this, we can see that these students have good moral character!"

After a long speech, he calmed down a bit and frowned slightly. "Now there's only one problem. Although it's unrelated to the college entrance exam, now that I know about it, I can't ignore it."

At this moment, the director of the education department finally found a chance to speak, looking at him and saying softly, "Chen Fan's background?"

Deputy Director Deng nodded slightly, his expression serious. "Although, based on the current situation, the possibility that Chen Fan has a problem is less than one percent, or even one in ten thousand, we absolutely cannot take any chances. You must remember one thing..."

His gaze swept across everyone's faces, his voice not loud, but exceptionally powerful, "The more capable a person is, the more destructive they are. Chen Fan's background must be thoroughly investigated. As long as it is found that he has no problems, even if his family background is 'Category V Nuclear', I am willing to apologize to him."

However, if, by any and all of a chance, "..."

He paused abruptly, his face contorted with worry, as if he himself didn't want to think about the outcome. "In short, we must remember Mr. Li's teachings and remain vigilant at all times."

After he finished speaking, he let out a long breath and sighed, "You have to think about it. Maybe Chen Fan alone is nothing, but if these 23 students, and those dozens of educated youths who received his help, all of them go to university and get jobs, what does this network of connections mean? You should understand without me having to say it, right?"

Upon hearing this, almost everyone gasped, looking at each other speechlessly.

After a long silence, Zuo Qiuping said softly, "Deputy Director Deng, I'm not against investigating Chen Fan, it's just that you may not be aware of Chen Fan's current influence..."

Before she could finish speaking, Deputy Director Deng raised his hand and waved it gently. "I understand what you mean. Putting aside everything else, just the 'First Aid Manual' alone is enough to make the national health system look at him differently. Moreover, he has made such great and numerous contributions in Lujiawan."

Moreover, he is a writer with a certain degree of national recognition and social influence. Both morally and rationally, we cannot treat him like an enemy; we must be extremely cautious.

He took a deep breath, paused for two seconds, and continued, "There's nothing you can do to help with this, so just keep it to yourself and don't tell anyone. As for how to investigate, I'll first consult with the provincial leaders, and then we'll handle it through the public security system."

Even if it means digging three feet into the ground, we must find out his origins.

After saying this, Deputy Director Deng looked around and said with feigned ease, "Every person has traces of their origin. He can't possibly be like the Monkey King, who sprang from a crack in a rock, can he?"

Upon hearing this, everyone chuckled softly in agreement.

One leader also said, "Even the Monkey King cannot escape the palm of the Buddha. As long as you put in the effort, it is impossible not to find out his origins."

At this moment, almost everyone's gaze seemed to drift towards Zuo Qiuping.

It's no secret in the unit that Deputy Director Zuo and Chen Fan have a relationship. Besides, Jiang Lili, who was just questioned, was transferred back from Lujiawan at the request of Chen Fan and Section Chief Zhou of the Health Department. Now that Chen Fan is being investigated, if nothing goes wrong, that's fine, but if there is any trouble, she will also be implicated.

Zuo Qiuping was naturally aware of these gazes.

She couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Could there really be a problem?

But considering Chen Fan's age and what he has done over the past year, he has absolutely no connection with hostile elements.

Feeling more confident, he even joked, "The boss said he's the Monkey King, and with his abilities, he really does seem to be."

These words made everyone seem thoughtful.

Yes, young and talented, what enemy force would be so foolish as to allow such a promising talent—no, not even a promising talent, but a dragon that has already taken flight—to be discovered.

Such talented individuals are usually kept very secret; why would they be sent out on dangerous missions?
Thinking about this, their thoughts changed again.

Deputy Director Deng also laughed and said, "I also hope he is the real Monkey King, that would be something to celebrate!"

(End of this chapter)