Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 439 Worship
Zhu Gong'an declined Secretary Yang's invitation to dinner, saying that he had to go back to work.

Chen Fan saw him off to the gate of the brigade headquarters. Perhaps Secretary Yang and the others guessed that Chen Fan had something else to say, so none of them followed him out.

Stepping out of the courtyard, Chen Fan bowed slightly to Zhu Gong'an, "This matter has really troubled you too much. I really didn't expect you to keep investigating until now."

Zhu Gong'an blushed slightly and chuckled, "Don't say that, it's our job, it's what we should do!"

I am indeed a little embarrassed. In fact, the investigation into this matter was stopped more than half a year ago. If it weren't for the leaders from the provincial department coming over, no one would have bothered with Chen Fan's past.

If he really wanted to say thank you, he should thank Chen Fan on behalf of his company.

The Nanhu Commune is now widely known, all thanks to the renowned writer Chen Fan and the editor-in-chief of "First Aid Manual." These days, when leaders of the Nanhu Police Station attend meetings at the county bureau, they speak with more confidence and are much more assertive in securing resources.

Because of this, the county bureau allocated a lot more resources to their station, and he himself benefited greatly from it.

As for enemy agents?

None of Chen Fan's actions could possibly have anything to do with enemy agents. That's simply not true!

Chen Fan chuckled, handed Zhu Gong'an a cigarette, lit it for him, then lit one for himself, took a couple of puffs silently, and asked in a low voice, "Officer Zhu, I'd like to ask you something."

Zhu Gong'an nodded immediately, "Go on."

Chen Fan hesitated for two seconds, then asked, "Do you know how many more are there...?"

He paused for two seconds, then forced a smile and said, "I mean, people whose situations are similar to Chen Fan's parents?"

Hearing this, Officer Zhu couldn't help but sigh inwardly, patted his arm, and said, "I understand that this isn't something you can easily accept, but based on the existing evidence..."

At this point, he waved his hand gently, "You can think about this yourself."

He then took a drag of his cigarette, looked up, and said, "You want to ask how many people were labeled as rightists, ended up with their families destroyed, and died without ever having their cases overturned?"

Chen Fan nodded, pursed his lips, and said, "It doesn't necessarily mean that your family will be destroyed, it just means that you won't see the day when you regain your reputation, or you'll still be suffering."

Zhu Gong'an clicked his tongue, "I really can't answer that for you right now, since I haven't dealt with this area before."

He then smiled and said, "However, if you want to know, I can apply to my superiors to collect information on this."

Chen Fan forced a smile, "If it's too much trouble, then forget it."

Zhu Gongan patted his chest confidently, "It's just a matter of a word, what's the trouble? I have comrades in the prefectural public security department, ask them for help, and they can give you an answer in two or three days at most. Just wait."

Chen Fan looked pleasantly surprised. "Thank you, Officer Zhu."

He paused for a moment, then said apologetically, "If possible, please also send me a copy of the cases of those who have passed away but whose cases haven't been overturned yet, but everyone knows they are innocent. It would be best if some supporting materials were included."

After thinking for a couple of seconds, Zhu Gong'an nodded in agreement, "No problem."

He paused for a moment, then looked at Chen Fan and asked curiously, "May I ask what you need these documents for?"

Chen Fan looked up at the distant void with a sense of melancholy and said softly, "A month ago, a second-rate newspaper published a commentator's article, 'Mr. Li's cadre policy must be implemented,' demanding that... that those who have been treated unfairly be exonerated."

But a month has passed, and we haven't seen any strong action.

I hadn't paid much attention to this matter before, but after you came today and told me about Chen Fan's family situation, I feel that I should do something, both morally and logically."

Zhu Gong's expression changed slightly. "What are you doing?"

Chen Fan seemed oblivious to the change in his expression. "I want to write an article, based on the one titled 'Mr. Li's Cadre Policy Must Be Implemented,' and share some of my thoughts."

Hearing this, Zhu Gong'an breathed a sigh of relief.

Since ancient times, scholars have wielded their pens like knives, sometimes even more ruthless than ten thousand knives. He fears nothing but Chen Fan's reckless writing.

However, if we base our decision on "Mr. Li's cadre policy must be implemented," then there will be no problem.

Moreover, Chen Fan's reasoning was based on his own experience, and as he himself said, it was indeed reasonable and justifiable.

Of course, it is only right to notify the relevant leaders in advance so that they can make preparations.

Chen Fan is a writer who is somewhat famous throughout the country. It is almost impossible to stop his articles. What can be done now is to try to control the impact within the province or even the region, and maybe even gain some benefits from it.

He nodded immediately without hesitation and said, "Okay, leave this to me. I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

He paused for a moment, then patted Chen Fan's arm and whispered, "You remembered it right, it's your birthday on the first day of the twelfth lunar month."

Chen Fan blinked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Isn't Chen Fan's birthday listed in his file January 14th?
Then Zhu Gong'an said, "However, the first day of the twelfth lunar month is not your own birthday, but your mother's birthday."

Chen Fan paused for a few seconds, then looked up and smiled, "There's no need to change the household registration information. My birthday is the first day of the twelfth lunar month."

Zhu Gong'an smiled at Chen Fan and patted him on the shoulder, "Good lad, well done!"

He then pedaled the bicycle a couple of times, lifted his leg, and rode away.

Watching Zhu Gong'an ride away on his bicycle, Chen Fan slowly exhaled a long breath.

Finally, they've plugged the hole about their origins.

Moreover, they hitched a ride and found an opportunity to overturn the case against the Jiang sisters' parents.

As for Chen Fan's family at the machinery factory, I will go there to offer incense during festivals and holidays to settle this old ties.

……

Back in the brigade headquarters office, Secretary Yang and the others were fiercely criticizing the safety measures.

Honestly, didn't you see that Xiao Chen was about to reunite with his ancestors but also lost a loved one? How could you have the nerve to tell him to go to the machinery factory to negotiate a discount?
Do they have no morals, no compassion, no humanitarian spirit?!

Chen Fan glanced at them, calmly walked to the bench by the wall, sat down, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette.

Suddenly, the office fell silent.

Chen Fan raised his head and exhaled a puff of smoke. "Why aren't we criticizing them? This kind of person must be severely criticized. We can't give them a chance to make excuses."

Anquan's face darkened, and he said with an embarrassed smile, "I was just making small talk and accidentally said the wrong thing. It's not that serious, it's not that serious."

Secretary Yang turned around and said with a smile, "Little Chen, take a good rest these next few days. Don't worry about the team's affairs for now; we can handle it ourselves." Zhang Wenliang, standing beside him, looked conflicted. Take a good rest? When hasn't he been resting?

Ye Shubao nodded repeatedly, then said to Chen Fan with feigned reproach, "Look at you, every time we encountered difficulties, you had to step in to solve them, making us seem like we were incompetent."

"Please don't show up this time! At least give me... cough cough, I mean, give Anquan a chance to prove himself!"

With a dark expression, Anquan looked up at the sky speechlessly. So, it seems I'm the one who has to handle this?
Chen Fan took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, flicked off the ash, and chuckled softly, “Alright then. Let’s go our separate ways. Tomorrow I’ll go to the prefectural committee to pay my respects, and Brother An will go to the machinery factory to discuss the contract. We’ll come back together afterwards.”

Worship?

The group exchanged glances. Xiao Liewen frowned slightly, nodded seriously, and said in a deep voice, "We should go and pay our respects."

If we didn't know before, that's fine, but today, Officer Zhu delivered the information about Chen Fan's family, and the evidence is conclusive, the kind that can be used to solve the case without a confession. What else is there to say?

As for where "Chen Fan" went during the one or two years before he ended up in Lujiawan, no one mentioned it from beginning to end, as if it had been deliberately ignored.

At this moment, Anquan instantly perked up and nodded, saying, "Okay, I'll go with you tomorrow."

Personally, his good friend was going to pay respects to his parents, and since he had the time, he naturally wanted to accompany him. Officially, Chen Fan would definitely be meeting with the leaders of the machinery factory, and if he showed up then, things would be much easier to discuss.

Since it was convenient for both public and private purposes, he naturally wanted to accompany Chen Fan to the ancestral worship ceremony.

Secretary Yang had obviously thought of this as well. He turned to Zhang Wenliang and said, "Take some things with you tomorrow and go with Xiao Chen. It's a small token of our team's appreciation."

Zhang Wenliang immediately nodded, "Okay."

Compared to tending the dike, accompanying the worship was much easier, so he naturally couldn't be happier.

Chen Fan stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, cupped his hands in a gesture of thanks to everyone, and said, "Thank you."

……

The next morning, Chen Fan looked at the seven girls following him and couldn't help but feel speechless. "I'm going to pay respects to my elders, what are you all doing following me?"

Zhang Cuie argued confidently, "You are my master, and they are my grandmaster and grandma, of course I have to go."

Huang Ying, holding Liu Dan's hand, nodded vigorously. "If we didn't know, that's fine. But if we knew and didn't go, would we even be human?"

Yang Ju, carrying some things in her hands, said, "Teacher Chen, both out of courtesy and reason, we should go and pay our respects."

Huang Li, Liu Lu, and Yang Mei, who were standing behind, didn't say anything; they just stared at each other longingly.

Chen Fan smirked slightly and casually gestured, "Let's go."

Zhang Wenliang and An Quan exchanged a glance, shrugged in unison, and then followed behind.

Chen Fan's small yacht can hold 10 to 12 people, which is just enough to fit everyone together.

We drove a small yacht to the prefectural committee, then transferred to a bus, and finally arrived at Yunhu Machinery Factory.

The northern urban area of ​​Yunhu City is home to almost 80% of the city's factories. The two largest factories are the cotton mill, a leader in light industry, and the machinery factory, a leader in heavy industry.

The machinery factory mainly produces and sells a variety of machines and related parts, and its product range even includes automobile and ship parts.

These days, vehicle and ship parts are truly "high-tech." If you don't have some skills, your superiors won't assign this kind of task to a unit. This shows that the machinery factory must be quite capable.

As Chen Fan and his group approached the factory gate, they immediately attracted the attention of the guards. A man in his thirties, wearing an armored belt and carrying a gun at his waist, came out of the guardhouse.

The biggest difference between this person and the soldiers was that he wasn't wearing a green military uniform, but a blue one.

Nowadays, factory security departments are quite special; their rank is only one level lower than that of the company itself.

What does that mean?

For example, in a department-level unit like Shougang, the security department is at the division level, and the department leader's rank is equivalent to that of a district or county leader.

Yunhu Machinery Factory was a division-level unit, so its security department was at the section level, and its leaders were also proper section-level cadres, on par with the leaders of the district and county public security bureaus, and even had more people under their command.

If one holds the title of deputy factory director or deputy director, they can even have direct conversations with district and county leaders.

Such a security department was "defending against external threats but not internal ones," and was part of the many national defense and guard forces in my country at that time. At critical moments, it would be dispatched by the local armed forces department to directly participate in combat.

On the contrary, the security department usually doesn't care much about "minor matters" such as the finance department carrying a bag of cash to deposit at the bank.

Their primary responsibility is to prevent certain individuals from sabotaging the factory's production operations and equipment property; that is their main task!
In light of this, their vigilance is naturally extraordinary.

In addition to the security department, factories at the county or higher level also have an armed forces department to manage the workers' militia, which is another force.

The configurations of these two forces are basically the same. You can refer to the militia company of Lujiawan Production Brigade. Rifles and machine guns are child's play. Quadruple anti-aircraft guns are not uncommon, and even mortars and mountain guns are among the standard equipment.

The idea of ​​"everyone being a soldier" is not just a slogan!

Not to mention key units like machinery factories, which are even more crucial points for defense.

The security guard who came out carefully sized up the group. "Which unit are you from? Who are you looking for?"

Three men with seven young girls—this group looked suspicious.

But precisely because there were a few girls present, his attitude was relatively acceptable, which at least proves that these people are harmless, right?
Zhang Wenliang quickly pulled out a letter of introduction, stepped forward, and handed it over. "Hello comrade, we are from the Lujiawan Production Team of Nanhu Commune, Gufeng County..."

Before he could finish speaking, the guard's eyes lit up, and he turned his gaze to Chen Fan, asking, "Are you Director Chen's son, the great writer Chen Fan?"

Chen Fan blinked. "I wouldn't dare call myself a great writer; I've only written a few articles."

The security guard grinned and laughed heartily, "You writers just love to feign modesty!"

Before Chen Fan and the others could speak, he reached out and invited them into the guardhouse, saying, "Come, come, sit inside for a while. I'll notify the factory office right away."

He then shouted, "Captain, Director Chen's son is here!"

He turned to Chen Fan and smiled, "To be honest, you and your dad don't look quite the same. Your dad is big and burly, not at all like a cultured person. You look more like your mom. Speaking of which, I saw you when you were little. You haven't changed much since then, you've just grown up."

He went into the guardhouse, picked up the kettle to pour water, and then suddenly sighed, "It's such a pity about your parents..."

He only got to the beginning before shaking his head and swallowing back what he was going to say.

Chen Fan was still somewhat lost in thought. He first shook hands with a few people from the security department, and then sat down at their warm invitation. He was thinking to himself, "Are my adoptive parents really that famous?"
(End of this chapter)