Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 442 A Small Courtyard in the City

"Did you really donate?"

"I donated it."

Chen Fan wandered around the small courtyard for a while, and finally sat down at the octagonal table in the main room. Seeing that Zhang Wenliang was still in a daze, he couldn't help but sigh, "This money is too hot to handle. It's better to just hand it over."

Although Chen Fan clearly can't swim, he plunged into the Yangtze River and it's almost impossible for him to come back, this money is definitely not something we can take; it's too hot to handle!
Anquan sat on the other side, lit a cigarette, and said, "Xiao Chen did the right thing. Holding such a large sum of money is like a child holding gold in the marketplace; countless people will be envious."

It would be better to follow the example of those retired cadres who handed over their savings to the organization before they passed away. This would not only demonstrate their noble character but also avoid a lot of trouble.

Zhang Wenliang clicked his tongue, as if the donated money was his own. "More than ten thousand! In the past, I could never save up this much money in my entire life!"

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at the courtyard and chuckled, "It's a good thing your parents left you this house, so it's not too bad."

Then he saw Anquan give him a subtle glare, realized he had said the wrong thing, lightly slapped his mouth, turned to look at Chen Fan, and chuckled dryly, "Sorry, that's not what I meant."

Chen Fan shook his head slightly to indicate that he was fine, then turned to look at the main room and said calmly, "If it weren't for the difficulty in donating houses, I wouldn't want this house either."

Handing over the money is following the trend and learning from the older generation.

Donate a house?
That would be tantamount to cutting oneself off from the people!

There are only people who donate their surplus wealth after they die. What is surplus wealth? It is money beyond what is needed to ensure a basic standard of living.

No one donates the house along with the property, unless they have no descendants.

You're even donating your house; what are other people supposed to think?
Especially those elderly members and retired cadres who donated all their savings before their death, doesn't that highlight that they still have selfish motives?
And the surviving veterans will also think, "You even donated your house, should I donate one in the future?"
Donating money is fine, but you can't let your children end up homeless.

Everyone, from top to bottom, is dissatisfied. Isn't that just asking for trouble?
So when Director Yang and Deputy Director Li brought him here, Director Yang specifically instructed him that this was the last thing his parents left him, and he must cherish it and not just donate it away.

Chen Fan readily agreed and accepted the house.

From then on, he was also someone who owned a house in the prefectural committee!
Large organizations like machinery factories usually have their own employee dormitories, and unless they are originally locals, very few people would buy their own houses.

After all, a house is quite valuable, and there is currently no real estate transaction market. Everyone is waiting for their work unit to allocate a house, so not having a house is the norm.

However, when Chen Fan's parents came to Yunhu, they came as "pioneers".

In other words, when they came to Yunhu, there was no machinery factory at all. It was they and many "comrades-in-arms" who started from scratch and built the machinery factory into what it is today.

There weren't even any machine factories back then, so naturally there were no dormitories.

Even though the Yunhu area arranged accommodation for them, firstly, Chen Fan's mother preferred quiet and didn't like too much noise, otherwise it would be difficult for her to concentrate on her work; secondly, accommodation was scarce at the time, and she also had a lot of savings, so she generously gave up the single room that the organization had arranged for them to someone else.

Then, on the outskirts of the city, not far from the selected factory site, he accepted a quiet little courtyard covering more than an acre as a "gift" from a fellow villager.

That fellow villager naturally received a considerable sum of money as a "gift".

Now, more than a decade later, the rural areas on the outskirts of the city have been rapidly surrounded by the North City Industrial Zone, and this area has also become part of the city.

Geographically, this courtyard is located between the city center and the North City factory area. It is surrounded by a full range of commercial facilities, including department stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, Xinhua bookstores, hardware stores, restaurants, and guesthouses, making it a bustling area.

Yet it is a quiet oasis amidst the hustle and bustle, separated from the main road by only two houses. The path in front of the house is not narrow, wide enough for two cars to drive side by side. Even the roadside is planted with sycamore trees, which can both prevent dust and block sound.

The courtyard covers an area of ​​approximately 800 square meters, with nearly 200 square meters in the middle where three and a half brick and tile houses were built.

The main house has three rooms, arranged in a "one main room and four side rooms" layout.

In the middle is a spacious main hall, behind which is a small storage room. The rooms on both sides are divided into front and back sections, making a total of four rooms.

This is also the most common rural housing layout in Lujiawan.

There is also a side room at the back, which serves as a kitchen and dining room, and can be considered half a room.

After Chen Fan's parents bought it, they spent several years renovating it.

They renovated and reinforced the dilapidated areas, paved the original rammed earth floor of the house with bluestone slabs, paved the front yard with blue bricks, and turned the vegetable garden in the backyard into a garden, leaving only one row of land for growing vegetables.

In addition, a dense circle of arrow bamboo was planted around the courtyard wall to provide sound insulation.

Bamboo never withers throughout the four seasons, and even in winter, the yard is still lush and green.

Taking advantage of the construction of the North City factory area and the laying of sewer pipes, a flush toilet was built next to the side room of the restaurant.

Originally, the main house and the side house were separate, but they built an L-shaped covered walkway to connect them, so that they wouldn't get wet on rainy days.

They even built a pavilion in the middle of the small garden, and laid a stone path from the covered walkway to it, making it look particularly elegant.

The house already had running water and electricity, and after the renovation, the living conditions now are not much worse than they will be decades later.

After Director Yang resumed his work, when dealing with Chen Fan's parents' affairs, he drove away the group of people who had taken over the place and then repainted and cleaned the place.

A few days ago, leaders from the Public Security Bureau came to Chen Fan's door to investigate his case. When he heard that his old friend's son was still alive and was a nationally renowned writer and medical expert, he was overjoyed.

As soon as the investigators left, they immediately had the place cleaned up, and even the broken furniture was replaced. Only some of the old, intact furniture was kept as a memento for Chen Fan.

After lunch, he and Deputy Factory Director Li brought Chen Fan over and had all the books stored at his home delivered, along with several sets of bedding, pots and pans, and other daily necessities, so he could move in at any time.

Deputy Factory Director Li also invited people from the street office's housing management office to handle the house transfer procedures on the spot.

After they left, Chen Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief and had the leisure to look around the house he had just acquired.

There was a double gate at the entrance, big enough for a car to come in and out... It's a pity that private individuals can't buy cars these days, otherwise Chen Fan would have liked to wait until he saved enough money to buy his own car.

In Lujiawan, there was no need for it, but every time he came to the prefectural committee, he had to take a bus or a tricycle. At that time, there were few bus services, and he often had to wait for a long time, which was a waste of time.

Having a car would be much more convenient. Just as Chen Fan was lost in thought, Zhang Cuie came in from the backyard, her face covered in sweat, panting as she said, "Teacher, the backyard is all tidied up."

Chen Fan immediately poured her a cup of tea. "The water temperature is just right. Have some water and rest for a while."

Zhang Cuie did not refuse, picked up the teacup and gulped it down in one go.

The water was freshly boiled, and the tea was a gift from Deputy Factory Director Li.

After Director Yang and the others left, the seven girls started working. First, they wiped the already clean room inside and out again. Huang Ying also took the time to boil a pot of water in the kitchen and brew a large pot of tea.

The only problem is that if Deputy Director Li saw the high-grade Longjing tea he had worked so hard to obtain being brewed like a large pot of tea, he would probably faint on the spot.

They cleaned the house and then discovered that the small garden in the backyard had been completely ruined, overgrown with weeds and the ground had even been paved. So they found hoes and shovels in the storeroom, first setting fire to the dry weeds, and then turning over the soil.

When Huang Ying and the others came in, Chen Fan felt a little sorry for them seeing them all covered in sweat, so he said, "Go boil some water and take a bath. You'll be sweating a lot in this weather, so be careful not to catch a cold."

After a pause, he said to Anquan and Zhang Wenliang, "Why don't we just stay here for the night instead of going back today? You two can sleep in one room, they can sleep in two rooms, and I'll sleep in the study. That should be enough room for everyone."

"Third Brother will go to the post office later and make a call to ask the team to send a boat over tomorrow so we can take both feed mills back with us."

Zhang Wenliang readily agreed, nodding, "Okay, I'll go now."

He then downed the tea in his cup in one gulp, got up, and walked out.

Anquan looked around and laughed, "Why don't I go to the market and buy some vegetables? We can treat it as a housewarming party."

Over the past year, many customs that were once banned have returned.

Over a decade of trying to break down old customs has resulted in nothing but a hollow failure.

Chen Fan nodded, took out a large envelope from his pocket, opened the seal and poured out hundreds of receipts of various sizes and types.

Grain coupons, meat coupons, oil coupons, cloth coupons, shoe coupons, industrial coupons... even bicycle coupons, radio coupons, watch coupons, sewing machine coupons, and even a motorcycle coupon and a television coupon.

Of course, it's not like the Changjiang 750 or Xingfu 250 motorcycles. Although there are no explicit regulations, the default rule is that these types of vehicles are generally not supplied to individuals, and department stores don't sell them either.

This ticket is for a light motorcycle like the Black Crow, which is quite good.

These were all given to him by Deputy Factory Director Li, who said they were vouchers to be issued as part of his back pay.

Money can be donated, but there's no need to donate these tickets.

Chen Fan didn't care whether it was really a back pay or not, and just accepted it all.

After rummaging through the pile of tickets for a while, I finally found the meat tickets. I grabbed a few and handed them to Anquan, saying, "Don't just buy fatty meat, it's too greasy. You can get some of the best hind leg meat or front ribs."

Anquan left, grumbling and cursing, saying that everyone wants to buy more fatty meat to render oil, but you're just too lucky and have become picky, complaining that fatty meat is too greasy. Why don't you eat vegetarian food every day!

After they left safely, Chen Fan turned to Huang Ying and the others, "Aren't you going to boil some water for a bath? Do you really want to catch a cold?"

Upon hearing this, the girls giggled and ran towards the kitchen.

Chen Fan sat alone in the main room, slowly smoking a cigarette, then finished the tea in his cup, and got up to walk to the study located in the southeast.

Inside the room, at the very back, is a whole wall of bookshelves filled with books, including many foreign language academic works.

Chen Fan walked to the bookshelf and looked at it carefully. The books inside were mainly professional books on mechanical and electronic engineering, including domestic and translated versions as well as original foreign works.

The remaining small portion consists of books in English, French, Russian, and Japanese.

According to Director Yang, the number of books he recovered was less than half of what he had previously owned. Many of the books here were ones he bought from bookstores based on his memory.

In particular, he had someone find those foreign language books, including translations, at the Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore. He didn't say how much it cost, but Chen Fan estimated it was at least a thousand yuan.

And now he has given all these books to Chen Fan.

Besides the bookshelves on this wall, there is also a Steinway upright antique piano on the east wall.

(Steinway upright antique piano)

This piano was brought back from the United States by Chen Fan's mother when she returned to China. She never gave it up, even after getting married and moving.

It was only thanks to the fact that those who were vandalizing it saw that the piano wasn't smashed but instead moved to the union club that it was preserved.

Later, it was naturally returned to its rightful owner by Factory Director Yang and moved back here.

Chen Fan sat on the newly made piano bench, opened the piano lid, placed his fingers on the keys, and slowly played a series of smooth notes.

In the backyard annex, the two sisters, Huang Ying and Huang Li, went to the bathroom to take a shower first. The rest of the people were sitting in the dining room. When they heard the piano music coming from the front room, Yang Ju's eyes lit up. "Teacher Chen can play the piano?"

Liu Dan looked at her in confusion, "Teacher Chen was taught accordion by Uncle An, so how come he can play the piano?"

Zhang Cuie raised her head, her eyes filled with unconditional trust in her master. "What's wrong with that? The accordion and the piano are both instruments. If you can play the accordion, you can definitely play the piano."

Besides, this is his home. Maybe his grandmother taught him to play the piano before, but he forgot it. Now that he sees the piano, he remembers how to play. Isn't that normal?

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded slightly, then rested their elbows on the table, propped their chins up with their hands, and listened to the piano music with rapt attention.

A moment later, after playing the Yellow River Piano Concerto, Chen Fan slowly closed the piano lid, stood up, turned around, and looked at the violin on a small table.

This violin did not belong to Chen Fan's mother, but to his father. It was with this violin that the burly Chen's father was able to successfully win over Chen's mother. In a way, the two were a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman.

Chen Fan slowly walked over, opened the violin case, took out an antique-looking violin, then placed it on his shoulder, slowly put on the bow, and a piece of "Butterfly Lovers" poured out.

(End of this chapter)